If You're Not Going To Do It, Don't Do It Rightt!

SHIP'S LOG:

The most eventual thing that happened today was the weather! MY friends at NOAA have been predicting for the last few days that there would be a 40% chance of rain on Thursday afternoon. Well, we certainly got RAIN!

I had just finished lunch and was getting ready to do a little more work on the dinghy, when this trawler comes by and the owner, Bob from Kentucky, wants to know if it's alright to anchorage. I told him that it was "free" and as he started to move off, he said "Look at that sky!" Well to the west, the horizon was black and I mead black. You have probably seen storm clouds like this when it has been a really hot and humid summer day. They were black and threatening. They were more than " a 40% chance of showers" in a big way.

I flipped on the weather radio and got the "spotter Activation squeal" from NOAA and the announcement of our impending doom. Well, not that bad, but " winds to 60 mils an hour, torrential rain, nickle size hail, and . . . . the most danger will be from the frequent and numerous lightening strikes." NOAA has such a way with words! "Perfect Peter", the computerized voice of NOAA said that the storm would last from 12:15 to 12:45 and they were right about that. In between, we got everything they predicted as well. Before the first real gust hit, the boats were oriented South West and the first real 50-60 mile an hour gust laid every boat over on its side. I went over almost 30degrees, pretty close to putting a rail in the water. I got into my rain gear, put on my PFD( Personal Flotation Device) and started the engine. I kept thinking about the White Squall/ Micro Burst up in Ft. Pierce. This was almost as bad, not as long, but the "nickle size hail" made it worse.

It rained so hard I could see 30 feet, not even Bob's trawler who was perhaps that far when he dropped the hook in a bit of a rush to get it down before the storm. Talking afterwards, he thought he dragged in the blow but it didn't look so and since the weather has "moderated," he'll stay where he is.

In the end, it was the most rain I have seen at one time since Ft. Pierce and it washed all the salt and dirt and other detritus from the boat. And then the sun came out! AHHHHHH!

Put another 2 layers/coats of liquid electrical tape on the dinghy leak. I think that it may be holding completely now. It will get another couple of layers tomorrow.

I got a call from Bob & Olga - the oar has arrived but the meds had not, so I called the prescription company to find out when they would arrive. I had ordered them on March 2nd and was told they would arrive at Olga's in seven(7) days. Long story short, they were going to arrive not today, not tomorrow but on Monday. I talked with the rep to see if anything could be done to see if they could speed up the process. They said to talk to UPS who was handling the shipping and they said that the request had to come from the shippee. So I went back to the prescription company and talked with three representatives, they like to call them "advocates" - I think they like the term because they sure don't know what it means - and found out that they felt there was nothing that they could do to get the meds to Connecticut any fast. CONNECTICUT??!?!? I explained to them that when I ordered the meds, I told the "advocate" who took the order that they were to be shipped to Ft. Lauderdale. I confirmed this later with another "advocate" who called to confirm the correctness of the order. Ft. Lauderdale, Florida not Connecticut. I got kicked up several more "advocate levels," all the while trying to explain that , "No, I wasn't planning to spend a month in Ft. Lauderdale, " " No I wouldn't be able to be in Connecticut to receive the shipment," " No, I couldn't guarantee that I could be at a particular place at a particular time because I was traveling by boat" they really didn't seem to grasp that, and on and on. The upshot is that they will "try" to overnight a new order to the Ft. Lauderdale address and I wonder how long I would have hung around waiting for the package they wasn't coming? Nothing like a Major "Whoopsie" after a storm to make your day!