With work completed at the yard, the boat was relocated back to her normal slip for stepping of the refurbished mast, final fit out and running of her lines. With that done, she was ready to hit the water. But wait! …… we had a problem.

We had decided very early on in the transformation that we wanted the best products for the right jobs. Antal provided the clutches, padeyes, low friction rings, low friction organizers, snap blocks and the like. Harken would be our supplier of choice for blocks and cleats. Wichard for snap shackles. North Sails for the wardrobe.

In the survey we had identified an issue with trapped water under the cockpit floor as well as potential rot in a bulkhead. To help get to these issues and to address a lack of stowage on the boat for outboards, sails, gear and the like, we had decided early on that we would cut out the center cockpit floor.

With the boat stripped and dried out and the nose off, it was time to start with the makeover. First on was a new prod – actually a very lightly used TP52 spinnaker pole cut down to length. As we did not want to see too much of a change in the boats IRC rating, the length of the pole was kept the same as its predecessor.

Off with the cockpit floor and out with 200kg of water! Ohhh, and we will have to fix this! So much for never having been up on the bricks!

In physics, Redshift happens when light or other electromagnetic radiation from an object is increased in wavelength, or shifted to the red end of the spectrum. In general, whether or not the radiation is within the visible spectrum, “redder” means an increase in wavelength.

The plan was simple; Savage was going to get ripped. All superfluous fat was going to be stripped out of her. She was going to get the ‘GI Jane’, minimalist look with the biggest guns she could possibly carry and she was getting a new name to match the new her (but more on that in the next blog).

Timing is everything, as they say, and Bas’ was spot on when he suggested that we buy Redshift, a Steiner Custom 29.