Sunday, April 3, 2011

Another Dull, Hot, Sunny, Boring Day In Daytona!

SHIP'S LOG:

Well, though I am still in Daytona, I did travel today . . . just a little bit. I had to do a "Pump & Dump & Fuel-up" as I was running out of fuel and filling up with garbage and . . . . "black water!"
Those are some of the things people who don't live on boat never think about. Flush the toilet and that's that. Put the garbage out by the curb once a week and it magically disappears. And the fuel truck comes to your home! And when the wind blows and the rain pours most people hardly notice it is happening and unless you live in a "double-wide," they never have to check and make sure that their "home" won't blow away!

Some poor fellow in a Catalina 25 sailed away from the dock at the Halifax Sailing Club and
"discovered new land." Evidently he strayed to close to shore and found one of the many sand bars that dot the Halifax River outside of the ICW Channel. He could sail off and couldn't power off and was lucky that one of the coaches from the sailing club was tooling around in a skiff and was able to pull him off. Major "whoopsies" like that cause the loss of "Harbor Face" and usually only happen when there are lots of people around to see it happen. Such was not the case today though and aside from the embarrassment he might have experienced in front of his crew, no other serious damage was done.

I sort of had my own experience with possible loss of "Harbor Face" today. Coming back to the anchorage after my "journey", I was headed up to the bow to drop the hook when I somehow snagged one of my "alligator shoes" or whatever they call those rubberized clogs, in the jackline and it flipped overboard. It was beyond boathook reach in seconds and getting the anchor down and set was primary. I kept look back as the bloody "shoe" floated down wind. No way I could take ABISHAG toward it or I would have gone aground, so i kept an eye on it during the anchoring process. Once the hook was down and set, I lowered the dinghy and went off in search of the most recent "crew" to abandon ship. Truth be told, I can't remember the last item lost overboard, it has been awhile. It took about 10 minutes to find and finally "rescue" the floating "shoe." And that was the extent of the excitement today.

Tuesday's departure is now in the "iffy" category as the boys and girls at NOAA are giving a "50% chance of rain on Tuesday. Well then, departure will be Wednesday. I'm flexible!