our blog
"The two best days in a boat owner’s life - the day you buy your boat, and the day you sell your boat."
I can unequivocally say that this much used adage of the boating world is incorrect. Stepping foot on Eclipse for the first time, when she was finally ours, was certainly exciting. But next Tuesday, when Eclipse officially becomes the reason for someone else's "first" best day of their lives, it certainly won't be on our top-ten list. Eclipse is soon to begin her next adventure. And the Hufford family is already well into ours.
Of course no tale of the sea will end as simply as that. After months of keeping Eclipse scrubbed and polished, we had the expected rounds of offer/counter offer and finally this week, the sea trial. The trial date was selected to coincide with the lowest tides of the month, and on Sunday at 4 AM we left the dock to squeak under the bridges. Sunday afternoon was wonderful as we had the opportunity to raft up with friends boats and watch an air show. The rest of the family had things to do early Monday morning so I stayed alone on Eclipse at anchor.
The weather started getting rough. The tiny ship was tossed.(sort of) Through the weekend the winds were building. And by Monday morning they were blowing a solid 25 knots. I earned my anchoring merit badge that morning as I had to single-hand the raising of the anchor while buffeted about in the midst of other anchored boats. Running back and forth from the helm to the anchor windlass and filling buckets of water to clean the horrible sticky mud that came up with the anchor. I then (deftly and proudly I must say) brought Eclipse up to the dock, where I met her new owner and the yacht surveyor.
It is somewhat difficult to watch and listen to someone else dissecting your boat and commenting on everything they see. But the bottom line is that Eclipse is seaworthy, in great shape, and the sale is going through.
So you would think the adventure ends there. Right? The new owner joined me on Eclipse that evening to position the boat for a Tuesday a.m. transit. We talked for hours about Eclipse’s quirks and qualities and hit the bunks early. At 5:45 AM I was warming the engines and we putted to the bridge. A couple miles away in the ocean the waves were said to be raging up to 10 feet, And the winds were still blowing. The theory that we have formulated is that all this water pouring through the inlet makes it impossible for the river flow and tidal action to go out to sea. So the shocker that morning was the tide marker on the bridge read 18 inches higher than expected. Our best estimates for mast clearance on this bridge is under 12 inches of leeway when at the lowest tide.
It's Wednesday morning, and I am babysitting Eclipse for a couple more days watching the tide marker and hoping for one last chance to sneak under the bridge Thursday morning before the tidal cycle will make it impossible for another couple weeks.
The greatest of the lessons of the Eclipse Adventure is to take the winds, the seas, the breakdowns, the serendipitous events, and the unexpected opportunities, and relish them all as the flavors that made the last four years the “Best days in a boat owner’s life"
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
Best Days