SHIP'S LOG:
After yesterday's temperature rise and the thunderstorm enough snow melted so that I can see the grass. At least I think that it is the grass, but it has been so long since I have seen it, I am not quite sure. This will be the second day in a row that the temp will get over 50! and tomorrow is expected to be more of the same. However, less we become over-joyed at the true onset of springtime, the weather is supposed to crap out Monday into Tuesday and Wednesday into Thursday we are supposed to get what the weather people refer to as "measurable & shovel-able snow." Winter is not done yet! Still it is great to really get that sense that it is fading away at last.
Saturday, February 22, 2014
Friday, February 21, 2014
I'm Melting! What A World, What A World!
SHIP'S LOG:
Yes, Dorothy, the snow is melting. I was beginning to wonder if it was going to happen or not, ever! The temp actually reached 60 and rain helped too. It is difficult to say how much snow has been converted to melt, but after today and tomorrow, it should be significant. That's a god thing because the temps are supposed to dip beginning next week and there is the possibility of some more snow. Sigh.
The DEFENDER INDUSTRIES catalog made it appearance an with it a notice that their March Madness Marine Sale is on and is on March 3rd. It make the old Filene's Wedding Gown Sale look tame by comparison. I will have to try to pick up at least the bottom paint as they really cut the price of that obscenely expensive item. Of the last two decades the EPA had kept requiring paint manufactures to change the composition of their paint. Not more lead, no more tin, less (and soon no) copper. The reason is that they have "discovered" that marine bottom paint kills the marine growth and the creatures that attempt to attach themselves to boat hulls. I don't wish to bust their balloon but that actually is the intent of the stuff in the first place. Sigh.
Yes, Dorothy, the snow is melting. I was beginning to wonder if it was going to happen or not, ever! The temp actually reached 60 and rain helped too. It is difficult to say how much snow has been converted to melt, but after today and tomorrow, it should be significant. That's a god thing because the temps are supposed to dip beginning next week and there is the possibility of some more snow. Sigh.
The DEFENDER INDUSTRIES catalog made it appearance an with it a notice that their March Madness Marine Sale is on and is on March 3rd. It make the old Filene's Wedding Gown Sale look tame by comparison. I will have to try to pick up at least the bottom paint as they really cut the price of that obscenely expensive item. Of the last two decades the EPA had kept requiring paint manufactures to change the composition of their paint. Not more lead, no more tin, less (and soon no) copper. The reason is that they have "discovered" that marine bottom paint kills the marine growth and the creatures that attempt to attach themselves to boat hulls. I don't wish to bust their balloon but that actually is the intent of the stuff in the first place. Sigh.
Monday, February 17, 2014
Perhaps Spring Is coming Early! I Hope!
SHIP'S LOG:
Despite the fact that we had another nasty snow storm over the weekend and that the forecast for tomorrow is more snow, it is also true that the forecast for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday prophesy temperatures in the 40's going up to the 50's by Friday! Man, how great is that? It will be the cause of not only a lot of celebrating, but also a lot of melting, and that got me thinking. There is a lot of snow on the ground in New Hampshire and Vermont and Connecticut and that means a lot of run-off melt and that means that the Connecticut River will be running high. When it does, it drags all sorts of flotsam and jetsam from various locals down to the Sound. That is not really a cause for concern except for the fact that sometime this spring, I and the others here at Yankee will have to transit the river and navigate the Sound and will have to do so dodging all sorts of objects which will be doing the damnedest to hole a hull or pop off a prop or rip-off a rudder.
I have the trip down river only twice before and on those two trips the stuff in the river was truly amazing. I have seen whole trees, root-ball and all, gently cruising down river caring not a whit in whose way they might get. Of course, they don't have to worry as running into rocks, sandbars, boats, docks, buoys, other river characters and detritus, even the bottom, hampers them not at all on their way to the open ocean. Even if they should become trapped in some way, they wait patiently until such time as tide and time set them back on their way once more. It is not the stuff you see, of course, but the stuff you don't, like a water-soaked log just below the surface, that are the real cause for concern.
