Hilton Head Island: clean; short; strange paradise.

 Sunny, windy, and cool today, after three days of unsettled weather, including tornados, the closest of which touched down many miles away.

Yesterday divers cleaned GANNET’s bottom.  Their report showed heavy fouling, both hard and soft.  I expected that.  GANET was last antifouling in late August 2020, just before she was trucked across the country and had been sitting unused for several months until I went out a week ago Monday.

I biked down today and she looks perfect.  However that won’t last long.  Yesterday a gallon of Pettit Vivid white was delivered.  Carol is flying here on the 16th for a week.  As soon after she flies back to Chicago as the wind permits, I’ll sail down to St. Mary’s and apply it.  I am looking forward to having somewhere to sail to.

While on board this morning I inspected the asymmetrical’s furling gear to be certain that nothing has frozen during its too long lack of use.  It hasn’t.  And I applied new velcro to the overhead around the forward hatch for a screen.  I had to remove the old screen to rebed the hatch.  I thought I had screen mesh, but I couldn’t find it.  Some has been ordered from Amazon.  I’ll finish the job next week.  Mosquitos and no seeums make screens mandatory here.

My to do list is getting short.  Good.

Hurricanes.  Tornados.  Alligators.  No seeums.  A strange paradise.  Yet it mostly is.