You meet the nicest people in a marina....

With the newly purchased trailer and my friends truck to pull it we set off at 4:30am to go pick her up. Coffee check, Gas Check, Coffee...you get the idea. The trip was uneventful so I'll spare you the details. I'd punched in the address for the marina into google maps before we left and it led us right to the marina about 40 minutes early. BeBop's previous owner said to call him when we arrived so we pulled into the marina by dock 7 and I pulled out the cell phone and asked what dock he was at. He asked were I was and I responded with dock 7 and he said beep the horn. Go go gadget google. So we beeped and he said turn around and there she was right in the front slip. My heartbeat quickened as I walked up to her and the owner and introduced myself.


Walking back out to BeBop he said he couldn't get the engine running and would arrange for a tow to the haul out. I wasn't really happy with that considering he said the engine ran great, but I don't think I've ever read a story about a sailboat where the engine didn't have issues. It's a sailboat afterall. When we inspected the interior, it turned out to be in much better shape than I thought. Areas around the deck and bulkhead fittings that looked like water damage in the pictures were actually the seams where Westerly had used chopped glass to reinforce the area. No complaints from me. My only disappointment besides the non functional engine was the horrible condition of the ports. They had to be original. The gaskets are very worn and the once clear lexan window was a milky white and cracked, probably from someone cleaning them with a ammonia based cleaner. But this was nothing that cannot be fixed for a reasonable sum of money and a lot of elbow grease. I took a deep breath then money and title were exchanged.




The owner had made arrangements for a liveaboard named Bob to give us a tow to the haul out with his inflatable dinghy. Onboard for help was my friend Rich who made the trip with me and another liveaboard named Yashi. He was only 10 or 11 but knew more about boats than I did and I'm man enough to admit it. I envied his position in life. So technically I was the "captain," but I let Yashi point out where to stay in channel and what to avoid since this was the biggest boat I've ever really been in charge of. We had just cleared the end dock 6 heading into the channel when Bob's engine quit. Everytime he'd get it going again it would die after putting it in gear. He wasn't real happy about that considering he just got it out of the shop and with his age rowing back to his boat didn't seem like the fun it could of been 40 years ago. Rich suggested we raise the sails since we are in a sailboat. So while Bob rowed back home, we raised the main and put the genny out. We might of been moving at .5 knots considering how calm it was. To make matters worse the wind was coming directly from the haul out so we had to tack back and forth in the channel about a mile to the haul out area.



After what seemed like forever we reached the haul out area and the marina staff helped us get her stern-to for towing behind the truck....then promply left for lunch since we were over a hour late. They saw the entire debacle with us sailing into haul out, tacking along the way thinking we were going to turn around and head back to the slip lol. Bet this was the first and last time they ever had that happen. But we got there in style. During the next hour while they ate lunch we took down the standing rigging and mast and set about preparing her for towing back home. Once again a hearty thank you goes out to Yashi for the help. It was a simple affair to get her on the trailer minus the load of cash they charged to pull her out. I figure they were making about 5 dollars a minute based upon the 185 dollar one way haul out fee. I'm in the wrong business. Yes that's me on top of Bebop smiling like a Cheshire cat.




The trip back was pretty uneventful minus the fact it was done at a strict 55 mph for fear of wrecking the truck and boat. Rich didn't think it was quiet that smooth since he was driving and I'm sure felt responsible for Bebop. It only represented a nice chunk of my complete net worth. No pressure. Total time in transit was 600 miles by truck 1 mile via boat sans engine. About a 16 hour day including a sunburn souvenir. Ouch. But she was safely home and ready for the refit to begin. Next time on BeBop Around the World: Taking Stock