No Travel
Sleep was in short supply again last night as the boat continued to buck against the lines like an enraged bull. With pilings on either side of us the boat had lots of targets to crash into. I heard slamming and banging galore. Finally at 6:00 a.m. I could take no more of lying in bed in the dark state room wondering when the next crash would come. I figured since I was awake anyway I might as well get up so I could better anticipate the banging and shaking of the boat.
Some time around 5:00 a.m., Clark ended up going out in his pajamas partially covered by his raincoat to see what was slamming and banging around. The first time he went out he found a fender that had moved out of position, fixed that, and tightened a bow line to pull the boat away from the piling on the port side which had been hit several times already. He came back to bed and no sooner had he laid down then we heard a loud crack. He said, "Now what?!" and went out to find the fender board smashed into two pieces. So much for my suggestion of the third fender protecting it. It broke anyway. The board is 2" x 6" x 6', so not a lightweight by any means. About a foot long section broke off the end of the board, so Clark retied the remainder of the board to the third fender to continue to use it.
 |
| Fender Board broken by wave action in South Haven, MI |
Being tossed around constantly gets pretty annoying after a while. Very little productive activity can be performed when you can hardly stand even for a short while. Clark solved the problem of being on the rampaging boat by taking me shopping for 2 huge wrenches to fix his dripping packing around the starboard rudder.
We took our bikes because the store we needed to get to was a good distance away, but before we went shopping, we decided to ride out to the pier for a look-see at mother nature's fury. As crazy as it seemed, today's waves had much more action than yesterday, and I thought yesterday's were impressive. As we headed out to the pier, we experienced gusts of gale force winds which made pedaling our bikes even downhill a challenge. Unlike yesterday, which was a reasonably warm day with wild surf, today was a cold 65 degrees due to the winds on top of lower temps. No crazy people were swimming this morning. Some fools, however, were walking on a portion of the pier with the waves crashing up around them. I swear some people must have a death wish.
 |
| Crazy wave action and even crazier people walking to lighthouse |
We stayed well back from the catwalk to the lighthouse as well as from the side walls of the inlet. I didn't want to get me or my bike soaked. Clark saw the humor in the No Wake sign as 6 to 7 foot waves rolled on down the inlet headed straight for the docking area where our boat was tied yesterday. The sailor who told me yesterday that I would be even happier today that we moved than I was yesterday was absolutely correct, and I was pretty happy yesterday that we moved!
 |
| Mother Nature ignored the No Wake sign today |
Video of surf can be seen at website
After the excitement of watching the wave action, we headed through town and out the other side to do our shopping. Clark needed two huge wrenches that could open to about 2-7/8". We first went to Best Hardware where the largest wrench was about 1 1/2 to 2" max. Since it was on the way to our next stop, we then went to Meijers to buy white vinegar as we have been told by other loopers to use that as bug spray for the spiders who have moved on board. Then a quick stop at the farmer's market to buy more of the best ears of sweet corn I've ever eaten.
With those side-trip diversions out of the way we continued our search for wrenches at AutoZone which was a complete waste of time. Then we found the Tractor Supply Co. that had been referred to us by the hardware store. Close but no cigar! From there we were referred to Menards where Clark finally found two huge adjustable pipe wrenches that he thought might do the job. We kept zipping up and down the 4-lane highway from store to store and passed by a cop sitting at a speed trap multiple times. We were on the sidewalk, and Clark worried that the cop was going to give us a hard time about the "no biking on sidewalks" ordinance. I figured he had bigger fish to fry than us and I was not about to bike on the 4-lane highway!
But wait, there's more! When Clark finally came out of Menards, I ran in real quick to find the restroom. I had been standing outside in the cold wind watching the bikes (we should have just locked them up instead of having me watch vigil over them), and I needed to get comfortable. While I was in the store I bought a tire pressure gauge for the bikes because the bike tires seemed like they were lower than they should be.
I swear I wasn't gone long, but by the time I got back, Clark had decided that he needed to go back to AutoZone to buy something to spray on the packing nuts to help loosen them, so off we went back to AutoZone. I made him stop to fill my tires with air as we went by the gas station next to the AutoZone, and he did his at the same time. I wanted to get something out of this scavenger hunt besides a couple of ears of corn and a bottle of vinegar for my trouble.
