3/28/99 - Sunday - The great Potter pudding explosion
What a great day for sailing! This past week I worked on widening the gate to the backyard so we can get the boat through it. It had 2 inches to spare, but only with the doors off. I sawed off another 4 feet of the fence, saved the fronting boards, and built two new gates that look and swing much better than the originals. Emily came up with the great idea of driving into the backyard car first instead of trying to back in at near impossible (for me) angles. It works great. We can turn the boat around back there and get it heading in the right direction in relative privacy, without further embarrassing our long-suffering neighbors.
This time we tried using the ramp at Remley's Point in Mt. Pleasant, just up from the Cooper River bridges. The dock leaves something to be desired, however, as there is a strange walkway right next to the ramp that goes up about 10 feet and out about 25 before leading back down again to the start of the dock itself. This means that we had to put the boat in the water and try to "walk" it with the line about 25 feet straight out into the water so we could get to the dock. Of course the wind pushed the boat into and under the walkway, and then back into the van (the scratches SHOULD come out) before we were finally able to wrestle and push it back where we could tie up. A stern line in addition to the bow line would have helped greatly, and we made the adjustment when we came back in at the end of the day. I spent the next 30 minutes trying to convince myself that 62 degree water soaking my clothes up to my armpits was, in fact, "refreshing."
After my fantastic wife Emily saved the day by getting us turned around on the dock and pointed in the right direction, we actually made it out of the little marina area there without smashing into anything (unlike last week). At first I thought we were in for another windy pounding, but I was determined to get the sails up nevertheless. The roller furler on the jib worked like magic and "poof!" we were sailing! Emily was below putting Anna Kate down for a nap when my excited cries called her up. She held the tiller while I moved forward and raised the mainsail, proudly threading my new sail slides into the mast slot. I put one reef in the main for good measure. We finally killed the engine and the motion and slight pounding stopped almost immediately. I couldn't believe it! Up the Cooper River we sailed!
It has always been a dream of mine to see dolphins around the boat while under sail, and the personable Charleston bunch did not disappoint. One came so close that we could see marks on its back, possibly scars from powerboats or maniac jet skis. Emily put in a Jimmy Buffett CD (Banana Wind) and we really felt like we were cruising. About 20 minutes later, I asked Em to go up and check the boom, because its base looked like it was riding up the mast slot a bit. She put down her sandwich and 2 unopened pudding cups on the seat beside me and climbed up on the cabin roof. At just that moment, the boom came out of the slot altogether, and Emily began to hold on for dear life! I dropped the tiller and got up there as quickly as I could, telling Emily to go back and steer. We pointed into the wind and finally got the boom straightened out. I thought to myself, "So that is one thing a boom vang is good for. Lot of damn good it is doing sitting in the sink under a bag of Doritos." With the adrenaline still pumping, I breathed a sigh of relief and, without looking, plopped back down onto my seat. Suddenly I heard a loud "Blam!" and my heart stopped! I shot up, looked around, and let fly with a few choice expletives (always a captain's prerogative in times of great stress). During the confusion with the boom, the pudding cups had moved, and I had plopped down directly on top of them. There was chocolate pudding EVERYWHERE - on the lines, the tiller, the seats, the floor, my butt, the compass (don't ask - I have no idea).... Emily, now laughing hysterically, commenced to wash off everything with the only thing at hand - baby wipes. Everything finally got clean (mostly), but I smelled sickeningly like a perfumed diaper pail for the rest of the day.
We sailed up to the I-526 bridge and then came around and sailed under both Cooper River bridges, where the wind died completely for a moment and we actually began going backwards, getting dangerously close to the bridge pilings. As I frantically pulled on the starter rope, a slight breeze began again and ghosted us through. As soon as we were completely out of trouble, the motor started right up. Note for next time: bring a different sacrifice for the two-stroke gods. Pudding definitely doesn't do the trick.
