I am not sailing, so I thought I'd show you photos of some who are.
At the top you have Audrey and the latest addition to her Armada, the pram, EXCUSE ME, on her maiden voyage. EXCUSE ME's maiden voyage. Audrey has been sailing all her life and comes from a long line of distinguished seamen and women. EXCUSE ME was built by Audrey's resident shipwright, Kent, who is also self-described as 'moveable ballast.'
I really like the little pram and once had a fiberglass dinghy very similar which I ruined by cutting it in half to try to make it stow better. I am not a shipwright. My dinghies have been inflatable Avon RedStarts ever since.
You can read more about the construction of EXCUSE ME at:
Next you have the bow of Steve Earley's SPARTINA. Steve did an almost instant transition, returning from his vacation in Greece on Sunday and starting his fall cruise on the Chesapeake on Monday. The photo was taken on his first night back on the water. You can follow his cruise on his website
and his tracking page:
I thank Audrey and Kent and Steve for permission to post their photos.
The third image is the latest projected path of what is presently Hurricane Ian. If accurate, the remnants of Ian will be directly over my head Friday afternoon. By then it should have no more than low gale force winds and drop 4 or 5" of rain.
Earlier this morning I biked down to check out GANNET. I doubled most of her dock lines and tied down the tiller and secured the clew of the furling jib before I left her in July. I had only to readjust one dock line today. I also set up the running backstays. Probably not necessary, but it does no harm. I did not remove the sails. That is troublesome. To unbend the mainsail, I must remove both the solid boom vang and the boom from the mast. I don't think this storm warrants that.
I have been downloading GRIBs each morning. This morning I downloaded both the European and the NOAA models. The maximum winds I can find on either are in the range of 90-95 knots/103-109 mph. That is serious wind, but no where near the 155 mph gusts being reported. I do not have an explanation, except that perhaps such wind is occurring in such a small area that it does not show up in a GRIB.
I have also been watching the evening news which shows agitated Floridians in stores with empty shelves. You know what I think about planning and preparation. You live in Florida or for that matter anywhere on this coast from Cape Hatteras or maybe even farther north to Texas and you haven't prepared for the hurricane season by June? I can't say I'm surprised or even shocked. We are not by and large an intelligent species.
I biked yesterday to a Walgreens four miles away and got the latest COVID booster. I got a flu shot a couple of weeks ago at Walmart, but they did not have the COVID vaccine. My latest was my fourth. Fortunately I do not have a reaction to them.
The bike ride was lovely both ways. 67F when I started. 75F when I got home.
Most of the trees on this island stay green year round, but there are some maples and they are losing their leaves. I think the debilitating summer heat is over and it is fall.
And here you have last evenings sunset, even more spectacular than usual. I was on the porch sipping my second martini and listening to music on my MacBook Air.
3 comments:
Webb: Do you carry a dinghy in GANNET?
Weird that the forecasters got the storm surge so wrong on the north side of Ian, endlessly repeated on the TV. Worst forecast of water levels since the Tarawa landing. Tampa Bay emptied, and I bet a lot of boat damage is going to be from grounding or docks hanging off of boat tieups. Hopefully most of it is just in mud.
I have an Avon RedStart inflatable on GANNET as I have had on all my boats. It is stowed below deck on one of the pipe berths. I like to row dinghies and have never used an outboard on one. If you want to row inflatables, Avon RedStarts and the slightly larger Avon RedCreast are in my experience the best. Unfortunately neither is any long being made.
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