SHIP'S LOG:
Saturday was a pure sailing day! The wind was out of the north west and dying, so I waited for the predicted noon shift to the south west and went out. It was glorious! Rail down, bone-in-the-teeth,one tack sailing that but for Long Island and Montauk Point would have put me in Bermuda in 5 days! These are the days that make it tough to head for home.
I was entertained on the way out by a race going on over by VIXEN LEDGE. It ran from there to a gate near Silver Eel and back again 3-4 times depending on the size of the boat. There had to be a good 50+ boats and it was impressive to seem them racing. Of course, anyone trying to transit into Fishers Island Sound had to carefully pick their way through the fleet which, after the first leg, really stretched itself out to basically b lock the whole entrance. I am certain that the racers, who are always known for their extreme courtesy, willing sacrificed seconds of time to allow a power boater to pass through, as I am certain the transiting boats carefully avoided doing anything that would force a racer off a hard fought and won position and/or course. It was not that I was close enough to hear the courteous exchanges, that would have entailed changing tacks, but I noticed that no one was sunk which is always a good indication.
The only real excitement, if you can call it that, was the arrival off New London of the ILEKA NIELSON a Liberian Flagged tanker going to the HESS Oil farm in Groton. I say "excitement" because an encounter with ships bearing the flags of certain nations can be fraught with peril. Panama, Liberia, Nigeria and a host of other nations are considered to be nations of convenience, in that their requirements for safety, efficiency, ship handling, ship maintenance and other such things are notoriously lax to say the least. They can present a real danger to all who encounter them. It is also why any ship flying a flag of convenience from such a nation is often accorded the same courtesy as they would receive if the flew a potholder or a bed sheet. I gave her a wide berth and on my way back to the mooring, which is across the river from the Hess Oil terminal, watched two tugs trying to get her into position for loading. It really took them quite a while. Still, it was a pure sailing day!
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Still Summer? ! ? ! ?
SHIP'S LOG:
Is it still summer? Yesterday was certainly hot and sunny enough to qualify, but last night it got "cold!" Even this morning there was a bit of a chill in the air and there is a coolness in the warm breeze that is blowing even now.
Yesterday was bottom cleaning day! One of the down sides of a 38ft boat is that it is 39 feet long and it provides you with an abundant area to clean when the need arises. And that's times 2 as you have to do both sides. First of though was evicting the community of barnacles and other sea-life that had settled upon the prop and shaft. Every single millimeter of space on the prop was covered with growth and even the growth had growth grow upon it. It is actually a rather tiring procedure. Take a breath, dive down under the boat to the prop. Scrape and chop at the growth until your lungs are ready to burst and then back up to the surface where, if you are lucky and time it right, you get another lung full of air. If not, you inhale the wave that you didn't notice. It takes 30-45 minutes to complete the job or at least clean the prop enough so that it will move the boat.
The next phase it to clean the bottom it self. Thanks to the EPA, rivers and estuaries are cleaner than ever and the sea-life has responded by growing abundantly. With a brush, you brush this brown slime off the bottom of the boat, taking about 45 minutes a side to get it clean. This will improve the speed of the boat and I was racing, I would probably notice the difference, but I ain't so I won't. But it will, over a long trip, help with the fuel economy, making the boat easier to move through the water.
I must be getting old. It was exhausting and I went to bed at 8pm.
Is it still summer? Yesterday was certainly hot and sunny enough to qualify, but last night it got "cold!" Even this morning there was a bit of a chill in the air and there is a coolness in the warm breeze that is blowing even now.
Yesterday was bottom cleaning day! One of the down sides of a 38ft boat is that it is 39 feet long and it provides you with an abundant area to clean when the need arises. And that's times 2 as you have to do both sides. First of though was evicting the community of barnacles and other sea-life that had settled upon the prop and shaft. Every single millimeter of space on the prop was covered with growth and even the growth had growth grow upon it. It is actually a rather tiring procedure. Take a breath, dive down under the boat to the prop. Scrape and chop at the growth until your lungs are ready to burst and then back up to the surface where, if you are lucky and time it right, you get another lung full of air. If not, you inhale the wave that you didn't notice. It takes 30-45 minutes to complete the job or at least clean the prop enough so that it will move the boat.
The next phase it to clean the bottom it self. Thanks to the EPA, rivers and estuaries are cleaner than ever and the sea-life has responded by growing abundantly. With a brush, you brush this brown slime off the bottom of the boat, taking about 45 minutes a side to get it clean. This will improve the speed of the boat and I was racing, I would probably notice the difference, but I ain't so I won't. But it will, over a long trip, help with the fuel economy, making the boat easier to move through the water.
