SHIP'S LOG:
When you are out sailing every day, it is hard to do other things. The weather, for the most part, has been wonderful for sailing and I have been using it to full advantage.
With the Sail Fest celebration and Fireworks this past weekend, we really lucked out. Last year low clouds and fog obscured the fireworks even from the people in Shaw's Cove outside of which the firework barges were moored. Nobody saw nothin' - except for some glowing colored lights. This year the weather was perfect and the fireworks were grand.
The day before, Friday, I sailed up to the city pier to see VIRGINIA. She is schooner of 110 feet and she came in under sail for the weekend festivities. She plied up and down the river with passengers aboard and all under sail. The crew can really maneuver the ship very well. At one point she got to dodge two regular ferries, the SEAJET ferry, plus a submarine with its gunboat escorts, and all under sail. It was quite remarkable as I would have found the whole situation rather difficult and I know the river. But the crew of the VIRGINIA - no muss, no fuss.
The first three days of this week were awful. No wind, no sun, lots of rain and fog and humidity. The so much no wind that we bobbed around at the starting line for the Wednesday night races until they finally called them off at 6:45. No wind and no prospects of any. That hasn't happened in years.
Every boat has leaks somewhere. It is a consequence of being in the water. I have found and eliminated most but one just defied locating. Fred came down to give me a hand locating and fixing same. This particular leak was sneaky because its source looked like it belong. Behind the aft cabin bulkhead, there is a small bilge area that would collect whatever water might drip from the rudder shaft or wherever else at the stern of the boat. Water collecting there would flow through the bulkhead by means of "limber holes" drilled through the bulkhead, and from there on down into the sump of the main bilge. My main concern was the main bilge which filled slowly over a day or so and then when the water tripped the sensor switch, the bilge pump would pump out a sufficient amount to bring the water level down below the sensor. I was trying to find out where that water came from and started with Fred at the bilge in the stern of the boat. Fred declared this was the source of all the water. He found that pressing on the bilge floor, water would appear. I drilled a 1/2" hole in the bilge floor and it filled with water. I vacuumed it out and it slowly began to fill again. Evidently, as Fred deduced, this area had been a void that the builders filled with foam and glassed over. Over the years, the tube for the prop shaft that ran through, developed some leaks, allowing water to infiltrate the foam. One of the previous owner was unhappy with the limber hole builder put in and drilled two of his own. Unfortunately in doing sow, he cracked the fiberglass seal at the bulkhead and this allowed the water, by means of "hydrostatic pressure" according to Fred, to pump into the bilge. It took an hours of probing to find the first leak and two to find the second. The first leak and the hole I drilled are filled and sealed. The second will be done today and then I see if there are anymore leaks. AH! The Joy Of Boat Ownership!
Friday, July 18, 2014
Saturday, July 5, 2014
Arthur
SHIP'S LOG:
Friday was a wash-out as the effects of Hurricane Arthur smacked the east coast. we got lots of rain, down pours of 10-15 minutes, followed by longer periods of light rain, followed by more down pours. The wind was in the high 20's with gust to the mid-30's, but with the track of Arthur, that was as bad as it got. Block Island, Nantucket, the rest of the islands and the Cape got bashed pretty good but the storm had weakened considerably by the time it got here ans was far enough off shore so we got but a taste.
I spent the night ashore in the clubhouse as I just wasn't in the mood for rock-&-roll all night long. I didn't sleep well on the floor, I guess I must be getting old. The wind is still up but the skies are clear and there is a Club Race today. They won't complain about lack of wind that's for sure. It should be a good time.
Friday was a wash-out as the effects of Hurricane Arthur smacked the east coast. we got lots of rain, down pours of 10-15 minutes, followed by longer periods of light rain, followed by more down pours. The wind was in the high 20's with gust to the mid-30's, but with the track of Arthur, that was as bad as it got. Block Island, Nantucket, the rest of the islands and the Cape got bashed pretty good but the storm had weakened considerably by the time it got here ans was far enough off shore so we got but a taste.
I spent the night ashore in the clubhouse as I just wasn't in the mood for rock-&-roll all night long. I didn't sleep well on the floor, I guess I must be getting old. The wind is still up but the skies are clear and there is a Club Race today. They won't complain about lack of wind that's for sure. It should be a good time.
Friday, July 4, 2014
Too Much H.H.H>
SHIP'S LOG:
There was too much "humdidity" in the air and so it has taken the leap to rain, and I mean downpours, thunder-&-lightning, and great wind. It looks like it is going to be an all day affair! A total Fourth of Julie washout. . And then sometime tonight, Hurricane Arthur will make his appearance though south and east of TYC. Hopefully, we will experience little or no serious effects.
