09/06/2008 Preparing for Hanna

09/04/2008 The previous evening I was able to get on-line and submit a work order with the marina to pull my boat and have the yard look at it for repairs. I would like to get it pulled as to the uncertainty about Tropical Storm Hanna that isn’t sure what she wants to do. I have been listening to NOAA weather for the last week around this storm and it keeps changing. I headed to Weems Creek as it appeared to be a good hurricane hole to hang out in. I spent the morning doing laundry and getting ice for my freezer. It took 5 round trips on my bike to do the laundry this morning, two trips to take the clothes and three trips to bring them back.

I am also trying out a theory of mine. The refrig/freezer is the largest user of my battery power. I do not keep much food in there at this time, so I have decided to fill it with bags of ice. The theory is that the ice will stay colder longer than air does and the refrig/freezer will not need to work as much with most of the volume filled. We see how it works.

I also needed to have my blood tested due to the use of blood thinners. I found a clinic in town that seems to be set around cruisers and it is a walk in. I called and was told to just come it at anytime. They were able to test my blood there in the office and provide the results immediately. I had the results faxed to my regular doctor and all is well. I am enjoying this life style more and more as there is adventure in just the normal activities of life. I was thinking about how my day is filled and it might not be the most productive in getting as much down with having the conveniences that I would have at home, but it is still a day and I am enjoying the tasks more due to the adventure in finding different ways of doing them.

When I arrived back at the boat, I call the yard to determine if they would be able to pull my boat the next day on Friday. After awhile of checking with the lift operators, they said if I could get the boat down to the marina, they would pull it.

I left the creek at 3:30. It is a 24 mile trip as the crow flies, but as it appears most of the time so far, I had to claw my way to the windward mark in racing terms, or sail in a direction directly into the wind. It was beautiful air, 12-15 knots, and clear skies. I started out sailing until a little after sunset and thought I would make better time if I motored directly to the marina. The winds and seas had picked up and I am not sure if motoring was any faster than sailing and tacking my way down the bay. I was motoring a little over 4 knots.

I decided I am getting use to this night sailing more and more. I put a route into my chart plotter, fired up the radar and followed the instruments into the marina. This marina is not an easy place to get into as you need to sail to the south end of Herrington Bay, make a hook around a channel mark and then sail north again to get into the marina. The other issue is the water is shallow in the main channel and “stop you in your tracks” shallow just outside the channel. I finally made it her at 10:00pm and tied her up for the night. I was not sure if I made the right decision leaving like I did, but I was here.

9/5/2008 I rose early to clean the boat from all of the salt she has drank over the last week and a half before they pulled her. I was not sure of where I was in the line to have her pulled. Since the storm was up and down, there were not many boats to be pulled. I was pulled around 10:00am, had the bottom power sprayed and Jim from Osprey took a look at her. Here are pictures of the damage. It does look ugly, but it is due to the design of the keel. It appears that Seawind designed a hollow core keel. I will look into it to determine why, but it is what it is. The is about six inches of filler in the bottom of the keel, open space for another r twelve inched and then more filler around the metal blade that is cemented into the hull. It is almost like a break away keel. Not a bad idea if you have easy access to replacements. I better just keep the boat off of the shore.

Jim reviewed the damage, got me an estimate and we scheduled the repairs. The great news is that Jim believes there is only 2-3 days worth of work and they can start as early as Monday if the weather cooperates. I could be back in the water by next weekend.

I also had my outboard for the dinghy looked at by a local marine shop. I have had many issues with it running since I started to use it. It is a 1985 6 hp Evinrude and it was a free motor. I wasn’t too concerned about putting some money into it. The first this was that the starter broke. I was able to get a replacement and Greg and I installed it. Then there was a leak in the cracked fuel line in the motor. Replaced. Then we found arcing from the spark plug wires. Repaired. The motor would then run good in low and medium rpm’s, but would die after running for about 25 seconds in high rpm’s when the dinghy was on plane. I talked with a repair shop and they thought maybe the thermostat. Greg and I pulled it, cleaned it, made a new gasket and reinstalled it. Still not working. I was talking with some guys from the yacht club on Staten Island and they suggested the points and maybe condenser. This would require pulling the fly wheel. I did not have the tools for that and decided that it was time to have a shop look at the engine. After a quick review they determined the cam bearings are shot and due to the age and cost to repair, it is time for a new engine. I will keep this one running as long as possible and keep my eye out for a replacement. I like the two-stroke because it is lighter, but will probably end up switching to a four stroke and more horse power. We will see what happens.

9/6/2008 Sitting through Hanna. I am in the midst of my first tropical storm. These storms are a lot like blizzards in Colorado. They may happen, they may not, they may create havoc, they may not. It did finally start raining this morning and most of the day. I am fairly protected from the wind as I am between three large buildings and have sailboats on both sides of me. I have been hanging out, napping, cleaning up emails, balancing the checkbook, watching movies and such. This storm should blow over this evening and be beautiful on Sunday. I am throwing in a couple of pictures of what the clouds looked like as Hanna approached Saturday. I can see how someone can get lulled into not worrying about the up-coming weather.

While the boat is in the yard, I have a list projects that I can work on so I don’t expect to be too bored.

9/7/2008 The storm turned out, at least for me and I believe the local area, a non-incident. There was a brief power outage and a medium rain on and off, but no big winds. I am not sure what it was like on the bay, but in the protection of the harbor and local buildings it was just a lazy rain day. After one day, I was ready to get out. I went to the local chapel next to the marina for church service this morning. It is an Episcopal Denomination and small chapel. There were probably about 50 people in attendance. It sort of reminded me of a “little house on the prairie” church. The congregation was inviting and the service was very good.

I then decided to jump on the bike and head off towards Edgewater and possibly Annapolis. It was a 12-15 mile ride into Edgewater and I made it there in about one hour. The primary reason, other than just going out for a ride, was I needed to get my prescriptions filled at the local Walgreen’s. I made it in such good time I went towards south Annapolis looking for the Fed-Ex Kinko’s to get some business cards made. After making it to Fedex, I learned that I can use Word to create my card and then have Fedex print them. Another task for on the boat this week. I then picked up my prescriptions just to find out that one of the prescriptions is out of date and I need to call my doctor to have it refilled. Sounds like another bike trip this week. No problem, not much going on anyways.

I haven’t really spent a lot of time exercising in a long time. After my trip to NYC, I missed getting out and moving the muscles. I was looking forward to taking a ride and really enjoyed it. For the first time, in a long time, I feel a little addicted to physical exercise.

I then stopped in the local Kmart, picking up a few small items and then stopped in the local grocery store in Deale to pick up some cereal and something for dinner. I want, and need, to be careful of what I cook as I don’t have a true galley to clean-up in being on the hard. I am looking forward to getting back in the water as soon as possible. It appears Ike will be heading more west and Josephine has blown out.

I expect to hang out in the Chesapeake until the boat show in Annapolis now and cruise the area. I will decide where to go when we get a better idea on launch time.