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Melissa & Dave - Adventures at Sea

Apsaras goes to the yard

Dave took off around 12:15 after updating Spike's software and mapping databases. He landed at Nanaimo around 1:00. Landing was fun (NOT!) - 10 knot cross wind gusting to 17 knots. It wasn't turbulent so he just did a no-flaps landing coming across the fence kind of hot so it was easier to align to the runway. As he got close, the cross wind subsided and he touched down halfway down the runway. He still had some rudder left but not much.  

After taxiing to customs, it took 10 whole minutes waiting on hold to clear into Canada. Pretty painless even with the wait. National upgraded him because they had no small cars. Just what he need for a 10 mile commute - a SUV. Went and got lunch and headed to the haul-out yard to get situated. It turns out that they use a semi-truck and a fancy hydraulic trailer to pull boats out. His instructions were to tie up at the boat ramp and they would position the trailer under the boat and pull it out. Tie up at the boat ramp in a 45' sailboat? That is a first. 

 Dave arrived at Apsaras around 2:00 and started her engine to get it warmed up. It was blowing about 15 knots at the marina so he found a guy to help him cast off. Backed out and headed down the fairway with no difficulties. Dave arrived at the boat launch a bit early so he tried to dock by himself. No dice with the wind directly on the side blowing him off. So he backed out to wait until help arrived only to find a shallow spot. The depth sounder is perfectly adjusted. Apsaras came to a stop just as it read 0 feet. Sigh. Tide is coming in so he was not worried. In only a couple minutes it had come up far enough to power off the mud. 3 for 3 in Apsaras getting her off on her own power. The yard showed up and helped him tie her down.

And now we can see why she can't steer very well, and is slowed by about 30%.  Yikes.

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