Photo: A novel way of hauling a twenty ton boat from the water.

We're now back in England for a short while because the wintertime in Anacortes is not so much different to English winters... wet, wet, wet! We've both got families to catchup with and Dave has gorgeous new grandson we desperately need to get to know. The biggest and most heartbreaking problem of living this sailboat life is that close family and old friendships begin to decay. It can be quite upsetting at times.

We hauled out with North Harbor Diesel who are going to attempt to finally fix our Volvo Penta engine, they'll also install a new transmission gearbox, fix the hole in our rudder and bows and various other work over the cold months of winter. We've also arranged with old Tom from Canvas Outfitters to replace our spray hood and bimini cover because our existing ones are worn out and storm battered. Hard to think they were only renewed three years ago down in New Zealand.

Our haul out from the water was a fascinating experience using a new method we've not come across before, using self-drive hydraulic wheel based lifts that are driven down a ramp into the water much like a trailer lifting and launching smaller boats... except these guys can lift fifty ton boats and then drive them for many miles down normal roads to storage yards and workshops some distance from the water. We simply steered Sänna between two markers and five minutes later we were out of the water. Simple, easy and safe. We were both extraordinarily impressed! Seriously, there are many parts of the world that would benefit from this technology without the need to construct expensive lift out facilities with waterside storage and workshops... anyone out there looking for an investment opportunity?

Sänna is now wintered down and our plan is to return sometime in the spring to make our way back north to Alaska. Of course, our plans are like a line in the sand at low tide - they get washed out and changed twice a day. Our big issue is whether to continue with our attempt to transit the Northwest Passage because our Volvo engine is not nearly reliable enough and continually causes concern. We shall see how the big green piece of Swedish scrap metal performs in the coming months before we make a decision... we're not that confident and hope North Harbor Diesel know what they're doing - they are after all Volvo Penta experts.

Fingers crossed.
________________________________________________________________________________
Please visit our SV Sänna website for more details of our circumnavigation voyage from the UK. Also at www.facebook.com/SV.Sanna. Like our Facebook page if you'd like to receive more news about our sail adventure. You can contact us here.