Bye bye Lake Lanier, hello Charleston!

---

Finally the day (3/12) has come and the boat, the mast, the arch and the dinghy all got loaded on a freight truck, bound for Charleston City Boat Yard. To say it was a bit emotional is an understatement. After ten years of inland life Odessa is headed back into the salty Atlantic. But not before she gets her final face lift in the Charleston yard. We said heartfelt thanks and goodbye to great Wes Compton, the best local rigger and to Stumpy, the crane operator, gave the truck a few hours of a head start and then followed to meet them next morning. In the Charleston City Boat Yard things went busy: Randy Draftz, from Charleston Yachting, delivered the new standing rigging. I changed tricolor light, attached the shrouds, affixed and prewired the solar panels and the wind turbine on the top of the arch. Then came the crane and the arch and the mast got put in place. A week later Odessa got splashed and after changing transmission oil I cranked the iron jenny and took her to Ashley marina, some 2.5 hr. down the river and across the harbor. Docking was a bit tricky due to the current and tight quarters but we managed without a scratch. Here we will stay for a three or four weeks, rigging some new electronics, connecting new solar panels, charge controllers, wind turbine, new VHF with AIS, putting up sails etc. etc. But it isn't all work: we went to a concert of Project Trio alongside CSO, visited a few nice places of local cuisine (Natalya really enjoyed she-crab soup here and I, for one, some great pastry!😊

A word of caution: a few weeks in March the ferocious no-see-ums are gathering here to feast on humans. Mostly close to water and marshes. Do not show them any bare skin unless you sprayed liberally some maxi-deet stuff on. Cant see them, cannot hear them but they are mean and mean a bloody business😊!

---