Here we go

Finely. We are going to the water. All the effort, all the sacrifices, all the hardships were paying off. I was going to make it to the water. 

The boat was too wide for the travel lift at the marina, so I had to put it in by truck. The only ramp at Shelter Island Marina was in real bad shape. There was a big hole on one side of it about half way down. The only time we could launch the boat was at highest tide. The trailer could not get past the hole; so we hoped the boat would float off by the time highest tide was there. The idea was to position it while the tide was still low and we could see the hole. 

We got the boat in position, just missing the wall by about 4 inches. Now there was nothing to do but wait. We went over to the pub and had a little party and supper. A couple of hours later we returned to see how things were coming along. 

Another 30 minutes and it would be done. There was a festive atmosphere about the place. Three or four bottles of Champagne to christen the boat. Just before the boat started to float, Karen from the big Kurt Hughes cat in the yard gave me a bottle of Champagne to smash on the bow. I said "Smash hell, I’m going to drink this." 

I did sprinkle a bit on the boat, but I was not going to smash any bottle against that beautiful cutwater. After all, it was wood and epoxy; I did not want any dents there.