Using the leads posted here, I began researching a boatyard to haul Anomaly while still in Nassau and had settled on Hinckleys in Stuart. Though they did not have a mast crane on site, the charges to hire one seemed reasonable and I could not find many bad words about them. After a night in Lake Worth we left at dawn out the choppy entrance and sailed up the coast 24 nm to the St Lucie inlet, trying to get there while there was still some tide left. The St. Lucie inlet was even choppier than the Lake Worth inlet, being only about 12 feet deep. I had the Army Corp surveys, but they turned out to be too old, we squeaked over 7.9 feet at one point. Motoring up the inlet we carefully felt our way into the Manatee Pocket. This had been dredged recently to 10 ft, and it was, but only two boat lengths wide.

Arriving at Hinckleys there appeared to be no room on the floating docks. I called on VHF, I called on the phone, could not raise anyone so I anchored temporarily in the channel. I was immediately hailed by a powerboat to tell me I was anchored in the channel. But they knew the number for the weekend dock master, eventually we got in touch, he thought I was arriving Sunday, not Saturday. I had the anchor down with only 2:1 scope, and it began to drag in the wind and current so I quickly got it up, and in the process noticed that the steering had become quite stiff. We managed to fit into a short slip on the floating docks and settled in. After 3 frenzied days of cleaning and derigging, the boat was hauled and blocked.

I had expected to find a fishing net, baby manatee - something - wrapped tightly on the rudder post. But what I found was the fairing piece cast into the hull below the rudder bearing had come loose and was turning with the rudder post, creating a lot of drag. This might have been hard to deal with at sea, or even in the islands. Fortunately it happened 5 minutes before the end of the cruise!

The Hinckley yard is quite busy, seems clean and well run. Every customer I spoke to there seemed happy, thought the service good and the price fair. The Manatee Pocket is all about boats, there are several restaurants on the water, and every big box store imaginable is a short drive away in Stuart. This was a vast improvement from the 3rd World where I had stored Anomaly last (Virginia).

I have contracted a truck, Anomaly will be heading to Anacortes in May.