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Tag: champagne

June 7, 2013 – Bottle smash and blood!

November 4, 2013December 30, 2013anniedike

That’s right.  Blood.  These boat christenings are serious business.  It’s like Fight Club.

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Rule No. 1:  There must be blood.  Alright, that’s not rule number one (it’s number 12!).  Rule number one is The bottle must break.  And, that is true.  It has to be.  I read it on the internet (http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2506&dat=19650701&id=3lVJAAAAIBAJ&sjid=EwoNAAAAIBAJ&pg=4384,289846).  And, you gotta love that captain for being quick on his feet.  The boat slips out into the water on its own before the ceremony, and he shrugs and says “Everyone knows the christening comes after birth.”  Perfect.  “Now, strike up the band!  I want to hear God Save the Queen.”

We didn’t have quite that degree of pomp and circumstance.  (I don’t think it made the paper.)  But, in the early morning hours of June 7, 2013, we certainly did christen her.  The Travelift was scheduled to come at 7:00 a.m. to pick her up for the haul-in, I guess you would call it.  So, we got there a little early to close and check all the seacocks and through-holes and ready her for the water.  We checked all the fluids.  Yes, the transmission fluid, too.  I checked that first actually, while the boys were commiserating in the cockpit.

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This is the Grand Trio: that’s Kevin the Broker on the left (the buddy who helped us find our gem, the most amazing sailboat ever), Bottom Job Brandon in the middle (the buddy who helped us polish her up and ready her for any voyage) and, on the right, our faithful Captain and Leader, the reason for all of this, the infamous Phillip.

The Travelift came right on time, and the guys and gals at the shipyard started strapping her up.

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And we have lift off!

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Thankfully, Houston, there were no problems.

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Phillip looked about as proud as I’ve ever seen him, watching his boat, his dream, his vision, hovering right in front of him.  Finally, a reality.  We both walked alongside her, broad smiles and big chests, pointing, nudging and whispering to each other: That’s our boat!

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It was a big day for us.

Kevin and Brandon, both avid sailors themselves, and having owned and lived on and around sailboats all their lives, knew what it felt like to put your boat in the water for the first time.  They brought us champagne to break (and drink!), slapped us on the back and shared our excitement.

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Kevin:  “You’re going to spend your best days on her.”

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Phillip:  “I hope to spend every day on her.”

They brought her over the water and dipped her down just low enough for me to smash the bottle on the bow.  IMG_1924

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This was the big moment.  You know, plagued for all eternity and what not.  But, I was ready.  I’d been practicing.  I wasn’t going to let that bottle bounce back unscathed.  Uh-huh, not on this boat.  I reared back and smacked her good.

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KA-POOOWWW!!

Ahhh!  What a glorious moment.  The bottle smashed into 932 pieces and champagne went everywhere!  I made a big scene and acted like a superhero (I tend to do that in moments like this).

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And, then … there was BLOOD.

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I didn’t notice it at first, in all my flailing and flaunting, but Brandon did.  I’m surprised I didn’t get it on my white shirt (I can’t keep a white shirt clean to save my life).  But, she was gushing.  That bottle obviously found a way to get back at me.  A nice shard of it jammed right into my knuckle upon impact.  We didn’t have a band there playing God Save the Queen, but I have a feeling the queen herself would have been proud of my bloody good smash!  Perhaps I swung a little harder than necessary.  I tend to do that at times, too.  But, it was totally worth it.  The bottle shattered, and Plaintiff’s Rest was assured a long, lucky life at sea.  We wrapped my bloody appendage and hopped on board while the boys eased her out of the dock.

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Plaintiff’s Rest was back in the water!  To ensure a future of fair winds and following seas, we performed the obligatory splash ceremony ritual (http://www.boatnames.com.au/boat-naming-renaming-ceremony.htm) in which we called on Poseidon and the four Wind Gods (north, east, south and west), reading the script out loud, pouring generous amounts of champagne in each direction, and drinking a generous portion ourselves.  Plenty of champagne was consumed during the ceremony, I can assure you.  We had a lot to celebrate!

Phillip was beaming.

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The wind was blowing, and we were sailing!

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And, you know what happens when we go sailing …

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Clothes come off!  I’m kidding.  They do, but only the outer layers.  We love the sun.  Phillip went top-side to enjoy the view from the bow, and I (of course) followed.

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“Hey Cap’n!”

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“You looking for a mate?”

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It was a big day for us and a beautiful day on the water.  We knew, then and there, we would spend our best days on her.

Boat Projects, Bottom Job boat logo, boat re-naming, bottle smashing, bottom job, champagne, pensacola shipyard, perdido sailor, plaintiff's rest, smash the bottle on the bow, splash ceremony, travelift 10 Comments

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I've got this downloaded and cued up to listen to while on passage. ⛵ 🎧 This was such a fun experience, chatting with these two "Caribbean Thriller" authors, Douglas Pratt and Nicholas Harvey, about sailing, writing, working as a lawyer remotely, a potential idea for my next book plot, forgetting to wear pants in Cuba, and ... OH! ... my least favorite singer. A lot of fun stuff packed in here. Many thanks to Doug and Nick for having me on their podcast among many other talented and interesting characters. Up today at HaveWind or via the link below. Give it a click and a listen. Enjoy!
Can you feel that? Salt air on your skin, the crush of water under the hull, the billion stars at night. The experience of an offshore passage is unparalleled. Excitement, fear, pride. I’m reminded of it all as Phillip and I are currently planning a big trek north to get Ubiquitous safe for hurricane season. Weather routing and provisioning are in the works. Stay tuned! ⛵️ 🌊#havewindwilltravel #offshore #passage #sailing #outbound46
Kiting in the Atlantic! 🏄‍♀️ It’s been a minute (few months) for us, but it was time to knock the rust off. I got pummeled a bit in the surf but didn’t have a kitemare and enjoyed meeting the lifeguard who called me back to the beach saying I was scaring the children with my kite. Haha. Phillip crushed it as usual. We had a great time. Thank you summer! 🌞
Finally got to use our new Brownie’s Third Lung compressor (110V) to scrub Ubi’s bottom. 🧼💪🤿 What a game changer! I’m not great at holding my breath (full disclosure: I suck at it and learning to hold it for 2 mins+ is on my bucketlist). That said I always hate how “hasty” I feel I have to be while free diving a bottom job. Being able to stay down and take the necessary time to really inspect her hull and clean her right felt wonderful. Any of you using a compressor system to scrub your bottoms? Thoughts? #havewindwilltravel #outbound46 #browniesthirdlung #bottomjob
While doing NYC the Port Washington way was nice, there’s something to be said about stepping off the boat right onto Brooklyn’s Peir 1 waterfront Park. 🥰 When Phillip and I heard from fellow cruisers while making our way north up the east coast last year that a new marina was opening up in Brooklyn, we were intrigued! There was also talk of state-of-the-art attenuators the marina and its design team engineered to tame the aggressive wake and waters of New York Harbor. Phillip and I decided we had to give this fascinating new marina—Brooklyn ONE 15—a try, so we booked a week in late September October for our Big Brooklyn Splurge! Read about our two-week stay in Brooklyn fresh up on the HaveWind blog today: Brooklyn One° 15 Marina – The (Soon-to-Be Poor Man’s) Way to Do NYC.
Sailing by Statue of Liberty.🗽😍 Such a cool feeling. How many of you have done it? This was from our entry (first ever) into the Long Island Sound last summer and we’ll be headed back again soon this year. So many memories (old and new) await! #havewindwilltravel #statueofliberty #newyork #sailing #longislandsound #newengland
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