Delivery Epilogue

(Photo by JohnRPollard@SailNet)

Two weeks ago I called Mears Marina on Back Creek. They had "in-water Winter Storage" rates that were lower than going to some of the larger Annapolis marinas. They told me that they turn the water off towards the end of November and the electric off on December 1st, but that they should be able to make an exception for us and leave the electric service on. I was great with that.

This morning I called them to let them know I would be on the way over. The person who answered said that I wasn't welcome. She didn't put it exactly like that, but she asked who told me that I could stay there and said that they really don't like transients after November something. I don't care - that's just bad business. Fortunately, I was in Annapolis and had the choice of many places, but I have to spend more money to be at them. I spent the time beforehand just to try to keep within my budget, and with one phone call Mears Marina in Annapolis blew me off.

So, I'm at Jabins where they welcomed me with open arms. The dockmaster even came out in his workboat to lead me to my slip and gave me a hand backing my heavy home with a modified full keel (read: hard to back up) into its slip. Pelican is now resting comfortably in her new home for the next month.

Today I've been running around crazily. We tied up at around 10am, hooked the electric up, signed in to Jabins and drank a beer. It's noon somewhere. We then removed the main and the genoa and flaked them (folded them, in non-nautical terms). My two leftover crewmembers were incredible with the amount of help they gave to do this work and it was greatly appreciated.

We called a rental car company and had them pick us up and bring us to the rental facility. I rented a car for my crewmembers to head back to Albany in, and a car for myself since I'm staying an extra day. We headed back to Pelican, loaded the sails up and headed to Eastport. We took the opportunity to stop at Maritime Solutions Inflatable, a local purveyor of inflatable dinghies and engines. My crewmembers then headed back up to Albany.

I headed over to North Sails to drop off our sails for a refresh. Some of the stitching was coming loose, the UV cover was ripped in a couple of places, and they just needed a general once over. I then headed back to Pelican and gave her a much needed bath, and started cleaning the interior. After several days through heavy seas with five guys, it looked like a tornado had fun down there. I did a quick walkthrough with one of the people who will be doing work on Pelican (generator, air conditioning and autopilot install), and now here I sit procrastinating more cleanup by writing blog entries.

It was an incredible trip from CT to Annapolis. We had a lot of things break, including one of our crewmembers, but I would rather find out about them now than once we leave Annapolis. I wouldn't care to repeat the conditions - ever - but it was a great experience with a great group of guys.

Pelican is now in her temporary home being prepared to become our new home, and I look forward to the next couple of years with her, safely caring for my family. I hope that we'll be able to update you as to our preparations over the next 3 weeks, but the entries may be a bit spotty. Once we kick off our trip, our blog will be back in full force. I hope you'll stay with us.