SHIP'S LOG:
All's well that ends well and at least around here, Sandy has ended. We seem to have been rather lucky as the damage was limited to several large trees going down and some eyesore beach cabanas "going away." The few who lost electricity should have it back by tomorrow or the next day.
TYC survived relatively unscathed. The water actually rose under the Clubhouse (the building is set on piers) almost to the floor joists but there was no water entry into the building. We lost no windows. We lost no siding. We lost no shingles. We gained 2 1/2 feet of beach front. Lots of debris got washed ashore on the beach front but far, far less than after IRENE last year.A couple of sections of the dock got uprooted but these shore section just floated to the front of the building and can easily be set back in place. Our race committee barge, "The Queen Merry," which is anchored off the club in the river, got dragged 200 some yards upstream but appears fully intact.
I basically napped during most of the storm. A friend and I tried to walk down to the train station to catch a view of the water but were chased back home by the police who had closed off all the streets to traffic both car and foot.
I did get down to TYC yesterday morning and "gamed" with several members of the club who had shown up to "assess the damage." Everyone was relieve that the damage was minor. Had the storm surge hit at high tide it would have at least flooded the Clubhouse and probably lifted it off its piers. Then the damage would have been much, much greater.
Aside from the survival of the Clubhouse and the safety of family and friends, talk revolved around the loss of the BOUNTY. She had stopped in New London just last week and head from here to Fort Lauderdale. None of us could figure out what she was doing out in the Hurricane. Considering that she had only a crew of 16, most of whom were NOT experienced open-ocean sailors, one would have thought that if they were determined to make the trip that they would have gone the long way around the storm, first to Bermuda and then to Fort Lauderdale. A crew of 16 seems a bit thin for handling a boat that large.
As far as I know, ABISHAG survived with no problems. She didn't fall over and no tree fell on her. So all seems right with the world
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Monday, October 29, 2012
Sandy Arriving!
SHIP'S LOG:
There is nothing like a storm . . . . . . especially if your boat is "safe and sound," which I am assuming that ABISHAG is at the moment. She is out of the water but that doesn't preclude the water coming to find her! That all depends on how much rain falls in the north and drains down the Connecticut River.
Being on land has its own dangers in a storm. The wind is the culprit here. A sailboat up on poppets presents a lot of windage and if it is not blocked right can blow over. And if the boats are packed relatively close together, one going over usually produces a domino cascade and that will send a whole bunch over and that is no fun at all. But there really isn't diddly I can do about it, especially now. One has to trust one's yaradcrew.
The first high tide hit New London about 9:30AM. It was sufficient to put the entire dock and most of the beach at TYC underwater. The wind, probably around constant 40mph with gust into the 50's, is right on shore at TYC, putting the water partially under the porch at the club. The clubhouse is built on pilings and has survived the 1938 Hurricane and Hurricane Carol intact. Uncomfortably, both of those Hurricanes are being used to describe the effects that this one is likely to have in this area. We will evidently get smacked pretty good but we should suffer a lot less than others in the state further down toward New York. The water will pile up in the Sound where it narrows south of New Haven and they should get a lot of flooding. They are also scheduled to get a lot more rain than we are as well. All in all, it should be a nasty couple of days.
There is nothing like a storm . . . . . . especially if your boat is "safe and sound," which I am assuming that ABISHAG is at the moment. She is out of the water but that doesn't preclude the water coming to find her! That all depends on how much rain falls in the north and drains down the Connecticut River.
Being on land has its own dangers in a storm. The wind is the culprit here. A sailboat up on poppets presents a lot of windage and if it is not blocked right can blow over. And if the boats are packed relatively close together, one going over usually produces a domino cascade and that will send a whole bunch over and that is no fun at all. But there really isn't diddly I can do about it, especially now. One has to trust one's yaradcrew.
The first high tide hit New London about 9:30AM. It was sufficient to put the entire dock and most of the beach at TYC underwater. The wind, probably around constant 40mph with gust into the 50's, is right on shore at TYC, putting the water partially under the porch at the club. The clubhouse is built on pilings and has survived the 1938 Hurricane and Hurricane Carol intact. Uncomfortably, both of those Hurricanes are being used to describe the effects that this one is likely to have in this area. We will evidently get smacked pretty good but we should suffer a lot less than others in the state further down toward New York. The water will pile up in the Sound where it narrows south of New Haven and they should get a lot of flooding. They are also scheduled to get a lot more rain than we are as well. All in all, it should be a nasty couple of days.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Waiting . . . . . . . . . . .
