THIS IS REALLY SUMMER! ! ! ! ! !

     Boy, the last few days have been spectacular. Low humidity, temps in the 70's, winds perfect for sailing. And while I was able to get a few hours in aboard ABISHAG, much of the time I have spent on the water was driving the launch. I have been filling in for the driver who will be filling in for me when I got off on the TYC Newport Folk Festival-Jazz Festival cruise at the end of the month.

     I forgot how bad it is to be the launch driver on Wednesday evening when we have races. The races start at 6:10pm 17or so boats for them. Figure at least 4 +/- crew per boat and that is 70 or so that have to be taken from the dock to the boats scattered around the mooring field. And  while some of the boats have at least one crew that comes somewhere between 4 & 5 to go out and get their boat ready, most of them show up after 5pm. The launch can only take 11 passengers at a time so it is a pill to get everyone out to their respective boats in time to get the boat ready and to the starting line. I did get everyone out to where they wanted to be in time to get the boasts ready and moving to the starting line but it is a stressful exercise. And it is even worse when the races is over.

     Some boats do well and others do not  and how a boat does naturally effects how the crew feels after the race. Have a bad race, toss in a few post race brews and finding yourselves down on the pick-up list does not improve the situation.  I always pick-up boats in the order in which they call in to be picked-up. The 11 passenger  rule is in effect and there is nothing worse than pulling up to a boat with a large crew and say, "I can only take two!" Usually, the boats finish the race in a rather staggered order which means the pick-up is spread out but this week everyone seemed to show up at once and they all wanted to be the first ones picked-up.  In that it is after the 21st of June, it also means that the sun is setting earlier. This tends to slow down pick-up process even more which makes the bad attitudes in greater, having to sit in the dark on a boat. And when you pick-up the drew off one boat and bypass the boat right next to it, well it don't mke for a happy crew. I am just glad I won't have to do launch raace duty again this year!

SAILING, SAILING, SAILING! ! ! ! ! ! !

     What a great day! Great wind! No clouds! Not too hot and no humidity. One couldn't ask for a better day.  This was confirmed by the fact that everyone seemed to be out boating. Getting away from the mooring and down river under sail was "exciting" to say the least, over-loaded boats going too fast everywhere. It was a great day! And I am exhausted. Early to bed.

Look Out Below! ! ! ! !

     One of the "joys" of apartment living is being surrounded by all sorts of people. One of the "joys" of apartment living in an "old building" is that the various mechanical and electrical systems all seem in need of updating and repair. In the Crocker House, the only spaces that have central air conditioning are the commercial spaces and the management office. Everyone else has to have a personal, individual unit if they want air conditioning. I want air conditioning but I only have one window and I don't want the electrical bill an ac unit would bring.

      In addition, not having an AC unit, just a fan, means what happened yesterday won't happen to me. One of the residents, having suffered through the last few days of high heat and humidity, cried "Uncle" and went out and bought a window unit. They hauled it up to the 5th floor apartment and set it in the window and got ready to enjoy the cool. Unfortunately, they hadn't set it in the window "just right" and it proceeded to do a backward somersault with a triple twist right off the window ledge to the roof below . . . four stories below. While it did not survived it left its cord still plug into the outlet in the apartment. It hurts to think about it.

      I am the new leader! we have a small residents only parking lot behind and across a small side street from the building. There is not a lot of parking in downtown New London and when there is something going on downtown, it was inevitable that someone, sometimes many people would park in our lot. They ignored the signs indicating that they would be towed if they did so, but be honest, do you believe such signs when you see them?  We have a deal with a towing company/garage two(2) blocks away and they are very good about showing up, for as one driver said, "Towing illegally parked cars is gravy." Nothing is worse than coming home after a 8 hour shift at TYC or at that loft and find some one in my spot. The first time I called the towing company I felt a little bit guilty for some reason, but not any more. It's $180 for the tow. It is more if the city of New London does it as you get a $100 ticket on top of the coast of the tow.

NOW THAT'S HOT!!!!!

     I was expecting to go to the sail loft and do some work today before heading off this afternoon to do a shift on the launch. However, the loft was basically closed because of the heat. It is an old building in downtown New London and it really traps the heat. The parts for the sails are cut in the "Cutting Room" which is in the basement. It it cool and comfortable even in the worst heat. The various sail parts are assembled in the loft it self which is on the top floor and is terribly hot. We really can't run fans as they will blow pieces all over before we can assemble them and tape them in place before sewing. we also must be careful about opening up the windows beyond a crack ad a strong gust of wind will do the same. Think of working in an attic! No fun at all. Hopefully next week will be just a little cooler.

HOT 'NOUGH FOR YA?

     As a very wise person once said, you don't have to shovel hot, humid and hazy. I'll have to admit that it has been a rather uncomfortable few days but we had a nice rain storm last night and another again this morning and hopefully that will take care of the humidity.  I don't know if we will be getting more storms in the days ahead, but we probably will as this type of weather tends to produce them. But who cares, there's no shoveling.

     We've had a couple of world cruising boats stop off at TYC in the last week; 40 Cabo Rico and a 42ft moody. Both werecruised by young couples who were off on 'round the world adventures.They are both using the east coast to cut their teeth and workout the cruising life. Living on a boat is whole different way of living. A 40footer might seem to be a big boat but it can be very small, especially when you get out of sight of land. And you focus and priorities change. A lot. you do a lot more planning, detailed planning because you can't just rush off to the store if you forget something or sun out. You become a lot more attentive to the weather, what it is going to do, and when, and for how long. After all, all that you own is held in place by a 20 foot piece of 3/8 inch chain attached to an anchor and 150 feet of 5/8 nylon anchor rode. I am sure they will work it out, if not it will be  short adventure.