Sadly, they no longer dredge the river, or at least, haven't for several years. At one time, they had to insure a clear channel all the way to Hartford, mostly for barges carrying fuel and heating oil. The Middletown electrical power generating station and the Pratt & Whitney plant used a lot of both and Hartford even more, but that has changed. More underground pipelines, more natural gas, less need of barges and dredging is expensive. There is one particularly nasty and dangerous spot just south of the Pratt & Whitney plants where the channels makes a very sharp turn. while I haven't hit, the bottom once was just under 7 feet which when you draw 5.5 is cutting it a little thin. So I hope for good water depth come the spring. I also hope, but it is a rather faint hope I'm afraid, that the river is clear when the time comes to head downriver.
Despite the fact that we had another nasty snow storm over the weekend and that the forecast for tomorrow is more snow, it is also true that the forecast for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday prophesy temperatures in the 40's going up to the 50's by Friday! Man, how great is that? It will be the cause of not only a lot of celebrating, but also a lot of melting, and that got me thinking. There is a lot of snow on the ground in New Hampshire and Vermont and Connecticut and that means a lot of run-off melt and that means that the Connecticut River will be running high. When it does, it drags all sorts of flotsam and jetsam from various locals down to the Sound. That is not really a cause for concern except for the fact that sometime this spring, I and the others here at Yankee will have to transit the river and navigate the Sound and will have to do so dodging all sorts of objects which will be doing the damnedest to hole a hull or pop off a prop or rip-off a rudder.
I have the trip down river only twice before and on those two trips the stuff in the river was truly amazing. I have seen whole trees, root-ball and all, gently cruising down river caring not a whit in whose way they might get. Of course, they don't have to worry as running into rocks, sandbars, boats, docks, buoys, other river characters and detritus, even the bottom, hampers them not at all on their way to the open ocean. Even if they should become trapped in some way, they wait patiently until such time as tide and time set them back on their way once more. It is not the stuff you see, of course, but the stuff you don't, like a water-soaked log just below the surface, that are the real cause for concern.
Sadly, they no longer dredge the river, or at least, haven't for several years. At one time, they had to insure a clear channel all the way to Hartford, mostly for barges carrying fuel and heating oil. The Middletown electrical power generating station and the Pratt & Whitney plant used a lot of both and Hartford even more, but that has changed. More underground pipelines, more natural gas, less need of barges and dredging is expensive. There is one particularly nasty and dangerous spot just south of the Pratt & Whitney plants where the channels makes a very sharp turn. while I haven't hit, the bottom once was just under 7 feet which when you draw 5.5 is cutting it a little thin. So I hope for good water depth come the spring. I also hope, but it is a rather faint hope I'm afraid, that the river is clear when the time comes to head downriver.
Thursday, February 13, 2014
SNOW! What A Surprise!!!!!!!
SHIP'S LOG:
Surprise! It is snowing again! And I mean that it is coming down to beat the band! It is supposed to turn to rain late in the day and then back to ice and snow again tonight. This is going to be a real corker!
I went out and took a walk in the snow. I always like to do that. Everything is muted and everything looks beautiful. It is a winter wonderland. Of course, I wish that there was a guarantee that it would all be gone 24 hours after the last flake falls, but that's not going to happen I am afraid. This makes something like the fifth storm we have had since winter began and it is only February! Sailing seems a long way off.
I guess that the TYC Florida contingent is not escaping completely unscathed. While we're getting the snow, they are getting some rather intense rain and thunder storms. for whatever reason, the I-5 corridor is taking a weather beating. Florida really seems to get whacked with intense thunder & lightning storms. It surely did when I was there. It was down there at fort Pierce that I got caught in that Micro-burst. How that didn't sink me I still don't know, but it was only one of several storms I had to weather down there. I can remember getting caught in Daytona in very intense storms both on the way down and on the way back. But as a very wise pastor once told me, you don't have to shovel rain!