I must be getting old. It was exhausting and I went to bed at 8pm.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Summer's Back With A Vengeance! ! ! ! !
SHIP'S LOG:
Well, maybe not with a vengeance, but the weather sure has changed for the better. Back have come hot and humid and hazy can't be that far behind. The weather broke yesterday and the wind died off to nothing. And thank goodness for that.
On Tuesday, two more boats broke loose from their moorings. Again, miracle of miracles, neither hit anything nor went aground though one, an aerodynamic racing boat took off down river at such speed the Coast Guard had to send a cutter chase boat to get her before she made it out into Fishers Island Sound. In both cases it was gear failure, specifically the chaffing through of the mooring pennant, but aside from that and the anxiety of the owners, there was no real damage.
I actually spent most the days ashore trying to get some virus or whatever out of my computer. It just didn't want to go and I had three of the best lads in India working on it. It is too bad that computers have almost become a complete and absolute necessity.
It is a beautiful day out here right now and I would be sailing . . .except for the fact that there ain't no wind!
Well, maybe not with a vengeance, but the weather sure has changed for the better. Back have come hot and humid and hazy can't be that far behind. The weather broke yesterday and the wind died off to nothing. And thank goodness for that.
On Tuesday, two more boats broke loose from their moorings. Again, miracle of miracles, neither hit anything nor went aground though one, an aerodynamic racing boat took off down river at such speed the Coast Guard had to send a cutter chase boat to get her before she made it out into Fishers Island Sound. In both cases it was gear failure, specifically the chaffing through of the mooring pennant, but aside from that and the anxiety of the owners, there was no real damage.
I actually spent most the days ashore trying to get some virus or whatever out of my computer. It just didn't want to go and I had three of the best lads in India working on it. It is too bad that computers have almost become a complete and absolute necessity.
It is a beautiful day out here right now and I would be sailing . . .except for the fact that there ain't no wind!
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Is This What You Call A Nor'Easter?
SHIP'S LOG:
I actually never thought of this storm we have been, and are, having in such a term but I would guess that it is exactly accurate. The winds are out of the east, now mostly north east (appropriately) and have been blowing a steady 15-20 with gust anywhere above that, some even in the 30 knot range. As a result, there isn't a lot of sailing going on and not much in the way of projects being done as there is too much pitching and yawing and rolling to do much more than perhaps rearrange lockers if they need it. Anything requiring the slightest degree of precision is out.
If you know anything about sailboats, then you know the name SWAN. They are beautiful sailboats. They are expensive sailboats. They are built somewhere in Scandinavia and are really top-o-the-line. there is one at TYC, an older boat, circa 1969, perhaps one of the first built and sold here in America. It is 36 feet and has more varnished wood on it than you could possible endure. The pennant on SWANSONG's mooring became detached and she was blown through the mooring field and went aground 100 yards from the club house. The first miracle was that she made her way, unguided, through the most of the boats in the northern mooring field and didn't hit a one! The second miracle was that she went aground missing the rather massive dock out in front of TYC and miss a smaller but still massive dock next door. The third miracle was that she gounnded on soft beach sand. No one actually saw the trip and the launch drive was notified by a neighbor on the phone.
Considering the weather, there were few people at the club, but four of us got into the launch with the drive and went off to try and save the boat. She had grounded but was still swinging a bit which mean she wasn't stuck hard and fast. However, with the tide going out she soon would be and eventually go over on her side. Tying the launch to her, we couldn't pull her into deep water as her draft was too much. We tried all of the ways we could think of to lean her over and so lessen the draft but none seemed to work. I remembered seeing something in a book about such problems that you could lessen the draft by seating someone on the end of the boom and swinging it out to the side of the boat. This would induce a heel and perhaps enough to free the boat. Since it was my suggestion and since I was the youngest( how about that!), I got to ride the boom. It is not as easy as it sounds. Even on this 36 foot boat, the boom doesn't have much of a diameter and aside from the topping lift, there isn't much to hold onto. But we did it and there I sat, dangling over the water, while the launch drive gun the engine of the launch. A lot of grunting, and pulling and colorful language and launch hauling and voila, we were able to haul her off the sand and out to a free mooring where she sits now.
When she first got free, the launch driver called the guy and, not getting him, left a message that his boat had broken loose and had gone aground. After the rescue, he called again and got the guy. so the first thing the guy heard about his boat was that it was safely back on a mooring. He was greatly relieved and thankful. I can just imagine what I would have been like if I had been the guy and had gotten the first message first!
MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:
Slept like a log last night, though I did check my pennants and leave the key in the boat's ignition just in case.
I actually never thought of this storm we have been, and are, having in such a term but I would guess that it is exactly accurate. The winds are out of the east, now mostly north east (appropriately) and have been blowing a steady 15-20 with gust anywhere above that, some even in the 30 knot range. As a result, there isn't a lot of sailing going on and not much in the way of projects being done as there is too much pitching and yawing and rolling to do much more than perhaps rearrange lockers if they need it. Anything requiring the slightest degree of precision is out.
If you know anything about sailboats, then you know the name SWAN. They are beautiful sailboats. They are expensive sailboats. They are built somewhere in Scandinavia and are really top-o-the-line. there is one at TYC, an older boat, circa 1969, perhaps one of the first built and sold here in America. It is 36 feet and has more varnished wood on it than you could possible endure. The pennant on SWANSONG's mooring became detached and she was blown through the mooring field and went aground 100 yards from the club house. The first miracle was that she made her way, unguided, through the most of the boats in the northern mooring field and didn't hit a one! The second miracle was that she went aground missing the rather massive dock out in front of TYC and miss a smaller but still massive dock next door. The third miracle was that she gounnded on soft beach sand. No one actually saw the trip and the launch drive was notified by a neighbor on the phone.
Considering the weather, there were few people at the club, but four of us got into the launch with the drive and went off to try and save the boat. She had grounded but was still swinging a bit which mean she wasn't stuck hard and fast. However, with the tide going out she soon would be and eventually go over on her side. Tying the launch to her, we couldn't pull her into deep water as her draft was too much. We tried all of the ways we could think of to lean her over and so lessen the draft but none seemed to work. I remembered seeing something in a book about such problems that you could lessen the draft by seating someone on the end of the boom and swinging it out to the side of the boat. This would induce a heel and perhaps enough to free the boat. Since it was my suggestion and since I was the youngest( how about that!), I got to ride the boom. It is not as easy as it sounds. Even on this 36 foot boat, the boom doesn't have much of a diameter and aside from the topping lift, there isn't much to hold onto. But we did it and there I sat, dangling over the water, while the launch drive gun the engine of the launch. A lot of grunting, and pulling and colorful language and launch hauling and voila, we were able to haul her off the sand and out to a free mooring where she sits now.
When she first got free, the launch driver called the guy and, not getting him, left a message that his boat had broken loose and had gone aground. After the rescue, he called again and got the guy. so the first thing the guy heard about his boat was that it was safely back on a mooring. He was greatly relieved and thankful. I can just imagine what I would have been like if I had been the guy and had gotten the first message first!
MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:
Slept like a log last night, though I did check my pennants and leave the key in the boat's ignition just in case.
Monday, August 23, 2010
More Crappy Days in Paradise!
SHIP'S LOG:
Sunday turned out to be a truly crappy day. Torrential rains and storm-force winds and small craft warning all contributed to a day that was better spent inside than out. The winds came out of the East, sometimes the north east and sometimes dead East, but mostly from the southeast with a nice long fetch up the river. This guaranteed lots of nice rolly waves and a lot of pitching and yawing about on the mooring. And I had chili for lunch.
The rain by itself would have been bad enough, but matched with the win and the waves, it was not a nice day or night. While the awnings and dodger kept the rain out of the cockpit and the newly re-caulked salon hatch was dry as a bone, the shelf behind the starboard settee got wet. How I don't know. Di didn't seem to come from the cabinets behind as they were dry. It didn't seem to come from the port lights above as the area below the port lights was dry. It couldn't come from below as water doesn't run uphill even on a boat! The only source I can see is that gremlins pour a bottle of water on the shelf while I was asleep!
Sleeping last night was too bad. The rolling was actually comforting and sleep inducing. The nosiest part was the wind generator which produces not just electricity but one hell of a whine when the wind gets up over 20 knots, where it spent a good deal of last night. The wind generator has a self braking device built in so that it won't burn out or go so fast as to shake itself apart. It sounds like a semi downshifting when it kicks in which it seemed to do about every 15 minutes or so. The good thing was that it produced so much juice that it ran the batteries back to "even," according to the battery monitor. So they should be in good shape. Even watching two movies last night on the computer didn't serious deplete the house bank and by this morning, everything was up to snuff. As they say it is an ill wind that blows no one no good!
MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:
When you are trying get to sleep at night on a boat in a storm, you spend a lot of time trying to identify all the sounds you hear and what is making them.Every boat has lots of noise makers and ABISHAG is no exception. There are the standard noises I always hear - the rattle of the steering vain, the whine of the wind generator, the sound of the wind in the shrouds, the slapping of halyards - and I expect to hear them. And when I don't or I hear a new sound, I have to try and figure out what it means and whether or not it is something that I need to deal with. Somethings you just have to deal with, like a line that has loosened and is causing a block to bang and scrape irregularly. Let alone, it will eventually drive you off the deep end, so I get up and fix it. Somethings you don't have the skill or the tools or inspiration to fix right then unless it will sink the boat or do expensive damage. There is an amazing amount of stuff that you can let go and it is definitely a better idea than trying to fix it in the dark.
Another day or two of this stuff and then it will be over. Hopefully, we will get back to hazy, hot and humid!
Sunday turned out to be a truly crappy day. Torrential rains and storm-force winds and small craft warning all contributed to a day that was better spent inside than out. The winds came out of the East, sometimes the north east and sometimes dead East, but mostly from the southeast with a nice long fetch up the river. This guaranteed lots of nice rolly waves and a lot of pitching and yawing about on the mooring. And I had chili for lunch.
The rain by itself would have been bad enough, but matched with the win and the waves, it was not a nice day or night. While the awnings and dodger kept the rain out of the cockpit and the newly re-caulked salon hatch was dry as a bone, the shelf behind the starboard settee got wet. How I don't know. Di didn't seem to come from the cabinets behind as they were dry. It didn't seem to come from the port lights above as the area below the port lights was dry. It couldn't come from below as water doesn't run uphill even on a boat! The only source I can see is that gremlins pour a bottle of water on the shelf while I was asleep!
Sleeping last night was too bad. The rolling was actually comforting and sleep inducing. The nosiest part was the wind generator which produces not just electricity but one hell of a whine when the wind gets up over 20 knots, where it spent a good deal of last night. The wind generator has a self braking device built in so that it won't burn out or go so fast as to shake itself apart. It sounds like a semi downshifting when it kicks in which it seemed to do about every 15 minutes or so. The good thing was that it produced so much juice that it ran the batteries back to "even," according to the battery monitor. So they should be in good shape. Even watching two movies last night on the computer didn't serious deplete the house bank and by this morning, everything was up to snuff. As they say it is an ill wind that blows no one no good!
MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:
When you are trying get to sleep at night on a boat in a storm, you spend a lot of time trying to identify all the sounds you hear and what is making them.Every boat has lots of noise makers and ABISHAG is no exception. There are the standard noises I always hear - the rattle of the steering vain, the whine of the wind generator, the sound of the wind in the shrouds, the slapping of halyards - and I expect to hear them. And when I don't or I hear a new sound, I have to try and figure out what it means and whether or not it is something that I need to deal with. Somethings you just have to deal with, like a line that has loosened and is causing a block to bang and scrape irregularly. Let alone, it will eventually drive you off the deep end, so I get up and fix it. Somethings you don't have the skill or the tools or inspiration to fix right then unless it will sink the boat or do expensive damage. There is an amazing amount of stuff that you can let go and it is definitely a better idea than trying to fix it in the dark.
Another day or two of this stuff and then it will be over. Hopefully, we will get back to hazy, hot and humid!
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Nothing Is Ever As Simple As It Seems!
SHIP'S LOG:
I got the seat for the dinghy and a heavy duty air mattress to use as the "air floor" and was ready to get the dinghy up to A-1 Status. The has these two clips, one on either end, which slide over these webbed handles on the interior of the dinghy. I slipped one clip in one handle and the other clip in the other handle, and the second one broke. Evidently the cloth webbing had deteriorated sufficiently in the sunlight so as to become rotten and it just broke. Tugging on the unbroken one broke it too. ARGH! So now a simple fix has become a little bit more complicated. I will have to get new handles, special marine dinghy ones of course, and glue them to the insides of the dinghy with special marine dinghy glue of course, and so get the dingy back in proper statue. Such a simple thing gone stray!
I got the seat for the dinghy and a heavy duty air mattress to use as the "air floor" and was ready to get the dinghy up to A-1 Status. The has these two clips, one on either end, which slide over these webbed handles on the interior of the dinghy. I slipped one clip in one handle and the other clip in the other handle, and the second one broke. Evidently the cloth webbing had deteriorated sufficiently in the sunlight so as to become rotten and it just broke. Tugging on the unbroken one broke it too. ARGH! So now a simple fix has become a little bit more complicated. I will have to get new handles, special marine dinghy ones of course, and glue them to the insides of the dinghy with special marine dinghy glue of course, and so get the dingy back in proper statue. Such a simple thing gone stray!
