Monday, February 13, 2006

BACK TO DAVIS ISLAND, TAMPA, FL

February 9, 2006. So we finally got our Pearson 38 in the water on Thursday, Feb. 9. We had the boat put in the boatlift earlier in the day so we could drop our centerboard for the first time and hopefully get some bottom paint on it. It took nearly an hour to finally break it free from all the sand and mud that was clogged up in the trunk. But we got it down and painted it. Then, at about 6 pm, we splashed it. No leaks! It wasn't actually floating, it was sitting on the bottom. We had to wait until 9 pm when the tide would be high enough for us to be afloat. Then we moved it by hand to the slip next to the boat launch bay so we would have enough water to get out of the marina the next day. Our engine is in but not yet functional.

Morning came. The day's high tide was after 1 pm so we took the time to secure the mast to the deck. We'll get all the rigging in order and have it lifted into place at Davis Island when we're ready. It took some serious pulling but we got over the infamous hump in front of the launch bay and then pulled it up next to Win and Kristy's boat. We tied our bow to their stern and they towed us out of the marina and up to Davis Island. The trip lasted from about noon to 7 pm. We met up with Jason and the five of us; Win, Kristy, Jason, Rocky and I went to an Italian restaurant on Davis Island that we had been to before. We were planning on going out to Ybor City for drinks but it was already after 9 pm and we were all pretty tired. So we all went back to our boats. It was nice to finally be back in the water.

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