How NOT to start the sailing season

It's like the boat-launching Olympics for Greg Manning as he leaps hurdles and avoids cutting corners to cover 1,920 miles back and forth in 15 days to get his yacht safely afloat

- Greg Manning

Fairey Atalanta A142 Sugar Plum, being a mature lady, needs a lot of maintenance. Living in the north of Scotland, she's stored over winter in a building for her protection from adverse weather and to allow maintenance appropriate to the temperature.

Her summer mooring is at Arisaig, a six hour drive from home, and so it's essential that everything needed for her launch and commissioning is carefully checked and loaded before leaving home.

I have an orange tidy tray for the small and unique items and a written checklist of both its contents as well as everything else needed.

In 2019 it was probably the 17th time I have prepared for the long drive and the launch. My friend, Steve, had volunteered to help. It was the first Sunday in June when we set off. Steve is a very practical person and always has his mind on the task in hand; I could not have asked for a better friend to help me.

With the boat's internal sling we launched at Arisaig using a teleporter which is so much more convenient and costeffective than a boat hoist. On the Monday there was only an hour between the boatyard staff being available and the ebb tide, leaving enough water to motor away.

We arrived on Sunday evening at 2000 in light drizzle and needed to get as much done as possible to be ready for the morning launch. The main task was to fit the rudder blade. Having ensured that the up and down haul cables were not crossed, I went to the orange tidy tray for the centre bush that the blade pivots on. It wasn't in the tray. I searched the back of the Land Rover, I phoned home and my wife searched the workshop. That bush was nowhere to be found. By now it was 2200 and there was only one thing to do. We loaded the rudder blade and its pivot bolt and set off back to Aberdeenshire arriving home at 0200 in the morning.