Goodbye, Nine of Cups

Over the past weekend and through the day on Monday, we’ve worked morning to evening, shoulder to shoulder with Murray, Cups’ new owner, decommissioning her and stripping her down to her bare bones in order to meet the requirements for trucking her across the country to her new home in California.

Decommissioned Cups!

Wrapping and lashing the mast took several hours. It wasn’t until a bit later that we remembered we hadn’t seen the boom! Yikes! We found it securely tucked away in the mast shed and wrapped and lashed it, too. The bow pulpit and stern pulpit were removed and wrapped. The swim ladder wrapped and lashed to the foredeck. The dinghy was deflated and stowed on the aft deck along with the boom crutch and bimini and dodger supports.

Two captains and one well-wrapped and lashed 62' mast.

One of the main concerns of Cups’ road trip is the sandblasting effect that takes place when a truck is transporting a 45’ sailboat at 55mph on America’s highways. Additionally, days of vibration take their toll on everything stowed on deck and below. Lashing everything with line, tape and cable ties took time and effort, but we’re all feeling pretty confident (fingers crossed) that Cups will make it to the “left coast” in good condition.

Removing Nine of Cups' carved nameboards

It wasn’t until we were removing Nine of Cups’ carved nameboards that it really sunk in that we were wrapping up this chapter and beginning a new one. Murray asked if we were sad. And the answer? Not really. We’re already in ‘Blue’ mode.

So long Nine of Cups

The trucker had called Murray to inform him of a delay and new arrival date of Wednesday morning. With everything removed and lashed, we did a final walk-through with Murray to make sure everything was properly stowed, lashed and repaired. And then … we said our final goodbyes to Nine of Cups. When we see her next, she’ll be in the process of being recommissioned and subsequently getting her new name.

Aboard Blue, we headed out of the Atlantic Yacht Basin and out of Chesapeake, Virginia for points west. Let the new chapter begin ...