Day 254
We thought the dreaded cold north winds had left for good, but they came back with a vengeance on Monday! Sustained winds measured in at 20 mph and the gusts came at 25 and over. In the past when we had these winds I could find brief breaks in the force to allow me to pull the boat closer to the dock for ingress and egress. On Monday, however, the winds were relentless. It took two of us to get me either on or off the boat!
We took the boat out Sunday evening to trial Clark's latest engine repair work. When we came back, we must not have tied the lines in quite the same configuration. The distance I needed to span to step off the boat (and on) grew by several inches with the new setup. Unfortunately my legs, although long, were not long enough to get me across the gap! Getting off was extremely difficult and intimidating -- getting back on nearly impossible as I had nothing I could grasp with my hands to give me support while making the leap of faith.
Only with Clark's assistance could I get on or off the boat. I stood on the gunwale on the ready. He hung off the back of the boat with one foot on the gunwale and one foot on a line we use to pull the boat in. He definitely needs to gain weight. Even with stepping on the line to move it, he could only fight the wind sufficiently to bring the boat in about 6 inches. However, that 6 inches made a world of difference! Although I could not get on / off where I normally do, I could at least find a place where I could get close enough to jump on / off!
When we weren't fighting the wind, we worked on boat preparation for the next leg of our trip which is coming up shortly. A while back, as we were walking through the marina here, Clark saw another boater installing an anchor roller for a second anchor on their bow. He decided that if we did that we could solve two problems together - 1) have a second anchor ready to deploy at a moment's notice and 2) clear out a huge storage area on the boat that has previously only been used as an anchor / rope locker. With that in mind we set to today to measure and design a solution for the placement of the second anchor on the bow.
Of course anything related to the boat has a very high probability of time spent in West Marine. Clark took his measurements and a rough diagram with him to the store. After numerous minutes of contemplating the pros and cons of the two anchor-roller choices open to him, he finally made a purchase, and we went back to the boat to start the project.
A day with cold, 25 mph gusts of wind is probably not the best day to hang out over the bow pulpit measuring for anchor placement, but that is where we were. I huddled down in the front of the boat with my heavy-weight hooded sweatshirt and my heavy windbreaker jacket pulled up over my head and zipped up tight. Mostly I stuck around for moral support, to be there in case Clark got blown into the water, and as a "go for" in case he needed some tool or another that was not at hand.
The first thing Clark did in preparation for mounting the new anchor arrangement was replace our standard CQR (plow-shaped) anchor with the Danforth (like a two-pronged fork). Clark believes that the Danforth will have better holding power in the areas we plan to explore next. (Choice of anchor depends on the water bottom - sand, mud, rocky, ... Different anchors hold better depending on the bottom). Changing the anchors from one rode to the other proved to be a brute-force, time-consuming activity in and of itself. The anchor is attached to the rode via a shackle. For obvious reasons the bolt holding the shackle is secured tightly. Finally, with the right tools, some lubricant, and a lot of huffing and puffing, Clark got the anchors switched and could move on to the more interesting part of the project.
After playing with the new anchor roller positioning for several minutes, Clark decided that it looked like he could find a workable solution. Before drilling holes in the boat, however, he decided we should test out the roller to see how the anchor would actually perform on the roller. First we had to find a place to perform our experiment; second, we had to get the anchor, chain, and rode there to play with it. After looking at various alternatives, I suggested the picnic table at the end of our dock. Clark thought that might be ideal, so we decided to head there.
The spare anchor line consists of 20 to 25 feet of thick, heavy chain followed by 200 feet of 5/8" line separated into two bundles of 100-feet each. The anchor itself weighs a "ton". To move the anchor and its rode around the boat takes two of us to carry the whole ensemble. When we went to move it all, I looked at the anchor and rode then at the new roller and said, "We have a logistics problem here. We can't get the roller past the attached anchor. The only other way to get that roller in place is to feed over 200 feet of line through the opening!" Clark agreed that I was indeed correct (amazing) and set to disconnecting the anchor from the rode so that we could check out the new operation. Fortunately, since he had loosened it the first time, it took little effort to disconnect the second time.
