Yesterday we did the rental car shuffle and brought our car to Stuart. We decided to drive back to the condo after dropping off the rental car. Wednesday night on the boat was hot and uncomfortable. We have no AC on Light Reach and with the dingy covering the hatch over the berth there was not much air down below even with fans on. I ended up sleeping in the cockpit.
We were scheduled for haul out at 12:30 with about 6nm to travel up the St Lucie to American Custom. Our log showed we had take approximately two hours to get there last year. We decided to cast off early calling ahead to see if we were still on schedule. Wayne told us to come on ahead. At just a bit past 0945 we headed out. We had a bit of confusion on the route to get under the Roosevelt Bridge. We had no track in the Chart plotter because it had been replaced last fall so we were relying on the IPad tracks. While the IPad works well, it has a wicked glare on the screen and gets upset when it gets too hot. Somehow we managed to get beyond the channel on the wrong side of the greens (they should have been to port), thank goodness there was enough water while we straightened ourselves out. We passed under the Roosevelt bridge and hailed the Old Roosevelt bridge to request an opening. That was the only bascule bridge on the route. We made excellent time going up the river arriving quite early at 11:00 AM. While we could not get directly into the travel lift they did have a dock for us to tie up. It actually worked rather well. We checked into the office and got the paperwork filled out. After that we unloaded the remainder of the boat, much easier when the boat is on a dock. We removed the dodger and bimini, covered the hatches and the rest of the cushions, stowing in lockers and down below those things that would not be affected by a long stay on the hard. When the yard was ready we moved her over the travel lift slings. It took them a bit to get her settled properly into the slings. They brought her forward and we scrambled off the bow. The rest of the job was left to the yard, power washing her bottom, moving her and blocking her on jack stands. (Scott made sure the yard knew she needed to be level to drain rain water properly.) An Uber trip back to the marina for our car and another season draws to its official close. We will go up sometime this week to tie down the boom, place dri rid and air fresheners in the salon and make sure she is ready for her summer rest.
The picture shows Light Reach in the slings of the travel lift, always something that leaves your heart in your mouth.