SHIP'S LOG:
This must be Indian Summer or something close to it. The days are wonderful and even the nights are too, too bad - too cold that is. I took the opportunity to head up to Portland to do a couple of things on ABISHAG. The first was to pack all of my remaining clothes and get them out of the boat before they end up moldy. One of the things I have found on my trip that packing clothing with drier sheets actually prevents the " 3 M's," mold, mildew and moths. Still there was a dampnes to a lot of the stoff and I will have a large laundry project ahead of me. It will be washing drying and re-packing for the trip to Vermont.
Another item that needed taking care of was the "Speedo" transducer. This is a little paddle wheel that extends beyond the surfsce of the hull underwater and spins as the boat moves through the water. A magnet no one of the paddels passes a point and produces a small \electrical cahrge that is read as speed by the "Speedo." Unfortunately, the transducer is locat4rd on a part of the hull where it is possible that it will hit by the straps used to lift the boat out of the water. It has to be removed and replaced with a flat plug less the weight of the hull be transfer to it as the straps are drawn up tight. At best, it will break the paddle wheel and at worst, it will psuh the entire fixture right into the hul creating a hole in the hull. Holes under the water line are not good things. It would require a seriious repair job come spring and, more than likely, a whole new trsansducer unit and maybe a whole new "Speedo" set up. It is easy and less work and much less expesnsive to pull the transducer and replace it with its plug. Trying to get the transducer out proved to be an exercise in futility for reasons unknown. After fiddling with it for a few minutes, I decided to leave it for the yard crew to do. I left them a note with the plug on that hatch which sat over the location of the transducer. I also made it a point to track down one of the yard crew and let them know the situation.
As for being hauled? well, there are no other boast on the docks so I must be the next one to get hauled. It has "only"been a month since ABISHAG moored of the marina so it is about time.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Saturday, November 12, 2011
A Day At The Beach One Year Removed!
SHIP'S LOG:
I am at the beach today at TYC and a year ago I was also at the beach, Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina to be exact. Of course, a year ago it was in the 70's where I was and such is not the case here. Looking back to then, what I find interesting is not the weather so much as the fact that things seems better planned, or at least there seemed to be a pretty set plan. I was getting ready to head up to Willmington to see Vin & Anne and then it would be down to Cape Fear and back on to the "Magenta Highway."
Right now, things are sort of betwixt and between. I have picked up the first real cold of the season which doesn't bode well for the months ahead.. ABISHAG has still not been hauled and the two days on which I planned to get her set for the winter didn't pan out due to lots of rain and lots of wind. No word from the powers that be. "House sitting" in Vermont is set though I probably won't go up until after Thanksgiving, perhaps that Sunday. As uncertain as it seemed at the time, the journey seemed a lot more exact and certain, even with all the unknowns and uncertainties to come. Still, it will all work out.My current "spiritual reading' happens to be Stephen King's book, "The Stand." There are a lot of very good spiritual insights in though I would tend to believe that Steve-o hadn't intend it to be so. It can really be amazing how God chooses to speak to you at time, in ways and from places you least expect. The was an important part of the learning process of the trip, getting to the point of not just listening be actually hearing. Of course, the weather and the scenery and the people were very nice as well.
I am at the beach today at TYC and a year ago I was also at the beach, Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina to be exact. Of course, a year ago it was in the 70's where I was and such is not the case here. Looking back to then, what I find interesting is not the weather so much as the fact that things seems better planned, or at least there seemed to be a pretty set plan. I was getting ready to head up to Willmington to see Vin & Anne and then it would be down to Cape Fear and back on to the "Magenta Highway."
Right now, things are sort of betwixt and between. I have picked up the first real cold of the season which doesn't bode well for the months ahead.. ABISHAG has still not been hauled and the two days on which I planned to get her set for the winter didn't pan out due to lots of rain and lots of wind. No word from the powers that be. "House sitting" in Vermont is set though I probably won't go up until after Thanksgiving, perhaps that Sunday. As uncertain as it seemed at the time, the journey seemed a lot more exact and certain, even with all the unknowns and uncertainties to come. Still, it will all work out.My current "spiritual reading' happens to be Stephen King's book, "The Stand." There are a lot of very good spiritual insights in though I would tend to believe that Steve-o hadn't intend it to be so. It can really be amazing how God chooses to speak to you at time, in ways and from places you least expect. The was an important part of the learning process of the trip, getting to the point of not just listening be actually hearing. Of course, the weather and the scenery and the people were very nice as well.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
WInter's Comin' On Slowly
SHIP'S LOG:
Right now, it is only like winter late at night. We are, I suppose, in Indian Summer(strange phrase, don't you think?) where the days are warm( up to 68 yesterday), the evening cold but comfortable, and the late night cold. One gets up in the early morning and notices frost on the car which disappears as soon as the sun hits it. Still, there is frost!