SHIP'S LOG:
As someone once said, all good things come to those who wait. That being the case, lots of good things must be headed my way for it there is one thing I have learned of the last few years, it is the art of waiting.
As I wrote many months ago, the virtue of patience is the toughest virtue to acquire becasue it is the the toughest virtue to put into practice. In a very real sense, I have been lucky in that patience has been forced upon me, having been put into situations and circumstances where patience was the only option. Currently, I am waiting for ABISHAG to get hauled and blocked so that I can winterize her. Then again, I am sort of in no hurry as I have no place to store all the stuff aboard that must be stored. Again, it is merely a matter of waiting . . . . . . . . . . . and patience, patience, patience.
As someone once said, all good things come to those who wait. That being the case, lots of good things must be headed my way for it there is one thing I have learned of the last few years, it is the art of waiting.
As I wrote many months ago, the virtue of patience is the toughest virtue to acquire becasue it is the the toughest virtue to put into practice. In a very real sense, I have been lucky in that patience has been forced upon me, having been put into situations and circumstances where patience was the only option. Currently, I am waiting for ABISHAG to get hauled and blocked so that I can winterize her. Then again, I am sort of in no hurry as I have no place to store all the stuff aboard that must be stored. Again, it is merely a matter of waiting . . . . . . . . . . . and patience, patience, patience.
Thursday, October 11, 2012
All Ashore Who's Goin' Ashore!
SHIP'S LOG:
I am Ashore! Shore Bound! Not Aboard! Landlocked! Hard Aground! On the Hard! I now live in a residence that doesn't move with the tide or the winds! I haven't paid the slightest attention to what NOAA or any other weather prognosticator has said about the weather in almost four days! In one sense, that is a relief, still . . . . .
In a couple of days (I hope), the yard crew at Yankee with lift ABISHAG out of the water and set her gently on poppets and winter will finally begin. True, I have to strip her out and get her ready to weather the winter, but that won't happen until she is on the hard. A problem with that is "to where do I haul all the stuff," followed by the equally perplexing "how do I haul all the stuff?" I am hopeful that I will "soon' have a place of my own ashore but the "if" and the "when" are still pretty much in the air. And the thought of hauling to one spot only to have to remove it all and haul it to another spot is a source of "acid indigestion." I am sure that it will all work out but the when is really up in the air.
I had to go visit ABISHAG to retrieve a few items for my new life ashore an actually ran into the guy who had rescued Bill Turner's dinghy the day before we began our last trip. He and his wife are quite a couple. They are hauling their boat this year rather than taking it south, though I get the impression that he has several boat deliveries set up to wile away the winter months in the South rather that stay in the cold north. It is a fine way to spend the winter but right now it holds no appeal for me. I am actually glad to be on the hard though I have to go through a bit of a learning process about how to live on land again, as well as develop a new "schedule for the day." Sadly, my new quarters do not orientate to the tide in the Thames River so it means that I don't get awoken by the dawn. I actually didn't get up until 7am this morning, though that was more because I stayed up late to watch the Orioles cough one up to the Yankees.
I still have to get the dinghy to Tom Welsh's house so that it sleep the winter through and after that, TYC should see me no more until the Spring. It is sort of like leaving home!
I am Ashore! Shore Bound! Not Aboard! Landlocked! Hard Aground! On the Hard! I now live in a residence that doesn't move with the tide or the winds! I haven't paid the slightest attention to what NOAA or any other weather prognosticator has said about the weather in almost four days! In one sense, that is a relief, still . . . . .
In a couple of days (I hope), the yard crew at Yankee with lift ABISHAG out of the water and set her gently on poppets and winter will finally begin. True, I have to strip her out and get her ready to weather the winter, but that won't happen until she is on the hard. A problem with that is "to where do I haul all the stuff," followed by the equally perplexing "how do I haul all the stuff?" I am hopeful that I will "soon' have a place of my own ashore but the "if" and the "when" are still pretty much in the air. And the thought of hauling to one spot only to have to remove it all and haul it to another spot is a source of "acid indigestion." I am sure that it will all work out but the when is really up in the air.
I had to go visit ABISHAG to retrieve a few items for my new life ashore an actually ran into the guy who had rescued Bill Turner's dinghy the day before we began our last trip. He and his wife are quite a couple. They are hauling their boat this year rather than taking it south, though I get the impression that he has several boat deliveries set up to wile away the winter months in the South rather that stay in the cold north. It is a fine way to spend the winter but right now it holds no appeal for me. I am actually glad to be on the hard though I have to go through a bit of a learning process about how to live on land again, as well as develop a new "schedule for the day." Sadly, my new quarters do not orientate to the tide in the Thames River so it means that I don't get awoken by the dawn. I actually didn't get up until 7am this morning, though that was more because I stayed up late to watch the Orioles cough one up to the Yankees.
