Finally... out of the slip!!! (Sunday - April 25, 2010)
It's almost too good to be true! The wind was light-moderate and so it was perfect timing to take 'Hotspur' for her very first spin around the marina since we bought her in January. We start the engine and... 45 seconds later it dies. There are those pesky air bubbles that Jim fought for days... haunting him still! Thankfully, we were still in the slip.
After bleeding the lines and removing the primary filter (because we believe it is the problem), we started her up again. BLISS! We got her out of the slip with help of friends. We tootled around the marina for an hour or so... pulling her into empty slips and practicing her reverse skills... which started out fantastic and dwindled pathetically as the wind kicked up.
We got her back into our skinny single slip and bumped her port side coming in as the wind kicked up more and blew her sideways. There's a scuff there now, but no damage done. Thankfully, we've yet to get her a new paint job!
Learning to maneuver a new, bigger and beamier boat is a challenge. As we are scheduled for a haul-out on 4/26 we felt it was imperative to get her out of the slip and get a feel how she moves... BEFORE we have to reverse her between multiple concrete pylons!
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