After the incidents at Tuzi Gazi we needed to inspect the underwater parts of Sea Bunny's hull for damage before submitting our insurance claim. There was a large excess/deductable during the crossing which dropped by 60% on our entry to South Africa some 3 hours before the start of the incident! Membership of The Cruising Association then halved it again.
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| Arriving at the cradle |
This was done at Zululand Yacht Club, still in Richards Bay where there is a slipway and boat lift.
With Sea Bunny's draft of 2.3 metres the lift should be done at high water spring tides so that the boat can get far enough up the slipway and the boat lift can get far enough down it without running off the end.
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| Lift-out. Nearly far enough for the slings |
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| Ready to go |
Unfortunately the boat that was to be launched was not ready and had to be removed from the lift and chocked up. Laurie from Apogee came on board to help us while Robert took photos. As a result it was nearly 2 hours after high water when Sea Bunny got to the slip. She ran aground when she was in the lift cradle but not far enough in to use her marked slinging points. We were, however, happy that she would be secure enough if supported at the points that could be reached. Sea Bunny was duly lifted and moved a short distance up the slip, where she would be dry for most of the following day.
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| Coming up the slip |
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| Perhaps a bit too much epoxy! |
We took the opportunity of finishing the sealing of the damaged areas of hull with epoxy before painting above the waterline with nearly matching paint and below the waterline with black antifouling. Mr Oh, who gave us an excellent paint job in Phuket in 2012 would certainly not be impressed with the finish - nor with the fact that the topsides job will have to be done again, probably in Trinidad.
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| Not too bad |
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| Gravity takes care of the launch - the tractor is the brake |
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| Low tech but effective |
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| Re-launch. One of the agile team |
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