 |
| Mekicevica and her sidekick. That is Trevis The Trailer under her, not the fool on top. |
Friday the 13th of May started really well. I had the day off and drove to Bruinisse to vacate the visitors berth at the Watersports Club, where Mekicevica had been since the previous weekend. My skills at maneuvering single-handed are getting better, and I made it out of the harbour without incidents. In the moment I came out into open water, I realized that for the first time I was taking Mekicevica out on my own. OK, I was motoring, and the "journey" was one third of a mile long, to the yacht harbour. A solo, semi-circumnavigation of channel marker G2. Holding the tiller, alone in the crisp-clear morning air, only one other boat around, it was enough to make me wish for some real solo sailing. After I finish a few more tweaks in the rigging, and try a tiller-tamer of my own invention, I will go for it.
The rest of the day was spent at the yacht harbour, busy with small chores and preparing Mekicevica and Trevis for the recovery operation when Sandra joined me in the evening.
Enough suspense: We did get the job done. But it took nearly four hours, and the spontaneous, kind help of a guy who seemed to know all the tricks in the trailering book. Even then, we ruined the clutch of the car. We are not amused and not willing to repeat the experience so soon. At least not at that slip. In a couple of weeks Mekicevica will return to the water, but this time it will be with the boat lift.
 |
| The trouble with a slip that is too steep: you either have the nose on the trailer, but the boat floating above the trailer (left) or you leave the trailer less deep (right) but then it takes Superman (or a trailer winch) to pull the nose on . |
