Many people – sometimes also the two of us – thought that this day would not come. But it did. Let’s start four days early. On Friday the 31st of July the WSW Berlin – the sailing club of the previous owner of the boat – was throwing us a good bye party. As we have only been guests the last year and did not have too much contact with the club in the cold Berlin winter (we were the only people most of the time working) things changed over the last three months before our departure. Most members of the club grew fond of us and thought it was beautiful, that the boat they thought would only be dumped soon was actually maybe SUCCESSFULLY be restored. And so they did not only watch but actually participate. Oskar in particular gave us basically an entire work shop of tools and useful other items. And they became friends for us too. We were just the two of us most of the time and then there were these guys … older wiser and a little wealthier but just boys, like us. And they decided to throw us a good bye party. Thank you WSW for an amazing time. We will be back!
The days after that we prepared and we had some friends over to give us a farewell. Thank you Nike, Lio, Kiri, Jan and Judith. A beautiful night that has been.
On the 4th of August at around 4 p.m. we started. The last thing we did before turning on the engine was cut the letters for registration and Name of the boat. Please welcome the BARFUß to the high seas. For an afternoon in the middle of the week, there were surprisingly many people around the club area. Working half-enthusiastic on something, but I think many were just waiting for the big moment. And hell it was big. They were all blowing the horns, bells were ringing. My parents waving from the dock. People at the balcony of the sailing club. We felt like we left for the vendee globe. Oskar and Mort were even escorting us towards the northern terminus of the Wannsee. Yeah it was emotional, all these people and knowing that this is the moment I leave berlin after four years. Writing about it is almost as strange. It’s a mix of overwhelming and nostalgic feelings spiced with the unease that you are now doing this adventure – like for real. It feels similar to riding a big wave 😉
We crossed our first lock in Spandau and made it to the Niederneuendorfer Lake just in time for the night, to do our first night at anchor. We were on our way and everything worked. Wow
