Friday, May 14. Launched at 10:00 a.m. By 1:00,
we were stuck in muck, and the tide was going out in
full swing. It was supposed to be crappy all day long
with scattered thunderstorms. Silly to go down and be
disappointed at 10:00 a.m., right? Let's go down and
get there at one. It's looking pretty nice out. We'll still
have plenty of time. Wish I did what I usually do:
thumb my nose at the weather report.
We actually might have been able to sail.
I should have called them immediately. Sea Tow is
the single most important investment any boater can
make. He tugged us away from the dock, out into the
channel, and seeing how the wind had been blowing
hard out of the west lately and basically draining the
already typically shallow Cedar Creek, all the way
down river to the bay. Tillerman, I also love powerboats.
My sailing buddy and piano player extraordinaire,
Pete Lauffer. Through thick and thin, rain or shine,
wind or calm, he's just happy to be there.
And I couldn't be happier to have him with me.
We laugh real hard a good amount of the time.
Great to be back in Forked River. No regrets.
Just egrets
Home for the summer. Floating high and dry after
I patched the huge chunk of keel that was lost
after hitting an unidentified immovable submerged
object at the beginning of last summer. Talk about
a buzz kill. The bilge pump ran all season long.
Damned if I was gonna pay to get her hauled just
to see what the problem was. I knew what it was.
Let the pump do its work.
First time I've had to back into a slip, though.
I did really well! I know it's not always going
to be that easy. Doc, I hope you toasted
us today, because I had hamachi for you tonight!
I gots lots to say, so listen up:
ReplyDelete1) It's all my fault because what toast is worth a damn if there's no booze involved. Yesterday I went out of town to crew for my youngest son on his 20-footer's maiden race. It was a two hour drive to and two hour drive back. (If Tillerman is listening we went fast in a straight line even if we got lost once.) Could not afford any time to drink anything more than water. I am told that we finished next to last, corrected. But it's a start! We screwed up too, BTW: got our spinnaker halyard snagged in jib furler - bad mess!
2) I always thumb my knows [nose] at weather reports.
3) The only socially-redeeming functions for power boats is (a) serving as race committee and (b) rescuing real yachts. (Okay, maybe fishing, but most fishermen are lower on the evolutionary chain than most fish, IMHO).
4) Also, IMHO, letting the bilge pump run all season long instead of hauling was a bad call. I glad you got by without a pump failure and hope you get by, going forward, without blisters!
5) Congratulations on the splash!
That is all!
Doc: You're right, bad call. It was a pretty slow leak though. The pump
ReplyDeletedidn't come close to running continuously.