Weather
For those of you who aren't in the San Francisco o bay area, let me tell you, the weather here has been depressing. Normally the winter isn't so bad. It rains, but it doesn't get all that cold. Well this year I have been hailed on twice and it's been in the mid 30's at night and raining now for what seems to be... forever. In 10 days it rained enough for my dinghy to have filled with water to the gunwhale -- completely full. Those of you from Seattle might say I'm a big whiner, but look at Seattle's suicide rate. Yes, I acknowledge that they aren't exactly whining, but I think it also says they enjoy this miserable shit about as much as I do. Selah.
So anyway, I woke up two mornings ago at 8:00 AM, dreaming that I was out sailing. I decided that, fuck it, I was going sailing, rain or no rain. And I did. And you know what -- I had nothing but sunny and warm from the time I left the dock to the time that I tied back up and got the sail covers back on. From 12:00 to 5:00 my boat was warm and dry, the winds were good,ht ere was little traffic on the bay (aside from some huge military boat that pushed both myself and a tug (with a tow) out of the shipping lane that we all know as the San Francisco Bay. Thank god for VTS, by the way. VTS, or in longhand, Vessel Traffic Services is a service on channel 14 where all large ships check in an announce their departures and routes. When I saw the military behemoth clear under the Golden Gate and turn right for me, I decided to turn on the radio and was delighted to hear that I was going to be right in his way. That sounds sarcastic, but it isn't -- I'd much rather know where he's going than to guess back and forth, never knowing if I'm turning the right way to get more out of his way, or if I'm just getting into more trouble. The military ship was going to pier 15, which I wouldn't have ever guessed, which is a pretty unusual destination for a ship this size, and I would have been nervous running for the cityfront only to see that he was going there too. When you're on a little wooden boat and some 300 foot tall steel warship seems to be chasing you down and you don't know their intention, and they just keep turning more and more in your direction, you're pretty sure you're going to die. Thanks to VTS, I didn't have any of that.
No, my tension came when I couldn't get the engine to run to get back to the dock. And as I bobbed around, comfortable in the fact that I knew there was nothing close that I had to worry about and had all the time in the world, well, that's when the police showed up. When you're engine doesn't run and the police are trying to make small talk with you because they're bored, it turns tense. You just want to be left alone to work on the problem, not talk about who built your boat, or any of the other conversation that I'd normally be more than happy to have. The guy sat next to me for 15 minutes, chatting away, which made me chat back in as friendly a fashion as possible as he just ignored that I was busy trying to solve what I considered a more pressing item. Eric, who took the photo I'm going to put up with this post (he was the other sailboat out there that day) called me from the dock to ask why the cops where bothering me. I explained that my engine wasn't running and he said he'd be out there in one minute to tow me back in. He's a good man, that Eric. Then the engine started, the cop left, I called Eric back to say, "Don't put your keys away yet, but don't cast off, either." Sure enough, that little engine decided that it had enough fun at my expense and sprang to life and it was one of the easiest times I've ever had docking a boat.
I've got projects though:
1) The blower is on-again, off-again. Currently it's not working. I think the winter weather combined with it just sitting in place causes it to seize. If I smack it with a hammer, it starts up again. It might need to be replaced.
2) The transmission is spongy. Without even looking, I know the problem. The shifter cable is mounted to a rather tired piece of wood, and the wood is moving when I shift. This will cause me to not have the ability to shift in and out of gear if it doesn't get fixed. I think some epoxy ought to fix the issue nicely.
3) More varnish, obviously.
I also picked up a radio transmitter for my iPod. The stereo has no line-in jack, and the CD player is temperamental, so now I just broadcast my iPod on 88.5 and tune the stereo to that and blast music throughout the boat. It's amazing what you can do with 12 volts some days.
So anyway, I woke up two mornings ago at 8:00 AM, dreaming that I was out sailing. I decided that, fuck it, I was going sailing, rain or no rain. And I did. And you know what -- I had nothing but sunny and warm from the time I left the dock to the time that I tied back up and got the sail covers back on. From 12:00 to 5:00 my boat was warm and dry, the winds were good,ht ere was little traffic on the bay (aside from some huge military boat that pushed both myself and a tug (with a tow) out of the shipping lane that we all know as the San Francisco Bay. Thank god for VTS, by the way. VTS, or in longhand, Vessel Traffic Services is a service on channel 14 where all large ships check in an announce their departures and routes. When I saw the military behemoth clear under the Golden Gate and turn right for me, I decided to turn on the radio and was delighted to hear that I was going to be right in his way. That sounds sarcastic, but it isn't -- I'd much rather know where he's going than to guess back and forth, never knowing if I'm turning the right way to get more out of his way, or if I'm just getting into more trouble. The military ship was going to pier 15, which I wouldn't have ever guessed, which is a pretty unusual destination for a ship this size, and I would have been nervous running for the cityfront only to see that he was going there too. When you're on a little wooden boat and some 300 foot tall steel warship seems to be chasing you down and you don't know their intention, and they just keep turning more and more in your direction, you're pretty sure you're going to die. Thanks to VTS, I didn't have any of that.
No, my tension came when I couldn't get the engine to run to get back to the dock. And as I bobbed around, comfortable in the fact that I knew there was nothing close that I had to worry about and had all the time in the world, well, that's when the police showed up. When you're engine doesn't run and the police are trying to make small talk with you because they're bored, it turns tense. You just want to be left alone to work on the problem, not talk about who built your boat, or any of the other conversation that I'd normally be more than happy to have. The guy sat next to me for 15 minutes, chatting away, which made me chat back in as friendly a fashion as possible as he just ignored that I was busy trying to solve what I considered a more pressing item. Eric, who took the photo I'm going to put up with this post (he was the other sailboat out there that day) called me from the dock to ask why the cops where bothering me. I explained that my engine wasn't running and he said he'd be out there in one minute to tow me back in. He's a good man, that Eric. Then the engine started, the cop left, I called Eric back to say, "Don't put your keys away yet, but don't cast off, either." Sure enough, that little engine decided that it had enough fun at my expense and sprang to life and it was one of the easiest times I've ever had docking a boat.
I've got projects though:
1) The blower is on-again, off-again. Currently it's not working. I think the winter weather combined with it just sitting in place causes it to seize. If I smack it with a hammer, it starts up again. It might need to be replaced.
2) The transmission is spongy. Without even looking, I know the problem. The shifter cable is mounted to a rather tired piece of wood, and the wood is moving when I shift. This will cause me to not have the ability to shift in and out of gear if it doesn't get fixed. I think some epoxy ought to fix the issue nicely.
3) More varnish, obviously.
I also picked up a radio transmitter for my iPod. The stereo has no line-in jack, and the CD player is temperamental, so now I just broadcast my iPod on 88.5 and tune the stereo to that and blast music throughout the boat. It's amazing what you can do with 12 volts some days.
posted by Thomas Cannon at 1:30 PM
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