"To live only for some future goal is shallow. It’s the sides of the mountain which sustain life, not the top. Here’s where things grow. But of course, without the top you can’t have any sides. It’s the top that defines the sides."

Robert M. PirsigZen and the Art of Motorcycle maintenance (1974)

Our future objective and the top of the mountain for us is to keep sailing and once more offer our adventures over the world’s oceans. But this goal will have to go first through the actual world exceptional situation under the policies for dealing with the virus pandemic, but also through weeks of repairing on board what is not in good working condition, maintaining and preparing our ship. We can’t do much about the first point, and it is even uncertain when or how we will be able to fix our society and ourselves in the following times; but during the next weeks we will be mending the Europa, our little part of the world that is within our reach, and the base to make our voyages happen.Europa’s hull carries on her shoulders over 100 years of history and a several years refit from her original sedentary purpose as a lightship in Elbe River, to the highly diverging task of becoming the ocean wanderer bark she is today. To keep her up and running is worth the investment and effort. We all know that lasting things require constant maintenance and repair, a point maybe not as valued as it should be in the actual society, where is all more based on one-use and a quick turnover of items.Now, days pass for our crew while performing the necessary tasks of sanding, grinding, rust busting amongst other countless undertakings and the more specific jobs of our carpenter and engineer. The dirt, paint, dust and the noise, defy daily the efforts to keep decks and shipyard tidy, all together being necessary but at the same time giving such a shocking and different look compared to the romantic idea many have of sailing across the oceans.