Chapter 44

Saturday morning was busy. Mickey was having breakfast when I came out at six. Samantha was sleepily sitting with Mickey, saying she was going back to bed as soon as Mickey left for work. A bunch of people were working today to meet some deadlines for equipment at the shop and in the park. It was more like a weekday than a Saturday.

Dewey, Sheila, Mercy, Sue, and Juanita wanted to go see the boat, and as soon as Tiny and Phil heard them talking, they wanted to go too, which meant Ruth and Judy were going to come along. Ryan said he and Michelle would like to come and Glenda asked if she and Martin could join in too.

Sue and Mercy got their heads together and had Maggie come over, along with Beth and a nurse practitioner that did babysitting. Looking after seven little ones is a big job.

It took three cars to get us all over to the Dunedin yacht club. We walked down to the boat to find six techs screwing things back together. The lead man asked if any of us was Steve Sharp. When I indicated it was I, he stood quickly and shook my hand.

"Thank you for the big order. You've made this boat into a show piece now. The original owner didn't know much about sailboats, but you obviously know what to have to make one safe and great to travel in. We are done, how about a shakedown cruise? Want to take it out?"

Everyone in my party was yelling, "Yes, yes, come on, let's go."

The man said, "Let me make one quick tour of the boat with you to make sure we've made all of the modifications you wanted, and that everything is screwed into place, then we'll cast off."

Sue and Mercy accompanied us as we went over the modifications. The other staterooms now had accompanying heads with another head easily reached from the galley. I was amazed that they had relocated walls, installed and connected all of the plumbing and wiring so easily.

When our inspection was complete, I told Sue and Mercy to help me take the covers off the sails and to test the motors with me. We quickly did that, then I went forward to check the new generator hold and opened the vents. I flipped on the fans and went back to open the engine vents and turn on the fans there. I told Tiny to check in the lounge to see how many life jackets were in there and count heads to make sure we were legal. I asked Ruth to go below to the galley to see if there was any beer there or in the lounge fridge.

I sent Ryan and Phil out to the liquor store across the street from the yacht club for booze, beer, ice and plastic cups. I hollered clear to the men below and cranked the engines and double-checked all of the fluids. Fuel was full and water was full.

The six men came up on deck with their tools, took them to their trucks, and came back. Tiny came to me and said we were going to be two jackets short. I told him to look into the new dinghy on the stern davits and he came back to tell me there were four jackets in the dinghy so we were legal and safe.

Ryan and Phil came back with a store employee pushing three carts full of goodies. The booze was instantly put into the cabinets made for it in the lounge and the beer stowed in the fridge there and in the galley. The ice went into the ice container as the water desalination equipment and ice-maker were not turned on yet.

I asked Juanita, Sue, and Mercy if they were ready. Sue went forward and Mercy went aft. Juanita pulled lines in and coiled them. They all yelled so I engaged the transmission and began easing out backward, sounding the horn and bell. The boat is so long that it takes forever to clear the dock. As soon as we were clear of all the other boats and docks, I shifted to the forward gear and gently swung the bow around to head out to the channel into the gulf.

Once we were about a half-mile out, I began raising sail. Mercy shut down the engines while I made sure each of the big sails were up securely and filled with wind. The big boat wasn't as nimble as Dewey's, but it seemed a little faster. Mercy and I had turned on all of the electronics and were watching both radars and the depth indicator to make sure we were staying in the open water. I did a radio check to the Coast Guard on the emergency radios, and turned on the CCTV screen that showed the galley, the staterooms, the dining room, and the lounge below deck. Everything was working the way I wanted. We would test the anti-personnel radar later. Sue and Juanita reported that the satellite TV was working great, as was the satellite phone.

