Very special thanks to Stewart for helping cover launch costs; a true gentlemen! Thanks also to Mezzo Man and David, who also donated funds and both hail from the United States. Without their generous help, I couldn’t have launched yesterday, and I wouldn’t be writing today with the news that not only did Constellation launch after all these months, but she floats.

Thanks to Rob, Karin and Al from the boatyard who assisted enormously, whether by helping paint my topsides, to offering advice and tools, and even refuelling my gas canisters for free.

Thank you also to Jack from DNR-Production who flew over from Germany to film and assist. Jack is the first friend I’ve had come and see whether my boat actually exists after all these months, and it was really nice to see a familar face.

Thank you to Jeremy Rogers yachts for sending over a rudder pintle at the last minute, and letting me pay for it next week because none of my credit cards work. Finally, thank you to John and Kelly at Pantaenius for helping me get Constellation insured - The only people who would go beyond the pale in helping me obtain worldwide 3rd party insurance.

The evening before the launch I was still working on the boat, creeping around the hull with a Tesco’s desk lamp, finishing off the paint, and ensuring the skin fittings and new transom pintle were secure and water tight. I woke up early, and finally had a chance to see if all my rudder construction was succesful, and I must say, I was fairly proud of myself when it all came together. Thanks Dad for being a wood worker, even though I’m not, because I must have picked something up along the way. The paint was still wet on the cheeks when Constellation launched, and needs another coat, which I’ll need to paint on from a tender in the water. If you look carefully at the photos, you can see the waterline on the rudder still has pink panther pink on it.

Its been an enormous journey finally getting in the water, and now things are really set to start moving along. For almost 12months now, this entire project has been just a concept and a website, however now things have been pushed forward to a new level. The only thing that stops me from going for a sail right this second, is a new starter battery. And I must admit, that feeling is quite intense, because now that I carry my house on my shoulders, I have a new feeling of freedom quite unlike anything I’ve experienced before. I admittedly have some obstacles in my way, such as money issues, and the fact it would probably not be particuarly safe is I started off tomorrow, but it is the potential that is worth mentioning, and for that feeling to arise, a lot has been sacrificed to get here.

Thank you again to everybody; now the hard work really begins.

Two hours before launch, the rudder still wasn’t on.

“Jaaack… Tell me nothing will go wrong!”

Constellation being backed onto the crane sling platform.

I had to finish off some of the antifouling on the hull while in the sling, and as I was underneath, she slipped (note the rope between to the two slings) and I came very close to moving at the speed of light in utter fear of being crushed. Special thanks to the rope that stops the slings from dropping 3.5tons of boat.

‘Round she goes

Eeek!

The photo set now jumps straight to being moored, because as soon as she was in the water, I was onboard checking the seacocks furiously to see whether water was pooring in. Not a drop, the boat is completely watertight from the bottom (I still have window and cockpit leaks, but they’re above the waterline).

I had a small pontoon party.

Which ended at the Jolly Sailor.

nick.

It’s been a busy last two weeks, with three days lost pointlessly in London on work… I was then offered to have a tour of the Solent on a Nicholson 35 for two days, and consequently pushed back my launch date again… This time to the 15th - But, unless something goes drastically wrong, I will definitely be launching, as everything is already nearing completion. The additional week may mean I can have the Diesel ready by the launch, as I was intending on getting towed to the berth because I didn’t have the money to service the engine and get new batteries in time. Next week I am going to see Jeremy Rogers, to buy a new transom mount gudgeon, and with any luck ask a few questions about my Contessa.

It was great to see the Solent at last - After looking at it from practice charts. We sailed out of Gosport, past all the Destroyers and Aircraft Carriers, and back onto to the River Hamble, to have a canvas company double stitch the sail cover. The next day we sailed West, and chased a square rigger back to Gosport.

I was rudely awoken last week, as the tractor slotted into my cradle to move the boat to a new position. I ran out onto the cockpit half dressed waving my hands. Luckily, the yard staff had a laugh and I climbed down, and was moved into a much better place for painting, instead of sitting on the ‘highway’ which is dusty, and I’m always nervous someone is going to drive past and clip me.

I found out a place for cheap paints, and was kindly driven over by a friend to a very sketchy looking boatyard not from from the River Hamble. The paints and anodes were stored in a shipping container, and everything was 50% off retail. I have no idea if it all fell off the back of a truck, or whether it is expired, but whatever it is, I’m a cheap skate and I was giggling like a child at the thought of not having to pay Chandlery prices.

The rudder reconstruction has also been difficult to content with, because I’ve been waiting on some free teak planks. I’ve eventually given in because of time restraints, and purchased two pieces of Iroko (thanks for the tip Rich!) instead, rough sawn for 20pounds. As you well know, I’ve never rebuilt a rudder, so I’m just trying to do what seems logical with this whole thing… I have a pattern made up, and just need to get access to a table saw to make the cuts. I’ll then epoxy the cheeks on, and through-bolt them.

