Final Sail

8/28/07 – Little Bird was over in Scituate Harbor so Chris and Mike decided to sail her back to Humarock and I decided to take Erica J out on a final sail. We both motored out of the harbor and put up all of our sails. We were completely becalmed so we just sat there in the water for a little while. I decided to go for a swim so I jumped in without even taking the sails down. I swam all around the boat and Chris kept telling me about the gigantic sharks that lived around there. I got back aboard and took down the sails and flaked them. I turned on the motor and began to go back in the harbor just as a little breeze came up. Little Bird slowly sailed back to Humarock while I motored through the Scituate mooring fields to Foster’s Rigging and Yacht Services boat yard. I tied up to the bulkhead and met one of the workers there. He told me that I could keep my mast up but that I needed to do a bit to prepare for the crane picking up the boat. I attached the main halyard to the main sheet and tightened it with a block and tackle as much as I could. I then took the backstay off and lashed it to the mast. This made more room for the lifting apparatus on the crane to sit over the boat. After their lunch break, a group of guys came over and put some slings under the hull and lifted her out. They pressure washed the hull and I scrubbed the topsides with a nifty chemical that the owner of the boat yard gave me. They then lifted the boat onto a trailer and towed her over to a corner of the yard. I began to take my things off and packed them into Chris’ van. I had promised to make a dinner for Mike, Mi Sun, Chris, and Mike so I left and went to the grocery store to buy supplies. I then went back to the Humming Rock to start mixing up the pasta sauce. They all came over and we had a good dinner and talked until late.