A year ago, I was heading down the ICW thru North Carolina, passing through Camp LeJune and its life fire range that crosses the ICW lane of travel, on my way to Mile Hammock at the southern end of the camp.It was warm enough for shorts and T-shirts and, sadly, mosquitoes. Yesterday, I was up on ABISHAG, still at the dock, folding up her sails in preparation for taking them to the sail loft. There was no place close by the boat to lay them out on the grass and do a proper folding job. Lots of mud from the floods and lots of gravel in the parking lot. Plus the fact that trying to manhandle a Genoa or a Main in a mess bundle was more work than I wanted to deal with. Thus it was that i had to do them on the deck. The Main was relatively easy as I simply laid it out over the Bimini and pulled it from one side to the other, folding as I went. The Genoa was a whole different story. Much larger than the Main, it was also made of much heavier cloth and was all twisted from the rapid stuffing it under went down the hatch in the snow storm. It took a bit of time just to unfold it, let alone try to flake it. I am not sure how much it actually ways, but probably pretty close to 25lbs if not more. And it has a mind of its own. If it could get caught on anything on deck it did. If it could re-twist itself as it was flake , it did. Like someone facing a trip to the dentist, it obviously did not want to go. But with a lot of pulling and wrapping and "a few words of encouragement," I was able to get it into a relatively concise bundle, small enough to fit in my car. The smallest sail, the Mizzen, I folded and inside in the aft cabin and left it there. It wasn't used enough to require a trip to the loft. The last piece that needed to go was the dodger(windshield). The clear vinyl in it that is intended to allow you to see ahead when it is raised and in place, had been destroyed on the trip. It was old to begin with and the cold of last December and the high winds caused any number of rips. As the vinyl ages, it gets hard and brittle and just cracks. I had been using fiberglass reinforced packing take which work surprisingly well, though after exposure to sunlight for about a month, the UV destroyed it. Replacing allowed me to complete the trip but as a long term solution, it was a bust. SO it was off to the sailmaker to get a new piece put in place.
Hopefully this Thursday, whether the boat is in the water or out, I will empty her out with the help of my good friend, Russ. And that will be that. We are down to 6 boats in the mooring field, including two with engine problems. Even the launch has been put away for the winter. Ugh, I hate winter!
Right now, it is only like winter late at night. We are, I suppose, in Indian Summer(strange phrase, don't you think?) where the days are warm( up to 68 yesterday), the evening cold but comfortable, and the late night cold. One gets up in the early morning and notices frost on the car which disappears as soon as the sun hits it. Still, there is frost!
A year ago, I was heading down the ICW thru North Carolina, passing through Camp LeJune and its life fire range that crosses the ICW lane of travel, on my way to Mile Hammock at the southern end of the camp.It was warm enough for shorts and T-shirts and, sadly, mosquitoes. Yesterday, I was up on ABISHAG, still at the dock, folding up her sails in preparation for taking them to the sail loft. There was no place close by the boat to lay them out on the grass and do a proper folding job. Lots of mud from the floods and lots of gravel in the parking lot. Plus the fact that trying to manhandle a Genoa or a Main in a mess bundle was more work than I wanted to deal with. Thus it was that i had to do them on the deck. The Main was relatively easy as I simply laid it out over the Bimini and pulled it from one side to the other, folding as I went. The Genoa was a whole different story. Much larger than the Main, it was also made of much heavier cloth and was all twisted from the rapid stuffing it under went down the hatch in the snow storm. It took a bit of time just to unfold it, let alone try to flake it. I am not sure how much it actually ways, but probably pretty close to 25lbs if not more. And it has a mind of its own. If it could get caught on anything on deck it did. If it could re-twist itself as it was flake , it did. Like someone facing a trip to the dentist, it obviously did not want to go. But with a lot of pulling and wrapping and "a few words of encouragement," I was able to get it into a relatively concise bundle, small enough to fit in my car. The smallest sail, the Mizzen, I folded and inside in the aft cabin and left it there. It wasn't used enough to require a trip to the loft. The last piece that needed to go was the dodger(windshield). The clear vinyl in it that is intended to allow you to see ahead when it is raised and in place, had been destroyed on the trip. It was old to begin with and the cold of last December and the high winds caused any number of rips. As the vinyl ages, it gets hard and brittle and just cracks. I had been using fiberglass reinforced packing take which work surprisingly well, though after exposure to sunlight for about a month, the UV destroyed it. Replacing allowed me to complete the trip but as a long term solution, it was a bust. SO it was off to the sailmaker to get a new piece put in place.
