Wonderful Weekend Afloat!

We have had a wonderful weekend aboard the Christine Marie.   A quiet cruise on Saturday evening,  including a chicken dinner "on the hook" complete with a beautiful sunset! 

Maiden Voyage!

The stars finally aligned on Saturday, as the debris from recent flooding cleared and the river was navigable for the first time since we launched Christine Marie. She ran well, handles well, and we managed to dock her several times without breaking anything!!!

This is gonna be great!!!

ELATION!!!

Friday evening Chris and I (along with incredible help from my brother Mike) finally launched Christine Marie. The ramp at Lighthouse Point was still high, and getting her free of the trailer posed some challenges, but a big push from Mike, who was thigh-deep in freezing water, finally got her moving. We cleared the overhead on the Route 56 bridge, and managed to shoot the narrow gap between the bridge abutments and the still-underwater steel deck that will carry the construction crane.

She handles well- seems quick to turn and fairly nimble. It will certainly take some practice to learn to back her into her slip, though! The Ohio is still very high and full of floating debris -- from whole trees to pop bottles -- so we haven't "wrung her out" yet... but the indicators are that she will be a good little cruiser!

Well, MAYBEE..........?

We've been watching the river levels...  and it looks as though there is a window to launch Christine Marie on Friday!  The big question now seems to be locating the steel platform under the bridge,  which is still sub-surface.   More info to come Friday morning!

Frustration!

Well, we've been trying to get Christine Marie "wet" for over a week now, to no avail! The high water levels at Lighthouse Point have not only got the ramp too high, there is not enough airspace to get the girl under the bridge. Additionally, work on the SR 52 overpass has seen the installation of a crane deck under the bridge. Unfortunately, no one saw fit to mark the location of the steel deck, and it is just far enough under water to be impossible to see, while being at a perfect height to breach the hull if we "find" it accidentally. Needless to say, we are waiting for more favorable circumstances to launch the girl!

In other developments, we got her named!

See the pic!