Saturday, August 21, 2010
It Was A Fast Week!
SHIP'S LOG:
The weather was too good this week not to spend it sailing! In one sense, it was/is getting more like August weather in that the winds are getting/have been lite, though, thank goodness, there has been little in the way of humidity.
Friend Ray came and took a shot at getting the refeer running. He found most of the problems and felt that the repair should be easily accomplished. I have absolutely faith in his ability as a mechanic and a repair-er of all things mechanical, it is just that his finding the time to do it that may be the problem. But it will get done when it gets done.
The main hatch over the salon leaked during the last rain storm we had and I decided that it was going to stop. Last year!!!!! I thought I had gotten that problem solved by really gooping the seam between the lexan lens and the aluminum hatch frame that holds it. Needless to say since I am commenting on it, it didn't quite work. So, fresh from my re-caulking experience with the teak deck, I decided to re-caulk the hatch. So I dug out all the old caulk, cleaned the channel/seam been the lens and the hatch frame, tape the the area to be caulked, put int he new caulk , worked it into the seam, leveled it off and waited 24 hours. Looks good, very nice and neat, and now I have only to wait for a rain storm to see if it works. That will happen on Monday or Tuesday.
In the lite wind, sailing can be either very relaxing and/or frustrating. Thursday I sailed toward the Race. It was a slow, relaxing sail and I was just entering the Race when I decided to turn around and head back to TYC. The Race is not the place to get caught without wind. It was a slow, 1 - 1.5 knot trip back to TYC. The sun was hot and the sea was rolly and after about an hour, with no prospect of more wind, the iron genny came on and I motored back to the mooring. Usually I don't use the engine if I can sail but I realized that I wasn't getting any extra points for sailing at 1knot back to the mooring 3 miles away!
There was absolutely no wind for the Wednesday night races. 20+ boats went out and "bobbed" about around the Queen Merry before the race was called at 6:30pm. Nothing worse that racers that don't get to race. One captain motored all the way out the mouth of the river to check the wind there and radioed back that he was getting 6 knots of wind over the deck and he felt sure it would eventually "fill in." His call came after the race was called much to his disappointment. Then again, the wind never did fill in in the river and it would have been more a "drift" that a "race" had they run it.
One of the things you have to deal with when living on a boat is communication. Cell phones make that easier but computers and access to the web are a little more problematic. I have an air card for the computer and that pretty much guarantees access any time and any place, but air card time can be expensive. So, I make use of the free wifi at the Club. I have to go ashore to use it as it doesn't broadcast much beyond the porch at the club. It is also true that computers and computers no matter where they are. My laptop which is the computer I use on the boat has been fine but recently began to act strangely, downloading the same updates from Microsoft and then being unable to reconfigure them once they are download. Then it has to "revert" the changes and downloads become pending , to be loaded the next time the computer is turned on. I contacted a tech service and they spent most of Wednesday trying to "apply a fix." They said that they did it but it turned out that the computer was smarted then they are. They took another shot on Friday afternoon, but "Bob," "Jim" and "Harry" we unable to make the necessary corrections. Sanjy, Mashtou and Hari eventually had to admit defeat and turn it over to their"escalation" team. I have an appointment with them on Tuesday and they "guarantee" they will solve the problem . . . . .then again Sanjay, Mashtou and Hair did the same. We will see what we see. I can use the computer with no problem save for when it goes through that downloading-configuring-unloading problem.
I went looking for a seat for the dinghy. For some reason it had disappeared, when or where I don't know, but it is gone. The dinghy is from Silver Marine and is not widely carried so finding a seat from Silver Marine was a pain. I went online and got a couple of leads but nothing materialized. I went to two local marine supply stores and one had a comparable seat for a mere $242 dollars. The other had a seat for $43! Guess which one I bought? Getting an "air floor" for the dinghy (that disappeared last year in a storm) was even more expensive so I decided to get a heavy duty air mattress and use that instead. It is not like I use the dinghy all that much but it is necessary to have it usable because the time will come when I will absolutely need it!
MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:
The summer is coming to the end and I am still hemming and hawing over whether I am going south or on the hard in up here. When the summer was still in front of me, the question really wasn't a big deal. Now, with only weeks left of good (read "warm") weather, a decision needs to be made soon. I have been looking at marinas and shipyards to get an idea where to haul, if I haul, but I find that depressing . . . and expensive. I think I will not think about it today and go sailing instead!
