Ok, this is the one my in laws have been waiting for! It started out with great news about our grandson Blake. He just got a good report about his follow up brain scan after over a year of chemo, and radiation following his surgery for a relatively large medulloblastoma ( brain cancer). He is the major part of the reason for bringing Doc's Holiday home. (to take him out whale watching off of the coast of Eastport, Maine and Campobello Island, New Brunswick.)
More good news. The boat bottom job was complete, new zincs installed, and the props refurbished. We launched the boat with Mark (the master detroit diesel mechanic at Pier77) on board to check out the motors-I had concerns about the boat not being able to get up on plane. The port motor would not come up to full rpms and was running 200 rpms less than the starboard motor and there was an oil leak on the port motor. Everyone at Pier 77 tried to allay my fears, saying that the leak didn't appear significant and despite my fear that there was a bad injector on the port motor, it was probably just the fouled bottom and minor dings in the prop.
I was thrilled when we powered up to full throttle, the boat came up on plane at 17 knots, no vibration, both motors running 2300 rpm, no major oil leak, perfectly flat blue water, sunny sky, perfect temperature, wow look how she is running---until---just as I was reaching up to throttle back--it happened---I was following the buoys, and yes, I was talking and admiring the power and ride of my beautiful boat when, the narrow channel turned and I----didn't. What a sickening sound as the bow of the boat lifted and we grounded. Everything and everybody in the boat was thrown forward. Nobody was injured, but we were hard aground and were to remain that way for the next 3 hours.
Friday the 13th and Hard Aground!!
Would this be the end of the start of our trip? How much damage was done to the bottom, props, shafts. How much pain are my ears going to have when Beth hears about this one? (Thank god she wasn't on board!!!) How did we get off and how much was it going to cost to repair the boat because come hell or high water (yes high water) Doc'.s Holiday was coming home.
Very fortunate...only minor prop damage, some missing bottom paint and a very bruised ego!!
