A MYSTERY OF THE SEA FINALLY ANSWERED THANKS TO BERNARD MOITESSIER

Back in the mid 1990's I was on a 88 foot double masted schooner called the Ocean Star sailing out of Key West. I was there as part of a seminar at sea training course learning about nautical things like celestial navigation, radar plotting, etc... We anchored in the Dry Tortugas and then headed south where the plan was to sail close enough to Cuba to be able to see the mountain peaks such as they were while working using our sun sights for navigation checks. The first night out while sailing nicely along at eight knots we started to notice glowing objects in the water all around the boat as we sailed. They were of various sizes though most were the size and shape like a football. None of those on board including the Captain and crew had ever seen such glowing objects before. Many of us were familiar with the bio luminescence phenomena we had seen in harbors and beaches. But, these objects were much bigger.

THE VIEW FROM OCEAN CITY MARYLAND

Took a little road trip to spend a little time near the ocean:

Beautiful sunrise this morning at Ocean City Maryland. pic.twitter.com/9AQAL8GTLK
— Electric Sailor (@ElectricSailing) March 18, 2015

FROM THE USE WHAT YOU GOT FILE: MELTING THE ICE

Last season I bought an Angle Clamp that I planned to use to repair some joinery on board. The winter did not allow for any work on board. Though a blizzard blew enough snow through the cockpit hatches to fill the bilge with ice:

When the temperature finally reached the mid 50 degree range I was hoping that some of this ice would have melted a bit so I could start to remove it. Unfortunately, it was still a pretty solid block of ice, I took out the heat gun and tried to start melting  some of it. It did start to melt but, holding the heat gun for any length of time was tiring. So I looked around to see if I could use something that would hold the heat gun while I used a wet dry vac to start removing the melted water. The Angle Clamp looked promising:


I clamped the handle of the Heat Gun in the clamp and laid the clamp across the bilge opening. It worked somewhat but the heat gun drooped and was not directed onto the top of the ice. Since the heat gun can cause damage to wood and fiberglass if the heat is directly applied to them I needed to make sure  I could direct the heat to the areas where the ice was prevalent.  Looking around I saw one of the fiberglass fishing wire poles I use to occasionally fish electrical wires on board. I placed it across the bilge opening and under the handle of the heat gun. It allowed me to perfectly direct the heat onto the top of the ice while removed the melting water:

It worked great. I managed to remove about twelve gallons of the melted ice water over the course of a few hours. ONE NOTE OF CAUTION: I would not leave the heat gun on while unattended and also make sure keep it away from any combustible parts of the boats structure. 

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES

Another day with temperatures in the upper fifty degree Fahrenheit range. So I again went down to the boatyard to work on the boat. But, what a difference in the harbor from my Monday visit. Below a photo comparison of the view from the cockpit from Monday on the left to Wednesday on the right:

Things are definitely moving in the right direction.

SPRINGING AHEAD

With a temperature finally reaching the the mid 50 degree Fahrenheit range yesterday it was time again to get down to the boatyard. Unlike the last visit Long Island Sound was pretty clear except for a few patches of ice:

But, the harbor is still frozen over:

The good news I was able to pretty much get the last bits of the ice still remaining on the deck off of the boat:

Spring finally seems to be on the way and that means more time on the boat. Which is always a good thing.