I owned a small station wagon, so I had to get a friend with a truck to tow the boat down to the marina and help launch.
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| Backing Serenity down the ramp at the Lewisporte marina. |
It was quickly discovered that the boat could not be backed out far enough to float, so we blocked the wheels, attached a long rope, and let gravity pull the boat and trailer out into deeper water.
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| Blocking the wheels and attaching a strong rope. |
With a lines ashore, and someone at the trailer tongue, the boat slipped easily downhill, with the truck controlling the decent.
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| The rope keeps the truck well away from the salt water. |
Things rarely go smoothly, and with being distracted by coming up with the rope solution, we all forgot to take off the straps. The boat was out in the water, floating, but still attached to the trailer. It was not going to sail very well with all that extra ballast.
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| Nearly afloat, but still secured to the trailer. |
A nearby boat came to the rescue, and Serenity was freed from its straps.
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| A helping hand. |
It was too late in the day to step the mast before dark, so we had to move the boat clear of the launch for the night.
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| Tied up by the mast crane. |
The next day the weather was overcast, but winds were light enough to use the mast crane, however, there was some work to be done to prepare the boat first.
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| The next day at the fuel dock opposite the mast crane. |
Once Serenity was organized, we could move it back to the mast crane area and lift the big spar into place.
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| Tidied up and ready to be moved back over to the mast crane. |
With the mast all secured, Serenity was starting to look like a sailboat.
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| All standing rigging in place. Time to head to the berth. |
Now all that remained was tuning the rigging, adding the sails, attaching the standing rigging, and moving gear aboard.
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