There was too much "humdidity" in the air and so it has taken the leap to rain, and I mean downpours, thunder-&-lightning, and great wind. It looks like it is going to be an all day affair! A total Fourth of Julie washout. . And then sometime tonight, Hurricane Arthur will make his appearance though south and east of TYC. Hopefully, we will experience little or no serious effects.
Thursday, July 3, 2014
H - H - H!
SHIP'S LOG:
The last two days it has been August! It has been HAZY! It has been HOT!! It has been HUMID!!!! And unfortunately, it has proven my lack of invincibility.
Yesterday, I opened the clubhouse at 6:30AM and it was an oven inside. It wasn't quite an oven outside but it was getting there. Collecting and dumping the garbage, washing the bathrooms, washing down the porches, putting all the tables and chairs back where they belong . . . doing everything took about two hours and I was ringing wet by the end. And then it hit me. I am not sure if it was heat exhaustion or simple dehydration, but even after my morning shower I was spent. I literally spent the rest of the day, sitting in a cool breeze out on my boat, consuming all the water I could. It was nasty. By about 4pm I was feeling close to normal again but I was still drinking fluids. I am siding with my "unprofessional diagnosis" of dehydration as I literally didn't have to hit the head until then and what came out didn't measure up anywhere near what I had put in. I am feeling normal this morning but the day is supposed to be a repeat of the last two and so I will be very careful.
I got a call from Doctor O'Donnell and he confirmed what the PA said, two torn cartilages. He doesn't want to rush to surgery so we' continue with the anti-inflammatories and possibly some physical therapy. Surgery might not totally alleviate the pain because of the arthritis involvement, but if it does happen, it will probably not be until the fall.
One of the things that the triple "H's" bring with them is fog, something all boaters hate with a passion. "Oh fatal vapor,
thrice accursed brew.
Thou gloom of doom,
thou deadly devil's stew."
-Shakespeare All Ashore That's Going Ashore, Act III, Scene I
Right now, there is fog in the river, but just in the river. It hasn't spread out. It is a river of fog on the river, filled with the ferries going in and out, blowing horns wildly. Some crazy sailor, sans radar, went sailing by awhile back, hope he makes it wherever it is he is going. Maybe a Hurricane Hole? Tropical Storm Arthur is now Hurricane Arthur and is around North Carolina. It appears that it will turn east and that it will miss us though we should feel some effects Friday evening - rain and wind and the like. O Joy!
Still no license from the Coasties yet. Glad this wasn't an emergency!
The last two days it has been August! It has been HAZY! It has been HOT!! It has been HUMID!!!! And unfortunately, it has proven my lack of invincibility.
Yesterday, I opened the clubhouse at 6:30AM and it was an oven inside. It wasn't quite an oven outside but it was getting there. Collecting and dumping the garbage, washing the bathrooms, washing down the porches, putting all the tables and chairs back where they belong . . . doing everything took about two hours and I was ringing wet by the end. And then it hit me. I am not sure if it was heat exhaustion or simple dehydration, but even after my morning shower I was spent. I literally spent the rest of the day, sitting in a cool breeze out on my boat, consuming all the water I could. It was nasty. By about 4pm I was feeling close to normal again but I was still drinking fluids. I am siding with my "unprofessional diagnosis" of dehydration as I literally didn't have to hit the head until then and what came out didn't measure up anywhere near what I had put in. I am feeling normal this morning but the day is supposed to be a repeat of the last two and so I will be very careful.
I got a call from Doctor O'Donnell and he confirmed what the PA said, two torn cartilages. He doesn't want to rush to surgery so we' continue with the anti-inflammatories and possibly some physical therapy. Surgery might not totally alleviate the pain because of the arthritis involvement, but if it does happen, it will probably not be until the fall.
One of the things that the triple "H's" bring with them is fog, something all boaters hate with a passion. "Oh fatal vapor,
thrice accursed brew.
Thou gloom of doom,
thou deadly devil's stew."
-Shakespeare All Ashore That's Going Ashore, Act III, Scene I
Right now, there is fog in the river, but just in the river. It hasn't spread out. It is a river of fog on the river, filled with the ferries going in and out, blowing horns wildly. Some crazy sailor, sans radar, went sailing by awhile back, hope he makes it wherever it is he is going. Maybe a Hurricane Hole? Tropical Storm Arthur is now Hurricane Arthur and is around North Carolina. It appears that it will turn east and that it will miss us though we should feel some effects Friday evening - rain and wind and the like. O Joy!
