Monday, February 7, 2011

"The Windy City . . Not Chicago But North Palm Beach!!!

SHIP'S LOG:

Same Spot, Different Day

For some reason, I never thought of Florida as a particularly windy place. True there isn't much to stop the wind, the highest point of land being merely 60feet above sea level, still who ever thought of Florida as windy. Yet it has been a rare day on this trip when the wind hasn't been honking. I am sure that the average for the days that I have been in this state must be over 15mph steady. Today was another wonderful example. Got up to fog which burned off late morning. Then no wind and lots of hot, hot sun. Then about 1:30 wind! A good steady 15mph as you could tell from the white caps. And regularly there was more as the tops blew off the white caps. And then there were the gusts. I have a little Davis Wind Gauge which goes all the way up to 30MPH and the gusts pegged that. It made for a rollicking good time this afternoon as the anchorage in Lake Worth filled up and everyone was swinging to beat the band. It was very interesting to watch how everyone swing just a little different from everyone else because of the differences in type of boat(power or sail), draft, beam, type of keel, amount of windage, type of anchor rode(chain or rope) and amount of rode out. Thank goodness that is has pretty much calmed down for the night but there is still an occasional gust. It was interesting making supper tonight. Thank goodness for a gimbaled stove. I just wish the wind would stop. When it can heel ABISHAG, you know it is blowing.

I ran into something very interesting down here. I bought a case of drinking water in bottles that were made 100% from plants. The bottles are called "Prima Bottles" and evidently they are made from plant oils that is turn into a material like plastic which can be molded and shape and use and then the bottle can be dumped in a compost heap where it will decay and decompose like any other vegetable matter. You can even burn them and it is no more that burning plant material. They have a website (primabottle.com) Now this is an idea whose time has come.

The weather will be such that I will be off tomorrow and heading south again. I have a bunch of bridges to deal with and three potential anchorages at 23/ 30/ 37 mile so even with delays, I should have a place to drop a hook available.