Well, That Was Interesting! ! ! ! !

SHIP'S LOG:

Yesterday, or more correctly last night, we got spanked with a nice little storm. The wind blew a steady 30-35mph and there were gusts that actually hit 50! The wind was out of the South and so it shot straight up the river, with nothing to stop it. Indeed, the banks of the river actually funneled it making it even more severe. The river was filled with white caps and  everyone's boat was  hobby-horsing something fierce on their moorings.

I wasn't on my mooring. I was at the dock which is usually something I avoid when there is a storm. Out on a mooring, the boat reacts much more naturally and there is less strain on the pennants and the boat itself. However, my friends at NOAA had assured everyone that there would be horrible rain and wind" on Tuesday morning and that it would last all day. I wasn't too keen  on being stuck all day aboard and surely  didn't want to try to dock in high wind and seas and so I went in early. I got all tied up and secure and waited for the "storm" to hit.  while I was waiting, Charlie Wargo came done to get some stuff off his boat and recommended that I should turn ABISHAG around so that she was facing out of the slip as opposed to being pointed into it.Though the wind was blowing out of the South, Charlie was sure that as the storm front passed through it would clock around to the North and that ABISHAG would ride better pointed North than south. In addition, it there was a problem during the storm, it would be a lot easier to just drop the lines ad drive out rather than try to back out.  Well, it did make sense and so, with Charlie's help, we took ABISHAG out, turned her around and backed in. It took three shots but we got her in as Charles gave me a lesson on how to do it.  It was really interesting and it seemed as though with a little practice, it would be the way to do it in the future. Maybe.

The wind and the storm didn't cooperate with out effort as the wind continued to come out of the South. It slowly built all day and by evening it was raining too.  ABISHAG was well centered in the slip and while she did some rocking, it seemed a lot less that I would have expected, even less that she probably would have done on the mooring.  Still sleep was less than easy and though I did doze during the night, I was awake for most of it. It was sort of like being on the ICW again! We got hit with a good 2 inches of rain. I know this because my cockpit is a rain gauge.  With her stern tied into the wind, the rain just filled the cockpit. Something akin to "hairballs" restricted the scuppers and the cockpit filled.  About 3am, when the wind from the south subsided, I went to check things out. I lifted the hatchboard and water from the cockpit spilled into the cabin. Not a lot, but enough so that accompanined by colorful language, I got the scuppers cleaned and watched the water drain away. (I am still at a loss as to where these" hairballs" come from. It is a mystery.)

At 5:30AM, after a coupled of hours of no wind, the wind machine turned on again like someone threw a switch. This time, it WAS out of the North. I guess Charles was right. I'll have to check the weather to see if  I can make it back out to the mooring later today.