As we biked back into town with our now much heavier backpacks in place, we saw first one then another early 1900s vintage vehicle on the main drag through town, Phoenix Street. As we came into town proper, we saw that the 45 degree parking slots contained a mix of shoppers' vehicles and a great selection of vintage vehicles like the two shown below.
 |
| Look closely as it is an antique tow truck (my favorite old vehicle of all time!) |
 |
| Had to include this one with the Ohio State logo on the side for the Ohio State fans |
While I was gone, Clark had a bit of excitement. I was in the lounge and saw a 64 foot boat come into the inlet. A couple of folks there commented, " Where did he just come from?" because the wave action on Lake Michigan was still wild. It turns out that the boater had come across the lake from Chicago some seventy or so miles. The waters were calm in Chicago but the situation continually degraded the further east he traveled.
Clark was in the bilge where underwater sounds can be heard quite well apparently. He thought he heard a bow thruster and decided to come up for a look. He too was surprised to see a 64' boat pulling up to the dock and having a difficult time of docking with the waves all around. He immediately ran over to help. Some other boaters in the marina were lending a hand as well. Clark later told me that with three men pushing the boat to try to keep it away from the dock, they could barely move it. The boat looked new to Clark but docking put a few scratches on her today.
The workers at the South Haven Municipal marina are rarely available as they always seem to be over at the other marina on the other side of the river. We found them pretty inexperienced and no real help when we docked so maybe it was no loss that they were unavailable when this guy came in. A very bad thing happened just after they got docked in that the owner's wife fell trying to get off the boat and broke her wrist. As she went to step off, the boat suddenly shifted position and she landed face down on the dock. Apparently she took her full weight on her hand and her wrist snapped.
Clark was shocked as it happened so suddenly. One second she was fine and the next she was complaining that her wrist was broken! They took her off to the hospital by ambulance. A passenger went with her so her husband could finish securing the boat. Talking to another boater who assisted with the docking, he said he was torn between continuing to help get the boat under control at the dock or providing her with assistance since he is trained in first aid. He decided that controlling the boat was more critical at that particular point in time.
Multiple times over the last couple of days I expect that I appeared overly nervous to Clark about spanning the rapidly expanding and contracting gap between the boat and the dock while trying to exit the boat. When he told me the story of the woman with the broken wrist, I said, "Maybe now you'll understand why I have been so careful getting on and off." Getting off has been a challenge because the lines of the fender board are in my way of a clean exit. I can't place my foot where I want to for a clean jump to shore. Getting on has also been fun since I have had to time my grabbing of the handrail with the placement of my foot and then step up onto the "amusement park ride" called Sea Moss when the boat is close to the dock and be prepared to take a ride away from the dock as I climb on board.
Before all the boat excitement, Clark had applied WD-40 to the packing nuts as well as aimed a heat gun at it to help loosen them up. By the time I got back to the boat, I found that he had crawled into the ridiculously small space he had to work in and was busy sawing off two bolts that were in the way of the wrenches being able to reach the nuts. I could hear him for what seemed like forever working with a small hacksaw sawing off the protruding ends of the offending bolts.
With the bolt ends removed, using the 2 new wrenches and a crowbar for leverage, Clark was able to break the nuts apart (they were locked together) and then tighten the packing by turning it only a half turn, which apparently is the recommended adjustment for leaking packing. As with every job, cleanup of tools and 'stuff' takes a good deal of time. After cleanup, and several times after that, Clark inspected his work and was happy to find no water in the bilge, so the fix is looking good at this point in time.
We ate dinner on / in the boat tonight. Too tired to go out and too cold to eat on the back "deck". I made leftovers mostly! I cooked myself another ear of the delicious sweet corn and added a few more vegetables to those we had last night. Afterwards I asked Clark if he wanted to go uptown for ice cream or anything since he had been focused on working on the boat all day long (first shopping for tools and then fixing). At first he poo-pooed the idea, but it must have sunk in because eventually he suggested we go for a walk.
We walked out to the pier to see the lighthouse at sunset, and then walked into town to the ice cream shop.
 |
| Sunset in South Haven showing wave action along the inlet |
 |
| Sunset at the Pier in South Haven, MI |
No comments:
Post a Comment