Hopefully this Thursday, whether the boat is in the water or out, I will empty her out with the help of my good friend, Russ. And that will be that. We are down to 6 boats in the mooring field, including two with engine problems. Even the launch has been put away for the winter. Ugh, I hate winter!
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Penny for The Guy?
SHIP'S LOG:
Remember, remember
the Fifth of November,
the Gun powder, Treason and Plot.
I know of no reason
why the Gun Powder Treason
should ever be forgot.
Happy Guy Fawkes Day! ( if you want a good movie for the day, rent "V for Vendetta")
I find it amazing that there are still so many people without power around the state. There is still a steady stream of club members coming by to take showers and charge cell phones and laptops. There is a cold wave that is supposed to hit this weekend which, after a week of relatively benign temped days, will be another kick in the teeth for those without power and no place warm to lay their heads. O, to be on the ICW again!
I was hoping that this weekend might see ABISHAG hauled out but there has been no word whatever. If there is nothing by Monday, I will go up and started hauling stuff out and away and leave the hauling to the yard, trusting that if there is any really keel damage, beyond the wearing off of the bottom paint done by the ICW groundings, that they will let me know. Not much I can do about it in any case and repair work requires temps at least in the mid-50s for the various compounds to set and hold and I thin we have seen the last of those for awhile.
By actually count, there are 15 boats still in the mooring field. I know of at least three that will be going over the weekend and one hearty soul who still wants to make a run to Block Island and another to Greenport before he hauls out. Hope he dresses warm as when you are heading down wind there temp and the winds seem pleasant enough, but when you have to go upwind(into the wind) trucking to the North Pole can seem warmer.
A sailboat is coming down river right now, obviously on its way to haul out. I say "Obviously" because the tide is running down river, the wind is blowing out of the north and he has not a sail up but is running under motor. It is obviously not a pleasure cruise for him but " a duty - a job that must be done."
I really hate winter, and even though it is not winter yet, all the harbingers are here and it doesn't bode well. O, for the gnats and 80 degrees of temp in good ol' Beaufort, South Carolina!
Remember, remember
the Fifth of November,
the Gun powder, Treason and Plot.
I know of no reason
why the Gun Powder Treason
should ever be forgot.
Happy Guy Fawkes Day! ( if you want a good movie for the day, rent "V for Vendetta")
I find it amazing that there are still so many people without power around the state. There is still a steady stream of club members coming by to take showers and charge cell phones and laptops. There is a cold wave that is supposed to hit this weekend which, after a week of relatively benign temped days, will be another kick in the teeth for those without power and no place warm to lay their heads. O, to be on the ICW again!
I was hoping that this weekend might see ABISHAG hauled out but there has been no word whatever. If there is nothing by Monday, I will go up and started hauling stuff out and away and leave the hauling to the yard, trusting that if there is any really keel damage, beyond the wearing off of the bottom paint done by the ICW groundings, that they will let me know. Not much I can do about it in any case and repair work requires temps at least in the mid-50s for the various compounds to set and hold and I thin we have seen the last of those for awhile.
By actually count, there are 15 boats still in the mooring field. I know of at least three that will be going over the weekend and one hearty soul who still wants to make a run to Block Island and another to Greenport before he hauls out. Hope he dresses warm as when you are heading down wind there temp and the winds seem pleasant enough, but when you have to go upwind(into the wind) trucking to the North Pole can seem warmer.
A sailboat is coming down river right now, obviously on its way to haul out. I say "Obviously" because the tide is running down river, the wind is blowing out of the north and he has not a sail up but is running under motor. It is obviously not a pleasure cruise for him but " a duty - a job that must be done."
I really hate winter, and even though it is not winter yet, all the harbingers are here and it doesn't bode well. O, for the gnats and 80 degrees of temp in good ol' Beaufort, South Carolina!
Thursday, November 3, 2011
South River/Oreintal, North Carolina
SHIP'S LOG:
A year ago this day I was in the South River anchored and awaiting a cessation of the rain and a clearing of the fog so that I could cross the Neuse River and go into a Marina in Oriental, NC.I had hit my first "dead zone" and was incommunicado for a couple of days as I waited for the weather to clear.
