Milestone! We finally had a successful sea trial! Between our mechanic battling kidney problems and multiplying issues with the engines, our departure date has been moved back further and further. The light at the end of the tunnel is finally in sight! (And it's not a train!)
Yesterday started with hope that the sea trial would happen, moved to doubt and then acceptance that it wouldn't happen, and finally - SURPRISE - lets go :). Bob and I prepared in the morning by practicing our docking scenarios, working with our head phones, practiced line handling, and watched docking videos AGAIN. By noon we were doubting the sea trial would take place, then we found out Jason couldn't make it to the boat until 2:00 so we gave up on the sea trial. Jason came out, completed some final tasks, started the engines for the first time in over a month, tested a few things, and said "Let's go!" Wow!
We started by insuring all cupboard doors were closed and large or fragile items stowed. We then untied all the lines but one. When Jason gave the go ahead we let go the final line and out of the slip we went. It went great for a few feet until we got mired in the mud! The marina is due to be dredged in a week or two and it was low tide. Thanks to Jason's piloting skills, he got us out of the harbor. The water outside the marina was fairly smooth and he turned the wheel over to Bob so Jason could go check the engines.
Once we got out into the river however, the water was much rougher and our speed immediately dropped 2 knots as we entered a river and were traveling upstream. It was so different steering the trawler than it was a sailboat in Washington. It felt SO big! Bob did a great job getting the feel of her and learned quickly. We traveled up the river a few miles before turning her around. Jason helped us learn how to watch for shallow water to steer clear of and other navigation hints. He was raised on the water and can teach us so much.
This is an app I have on my phone that tracks our boat. Here is the path we took yesterday. For some reason it didn't start tracking us until we were out of the marina.
This is a short clip of our trip.
Jason took back the controls to get us back in the slip and as the tide was even lower we got stuck in the muck. He was tenacious and got us back to our slip where the marina manager met us to help with the lines. We brought her in bow first this time so we can do some work on the anchor today.
The surprise of the day - -other than actually having the sea trial - was how rough the water was and how much shifted on the boat. We were used to sailboats heeling over but the trawler seemed so much more stable. Between the rough water in the river and the wakes from other boats, we really did some rocking and rolling. We had several cupboard doors pop open. We'll have to find better ways to secure them. All in all a very successful and exciting day!
The adventure continues.....
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