Photos and descriptions below:

Trying to dry cloths.

The rudder template.

Square rigger in the Solent.

At anchor for the night in Gosport, England.

Pontoon BBQ. These guys are amazing! Karin is always making me up something to eat, and Rob has to deal with far too many questions from me.

My boat has been named The Pink Panther - For now, until I paint over in red.

The planks I will attempt to turn into a rudder

nick.

Special thanks to Adrian at www.advancedosmosis.co.uk. He’s been kind enough to supply me with an emergency hull repair kit, for making repairs under water. It’s a very kind gesture, but honestly, I hope I never, ever have to use it. Thanks Adrian!

Also a big thanks to Sven Helemann of www.id13.net for making repairs to my site for IE6. I met Sven after a brief stint at Dropping Knowledge in Berlin, earlier this year.

I’ve been busy working on the boat since my last post - On the boat, at the pub, and in London. The weather has been horrific for boat work, but my prep for painting is coming along nicely. I was hoping to rebuild the rudder last weekend, but my teak source has been having trouble finding something to my required dimensions. I’m in London today on work, but hopefully tomorrow I’ll find out more, and if I can’t get any at mates rates (a few beers) then I will have to make the plunge and purchase retail like everybody else.

A friend at the boatyard helped me drill out a transom skin fitting for my drain improvisation, which was a horrible experience. There is something just not right about putting holes in your boat… We’ve done it properly, with brass fittings and a good quality valve switch, and I’ll plumb the cockpit fittings when I can afford to.

I’ve also been making plans to build a completely waterproof cockpit door, so you can basically lock yourself in an entirely watertight cabin. Door boards are nice, but they are troublesome to shut up quickly, and while they will keep water out 95% of the time I think with my intentions I need something robust. I’ve also purchased two big stainless lifeline points to place in and around the boat which I can lock onto - One is for the cabin, and I’ve not yet decided where the second will go - I have jackstays, but maybe I’ll wait until I’ve done some sailing before commiting to the drill for the second anchor point.

Some photos:

I’ve since finished sanding - But as you can see, I’ve been prop polishing too!

This is my view most mornings - Wet; the tarpoline heavy with water

Better photos coming, now that my Flickr account is alive again.

nick.

My brother recently moved to New York City to work for a photo agency. He clearly has too much spare time:

If only modelling were a viable career… Thanks Ryaaan! (If this makes no sense, view my photos)

Money really isn’t flowing at all this year. Bits of work here and there, but nothing reliable at all… Certainly nothing to sail around the world on. I said I was going to be honest about trying to do this, so how about I tell you how much it actually costs to ‘get up and disappear’, and how much I actually earn:

From July 2006 I worked for ₤12/hour, writing software for a company in the UK (working remote). I had a small amount of savings which I used as a deposit for Constellation, leaving roughly ₤5,500 ($10,000AUD) to pay over five months. I managed that, although only barely. My employer was starting a company, and cashflow was poor to non-existant, meaning I had many issues making payments. If you do the math on 40 hours per week, you will see I should have been able to make monthly payments of ₤1000 a month, however due to the issues outlined above, that rarely happened. Some months I worked few hours, others I worked excessive hours.

I rented out the other room in my apartment out for several months to reduce rent, however because my employer was UK-based, as were my boat payments, I most often had whatever I earned funneled directly into the boatyard account. This was convenient for currency conversion, and meant every six weeks or so, I would ask for a Western Union transfer to keep me going in Berlin with any extra not being sent to the boat. As these were far and few between, I spent a lot of time working out how to live cheaply, as well as subletting to reduce costs.

I had numerous promises to get a higher wage after January, but none of those came through. During January and February, I earned roughly ₤370/month. In March I worked for a Non-profit here in Berlin for €9.50/hour part time because I was broke, yet again. So, that job has been the only actual work I have done in Germany since I have been here, due to unemployment and language issues.

Speaking of which, some estimates state that east Berlin has an enemployment rate of 25%… If that’s true or not, I don’t know, but I have heard of other English speakers getting paid €3/hour washing dishes because no other options existed. Right now I wouldn’t mind washing dishes for €3/hour really… Because if I worked 40 hours a week, at least the rent would be covered.

In March I was also paid a small amount for a US-based company I did some in-between-work for, which managed to just pay the rent. That work dried up, again numerous promises were made for further work, but it seems being a remote employee puts you on the bottom of everybody’s list - They don’t have to see you in person, so why bother being reasonable? I was working alongside Russian, Indian and Malaysian programmers for $15/hour, but when they can work for $8/hour, what do you do?

