The arrival of spring has got me thinking about doing a "minimalist" trip in the near future to Onancock, just an overnighter driving up early one morning, sailing, spending the night anchored out, and then back to the ramp the following day. With this in mind I dug the brand new Outdoors Research Alpine Bivy out of the equipment closet (I still can't believe they shipped me a brand new bivy as a warranty replacement for a six-year-old well-used one) and attached the bits of line and the single bronze clip that I used for attachment points.
The bivy, which you can see set up to the right in the photo above (the original bivy was orange, the new one blue), is designed to be staked to the ground at five different points - two at the feet, two at the shoulders and one at the very top. On Spartina I use three eye-straps, one on frame one at my feet (all the way forward under the foredeck) and two on frame four at the very aft end of the bunk flat, one next to the centerboard trunk and the other just inside the hull planks. A line with a clip goes through the two feet purchase point and is clipped to the eye strap on frame one. The shoulder points each have a bit of line which is tied to the two eye straps on frame four. Simple enough, and cheap.
I've been wanting to get back to Onancock ever since my visits last summer. It's a great town and I've made a few friends there that I have not seen in awhile. Plus there is plenty of territory to explore on an overnight sailing trip. I'll be looking for a nice weekend forecast sometime in April or early May.
I also experimented with the new food storage dry bag, which you see below. The bag appears to be very secure with the bungee running through the side handle.
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Don't tell the boss but I played hooky again this afternoon with the crowd at SailNauticus. It was a treat to be down on the pier surrounded by boats of all sizes. From left to right in the photo above you can see the stern of the Schooner Virginia, the battleship USS Wisconsin and the fleet of Harbor 20s of SailNauticus. It is hard for me to believe that this was just an old pier used as a car parking lot when we arrived here back in the late 1980s.
Spring rigging is still going on aboard the Virginia. Sails are in place but no doubt there are countless adjustments to be made to lines and rigging as they ready for the sailing season.
It was a pretty afternoon on the river, warm and a steady breeze. I hope to see a small yawl out there this weekend.
Steve, do you find your bivy useful mostly for rain, or mostly for bugs? How does it do in really warm weather?
ReplyDeleteAlso: do I see a helicopter swooping over the water in that last shot? Exciting days on the water. Summer is coming...
Seth
ReplyDeleteI always sleep in the bivy. If there are bugs, I'll zip up the mosquito mesh. If a little rain shows up I'll drop down the waterproof cover. (If the forecast is for a lot of rain I'll set up the boom tent, a heavy rain can put a couple of inches of water in the boat real fast. But for light rain, isolated thunderstorm that move through, it is just right.) Sometimes, if no bugs and a forecast for no rain, I won't put the arch pole in place, just sleep in it like it is sleeping bag. Very comfortable.
On those hot, humid, miserable nights, it can be - yes - hot, humid and miserable. There's not a lot of escaping that on a little boat. But after doing two or three cruises for several years now, I can think of only two occasions when it was uncomfortably hot.
steve