Not Much Better Today Either!

SHIP'S LOG:

One thing you really notice when you are sailing in "a chill" is that when you are sailing upwind, close-hauled, that is into the prevailing wind, it can really get cold. That is probably why very old and very rich "yachtsmen" used to say that "Gentlemen never sail to weather!" This is very true when the weather in question gets below 70 degrees in temperature and and the wind gets over 20mph in speed.

It is an entirely different matter when you sail downwind though as you are moving with the wind. It can actually get bleeding warm. The only problem with going down wind is that the odds are very much in your favor that you will have to turn up wind at some point and with the "terrible onslaught of cold weather" it is not a lot of fun. It has caused me to begin a careful and exacting search for that cold weather gear that I stored on ABISHAG somewhere. Let's face it, I haven't needed it since January 3rd and I am not completely sure where I stored it. Obviously, it got put off in the corner of some locker or storage space when the need for it had faded away. Just where exactly is a matter to question. Equally obvious is the fact that piled on top of it wherever it happens to be is all sorts of warm weather items, along with tools, spares and whatever else was need in the warmth of summer, along with displaced items that got shunted around in preparation for the hurricane that never really showed up. At least the solid fuel heater is still attached to the bulkhead in the saloon, though where the charcoal ended up is a mystery.

The only real improvement over yesterday-&-night was the fact that the wind eventually died down to little more than a breezed. The "moose calls" and the singing wires disappeared, but the wind generator still whined though at a lower tone. It is a very good thing that it is mounted at the top of the Mizzen mast as the distance keeps the whined tolerable. Another boat here ahas a similar until though it is attached to a pole that is affixed to the deck. It creates a considerable racket, both from the whine and from the vibrations it transfers to the pole and thus to the deck. The boat owner's wife refuses to sail with it operating because she can't stand the sound.

Friday morning was the start of the Fall "Off Soundings Race." This fall, they will race from New London Ledge Light to Greenport Harbor on Long Island. On Saturday, they will do a round-the-buoys race in Gardiners Bay, and on Sunday will race back to New London. AS they jockied around at the start on Friday out by Ledge Light, in the midst of the blow, a sub chose that time to enter the Thames River. And with the Coasties in the zodiacs providing "protection to the sub, and the 500 yard safe zone around it, it made for a rather interesting start I am sure!