So, where am I at the present day? Right now I am working on my second German-based job, doing a small job for €500. To my knowledge, that is my last piece of paid work I have in the pipeline, since all I get elsewhere are promises. I also have a €600euro bond to pay on my house at the end of the month - I have no idea where that’s coming from! Maybe I will be living on Constellation faster than I think…

I had ₤542 owed from my UK employer which has been paid last week into the boatyard account because I hadn’t paid standing fees since August - I still owe them another ₤400 to be up to date. By July when I am supposed to be launching, I will owe them a total of ₤800, plus another ₤120 to physically launch the boat.

So in July, I need around ₤1500 to launch and sail back to Germany. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but at my current rate, I’ll be lucky to have half of that, if anything. I’m not really sure what I’m going to do, but damned if I’m going to give up. Every single day since June I have been thinking about this, working towards it and sacrificing for it. I will sail this year, regardless of aptitude, common sense, or finances…

For those of you in non-EU countries, keep in mind tripling my British or doubling my Euro earnings into AUD, and therefore exclaiming ‘hey, he earns a lot per hour!’ doesn’t quite work. To make it more quantifiable, ₤12/hour is around one and a half to two times what a waiter in Britain would earn. In Germany €9.50 is probably the hourly rate of a waiter, plus tips. Also remember being a waiter means you get paid reguarly, and know how many hours you might work… I’m just mentioning all this so there are no thoughts of grand earnings or high living over here. I’m not complaining, just being straight - Do you know how many people come to this website from search engines, using the query ‘how much does it cost to sail around the world?’ - Quite a few. So, for those people, now you know.

Let’s also put things into another light - I own a boat and can put pasta on the table - That’s a helluva lot more than a lot of people in this world of inequality.

n.

Funny now, absolutely infuriating at 5am on a Thursday morning. We left the house with quartz precision to catch the plane, and missed a tram by 29 seconds going past the front door. So after a brisk walk to the closest station, we caught the train, got off at Treptower park to catch the S9 to the airport and we were on our way. It was a bit of a nailbiter time-wise, and then some stations started going by that I hadn’t seen before… A quick look at the overhead map revealed our train had changed course for some reason, and panic ensued. I will spare the details, but we missed the plan to England by 15 minutes.

What happens when you miss an Easyjet flight? Well, you have to buy another ticket, and you can’t get a refund. The problem was, even with a new flight, our plans were dashed due to the chain of events that needed to happen, in order for us to be at the boatyard in time to get the keys and open Constellation up before closing time. So, it was thinking time - Do we go, pay for the additional plane and bus tickets, as well as miss the boatyard? After much thought and talking to the Easyjet ‘helpdesk’, we decided to forgoe the entire journey. As it turns out, we could get a refund on the taxes incurred on the flights, which meant around 45% of the total cost… Sincere apologies to Tudor who we had intended to meet at the Duke of York.

So, no diesel repairs, no stanchion hunting, and no cup’o’soups with hot water boiled from tea candles. What a disaster.

I will try and make it down there once I’ve recouped some funds from somewhere, hopefully at the end of the month, or in May. Special thanks to Gerard for sending through some much needed funds!

nick.

Every month I receive an invoice for the hard standing on Constellation. Last year it was impossible to pay, and this year it hasn’t been too easy to do either. So the bills kept piling up, and finally a bill came today, that came in an envelope with RED letters on it, instead of BLUE letters. I knew right away what it was going to be about.

So, what can I say, I owe them quite a few pounds… I hope to have at least 500 pounds of it sorted out when I fly over on the 29th of March, but the rest will have to wait. It’s all kind of amusing, considering I’m supposed to be launching in July.

Oh, did I say amusing? I didn’t mean it.

Thankfully my financial woes may be over though, having received this gracious letter today:

Dear Sir,

With regards,My names are Mr.Mohamed .P.Conteh.The managing director of ALUMED INTERNATIONAL.

I will like you to know if you have used fishing boat for sale and how much is the unit price.

I look forward to establishing a long term business relationship with your
company.

Regards,

Mohamed.P.Conteh.
Managing Director,Alumed International.
Freetown, Sierra Leone.

So it got me thinking. If I get this diesel running, maybe Constellation could be sold as a fishing boat? We could ditch that pesky sail business, or maybe modify it into a crane. Heck, now that we’re being creative, why not keep the boat and do the fishing myself? What else am I going to do on those lonely nights across the Atlantic?

So, I’ve been writing more sponsorship letters and working a lot… Good things are happening though, maybe not regarding finances yet (you’re crossing your fingers for me too, right?) but things are slowly moving forward.

I am going to endeavour to update this blog a bit more, I’ve been pretty bad lately.

nick.

P.S The unit price is ONE BILLION U.S DOLLARS in Kruger Rands, Mr.Mohamed .P.Conteh (or anyone else who is wondering how much my boat is worth)

nick.