End of the 2014 cruising season and wintering Shangri La

Shangri La 2104 routes

Were we finally back in Zwartsluis after a wonderful 2014 cruising season.

Shangri La had performed excellently and we had had almost no problems at all.

The weather had turned and it was wet and miserable, so our timing was good.

2014 cruising summary

The season had got off to a slow start and all we managed to do in May was a short shake down trip to Steenwijk and back.

But in June and July things improved with a lovely 5 week round trip of eastern Netherlands including Amsterdam and Rotterdam.

The trip was made extra special by having 3 sets of friends join us for a few days each.

Martijn getting ready for action

Then in August and September we made another circular trip taking in the Great Rivers and the south as far as Roermond.

This time one couple joined us for a while.

The map of Netherlands in the first picture shows our first trip in pink and the last one in yellow.

 

Karen – my chief mate and deck hand all in one

As usual I kept my log book up to date and the season summary gave the following statistics –

Distance travelled         1034 kms / 561                                                    nautical miles
Time on board              79 days
Engine hours               136 hrs
Generator hours            30 hrs
Diesel taken                  250 Litres
Locks negotiated           41
Bridges                        251 (incl fixed and                                              moveable)

Out the water again

Then came the wintering process and lift out for winter.

As usual I got Martijn of de Kranerweerd to help with crawling around in the engine compartment, so as to preserve my back!

Also, they have the tools and equipment to make the oil changes and things that much easier.

Not bad at all!

When she came out the water, I was pleasantly surprised that there was not too much underwater growth on the hull.

After a good high pressure wash down she looks as good as new again.

Nothing a good high pressure wash can’t fix

We had one more night on board up on the hard – not always very pleasant as one cannot use all the boat facilities – and then we headed back to SA and UK respectively.

 

Freshly oiled deck furniture

It turned out later that I had about 10 days to kill before my return flight to SA, so I went back to Zwartsluis and did some other long overdue repairs and maintenance, the first of which was to give all our lovely teak deck furniture a good oiling.

More on that next week.