EARL Be Coming . . . Sort Of!

SHIP'S LOG:

I hope everyone will be thankful for I spent yesterday stripping my boat in preparation of EARL's visitation. I took the anchors off the rollers, putting the danforth in the anchor locker and securing the plow on deck , ready to go, should a need arise. I took the Genoa off, folded it up and stored it down below in the salon, using up half the available space. I took all of the fenders off and place them in the cockpit locker. I Dismantled the the dodger, folded it and stored it in the forepeak. I took the awnings off the Bimini and stored them in the forepeak. I took the Bimini off and stored it int he forepeak. I stored all the cockpit cushions down below in the salon using up the rest of the space. I tied the framing for the dodger and Bimini in place so that it wouldn't bang around. I took the sailcover off the mizzen and stored that in the aft cabin. I took the mizzen off and stored that in the forepeak. I secured the outboard motor fuel tank to the port stern rail and moved the outboard motor itself to the floor of the cockpit. I secure the booms and took the dinghy ashore where I deflated it and stored it in my car. This morning I closed and secured all of the hatches and all the thru-hulls except for the cockpit drains, the engine cooling intake and the bilge pumps. I ran the engine to charge the batteries and then, shut and locked the hatch and went ashore.

I got on the Web and found this morning that EARL be jogging to the East/North-East and has drop to 105 mph. Currently(10:53am) winds at New London look to top out between 30-40 with gust to 45, down considerably from yesterday's 40-50 with gusts of 65. surely it is all due to my effort of yesterday, which had it not been made, would sure have led to a disaster. If EARL continues to degrade, it may be no worse than the Nor'easter of two weeks ago. But as Russ used to say, "Better Safe Than Sunk."

MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:

Will the final results aren't in, it looks as though we will be spared a real blow this time. What makes me really happy is that ABISHAG and her mooring handled the blow two weeks ago with ease and will, in all likelihood do so again. The only real worry is having some drag down on me or have someone break loos and ram me at speed. And the only reason for worry then is the lack of insurance. It is bad news for one's home, like you house in the path of a forest fire. You do all that you can and then pray!