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Back in New York after a successful tour of the Eastern Seaboard, Alan and the crew have been getting the boat ready for Saturday's departure on the Transatlantic Challenge. Virtually all maintenance tasks can be carried out with the boat in water, but the one thing which demands a lift onto dry land is changing the gearbox oil. So it was that Spirit paid an early morning call on Wednesday to Liberty Marina across the Hudson River. And whilst Alan changed the oil, Steve set about cleaning and polishing the boat's hull. That should squeeze an extra half a knot out of it!
Oil change on the Yamaha sterndrive
The final leg of the promotional tour in Marblehead went extremely well, where Spirit of Cardiff and her crew were guests of the Boston Yacht Club - one of the oldest yacht clubs in the United States. And after a last minute rescheduling of a function from a Boston hotel to the BYC, Alan, Steve and Clive were kept busy with a steady stream of visitors keen to see what the project is all about.
Spirit of Cardiff's crew were made welcome as guests!
Marblehead, just north of Boston, is an attractive little town steeped in history. George Washingington paid a visit here during his presidential tour of New England in 1789, recording in his diary "...it was four miles out of the way, but I wanted to see it." There are many wonderful old buildings here, including the late colonial Jeremiah Lee Mansion, dating from 1768, and one of the finest examples of Georgian architecture in America, and the Lafayette House, with a chunk taken out of one ground floor corner. Legend has it that General Lafayette's carriage was too large to pass by the house when he visited Marblehead in 1824, so the corner of the house was removed.
Spirit of Cardiff at her mooring in Marblehead
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