Clark carried the anchor over to the picnic table and then came back for the rode. Since I could not get off the boat without his help (remember the wind), I stood on the boat and handed the rode up to him - first the chain and then the two bundles of line. No matter how many times I pick up the chain on that anchor to move it around, I cannot help but think of poor 'Marley's Ghost' from A Christmas Carol. He was draped in heavy chain, and that is about how I feel whenever I try to drag it from one place to another.
I got to see the experiment in operation as Clark came back for me to help me get off the boat. After declaring success for the CQR, Clark decided he really needed to go get the Danforth to check out its feasibility since, after this portion of the trip, the Danforth will go back to being second fiddle once again. Fortunately, both configurations looked good. We dragged it all back to the boat ready for the drilling to begin.
Since it was now late afternoon, instead of starting the drilling portion of the project, we decided to call it quits for the day and go shopping for provisions. We have a long list of things to buy before we leave here. We expect to spend a lot of time at anchorages on the next leg of our trip. As such, we need to have plenty of "boat stores" on board as trips to food stores will be separated by several days at a time. The first item on our to-buy list was milk crates to be placed in our new-found storage compartment. We can't have our canned good rolling around the bilge!
We took our bicycles (our only means of transportation other than by foot) and headed off on the two-mile trip to the stores. Both of us wear backpacks whenever we go shopping, and we normally come back with them both stuffed to the very top and as heavy as lead. Since we were shopping for milk crates, I wondered how we would carry them home if we found some. They certainly would not fit in any backpack. Clark seemed to have a plan to carry them in hand while we biked back. That idea did not appeal to me very much at all.
We stopped at Home Depot - they had no milk crates. Then we stopped at Office Depot - they had no milk crates. We only had one more option available to us -- Kmart. Before going there , however, we decided to stop and do our Walgreen's shopping since it was on the way. Next, we biked past Kmart to Winn Dixie to buy Quaker oatmeal for Clark. We found they sell a flavor there that he likes but cannot find in any other store. I bought six boxes of 10 packets each!
I knew that the six boxes would not fit in my backpack or Clark's, together or separately, so I also bought a box of gallon-size storage bags. When I got out to the bicycles where Clark was waiting, I told him to start opening boxes. We transferred the packets into the storage bags and threw the boxes away in the parking lot garbage bins. That way it all fit in his backpack with room to spare. I also threw away the box for the storage bags. Who needs all that cardboard anyway!?
Our next stop was Kmart. We locked our bikes outside and went in to see what we could find. Success! We found the milk crates and even had a choice of color. Wondering which one would show less dirt, we eventually opted for black instead of white. Since they will be down in the bilge, I am not sure it really matters very much. We bought three crates. As we left the store Clark said, "I'm hoping you can carry one of these."
When we got out to the bikes, he handed me my crate. To say I was not enthused to be biking while carrying a milk crate is a gross understatement. I decided there must be some way to attach the darn thing to my bike to free up my hands. Recently I added a bag to the front of my bike using straps I rescued from a discarded life jacket. I decided that I could pass the straps around the milk crate and position it on the front of the bike. It worked and even looked like a bike basket when done. Cool!
Clark was impressed with my ingenuity and asked if we could attach a second one to my bike using the two carabiner clips I have hanging off my seat. Well, why not! So now I had a basket on front and a basket in back. Clark still held one more in his hands, and I wondered if we could figure out some way to attach one to his bike as well. I ruffled through my bike bag that is always attached to my bike and came up with two reflective Velcro straps used to hold pant legs away from the gears. I wrapped those around the handlebars and basket so now he was hands-free also.
With the items we had bought thus far, I thought we were pretty much done, but Clark thought we should buy food at Publix for dinner since the cupboard was pretty bare back on the boat. I finally capitulated and agreed to buy just enough food for dinner and lunch the next day, but that was all. Clark stood guard by our bikes while I went in to buy what we needed. With the items from Walgreens, the packages of oatmeal from Winn Dixie, and the food I bought at Publix, we were loaded and weighed down to the max. The trip back to the boat seemed longer than usual with that blessed wind fighting us all the way back making the trip seem endless. At least I wasn't carrying a basket while doing it!!!
The nightly gun signalling sunset went off just as we got back to the boat from our excursion -- 7:30 already. After unloading our bikes, folding them up, and storing them and our purchases, it was 8:30 until dinner was ready. My son Jeff had emailed me while I was making dinner to set up a time to talk, and we called him at 9:10 and talked until 10:00. Then we watched a little television before calling it a night. What a day!
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