Haul out

Today was supposed to be a nice easy day chilling at home, It started off well enough. I was slobbing about in my dressing gown, watching rubbish TV and surfing the net.   I started to plan the end of season haul out for next weekend.   I put some requests for help out on various forums then checked windguru to see what tomorrow would be like for a sail... Hells bells, next weekend was forecast to be F7 & F8.. a change of plan was needed.   Fortunately John was available to help so we grabbed a few essentials and by 2pm we were on our way  to Baiter park with the trailer.

Arjen kindly rowed us out.

We left my car and trailer at Baiter, John then drove us to the club.  Arjen was able to row us out to Ciao Bella which was great, it mean't I didn't need to retrive the tender later in the day.   After a pleasent motor across the harbour we set about dropping the mast and preparing the boat.   

Mast down

 We had to wait for the tide so after paddling ashore we headed for the tea wagon.  In alll the excitement I realised that we hadn't eaten all day so breakfast rolls went down a treat,

Waiting for the tide

I set the trailer up with the docking arms to help position the keels on the runners.  I measure up the docking arms and marked with yellow insulation tape so that I would know how far down the ramp I needed to push it to allow Ciao Bella to float onto.

Coming up the slipway

Then came the part I wasn't looking forward to.  I waded out into the harbour, pushing the trailer infront of me.  I could only tip toe for so long before the inevitable.  Not quite as cold as I thought it would be but cold enough.  When the trailer was in position  I paddled back to the boat and gently motored between the poles onto the snubber.  I swung of the front of the boat onto the drawbar and secured the boat to the trailer. This was shping up to be an absolute doddle.  With a bit of huffing and puffing we got the ropes as far as the waters edge so John, who was mostly dry, could drag her out with the car.

She's out - Yellow tape on dock arms guages depth.

 It was good to have her out while still daylight,  I climbed aboard, got dry and changed into some warm clothes.  I then drove John back to the club to pick up his car... It's a logistical nightmare hauling out. 

Nice sunset

Eventually we had her strapped down and ready to roll.  I took the easiest route back at a very leisurely pace.  No dramas on the way home.  

 Once home I positioned her roughly on the front garden so that we could remove the mast, the mast overhangs along way and won't fit on the garden.  That done I set about manouvering her onto her wheel pads but no joy. The ground was wet and the wheels were starting to spin.    We unhooked her , moved the car forward and attached a turfer to pull he out but even that didn't work.  From behind you could see that she had dug in...

Jaunty angle.


Closer inspection shows how far she has sunk into the lawn.   We conceeded defeat for tonight and pushed the draw bar off the pavement.  I shall enlist the help of someone with a bigger vehcle tomorrow to position her properly.  At least she is out and I can set about the next stage of restoration.

Sunk