Wednesday, April 16, 2014 We are Hauled!

Saturday we really got busy, and spent the day stripping sails and running messenger lines…a long job, that took most of the day to complete. Sunday found us polishing stainless, cleaning heads and washing cabinets. Its an awfully long punch list to get the boat ready to be put to bed…especially for the 18 months we are planning to be away.

Monday According to our insurer we need a new survey prior to renewing our insurance next March…weeeelll, since next February we plan to be roughly 2000 miles away from Regenero, and getting further by the day, we planned to have this done here in Puerto Rico before we put her to bed. So this morning our charming surveyor arrived at 8:00am sharp and got to work. Three hours later we have the bulk of the survey done and are feeling pretty good about the shape Regenero is in.

Then it’s on to the next…and we are off to rent a car and haul our sails in to the sail maker so she can check their condition and attend to any repairs before we store them. This is another case of ‘island style’ directions as we head out following these instructions… ‘turn right out of the marina, go to Rt 3, then go strait until the shell station, where you turn right, you know where the road is all messed up? Then you go strait on that road. You will see the way to the ferry, and the burger king, go to the flashing yellow then make a right and you’ll see us on the left.’

Instead of following the above, we tried to navigate using the ipad with the street address, which unfortunately turned a 20 minute trip into nearly an hour, with multiple wrong turns, several trips up, then down the same road, and just a wee bit of frustration for Jim and I in the car…. Oh, and by the way, we have actually been here before with Frank and Denise…so thought sure, no problem….we know where we’re going! Finally, however, we managed to find the sail loft and lug our sail bags up to the second floor, Whew! One more chore off the list! Then its off to West Marine for supplies and back to the boat for oil changes and bilge cleaning….yup, it’s a glamorous life.

Tuesday, we are very excited as Ocean Jedi arrives today…so we have been monitoring the radio in order to help them on to their dock when they arrive. They arrive early, and once we they are secure we have a quick visit with the family before they all head off to visit the rain forest.

Then, it’s back to work for Jim and I … getting all our stuff organized into
what stays on the boat, and so needs to be cleaned and packed, and what goes with us on OJ. As they are on the docks across the channel from us the quickest way to get there is by water, so we dropped the dingy and made 3 trips across. Foul weather gear, snorkel equipment, two duffels, electronics and all our excess food…packed, loaded, unloaded, and stowed (as best we could) aboard our new home. Then, back to Regenero for a full boat wash to de-salt her and by then we were tired, dirty and more than a little rank. We called it a day…showered up and then headed over to Ocean Jedi to group up for dinner at the Brass Cactus.

Wednesday…..Haul out day! EEEEK…no mater what, haulout day is stressful…always. And this one comes with its own special set of challenges. We need to back in to the haul out well, and the well is about 24.5 feet wide…we are 23 feet wide…meaning we have 9 inches on each side of the boat…or exactly the width of a fender. To do this we need to line up perfectly and back straight in….there are no allowances for wind, current, other boats…nuthin.

Fortunately Frank and Denise are standing by as our dock hands and we have the first haulout of the day. They launch a boat in the well we are using right around 8:10, so as soon as we see the well clear, we get our clearance and head in…eeek!
Jim eases us off the docks, and backs the boat, lining her up the whole way, and with Frank and Denise on the starboard hull, with lines and extra fenders at the ready. And then, shortly…we are IN. No bumps, thanks to Denise’s quick fending off, Jim’s amazing driving and Frank and I on the lines! Hallelujah!
It takes a little bit, but we are hauled up in the slings, and making our way over into the yard. I take care of the paperwork, and our surveyor is back this morning to complete the hull portion of the survey. Our mechanic, Bobby comes by to discuss our arrangements and we begin the next stages of putting the boat to bed… flush engines, drop dingy, flush dingy engine, and on and on it goes!...til finally, we are done, and we drag our selves over to OJ for a sandwich, a shower and a rest.
We did it…but man are we tired!