I had arranged with the local boat yard for Elektra to be pulled out, pressure washed, so I could give her a fresh coat of antifouling. A fortnight before I had pulled Elektra back down the creek sides into deeper water to make sure she would float when the time came to move her.
The day before I planned to move her, I pulled on my waders, I had cut 6x 12ft long Hazel poles to mark the channel, not really necessary as I know the channel but with poles takes away all the guess work. The channel bottom is fairly solid with 2-3ft deep mud banks rising up from the channel. Normally the channel at low water isn’t very deep but with all the heavy rain over February, it was deeper than anytime I had done this before. I used a line to tie all the poles together and pulled them down to the channel via a stream bed. Once in the channel I am glad to say they were floating so I only needed to get myself down the channel, stopping now and then to push a pole into the mud bank. Once I had used all the poles, I turned and starting walking back, the channel was about 2ft 6inchs deep and it was surprisingly hard walking back up steam against the flow! I was glad to finally get back ashore after my work out!
At 0630hrs the next day before first light I drove down to Elektra, she is just a mile from home, it was raining, so I was wearing full waterproofs when I clambered into the dinghy off the grassy bank and pulled myself out via her mooring line and climbed aboard. I linked the starboard stern line to the fore lines with the aid of an extra line from the locker. I started her engine and switched on her depth sounder. When I was ready, I dropped her fore and starboard stern lines and pulled Elektra out into the channel using her port stern line, as she past the mooring buoy on the end of the chain, I dropped the line overboard, Elektra continued astern into the channel, with the top of one of Hazel poles coming up quickly on the starboard stern quarter, I gave her a little forward thrust and turned her to starboard. I gave her a little bit more thrust and then knocked her out of gear to go over the lines of the other yachts moored in the creek, Elektra will continue for quite along way without any power on, once clear of the mooring lines I engaged forward again and turning to starboard, carried on down the channel, the least I saw on the sounder was 0.5m under the keel. Out of Carne Creek into Gillan Harbour the depth was 2.5m and I opened her up to motor around the harbour (I thought it’s just like Easter 2020, completely empty) not even the yard dory in the water.
After the trip around Gillan Harbour, I came back and picked up a mooring by the boat yard and scrubbed her decks with clean saltwater. I checked things were working and checked on the app to see the AIS was working, it picked Elektra up from halfway down Carne Creek so that was working too.
Now at 0830hrs there was activity at the boat yard, the tractor was being made ready and a rowing boat launched. Out comes the rowing boat with 4 big men aboard, two climb aboard, David gets in my 8ft punt and Dess rows off to the trailer where it was under the water. Dess signals he is ready, the lad drops the buoy and I motor Elektra across the harbour to line up with the trailer, Dess was standing in the rowing boat signalling directions, now lined but coming in a bit hot with the wind blowing from astern, there should have been 3 blasts on the horn as the engine was now running in reverse to slow her down! All was well as Dess was there in the rowing boat to catch her! The boat yards trailer is a bit basic, just a trailer frame with movable cross support beams fixed in place to take Elektra’s keels, two side arms. Once Dess is happy that Elektra is in the right place, he ties on a bow line, with the two lads holding the side arms from aboard and David check trailer under Elektra, Dess holding her bow, Shawn on the tractor is given the order to tow her out. Once on the trailer there no going back until the next tide, so has to be right!
I commented, why are you using the small tractor, I was told the battery was flat on the big tractor, but now Elektra is on the trailer partly out of the water, they could now put the battery back on after charging over night, they would be using the big tractor to tow her up to the pressure washing area. Dess ferried me ashore, I had to walk back to the pick-up parked at Carne, I was back home by 1000hrs for breakfast.
Later that day l went back to St Anthony, on the way l stopped at Carne to retrieve out of the mud the port aft mooring line l had dropped over the side earlier. At St Anthony Elektra had been pulled up onto the concrete for pressure washing.
Love Sailing 