"When I think of all the fools I've been, it's a wonder that I've sailed this many miles." -Guy Clark

Saturday, May 9, 2009

odds and ends

Here are a couple of photos showing the gear I mentioned in my last post in use on Spartina. Bruce shot the photo at the top of me wearing my pfd/harness with polypropolene tether. This was crossing the Neuse River on a nice reach. The wind and waves felt stronger than what it looks like in the photo. You can see I've loosened the mizzen sheet a little. Normally I keep it sheeted in tight for a nice balance in winds up to 12 or 15 mph. It was blowing more than that on this sail so I've put a little slack in there to keep the sails balanced (the ability to balance the sail plan is one of the things I really love about the Pathfinder and yawls in general). You can also see our two fishing poles mounted on the port side of the transom. I've got a stainless steel permanent tube mount for one fishing pole, and I just used electrical cable ties to add a second pvc tube along side the permanent one for the second rod.
And there is the anchor light below on a breezy evening at Great Fox Island on Tangier Sound. I used to clip it to the lazy jacks at night when I slept every night under a boom tent. On nights now without a forecast of rain we'll sleep in the bivy sacs and not use the boom tent. So I've moved the anchor light forward to the bow stay where it doesn't interfere with the view of the night skies that we'll get looking up through the bivy's bug screen.
When anchoring in a place, near Wainwright Island on Core Sound for example, where there might be some waterman zipping around the corner late evening I hang a second anchor light to the boomkin. Just want to make sure everybody sees us.
Back up to the top photo you can see Bruce's gps sitting on top of the chart book. One of our first jobs when he gets back here will be to import my waypoints in to his gps. We've both got Garmin gps's and I think they use the same MapSource software, so that should be easy. We'll spend some time on the computer the first night he is in town working on waypoints, buying our NC salt water fishing licenses and also updating our Spot profiles online. The next day will be food shopping, junk on the bunk (Bruce's army term for laying all our gear out on the floor and marking it off on a check list) and then packing the boat and jeep. We should be headed south by sunrise the next morning!
Just noticed Bruce posted a test photo from his cell phone. That's pretty cool to be able to do that.
Steve

3 comments:

Albert A Rasch said...

Thanks for the running commentary on you're adventure. I like reading about the details of how you manage the gear, equipment and day to day activities.

Regards,
Albert
The Rasch Outdoor Chronicles.
The Range Reviews: Tactical.
Proud Member of Outdoor Bloggers Summit.

S R Wood said...

Bruce -- that second picture of the anchor light is wonderfully evocative of the few lucky evenings I spent on the boat I used to have in the early 90s. Something about the color of the water and the light swinging in the breeze. Great stuff!

I wanted to ask: have you ever tested the lifeline by jumping overboard while under sail?

Also, I'm curious about your menu / cooking plans. Do you have a coffee solution? Do you plan menus ahead of time or just sort of take lots of supplies and eat what you feel like?

I was happy to see you mention couscous in an earlier post: I recently discovered its usefulness for backpacking: cheap, healthy, easy, and delicious when you add things like dried apples, raisins, peanuts, etc.

Seth

Steve said...

Seth,
no I have never tried out the lifeline, but I have read accounts from people who have used them and not used them. I like the idea of being connected to the boat. I don't think falling overboard is the biggest threat. I worry more about a knockdown and like the idea of being tethered. The tether has a quick release that can be used if the line becomes a problem.
I just did a post about meals, thanks for the idea. Neither of us drink coffee so that is not a problem. Years ago I used to fix hot oatmeal in the morning on cruises. After dinner I would boil water on the stove then pour it in to a thermos. It stayed hot (warm??) enough to make outmeal. Would that work for instant coffee?

steve