Sailboats Fair and fine# 53 : Read oldest posts first

Dec 3 , Tuesday

We rolled out of our bunks this morning to a strongish southerly breeze maybe 15 knots. It had been choppy all night and Wolftrap was banging around a little. We had breakfast got our foul weather gear on and prepared for a wet and rough dingy ride to shore. I lined up on some markers I had picked out before we turned in last night. We appeared to be in the same place. The anchors were holding well. Of course we listened to the weather on the marine band which called for a cold front late in the afternoon. We planned to be back before then. But it was going to be a rough ride back. I dropped an extra bailer in the dink for the ride back. The wind would be picking up more as the day wore on. By the time the front got here the wind would be blowing 25 knots along the leading edge from the south.

I got in the dingy and Georgene handed me a couple of coffees and a thermos full. I fired up the little motor George got aboard with life preservers and a couple back packs. With dry cloths just in case and some lunch. Food would be expensive ashore. We started off heading almost into the waves. I throttled back to keep the bow from throwing water and we very slowly made our way to shore.

When we got to shore we pulled the dingy way up amongst some trees , out of sight from the road or the water. I chained the boat to a good size tree took the motor off and carried it about 50 yards into the woods and hit it under an old wind fallen tree. I put it in a plastic bag and covered it up with leaves. I took a pine bough and covered my tracks so there would be nothing to follow. We walked back to the beach and I lined the boat up with the swing section of a bridge if the boat moved with the wind coming from the south I would be able to see it's change in position by the bridge. We were off to the museum and I was some excited. I had a good time and It was fun for my wife too as we saw things I had worked on and she remembered me talking about them. Of course we didn't make the actual articles that went into space but we built prototype models for testing. The equipment that went in space was built by the big companies that had ridged inspection procedure that we couldn't afford. Later in the day we rode out on the bus toward the launch site but not close at all. That was a disappointment as we could actually see the shuttle better from Wolftrap. I guess you can't expect them to take a buss load of tourists out to look with explosive fuels being handled.

I was feeling a little uneasy about our boat and was glad to get back to the dingy.

We got in the dink and put the engine down in the bottom with the engine head setting on top a couple fenders in case we took on water. I preferred to row as I could keep the boat turned stern to the waves . With a little backward rowing I was able to keep us from going too fast. And keep the boat lined up with the waves. All went well, but boarding was a bit wild with Wolftrap pitching and the dink ducking and diveing and trying it's best to go under Wolftrap's stern.. We got a board and had a slightly wildish ride until the front came through. The wind doubled in speed to nearly 50 knots but it was blowing across the river maybe a mile. Lightning cracked in the woods now to our stern thunder rattled the cups in the galley. The wind after the first gusts droped down to about 30 knots and swung farther to the north during the night. All in all it was a wild night and you can imagine how pleased we were with our anchoring job. There were no other boats within a mile of us so there was no worry there. By two A.M. The wind had slacked to about fifteen knots and all was right with the world. I was happy the winds would be light enough for a launch in the morning.

Sailboats Fair and fine# 51 : Read oldest posts first

Last night we lazed around in the cockpit listening to some nice music on a local radio station. The sky is full of stars overhead but there is a city in almost any direction you look. You can see the glow in the sky from each of them. The stars directly overhead are the only ones visible. We heard on the radio there was going to be a shuttle launch in three days which inspired me to gaze at the stars in amazement as sailors have done for thousands of years. I wondered how many and from how many lands and seas they looked up and were nearly over whelmed by the wonder of such a sight.

Well it was a sure thing with a shuttle launching in a few days that we weren't going anywhere until that was seen. I planned to get as close as the law would allow and watch.

Since we had several days we decided to go over to the cape and tour the museum and ride out to the launch pad and see the shuttle. We were very excited about the whole thing so Georgene and I studied the chart book to see how close we could get. We made a decision on an anchorage that would get us close but give us room to drag anchor if a storm moved us. The anchorage was on the east side of the Indian river. Cold fronts and squalls usual come from the west and they would put us on a lee shore if an anchor pulled loose.

We weighed anchor and headed on over there in a light breeze and we ghosted along at about two knots and marveled at how good it felt to not feel we needed to make five or six knots.

We sailed into our chosen anchorage and dropped three hooks. Wolftrap set right in the middle of them. We were in a fairly large body of water and we would be leaving her for for long periods of time during the days. I put down a Danforth to the north west and the plow to the southwest. To the East I put out an old Heshoff yachtsman about 25 lbs.

We were anchored in mud and the yachtsman though it might drag in mud would not let go. So if she moved it would be very, very slowly and the other two would have ample opportunity to pull in again. I felt pretty good about how we were anchored and I expected that the anchorage would be full of boats watching the launching. I hoped everyone else would do a good job anchoring their boats. We put the sail covers on and wrapped lines around them to be sure they couldn't blow free. It's not unusual to get gusts of wind to 70 knots in winter frontal thunderstorms. Feeling secure we took the dingy and headed for shore and a two mile walk to the Museum

We were really excited about going to see the space port. I had worked for years doing work for Nasa and felt I was a part of all this and it a part of me. My part was very small but it was big for in my mind.