Weather and Unpredictability
Trying to figure out when to head out on the boat, I usually check weather.com for the ‘longer term’, and the tide and buoy information on boatus’ site as the time gets closer. Sometimes it’s helpful. But, as anyone who’s lived around here any time at all knows, the weather predictions are a crap shoot at best.
So, today I called those who’d said they’d like to head out and told everyone to wait until the afternoon, since the buoy data was showing no wind (2-4 knots). I was hoping for better in the afternoon. I couldn’t get hold of everyone, so I headed out to the boat anyway. Breeze was there, and it actually ended up being some nice sailing for a couple of hours. At that point, the wind did die and we came back in.
High Winds
Debbie joined my on the boat today. It’s the first time she’s been on and, I think, the first time she’s been on a sailboat this size. I recall her saying that she had sailed before on a yacht. Ah well! To come so far down in the world!
It was quite breezy and choppy. I settled for doing some motoring and bringing out the mainsail, but not the jib.
I’m still pretty nervous when the winds are high. Part of it, I’m sure, was the fated Cock Island trip home. Part of it, too, is that, although I feel comfortable, and actually enjoy, heeling over so the rails on on the water when someone else is in charge, I’m still not comfortable doing it when I am. I know – and keep reminding myself – that a sailboat is quite stable; it takes alot to tip it over. But I still am uncomfortable when I get it at more than a 30 degree angle.
I probably would have been more comfortable, too, if Debbie were a seasoned sailor. But it was one of those occasions when I was going to have to sail it myself, since she was going to not going to understand what to do.
So the trip was short. And I did let her steer for a bit once we got the mainsail down and were headed back to the docks. And I told her next time, hopefully, we’d have more warm bodies to help out, and we’d be able to do more.
Water Inside the Boat
I hadn’t been down to the boat since we’d sailed over for lunch, so we stopped by today to drop some stuff off and to check it out. When I opened the hatch, I was met with about 4 inches of water on the cabin floor! We had a pretty nasty storm last week, and 32 year old boats will leak (from the top!). In fact, I do know that one of windows leaks pretty badly in bad storms. And I’ve come in to find the cushions in the aft of the boat wet after a good rain.
I checked the battery. I had left the charger on and it was fully charged. I checked the bilge pump, and started fine with the manual switch. I checked the fuse and it hadn’t blown. So I guessed that the floater switch had died, since that had been acting funky when Steve N had replaced the hose for me.
So I turned on the bilge pump and emptied out the cabin, as well as the bilge itself. Then, when we got home, I IM’d Dan. He felt that my diagnosis was right. He also suggested getting a Water Witch Bilge Pump Switch. He said they were more reliable than the floater switches. I ordered one from Defender, since things tend to get her pretty quickly from them.
[Top]Lunch on the Water
Erik and I took a short journey, from Wormley Creek, across the York River, into Sarah’s Creek. We called into York River Yacht Haven and got permission to tie up for lunch.
Winds were light; it made for a leisurely sail.
Being new at this, I called YRYH before we left the house and found out yes, they did have places to dock for the restaurant. I called them again when we were halfway there, to get directions as to what to do. And lastly called them as we were pulling in by the marina. Do you think they got tired of hearing from me?
A young man from the office was nice enough to help us tie up. Good thing, too. I let Erik have the wheel and he wasn’t too smooth about pulling in beside the dock. But it’s a learning experience and we’ll get there!
One of the worst parts of sailing in the summer is stopping. Until then, you have some breeze, just for the fact that you’re moving. And it is usually cooler on the water than it is on the land. But when you stop, all that advantage goes away, and it can be just plain miserable.
By the time we walked up to the restaurant, we were pretty uncomfortable. Normally, we sit outside at restaurants when the choice is offered to us. This time, we sat inside. And downed *lots* of water!
The River’s Inn Restaurant is one of three seafood restaurants in the area owned by the same people. It’s one of our favorite dining spots. And being able sail over made it an even better experience.
By the time we were pulling out, the winds had picked up a bit and we actually got some nice sailing in.
[Top]Reflection
If you look at the last post, it appears as if I haven’t been doing much over the last month. But I’ve actually been out several times since that fated journey. It’s just it shook me up so badly, it’s taken awhile to even get it written. And I did change the date to reflect when the even actually happened. And now that I have written it, I can spend some time writing about some of my other experiences.
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