Saturday, November 22, 2014

Oddly enough…getting our punch list completed and checking off all the things that need to be done before splashing doesn’t get easier with time. And each year our list gets a little longer. For example, we met with Jorge, the Rigger and planned some work with him, and while talking he showed me the correct way to clean the line clutches (the thingies on the deck that keep the lines secured). The right way, huh…I didn’t even know I was supposed to be doing it! and of course it is something that needs to be done before we run the lines thru them…ok…one more task added to the list. But one by one the myriad of chores dwindles.

Melvin spent hours getting our engines in tip top shape, including new fuel lines, and finally late in the day on Wednesday we were ready to start them up. A few small hitches, but they fired up..a sweet and happy sound.

We managed to run all the lines and stow all our messenger lines, and only broke one connection on the starboard lazy jack line. Not quite sure how many years it’s going to take me to remember that I have to whip the line (sew it together), not use tape like we do for all the others. And since I made it very clear to Jim that I have made my last trip up the mast, he strapped himself into the Bosun’s chair and I hoisted him ¾ of the way up to manually run the line. While EVERYTHING about this life requires partnership, few things require more trust in your partner than strapping yourself into a swing and allowing your mate to haul you up, up and away.

We also managed to get both the jib and the mainsail on with no drama, shouting or otherwise making a spectacle of ourselves. The jib is generally easy, except we have to run the furling line properly BEFORE we hoist the sail. It’s a case of not too much line, but not too little, it has to be just right. I have marked the lines repeatedly, only to find the marks non-existent when I look for them. And while the system allows you to wind the furling drum both ways, only one is correct. If any of these things is incorrect, you don’t know about it until you have the whole sail hoisted and try to wrap it up. However, regardless of how calm it is when you start the wind ALWAYS decides to blow just when the sail gets 2/3 of the way up and so snaps and flaps the whole 50 foot high triangle this way and that making a huge racket and ensuring that EVERYONE in the boatyard is now watching while you try to yank the sucker down without being knocked overboard and redo it. The mainsail actually takes a lot more effort. It is nearly twice the size of the jib, and requires us to fit it to the mast track from the bottom up, shoving in 5 rigid battens to provide sail shape in sleeves. It’s big, it’s heavy, and one of us has to work the front, the other the back.
Take out the set screw from the back, insert the batten from the front, then a series of ‘stop’, ‘go’, ‘stop’, ‘back’, ‘go’, ‘stop’, etc until we get the thing in the pocket and locked down. The person in the back is alternately working over her head at the back of the bimini or balancing on top of the bimini. While the guy in front is holding a nickel diameter round piece of fiberglass rod that is anywhere from 10 feet to 25 feet long and trying to fit it in the sleeve. A true balancing act, but eventually we get it all done and Thursday we find ourselves ready for launch.

Bobby’s guys are here first thing to check out anything we have left outstanding and get the bottom painted and after running errands and signing all our paperwork by 12:30 we are ready to go. Our launch is scheduled for 1:30pm, and so now…we wait. Just after 2pm we hear the machine coming; beep, beep, beep… we get all ready. Wow…nearly ontime by PR standards…the lift comes cruising up the drive right behind us, and stops behind us…just long enough to make the turn and go pick up another boat! The guys who are going to finish our bottom job see the lift pass their shop, and so jump in their golf cart and speed over to our boat…only to stop right in the middle of the roadway when they see the lift turn and move on to the other boat. Huh?! It seems they had another boat to lift before ours, so 1:30 Atlantic time turns into 1:30 Central time! An hour later, beep, beep, beep, here they come again, and this time it is it actually IS for us! They put us in the slings, and the guys take care of the last minute bottom paint and then she is moving off thru the yard toward the well.
We are in the medium sling, which means we are launching in the medium well… which is 25 feet wide…a mere 2 feet wider than we are. No matter how many times we have done this I still find it very nerve-wracking, however the launch team are very professional and make sure not a scratch mars the hull! Because of the tight fit…it took us some extra time to get the slings detached, but eventually it all worked, and with a little push here and a pull there we were off and floating free.

Everything works, the water stays on the outside of the hull and the engines with one small hitch are running ok…I get on the radio to call for docking assistance and in just a few minutes we are around and into our slip. YAHOO! Spashed and ready to begin the season.

Jim suggested we stay at the hotel one more night since we were launching in the afternoon and it might take a while to get the boat ready to be lived in. This ranks as one of his better ideas since it was after 5pm when we finally arrive at our slip. Melvin, our mechanic showed up about 5 minutes after we docked to check the engines after they ran, and he will need to do one small adjustment tomorrow…but for now, its tie the boat up, make her fast and head back to the hotel for a long shower and one more night sleeping in AC!

Friday we get checked out and lug our ridiculous amount of luggage into the rental car. We plan to store most of it there for a few days until we get the boat in order and have a place to put all that stuff! After getting to the boat, running errands (primarily to get a pigtail so we can have power on the boat!) a visit from Melvin who now has our engines running super smooth, a visit from Bobby to check out the remaining jobs, a visit from the guys who took care of our sanitation hoses (which were leaking a little!) and we are busy cleaning and putting everything away!

Later in the afternoon we decided to clean up and head out to dinner, then stop at Wal-mart for a bigger shop. Well cleaning up and dinner at the Brass Cactus, a favorite Tex-Mex place went well, navigating to the Super-Walmart took a little more effort. Seriously, it appears that Puerto Rico is the land that GPS forgot. As we attempt to navigate on our phone to the little pin, which is dropped right where the internet says it should be…we drive to it, around it, past it, and still can’t find the Super Wal-Mart…weeeell, that’s because it is nearly 3 miles away! And it’s not the one I thought we were going to anyway! So an hour after departing on our 30 minute trip we finally made it there only to be confronted with the reality of PR shopping style. It is 8:30 in the evening on a Friday night and the place is packed…I mean packed. With more staff and shoppers than we generally see except for Black Friday back at home. In fact, the staff are continually restocking the shelves, because of the traffic. It is a bit of culture shock for us, especially since we are both still just a wee bit frustrated from the long trip around the block to get here.

But – we prevail, and after securing a microwave, electric coffee pot and finding soda for 92cents we were off and running. The trip home went way faster than there and soon we and all our plunder were back on the boat for our first night aboard.

So today it is packing and stowing and cleaning and unpacking and finding stuff. Squidy is out of his bag and back in his winter home overlooking the new microwave. My super-flameless candle (Thank you Lisa!) is illuminating the conch shells and all the luggage is stowed beneath the bunk. It’s getting there. To celebrate we went up the the restaurant at the marina planning to have a drink and some apps, and instead ended up with an awesome Mojito and signature Margherita and some really great Pizza, in addition to meeting some terrific people, the chef, the bartender and Sandra, our very lovely server. This is why we love this life.