I can't believe how foolish the people in North Carolina are. They were warned repeatedly over four days about the storm, that it would be one of the worst they have ever experienced. The Governor even went on TV and told the people of the state not to "put on a stupid hat and got out driving around." Of course, not many listened and now they have a parking-lot type situation on their roads that makes the one in Atlanta 2 weeks ago long like nothing. As Ron white likes to say, "You just can't fix stupid."
The snow here is big, fat, wet flakes and it is really coming down. I'd say we got five inches already. Time to find a good book and a warm spot. Stay Safe! And don't put on a stupid hat!!!!!!!!
(Spell check stopped working so please forgive my spelling mistakes!)
Surprise! It is snowing again! And I mean that it is coming down to beat the band! It is supposed to turn to rain late in the day and then back to ice and snow again tonight. This is going to be a real corker!
I went out and took a walk in the snow. I always like to do that. Everything is muted and everything looks beautiful. It is a winter wonderland. Of course, I wish that there was a guarantee that it would all be gone 24 hours after the last flake falls, but that's not going to happen I am afraid. This makes something like the fifth storm we have had since winter began and it is only February! Sailing seems a long way off.
I guess that the TYC Florida contingent is not escaping completely unscathed. While we're getting the snow, they are getting some rather intense rain and thunder storms. for whatever reason, the I-5 corridor is taking a weather beating. Florida really seems to get whacked with intense thunder & lightning storms. It surely did when I was there. It was down there at fort Pierce that I got caught in that Micro-burst. How that didn't sink me I still don't know, but it was only one of several storms I had to weather down there. I can remember getting caught in Daytona in very intense storms both on the way down and on the way back. But as a very wise pastor once told me, you don't have to shovel rain!
I can't believe how foolish the people in North Carolina are. They were warned repeatedly over four days about the storm, that it would be one of the worst they have ever experienced. The Governor even went on TV and told the people of the state not to "put on a stupid hat and got out driving around." Of course, not many listened and now they have a parking-lot type situation on their roads that makes the one in Atlanta 2 weeks ago long like nothing. As Ron white likes to say, "You just can't fix stupid."
The snow here is big, fat, wet flakes and it is really coming down. I'd say we got five inches already. Time to find a good book and a warm spot. Stay Safe! And don't put on a stupid hat!!!!!!!!
(Spell check stopped working so please forgive my spelling mistakes!)
Friday, February 7, 2014
Winter, Winter , Winter, Cold & Snowy Winter
SHIP'S LOG:
It didn't snow yesterday and if the forecasts are to be believed, the much anticipated Nor'easter is going to give us a miss come Sunday. But as in all things relating to weather, whether or not the forecast is spot on, one always has to deal with what one gets.
It did get very cold again last night and that should be repeated for the next few days. I know that we will all laugh at this come summer and dwell on it nostalgically come July and August when the heat and humidity battle over who can go higher. I love that because I can always get cooler but never can seem to get completely warm, or if I do, to stay so. Heck, to get cool, all I have to do is step off the boat!
There was a news report of a sailor/fisherman from El Salvador who was just rescued after being a castaway for over 13 months. Reportedly, he drifted across the Pacific in his boat and ended up on some rather small atoll, surviving on fish, seabirds and rain water. He looks in very good shape. It is a cautionary tale though, never go fishing!
It didn't snow yesterday and if the forecasts are to be believed, the much anticipated Nor'easter is going to give us a miss come Sunday. But as in all things relating to weather, whether or not the forecast is spot on, one always has to deal with what one gets.
It did get very cold again last night and that should be repeated for the next few days. I know that we will all laugh at this come summer and dwell on it nostalgically come July and August when the heat and humidity battle over who can go higher. I love that because I can always get cooler but never can seem to get completely warm, or if I do, to stay so. Heck, to get cool, all I have to do is step off the boat!
