Our First Haul-Out

Before we left Long Summer behind in Greece for the off-season, we had to get her out of the water and stored in a boat yard. Seeing your home fly through the air is a very surreal experience!

This winter was the first time we have ever hauled Long Summer out of the water and put her on the hard. We’d picked one of the few yards in the area with facilities large enough for catamarans, but squeezing our beamy home into the haulout pen in a crosswind was tricky to say the least. With just a few centimetres to spare on either side of the pen, The Captain manoeuvred her expertly while the staff were quick to grab some lines and tie her to the slip. From here two large straps were passed under each end of the boat and positioned at the bulkhead lift points, where the hull is stronger. A large U-shaped hoist then drove over and around Long Summer to get her into the air. She was then power-washed to get off any growth, and transferred to a powerful multi-wheel loader which propped up on her mini-keels in an allotted bay.

This process is possibly the most complex valet parking you’ll ever see! But fortunately the weather was perfect, and the yard handled it with ease. We also owe a huge thanks to our Workawayer, Elliot, who stepped up to the position of First Mate for the day whilst Emily was laid up in bed with a 24-hour bug… What a day to be ill! At least we had already moved off the boat and into an AirBnB for a week.

The next day the heavens opened, which made our final jobs in the mud and wet, difficult. But four days later Long Summer was all winterised and closed up for the season, with just a few braying donkeys on a neighbouring hill for company. 

Soon it will be time to reverse the whole process and get her back in the water!