Continuing On

Day 2, March 27, 2014

Continuing On.

After a great night’s sleep, we were up and about by about 5 o’clock.  We ate the free breakfast at the motel to start our day.  I cooked one of those waffles that they have where you pour the batter in to their really hot  iron and as it was completing its cycle, I noticed that they had sausage gravy.  Those who have followed this blog in the past are aware that sausage gravy and biscuits are a staple for me, so this morning I was treated to sausage gravy and waffle.  Not bad, but messy because the waffle was a bit rubbery and the gravy was slippery so trying to cut it with the tiny plastic knife and fork turned out to be a bit hilarious.  However, I did tackle and slay the beast.

On the road at about 7:00, we had another uneventful trip the rest of the way down I-95 to our destination of Stuart FL.  We arrived at the Sandsprit Park where we planned to launch the boat There we encountered a brand new 32 foot Seaward RK which is the same brand as our new (to us) boat.  Stuart is the home of the Hake Yachts factory which is the manufacturer of these boats.  I went to talk to the two guys who were rigging this truly beautiful boat and it turned out that this boat was sold and being picked up the tomorrow.  These guys were factory employees and after some interesting conversations, they invited me to visit the factory.  We will indeed do that.

The ramp at Sandsprit Park is undoubtedly the nicest one we have yet to use.  The area is roomy and wide open with a great rigging area with easy access to the ramp.  Right next door, within easy walking distance is the Sailfish Marina.

We had called ahead and made reservations with the folks at Sailfish anticipating that we would like 2 nights to get things ready for us to head out.  We left the truck and boat in the Park and walked to meet Karen, the lady would was in charge of wet-slips.  She was most accommodating and friendly and flexible.  She wanted to do what was needed to meet our needs. 

Back in the Park, we went through the exercise of stepping the mast and rigging the boat.  I can’t get over how much easier this whole process is compared to what we use to go through with our Balboa 26.  We got the boat rigged including bending the sail is about 2 hours.  The last time we did that with the Balboa, it took us about 5 hours.  This time I didn’t even have to send Janine up the mast to fix something that I screwed up in the stepping process. 

Set up and ready to launch.  Damn Dink is hiding.

When we finished, it was spitting rain and past 5:00.  We needed to get the empty trailer to the Hinckley Yacht’s boat yard for storage for the duration before 5:00.  Since we missed that deadline and wind and weather were iffy, we decided to put off the launch until tomorrow, disconnect the truck from the trailer and find an eating establishment.  The one we found was called the Whistle Stop.  It was a very small possibly modular building that was obviously owned by the older, heavy set cook.  She had a young girl taking orders at the counter, and an overweight fry cook working with her.  I looked at her menu board posted on the wall and asked what the Brunswick stew was.  She said that it was bar-b-que based pulled pork and chicken with vegetables – do you want taste it?  I told her, “No, I want the one with the big pile of rice.”  Janine ordered a cup of the stuff.  When she delivered the dish, I was not surprised to find that she was not kidding about the big pile of rice.  It really mounded over the entire plate with the juicy concoction dumped on top.  I was mixed the mess up carefully and was pleasantly surprised that it was amazingly good.  Janine agreed.  I had a can of pop and Janine had coffee – total bill, $14.35.  A great meal served with local color.

Back at the boat, it was too about dark and too early so we spent a bit of time putting stuff away and get the cabin of the boat arranged in a somewhat livable fashion.  Meanwhile, it began raining and blowing;  a weather patterned that lasted all night.  We put on head lamps and read until about 9:45 when we crawled into our new very comfortable (compared to the Balboa) bed.  Sleep came easily.