There’s a reason why they call it being “on the hard”. There is a cushioned softness to the Bristol when she is in the water. In completely still water tied at the marina, when you step from pier to her deck you feel it. It is not as if she leans or moves from the added weight to her decks; she doesn’t. It is more an acknowledgement that says…yes I am floating, yes I am ready to go.

Over the past 20 years of ownership, I had lost the uniqueness of that feeling, that cushioned floating softness of my boat in the water—after all, other than brief visits to boatyards a few times, she waited patiently for me to step aboard for two decades. But for the past 2 years she has been on the hard, and feels no different from a room in my house when I climb the ladder and step onto her decks. No softness, no flirting with me that she is ready to take me somewhere. Just blocked on my driveway, a solid rock hard keel sitting on two ancient railroad ties, sitting on 50 year old concrete tied to the earth. It is difficult to be patient sometimes and momentarily I want to rush all this work to completion just to be able to feel her floating again. Another year maybe and I will.