Haul out Puerto Rico, PDR

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We are trying to catch up on our blog as we now post most live updates to our Facebook Page here: https://www.facebook.com/svIslandSpirit/ So, this post is a photo essay on the process we went thru to haul out the boat in Puerto Rico and prepare her for hurricane storage July 2020 to Nov 2020. Enjoy this photo essay and the captions. I hope you enjoy this….

Sailing from St. Thomas to Puerto Rico
Heading 270, WEST, very odd
Job one, drop all the sails and store them below deck
We flake our sails on the deck, then fold them and tie them up
We do LOVE our MACK SAILS
Here are two sails stored below deck, nice and neat
We covered all the varnished teak with a new material called CAP WRAP by ULINE, lets hope it works
We covered the ports and all teal with this cap wrap
We pulled out the 250 foot of 5/16″ HT Acco anchor chain and washed it, desalted it and then added WD-40 to the links for storage.
It was a full moon while we were in Fajardo, Puerto Rico
The boats around us had underwater lights that light our boat us and looked so cool
We protected the hatch and wrapped it for dinghy storage on deck
The 10’6″ AB RIB dinghy fits on the bow of an Island Packet 35
We changed the oil
She is now ready to haul out
We buy hurricane tie down straps
Our shade cloth, COOLAROO ships in and we pic this up
We roll out the coolaroo and pre-cut the shade fabric
Haul out time,, we have to back into the haul out slip
They lift her out of the water and drive her to the storage yard
It is always exciting to see this yacht out of the water, 20,000 llbs and 39 feet over all length looks big out of the water
They transfer the yacht to a trailer that is remote controlled. This allows them to move the yacht very tight and close to the next yacht maximizing the storage yard.
We hired Ruben to powerwash the bottom
Next we rolled out our shade fabric and covered the yacht
We extend our spinnaker pole to make a tent aft of the mast
The bow piece is stitched to the aft piece and pulled tight
There she is with a full top shade cover to protect her from the hot Caribbean sun
With the spinnaker pole tent, we can still get into the boat and work
We added 8 hurricane straps to secure her to the concrete footings
Hurricane straps from bow, midship and stern pull down to concrete footings. This is required by insurance companies
The straps and the tie down set up
We wrap the rudder and the stern to keep the hot Caribbean sun off these surfaces
it is recommended to add Vaseline to the straps and stands to keep ants off the boat!
Same thing on the jack stands…. add Vaseline to the stands to keep ants off the boat!
We take a break and tour the rain forest
Oh yes, Puerto Rico
Abd the beach
Welcome to HOME to “SALTBOX 13” our home we built and love….

And that is a wrap on cruising season 2020, where we started in Grenada, launched the boat and made repairs to get sailing by Dec 25, 2020. We sailed up to Bequia for Cruisers Christmas and then on north. We were in Antigua, in February and early March when Covid-19 was breaking out. By mid March we were running back to Grenada to be secure frm covid-19. We docked into Grenada and there we were, “stuck for March, April, May, with a covid-19 lock down. Safe and secure but with a closed airport we decided to sail for USA on May 18, 2020. We sailed 60 hours and 425 nm back up to St. Croix, USVI. There we quarintined 14 days on anchor and then moved up to St. Thomas for provisions. From there we moved to St John and waited for our haul out in Puerto Rico. We sailed over to PR in July 4, 2020 and immediatly had a covid-19 test. Locked down on the boat until results came back we then could begin to derig the yacht.

We down rigged for days and then hauled out July 9th 2020. With the boat now on land we worked on securing her for hurricane season. After we finished that, we moved to San Juan. There we enjoyed a weekend and then flew home to Philly, USA. 

Once home, we were once again quarantined for 14 days. W placed a yellow Q Flag on our home and stayed home. This would make the 4th time we have done 14 day quarantine.  After that, we began to return to a somewhat normal life….whatever normal is…

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One Reply to “Haul out Puerto Rico, PDR”

  1. Whew! I know the routine you go through every year but it’s still fascinating to see it in pictures and your comments. So exhausting but worth every minute when you get back and your baby will be found just as you left her. Safe travels back and we look forward to following your travels soon. Loretta and Jim Elliott

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