Tuesday, May 30 was haul out day. The plan: leave the slip at 9:45, motor to the fuel dock to top off the primary fuel tank, pump out the holding tank, then head to the haul out slip for our 10:30 appointment. In preparation, on our morning walks we checked out the fuel dock, haul out station, and dry storage. Keith says I jinxed us by writing a compliment on his driving in the previous post. I say it was his comment two days prior "this is a straight shot, no problem". Either way, very stressful and not the way anyone wants to end the season.

Naturally the wind was blowing 15 knots S/E, the tide was flooding, and our starboard bow thruster would not activate as we did our check prior to leaving the dock. We left the slip without an issue, tied up at the fuel dock and completed those tasks without any issues. It is a straight shot from the fuel dock to the haul out, looks simple. As we headed to the haul out slip , we attempted to make a U-turn so we could stern in as required but the current caught the bow not allowing it to come around pushing us sideways into the concrete haul out slip fingers (cringing at the thought of the damage it would do to our blue hull). With a lot of back and forth, and bad language, we got out of the area and attempted to turn around farther away where there was more room. Again, between the wind and the rather wicked current, we were pushed sideways and could not get the bow around- repeat this several more times ( with really bad language from the captain) even trying the other way using the port bow thruster, no luck.

At this point, a guy in a 25' power boat with two 350 hp mercury engines approached and tossed a line signaling to tie it to our bow. With his help, we got the bow around and kept it lined up as keith backed down to the slip. Another boater came over and nudged our aft port side as we entered the slip since we were still getting pushed pretty good by the current. We are very grateful for the tremendous assistance provided by these two gentlemen. The haul out supervisor said lots of boats have the same issue when the current and winds are like they were on Tuesday. He said we were fortunate these guys helped us - no kidding! We shook their hands and thanked both of them- good samaritans!!! Other than this experience, we really like the facility and staff so if we haul out again, I'll check the tides before committing to a date and time!