FLASHBACK TO A MISSING FLASHLIGHT

I was thinking about flashlights and an incident that occurred several years ago while I was cruising with BIANKA. I had taken the dingy into a dock. Since I did was not familiar with the harbor and it's security issues. I really don't even remember where it was. I decided it best that I secure the dingy with a security cable and a combination lock. I went into town, I think for dinner and came back to the dock where the dingy was after dusk. I went to unlock the dingy but, found my eyes could not read any of the numbers on the lock in the fading light. Try as I might my aging eyes just could not discern the numbers. It was late in the season and the summer crowds had long disappeared and it was getting cold. Did not look like anyone else would be coming to the dock that fall evening. I was a bit in a panic as it was not getting any lighter. I should have had a flashlight in the dingy but, had forgotten to put one in. I looked around and did not see any other boats that might have a flashlight I could use to unlock my dingy. Then I spied the Harbor Police boat tied up nearby. I thought it might have a flashlight I could use to unlock the dingy. It did. But, it also caused a little bit of a dilemma. Getting caught boarding a Police boat and even worse taking something off of it might be hard to explain. But, I was getting desperate as the evening grew darker and it grew colder. I bordered the boat and found a flashlight. I quickly went and unlocked my dingy and replaced the flashlight back on the Police boat without being noticed. I thought about this incident from years ago and how unlikely it would not happen today thanks to advancing technology. These days I would have my cellphone and  use it's flashlight app to light up the dingy lock. Of course one would have to remember to bring the cell phone along. But, I'm less likely to do that since it's usually in my shirt pocket.

 

A NEW MOORING

I was working on board the boat yesterday when there was a tap on the hull. It was the boat yard manager asking me what I wanted to do about my mooring since they were starting to set things up for the up coming season. We had talked about increasing the size of the mooring ever since I found BIANKA a thousand feet from it's usual location after Hurricane Sandy. The original mooring that held BIANKA since 1996 was 300 lbs. It did an admiral job until superstorm Sandy came ashore last year. I could have jumped up to 400 lbs but, he mentioned BIANKA's bow mounted mast that maybe 500 pounds might be better. I had to agree. Might as well go BIG and not push my luck this Hurricane Season. I drove out of the boatyard singing the Bob Dylan song  New Morning but, changed the lyrics slightly singing the chorus as "new mooring" instead.

HURRICANE SANDY: AFTERMATH DAY FOUR and FIVE

I am noticing a difference at night while living on board BIANKA. The harbor the first night on Tuesday had a different feel to it. Mostly because the lights of the beach parking lot and those houses in the surrounding hills were dark due to the power outages. The nearly full moon rose and played peak a boo in the swirling clouds that were the remnants of Sandy.  It was very calm and somewhat warm enough that I was able to have dinner in the cockpit and enjoy the scene.

On Thursday I drove home to check on the house which was still without power  and did some yard cleanup before returning to BIANKA for the night. It was comforting to return to BIANKA where I had power and food available thanks to solar and wind power which were doing a nice job keeping things topped up. But, I did fire up the generator as the cloud cover during the day did keep the 12 volt house bank a little under charged.  It did not take long to fully charge it and I used the waste heat from the Honda generator to totally dry the portion of the quit on my bunk that got wet from the open over head hatch. I enjoyed the nights dinner which was Pasta with Captain Mike's homemade Bolognese sauce. It was a colder night than the previous ones but, under the down quilt in BIANKA's cabin I did not notice it.

On Friday I bought the boat to the dock as the boatyard boss was getting antsy to pull her and put BIANKA in the special corner where I get a very nice harbor view over the winter as I work on projects. He wants to do this soon so that he can also put in other boats in front of her and fill up the yard. I've finished the water from the 50 gallon tank on board and switched over to the 30 gallon tank so I guess it's time to think about ending the season anyway. I tried grappling for the lost Honda BP-2 outboard but, I was not able to find it. I may try again over the weekend. A gusty wind kept the Marine Air-X wind turbine spinning all day  nicely adding some  amps into the battery bank and we had enough sun that I did not need to use the Honda 2000 generator to top things up. Driving home to check on the house I notice that gas has become an issue with many gas stations closed because of no supply and those that were open had long lines and Police directing traffic. This is not a crucial issue on an electric boat like BIANKA  the solar and wind generation are able to keep up with my demands while I live on board most days. I heard some scuttlebutt in the boatyard about hiring private security to keep an eye on things. As contractors in the area were finding it hard to find fuel for their trucks and a boatyard full of diesel fueled boats was a tempting target. As for me I will be hiding the half gallon of gas I have on board for the Honda generator and sleeping with one eye open.