Is the boat still floating?

After buying the boat, I went back to Montreal to sublet my apartment and settle my affairs for the winter.

Dolphins swimming in front of my sailboat on Banana River.

As soon as I got to Montreal, hurricane Sandy veered toward the coast. It was called the Frankenstorm and became a mediatic sensation since it was predicted to hit New York. The coverage did nothing to suit my nerves. Fortunately, the dock master convinced me that my boat was still floating.

I had good reasons to fear for the boat. I had left a bit precipitously and to tell you the truth, I had not known how to prepare a docked boat for a long absence. It was only afterwards, when I was 2000 miles from my boat, that I figured out the most obvious things I should have checked, prepared, wrapped, secured and plugged. Every night, I thought about a new thing I hadn’t done. I had a recurring dream of the boat sinking because the bilge pump ceased working. I also worried about the wind tearing the furled sail still on the forestay or the bimini that I never even considered taking down.

On November 14, I had done most of things I had set out to do in Montreal and I drove back to Florida. Boat anxieties accompanied me all the way to Melbourne. The 28 hour drive destroyed my mind. When I finally took the Melbourne exit off highway 95, I really started to appreciate how sad I would be if I found my boat sunk or full of water. I had scenarios. If the boat had sunk I’d dive to take my stuff and leave the boat behind. If the water was up to the diesel, I’d take the motor out and install an outboard. If the diesel was spared, I’d simply empty the bilge and go to bed.

When I pulled in the marina’s driveway, I was delirious with fatigue. I walked to my boat. When I set foot on it, I found that it was tipsy, was the hull might be full of water? I fumbled with my keys and finally opened the hatch. I couldn’t see anything in the dark but when I shone the flashlight I found my boat dry as a bone.

Dolphins swimming in front of my sailboat on Banana River.

Virginia Key bassin, not my boat. This picture was taken from the Columbia 27 I did not buy.

Marine Stadium in Virginia Key. It’s a very large abandoned public work from the 70s. Now skater and all sorts of social deviants hang out there. It’s a nice structure but it really makes Virginia Key dodgy.