Haulling | Sailing Errant

Winterization 2016: Errant (near right) is on the hard again at Willsboro Bay Marina until next spring.

Last Thursday my bride and I sailed away from Essex for some “together time” to wrap up our boating season on Lake Champlain. Today Errant is on the hard, winterized, and covered for a long North Country fall-winter-spring. What a week!

Winterization 2016: Errant (port side, winter storage cover) is on the hard again at Willsboro Bay Marina until next spring.

As always, I’m super grateful to Paul, Tami, Andre, Michael, and everyone else that ensures smooth operations at Willsboro Bay Marina. What an incredible team. Always reliable, always friendly, always generous, always over-delivering. Launching and hauling has is such a positive experience each year. Thank you, Team WBM!

Winterization 2016: Errant (stern view, winter storage cover) is on the hard again at Willsboro Bay Marina until next spring.

There’s a long-ish laundry list that we need to take care of during winter storage including:

finding and fixing a fresh water leak
repairing the bimini bracket that ripped its screws out of the deck
troubleshoot ceiling light in head (one works; one doesn’t)
repair broken ceiling light in salon near clock/barometer
fix v-berth latch
refinish companionway boards
repair main and genoa
install smart latch brackets for helm seat
source new cockpit cushions and porthole blinds
repair/reseal wiring in bilge (especially wind instrument connections)
replace all running rigging, dock lines, etc.
replace halyard/sheet/line pockets
and various other projects…

But for now, it’s time to celebrate a memorable sailing season on Lake Champlain, and to breathe a sigh of relief that hauling and winterization are complete. And — it’s worth noting — de-rigging, winter storage cover, etc. took half the time of last year. Progress!

Hauling Da Capo at Willsboro Bay Marina on October 3, 2014

Another first this morning! Although I spent many summers in my teens and early twenties working at the Westport Marina, often assisting with hauling boats, I’ve never before witnessed my own vessel being lifted out of the water and trundled about a shipyard with a giant travel lift. I’ve never before had a sailboat hoisted into a cradle where it will spend the winter on the hard.

Now I have.

Early Morning

After a fun sail, supper and late night bull session with Mark and Jim last night, Jim headed for home and Mark and I crashed aboard Errant. He slept in the aft berth and seemed to slumber solidly enough. I sleeping-bagged it in the v-berth, and I slept fitfully. Comfortable enough, but maybe just anxious about the haul, the possibility of finding surprises beneath the water line, or something.

Mark whipped up some bacon and eggs this morning, and then we idled over to the service dock.

Willsboro Bay Marina’s docks were quiet, but the service dock was already buzzing with staff ready to haul. From the get-go through the moment that Da Capo was secured in her cradle for the winter, I was impressed with how organized and efficient the shipyard team was. Paul, one of the owners and the head of service, was especially capable. I feel fortunate that my sailboat is being taken care of by this team.

The photos in the gallery below tell the story better than words, from sun up to keel down. Thanks, team WBM! I look forward to spending the next six months or so on the hard, tackling my list of deferred maintenance tasks.