I say days because it seemed to me that the actual process of getting the boat to her mooring took 5 days.

Worked like this.... Friday 27th August 2010 I hired a trailer. I organised a Hiab to lift the mast onto the trailer and at the same time to a trial lift of the centreboards into the casing - just to check they actually fitted and a bit easier to make changes right now rather than when they are all painted up. I set off to Henderson (arrived safely) and with the help of a small crane lifted the mast of the trailer and it left it waiting to be fitted resting on oil drums. Day 1 completed

Saturday- another big day. Truck arrived and loaded the boat on the trailer. Once she was lifted I finished off the antifouling and took photographs. We lifted under the bridgedeck with the loads been taken by the mast bulkhead, the cockpit bulkhead and the rearbeam. Not even a groan when she came off the supports - out the shed and ready to go for the next day

Getting to the Water

Thought I would mention this in because of the time it took me from starting to think about getting to the water to actually getting there. I started thinking about the trip to the launch site around February so I called Graham from Peter Tippet Haulage who had been a great help when I launched the previous boat. Graham dropped out on site to take a look and it was then I discovered that wide loads were banned on the freeway - and like Sirocco is a wide load - almost 9.0m. There was no other way from where the boat was been built to the sea other than going down the freeway, the previous access road was closed when the freeway was built. What followed was months of negotiation with Main Roads in an attempt to get them to see reason, after around 4 months we were granted permission to go South, when in fact we wanted to go North. We were ready to go when a section of dual carriageway was dug up and narrowed to 7.0m there was just no way around it - another 6 week delay, we finally had all the permits in place and the police escort organised for Sunday 29th August, a week later than I had hoped for.. This period was the most frustrating of the whole project as I felt I just did not have any control over the process - but made it in the end - rejoice.

Sunday - Even a bigger day, not that there was much for me to do other than to take photos and try and stay calm. We of course had a police escort and 5 pilots. Set off at 7:00am and were ready to head south on the freeway at 7:30am. The plan was that the police would enter the freeway on the exit north of us and stop or slow traffic - once that had happened we entered the freeway after the last car had passed - worked like a charm - we travelled down the freeway at 80 km/h. A few tight turns thought traffic lights but on the whole a trouble free trip and we arrived at Henderson at 10:00am where the boat was lowered onto the supports and left until the next day, all was left for me to do was to write the cheque

Monday - Real Launch Day I suppose. Something that needed to be done before the boat came in contact with the water, the rudders needed to be installed. The plan was to lift the boat up with the Tammy lift and install them while she hung there as I thought this could take a while. On Monday I discovered that the Tammy lift injector pump had packed up so in the end I just used the crane, and total install time only took 30 mins. Although I was not 100% initially happy with the way the boat was slung, after a bit of checking was convinced all was well and she was launched around 1:00pm on Monday 30th - no leaks and she sat about 80mm above the DWL, I do not know the exact weight but am guessing 12 ton. Mast was next and by the end of the day the mast was on, permanently supported by the inner forestay and the 2 lower shrouds and temporary supported by all available halyards

Tuesday - Mast install was completed including the furler and the permanent forestay and cap shrouds, boom was fastened on - engines started and we set off for Hillarys about 20nm north of us. There was no wind so the sea was flat but plenty of rain, running the motors at 1600 rpm each gave us 7.0 knots and we arrived at Hillarys a little after 4:00pm. The trip was uneventful apart from every deck hatch leaking water, something that has now been corrected - you get that.

Recommentations

Start thinking about your launch timetable will in advance - if you have any government, including police involvement.
Get proffesionals involved at this stage, you have spent thousands of dollars and are at the end of your project so don't screw up now.
Write a naming speech and get some champers.