[Public-List] Would have been launched now...

[Gordon Laco]

Good morning,

Well what a week.   I was jamming to get my cap rails fitted back in place and other small prep jobs, but human intelligence again thwarted my plans as it does so many endeavours.

Foundry Cove Marina, (ex Dutchman’s Cove but now under new ownership) cheerfully discussed launch plans with me recently, even so far as commenting that where SURPRISE lies at the edge of the winter storage pack she’ll be easy to get at for an early launch.

Two days ago I kicked off work early to work on the boat… rolled into the marina and my boat was gone.  She’d been moved short distances three times already this spring due to various confusions on the part of the marina, but this time she was nowhere to be found.  Driving around I found her behind a wreck up against the back fence in the area where they put abandoned yachts with her horizontally stored mast pushed into the branches of an evergreen tree.  My unfinished deck work was under a pool of water on the port side due to her odd attitude on the uneven ground preventing drainage… and that same uneven ground allowed her weight to twist the cradle enough that her forward pads were pressing fairly deep dents into her hull.

I went into the office to ask what happened.  I was told that their management had decided that SURPRISE was being sold, and since her status as an operational yacht was now in doubt, she was shunted to the derelict area to get her out of the way.

My response was to suggest that nobody decides my boat is for sale but me, her owner, and that whenever they make decisions about their customer’s boats, they’d better talk to the owner first before making up their own stories.  

So for the fourth time, but the first time for a good reason, they moved my boat again yesterday.  They told me they’d move her first thing Wednesday, 0800.  I was there on time but nobody else was.  at 0830 I phoned ambushed the employee who made the promise and saw she was clearly startled I’d taken her promise as a fact.  They moved the wreck out of the way to access my boat… pausing to ask me where they should put it.   I commented that was really up to them, but suggested it be someplace convenient to both them AND THE OWNER.  'Who is the owner', they asked me.  'How would I know', was my answer.   

After SURPRISE was once again planted level in the land of the living, I went to the office to confirm they have record of my paying in full last fall for winter storage and launch.  They did.  I asked who decided my boat was a derelict, they didn’t know.  They asked me if I still planed to launch early, I told them I need to examine the damage first before making my decision.  That drew ominous silence.  As I left the office I noticed that the area of the marina building which was once a functional chandlery now sells snowmobile and seadoo accessories… that’s a bad sign.  I learned out in the yard that the old familiar employees had fled during the winter, and that the new travel lift people know nothing about sailing yachts and have never handled masts.   That’s another bad sign.

I’m happy for the Green family that they’ve been able to sell the business and retire well, but I miss them already.

Gordon Laco
www.gordonlaco.com
SURPRISE 426