Haul Out - October 24, 2009

Another season has come and gone. This one seemed shorter than the others as the weather this summer was clearly a factor. We nonetheless managed to do a few cruises with the club and our usual day sailing; no major trips however this year. The weather forecast for our haulout day started off looking pretty bad. Friday there were very high winds from the east and rain showers on and off throughout the day. Saturday conditions were thankfully perfect; the rain had moved out and there was barely any wind at all. My scheduled time for haulout was 9:30am, however when we arrived around 8am harbour staff had already started working and were ahead of schedule. We took advantage of the quick start and headed over to the mast crane before 9am. Things went very smoothly. Kelly, the new Harbourmaster at the Club, did a great job with the mast taking it off quickly and safely. The boat was promptly moved forward into the travel-lift and out onto the hard by 930. With the help of my son Jamie and friend Stuart Gray, we got the mast ready for storage. Paul and Wendy Orava from Salty Hacker were behind us to come out, then Peter and Donna Howells from Cassis. Work proceeded on Victura to winterize the engine and on Sunday assembling the frame for the cover and putting the cover on. Weather was beautiful on Sunday and all in all it was a smooth haul-out. That's it for the season. We're now moving quickly into fall here and winter is fast approaching.