Once the sun started shining and spring arrived weather-wise, we’ve been working at a fast pace to get trawler Clare and our work and home lives ready for our The Great Loop trip!

Dean got trawler Clare looking beautiful with fresh bottom paint and washing/waxing the hull. We got a new custom weather enclosure for the top which should be wonderful at keeping us dry and warm(er). We are just waiting on the stern-side screen. Jesse at Back Channel Canvas did a great job!

I chose to replace the curtains in the forward bunk and head (bathroom), from a dark busy pattern to this more joyful, light pattern. Fun to be sewing again, and thinking about my dad, George Gage, who was an upholsterer by trade, doing only boat work in his final years. He would love this adventure!

Dean and son Ethan got the davits mounted, which will carry our dinghy as we pass through the locks, and made a secure mount for the stern anchor.

My new friend, Wild(er) Seagull, was a gift from a family at work, and she helped me with my computer woes in my final weeks. Both Dean and I were able to finish up our responsibilities on May 30, and are thankful our jobs granted us the time off to travel. Missing my workmates and families already!

Final few days of stocking the boat with food and supplies before we set off on June 4th, hopefully. We had a great winter at Great Cove Boat Club where the boat was stored, and today, May 31st, trawler Clare was launched back into the water. She floats!

We had a mini-shake down cruise on the Piscataqua from Eliot to the Back Channel in Kittery where we have a mooring. Always fun and exciting to ride the current in the river and pass beneath 3 bridges – The Piscataqua River Bridge (I95), the “middle bridge” Sarah Long Bridge, and the Memorial Bridge. And, of course, to view from the water the quaint town of Kittery on one side, the historic city of Portsmouth on the other.