Saturday, May 7th, 2011

For those who are boaters I'll apologize in advance for this post as I know it will bring back fond reminiscences of aches and pains and bruises and cuts. For those of you who think this life is all umbrella drinks with friends...buckle up as I describe the past 5 days as we hauled the boat and tucked her up for the hurricane season.

Tuesday we left Port Louis amid sad farewells to the many friends we made there. An hour later we were anchored in Prickly Bay and began stripping the sails - first the Jib, the smaller sail in the front, came down and we did our very best to fold it neatly on deck. This requires exacting teamwork from Jim and I to try to fold this triangular sail evenly...without too much shouting. "pull the Top end, NO THE TOP...in your right hand...um...no, your left hand - my right ... sorry" all while the light breeze is lifting the rest of the sail and trying to flip it over the lifelines into the water. That one done, and secured with line, and we move on to the larger main sail. Which has battens, or stiffeners fitted into the sail to help it keep its shape. First we need to remove the battens, and disconnect the sail from the mast. Then attempt to fold it as neatly as the jib....well - close enough anyway. At least we have enough deck room to be able to do this onboard as there is nowhere to do it in the yard where the sails won't get dirty. This takes several hours - but we finally tame the beasts and have the sails stored in the saloon. Last thing here is to take the battens out of the sail bag and roll up and store the sail bag in the luggage as I need to replace it with a new one this summer.

Now it's on to the rigging. Jim decided we should remove all the running rigging (all the lines that do the work on the boat) in order to preserve their life from UV damage, as well as keep the boat deck cleaner. While in Theory I completely agree with this..Practically, I was pretty tired and so was slightly less than enthusiastic to do the job. But my good nature (heavy sarcasm here) won out and we reran all the lines, but one, since we ran out of the messenger line to do the last halyard. This requires taping the smaller, messenger line to the working line - then pulling it thru whatever blocks and pulleys it goes thru until it is out on both sides, they tying it off on both sides. Some lines go thru the boom, and some thru the mast. Once done, and the line is free, we need to label it so in the fall we will be able to put them all back in the right place. We finally finished this around 4:30 - and believe me when I tell you I was beat. However, the fun is just beginning...as we are scheduled to haul at 9am tomorrow and then the real work begins (wimper). We took advantage of our last night at anchor to have a swim in clear, warm waters and then watched the stars come out as we haven't had the chance for quite a while. Ahhhh.

Wednesday
We keep our eyes on the haulout well which we can see from our boat, and just after 9 head over to take our spot. We think we need to back into the well, which is 25 feet wide. As Regenero is 23 feet wide that gives us 1 foot on each side to play with...eeek! Going in forward is tricky enough! We had to stand in the basin and spin for about 20 minutes while they got the boat in front of us settled, but when our turn came they told us to spin around and drive her in bow first...Hallelujah! Except while we were standing one of the throttle handles slipped free and so Jim had to hold it on to use the port engine. Finally! We snuggled in the well and killed the engines...ahhh - now it's all up to the sling driver!

After taking care of the necessary paperwork, the slings returned from the boat hauled before us and Regenero was walked forward into the slings and hauled up and out of the water. They power-washed and scraped the bottom for the few barnacles on there and then moved her to her summer home in the yard. Here we go! Drop the anchor and chain all the way to the ground, clean and wash the anchor & chain, clean out anchor locker, let dry, reverse the markings on the chain, and haul the whole thing back up into the locker for storage. Jim was working out how to hang the dingy under the hull to keep it safe from UV damage...and thieves. Flush fresh water thru the dingy engine then take that off the dingy and haul it, all 85 lbs of it, up the ladder and on to the boat for storage. We had left the dingy in the water at Port Louis when we were there for more than two weeks...Big mistake. We had weeds and gunk and crustations growing all over the bottom and so spent 1 hour with BOTH of us scrubbing and scraping it off. I was amazed how ALL my fingers were nicked from this process. For the record...I was the one who wanted to leave it in the water....certainly won't do that again! Pack all the clothes we are taking - and it's a lot since we have about 4 weeks yet before we see home. Clean out the fridge and ice box, wipe all surfaces with vinegar water, and on and on and on.. by 4pm, we are beat and it's on to our apartment at the Cool Running's Apartments Complex conveniently located right behind the boatyard - Thank God, as I couldn't drag myself any further! The AC is on and we fall into it and a cool shower...only 3 more days!

One lovely convenience at Cool Running's is FREE LAUNDRY..yes free..no coins, no tokens, nothing but two new washers and dryers waiting for me. The only downside is I have to walk downstairs and outside to get there..at the end of these days that is a huge chore, but well worth it to be able to wash and dry EVERYTHING. So at the end of each day we do a few loads of laundry...hopefully by the end of the week it'll all be done!

Thursday

Today we get to the yard around 7 and begin hoisting the dingy. After a few rearrangements of the plan, we finally hit on the solution and once some new line is used it is up and secure and ready to be locked up. The mechanic came over to change the oil on the sail drives and discovered we still have a leaking seal on the port engine, so we get those parts ordered and schedule that for later. I run over to the sailmakers to arrange for the canvas work we want done. Once the mechanic is done, we get the boat engines flushed with fresh water and shut down. More packing, more cleaning, more stowing, 100 little jobs that each take forever. All I can say now is that after yesterday - I am slightly less sore today...must be the Tylenol!

Friday
6:45 at the yard - take everything (9 fenders, 8 lines, 8 jerry jugs, 2 dingy fuel tanks, etc) out of the port forward locker scrub fenders, wash off the rest, rinse, climb into the locker and clean it as well, let dry a few hours then put everything back in. More inside cleaning, storing the battens from the sail and lazy bag, Tinfoil the windows to reflect the sun and hang a towel curtain... final inside cleaning and stowing of all tools and gear meant to stay aboard...we are almost there. I intended to stow the Kayak inside the boat, but after lugging it off the side desk and into the saloon I discovered it was 1 foot too long to go thru the doors...so out it comes and up to the fordeck where we lash it to the catwalk, over the trampoline. We are so tired today we take off early...3:00! After checking in with the yard boss and dropping our key at the office we lug the last items off the boat and to our home away from home.

Saturday
6:45 finds us....walking to the yard. By 7am we have the hose running and Jim is scrubbing the boat while I grab the last minute stuff from inside, shut off the power to everything but the fans, which I turn on, then take off the anchor bridle which I woke up in the middle of last night remembering that I forgot to take off.! Then I join Jim on deck and we scrub Regenero bow to stern, then climb underneath and rinse her completely from salt water. We stuff rags in the thru hulls to keep the critters out, and grease them all just to be doubly sure we stay bug free. After stowing the hoses and brushes, and walking around one last time admiring how pretty she is all cleaned up. This will be it for a number of months and we are reluctant to leave now that the work is all done.

It has been an incredible season and learning experience. We've had a great time, met wonderful people (and some pretty strange ones) and saw some amazingly beautiful spots. What a wonderful life!

Tonight we will spend our last night on the island at de big fish, where Doc Adams Blues band is playing. Then it's off to the airport EARLY tomorrow to catch our flight to ST. Kitts where we meet Hanco. I'll drop a line and let you all know about our adventures ....Off Regenero, especially as we head out to the East coast...via BLUE WATER!

Love to all!