      My "bad knee" is acting up  and it has made that stroll down the dock back and forth to the launch less than fun. It makes me dread next week as I have shifts every day. One of the drivers is off on vacation and since he will be covering me when I'm off on the cruise, I couldn't very well turn him down.  

     I did get out to ABISHAG and check out some sails that I have  not used before as they are too much of me alone to handle. I had to check out how to fly them, putting them up while on the mooring in order to see how the lines had to be led. Actually, after getting them in place, it looks as though they would not be too difficult to fly solo. It is the hoisting and dousing that would be the problem. With friend Fred along on the cruise, I am sure that we will use them. Sailing off the wind, it would be possible to have five (5) sails flying at once:
1.) Genoa; 2.) Cruising Spinnaker; 3.) Main; 4.) Mizzen Staysail; and 5.) the Mizzen. That's a lot of laundry and if we do it well, it will look spectacular.

HAPPY FOURTH! And remember to let go of the fire cracker after lighting the fuse!

So I Missed Monday, Big Deal

Actually, Monday was a bit of a horror showed, covering my launch driver's shift that is. It was an infamous "3 H" day . . . . hazy, hot & humid. My shift ran 9 to 5 and as I got to the club, I got a call from Wayne who is Launch Chairperson this year. He  shared with me that the Launch was out of service. evidently, towards the end of the day Sunday, when checking the transmission fluid, the driver discovered it was contaminated with water. this is not a good thing and until the solution to the problem was discovered, we would have to use one of the skiffs. The skiffs are small, flat-bottomed boats that can only be steered when the prop is engaged. No rudder, and as a result they are really, really difficult to maneuver at slow speeds. They also have low free-board which means that getting i n at the dock is difficult and getting out and onto or off-of a normal sailboat is an adventure. Lack of slow speed maneuverability also means that the odds of seriously whacking in to a boat is quite high. It was going to be a fun day!

Quite naturally, someone was waiting to used the launch as soon as I got there. We went down to the launch dock, got into the skiff and started out . . .sort of. Having untied the skiff and started the motor, I gave the outboard some gas and we moved away from the dock, extremely slowly. When we had drifted way from the dock, I discovered that the prop had disappeared from the outboard and we were just drifting.

As luck would have it, we were drifting toward the second skiff which was on a mooring. It took a little hand paddling but eventually we got to it and after making sure its engine had a prope, I transferred the fuel, attached the "broken skiff " to the mooring, detached the working skiff and went about my shift. Basically, I ended up using the "back-up to the back-up" launch.

Luckily, they were able to get the real launch up and running but not until my shift was at an end. O, it was fun.

Two Days In A Row! I Am On A Streak!

          It is so bleeding hot & humid today that it would be a perfect day for the boast. Unfortunately there is no wind.  It would mean simply floating, either trying to sail and drifting or simply hanging on the mooring. In either event, it would only be slightly less hot and humid that being on land today.  Indeed, it would simply be hair-splitting arguing which would be best. One needs a space with AC or at least a fan and several large glasses filled with gin & tonic.

     ABISHAG came down river on June 16th and we almost didn't make it. Actually, we almost didn't even start. She wasn't pumping raw water.  To cool the engine when it is running, the raw water pump sucks up water exterior to the hull, pumps it through a heat exchanger which exchange the heat from the anti freeze to the raw water being pump to keep the engine from over heating. Biut the water wasn't being pumped.  There is a little paddlewheel in the raw water pump which sucks in the water and pumps it out.  After checking for leaks, blockages and the like, Fred dismantled the pump and found that the 12 paddles on the impeller were all broken off. I usually replace the impeller each years as it is only hard, flexible rubber and takes a beating. I asked the yard to do it and it they missed it or forgot about it or whatever, but it certainly means that I am going have to check them and all work if we go back in the fall. Luckily, I still had two(2) impellers that were part of the haul from the ICW trip and which I finally got to use.The 15 minutes that it took to pull out the old and install the new produced a nice flow of water. It should be good for at least a year but it will be changed in the spring by ME!

     THE KNEE -  when we last left the knee, it was awaiting the Monday morning arrival of the visiting  nurse and the home health care physical therapist.  The arrive at 10am on the dot. I sent 30 minutes answering all the nurse's question and she then left me to the tender mercies of the physical therapist. She was a wonderful therapist and was so nice, that I "had to do everything she said." She would do all the exercises with me to show just how easy they were, though the cracking of the scar-tissue and adhesion  in my left ankle and left knee made her queezy, which I found strange for a physical therapist. She showed up three times for two weeks before she handed me off to an outside physical therapist who turned out to be the one who handled my left ankle therapy a couple of years ago. After about two months, it became more a question of simply strengthening the muscles above the knee that really hold it in place, As they have become stronger, the knee has become more my own. Certainly the pain has long be gone and the only down side is that it has made clear just how bad the left knee is. If the cartilage is gone by the fall, I check with the doctor about doing that knee. If he feels that it is ready, we'll do it. If it still needs to "cook" a bit longer, then I'll do it next fall. In any event, it is certainly a whole lot better making that walk down the dock than it was.

    THE LOFT -  Still haven't got enough hours in yet. But it will happen . . . eventually.

    THE CRUISE - Due to the locked in schedule this year, I do not have to work on weekends and have been able to sign up to go on one of the Club Cruises.  It is strange not to work on weekends and it actually takes a little getting used to. The one down side is parking. Not a lot of room down near the club. One must be ready to go very early or be willing to hike. The club Cruise that I am going to take will be the one to Newport and Narragansett Bay and the Elizabeth Islands. we will moor off the Ida Lewis Yacht Club or Fort Adams for both the Folk Festival and the Jazz Festival. How great is that.

I am tapped out. More later.