The weather was too good this week not to spend it sailing! In one sense, it was/is getting more like August weather in that the winds are getting/have been lite, though, thank goodness, there has been little in the way of humidity.
Friend Ray came and took a shot at getting the refeer running. He found most of the problems and felt that the repair should be easily accomplished. I have absolutely faith in his ability as a mechanic and a repair-er of all things mechanical, it is just that his finding the time to do it that may be the problem. But it will get done when it gets done.
The main hatch over the salon leaked during the last rain storm we had and I decided that it was going to stop. Last year!!!!! I thought I had gotten that problem solved by really gooping the seam between the lexan lens and the aluminum hatch frame that holds it. Needless to say since I am commenting on it, it didn't quite work. So, fresh from my re-caulking experience with the teak deck, I decided to re-caulk the hatch. So I dug out all the old caulk, cleaned the channel/seam been the lens and the hatch frame, tape the the area to be caulked, put int he new caulk , worked it into the seam, leveled it off and waited 24 hours. Looks good, very nice and neat, and now I have only to wait for a rain storm to see if it works. That will happen on Monday or Tuesday.
In the lite wind, sailing can be either very relaxing and/or frustrating. Thursday I sailed toward the Race. It was a slow, relaxing sail and I was just entering the Race when I decided to turn around and head back to TYC. The Race is not the place to get caught without wind. It was a slow, 1 - 1.5 knot trip back to TYC. The sun was hot and the sea was rolly and after about an hour, with no prospect of more wind, the iron genny came on and I motored back to the mooring. Usually I don't use the engine if I can sail but I realized that I wasn't getting any extra points for sailing at 1knot back to the mooring 3 miles away!
There was absolutely no wind for the Wednesday night races. 20+ boats went out and "bobbed" about around the Queen Merry before the race was called at 6:30pm. Nothing worse that racers that don't get to race. One captain motored all the way out the mouth of the river to check the wind there and radioed back that he was getting 6 knots of wind over the deck and he felt sure it would eventually "fill in." His call came after the race was called much to his disappointment. Then again, the wind never did fill in in the river and it would have been more a "drift" that a "race" had they run it.
One of the things you have to deal with when living on a boat is communication. Cell phones make that easier but computers and access to the web are a little more problematic. I have an air card for the computer and that pretty much guarantees access any time and any place, but air card time can be expensive. So, I make use of the free wifi at the Club. I have to go ashore to use it as it doesn't broadcast much beyond the porch at the club. It is also true that computers and computers no matter where they are. My laptop which is the computer I use on the boat has been fine but recently began to act strangely, downloading the same updates from Microsoft and then being unable to reconfigure them once they are download. Then it has to "revert" the changes and downloads become pending , to be loaded the next time the computer is turned on. I contacted a tech service and they spent most of Wednesday trying to "apply a fix." They said that they did it but it turned out that the computer was smarted then they are. They took another shot on Friday afternoon, but "Bob," "Jim" and "Harry" we unable to make the necessary corrections. Sanjy, Mashtou and Hari eventually had to admit defeat and turn it over to their"escalation" team. I have an appointment with them on Tuesday and they "guarantee" they will solve the problem . . . . .then again Sanjay, Mashtou and Hair did the same. We will see what we see. I can use the computer with no problem save for when it goes through that downloading-configuring-unloading problem.
I went looking for a seat for the dinghy. For some reason it had disappeared, when or where I don't know, but it is gone. The dinghy is from Silver Marine and is not widely carried so finding a seat from Silver Marine was a pain. I went online and got a couple of leads but nothing materialized. I went to two local marine supply stores and one had a comparable seat for a mere $242 dollars. The other had a seat for $43! Guess which one I bought? Getting an "air floor" for the dinghy (that disappeared last year in a storm) was even more expensive so I decided to get a heavy duty air mattress and use that instead. It is not like I use the dinghy all that much but it is necessary to have it usable because the time will come when I will absolutely need it!
MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:
The summer is coming to the end and I am still hemming and hawing over whether I am going south or on the hard in up here. When the summer was still in front of me, the question really wasn't a big deal. Now, with only weeks left of good (read "warm") weather, a decision needs to be made soon. I have been looking at marinas and shipyards to get an idea where to haul, if I haul, but I find that depressing . . . and expensive. I think I will not think about it today and go sailing instead!
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