Waiting seems to be the big thing, then and now, as I wait for the Yankee Boatyard to haul ABISHAG. The freak snow storm that blasted us as really done a job shutting down electricity in the state, especially in land and has brought everything to a crawl if not an out right halt in many places. The days are pleasant now - during the daylight hours - but the temp really drops, as quickly, when the sun goes down. It is really fall, crisp and clear and heralding winter to come. Everyone seems to be going around hoping the same hope, that this winter will be in no way like last winter. "AMEN" to that!
There are about a dozen boats left in the mooring field and they should all go away this weekend. After Sunday, the launch will no longer be running. It will be taken off for her winter "hibernation", along with the skiffs. Even the "Queen Merry" will be hauled off to a boat yard to spend the winter in safer surroundings that out in the river. She got whacked pretty good by Irene and the storms that have since followed and needs a lot of work. Then again, if this winter is anything like last, there will be some sizable ice in the river and getting hit by such will do more damage.
As side from all that, I am just waiting - waiting to get hauled, waiting to empty the boat, waiting for the WORD. Waiting requires patience and it is something I have certainly developed over the past year. Patience is a virtue it is said and you only require it by being in situations where you have to practice it. Well, practice makes perfect.
A year ago this day I was in the South River anchored and awaiting a cessation of the rain and a clearing of the fog so that I could cross the Neuse River and go into a Marina in Oriental, NC.I had hit my first "dead zone" and was incommunicado for a couple of days as I waited for the weather to clear.
Waiting seems to be the big thing, then and now, as I wait for the Yankee Boatyard to haul ABISHAG. The freak snow storm that blasted us as really done a job shutting down electricity in the state, especially in land and has brought everything to a crawl if not an out right halt in many places. The days are pleasant now - during the daylight hours - but the temp really drops, as quickly, when the sun goes down. It is really fall, crisp and clear and heralding winter to come. Everyone seems to be going around hoping the same hope, that this winter will be in no way like last winter. "AMEN" to that!
There are about a dozen boats left in the mooring field and they should all go away this weekend. After Sunday, the launch will no longer be running. It will be taken off for her winter "hibernation", along with the skiffs. Even the "Queen Merry" will be hauled off to a boat yard to spend the winter in safer surroundings that out in the river. She got whacked pretty good by Irene and the storms that have since followed and needs a lot of work. Then again, if this winter is anything like last, there will be some sizable ice in the river and getting hit by such will do more damage.
As side from all that, I am just waiting - waiting to get hauled, waiting to empty the boat, waiting for the WORD. Waiting requires patience and it is something I have certainly developed over the past year. Patience is a virtue it is said and you only require it by being in situations where you have to practice it. Well, practice makes perfect.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Well, So Much For The Snow!
SHIP'S LOG:
I think it was the gust to 55 mph that sort of took the place of the snow. At TYC Clubhouse, the old place rattled and moaned and the rain/snow mix turned to ice. I guess that most places above the snow line, about 6 to 10 miles inland from the coast, got whacked pretty good but down here there wasn't much accumulation, justice everywhere. It made trying to open your car door a real treat!
Though I haven't checked this morning, as I have gotten out of the habit, I am wondering if NOAA is doing a reprise of its weather forecasts for Florida last December. Back then down there they began every 15 minute segment with instructions of how to recognise frostbite! Could be useful as the temp got down to 21(non wind chill) degrees out at Ledge Light. That's more than cold enough.
I have to admit that there are real crazies in the boating community, even around here. Yesterday some guy went out sailing. Whoever he is he is a rather young fellow who owns a wooden boat that is older than he. It is painted an awful yellow and he usually sails with a group of guys and gals his own age. He went out yesterday morning, before the storm was raging, and I hope he got back before it got too bad. When I returned from Portland, see yesterday's blog for that fun story!, there was fog on the river, big-time fog, real pea-soup stuff. The launch driver told me that he had just taken a guy out to his boat, a center console maybe 25 feet. At that time, the wind was 35mph, there was fog, there was a driving rain/snow mix and it was in the high 20's. The launch driver tried to talk the man out of it. True, he was only going about 3 miles, to have his boat hauled out at Pine Island Marina but he was also stupid enough to have his 10 year old son along to enough the trip. I am afraid to scan the local news to see if he made it our not.
Right now, the skies are clear and blue and the wind is down to a breeze. If it wasn't for the fact that it is about 30(maybe) and there is ice everywhere, it could almost be winter in Florida!
I think it was the gust to 55 mph that sort of took the place of the snow. At TYC Clubhouse, the old place rattled and moaned and the rain/snow mix turned to ice. I guess that most places above the snow line, about 6 to 10 miles inland from the coast, got whacked pretty good but down here there wasn't much accumulation, justice everywhere. It made trying to open your car door a real treat!
