Family and neighbors arrive to watch the goings-on... Rikki-tikki-tavi is loaded onto the hydraulic trailer and secured for the road trip. It will prove to be a very long day but everyone is extremely patient and everyone lasted until he was born! In the foreground are ever-so-supportive Mom, son Michael and daughter-in-law Samantha, with neighbor Gary shooting video. Dennis, the mover, is attending to details. I'm up top surveying the deck for the last time under the fluorescent lights of the barn.

He (Rikki-tikki-tavi) is born! Rikki-tikki's birth from the barn was tense and a bit difficult... we finally had to perform an episiotomy on the barn in order to extract Rikki unscathed. Four hours of labor! The problem was that we were trying to save that group of redwood trees in the left of the photo. This meant we had to bring Rikki out at an angle. I had calculated through the use of a 2D scale model that we could make the turn no problem. I was not aware that the pivot point on Dennis's trailer was so far to the rear. He actually pulled Rikki out of the barn innumerable times to make slight adjustments in the angle with each in-and-out. Even with that, we had to remove that part of the barn where Rikki-tikki just wouldn't clear without major scraping. It only took four hours...

Here is Dennis, the boat mover "Rio Linda Marine", prepping Rikki-tikki-tavi on the following Monday morning for his trip overland to the launch ramp at Discovery Park. Duct tape and pieces of carpet are a boat mover's best friends. Dennis is the absolute best!

The builder taking his last walk out to Rikki-tikki as he waits in the neighbor's field for the next move. If you could zoom in, you would see the satisfied smile on my face. It was amazing to finally be able to stand back far enough to see the entire boat! We had never been able to do this! We had never seen the paint color in the sun either– we liked it.

It's Launch Day...

This site, copy and photographs copyright Nina Courtney.