Friday, February 7, 2014

San Diego: Yellowbricked; drogued; anchored




        The United Kingdom’s weather has made the news which is never a good thing, not only in the UK, but on the west side of the Atlantic in a long article in the NY TIMES.  Floods last year were said to be one hundred year floods.  If so, time flies, for this year’s floods are worse.
        Several photos have been sent to me by readers in what one calls the ‘South Wet of England’.  I think this dramatic one of Porthleven came from Tim.  I thank them all.
        With continued climate change, boat handling skills may be at a premium.

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        I replaced the Weems and Plath barometer with the Ambient Weather, which presently shows the temperature to be 76°F/24.4°C.  I could say I’m sorry about that to my fellow flatlanders, but I’d be lying.  Rain did patter pleasantly on the deck for a brief while last night, but today is sunny.

        I also mounted the Yellowbrick on the stern pulpit and turned it on. 
I sent up one position and have it set to do so at twelve hour intervals in order to test battery life.
        You can see where GANNET is at:


        If you zoom in you will see a different boat.  I believe they use Goggle maps and that is an old image.  That is the right slip.

        The clutter in the cockpit is the Jordan drogue.  By itself it is not so heavy.  Other items, including stainless steel hull attachment plates--visible on the lower left--were in the package.  It is going to take a while to sort out.  My first impression is that the workmanship is first rate and everything is on a very big scale for GANNET.  Intended to be used in extreme weather, it should be.

        The Spade anchor arrived this morning.  
        The shaft and the head come apart and are held together by a bolt.  Several years ago in New Zealand a boat was lost when the bolt loosened.  I believe the owner sued unsuccessfully.
        I saw the potential for a problem when I bought my first Spade and decided never to take the anchor apart.  I used Loctite on the nut and then covered it with epoxy putty.  I did the same with this Spade, which is also presently sitting in the cockpit.

        I’ve done enough today and am going to walk up and shower, then sit on deck and listen to music with a plastic of boxed wine.