Tuesday, January 12, 2021

Hilton Head Island: circulation; tough shift change; Marvell; OUT OF AFRICA; big; wax


 First, gratuitous beauty, though perhaps beauty is never gratituitous.


From Larry came two short videos for which I thank him.

The first demonstrates the difference in water circulation north and south of the Equator.  I know this first hand, though even after all these years I sometimes have to consider for a moment.  In the northern hemisphere water circulates around a drain clockwise.  In the southern, counter clockwise.  So do the major oceanic winds.  Think northeast trades and southeast trades and it is easy to complete the circles.  Winds around lows circulate in the opposite direction.

However I have never seen this so clearly demonstrated and am startled by how definite the demarkation is and what happens exactly on the Equator.



The second video displays suburb boat handling and why lighthouses should be automated.  Most now are.  I am not sure why this one isn’t.  A serious commute.




A few days ago I came across Andrew Marvell’s poem ‘To His Coy Mistress’.  I read it in an English Literature class long ago.  Perhaps you did too. 

A different perspective from almost 80 than at 20?  No.  I still think it an excellent poem and advice.





Carol and I just rewatched one of my favorite films, OUT OF AFRICA.  I bought it for $5,00 from iTunes.  I’ve seen it several times since my first viewing in Sydney, Australia in early 1986 as I related in a video on the passage from Panama to San Diego two years ago.  We both enjoyed the film this time as well.





Google sent me a link to a site that offers free ebooks.  Several decades and circumnavigations ago the editor of an American magazine told me that if I were French, I would be a national hero.    This site uses some French, but ends in .it.  Regardless, If the number of reviews is to be believed—and I am skeptical—perhaps she was right.






I went down to GANNET yesterday and put the floorboards back in place.  While there I discovered that my hacksaw has corroded to destruction.  Obviously I seldom use it, but keep it accessible during passages to cut away rigging if the mast comes down.  I need one now to saw the replacement track for the pipe berths to length.

I also applied the heavy duty 3M restorer and wax to a small area of GANNET’s topsides.

3M has two different restorers.  One with a blue label for lightly oxidized hulls which I have not found effective and one with a green label for heavy oxidized hulls which I used in Opua four years ago and found very effective.  Because I have been considering repainting the topsides I have not waxed for the past year or so.  The results yesterday were so pleasing that I am going to touch up GANNET’s topsides and then use the restorer/wax.  With a bit of luck I can keep off repainting until it is no longer my problem.

While I strongly believe that aesthetics count, long time readers know that I consider my boats workboats not yachts and my standard is how they look from a boat length away.  My friends, Kent and Audrey, of Armada fame, whose workmanship far surpasses mine, call this how a boat looks from horse back galloping past.

But not today, which is overcast, misty and cool.  That is one of the great things about having the little boat so close.  If it is a good day, I am there in ten minutes.  If it isn’t, I find other things to do, such as writing to you.



2 comments:

Clark said...

Galloping horse, ah yes. Here is some guidance we use to decide how much work to put into restoration, maintenance or building. http://smallboatrestoration.blogspot.com/2018/01/galloping-horse-and-great-spirit.html Capn Jack was particularly fond of solution number 3.

Flick said...

At the boatyard, an acquaintance with a Ranger 28 said "I figure I have a 50-foot boat. If you stand back about 50 feet, she starts looking pretty good!"