About this time, as we were heading into the harbor, we saw a J-22 ahead of us, and I stared gaining ground. In about 45 minutes or so, we had actually overtaken it and were pulling ahead! I couldn't believe it. As we reached Waterfront Park, we came about again and began to head home. Anna Kate, our 21-month-old, who had been asleep all this time in the V-birth, finally woke up. She climbed up into the cockpit with us and looked cute in her fishy critters life jacket sitting there pointing out airplanes overhead and dolphins in the water. I really got choked up when she eventually looked over at me, gave me a huge grin, and said, "Daddy's boat. Daddy's boat!!" She then raised her arms and gave me a great big hug. That is what really made it all worthwhile.
4/11/99 - Sunday - The Myth of Fine Weather on a Sunny Day
We woke up to sunshine on Saturday morning, and I hurried to the weather radio. Although it looked pretty at the house, there were small craft advisories offshore. The weather in the harbor sounded OK, but I didn't want to take any chances at getting caught out in thunderstorms, which were predicted for the afternoon and on Sunday, and which, of course, never materialized. We have found that the "normal" weather here has very little to do with "marine" weather at times, and on a beautiful shore day, you might be threatened with disaster on the water due to high winds (always higher on the water than where we live), steep seas, etc. Better safe than sorry. I decided to take the weekend and do several small projects on the boat that needed attention.
During the last trip home from sailing, we had inadvertently forgotten to tie off the forward hatch, so it had blown open, breaking the already heavily corroded hinges. I replaced the chrome plated hinges with stainless ones, and replaced the pop rivets with stainless screws, washers, and lock nuts. I bedded the whole thing in marine silicone, which I hope is the right choice for the job. It went fine, except that the replacement hinges which I thought had matching holes, didn't. I had to drill new holes, close to the old ones. I next made the mistake of putting both hinges on the hatch before placing it on the boat, and one hinge turned out to be crooked. I screwed down the good one and then spent the next hour twisted up like a pretzel (I was working alone) while balancing on my knees and elbows on the foredeck and starboard rail working on the second. I finally got the job done, and cut off the ends of the screws in the cabin with the Dremel tool. The Dremel is fantastic, by the way. I use it for everything from knocking rust off with the wire brush attachment to cutting track for my model railroad.
When we got Kidogo, it was missing one Bearing Buddy, so I got a new one (actually, they came in packs of 2 only) and installed it. After pounding it in with a hammer, I filled it up with marine (read: 3 times as expensive as it needs to be) grease and topped off the other. I'll be sure to watch the levels closely, as I think some will probably settle into the gaps during our first few trips with it on. I am not sure how long the original bearing buddy had been off, so I really don't know how long the bearings are going to last. I tried to hose the wheels off well after our first two trips, but I am just not sure.
On Sunday morning, I built a new keel crutch. The boat's former owner had put one together, and my design is based on his. When we climb on Kidogo when it is on the trailer, it has the tendency to want to slam butt down in the grass and stick its nose up in the air to take a peek over the fence. The keel crutch fits under the rear end of the boat to support it when its balance is thrown off by us clodfooted humans. I made the new one out of one 8' 2x4 and a leftover piece of 1x6 from the fence project. All the wood was pressure treated. The 2x4s stand up on their ends, with the 1x6 fastened across them, about 3-4" from the top. The 2x4s are slanted in a bit with their tops sawed off, slanting inward at a 45 degree angle. The result looks like an "H" with the cross member close to the top and the top ends slanted closer together than the bottom. For feet, I sawed the remainder of the 2x4 in half and attached the middle of each piece to the bottom of the uprights. The whole thing slides right under the keel, and seems to work nicely.
Boy was I sore on Monday morning! I think that what I told Emily is true. Just owning a boat is good exercise. When you are out on it you are hoisting and adjusting sails, unconsciously compensating for the motion of the boat, etc., and when you are working on it the time and effort spent on those little jobs really adds up. I can see it now - the Richard Simmons West Wight Potter Workout! "Ok everybody, crank that keel! 1-2! Add that backstay! 3-4! You in the back - give me 10 epoxy bottom coats - NOW!!" Just send $19.95 to Sweatin' to the Potters, in care of your local television station....
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