Well, the day finally arrived. Strangely, the first pictures you will see when you click on the link below happened on the same day that Tom arrived here – 25th February! Rob, Jeanette and Elwyn went to the sailing club where Dusky Dolphin was on a stand in one of the painting sheds. The painter had finished his work, having helped us to decide on a new colour scheme for this usually-water-born part of our family. Rob need some help to haul the windvane into place, and generally tidy up to be ready for putting Dusky Dolphin into the water the following Tuesday.

Next you can see her in the travel lifter, a very strong machine that carried her 7-8 tons like a light-weight before gently lowering her into the harbour. After checking that there were no leaks in her hull, we started the engine and motored around to one of the jetties. Here we had to tie her up firmly, so that the crane could lift the mast up from the cradle where it had lain for the past few weeks, and carry it back so that we could bolt in onto the deck once more. This was very nerve-wracking! Fortunately yet another of the very capable workmen, who we are fortunate enough to work on our boat, was on hand to make sure that all was done properly, and ask us to help when he needed it. Once that was finished, we motored back to Dusky Dolphin’s pen.

The last photos are of our boat anchored in Warnbro Sound. Rob steered our dinghy in a circle around the boat while I took pictures of the new colour scheme and completely different dolphin image. We were very pleased with it all…