Today was the day. We woke up bright and early, dressed up a bit (you know, wanted to make a good impression) and went skipping over to BVI yacht brokers. They didn’t open until 9. Whoops, a few more hours to kill.
On take two, the broker walked us over to the boatyard where she’s been living. There she stood, sandwiched between mega yachts and sitting on stilts atop a bed of toxic mud. A little smaller than maybe we both had been expecting. Definitely more tired. But she was still standing upright. Could have been a lot worse.
We found a ladder, boarded her, and were greeted with a colony, nay, an army of spiders that mistakenly thought Paradox was their home. Armed with enthusiasm and still cool from the air conditioned room we’d been in, we quickly got to work. Will started to remove rust from the stainless bimini frame so that we could put up canvas for desperately needed shade and I waged war with the spiders.
2 hours later, spiders were gone, bimini and dodger were mostly up and we realized that San Francisco living had not prepared us for what we were in store for. City Soft. We were so hot and dehydrated that just to stand up got our hearts racing and heads spinning. Quick glances discovered the workers in the boat yard snickering at the two of us pink and panting away. Hardened sailors we are not yet. 90 degrees, 90 percent humidity, and not much atmosphere between us and the sun is a far cry from what we’re used to.
We had big plans for the boat projects we’d do while she was still on the hard. After today, we have a new plan. Get her in the water as soon as possible. We have one big project to do on the boat tomorrow, and then we splash her on the 16th. Once in the water, then we’ll really get to work!
Here is our boat in her currently glory. We don’t look much better either.
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