Thankfully, that prediction was right! We were able to leave just a little after 11 am and start our big adventure! It was really uneventful in the grand scheme of things, just big for us - the first time moving our boat to another marina. I'll add the track later (forgot to get the pictures earlier), but it took us about 7.5-8 hours - we arrived in Seabrook at dusk - taking the ICW to the Houston ship channel (with a little shortcut between them), and pulled into our temporary slip for the night. It was a little windy, which made for some rolling seas, and we had to watch for the big barge wakes, but overall just an amazing day. It felt good to get the boat out of the marina for the first time.
I called Seabrook Marina along the way and they sent me the necessary forms to fill out for our transient slip. I did learn not to do computer work down below while on rolling seas though... closest thing to seasick I have been. Once I came back above I went and sat in front of the mast for a bit until I felt better, then I took a nice nap in the cockpit :-) Very glad there were three of us so I could take the break without feeling guilty.
Wednesday morning we woke up to thunderstorms and dreary weather, so I gave Brian at Stix N' Rigging a call to see what the game plan was - we knew the mast pull might have to wait until Thursday if the weather didn't play nice. He told me to just hang out and we would see if there was a break in the weather that would let us get it done.
We hung out on the boat, just relaxing until about 11, when I got a call that there was a good break in the weather and someone was on their way over to the boat to guide us to the shipyard for the mast pull. Then we all went into a frenzy to get dressed and get the boat ready to move! Originally, the plan was to do some prep work at the boat first (about an hour), and then they would have us move it, but given the weather, they decided to just move it and get it all done as quickly as possible.
Bean expertly navigated us over to the dock and did her first parallel parking job. I swear you would think she is a professional the way she handles that boat, she is amazing! Watching them work was amazing, the quickly removed all the lines, got the boom off, connected the crane and pulled the mast - it was all done in just over an hour - pretty cool to see!
They walked us through all the things they noticed upon initial inspection - including the mast step having a crack in it - and explained a lot to us about what to look for, what they would recommend fixing, and what the next steps would look like. We made a plan for them to come over to the slip a little later to remove the mast step (they needed some different tools and had to get back to another job they had in progress), and then we went back to our slip and relaxed again for a bit.
After they got the mast step off, we ordered some pizza, played some cards and called it a night - it was already about 4:30 pm so we were definitely not leaving today!
Thursday morning, we got up early, readied the boat, and checked the weather. Everything was looking good for a decent day of motoring - the boat looks really weird without a mast by the way! We set off just a little before 8 am and enjoyed our second time out of a marina navigating the Houston Ship Channel and the ICW. We arrived back at Harborwalk a little before 4 pm and quickly got the boat tied up, washed off, and powered up. While not hard, motoring does take a lot out of you - it is many hours of paying attention, staying tuned in, and making sure you know what is going on around you. This time I think we were a little more relaxed, we all took turns going forward to enjoy deck time relaxing, but with no auto helm, someone is always controlling the helm.
Friday was just running errands, doing laundry and packing for the trip - getting ready to go meet my friends in Florida and tell them all about our amazing adventures. I'm a little sad we didn't get to do it by sailing the boat to Florida, but I am excited to share the news with them and what I have really been doing for the last six months!
And so, today, I sit at an airport terminal, on a layover at Dallas airport, waiting for my flight to Ft Myers, typing this :-)
I'll be back next Sunday and ready to get back to work!
wow Love you.