Launch... and into the yard

We dragged our heels a bit, trying to get everything perfect, but finally it was time to put her in the water. We'd owned her a couple of months already, and she was desperate to get her rails wet... being high-and-dry in the storage-only yard was weighing on all of us. Time to go sail!

Well, we got the boat in the water... And our first New Owner Disaster struck. The very first - FIRST - time she was in the water. A combination of the boat bouncing on the trailer, and listening to the Kook Former Owner (which would bite us in the ass again, soon), led to the keel falling out the bottom of the boat. Recovery was ugly. The damage was uglier still:

Months - MONTHS - in a repair yard who Shall Not Be Named, and finally we got Bushwhacker back. Beaten, abused, scarred (gouges in the deck, beautiful new hull paint rubbed through, teak trashed, "repaired" keel painted with a glop of mismatched crap off white (pro'ly house latex for the quality of work they did). But, we got her back. Finally. We were ready to rock!

Time to put her in the water...