On the Hard

That is a phrase in the boating world where one stores their boat on the ground, typically in a boat yard where they put blocks underneath the hull for support and use jacks for lateral support.  Once we made the decision to head back to the US to store the boat for hurricane season, the big decision is where.   What yard is in a "safe" place for storms, has a good reputation, can also work on the boat in the off season, and has a lift big enough to lift Rock Chalk out of the water.


There are many yards with lifts, but we need one that can handle our 19' beam.  We decided to go to Stuart Florida and travel 7 miles up the St. Lucie River to a boat yard called American Yacht Center.    It is very protected, and far enough from the ocean to not have a problem with a  surge from a big hurricane.  They build big boats here.   I mean  big boats, 150 footers.  Our beam is definitely not an issue.   You can see that this travel lift dwarfs Rock Chalk. It can handle 150 ton yachts like below.   Our puny 13 tons hardly registers.

Ever been at the dude ranch in Colorado, riding the horses out into the meadows.   The moment you turn the horse and start back toward the barn, your horse takes off.   That kinda describes this last 10 days for us.   Once we decided to get back to the US and put the boat up, it all happened really fast.  We arrived in Ft. Lauderdale from the Bahamas  last Sunday.   We were in West Palm just across from the beautiful hotel, The Breakers, on Monday.  (see above)

By Tuesday we were at the American Yacht yard.   They scheduled us to go on the hard on Thursday, which they did by 2:30 pm.   We had the boat all prepped, with everything off that we needed to get off.   We took all the canvas off so it can weather a strong storm.  We had the rental car full of stuff and were on the road  by 3:00 pm.  on Thursday.  We got home to Austin Friday night.  Talk about running fast for the barn.

The Hard

Well, that is it for awhile.   We are back in Austin for several months.   Who knows what is next.   Isn't that a great option?  Who knows?  All options are open.  The Bahamas are fantastic and well worth visiting again.  Canada was a fantastic cruising area.   We really want to see Quebec City, Montreal, and Ottawa from Rock Chalk.  I guess we have several months to figure it all out.   In the meantime, I hope to see all our family and friends in person.   Thanks for following the Adventures of Rock Chalk, and lets hope there are many more to come.           Marc and Shelley

                             

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