The end of the 2023 sialing season Baringo was once again returned to the care of Dream Yacht Charters in Sant Mandrier -Sur -Mer for her winter on the hard and hopefully some maintenance .

In November we visited Hong Kong and New Zealand and John was unlucky enough to be hit by a car while in New Zealand which inevitably changed our course for a while .We spent Christmas  2023 in New Plymouth hospital under the expert care of the orthopaedic surgeons who repaired John’s right tibial plateau fracture and left ruptured quadriceps tendons. A dislocation of his left shoulder resulted in nerve damage so limiting the movement and strength of his left arm.All this prevented us from sailing during the next summer season but luckily we had arranged another charter contract with Dream Yachts who were very helpful in cancelling our own sailing bookings. After a visit to Baringo and  much discussion we decided to try and sell her.

Baringo was put on the hard as usual in November 2024 and in June 2025 we visited her and found her in a rather sad condition and only one potential buyer had seen her and not shown any interest in buying her .There was little more we could do at this stage as having thought she would sell quickly  we had already made summer plans and so it was not until September 2025 that we were able to arrange to launch and move Baringo .We arranged for the usual work to be done in preparation for the launch and when we arrived at the Russo hard standing she looked like a new boat !Such  a very pleasant and unexpected surprise and our spirits immediately lifted. We moved our boat belongings back on board and Baringo was successfully launched so we motored to the Dream Yachts marina for the night before setting sail for Baie des Anges near Nice where she was to spend the winter.It proved impossible to find a winter berth around St Mandrier but as we had been to Baie des Anges before they took pity on us.

We set off on September 5^th with a good westerly wind blowing us along but we had to shelter for a day in Hyeres because the wind strengthened significantly. It was a pleasant sojourn and we were underway after 24 hours with jib alone enjoying the favourable westerly wind. We anchored in Baie Canabiere near St Tropez where we ran aground while anchoring. The reason /excuse was that the depth sounder had been changed from meters to feet! A small motor boat arrived and helped us off as it was only sand but we will only discover the damage next spring.

The final leg to Baie des Anges under the same conditions was lovely and the tall rather unusual white blocks of flats surrounding the Baie look  surprisingly attractive and such welcoming landmarks from afar .Our mooring was well protected deep inside the marina and the staff could not have been more welcoming and helpful .Through them we found Honest Marine Services to look after the boat and organise the usual medley of tasks required to maintain Baringo afloat for another season.