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Haulout 2004
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Sadly, haulout day seemed to continue
happening, year after year. It's one of those incontrovertible
laws of nature, seemingly.
This
year, I had scheduled haulout for October 4, a Monday. I planned
the day carefully so that the tide would be high in the afternoon, which
worked the best since I had to bring the boat around from the mooring
field up the nearby Royal River to the boatyard, where I'd have the mast
unstepped, and then continue on to the town landing in Yarmouth (YTL)
for haulout. Last year, I had scheduled these events on two
separate days, which was sort of a pain. |
The good folks at Royal River Boatyard had
initially scheduled the mast unstep for around noontime, but when Nathan
(Dasein)
called to schedule his for the same day, they essentially told him to
show up as early as possible. Since, once again this year, Dasein
was also coming to my house--this time to be inside the shop, lucky
boat--we had planned to unstep and haul at the same time (2PM to start) |
 On
a beautiful Sunday afternoon, I reluctantly headed to the boat to strip
her of sails and excess deck gear in preparation for Monday's unstepping
and hauling. It was gorgeous on the bay, with light, pleasant
breezes, and I ached for a sail. Fortunately, I had enjoyed a
couple of nice sails earlier in the week, so all was not lost. |
 Over
a few relaxing, pleasant hours (I didn't rush), I removed the gear, and
enjoyed being on board on such a nice day. Then, I headed ashore
to prepare for tomorrow.
Monday morning at 0600, I met Nathan at
YTL to drop off my truck, and then carpooled with him to Falmouth, where
we rowed out to Dasein in his dinghy (since the outboard refused
to start). Being the incapable rower he is, it took Nathan about 5
hours to row out to the boat, complaining the whole way. ;<)
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 Finally,
the next year, we arrived at Dasein, and soon we were underway
over towards Glissando, where Nathan dropped me. At just
after 0700, I dropped my own mooring and motored out of the anchorage
for the last time of the season, and soon caught up with Nathan and Dasein,
who motors more slowly because of an improperly-pitched prop (at least
for now). |
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Me, passing Dasein on the way to the Royal River
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 It
was a beautiful, calm morning--cold, but nowhere near as cold as last
year, when we froze during the short trip around to the river.
This year, as well as last, there was some spotty fog and sea smoke,
mostly concentrated in Broad Cove and, later on, in the bay up between
the Royal and Harraseeket Rivers.
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 Motoring
the whole way (as the boat was dismantled), I entered the mouth of the
river and continued on up the channel, watching the chart and
depthsounder closely, as it was close to low tide--and ebbing. In
a few spots on the river, at the two tightest curves, the water became
surprisingly shallow--as little as 5.4 feet at one point. However,
the water soon deepened, and I arrived at the docks at RRBY at about
0840 after a pleasant trip. I tied up, and then caught Nathan's
lines alongside, as space on the docks was scarce. |
 I
went up to notify the yard that we were there, and they indicated they'd
be ready for us right after coffee break, which was in progress at that
time. Within a few minutes, Dasein was in the slip, and
then shortly thereafter they were ready for me. They towed me in
using the yard skiff, which makes life easier, and before long the mast
was down on deck once more, uneventfully. By 0930, I was done, and
heading up the river to town landing, where I tied up at the dock behind
Dasein. With hours to go before our scheduled haulout, we
both settled down to wait, taking the time to dismantle the rigs
for storage. Since I planned to paint my mast this fall, I
stripped all halyards and stays off the spar in preparation, then
secured the mast to the boat for the highway travel. |
 Around
1315, Steve Morse showed up early, which was great. After waiting
for one boat ahead of us, he loaded Glissando on the trailer in
short order, and she was soon on the way home. I was pleased to
see that the bottom was quite clean after the season, with a light coat
of slime on the deeper portions of the keel--much cleaner than some
years past. Maybe it's because we had so little sun overall this
summer, and so much rain. |
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 At
the house, I showed Steve where I wanted the boat, and after one
incorrect placement, he backed the boat just about where I wanted it,
off to the side of the barn in front of the lean-to
shelter I had built for my Lyman earlier. Soon, she was
blocked in place, and Steve returned to YTL to pick up Dasein and
return with her to the shop. |
 I
spent the remains of the afternoon scrubbing the bottom and removing the
mast from the deck down to the ground; Nathan followed suit. As
much as I hated seeing the season come to a close, I was happy to have
the boat home, safe and sound, and looked forward to spending another
productive winter in the shop, mostly working on the Daysailor.
I had few projects in queue for Glissando, after last winter's
blitz in the shop, so I planned to get her unloaded, winterized, and
covered up as soon as possible.
Can May 2005 be that far away? |
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