March 2, 2014.

Last week when we were leaving the Hog Cay anchorage our friends Klaus & Karen were undertaking a yearly ritual. Every season Klaus will pull the Lucky Touch up onto the beach to clean the water line and a good bit of the bottom.

It freaks me out a bit because Lucky Touch is a 43 foot monohull. Shes got a centerboard and a draft of 4 foot 3 inches. He waits until an hour and a half before low tide on a calm day and just drives her up onto the beach.

Due to the centerboard the keel is wide enough that the boat just sits there as the water recedes. The water only drops close to a foot and he works his way around the boat cleaning as he goes. After 3 hours the water comes back and the Lucky Touch once again rejoins her floating brethren out in the anchorage.

While we were in Johnson Cay the Lost Marbles decided to do the same thing. Gate (Gathern) dropped a stern hook as he drove his catamaran up onto the beach. Once firmly beached he dropped his bow anchor and walked it up the beach.

Then we helped him clean both bottoms and their waterlines. The job only took about 2 hours and after 4 hours he was once again floating. Easy peasy.