Dropping in Anders' Folkboat with Bjorn's Truck

In San Francisco we don't take our boats out of the water but once a year... sometimes every other year. But over in Europe it is quite routine to put your boat on a trailor or laurie and ship it hundreds of miles for a regatta. They have it down to a routine. I had the priveledge of helping drop in 2 boats and take them out after the week of sailing. This is Anders Olsen's boat Matilda III. He trailored it in from the Viking Yacht Club in Stockholm. It takes 7 hours to make the drive without the boat, I have no idea how long and how many people you would piss off towing this down their two lane highways.


Anders uses a Jeep Cherokee, just like the one I used to have before gas prices went through the roof. That's another thing. I did some math and figured out they pay over 8 dollars a gallon for gas. Now what were you saying about our high gas prices?

First, you unhook the vehicle from the trailor.









Don't mess with a man and his truck. This is Bjorn's pride and joy. He really gets his red neck on when he's behing the wheel of this beast. The engine is in the back as well as a large amount of lead. It's lifting capasity is around 6,000 pounds and this is the thing that hauls all the boats out of the marina every winter and puts them back in every spring.








Drive it over to the boat to be dropped in.














Line it up.














Take your time, do it right.















Tie the straps down tight with several wraps.













Lift up, check for clearance over the trailor.













Turn it around and head for the water.













Don't drive into the water, but get real close.












Make sure you have your bow and stern lines attached and lower it in.













Take off the straps and get it out of the way so the next boat can go in.













Attach the cable from the hoist/ladder and lift the mast off the boat. Lower the mast into the mast step.














Attach the shrouds, forestay and backstay.
Climb the ladder and attach the weather vane.
(see picture at the top of the page looking down at the boat)







This the view of Ljungskile and the marina from atop the hoist. The red building on the water is Bjorn's boat house. The boat tied up to the boathouse is his H Boat and where I slept for the first 6 days in Sweden. The 3rd boat in with the wooden mast is a folkboat that was recently purchased Swedish built for $4,000! It was a rare deal accoding to Donald, but I'm thinking if such a deal exists, even at twice the cost, get two of them, put them in a container and I'll be the west coast used folkboat dealer. Trust me, I put the word out about wanting quality used boats in SF.