..that's a wrap folks...
...the decision to take the mast down on the week previous had been a good one as it turned out, the week delivered all the poor weather that the weather gonks had predicted (unusually). I was left slightly relieved (understatement) that we'd taken it down then, rather than the day I'd planned as I looked out the window at horizontal rain!
The following weekend however, was a different matter - I was due out on the Saturday, and with a 14:00'ish high tide the lift out guys had already told me that they would lift me out as soon as there was water..
Rather than waiting for a ride out to the boat, I snuck off and grabbed the tender, and three and a half hours before HT I was on the boat and getting her ready..
First job was to retrieve the lifting tackle - this was mostly new this year and I don't (ever) see the point in leaving mooring strops/chains/buoys on the mooring to be trashed all winter.. Yet again the decision to apply some waterproof grease to the threads on the main shackle paid off as with just a bit of grunt, she came undone and I managed to recover the lot..
Moored up with just a line from the forward cleat to the buoy, I then sorted out some mooring lines, fired up the donk, and three hours before, motored under the bridge and into the pool to await the crew..
Not enough water was the message so I grabbed a spare mooring and waited.
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Waiting my turn.. |
Soon enough they were on the pontoon and waving me in (it's to the left of the
white boat in the picture above) so for the last time this year I laid a boat
alongside a pontoon (and without issues), the lifting crew came on board, and
after a 20 minute wait for a little more water I was over, into the lift, and
plonked ashore...
She was however a disgrace under the water... I blame myself.. not enough sailing, so not enough moving water over the anti-foul...
...go on, admit it, absolutely bloody riveting... 😁
Next day I was down with paint scraper for the barnacles, and pressure washer for the rest, and she's 80% cleaner.. I think I'm going to have to do some gentle abrasion over this winter with a pole and some wet and dry sanding mesh - she's lumpy and bumpy with accumulated anti-foul. For now though - all done...