I still have to get the dinghy to Tom Welsh's house so that it sleep the winter through and after that, TYC should see me no more until the Spring. It is sort of like leaving home!
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Winter's Here . . . . . Almost!
SHIP'S LOG:
Columbus Day Weekend meant a trip up the Connecticut River to Hamburg Cove and thence onto the Yankee Boatyard in Portland. It was a nice trip Saturday, rather breeze but rain free. The Sound was fairly -well whipped up but there was no rain which was a bless. The only moment for concern was as we approached the Railroad bridge that spans the lower Connecticut River. Would it work? The previous weekend the answer had been "NO!," but it seems that all the mechanical difficulties had been worked out and. The bridge was in the open position long before we got there and we transited through with no mus, no fuss. We even got moorings in Hamburg Cove without difficulty. Three of us, the Truners, the Aherns and myself actually rafted together on one mooring but given the rather "vigorous "winds shooting into the cover, I decided to raft up with Fred and Thalia when they got to the Cove. I suppose that we could have all gone on one mooring considering that there were two moorings of power-boaters that had rafted up 5 or more. Along with the Gearys, who were also int eh cove, we got together for s pot-luck supper onboard the Turner's boat. it really was a great time. The food was wonderful and the company was better. We were warm and dry and cozy even when we got whacked with a torrential downpour as some front moved through.
The trip upriver Sunday was undistinguished except for the rain that started a couple of hours into the trip. It wasn't a down pour, just a gentle shower, but it made the day cold and raw. We finally got to Portland around 3pm and when I moored ABISHAG, winter had officially begun. Damn!
Columbus Day Weekend meant a trip up the Connecticut River to Hamburg Cove and thence onto the Yankee Boatyard in Portland. It was a nice trip Saturday, rather breeze but rain free. The Sound was fairly -well whipped up but there was no rain which was a bless. The only moment for concern was as we approached the Railroad bridge that spans the lower Connecticut River. Would it work? The previous weekend the answer had been "NO!," but it seems that all the mechanical difficulties had been worked out and. The bridge was in the open position long before we got there and we transited through with no mus, no fuss. We even got moorings in Hamburg Cove without difficulty. Three of us, the Truners, the Aherns and myself actually rafted together on one mooring but given the rather "vigorous "winds shooting into the cover, I decided to raft up with Fred and Thalia when they got to the Cove. I suppose that we could have all gone on one mooring considering that there were two moorings of power-boaters that had rafted up 5 or more. Along with the Gearys, who were also int eh cove, we got together for s pot-luck supper onboard the Turner's boat. it really was a great time. The food was wonderful and the company was better. We were warm and dry and cozy even when we got whacked with a torrential downpour as some front moved through.
The trip upriver Sunday was undistinguished except for the rain that started a couple of hours into the trip. It wasn't a down pour, just a gentle shower, but it made the day cold and raw. We finally got to Portland around 3pm and when I moored ABISHAG, winter had officially begun. Damn!
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Boy, Somebody Just Can't Get It Right!
SHIP'S LOG:
Over the last three days, there have been a lot of conflicting reports about the status of the Railroad bridge over the Connecticut River, the one under which I most go to get to Portland and the Yankee Boatyard for the winter haul. Officially. according to Amtrak there is a problem. According to the maintenance crew, contacted by a friend, there is no problem. According to the Newspaper, there is a problem. According to the Marine Trades Group for the Old Saybrook/Lyme area, there may be a problem. I'll just have to wait and see . . . .something I have become really good at.
The last two days there has been a cold rain and it has made the interior of ABISHAG cold as well as damp. I am seriously considering getting some coal that I can fire up the fireplace but where does one get coal? Charcoal, yes, but coal? Charcoal is dangerous because it can give off carbon-monoxide which in any enclosed space is a ticket to the afterlife.
Bob & Barbara Welsh were planning to take their 42 ft Pearson ketch south on Sunday. The courses were all planned, the supplies were laid in and the crew was ready to go They took her out yesterday for a bit of a shake down and discovered they had a problem. The propeller strut had broken. this strut holds the exposed portion of the prop shaft in place when the engine is running and the prop is turning. Without it, or in the case where to has broken, the shaft twist and vibrate and generally try to rip itself out of the boat. Their trip is now delayed until they can get the boat hauled and the strut replaced, along with any damage that might have been done to the shaft and the transmission. Not great start to the trip south, then again, if you are going to bust something major, it is best to do it at home where you know where all the resources are and you have friends to help. Added to that is the fact that the prop, shaft, strut, transmission and engine will all be things they won't have to worry about in their lifetime again. Both are in their 80's!