There was a news report of a sailor/fisherman from El Salvador who was just rescued after being a castaway for over 13 months. Reportedly, he drifted across the Pacific in his boat and ended up on some rather small atoll, surviving on fish, seabirds and rain water. He looks in very good shape. It is a cautionary tale though, never go fishing!
Thursday, February 6, 2014
It IS Cold Outside! SO What Else I s New?
SHIP'S LOG:
SO much for Vermont! They got over a foot of snow and, even though they are used to such amounts, the freezing rain/sleet/ice that followed it, plus the melting re-freeze last night, has really made a mess of the highways. Russ in his wisdom decided against the trip. Perhaps we'll go next week if the weather co-operates a little.
One fun fact about winter that I let slip my mind is that no matter how careful you are, how well you shovel your driveway, the city/town/state will come by once you have finished to plow you in again. Not only did I plow the driveway, I actually plowed north & south of the entrance for a sufficient distance - I thought- so that should/when the plows came by again, they wouldn't plow me back in. 'Tain't sure how they did it, but they did plow me back in, though not to the degree that they would have had I not made my attempt to prevent it. I now have to go out and chop my way through the ice barrier that is in place. The re-freeze made it like rock and the snow blower is not up to the task of digging through it. I'd let it melt a bit first but the temperature is going down even as I write this . . . at 9:30am!
O, to be in Key Largo for the FORCE 5 Winter Nationals. There will actually be a contingent from TYC down there, joined by those who this year made the trip down the ICW. Well, I'm not and I have to deal with it, which means freeze here in God's Country. It could be worse but it seems like we may be getting a bit of a break. The weekend storms looks to be less of a monster Nor'easter than it was first forecast to be. Then again, it is NOAA making the forecast and their record this winter has not be exemplary. In any event, monster or not, me and everyone else will just have to deal with what comes. Villanova was among the towns/universities in PA that lost power when they got clobbered. The news said they closed down but what the students who live there are going to do I have no idea. One great aspect of Chez Rolando is a wood burning stove in the basement. Hopefully it will remain a mere adjunct to better heating.
SO much for Vermont! They got over a foot of snow and, even though they are used to such amounts, the freezing rain/sleet/ice that followed it, plus the melting re-freeze last night, has really made a mess of the highways. Russ in his wisdom decided against the trip. Perhaps we'll go next week if the weather co-operates a little.
One fun fact about winter that I let slip my mind is that no matter how careful you are, how well you shovel your driveway, the city/town/state will come by once you have finished to plow you in again. Not only did I plow the driveway, I actually plowed north & south of the entrance for a sufficient distance - I thought- so that should/when the plows came by again, they wouldn't plow me back in. 'Tain't sure how they did it, but they did plow me back in, though not to the degree that they would have had I not made my attempt to prevent it. I now have to go out and chop my way through the ice barrier that is in place. The re-freeze made it like rock and the snow blower is not up to the task of digging through it. I'd let it melt a bit first but the temperature is going down even as I write this . . . at 9:30am!
O, to be in Key Largo for the FORCE 5 Winter Nationals. There will actually be a contingent from TYC down there, joined by those who this year made the trip down the ICW. Well, I'm not and I have to deal with it, which means freeze here in God's Country. It could be worse but it seems like we may be getting a bit of a break. The weekend storms looks to be less of a monster Nor'easter than it was first forecast to be. Then again, it is NOAA making the forecast and their record this winter has not be exemplary. In any event, monster or not, me and everyone else will just have to deal with what comes. Villanova was among the towns/universities in PA that lost power when they got clobbered. The news said they closed down but what the students who live there are going to do I have no idea. One great aspect of Chez Rolando is a wood burning stove in the basement. Hopefully it will remain a mere adjunct to better heating.
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Two Down - One To Go!
SHIP'S LOG:
Well, I just got through shoveling - well actually snow-plowing - out. It is rather nasty stuff. The snow has stopped - -well actually shifted to ice pellets and the temperature is probably around 38. That may aid a bit in some melting but if the temperature drops tonight it will be hell on the roads tomorrow. Normally this wouldn't bother me in the least except for the fact that tomorrow I am committed to go to Vermont with Russ. What we got here today they got in spades so it should be an "interesting" trip if we decide to go. Vermont can deal with snow and ice and it shouldn't be too bad so long as we don't have to do a lot of secondary road traveling.
