Splash!
11 November 2011
Karen
Well after a week of hot, sweaty, and did I mention hot work we managed to successfully splash on Friday, Nov 11th. Personally I found myself ridiculously apprehensive about the event. You think I hadn’t already done this roughly 15 times! In fact – I was so apprehensive; I refused to post anything in case it would be bad luck…which makes no real sense since I am not superstitious. Just goofy! So here’s what the rest of last week was like.
All week Jim has been working hard first washing the outside of the boat – then using oxidation remover and finally waxing the topsides. We have a buffer, however he feels he gets a better finish doing it by hand so it takes him about four days. While he washed the outside of the hulls I washed the inside and under belly of the boat. Then I helped him polish one approximately 3 foot square area and promptly quit - too hard for me, And there was potential plank usage involved, and well – you all know I don’t do planks.
We arrived at the boat between 6 & 6:30 every morning to take advantage of the cooler temps, so by 1pm we were toast!
Our crate was delivered on Tuesday, and we hauled all the multitude of boxes (20!) onto the boat except for some material that we took over to the apartment along with my sewing machine. Then we attempted to stuff all the stuff from the boxes into the boat. It is a fine line of trying to keep track of everything, and put it away quickly, so the boat is ready to maneuver around and in when we launch. We did our best knowing that several lockers need to be completely emptied, and reorganized when we are at the dock. At the moment we have laundry detergent, engine spares, electronics and sunscreen all occupying the same locker. Not exactly optimal according to my organizational plan.
On Wednesday we started the day as usual at the yard at 6 then, in the afternoon we went back to the apartment and I made new cushion covers for the starboard V-berth to include an extra layer of memory foam. It took over 6 hours, and one nearly false start, but I finished, and if I do say so myself they look pretty great. I have a few nips and tucks to take in them, now that they are on the boat – but all in all a job well done.
Thursday found us again scrubbing and stowing. The Rigger came to install a few new fittings and tighten the rig, and we discovered that our turnbuckles were completely frozen. (For the uninitiated – turnbuckles are supposed to well Turn, on what looks like a huge screw top and bottom so the big steel cables that hold the mast up can be tensioned properly…so that the mast stays…um, UP!) They needed to find an alternative to fix that problem.
Friday…Launch Day! Umm, we think.
Waiting on the canvas guys and the rigger to get a final approval. The rigger shows up at 9:20 to advise they have a fix and can cut off our old turnbuckles, and put on new ones, so if we can push back our launch by an hour it can all be done. Ok…stressful for me…but, it must be fixed. Good as his word Wade had the old stuff cut off and the new turnbuckles installed in 40 minutes or so and by 11am we were in the launch well and ready to go.
We headed over to Port Louis, where we plan to spend the next few weeks finalizing the boat work and – well swimming every afternoon. About 40 feet away, just as we are approaching the dock, where Stephen and Hiro are waiting to help us in and Jim is turning the boat so we can back in the port shifter that we were worried about fails. All I hear from the forward deck where I am getting the lines ready is a big thunk…and I think…hmm – that can’t be good. Amazingly Jim is able to get the port engine into neutral, but turning is now out of the question and so he lines us up to go bow in…of course, it is blowing 20 knts just now and he is trying to use the windward engine to move us toward the wind and away from the dock, that is looking awfully close from where I am standing!! eeek! Fortunately all went well and the guys were able to ease us in after Jim managed to put us right where we needed to be. Good grief!
So by 1pm here we are at Port Louis, which we love, tied up and secure at dock, floating, no leaks with fans running…Life is pretty darn good.