Due to the fact that I know that everybody (not just my Facebook friends) wants to see launch pictures of the boat and get an update on her, I'll skip over the last couple of weeks for now and write a more detailed post with pictures on that part of the adventure later.
For those that need some details, the short summary is that we drove from Texas, to Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas, to Mammoth Caves in Kentucky, to my friend (of 29 years now, oh my!) and her family's house in Ohio, to my Aunt's house in Pennsylvania, where we attended my cousin's wedding and stayed for a few days, to DC to stop in to see our house, to Orlando, FL (where things got interesting doing our last errands and avoiding a hurricane) to Miami (yes, Miami!) to catch our flight to Paris a day earlier than originally planned and about 7 hours before the airport closed due to Hurricane Irma.
We arrived in Paris on Saturday morning, tired, but happy and relieved to be out of the path of Hurricane Irma. We stayed with our friends, enjoying comfortable accommodations, champagne, good food and great company steps (literally) from the Eiffel Tower!
Tired kids and view from living room
Sunday we went to the playground in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower and continued to try to recover from our jet lag and reset our body clocks.
Returning home after park fun
Mocktail Preparations
Cheers!
Monday we drove out to Tréguier and saw our boat in person for the first time. The kids were completely excited and bounced all around it. Jon and I felt a sense of surrealism like it still had to be a dream or wasn't really ours (which technically she isn't completely as there is another payment or so left).
Zephyros at the yard, ready to drive to the port
Tuesday (today, Sep 12th), Zephyros was launched! All went well for the trip from the boat yard, to the port, into the water, and stepping the mast (or putting the mast up). We rode on the boat from the crane that puts up the mast to the dock with the two Jean-Francois' for our first trip on our boat (still feels surreal). However, nothing is ever perfect and she started taking on a little water from around the centerboard axel and ended up pulled back out of the water before the tide went out. No damage done as the bilge pump was keeping up, the problem was quickly spotted, and a plan was made to fix the issue. Even though Zephyros is back on land, the onboard preps continue with the rigging being tightened up along with other onboard work while they correct the leak around the centerboard. She is expected to go back in the water tomorrow around midday.
On the drive from the yard to the port
Getting ready to back up
Backing up
Excited Sailors!
Splashing!
Afloat!
1st underway
Coming alongside the crane
Pier side for the Mast
Ronan tossing his first line - we had our first trip from the crane to the dock
1st family picture aboard
Sitting at the dock - but taking on a little water
Back on land. :(
Centerboard
There has been some debate as to whether or not we should have broken or poured champagne on Zephyros today as tradition requires when christening (and/or launching a boat?). The debate is around the fact that she does not yet have her name on her as we continue to finalize the graphic so she can not yet be officially christened. Jon is convinced that Poseidon was not pleased with the lack of an offering today (hence the leak on an otherwise perfect launch), so we bought champagne for tomorrow and we will offer another bottle when we christen her with her name graphics... Hopefully this will appease Poseidon!
Champagne this time!
Ready to launch again!
It is now Thursday, and Zephyros did go back in the water on Wednesday around midday. This time with champagne - this also means that I don't really have pictures as we were all on the boat for this launch...so I've stolen some from the Boreal Facebook page.