The lead Magellan tech came to the helm and said, "It's a pleasure to go out with someone who knows how to sail. You have every square inch of sail out that you can have, including both jibs. This baby is flying. I can't wait to tell Mack that someone who knows how to sail has this boat. This is the biggest he's built. His biggest before this was ninety feet. When this one was picked up by a paid crew that really didn't care what kind of boat they were on, every craftsman in the company was disappointed. If you come down around Miami, you have to come to our dock and show off the boat as you have it now. I'll bet you'll do more as far as the interior. You've already added a bunch of line, extra fender mounts, and a big dinghy on davits in the back. We should have included that on the original plan. I like the way you mounted extra tie down areas for the dinghy to keep it from swinging. Most people just go with an inflatable dinghy and hire a sea-taxi when at anchor. This way you're more independent."

I mentioned that the boat didn't seem quite as nimble or as responsive as Dewey's hundred and five footer. Dewey said it felt like the rudder was a little sluggish or out of alignment with the centerboard. The tech said he would tell the engineer to see if there was something they could do that would help the response to the helm.

Almost all of the passengers were up on the bow, enjoying the wind in their faces and the motion of the boat as it sliced through the swells. The motion was so smooth there was hardly any side to side motion with the wind.

We had been going full tilt with the wind and began to make a giant turn. I took down a bunch of sail since we would have to tack back. We slowed a few knots, but were still going at least eight knots almost against the wind. The big boat hardly heeled over in the wind at all. This thing was really heavy.

Once back in the channel, we dropped all the sails and restarted the engines. When we neared the dock, the girls put fenders out and I swung the boat around to back into the docking area so we would be headed out when we left next time. Once the boat was parallel with the dock, Juanita jumped onto the dock and tied the bow line tossed by Sue, then walked back to where Mercy threw out the center and aft line for her to tie then added a couple of springer lines between the main tie down lines. I did the tidying up at the helm and began shutting down everything. By the time I had the engines shut down and the vents closed, the girls had the shore connections done and the generator off line and shut down. We put the covers on the sails and put the cover over the helm.

The tech said, "You four make one hell of a crew. You all are very experienced. I'm proud to have worked on your boat. I'll make sure the engineers talk to you. We're going to leave now, so let me walk you through everything one more time, and we'll get."

We went over the entire list of modifications and additions that I had made. He showed me the new plans for the boat to show where the wiring ran for all of the electronics. We checked the satellite Internet connection to see how it worked, as we had not tested that yet. Everything was good, everything worked.

After the techs left, everyone was sitting in the lounge/salon enjoying a beverage. They were all in awe of the giant boat and the ability of the four of us to handle it. Sue said, "You know the way Steve has it set up, he could sail this thing by himself. That's why he has it this way. Our friend, Dewey here, has sailed his boat by himself from Alaska to San Diego. That's a hell of long way, and he's done it more than once. It's easy if you have the right equipment and you know what you're doing."

Dewey said, "You really have a good boat. This is something. I can't believe the way you got it, but knowing the way you are, I guess that's normal for you."

We closed up the boat, put the new cover over the lounge/salon, locked up, and went home. On the way home, Juanita, Mercy, and Sue were making lists of what they wanted to do to decorate. They had two full pages of things to do and stuff to buy and install.

The girls were happy to find the babies all in a good mood. The hired baby sitting help was worth it as we watched the older kids hug the nurse before she left. Sue talked to the nurse and told her to come by the administration offices at her park facility. She said she was looking for someone to have in-house to take care of her employees when they needed medical assistance at work.

Beth was probably the catalyst to the kids' good mood as she seemed to dote on all of our little ones. Even though she was obviously enamored with little Liz, Mike, and busy Stevie, she gave all of them a lot of attention.

Bear and Hap asked if we wanted to go for a ride. I looked at the girls and they said they would have to check with the women to see if they minded taking care of the kids.

After supper, I put Dewey and Sheila on the shovelhead and we gathered a herd of people and bikes and rode to the clubhouse, followed by making a bar swing, including the St. Pete club bar. By the time we made it up to New Port Richey to visit with Bear's people, it was getting late so we made haste to get home. My two ladies didn't want to go to the hot tub tonight as they said they wanted showers and bed. They were tired.

