Taking Delivery of “Our Delite”
The initial delivery (off loading) of our boat in Annapolis - just before the dockworkers’ strike!
ACY (https://atlantic-cruising.com) notified us that our MY4.S would be arriving in Annapolis at the end of September 2024 so we started making plans. We arrived in Baltimore on October 1 and took a little detour to see the infamous fall colors by staying in the Poconos Mountains for a few days and then headed to Annapolis. We were lucky enough to spend a couple of days with our friends, Kevin and Shari, at their darling and incredibly convenient row house near the Annapolis marina (where our boat was on display at ACY’s slip at the Annapolis Powerboat Show). After Kevin and Shari returned to California, it was time to get down to business!
First order of business: Getting lessons on our own boat. ACY set us up with Captain Jeff (seen below) for two days behind the helm doing close quarters maneuvering. Scary stuff with all those boats out there but it really increased our confidence levels.
Second, was to provision the boat with cleaning supplies, linens, storage containers for everything in the galley and more. This took what felt like 318 visits to Target, Best Buy and West Marine. (Tom: “get me out of here.”) The strategy of hitting Target at opening, and going straight to the Starbucks inside of it, got us through the ordeal. There was also the Amazon stream of deliveries for everything else except for the one thing we said we were going to purchase first: A set of “marriage savers” aka dual communication headsets so we can talk between helm and outside the boat without screaming at each other. (No worries! We ordered them when we got back to California - so we can practice on them while riding bikes.)
Third, we attended the Powerboat Show and the following week’s Sailboat Show so Tom could wander through the vendors and talk to everybody in sight. (Rayma: “get me out of here.”). Along the way we met Paul and Terri, also happy ACY patrons, and we bonded! We also made friends with two of the other Fountain Pajot boats at the ACY dock, not to mention all the friendly folks at ACY and Waypoints Charters.
At the Powerboat Show, we visited our boat and Tom decided to try out the couch on the stern for size. Not only was the couch comfy but, as we learned living on board Our Delite, so was our bed!
Captain Jeff; the ladies who applied “Our Delite” to bow and stern; and our new friends, Terri and Paul (Annapolis residents and experienced sailors). Boat people are great people.
ACY threw us a little christening party! An old friend, Louie Gravance (www.greatkeynotespeaker.com) preaches that service is a super-power. ACY is a super hero, taking care of us all along the way and then some.