Dry Dock

Alright so here are some posts.  Google has become a business!! I was having so many issues because apparently I have used up all of my free space so now have to pay a small (read less then a Starbucks coffee per year) to have my blog.. Also my picture loading has gained three extra steps.  But now it is all figured out so posting can resume =) 

These pictures are from work last week.  For the winter all of the spars (big beams that stretch out the sails) are all taken off of the boat to protect them from the nasty winter weather and for matinence- sanding/varnishing, reworking some of the leather and maintaining the ropes.  Here they are where they lived for the winter in the shed.  They don't look very big but when they are all yours to sand and varnish x2 they become very long!!!

Last week the Swift also had here annual time in dry dock for hull repainting and some other maintenance.  We had to be at work at 630 that morning to coincide with high tide for the take out.  Quite the process.  We motor the boat into a space between two fixtures.  Beneath the water off to the sides are specially designed supports for the boat.  Once we are in place they are moved into place snugly alongside the hull.  The supports are on tracks and they are cranked along the tracks up a ramp to shallower water and eventually dry dock.  Once on the dry dock there is a turn table that sends the ships into different sections of the shipyard for their work to be completed. 

A super cute tug alongside the dock. 

Michelle and I in our hard hats

A view alongside the boat just as we cleared the water.  My hard hat did not like the angle of my head for the picture and nicely took a tumble off my head almost hitting some poor unsuspecting dockworker =)

The Swift silhouetted in dawn.  Once the boat is out of the water the hugeness of her is amazing. The amount of hull beneath the waterline to lend stability to the rig at sea

Spent a good part of the days when the boat was in dry dock sitting up in the head rig (the lines off the front of the boat) lashing on the foresail.  Kinda interesting because I have never been at all nervous in the head rig before but it was soooo high above steel beams!!

The turn table for the boats

I definitely have the working person hands now =)   Went to go and give blood last week - first of all when they did the alcohol wipe for the blood poke the swab came away filthy and then when the nurse did the forearm check for track marks and skin disease I had to explain away the varnish stain =)