Splashdown!

After what seemed like a long winter, we were fast approaching the date that Endless Summer would once again get its bottom wet along the shores of the Chesapeake Bay. Since I had not "wintered" a boat in many, many years, it was not without some trepidation that I anticipated the moment she would be returned to the water.

We drove from our home in Florida to the storage facility in Maryland with a car full of our "stuff", much more than I had remembered taking off in the Fall. None the less, we trekked north on Interstate 95 and after two days on the road arrived in Pasadena, MD at Pleasure Cove Marina.

We found Endless Summer still tucked in her corner of a very large indoor facility but with a fresh coat of bottom paint along the waterline and a couple of coats of wax on her navy blue hull. So far, so good. Once inside (but still on land) we found that the engine batteries were dead and appeared to be non-responsive to the onboard charging system despite being plugged-in to shore power. We had the service team do a direct charge to at least get them up to starting capacity.

We spent the first day loading the boat with all that "stuff", which was a little more challenging than anticipated as the access to the boat was 10 feet in the air using step ladder onto the swim platform. Once again, I found another use for a boat hook as we hoisted the bags and gear aboard by hand.

The next day, the launch team at Pleasure Cove was ready at 9am and had Endless Summer in the sling ready to go. It is amazing to watch them maneuver the huge marine travel lift with a remote control while carrying a 52 foot yacht in the sling.

The "splashdown" went smoothly and everything appeared to be in order. Oh wait, except for those engine start batteries which were still not up to capacity. Fortunately, Sabre Yachts had an emergency parallel switch that allowed the "house" batteries to help start the engines which allowed us to get underway.

As I single handled the boat from Pleasure Cove on the Western shore over to Bay Bridge Marina on the Eastern shore, the Admiral shuttled the car over the bay bridge to meet me. Once in our assigned slip and tied up, we began the process of cleaning, provisioning, and settling in to our Endless Summer home on the water.

Dinner that night was at Hemingway's right at the marina where we appropriately dined on Maryland Crab Soup while toasting with our Manhattans and Margaritas!

 Indeed, it felt good to be "home" again.