Wild Ride
Graeme had decided come Hell or High Water that he was going to drop the new Perkins into place on Saturday on baord Samantha. Well he sure got the latter. The weather Saturday morning was anything but ideal with a strong Westerly pushing a large swell up the creek. And down at the Sailing Club crane where the work was to be done, things appeared even worse. But Graeme was committed.
I'd been subscripted into towing Samantha down behind Nina, so with Des on board my boat and Sharyn aboard with Graeme, we set off. Five minutes later at the creek junction it became obvious that the wind and current were going to make it impossible to go on with the original plan. We somehow got Samantha over to the first of the South Wall moorings where Greame assured us that he and Sharyn could "hook" their way up to the crane.
And that they did - although the last 50 meters tested everyone both onboard and onshore, as the poles got further apart and the wind got stronger.
Thirty minutes after they'd tied up, the Perkins was neatly in place on the new engine mounts and Graeme and Sharyn who'd now been joined by Des could take a five minute breather before launching themselves off the wall for the return journey.With the wind and swell now behind them, the trick was to keep Samantha from getting away from them but pole by pole they heaved their way back and by lunchtime Samantha was safely back on the mooring.
While the drama out in the creek played out, inside on the slipway Gary had Moonbird all set up for the window and porthole installation as well as the fitting of brass numbers and nameplate. The work went on for most of the weekend while the wild weather outside raged.