We had a four-person bed full as Juanita stayed. Surprisingly we didn't do any heavy groping or fooling around. We cuddled and slept soundly.

'That boat is something else. It's so fancy and beautiful. It's really a lot nicer than Dewey's, although it isn't as easy to maneuver. I wonder if the engineers can do something about that. It could be because the boat is two feet wider and five feet longer than Dewey's, but I don't think so.'

Looking at the clock, it was nearing seven, so I slid from bed, used the bathroom, changed both little ones, and brought them to their mothers for a breakfast snack. It's funny to watch the two moms acknowledge that the babies are nursing and fall right back asleep.

As soon as I went into the shower, Juanita joined me, giving me a warm loving hug. We didn't do any fooling around, but did enjoy a couple of nice hugs and a kiss. Once out and dressed, we took the babies and burped them and put them in their roll around area in the living room. While I greeted Glenda and Ruth, Juanita went to get Stevie, who would now be ready for the world and breakfast.

Glenda and I started breakfast and Juanita began getting Stevie something to eat.

Dewey came out, saying Sheila and little Dewey were still sound asleep. Missy came out pretty soon, but Merlin remained asleep. As breakfast progressed, the patio filled up, and Mercy and Sue came out with Mike and Liz. Merlin finally joined us and Dewey had woken up Sheila and little Dewey.

After breakfast, Dewey said they were going back home this afternoon as Merlin and Missy needed to get back to the restaurant, and he had some business to take care of tomorrow. He had come to see our new boat and was excited at the prospect of our future adventures. I mentioned that I was considering going through the Panama Canal then sailing up to see him. Dewey was very excited and said he was looking forward to it. Perhaps we might sail together to some far off port like Hawaii or somewhere.

After a hardy breakfast, our short-term visitors packed up and got kisses and hugs before leaving to travel back west. Missy would have stayed, but Merlin needed her at home.

Once they left, Mercy came and sat on my lap while holding Lizzy. "When Mom leaves I miss her instantly, but I don't want to go with them. This is where I belong. This is where Mike and I belong. I do miss being around Mom and Dad, but I don't want to be away from you, Stevie, Lizzy, Sue, and now Juanita. We are getting to be one crazy family, aren't we?"

Our Sunday became a very laid back day of rest for those that weren't out on a boat. Sue and Juanita went out to the Aero Park to go for a plane ride out over the gulf to see if they could identify the Dunedin yacht club from the air and to see our new boat. Mercy and I enjoyed playing with all of the kids. We had Debbie, Shawna, and Hanna with us too, so we had a great time.

Star was sitting inside with us and I asked where DeeDee was. "She has four lessons today. She should be done in time for supper. Julie, Pete Santos' niece is running the office today. We take turns on weekends. It's amazing isn't it, Steve, one week I'm dancing at the Mons Venus and shortly after that, I'm an office manager for a charter air carrier and airplane rental company, with employees. DeeDee and I are an example to every girl that still works there. You can use the money you make there to give you a life afterward. Thanks to you, Steve, we've both realized a dream."

Shawna teased Star, "I'll bet you've already put the make on some of those hunky pilots Steve has working out there."

"They're all older, Shawna, but he does have a couple of new mechanics that are pretty interesting. We'll see though. Being around Sue, Mercy, and Steve, my selection process has changed a bit. I'm a little pickier." Star said this while smiling at me.

I took the four older little ones outside to play in the yard. Hanna and Debbie came with me. The kids rolled in the grass and ran into each other in a toddler game of tag without knowing the rules. Little Mia may have been the smallest, but she wasn't the slowest, or the meekest. She would run into the boys knocking them over. Sometimes, the boys wouldn't even be back on their feet before she would knock them down again.

After over an hour, we brought them inside to clean up and have a snack before naptime.

The rest of the day was really peaceful and restful. That night under the covers, Mercy said, "Can we plan on a cruise? I would really like to go somewhere on the new boat. What do you think?"

