Crane-out 2013

We managed to squeeze in a couple of day sails in the run-up to crane-out, but time and tide waits for no man and inevitably the big day arrived all too soon. We were one of the last yachts to be craned-out this year, as our position in the yard had changed. We duly brought our 32ft Macwester Malin over to the club pier just after lunch at the clubhouse on Sunday.

Thankfully there were no problems lifting the boat out on to the hard. Before she  was lowered on to her wooden blocks for the winter, I asked for our yacht to be held aloft by the crane while I inspected the bottom of the keels. As I suspected there was a little bit of damage visible, and so that issue was added to my ‘to-do’ list.

As usual I helped with other boats after our Malin was safely on the ground. Later, as the day was drawing to a close, I got a lift over to our mooring and rowed our dinghy back round to the club to take it out of the water too. That last journey signalled the end of our season.

Crane-out is always a subdued event, but at least it went smoothly. I guess that all we can do now is look forward to the spring.