Valentine’s Day 2022 Liana and I went on a morning harbor cruise that included brunch. Wow, what a fun experience! The water was flat calm, no wind and lots of sunshine. We slowly motored around on the double-decker catamaran drinking mimosas and coffee. The food was delightful. Mexican pastries, omelets, pancakes, and fruit cups but what was most special was just being on the water.
We have been living on Silhouette on the hard since the beginning of December 2021. One step closer to the water than living on the ranch in Southern Colorado. But being in the yard too long slowly eats your brain. Not literally, but in every other sense of the word. From the morning pee-bucket dump to the grinding in the yard until after dark, to the lack of privacy, the noise, and did I mention dust, dirt, grime, mud and lack of joy which is far dirtier than those other ones.
That morning cruise was just what the heart doctor ordered! We remembered, with a glimmer of hope and longing, how much we love being on the water, floating in a beautiful bay with the wind in our hair (ok through my bald head). The motion of the waves was lulling us back into love with the ocean. For a brief few hours we were renewed, ready to grunge through a few more days in the yard. Then the cruise was over.
Our parts came (seems like we’re always waiting on parts) and we were mostly ready to go. The marina had a slip opening on Wednesday but the wind was going to blow a hoolie so, after looking at the tide charts and weather report, we opted for Thursday. But Thursday had troubles of its own. The tide would go out steeply around 10am and the wind would be back up to 25 kts by early afternoon. Another low press system was coming in off the Pacific and funneling a cold front up through Tucson, AZ. So Tuesday we washed topside deck and put the new super-wamper-dine beach tires on the dinghy. We installed the chaps and hooked up the lines and with a great deal of difficulty raised the 300 lb dinghy from 20 ft below.
We were ready to finish the out-of-water inspection that our insurance required. Hull moisture, electrical system, propane system and firefighting equipment were checked. Liana very proudly showed off our new safety locker in the cockpit. The inspector was pleased with what he saw and only had two concerns – shielding on a fuel line and a co2 monitor – both 5 min fixes. They would see us again on Friday for the in-water inspection, which we passed with flying colors.
Wednesday we did everything we could to be ready for Thursday morning. We worked right up to the last bit of daylight and as the full moon rose we were ready. Liana and I were both so tired we just had a bowl of chili and went to bed whispering sweet nothings of all the things we would do when we got Silhouette back on the water. Things like use our own bathroom. You honestly have no idea how much this means when you gotta go and between you and taking care of business is a tall ladder, clothes, shoes, a dusty path to the baños and saying buenas dias or buenas noches to the gate guard, and an all out panicked run to the finish line to find all stalls are full – try your deposit later! ugh…. Getting clean after a long sweaty day is also a chore in itself. Walking back across the dusty desert to the showers and then climbing Kilimanjaro in flip flops to end up with dirty feet again. But the biggest sweet nothing we both agreed was to sleep in bed to the rocking of the boat. We drifted off to sleep hoping and praying for Christmas in February and for Silhouette to be back in the water in the morning.
At 5:45am the full moon was still shining bright through the cabin port lights and it was here! We felt like little kids sneaking to see what Santa left us under the tree. One last thing. Liana made coffee on the stove and almost immediately had to slip on her shoes and greet the gate guard, hopefully for the last time. When she returned again she said she’s not going to miss running to the bathroom at 6:am in the morning! The loader driver and trailer showed up at the same time as the crew and before we knew it they were banging on the stands and starting to remove the forward ones before we even climbed down the ladder.
Many of our friends stopped to bid us farewell, even the little blond boy and his mom stood by to watch Silhouette lifting off the blocks for what we hoped would be the last time for a long while. At one point our boat was standing on nothing but the keel as they pulled the hydraulic trailer underneath. Meanwhile, I went and settled up with the office. $11,500 pesos and we were ready to go.
Liana hopped on her bike and headed to Marina San Carlos. She had to take care of slip documents and get keys to the dock gates but I was going with Silhouette! I just had to watch so I followed on my bike and took a few pictures. In no time the crew were out on the main road and the little silver truck with orange flashing lights was blocking traffic. Up a hill, down a hill, and a sharp left-hand turn and we’re right in front of the marina.