"Mercy, honey, Sue and I will look at our schedules and see if we can take some time to go on a trip. You might make up some lists of things to get done, and things we need to take with us, in order to go on a long trip."

That must have been what she wanted to hear, as we all went to sleep without another sound.

Monday morning brought out all of the usual excitement, Dennis and Tammy going to school, Mickey getting ready for roll call, Hap and Bear getting ready for a day of watching the park.

Ryan and Phil had a busy week planned working on the new distributorship. Tiny was working on some kind of deal for the comedy and supper clubs. When everyone had left for work, I went to the park businesses and stuck my nose into all the doors and work areas. It's neat to see all of the projects in progress. The school was busy with all of the classes full of prospective tradesmen. Sue's new buildings were bustling with people moving about, conducting business, and carrying designs from one area to the next. The entire park was busy.

When I got back to the house, Glenda gave me a message to call the tech from Magellan that had been down last week. When I did, he switched me to one of their engineers. "Mr. Sharp, I understand you feel the boat is not handling as well as it could. It was commented that you felt as if the rudder may not be aligned with the centerboard correctly. Considering the boat is still under warranty, I would like to have the opportunity to see how it handles and if necessary to pull it out of the water and check it. How do you feel about bringing it down here so we can do that?"

"Can you give me your dock's coordinates so I can find you? I should be able to have it down there by tomorrow evening. My family wants to take it on a cruise, so I'll bring it down to get this taken care of."

After lunch, the gym and some sun, Mercy and I planned on taking the boat down in the morning. We would probably be gone for three days, so Mercy put some clothes in the duffle bag and was ready to leave the next day.

Tuesday morning, Mercy and I drove to Dunedin at six and stored the duffel bag and a gun case in the lounge, and prepared the boat to go out. We had brought just a few supplies for sandwiches, but knew we could always use up some of the canned goods on board if needed.

We were able to set the lines for quick release before we started the engines, ready to leave. Mercy pulled the lines and I began slowly moving out into the gulf. Once a mile out, we raised sail and began picking up speed till we were gliding over the water feeling the rush that you get as the wind pushes you.

Our plan was to take the channel between the keys under the drawbridges so we could reach Miami in just a day. The sun was really cooking today, so we put the helm cover up to shade us. A little before seven, we were motoring up to the Magellan docks. Surprisingly, the tech that had worked on our boat met us with the engineer I had spoken to on the phone.

The tech asked, "Would you mind going right back out so we can feel what you are talking about?"

"Not at all. If you'll pull the bow line, Mercy will pull the aft. Come here," I waved to the engineer. "What's your name, you take the wheel while we're backing out and coming about so you can feel a little of what I feel."

"My name is Frank Howard. Thanks for trusting me with your boat."

The man knew what he was doing as he handled the boat easily. I saw him frown as he brought the bow around and when he corrected to head out he frowned again. Once out from shore, I began to raise sail. The wind was up, so I raised everything we could to get up to speed.

Once we were planing nicely, I told him to correct fifteen degrees either way. As the boat began coming around he had to jerk the wheel a couple of times. You should never have to do that with a sailboat. The wheel isn't all that sensitive, but you could feel a drag.

When I asked him if he wanted to circle and go back in, he nodded saying, "I feel everything you said. This thing isn't very nimble, as you call it, and something is misaligned on the rudder. Let's get it back and up on the lift."

We brought the boat about and headed in. We dropped the sails and motored up to a dock where a giant pair of davits was located. The davits had two big slings and were on rails. The engineer measured from the bow and made a chalk mark, then did the same from the stern. The tech maneuvered the davit with the slings to bring it under the boat from the front and then from the stern. A couple of more men came out of the building and had Mercy and me get off the boat before they lifted it from the water.

We watched the powerful lifts bring the hundred and ten ton boat out of the water as if it were a small skiff. Once it was above dock height, the davits were motored back to where the boat was over the dock.