"On the Hard" in Southport

Sue checking the keel where SHE ran aground. For
some reason, all the paint was missing!

We took the boat down the ICW two miles on Tuesday March 23 to be hauled out.  We tried to time our arrival for slack tidal current, so we could have at least some chance of getting into the narrow slip for the Travelift.  We made it on our second try, so that's not too bad.

A bit of a climb to get aboard!

The haulout went smoothly with no unexpected surprises (like dropping the boat!)  Our initial walk-around showed that the hull was very free of barnacles, so the periodic bottom cleaning which we had done through last summer served us well.  Most importantly, I thought that in general we had fewer large bulging blisters on the fiberglass hull than I've seen on previous haulouts.  Maybe the fact that we've been in cooler waters for the past year (Chesapeake Bay) has reduced the severity of the blisters.  But make no mistake; this boat was built in Taiwan in 1987 (during a time when inferior resin was used in the fiberglass lay up), so it will always have some blisters.

Sue is earning her new title of "Lead Barnacle Buster".
That anode on the prop shaft (near her head) might
need replacing!  The red/blue paint on the keel are
the 3 coats of paint from last haulout.

We spent the rest of the week starting to work through our list of things to do.  The major effort for us is to closely inspect the boat below the waterline for needed repairs.  And then to clean the barnacles and crud from the hull & running gear.  And then to knock off the old zinc anodes & get ready to install the aluminum anodes for use in fresh water this summer.  And then to closely monitor the boat yard workers as they do the chores that I just don't want to mess with anymore.

We'll have just 2 weeks to finish our own list of chores on the boat, before we hit the road again for 2 weeks to Florida, then to New Orleans, then to Birmingham AL, then to Chattanooga, and finally back here.  Still hoping to splash the boat around April 22, but I have yet to see a schedule from the yard.  Just hope my yard experience doesn't turn into a nightmare like John & Susan's boat in Mobile AL.  Their original 3 week yard period turned into a 9 week horror story!

Southport, North Carolina

The Admiral is back in charge!

We’re on the road again!!  After returning from Florida, we spent only a short week on the boat before we left our winter home in Little River, South Carolina, and headed north to Southport North Carolina.  (yeah, sometimes even we get confused which way we’re headed!)  It has been three years since we’ve hauled the boat out to check the fiberglass blisters and paint the bottom, so we’ve scheduled a 4-5 week yard period.

A mess of Anhinga birds sunning on the dock canopy

We had a weather window on March 18, so we got underway to take advantage of the tidal currents.  In doing so, we ended up traveling on the Intracoastal Waterway across some ocean inlets (that continuously have shifting shoals) at low tide – which means “skinny water”.  We were so focused on recording depths across the inlets that we maybe possibly might have strayed outside the channel just a wee bit, and started plowing through the soft bottom.  Sue, who was driving, said “Something doesn’t feel right” and I responded “Because we’re aground!”  Luckily we were able to plow forward back into deeper water, with no apparent damage (which we’ll confirm next week when we haul the boat).  Oh well, as they say, “there are only two kinds of boaters:  those who have been aground, and those who are going to go aground!”  At least we hit bottom on our first trip of this year, so we got it out of our system & we can check that off our list!

Sunrise along the ICW from our aft sundeck

This Monday we plan to go 2 miles to the boatyard, where we’ll be on the hard for hopefully no more than 5 weeks.  We have big travels plans this season, so we need to be heading north by May 1.  We’ve brought several credit cards with us & closed out two checking accounts in hopes of paying for all the yard work that is needed.  BOAT = Break Out Another Thousand.

We’re spending a couple days now unloading all our stuff from the boat, since we can’t live on it while it is out of the water.  The best part is that Sue was able to rent an apartment right here at this marina, so we only have to transport our stuff a couple hundred yards.  Then, 5 weeks from now, we get to reverse the process!  Ain’t boating fun?!?

We’ll see what condition the hull is in next week.  Should make for some interesting photos and an interesting time!

Reunion

Jacket weather at St Augustine Beach, doing what
we do best

As we’re sitting around this coooold winter, pretending to be busy, we keep seeing how warm the temperatures are in Florida.  Sue starts talking to our boating buddies who used to keep their boats with us at “Hell’s Bar” marina outside Chattanooga, and the idea of a reunion creeps into the conversation.  We hadn’t been together as a group in about 3 years.  Two of the couples (Roger & Laura and Ken & Betsy) have already been smart enough to move to Florida, but the other two of us (Clint & Leigh and Sue & yours truly) still try to freeze our patooties in the middle of the country.

Eating our way around St Aug

So Sue gets busy on the internet, and finally finds us a nice big beach house to rent for a couple days on St Augustine Beach.  We set the dates for the reunion as March 5-9, and, wouldn’t you know it, a strong cold front comes through the area on March 5!

Just before the get-together, we are saddened to hear that Laura had a death in the family, and she & Roger will not be joining us for the reunion.  The rest of us missed them terribly during our few days together.

Sue shucks her first oyster!
(say that quickly 3 times!)

The other 3 couples tried to live up to our reputations, as we ate and drank our way around St Augustine.  Clint & Leigh were our guides, since they had been in the area several times.  We ate at all the good restaurants (and one not-so-good).  We went to the cold beach & squished some sand between our toes.  We told one sea story after another (some of which were actually true).  But most of all, we re-connected with each other and thoroughly enjoyed each other’s company.

It was a great way to break out of the winter doldrums.  There will probably be another reunion of the “Hell’s Bar Yacht Club”.

Acting like tourists in St Aug

Main tourist attraction

The crews of M/V Fruition and S/V Nemo

And then, on our drive back north from St Augustine, we stopped outside Savannah to visit ANOTHER boating couple who we traveled with last summer from North Carolina and around the Chesapeake Bay.  Bill and Jeanie from their S/V Nemo met up with us several times at several different places around the Bay, and helped us eat many many crabs.  They were just launching their boat for the spring, and will probably be heading north for the summer again.  It was great breaking bread with them again!

 

The definition of "contentment"