Though I haven't checked this morning, as I have gotten out of the habit, I am wondering if NOAA is doing a reprise of its weather forecasts for Florida last December. Back then down there they began every 15 minute segment with instructions of how to recognise frostbite! Could be useful as the temp got down to 21(non wind chill) degrees out at Ledge Light. That's more than cold enough.
I have to admit that there are real crazies in the boating community, even around here. Yesterday some guy went out sailing. Whoever he is he is a rather young fellow who owns a wooden boat that is older than he. It is painted an awful yellow and he usually sails with a group of guys and gals his own age. He went out yesterday morning, before the storm was raging, and I hope he got back before it got too bad. When I returned from Portland, see yesterday's blog for that fun story!, there was fog on the river, big-time fog, real pea-soup stuff. The launch driver told me that he had just taken a guy out to his boat, a center console maybe 25 feet. At that time, the wind was 35mph, there was fog, there was a driving rain/snow mix and it was in the high 20's. The launch driver tried to talk the man out of it. True, he was only going about 3 miles, to have his boat hauled out at Pine Island Marina but he was also stupid enough to have his 10 year old son along to enough the trip. I am afraid to scan the local news to see if he made it our not.
Right now, the skies are clear and blue and the wind is down to a breeze. If it wasn't for the fact that it is about 30(maybe) and there is ice everywhere, it could almost be winter in Florida!
Saturday, October 29, 2011
#$%^&*SNOW! !! !! ! ! ! !
SHIP'S LOG:
I knew this was going to happen. For three weeks since Columbus Day Weekend, I have been waiting to get ABISHAG hauled. So today, with what our Commodore calls " a significant storm" hitting the area, I get a call from the boatyard telling me that my boat is at the dock so that they can begin the winterizing and inquiring whether or not they want me to take the sails off the boat. That little task, of course, would be a service that they would do for pay, so I hustled up to Portland to do the job myself.
The trip wasn't too bad until I got above Essex on Route 9 when the snow-rain mix became real SNOW. And it was wet. And it was heavy. And it was sticking. It was also cold!! I haven't seen snow in two years and it was traumatic!
Getting the sails down wasn't difficult but with the deck covered with slush it was slippery work. The cold made turned my fingers numb and with all the little wire ties that had to be cut and the little bolts in the shackles that hard to be removed and then replaced, the job was awful. It is funny how you can loose the feeling in your fingers and have them hurt at the same time. I didn't bother folding the sails. I merely stuffed them down the nearest hatch and let it go at that. Naturally, the yard workers had more sense and were not working in "that type of weather." Can't say that I blame them. Just walking on the slush covered dock was an exercise in focused concentration. One little slip and I would have gotten a first person experience of just how cold the Connecticut River is on the 29th of October! But it all went off without a hitch and sometime in the next few days, ABISHAG will get hauled and washed and placed on poppets for her winter snooze. When she is, I will remove all the gear that needs to go and wrap her up and that will be that. It was in the 70's down in Virginia a year ago today! Maybe I should have gone south again! ! ! ! !
I knew this was going to happen. For three weeks since Columbus Day Weekend, I have been waiting to get ABISHAG hauled. So today, with what our Commodore calls " a significant storm" hitting the area, I get a call from the boatyard telling me that my boat is at the dock so that they can begin the winterizing and inquiring whether or not they want me to take the sails off the boat. That little task, of course, would be a service that they would do for pay, so I hustled up to Portland to do the job myself.
The trip wasn't too bad until I got above Essex on Route 9 when the snow-rain mix became real SNOW. And it was wet. And it was heavy. And it was sticking. It was also cold!! I haven't seen snow in two years and it was traumatic!
Getting the sails down wasn't difficult but with the deck covered with slush it was slippery work. The cold made turned my fingers numb and with all the little wire ties that had to be cut and the little bolts in the shackles that hard to be removed and then replaced, the job was awful. It is funny how you can loose the feeling in your fingers and have them hurt at the same time. I didn't bother folding the sails. I merely stuffed them down the nearest hatch and let it go at that. Naturally, the yard workers had more sense and were not working in "that type of weather." Can't say that I blame them. Just walking on the slush covered dock was an exercise in focused concentration. One little slip and I would have gotten a first person experience of just how cold the Connecticut River is on the 29th of October! But it all went off without a hitch and sometime in the next few days, ABISHAG will get hauled and washed and placed on poppets for her winter snooze. When she is, I will remove all the gear that needs to go and wrap her up and that will be that. It was in the 70's down in Virginia a year ago today! Maybe I should have gone south again! ! ! ! !
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