Pyxis - Cagliari (Hauling Out)

Cagliari (Hauling Out)

Pyxis

Karen & Richard

Mon 23 Mar 2009 00:00

Monday 23^rd March – Cagliari (Hauling Out)

39:12.175N 9:07.623E

We awoke to bright sunshine and it turned into a pleasant sunny day, albeit it with quite a fresh breeze at times.

There was quite a bit of activity going on in the cantieri (boatyard); late morning we heard that things were looking good for us and one of the other boats to be hauled out in the afternoon, assuming that the wind remained OK.

We were given a time of 3pm and so spent the next few hours ensuring that everything was safely stowed away and that we would be ready to slip lines. Richard dismantled the passerelle so that we could use it as a step ladder to climb onto Pyxis once she was on the cradle in the yard. Meanwhile I took the cockpit enclosure down and put it away; it is a very long time since it has actually been put away as we have used it as a bimini all summer.

Hauling out is a different experience here as they use a crane rather than a travel-lift. You come alongside the harbour wall near the marina and then one of the cranes lifts you out of the water and takes you over to the cantieri. Having watched boats coming out previously, it can be quite nerve racking seeing your boat swinging in the slings.

Just before 3pm one of the guys from the boatyard turned up to say they were ready, helped us with our lines and within minutes we were off round to the harbour wall for our haul out. Cape had kindly lent us a couple of extra large fenders as the wall has some large and rusty chains hanging down in just the right position to damage the gel coat in any swell.

We motored very slowly around to the harbour wall to find an audience of our friends gathering to watch the event. Fortunately my parking went OK and once we were along side everything was out of our hands and over to the boat yard staff.

I decided to go off to the showers rather than stand and fret over the lift. Richard stayed to watch the proceedings and take some photos. Fortunately all went well; Antonello and his staff are extremely particular and careful when it comes to handling boats. By the time I was out of the shower, Pyxis was already hanging in the slings of the crane and the other boat was on its way to be lifted with one of the other cranes.

Once Pyxis was clear of the water we could see the substantial growth on the keel, rudder and propeller that had built up over the winter; we would not have been going anywhere fast. Once inside the cantieri the guys scraped off the worst of the growth and then power washed the underside clean.

We were looking forward to getting chocked off on a cradle for the night but by now it was getting late. We were told that we would have to remain in the slings overnight and be chocked off first thing in the morning, a new experience for us.

Fortunately Sarah had invited us to Cape for dinner so that we didn’t have to cook on board whilst hanging a couple of metres in the air and so we had a wonderful fish pie topped with mash potato. After a few drinks, getting on board up the ladder seemed a lot easier…