Tuesday, October 7 | Distance Travelled: 0.4 nm

After several seasons of using Royal River Boat Yard to unstep the mast, hauling and Yarmouth Town Landing, and storing the boat at Lackey Sailing, we decided to modify the plan for winter 08-09, including storing the boat at home and using a new mast service. While I have been exceptionally pleased with the service by RRBY, I always dread the trip around and up the river, worrying about weather and other unknowns. And the logistics can be quite challenging with placing cars etc. So this year, on the recommendation of a friend, I tried Falls Point Marine's mobile mast barge service. I scheduled an unstepping via email (to which they were exceptionally responsive). I was actually not able to be on the boat when they scheduled the unstepping, and I will confess to being very nervous, but when I arrived aboard the next day I found that they had done a great job. There was no sign of any damage anywhere, and the mast was well lashed and padded and could have gone overroad without me touching a thing. Excellent. ¶Haulout day was an absolutely beautiful fall day with temps around 60, and a light westerly breeze blowing. It was heartbreaking, as usual, to be taking the boat out on such a corker day. I brought the boat in to the PYC docks and stripped down all of the rigging, and adjusted the lashings slightly. Then I headed over to the Falmouth Town Landing to await haulout. ¶ At about 1600, Steve Morse arrived and picked up the boat. We headed to the house and Steve did a great job, as usual, shoehorning the boat into a tight spot. The guy is just amazing with that trailer. We adjusted the blocking and stands and soon Steve was on his way and the boat was home for the winter, awaiting some cleanup and winterization. Season 08 was at a close.