Still no license from the Coasties yet. Glad this wasn't an emergency!
Tuesday, July 1, 2014
This Is What Sailing In The Summer Is All About!
SHIP'S LOG:
It was a beautiful day to go sailing . . . . . and so I went.
It was a beautiful day to go sailing . . . . . and so I went.
Thursday, June 26, 2014
Now The Yet!
SHIP'S LOG:
About that email from the Coasties . . . . it seems that they were absolutely correct. The credentials did arrive within 10 days of receiving the email. In fact, they came even before I got the email. Turns out that the credential they were referring to was not the Merchant Mariner credential but the medical certificate for the Merchant Mariner license. Like I said, the every thing I got days before the email announcing that I would be getting it. I'll be getting the Merchant Mariner Credentials as soon as one more group reviews the paperwork and signs off on my qualifications. Any day now. SIGH!
And the MRI! As I said, my ortho guy is on vacation this week, so after two tries, I got a phone call from the physician's assistant, Tom. The good news is that I don't have a torn cartilage in my knee, I have two torn cartilages in my knee, one on the inside and one on the outside, and while the tear on the inside feels the more painful, the tear on the outside is the greater. I'll have to wait until sometime next week before I can sit down with Dr. Sean and we can decide what to do.There isn't anything they can do stop the pain, no wrap, no brace, nothing like that. I have to live on Aleve or some other anti-inflammatory. With the arthritis that is present, there is a chance that even if they go in and scope the knee, they pain relief may not be complete. And how is your day going?
About that email from the Coasties . . . . it seems that they were absolutely correct. The credentials did arrive within 10 days of receiving the email. In fact, they came even before I got the email. Turns out that the credential they were referring to was not the Merchant Mariner credential but the medical certificate for the Merchant Mariner license. Like I said, the every thing I got days before the email announcing that I would be getting it. I'll be getting the Merchant Mariner Credentials as soon as one more group reviews the paperwork and signs off on my qualifications. Any day now. SIGH!
And the MRI! As I said, my ortho guy is on vacation this week, so after two tries, I got a phone call from the physician's assistant, Tom. The good news is that I don't have a torn cartilage in my knee, I have two torn cartilages in my knee, one on the inside and one on the outside, and while the tear on the inside feels the more painful, the tear on the outside is the greater. I'll have to wait until sometime next week before I can sit down with Dr. Sean and we can decide what to do.There isn't anything they can do stop the pain, no wrap, no brace, nothing like that. I have to live on Aleve or some other anti-inflammatory. With the arthritis that is present, there is a chance that even if they go in and scope the knee, they pain relief may not be complete. And how is your day going?
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Already But Not Yet!
SHIP'S LOG:
Fourteen days ago, I got an email from the Coast Guard Documentation Center In West Virginia(?) stating that my Merchant Marine Certificate with the Launch Operator Endorsement, had been issued and "would be sent by FIRST CLASS MAIL" and that I should expect to receive it " in less than ten days." Like I said, that was fourteen days ago! So technically I am a launch river, the "Already," but can't actually drive the launch, the "Not Yet," as I do not have the certificate in hand.
Another example is my right knee. I had an MRI done on it on June 14th, but I am still awaiting the results. I have called the doctors office twice in the last few days and the receptionist said she would pull the file and give it to him and he would call me to discuss the results. That was this past Friday. I called again yesterday and another receptionist said that the doctor was away for a few days but that she would pull the file and the physician's assistant would call me and discuss the results. I am still waiting! In the meantime, the cortisone has worn off and the knee feels as it first did when I went to the doctor some weeks ago now. This is not making me happy!
Fourteen days ago, I got an email from the Coast Guard Documentation Center In West Virginia(?) stating that my Merchant Marine Certificate with the Launch Operator Endorsement, had been issued and "would be sent by FIRST CLASS MAIL" and that I should expect to receive it " in less than ten days." Like I said, that was fourteen days ago! So technically I am a launch river, the "Already," but can't actually drive the launch, the "Not Yet," as I do not have the certificate in hand.
Another example is my right knee. I had an MRI done on it on June 14th, but I am still awaiting the results. I have called the doctors office twice in the last few days and the receptionist said she would pull the file and give it to him and he would call me to discuss the results. That was this past Friday. I called again yesterday and another receptionist said that the doctor was away for a few days but that she would pull the file and the physician's assistant would call me and discuss the results. I am still waiting! In the meantime, the cortisone has worn off and the knee feels as it first did when I went to the doctor some weeks ago now. This is not making me happy!
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