Spring Tradition is hoisted out of the water and up in the lift to be put away for summer.

That’s me in the blue shirt and our friend Chris in the red shirt.

I had to back the boat in because if I brought it in forward, the fore-stay (the line that holds the mast up from the front) would have hit the travel-lift cross beam.  Needless to say, backing is much more challenging than going in forwards.  The steering mechanism is all in the stern (rear) of the boat, so if you get half-way into the slip and a cross-wind develops, the bow (front) of the boat is going to get blown to the side and there will be nothing you can do about it.