During our travels to various countries over the past four years we have hauled Curare out of the water in some interesting places using some rather suspect equipment. We generally try to haul out once per year to check all under water thru hulls, clean the hull, apply anti-fouling paint and on more than one occasion make emergency repairs. In Mexico the Travel lift in Guaymas had some very disconcerting bald tires with steel bands exposed. Oh, and the very skinny water at the slip required comfort in dealing with mud. In Costa Rica, the chain driven Travel Lift hoist, while rated at 25 tons, had the tires go flat lifting Curare’s svelte 10 tons, not to mention the 5 knot current at the entrance to the lift out slot that required dexterity and line handling to manoeuver into.
So when it came time to haul out Curare after her several months of sitting in the Rio Valdivia there really was only one choice. That was to use the marine railway at the Club de Yates Valdivia. We had seen several boats of our size hauled out there as repairs and cleaning were completed so it made good sense to do the same for Curare. The difficulty here was that we didn’t quite understand how the system worked. Helpful cruisers suggested tying off to the cradle arms as tight as possible to prevent the boat from tipping over (potential disaster lifting the whole rail car off the bed!). However no one really explained that the stern lines had to be slack in order to allow for the slope of the ramp. So after three attempts with all the lines taught and Curare suspended on her tail by stern lines that caused her to pivot in the cradle, Geoff finally got it figured out correctly and with a spider web of lines, supported Curare vertically in the rail car without any of the cradle arms touching her sides. Interesting technique!
We’re not sure if this was the cause or just the regular way that things are conducted but the workers slipped the brake off and Curare literally hurtled backwards at a tremendous speed towards the water. Fearing the rudder would snap on impact with the water, Geoff screamed (possibly high pitched girly one since workers reacted quickly!) and the railway stopped before burying Curare into the mud. With not too much more effort we were back in the water floating on the low water lines with everything operational and ready for another season of cruising. Geoff however is still trying to get over his sore throat.
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