The week started with a special treat, and ended with a splash. The special treat was a dinner invite by a couple of our dearest of Readers. Chris and Gretchen are experienced sailors who are suffering from land-locked syndrome. They live near Cary, and stumbled across our blog site on the internet. As it turns out, Gretchen once upon a time had a similar dream to drop it all and go sailing. Chris has only recently caught the bug, and they wanted to meet with us and talk about all things 'cruising.'

We quickly overcame the social awkwardness of having never met and slipped easily into conversation. We stayed until eyelids became heavy and the notions of the next day's work commitments intruded into our thoughts. It was a wonderful gesture for a couple of strangers to invite us into their home. We hope that we have the opportunity to return the favor by having them join us on the boat sometime this summer.

Speaking of the boat, Friday started at about the same time as our usual workday morning; however, there was a spring in our step as we bounded out of bed. Our mission today was to drive out to Bridgeton to gently prod David toward the completion of the work on Prudence. With just a few items remaining before he pronounced his work done, we wanted to be ready to hop aboard and sail her away.

Actually, more accurately speaking, we wanted to inspect all that he had done and have plenty of time to ask questions. We took a day of vacation and arrived at about 8:30am, just as they were starting their workday. The final touches of bottom paint were being placed on the new below-the-waterline thru-hulls, and the drive shaft was being re-coupled to the transmission with a new cutlass bearing in place.

I spent a little time cleaning off the transducer for the depth sounder and the paddle wheel for the velocity meter, then applied two coats of special antifouling paint to these two items. Meanwhile, Sheryl went around taking photos of everything new and improved. David replaced the prop and attached the zincs. We were ready to go, and simply had to wait for the final touches of bottom paint on another boat (currently in the sling) to dry so that we could enter the sling for our last bit of bottom paint.

A little after 2:00pm, the bottom paint on the bottom of our keel tried, and we were ready to go into the water. A few minor adjustments were required, but no alarming results. This is quite a relief, when you have six below-the-waterline thru hulls replaced. I spent nearly a half-hour checking and double checking each one...opened/then closed...until I was satisfied that we were safe to cast off the lines and head for New Bern.

Our fears about the Trent River Bridge were unfounded, as since the closing of the road to auto traffic, the swing bridge has been left open permanently. This should make for a lot of flexibility for a summer of weekend boating.

Forty-five minutes after departing Bridgeton, we pulled into our slip at Bridge Pointe Marina for only the second time. It had been nearly a month since we had spent that one night here back in April. The gregarious nature of boating people showed strongly, as several people we had met just that one time before recognized us. In addition, a couple we helped tie up upon their arrival that evening (whom we had never met) offered us a ride back to our car in Bridgeton. I was thankful, as Pam & Ken had saved me a 3 mile walk across the big bridge.

The remainder of the evening was devoted to putting items back in their proper places on the boat. We had cleared out spaces for access to the drive shaft and thru-hulls, and it was now time to put everything back. It is like a huge puzzle, which never gets put together the same way twice. We got things squared away (well enough) with the exception of bending on the roller-furled headsail. We tried, but the 15+ knot winds were just too much for us to be taking the sail up, especially since this is our first time bending this sail back on. Instead, we secured the sail on the bow, and decided to wait for a morning calm.

Dinner was an unusually late 9:30pm affair, after which the crew fell into a comfortable coma aboard a gently rocking boat. It is good to be home!


CLICK HERE for many, many photos of boat pieces and parts, plus a few from the rest of the weekend.