It turns out finishing this build blog has been harder than building the boat. As I am sure you have figured out, a lot of stuff has happened in the more than two years since I last published. On top of that, it has been quite a while since I have exercised the writer muscles so bear with me. When we last talked I had just loaded up the trailer and was getting ready for launch day. Lets start there.
Launch day for me was one of the more stressful things I have done. A constant parade of all the things that could possibly go wrong kept me up for most of the night. Finally around 4 am I gave up trying to sleep and got up. The game plan was to launch Freya from the boat ramp just down the street from our house on the mighty Satilla River. There were a lot of boat ramps that would have been better for a first launch but the Satilla River was special to me. Growing up I had spent most of my summers cruising up and down that river in an old wooden rowboat so it was a fitting place to christen Freya. It was also one mile away from the shop so if I needed anything it was close by.
When we showed up to the boat ramp we had quite the audience. These guys really didn’t help my anxiety at all.
First order of business was to set the rigging.
This was the first time that the rigging had been fully set so it took a while. With Cheryl and I both working on it it took about an hour and a half to get fully set up.
Mom and Dad were on hand to help. Mom running the camera and my Dad giving advice. He did spent a career in the US Navy so I guess he is qualified.
Woodbine is a small town and a long way from the ocean so our party did draw quite the crowd. Finally there were no more excuses and it was time to launch.
I am happy to report that she floated nicely on her lines and sails like a dream.
idle hands workshop 