Starting the Season!

April 16

We received an email from Gratitude that Seas The Day splashed on Tuesday and was at the dock ready for us.  The official start of Osprey's season is April 15, but we had a bridal shower for John and Jess up in NJ, so we reserved Sunday to load all the boat crap for this season and schlepp it all down to Rock Hall.

We found Seas The Day at her place on B-Dock, covered in pollen and with a weird use of fenders and dock lines.  We unloaded the three carts worth of items and had a quick lunch from the local liquor store.

Gratitude marina (the yard where we store her during the winter) mentioned that they needed to work on the furler for the jib and they also installed a new anchor wash-down pump for us, so I set about inspecting all their effort.

New wash-down pump for the anchor.

Vicky set about scrubbing all the surfaces to get the interior up to her cleanliness standards.

I set about reconfiguring the fenders and dock lines to the way I liked them and then began the process of updating the firmware for the season.

337.6 hours on the engine at the start of the season.

We debated if we should take her out on the water, but in the end we decided to finish all the interior preparations.  (Part of the reason was that I forgot all the boat stickers that made me legal.)  

We left Seas The Day slightly dusted in yellow pollen (and judging from the trees around the marina, about to be covered with much more).

April 22

I should note here that Vicky had to head back to China.  Baba (her father) is sick with at least two types of cancer and has decided to end treatment rather than spend the rest of his life sick from radiation and chemo.  Vicky returned to spend some quality time with him while she can and I will join her after a critical business trip next month.

On our way to JFK airport to drop Vicky off for her flight Friday night, we stopped by John's home to visit with him, Jess, and the grandpuppies (Chewy and Luna, below).  John generously volunteered to drive us to JFK for her flight late Friday night (direct flights to Guangzhou leave at 1:45 AM).

John & Chewy and Jess & Luna

After a few hours of sleep on their couch I headed home to Newark, DE to pick up some more boat stuff and then made my way to Rock Hall.  I arrived to a host of storm warnings but the radar app indicated I had time to scrub off all the pollen and allow the storms to do some extra rinsing.  (I hope the storms wash all the remaining pollen from the trees... it was brutal this year.)

Swabbing the deck as the storm brews in the background.

It started moving in mid-afternoon.

Seas The Day in white (rather than yellow from the pollen).

Ruh Ro!

On Sunday morning, I set about doing all the remaining tasks to get us ready to go sailing.  This time I remembered to bring all the boat stickers (Vessel registration, Fishing and Crabbing licenses).

I also checked the fire extinguishers to make sure they were all in date and charged.

Finally, I did a pressure check of the propane system... I opened the tank with the solenoid turned on and the stove turned off.  Then I closed the tank and took the left photo.  The right photo was taken after 15 minutes.

No leaks.

I also made sure I had all the boat paperwork in order and that I had the copy of rules of the road I'm required to carry.  I also double checked the required life vests. 

All is in order... we'll do the official vessel safety check when our friends return to the area.

All that remains is to mount the life sling on the rail and cast off.

With all that accomplished, I headed home.  I flirted with the idea of trying a day on the water Sunday afternoon, but the wind was blowing me off the dock and into a boat in the next slip.  I probably could have found someone to help me cast off, but wasn't sure I have help getting back and tied up.  I decided it was best to wait for better conditions.

Now I need to recruit crew - I mean guests - for next weekend.