Omar, our mechanic, and his brother pulled in just as we got there. Quite a crowd was growing on the dock. John and Ellie from sailboat Serenity, Dave and Terry from sailboat Canadian Sunset, and another crew off another sailboat wanting to buy our old dinghy wheels. They offered to help handle lines. We had lots of lookie-Lou’s along with six or seven yard crew moving Silhouette. Slowly they pushed Silhouette down the ramp and as soon as her belly touched the water the drain pump kicked on and poured out gallons of dirty water.
My heart skipped a beat! Where did that come from? Omar looked at me and I looked at him. Let’s go figure it out. At first we thought it had to be a hull-valve with a loose fitting. We checked those first, no leaks in the engine room but a river of water was flowing into the bilge from forward of the engine room. The bilge pump kicked on again and the bilge was filling with black dirty water. We went forward and checked hoses and valves. Nothing was leaking! Where is this foul water coming from? As we entered the engine room the bilge pump kicked on again. Now a scum line was in the bilge where the water just pumped. Then it just stopped! Whatever it was healed itself, so we thought.
I asked my best mechanic friend, “Ok, now what?” He’s like, “I don’t know. Let’s start the diesels and watch it.” Ok, that’s a plan, ignore it and see if it goes away, hmm. The main engine lost prime and for a few uncomfortable minutes Omar did his magic and soon it started up. He said not to worry that it was him. The fuel had drained back to the tank because he left the fuel selector in the wrong position. The generator started right up. Still puzzled by the water in the bilge I pondered our next move.
Go or no go, that is the question. Omar is like, “Let’s go.” In a regular Captain Ron kinda way he said, “If something is going to happen, it’s going to happen out there!” And just like that, my general good judgment was hijacked by my over-confident compadre.
So now everyone is climbing on board and we’re shouting orders to man lines and turn on all the navigation equipment. Depth – ok, plotter – ok, radio – ok, wind – that was troubling. We had some wind pushing us broadside to the loading dock and the ebbing tide had begun. It was just enough to not match our weather and tide report. Still trying to suppress the uneasy feelings caused by our unexplained rush of water, we told the yard guys we were good and they backed our life-line away as I watched the hydraulic trailer go back up the ramp.
We then tested forward and reverse. Test was good. We tested the bow thruster port and starboard – good power. We singled up the lines and I eased us into reverse. Back we went and immediately we were pulled against the dock. Argh! Now forward with power to keep us from hitting the dock. Next time I will go a little more aggressive. Same problem, pushed sideways right back into the dock. Argh! again, ok I will try prop walk. We have a three blade right-handed fixed propeller that walks right in forward and walks left in reverse. I throttled forward and we pulled from the dock but the wind and water still pushed us back immediately.
Then Omar had a great idea. Evacuate the dinghy dock next to us and back up into it. Then swing the bow 180 degrees with the bowthruster. So people standing around helped move five or six dinghies out of the way and we backed right up, all the while pushing the bow around with the thruster. It worked!
We motored out into the main boat channel squeezing between a few in-bound boats, hugging the left side of the channel. Water on the right was way too skinny. The ride took but a few minutes and we were rounding up into the wind. Now we had lots of control going into the wind and current. We had plenty of power to easily line up between both sides of our slip and ease in. Lines were thrown from the bow and stern and we were in slip #4. I backed into neutral, the lines were cleated off and we were moored. We just completed our first underway after a long, long, long, long, long shipyard refit.
Just then it dawned on me. I know where it came from! It came from the forward anchor locker. The angle of the boat on the stands trapped it in and that’s why it was dirty, rusty, oily water. When we headed down the ramp, the steep angle allowed it to drain to the bilge. Oh praise God, not another thing we have to fix. Omar agreed, that’s it for sure.
Our guests all stayed for cold drinks and to chat while Omar and his brother worked down in the engine room fabricating a hose bracket for the hose loop on the main exhaust. After everyone left I heard Liana giggling up in the forward head. “I just peed in my own toilet!” as she smiled from ear to ear. The water was calm and the sky was clear for a moment and then the wind cranked up, our wind generator came on and we started rocking…we’re home. God is so good.