Over the last three days, there have been a lot of conflicting reports about the status of the Railroad bridge over the Connecticut River, the one under which I most go to get to Portland and the Yankee Boatyard for the winter haul. Officially. according to Amtrak there is a problem. According to the maintenance crew, contacted by a friend, there is no problem. According to the Newspaper, there is a problem. According to the Marine Trades Group for the Old Saybrook/Lyme area, there may be a problem. I'll just have to wait and see . . . .something I have become really good at.
The last two days there has been a cold rain and it has made the interior of ABISHAG cold as well as damp. I am seriously considering getting some coal that I can fire up the fireplace but where does one get coal? Charcoal, yes, but coal? Charcoal is dangerous because it can give off carbon-monoxide which in any enclosed space is a ticket to the afterlife.
Bob & Barbara Welsh were planning to take their 42 ft Pearson ketch south on Sunday. The courses were all planned, the supplies were laid in and the crew was ready to go They took her out yesterday for a bit of a shake down and discovered they had a problem. The propeller strut had broken. this strut holds the exposed portion of the prop shaft in place when the engine is running and the prop is turning. Without it, or in the case where to has broken, the shaft twist and vibrate and generally try to rip itself out of the boat. Their trip is now delayed until they can get the boat hauled and the strut replaced, along with any damage that might have been done to the shaft and the transmission. Not great start to the trip south, then again, if you are going to bust something major, it is best to do it at home where you know where all the resources are and you have friends to help. Added to that is the fact that the prop, shaft, strut, transmission and engine will all be things they won't have to worry about in their lifetime again. Both are in their 80's!
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
You Just Never Know, You Know!
SHIP'S LOG:
I took the opportunity to go racing on Sunday in the TYC Chowder Series. I went with Jim Avery and Mike Peterson on Jim's NONSUCH. It is a "modern catboat," with one sail and as such, it really needs no crew beyond the helmsman. But Jim is 81 and talkative and likes the company and we actually won our class though that was on handicap and adjusted time. Still, a win is a win is a win.
At the lunch that followed, word came that the railroad bridge over the Connecticut River at Old Saybrook "broke." Word was that it "sheared a pin" and couldn't be raised. No w normally it wouldn't be of much or any concern to me but it is now. Next weekend, Columbus Day Weekend, myself and several others were planning to go up the Connecticut River, overnight in Hamburg Cove on Saturday night, and then continue on up to various marinas north of said bridge for our winter hauls. If the bridge remains "broken" next weekend, that plan is scrapped and I am concerned that such will be the case. I have no idea which "pin sheared," but whichever one it might have been, it prevents the bridge from being raised and allowing transit by boats over 20 feet in height which is certainly includes every boat that was planning to make the trip. And as things like this happen, you just know that there is no spare "pin" in the AMTRAK parts locker! So if it's a week's delay, it could be two or even a month. And since I have already signed the contract with Yankee and put down a down payment, it is not a question of find another spot "south of the bridge somewhere." For now, it is simply a matter of await the word.
I took the opportunity to go racing on Sunday in the TYC Chowder Series. I went with Jim Avery and Mike Peterson on Jim's NONSUCH. It is a "modern catboat," with one sail and as such, it really needs no crew beyond the helmsman. But Jim is 81 and talkative and likes the company and we actually won our class though that was on handicap and adjusted time. Still, a win is a win is a win.
At the lunch that followed, word came that the railroad bridge over the Connecticut River at Old Saybrook "broke." Word was that it "sheared a pin" and couldn't be raised. No w normally it wouldn't be of much or any concern to me but it is now. Next weekend, Columbus Day Weekend, myself and several others were planning to go up the Connecticut River, overnight in Hamburg Cove on Saturday night, and then continue on up to various marinas north of said bridge for our winter hauls. If the bridge remains "broken" next weekend, that plan is scrapped and I am concerned that such will be the case. I have no idea which "pin sheared," but whichever one it might have been, it prevents the bridge from being raised and allowing transit by boats over 20 feet in height which is certainly includes every boat that was planning to make the trip. And as things like this happen, you just know that there is no spare "pin" in the AMTRAK parts locker! So if it's a week's delay, it could be two or even a month. And since I have already signed the contract with Yankee and put down a down payment, it is not a question of find another spot "south of the bridge somewhere." For now, it is simply a matter of await the word.
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