With launch day for Pérdika rapidly approaching, and very little time left, I was reminded of the quote on the wall at Fyne Boat Kits in Kendal where all this began “Don’t let excellence get in the way of good." So, a few shortcuts later, which no one will notice and if they do, I can counter challenge them with another remark I learnt at Fyne  “So, how many boats have you built?”

Pérdika finally splashed into the water on 5th May with Pouláki proudly sitting on her bow. The first hoist to get her up there was a nervous moment. Would the lifting eyes hold? Was my epoxy work strong enough? Would she balance in the lifting harness okay? Fortunately it all went very well. Pouláki was finished with a promise to do a few more improvements later, much later, as we needed to get our lives back and concentrate on the main voyage.

So we sailed down to Lakki harbour, spent a week ignoring her - almost (we still had to epoxy and varnish the rudder, mast, boom and thwarts). Finally at the end of the week, on 12th May with the help of our Aussi friend Bob, we gently lowered Pouláki into the water.

This day had to be the day, there simply wasn’t any time left if we were to sail Pouláki for the first time in Lakki before leaving. A promise of a PFL afterwards was encouraging even though the weather, with strong gusts, wasn’t ideal for the first sail. “She floats” was my first thought, followed by “where’s that water coming from?” One of the screw holes to hold the nesting halves together didn’t have a screw. Rapidly jumping into her, putting the screw in sorted all that. Rachael leaped on board and we set off, closely shadowed by Bob in his rib, as rescue boat and chief photographer.

From the moment we set off Pouláki felt right. She sat in the water with perfect poise, she wasn’t tippy like I thought she’d be, and she responded proudly as the sail filled. She is a proper sailing dinghy, as had been promised by her designers and she soon skipped across the bay. She tacks well, heads up well and feels like there’s plenty of power. It’s an immensely satisfying feeling to build your own boat and despite the weeks and weeks of work, it was all worth it to feel the boat respond so well. We are going to have lots of fun and plenty of adventures with this little boat.