One final flight across the Channel — and no more showstoppers.

By Piet – Fox’s Marina, Ipswich – Bound for the Netherlands

It all started with a fuel filter. One small, essential part — and a lead time of ten days in the UK. Ten more days of waiting felt completely unacceptable when the horizon was already calling.

A quick scan of chandleries across Belgium and the Netherlands turned up a promising lead: Van de Rest in Wemeldinge had exactly what we needed, in stock and ready to go. As luck would have it, we were already planning a long birthday celebration weekend in Amsterdam — so a short stopover in Wemeldinge became the obvious solution. We picked up the part on the way, and the weekend was wonderful.

The Brexit Problem

With the filter in hand, the next obstacle loomed: getting it to the UK. Since Brexit, shipping even small goods across the Channel has become a surprisingly painful affair — high costs, unpredictable customs delays, and no guarantee of timely delivery. Handing the part to a courier and hoping for the best was simply not an option we were willing to take.

Face-to-face meetings — both with Oyster and with the team at Fox’s — were simply worth the time, and worth every euro of the airfare.

Piet made the call quickly: fly over himself. Ryanair had cheap fares from Eindhoven to Stansted, and carry-on luggage can hold a fuel filter just as well as anything else. It was the kind of direct, practical decision that sailors learn to make.

A Productive Wednesday

The morning flight touched down at Stansted, and Piet was at Fox’s boatyard in Ipswich by noon. The fuel filter changed hands almost immediately — and within the hour, it had been successfully fitted to the diesel engine. What had seemed like a logistics puzzle for weeks was resolved before lunch.

With the mechanical side sorted, Piet turned to a thorough round of final checks. One by one, the systems came to life:

• Generator — started and running smoothly
• Main engine — fired up without hesitation
• Newly fitted autopilot with its new controller — tested and confirmed working

Everything performed exactly as it should. After the checks, Piet sat down with Oyster Brokerage to work through the paperwork: the bill of sale, the acceptance letter, and the various practicalities of a formal vessel transfer. It was the kind of meeting that simply needs to happen in person — unhurried, thorough, and genuinely valuable.

No More Showstoppers

By the end of that Wednesday in Ipswich, the verdict was clear: there were no remaining obstacles, no unresolved issues, nothing to delay the journey home. The yacht was ready.

A tentative departure date was agreed on the spot. Weather permitting — and barring any swift and dramatic deterioration — the vessel will leave Ipswich on the evening of Thursday the 12th, arriving in the Netherlands in the course of the morning on the 13th.

After all the planning, the waiting, and the logistics — she is finally coming home. We are so excited!