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

Saturday, August 25, 2012

unsettled, lights, a new book

Thoughts of sailing this morning went away with a look at the unsettled weather.  Gusty winds, heavy rains and thunder have all come and gone in the past few hours.  I'm hoping for better weather on Monday when I have another day off.


My portable l.e.d. navigation lights arrived from Duckworks yesterday.  Below is the bow light clamped into position on the bow sprit.  The white stern light will clamp beneath the boomkin the same way.


Putting the lights on in the garage may be the only time they are in place.  Most of the year they will sit with the other cruising gear in my equipment closet.  During cruises they will be clamped to a frame either under the foredeck or behind the coaming where they will be out of the way.

Our sailing plan has always had us anchored before dark.  It should be the same on this upcoming trip, but with all the commercial traffic on the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, plus all the warnings I've received about Delaware Bay, I thought the nav lights might be a nice piece of safety gear on board.


The New York Times has a very nice review of "Silver: Return to Treasure Island" by Andrew Motion, a former poet laureate of Great Britain.  The book is a sequel to Treasure Island, not to be confused with an earlier sequel called "Silver: My Own Tale as Written by Me with a Goodly Amount of Murder" by Edward Chupack.  I have always loved Treasure Island, it is one of those books I can go back and read every few years.  And I tend to like novels written by poets - the poets seem to use their works in an economical way, choosing fewer words and yet at the same time saying so much more.  I've already ordered my copy.

steve

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