King Malu launch

The day started with a phone call from Alexi to say that King Malu was now on the crane, but that she would have to go in the water no later than 2pm since there was a boat coming out at 2:30. That would give us just about enough time for 3 coats of paint.

So... we rushed down to King Malu and sanded off the bottom of the keel. In the process found three small places where the hull was damaged so mixed up some Epidermix epoxy and filled those. The a layer of Awlgrip Hullguard and two layers of Alwgrip anti-fouling.

While I was painting Tim went off the the marina office to confirm the tow. But there was a problem: The marina tow boat had just come out of the water for repair and was not available. So, quick phone calls and found we could borrow Fuad's speed boat. But... the battery was flat! So Ken to the rescue - came hot foot to the marina with tools and removed the battery from my car to get Fuad's boat going.

2pm on the dot, the crane people arrived. Problem was the 2:30 people were already in the dock waiting.

So off they went again persuaded the 2:30 yacht to come out of the dock while we went in.

Everything went smoothly. We traversed around the marina at less than walking speed.

It's a very strange experience to see your boat motoring around the yard. The webbing straps that are holding 15 tonnes of boat must be taking a tremendous strain.

Finally we arrived at the dock and slowly King Malu descended into the water.

When she was down I climbed aboard, secured the mooring lines and the crane released her.

I then turned on the electrics to ensure that the bilge pumps were working and we connected up a towing line.

The wind dropped and with Tim driving Fuad's boat we went over to our mooring. Of course, Tim was disappointed not to be on boat King Malu.

The harbour master complemented Tim on his towing and King Malu had arrived at her mooring for the next few months.