Sunday, February 20, 2011

the liars bench


There's Bruce sitting on the Liars Bench at Onancock Wharf a few years ago (either 07 or 08, can't remember).  We were getting ready for our first cruise down in North Carolina and I had to run up to the eastern shore for work.  Bruce came along for the ride.  You've got to love a place honest enough to have a liars bench.
Onancock is where we'll start our Chesapeake Bay sail this spring.  I've been so busy getting the boat ready to sail I've neglected thinking about the next cruise.  I better get back to planning.  The Onancock Wharf is, I believe, a municipal ramp/parking area.  Below you can see a photo of it with Onancock Creek running down to the bay.  (Isn't that just a beautiful, winding tree-lined creek?)   The question is "Can we leave a car/trailer there for over a week while we are off sailing?"  I need to figure that out.  I've called the wharf a couple of times but no answer, probably too early in the season.  But I'll get through I'm sure in March sometime.
Parking for the jeep and trailer has been an issue on past cruises.  Sometimes I've paid $20 for parking, sometime $40 and sometimes nothing.  And sometimes leaving a vehicle and trailer in the public lot has led to the sheriff trying to track me down.  So I do want to get that worked out.


The photo below is about five or six days after I shot the photo of Bruce at the Liars Bench.  We were anchored next to Wainright Island at the top of Core Sound.  You can see the anchor lights glowing, one up on the lazy jacks and the other under the bow sprit.  These days we use just one anchor light, and that one hangs down from the bow stay (so it doesn't interfere with the view of the brilliant night sky).

Got some work done today.  Installed the new wiring harness and lights on the trailer, bought some smoked oysters and sardines for appetizers on the cruise, cleaned the O-rings on the deck plates and put new batteries in the gps and vhf radio.  Spring is coming fast.

steve


4 comments:

Bill said...

What do you use for an anchor light?

I've seen other boats use some kind of portable, bright, 360-degree light. I like that rather than draining my house batteries overnight.

Steve said...

Bill I use a little two-bulb, three-aa battery 360 degree l.e.d. flashlight from Walmart (it might be Coleman brand). Six or seven bucks I think, no more than ten. I've had it up in the rigging during all night rainstorms and high winds. It has never failed me. And I've been told it can be seen a long ways away. You can see it here...

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_R8Oc5eRZ7YY/StJsG1dCEiI/AAAAAAAABRg/62i5Dnfcw30/s1600-h/CRABHOUSE+DAY+4+358.jpg

steve

Bruce said...

My sitting on the Liars Bench of course does not mean I am a liar, endorse lying, know any liars or even know any lies, including little white ones. I am completely innocent of any possible connection between a liars bench and me lying. I was simply trying it out in case I needed to tell a lie some inconceivable time in the future. Steve was merely documenting an improbable moment in history.

Bruce

Anonymous said...

Of course you were, Bruce!!
Sounds like a great boat and a great trip. Here in Michigan it will be months still before we can even start thinking about planning! Gives us more time for bench sitting! Thanks for a good read! Looking forward to the next one.