Splash!

I bought a small cruiser late in the season last year and got her on the water a couple of times before I had to put her on her cradle. I had all winter to get excited about setting her back in the water again. It was excruciating!

The big day happened two weeks ago Tuesday.
I had arranged to meet the marina guys at the boat and they would move it to the water's edge, use the crane to drop her to the water and then motor her to our slip. When she was being lowered into the marina, I noticed that the guys were each carrying fend-off poles which I thought was a little curious. I soon found out why.

Rod, the service manager, very gently and quietly said "Usually before we do this, the owner gets the docklines ready on the boat, puts the fenders out and has the batteries back in place so we don't have to spend extra time waiting for the boat to be moved out of the way." Ooops! I was so much a green new boat owner and they were so patient and non-judgemental. I thought to myself "I'm going to like these guys alot, but I hope I don't wear out my welcome with the thousand questions I'm in need of asking."

My brain is overloaded with trying to anticipate all of the things I've decided I need too acquire or fix to get Querida ready for the season. She's in pretty good shape for being 36 years old, but there are definitely signs of aging and there's also a number of broken or non-functional items that I'd like to replace as time and money allow.

Her bottom hull is in great shape, which is probably the most reassuring fact to recognize. Her hull above the waterline is in need of cleaning and buffing, but I think that will need to wait until next year. She'll sail fine the way she looks now and I really don't want to wait another couple of weeks just for that.

The batteries probably need to be replaced and I need to get a trickle charger, but the sails and rigging are in fine condition. There's a fair amount of really old and expired supplies on board which we'll need to dispose of, but that's just part of the job any new owner has. Now we need to turn our attention to working on becoming better sailors and enjoying the summer breezes.