David's Diary: Tuesday, October 9, 2001

Dragonsinger Enters The Sea

Today we worked on school work and then went to the marina for lunch. As we were sitting down to lunch we took a brief look outside and discovered that Dragonsinger was on longer in place next to the workshop. A mad rush to the launching pad allowed us to see Dragonsinger lowered into the sea for the first time. Just before it started floating I jumped aboard and while Jocelyn, Kevin, and Allen watched I got to feel her float for the first time in salt water and tie her up.

Placing The Mast

We stopped for lunch while the crew at Yacht Services finished preparations on the mast. The mast was then moved to the launching area and we watched as it was lifted off its cradle and moved over Dragonsinger.

The First Shroud Is Always The Hardest

It is tricky to step a mast on a forty-three foot sailboat and we were glad that it wasn't us that had to do it. We watched as the crane lowered the mast onto the mast step, but then it was just a case of brute strength to get the first shroud attached. After that it was a straight-forward process to attach the rest of the shrouds to the hull and then Dragonsinger was motored to a slip in the marina where it finally looked like a sailboat ready to take on the Mediterranean.