The day started out cold and cloudy, but soon turned into the perfect day for a celebration.
The tiller is just stunning. Jeff did a great job with it.
She got one last wash and varnish touch up
The mast was secured in her partner
and she was ready to go.
I expect that most other boats will be seeing her from this perspective.
There was time for a little relaxing in the main salon before the lift truck showed up.
David's son, Nathaniel, made up a little turk's head for the tiller. He's an absolute natural with knots.
Naturally, there were a variety of proud photo ops. The builders (minus David, the project leader!)
And the syndicate members who made this entire project possible.
Family members, friends, and a crowd of well-wishers turned out the for event, not all on shore.
Then it was time to load the boat onto the trailer.
And they backed her down to the edge of the water.
David thanked the many people who made this project happen
There were flowers for the bow of course,
And with a blessing from one of the proud owners, she was given a ceremonial bathing with champagne. We decided to forgo the bottle smashing...
Here's a little film of the actual launching
And even more from another perspective.
And there she was, floating like a swan, 364 days from the time we began working on the lofting floor.
Everyone made sure to get a close look
and of course, checking the bilges for leaks is right at top of everyone's list.
Dry as a bone.
Shoes and socks come off if you go aboard.
Afterwards we had an amazing catered celebration at the Boothbay Harbor Shipyard office (big thank you to Peter!). David and a friend provided a little music
And then his wife, Tamara joined in on fiddle
And his son Abraham as well
Here's what it sounded like...
Not a bad little celebration to wrap up a perfect launch.
We'll need a few more weeks to finish up the deck hardware and rig setup, but for now she's floating on her marks and looking good.
Finally, to echo David's remarks at the launching, we want to remind folks that this project was helped along by a huge number of people. We especially want to thank:
- Boothbay Harbor Shipyard and Terry McClinch for donating David's time for a year, as well as all of the wood for Cherokee. He went above and beyond the call of duty.
- All of the syndicate members for making this possible
- The Museum of Yachting (MOY) for letting us build her there, and for allowing us to use their tools
- IYRS for loaning us tools, transportation, supplies, and piles of other tiny things when we needed them.
- The volunteers at MOY for helping us out with a huge number of things, and for allowing us to invade their shop space for so long.
- Sparkman & Stephens for giving us access to the original plans for Cherokee.
- Michael McCaffrey of Narragansett Shipwrights for loaning us all kinds of tools and supplies whenever we needed them.
[PS: Special thanks to Holly David and David Stimson for contributing photos and movies for today's entry]