August 2021: New adventures await us; we are landbound till Kiri Maia2 is ready!

Kiri Maia has new owners, Mark and Stacy. It was a great feeling to finally hand over the keys and see Mark, Stacy, and Connor move on to Kiri Maia, to be renamed Bedouin.

We left Mark & Stacy to enjoy setting up Bedouin and we headed to “Le Sable D’olnne” a seaside town in Western France on the Atlantic coast, to wait for delivery of Kiri Maia2.

Luck was on our side the manager of a hotel just five minutes' walk from the Lagoon delivery wharf had a very nice one-bedroom sunny apartment we were able to rent till Kiri was delivered.

Having a fixed place to live was perfect we were able to travel and shop to our heart's content without the worry of having to move apartments.

Every day seemed to be full of new challenges to overcome, along the way we were very lucky to meet so many people that helped us to enjoy the time spent waiting for Kiri Maia2.

Here is just a few highlights of the time spent waiting for Kiri Maia

Spending time with newly discovered family members, Greg, Virginie & Maelys. A bonus being that they only lived a short three-hour drive from Le Sable D’olnne.

• Shortly after arriving in Les Sables while going for a walk, we met Ertan Beskardes while he was preparing “Lazy Otter” a Rustler 36, for the Golden Globe race. Ertan welcomed us aboard Lazy Otter and we spent many hours learning about solo sailing in the Golden Globe race.
• We had two visits to the Lagoon factory, the first visit was a bit disappointing as Kiri Maia2 hadn’t been started. We were very fortunate to have a second visit as Kiri Maia2 was nearing the end of the production line. We found out later that we had been very lucky to go be able to have both visits. Thanks to Covid factory tours had been stopped. It was impressive to see how the boats are made especially as a boat generally takes twenty-eight days to travel along the production line till it pops out of the factory.
• What to do for Christmas, we really wanted a Christmas to remember after all it would probably be the only time, we would get to experience a winter Christmas. After a lot of research on all sorts of possible destinations, Marcel booked a Christmas market riverboat cruise on the Rhine from Basel Switzerland to Amsterdam Holland. A perfect choice, spending Christmas with a great bunch of people, and lots of great site seeing including Christmas markets. The boat was a Christmas wonderland, and the food was great. Thrown into our Christmas adventure was four action-packed days site seeing in Paris.
• Having all our boat gear in storage in Greece, we decided to hire a van and drive through France, and Italy and catch the ferry to Greece, a road trip to remember cruising along with no set plans. Italy was a real highlight so much history and beautiful places to see.

Returning back to Le Sables it was time to do some serious shopping and organizing of contractors in preparation for Kiri Maia2 arrival.

17 Febuary, Kiri Maia is in Le Sable D’olnne

It's very hard to describe how exciting it was to go to the Lagoon factory and follow Kiri Maia2 back to Les Sables we were right behind the truck all the way.

• The delivery team was incredible. The entire journey seemed to be full of major hazards to be avoided, up and down Kiri went on the trailer, under bridges, knocking over traffic cones on the side of the road, avoiding road worker trucks, squeezing through a few tight spaces with what looked like inches to spare. The entire way we watched the pilot motorbikes racing around stopping traffic while the pilot vehicle at the back kept zapping side to side, ensuring they didn't hit anything. Driving down the motorway Kiri was so wide she took up the two lanes, and no one could get past. Finally while watching the truck driver back Kiri into the yard we really appreciated the incredible skill of the entire team and still find it hard to believe they made it without hitting anything.
• On the 5th of March, we moved out of the apartment and onto KM2 till we left France on the 27th of March. There was never a dull moment living on the dock, the days were busy with contractors working on Kiri Maia2 and all the other boats, lots of shopping, making sure we had all the safety equipment we needed, going on a shake-down sail to make sure everything was in working order and socializing with fellow sailors.
• By the 27th of March, we were ready to leave France as there was a perfect weather window to sail across the Bay of Biscay to Spain a two-night three-day sail.

Looking back to August 2021 when we left NZ to the 5th March 2022 handover date for Kiri Maia2, Marcel & I had such an amazing seven months, packed full of new experiences.

Now for the next chapter of our journey, setting sail in Kiri Maia2 down the Atlantic coast and across the Med to Greece.