Bridlewilde's Odyssey : ......come Heaven or high water........⛵....

Darrin Swinamer is the Marina Manager at Gold River Marina. It was also Bridlewilde's Nova Scotian home port. From the time Bridlewilde first glided into a slip, Thanksgiving Day 2011, after her inaugural voyage east from Prince Edward County, in the Bay of Quinte, Lake Ontario, and over the years we were clients there, we inundated Darrin with comments and questions about future plans we had to head south and possibly beyond with this vessel.

We felt like we belonged at Gold River. It was the perfect place for us to remain, hone our sailing skills in Mahone Bay and prepare for what was to come before any adventurous plans we had took place. This sense of comfort was primarily due to Darrin's prodigious ability to create a welcoming environment and include us into the friendly healthy sailing community that was already established at the marina. Darrin is one of many at the marina but it is his warm character, willingness to help, his years of experience and dedication to his clients that makes this small coastal marina an excellent destination. Although he is incredibly conscientious when he's dealing with a vessel, it is his elfin sense of humour that invariably brings out the best in him.

We spent 5 years at Gold River. We met so many other wonderful sailors there who taught us much, who assisted when we needed help, and encouraged us to steer forward. During the summer of 2016 we moved aboard Bridlewilde on the hard to complete projects to ready her for the oncoming expedition we were about to embark upon. Inevitably, as each project neared completion, our excitement mounted and we expected that within days we would "splash" the boat into the water. But the list of things to do continued to expand and the launch dates kept moving further forward.

Launching a boat or splashing it, as it is sometimes called, requires planning. At Gold River, the marina manager must be consulted to provide a date. He needs to work with the tide in order to lower the vessel into ample water depending on its draught (the depth under the waterline of the boat). If the mast requires stepping that must be considered and organized. Stepping means replacing it back onto the boat if it has been removed. Then the rigging must be attached and secured and the boat is then moved to an available dock in order for the sails to be mounted. Its not a ten minute job.

Bridlewilde is 18 tons dry but she had been loaded with another 2000 pounds while on the hard with all our provisions. She has a 5.5 foot draught and her mast had been removed so that work on it could be completed. When she was finally ready for launch she was hauled by a transport truck with a hydraulic lift closer to the water. The truck is moved to the vessel on the hard where the truck lift was carefully placed underneath the vessel. The stands that held her in place there were removed. When the hydraulic lift was engaged it lifted the boat onto the trailer underneath it and it is was then ready for transport toward the water. Its a touchy spectacle to watch as your heavy boat trucks through tight corners and other vessels that are stored at the marina. But with Darrin's careful maneuvering she was carried to the boat lift that moves along a railroad track that enters into the water. The truck backed the boat in toward the lift where slings were placed around her keel and hull to raise her onto the lift. She hung there until it was time to send her to the water. The massive marine railroad electronics were deployed at the marine shed when the tide height was correct and quietly, but stately, the boat slipped down into the harbour waters...finally, afloat again.

Once Bridlewilde was moving freely through the water on her own, using deck lines, Darrin manipulated her to the edge of the pier where her mast was stepped. Before it was stepped, the rigging was held in place together so that it did not fly wildly all over when it was vertically picked up by a crane that lowered it onto and into the boat. When the mast was positioned all the rigging was then secured. The rigging is the equipment that supports the mast. On Bridlewilde there are long stainless steel cables called shrouds positioned to her bow and stern and sets of three shrouds on each of the port and starboard sides of the boat. Each of these shrouds is connected to the deck of the boat by heavy adjustable units called turnbuckles that can vary the tension on each of the shrouds. This is necessary to enable the stability of the mast and to aid in keeping it upright. We have our mast "raked" or slightly slanted toward the stern for better sailing capability. Naturally, the marina manager must adjust the mast as it is inserted through the deck of the boat to be received at a mount on the floor of the cabin inside the boat. Some vessels have the mast attached to the deck of the boat however, in our sailboat the mast travels right through the deck and is attached to the keel inside.

Following the secure stepping of the mast, the boat's fenders were attached and Bridlewilde was moved to a floating dock where the sails were then mounted. The foresail or jib is attached to the roller furler that is secured like a shroud at the bow of the boat. It has a circular housing attached to it that receives the lines or sheet for the sail so that it can be raised and lowered from the cockpit. The mainsail is attached to the boom and the mast. When it is raised it travels up the mast using a series of sliders which move up the inner side of the mast. Winches are used to assist in the raising or lower of this sail. This sail plan identifies our vessel to be known as a sloop.

It is a detailed process to get Bridlewilde into the water. It is not just a matter of trailering her in and letting her slide off the trailer. When I was a young person growing up on an inland lake in northern Ontario, after a ten minute job of lowering the powerboat we had, from the trailer into the water, we were aboard and water skiing within the half hour. Not so with Bridlewilde. She demands attention.

As I mentioned earlier, as each project approached the point of completion, the heads up was given to Darrin that Bridlewilde was close to a launch date. This whole process of informing Darrin began in late July when we "wanted" to have the boat in the water. However, as noted, Keith's list of projects kept becoming more extensive and the boat did not "splash' until late September. I also mentioned earlier that Darrin has a great sense of humour. Throughout all this repeated informing and cancelling of the boat's launch date with Darrin, and unannounced to us until we actually had the vessel in the water, he had a secret marina lottery taking place. Apparently, the lottery was open to clients of the marina and one could guess the date Bridlewilde would actually splash or if she, in fact, would at all. This was all a source of good fun with no malice intent. Everyone in the marina was well aware of what was going on up there on the hill where Bridlewilde was placed on the hard and she became a topic of curious conversation. And throughout it all, we were in the dark until the boat was actually launched.

Considering that few recreational sailors, other than die hards, choose to depart the chilly north Atlantic waters of NS for warmer southern waters after mid August, apparently, quite a considerable conversation about it all went on within the marina community. Well I guess we must be considered die hards now, for we were bound to depart....come heaven or high water!