NOTE: This is duplicate of the first part of my 5/13 post. Facebook will not let me post that report, so I’m attempting to repost it in sections.
Mrs. Horne and I arrived in Massachusetts on April 24. A few days later, we launched Amazing Grace at Safe Harbor Plymouth.
I like to launch in April; it gives me a few weeks to reacquaint myself with the operation of the boat and find all the systems that were shut down for storage and never restarted.
Maritimo and Safe Harbor did a few major projects over the winter, and we needed to check them out before the boatyard got swamped with launches.
I truly cannot say enough about the team at Safe Harbor Plymouth – Lauren, Dave, Joe, and the rest of the team all took care of Amazing Grace as if she were their own.
2024 Seatrial Day
On April 30, Captain Tom Jajucki of Maritimo America flew into Seatrial the offseason modifications and recalibrate the Humphree Intercepters. It was a cold, gray, and blustery day as I pulled out of Plymouth, heading toward Cape Cod Bay.
virtually alone in Plymouth Harbor
Maritime also relocated the water tank to help maintain course downwind and allowed the Humphrees to “bite,” keeping the listing to a minimum.
Docking Trial By Fire
The team at Safe Harbor Plymouth had docked Amazing Grace backed into the dock immediately in front of the Surfside Smokehouse restaurant.
This dock is located all the way back in the Marina and requires a tight right turn to avoid the rocks and pilings that line the channel to the fuel dock.
I took Amazing Amazing Grace out of this dock once last summer, but it was on a calm, sunny day.
Although the route out was tight, I was going forward with full visibility of all the hazards around me.
Returning to the dock with a 20-knot wind was a different story! And to make matters worse, it was my first time behind the helm in six months.
I drove straight for the fuel dock and made a hard right toward the shore and rocks until the forward sonar showed the water depth drop from 15’ to 7’, indicating the bow was on the verge of leaving the dredged channel.
I grabbed the dockmate and bolted to the aft of the skydeck as the winds pushed us toward the shore.
It took me a few seconds to reacquaint myself with the various controls on the dockmate, but reverse was the most important!
Despite my inner panic, Tom commended my perfect landing back by the restaurant—certainly not the first cruise I envisioned – more of a trial by fire.
Besides conquering one of the trickiest landings on Day One of the 2024 season, the experience motivated me to create an operating manual for Amazing Grace (more on that in a future post).
Up next – repost of Part 2 (if this works!)