Splash, Crack, Hop & Skip

Splash, Crack, Hop & Skip

Eight days on the hard ended with a return to the Indian River, but not without some excitement.  The boys worked flat out – literally flat on their backs much of the time - as they re-installed and tested the new parts on our formerly cracked stabilizer.  

The yard crew arrived with the mega ton lift to carry us back to the creek. As they eased the lift around Erben Renewal they “brushed” the water spigot – even a brush with a heavy lift was enough to crack the pipe.  For a while it looked like we might not need the lift to re-float the boat as the pipe fountain began to fill the yard.

Our confidence in the expertise of the yard crew was not shaken since they assured us that this only happens once in a great while.  They also seemed to enjoy the fun of digging out the pipe for the repair since all hands quickly rallied around to pitch in. We were, however, glad to finally see the boat safely back in the creek in spite of the extra water in the yard.

Although eight days seemed forever – we realize without the constant and superhuman effort of Scotty and Steve plus the crew in the yard, the Washburn ramrod, David,  who repeatedly ordered and expedited the offending parts, we could have been out of the water much, much longer.  To all we send a big thank you for the prompt and superior service. 

We are pretty sure things are in good order since after a brief sea trial, we headed south out the Fort Piece inlet. Seeing flat seas with light winds, we just continued for more than 24 hours to drop the hook behind Rodriguez Key just below Key Largo. Now this record-breaking run (for us) was not as crazy at it may seem.  By lucking into a nearly perfect weather window we managed to bypass the million bridges – ok 30+ - of South Florida.  Waiting for scheduled and unscheduled bridges and admiring their varied construction was interesting once, bearable twice, but to be avoided if possible on the third trip. A long night and day were a small price to pay for such an easy 180+ mile hop and skip. (P.S. Mr. Steve did take a nap before we headed out J)

Only a few days later than planned, we are now tucked up in our Marathon slip for the winter. The crystal clear water was too hard to resist on our way into Marathon, so we made a brief stop for lunch!