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

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

details, details



Had some spare time this morning before going into the office so got on the computer and marked my waypoints then imported them on to my etrex Legend gps.

I also sorted through my fishing kit. On the walkabout I'll take mostly lead heads (1/8 ounce) in red, white and pink. I'll use soft rubber twin tail grubs, white and green ( I convince myself that the twin tails fluttered over the bottom look - at least to unsuspecting fish - like juvenile flounder or small crabs). I've also got some dark brown paddle tail grubs that supposedly work well in cloudy water. We'll see. I've also changed out my fishing line to ten pound test braid (as opposed to monofilament). The braid casts better, holds knots better and does not degrade under uv rays.

And...I did a little modification on the main gaff jaws. Touched up the varnish this morning, I've got three coats on there now. I should get four more coats over the weekend. The leather on the jaws is in better shape than it looks.

Also dug up my sailing logs to find that they were full. I use mole skin note books bought in packs of three at barnes and noble. My six cruises on Spartina have filled up two of the books. So I dug around in the equipment closet until I found the last of the three notebooks.

Below is a page from one of logs. On a cruise we jot down notes throughout the day on a Rite in the Rain notebook - wind, boat speed, marker sightings, etc - then in the evening Bruce and I will each fill out our logs. And then those logs will be used to write our web logs that you see at the right of this page.
The page below is from the Chesapeake Bay sail last fall, leaving Smith Island. I'm sure the nuns at St. Columbus School will shudder when they see how I failed to take advantage of the Palmer Method.
Heading off tomorrow to Morehead City, NC. I'll meet up with the USS Bataan as she heads home from relief work in Haiti. I'll get to see some good people I met down there on my Haitian Vacation. The sailors and marines on board had just returned from a long deployment when they were ordered on four days notice to head for Haiti. These are some really good people who reached out to people in need. As the captain of the warship said, they can bring help just as well as they can bring hurt. In this case they brought a lot of help.
I'll get to ride back up to Norfolk with them, out and around Cape Hatteras with a great forecast of calm seas, blue skies and warm temperatures. Should be fun.

steve

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Another thing that works real well as a wet log is a piece of white plastic like what is used in advertising signs or even diffuser plastic for overhead lighting, although that's a bit more brittle, or sheet polymer. Some fine sandpaper gives the surface some fine texture so you can write on it. An art erasure cleans it well when done, and a hole in the top or a corner makes for a handy lanyard. I have one piece I've used as a wet log for 20 years or more.

Steve said...

I've also used an underwater writing slate picked up from a dive shop. Anything that will hold some writing in the rain or spray.

steve