Friday was an awesome day – Crimson Kathryn was splashed (and had no leaks!). We checked out of our Airbnb a little later than planned but still made it to the boatyard before 9am. By that time, Holland Marine had already launched one sailboat and were in the process of splashing a power boat.
Mark went right to work waxing the last part of the hull. We were fortunate to find 2 sawhorses and a piece of plywood that worked perfectly as scaffolding for the waxing job. Mark was able to reach all but the top part of the bow and for that he used a ladder.
As the waxing was being completed, I checked the pier to see what space was available. After chatting with the Reynolds’ office, we were assigned spot 20 – the same spot we were in last spring! It’s a good spot for us because it’s almost at the end of the pier. There’s very little car traffic at that end which is good because we need to clear everything off of our deck and put it on the pier. Our big job this season is repainting the deck!!
All the waxing was done just in time for the travel lift to arrive around 10:30am. The Holland crew are experts at launching boats. They took their time getting the slings in the correct place on our hull and they wrapped the slings with white paper to keep the hull clean (a very nice thing to do especially after all that waxing!!). It took about 45 minutes to pick Crimson Kathryn up, move her to the travel lift well and then slowly lower her onto the water. They stop lowering the boat when it’s just in the water so the Captain can check for leaks. The new thru hull was perfect – absolutely no leaks aboard this floating home!!
Once we were securely tied to the Holland dock, we had lunch and discussed whether we should move to our spot on the pier. As I mentioned before, we are launched stern first which means we have to back out of the haulout area. Friday’s weather was wet and windy! The wind was blowing straight at our stern – making it a challenge for us to get out! Our decision was made for us – another 42ft sailboat was being launched and we were in the way! With the help of Julia and Brad (who handled our dock lines), Mark backed us out away from the dock and between 2 tied up boats like the pro he is!! We slowly made our way around the end of the pier and came into our spot perfectly. Julia and Brad were there to take our lines and we were all secured before it started to rain!
Now we’re on the pier and the rest of the work gets started! As always there’s a list but hopefully it’s not as long as previous seasons. The big job is the deck painting but I’m sure there will be other smaller things to do that will fill our days!!
Crimson Kathryn and her crew 