In April 2022 Alpha was finally ready to leave Bethel Island and head to the Bay. Negotiating with a boatyard turned into a tricky business. I had a misunderstanding with the yard in Berkeley, and my reaction to that put a dent into a good friendship. I tried the yards on Bethel Island. One was obviously not at all interested in my little sailboat, their yard was full of 40 foot-plus powerboats. The little 3-man operation on the other side of the slough was friendly enough when I walked in, but then stopped answering phone calls. I finally wound up at British Marine on the Alameda Estuary. I've never been a customer of theirs before, but they were great. It's sobering to realize that the cost of the haul-out was greater than the cost of the boat, by a factor of three.
I rented a truck from U-Haul again, strapped her down and headed out for Alameda. I got there about fifteen minutes after closing time on a Friday, darn it! But she made it A-OK!
Anyway, isn't that a beautiful boat? She's pretty! Oooooh, la la! Shiny! Who did that GREAT paint job on the hull?
I had made a dyneema backstay, and attached the new stainless steel rigging: new upper stays and new forestay made by Rogue Rigging in Berkeley during the weekend before the yard opened up again on Monday. British Marine stepped the mast for me. So after a long weekend, plus a couple of days, the BIG EVENT finally arrived. For the first time in 30 or more years, Alpha went in the water! Wooo-Hooo!
Hurrah! AFLOAT! She didn't sink! After at least 20 years or more of sitting on her trailer, and 4 years in the Bethel Island yard while I worked on her, Alpha finally went SplaSh!! in May of 2022.