Ready to go back into the water We put out the fenders as the tractor begins to move us back toward the ramp. The sky is darkening and a storm is forecast for tomorrow. We plan on spending the night at the Guest Dock, then heading downstream to the San Francisco Bay in the morning, as long as the weather doesn’t get really rotten.

The shiny, freshly-applied Copperpoxy makes the new waterline stand out. It will oxidize as soon as it hits the water and match the rest so one will not able to detect the difference. The Napa Valley Marina crew took very good care of Rikki, for which we thank them.

Rikki-tikki’s second launch is certainly not as auspicious as the first and there is no cheering crowd, but we are just as happy to be getting wet as we could be. Yard compatriots did come by and congratulate us on the speed with which we got back into the water. “You must’ve broken the record!” they said. Like we said, a Hotel California.

The new waterline looks pretty good, if I say so myself. Now to get that hardtop support taken care of!

On to San Francisco for real...

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