In the water! Makana was launched with no major hiccups on the morning before Thanksgiving. After clearing the lift basin I moved the boat over to a nearby dock where I’d planned to spend the weekend provisioning. As I was tying the boat up I noticed water shooting out of the port engines bilge drain, not good, I prefer to keep the seawater on the outside of the boat. A quick inspection revealed that I forget to reattach an air-conditioning hose which I had jury rigged last May so we could use the AC while on the hard. This resulted in a flooding of the port engine compartment which thankfully had a functioning bilge pump.
The following 4 days were spent loading Makana with provisions while watching the boats waterline get lower with each trip. Then after sunrise on Tues. Dec. 1st I departed St Augustine and headed south with Vero Beach the destination. The plan was for Katie and Hoku to fly into Ft. Lauderdale where they would rent a car and meet me in Vero and the plan worked flawlessly. I made the 180+ mile trip in 3 days, tied up to a mooring in Vero on the afternoon of the 3rd with the rest of the crew arriving the following day, as Tigger would say TTFN.