I received a couple of emails from the the Gibbs who, along with Chuck Wargo and his daughter, are making their first trip south down the ICW. Their first contained pictures of them in Fort Lauderdale and the second from the bar at the Key Largo Yacht Club. The subject line said, "Don't Hate Us!" Considering what the winter has been like so far, it would be easy, but when I made the trip, everyone back here in God's Country had to deal with 84 inches of snow. I can't complain if they are getting the weather they made the trip for in the first place.
I was able to share lots of info about what to do and where to go and what to avoid making the trip and it appears that they are having a spectacular time. With in another month though they are going to have to turn around and head back. It would be wonderful if you could just wake up and be home and avoid some of the long stretches of boring travel, but it is part of the price you have to pay. The real downer is that there are no surprises on the way back unless you get "interesting" weather, you have seen and experienced it all. I don't know if they will be taking the time to stop and enjoy the places they rushed past on the way down trying to beat the weather, but I hope they do. Heading up the ICW in the Spring weather was really beautiful, but you get the "itchy-foot" syndrome and want to get home fast. It will be their call, but I hope they really "cruise."
I didn't get a chance to check out ABISHAG on Monday. The "light dusting of snow" that was forecast for Sunday night/Monday morning turned out to be a little more than a mere "dusting." we got a good 5-8 inches, but once again it was that light fluffy stuff, so the clean-up was easy. They snow we got today was heavy and wet and now will get a coating of ice to make it perfectly miserable. The best that can be said it that we are one day closer to launching!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have got to hold that thought considering the worst of these three storms in due over the weekend!
Well, I just got through shoveling - well actually snow-plowing - out. It is rather nasty stuff. The snow has stopped - -well actually shifted to ice pellets and the temperature is probably around 38. That may aid a bit in some melting but if the temperature drops tonight it will be hell on the roads tomorrow. Normally this wouldn't bother me in the least except for the fact that tomorrow I am committed to go to Vermont with Russ. What we got here today they got in spades so it should be an "interesting" trip if we decide to go. Vermont can deal with snow and ice and it shouldn't be too bad so long as we don't have to do a lot of secondary road traveling.
I received a couple of emails from the the Gibbs who, along with Chuck Wargo and his daughter, are making their first trip south down the ICW. Their first contained pictures of them in Fort Lauderdale and the second from the bar at the Key Largo Yacht Club. The subject line said, "Don't Hate Us!" Considering what the winter has been like so far, it would be easy, but when I made the trip, everyone back here in God's Country had to deal with 84 inches of snow. I can't complain if they are getting the weather they made the trip for in the first place.
I was able to share lots of info about what to do and where to go and what to avoid making the trip and it appears that they are having a spectacular time. With in another month though they are going to have to turn around and head back. It would be wonderful if you could just wake up and be home and avoid some of the long stretches of boring travel, but it is part of the price you have to pay. The real downer is that there are no surprises on the way back unless you get "interesting" weather, you have seen and experienced it all. I don't know if they will be taking the time to stop and enjoy the places they rushed past on the way down trying to beat the weather, but I hope they do. Heading up the ICW in the Spring weather was really beautiful, but you get the "itchy-foot" syndrome and want to get home fast. It will be their call, but I hope they really "cruise."
I didn't get a chance to check out ABISHAG on Monday. The "light dusting of snow" that was forecast for Sunday night/Monday morning turned out to be a little more than a mere "dusting." we got a good 5-8 inches, but once again it was that light fluffy stuff, so the clean-up was easy. They snow we got today was heavy and wet and now will get a coating of ice to make it perfectly miserable. The best that can be said it that we are one day closer to launching!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have got to hold that thought considering the worst of these three storms in due over the weekend!
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