Week Ending Aug. 19th, 2023

It has been a whirlwind of a week as we are now mere days from launch and floating Sláinte for the first time!

In addition to continuing to outfit the boat for living, we’ve tackled a series of administrative details this week:

Visa extension – After two visits to a processing office an hour away, a formal Visa extension to the SA government has been submitted as the desired departure date from the country would exceed the 90 day tourist window granted upon entry. Currently, only the application for Steve has been submitted while others continue to soften the beachhead, working hard to convince Lisa to join the crossing, and thus need a Visa extension request as well.

Should you ever need to submit a visa extension application in South Africa, we can’t say enough about the wonderful team in George.

FCC applications for a Ship’s Radio license – This process ultimately results in the assignment of a MMSI# (maritime mobile service identities) which includes critical vessel identification information, feeding multiple pieces of equipment, including the ship’s AIS (automatic identification system). When operational, our AIS communicates with other vessels similarly equipped to electronically identify and provide information regarding our signal day or night (and vice versa). This is a critical safety feature you simply shouldn’t go to sea these days without (and all large international sea going vessels of 300 or more tons, as well as passenger vessels, are required to have).

Fortunately, with the mind bending administrative work, the fun factor was injected into this week with the completion and launch of our tender. As advertised, the SeaSUV platform is amazingly stable, dry, light and very spacious. Coupled with a 25 hp Yamaha, we should be able to make quick work of larger anchorages as our intentions are to primarily anchor out and not spend time tied to a dock in marinas.
Kudos to Ido and his team for the SeaSUV for their work (see https://www.foil-smart.com/ for insight on our baby).

Orientation on the SeaSUV with builder and master craftsman Ido Meyer:

In addition, work continues at a feverish pace on Sláinte:

Solar panels are now installed aft over the tender davits. This will provide up to 3200W of juice to support all our equipment

EVA (soft decking) application is underway on all topside areas. Easy on the feet & legs, while providing better grip when wet, EVA is a great standard feature on the Vision 444 that combines comfort and safety.

The final buff and polish of the hull is underway. The Awlcraft finish on Sláinte is just spectacular.

Plans are for the boat to depart the factory very early Tuesday morning the 22nd (11 pm Mon EST) to reach the marina launch ramp. From there the team will attach what makes the magic happen on a sailboat, installing the mast (i.e. ‘the rig’). The plan is to splash her late afternoon Tuesday once all is ready, and Lisa handles the blessing and christening.

In closing this week, we’d be remiss without a shoutout to our dear friend, talented designer, and administrator of this blog – Joe Laviano. If you are in need of personal or business/professional website design and management, reach out to Joe’s company at ocronusa.com. Tell him we sent you and we guarantee you won’t be disappointed.

Next up … Christening by Lisa and splash day