WOW - it has been a very busy time since we last posted. We will catch you up on the journey portion later. For now I am going to move on to present day. Today is Wednesday, November 5th and we are in Mobile, AL at Turner Marine. We arrived here on Thursday, October 30th. We have been graced with visits from some of our marina dockmates from Sturgeon Bay, Ed and Fran and our former dockmates from Menominee (and still great friends) Dennis and Dawn. Both couples helped us out immensely providing engineering consultation, wheels to go to the local Lowe's, physical labor and yeas, moral support. And we found time to get off the boat and out for a couple of nice dinners and a little sightseeing on Dauphin Island and the USS Alabama.
Thanks to them and a whole lot of work by my captain, we got our mast stepped (put back on for you landlubbers) and are now a sailboat again!
The process of stepping the mast is an arduous one. We had to unwrap it, clean it, sand it where it had chaffed during shipment, paint a bit of it, wax it and put all the electronics back on it. John even fashioned a new part to elevate our anchor light so it sits above our TV antenna which we moved from the back stay to the top of the mast. Looks great, he can do anything I swear!
Lots of legwork needed to be done before we could even entertain the actual stepping.
Then comes the big moment...raising the 58' mast and sticking it in the little hole!
Will post soon with details of our journey down the bottom of the Black Warrior and Mobile Rivers to our current point. There is still much to do putting on our sails and getting the boat all rigged but we are excited to be half way there.
Sorry for the delay in posting. There is only so much this crew can get done in a day!
Bob Ryan shared your blog with me. We winterized things in the Door yesterday. Huge waves on Lake Michigan high up on shore. Lake is sure rising. We have lost 30 feet of dry land in the past 14 years since we built. Good because it never really belonged to us and hopefully the rising levels will mean a bit less algae. Love your blog and the loop experience you describe. Have read several blogs on this trip so have a bit of an idea about your travels but none in such a magnificent craft as the "Freebird". How very exciting. Good luck with the rest of your travels. Some exciting Gulf sailing ahead but with your experience and that great craft you will have a great time. Safe travels in the south. We head for California around Dec. 1 and then back to Florida in late January for our annual stay at Disney's Ft Wilderness. 5-8 inches of snow predicted for Monday.
ReplyDeleteWe want you to make sure you post pictures and information from the USS Alabama. We are so excited you are a sailboat again!! What a huge job to get that back on. What did you do with Molly during the stepping? It is getting cold here. What is your daytime temp? We are freezing and jealous! Miss you both (that is from Mrs. Noonan).
ReplyDeleteOh we will get you pictures and info on the Alabama. We were there last year too, it is such a nice ship! We have been really busy and are in Pensacola, FL right now. When we stepped the mast we put Molly in one of the back cabins and shut the door. Just wanted to make sure she was safe. The temperature here is 64 degrees and it is 9:00 on Tuesday night. I know it is colder up there and we have snow in Door County where we are from. BURRR! Stay warm and hopefully I will be able to pull the USS Alabama pics soon!
Delete