The fastest Splash and Dash in Regenero History
11 November 2013
Karen
Monday, Nov 11th, 2013
Yesterday we arrived at the boatyard about 10:30…today we launched the boat at 10:30! Holy Cow!
Arrived at the yard by 6am with Frank and Denise, got the jib up, the lines and fenders run, the kayak on the boat and the dingy hoist ready. Checked in with the yard manager who tells us we’re scheduled at 3pm, which is a bummer since we cant get a slip in Nanny Cay, but instead need to run around back to Sopers Hole, to the marina there. We get our Dingy and engine out of hock in the Quonset hut, and they put it over by the launch ramp, where we pump it up, and try to remember where we stowed the plug, huh!
Frank and Denise have to go get some lab work done, then they are heading out for a sail. So they drop the car off where we plan to be this afternoon. Convenient this car sharing we are doing!
The boat in front of us is a Leopard 40 named Harmony, and they are first on the list to launch this morning, so when the guys come and see we are also ready to go, they launch Harmony, and come right back for us..Great! They paint up the bottom spots, and launch Regenero, Jim gets the engines started and everything seems to be working just fine….then we finally get the replacement plug for the dingy in, engine on and slip her into the water. I thought we would have time to raise her on the davits, but, oh no…, they simply tie the painter to one of our mooring lines, then walk the big boat out of the haulout well, and viola…we are towing the dingy. So out into the channel we go for the short run around the corner to Sopers Hole. Everything is working well, including the captain who handles the boat with his usual expertise, Patches trails along just fine, and I run around opening seacocks and running our treated water out thru the drains. We stop to pick up a can in Sopers so we can get the dingy running…Frank and Denise filled our dingy fuel tank for us so we add the oil and plug it all in, and again, Viola, three pulls and the outboard is working just fine! We motor over to the marina and arrange for our slip, then get back to the boat….haul up the dingy, and move over to the dock. By 12:30 we are secure on the dock, have arranged for the mechanics to come here, instead of Nanny Cay tomorrow, and ready for anything. Ocean Jedi comes back in about 5 from a great sail around Tortola, and we celebrate a successful all around day aboard OJ with Wookie Juice, and great grilled burgers. By 8:00 we are back ‘home’ with the first load of our luggage, get cleaned up and hit the sheets. This was the fastest launch we have ever done with ANY of our boats! Not sure I would recommend it, but all’s well that ends well.