Launching      Home      Top sailing page

The only way to get the boat from home to tidal water is to launch in Brome Lake, since the road to our house is too narrow.  Then out the other side of the lake and on to a truck for a 100 km run to real water, on the Richelieu River.  From there, motored down Lake Champlain, through the Champlain Canal to Albany, NY, which is a seaport, 150 miles up the Hudson River from New York City.  We installed mast and sails, and are ready to finish running rigging and test as soon as we get down to a wide enough section of the river.  There are some photos of the boat below, If you want to see all the gory details of the launching, click here. (May be a very long load if you have only a modem to access the Internet)

Claude Senay, who has moved hundreds of houses provided all the expertise and did most of the work or the launch to Lac Brome

First step was to lift her stern, and wheel a buggy made by Claude under her midship section.

The buggy wheels are cast-offs from the Montreal Metro

The next step was to pick up the stern with a boom truck and run down the slope into the lake.

Not so easy, due to soft ground.

Here we are, part way in, and hoping the bow will start floating before hitting bottom.

 

Now we are afloat, just beside home.

Crossing the lake was slow, since we had the buggy and cradle on the bottom, and were steering with a temporary rudder made of a 2 by 4 and some scrap plywood.  

We also ran aground on the only shallow spot in the lake that is not close to shore .  No damage, so it just added to the fun.

The reason was of course that we neglected to toast the old man of the sea before setting out on the voyage.  We did that immediately after the real launch.

 

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