WINTERLUDE 2014

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The mooring permit arrived in the mail the other day. Despite the snow still on the ground I really had to get down to the boatyard to pick up some documentation for the application. Also because I had not been on the boat since late December I really wanted to make sure things were ok on board. We have had several winter storms during January and I had visions of an ice filled bilge or worse. In addition a Nor' Easter was expected the next day which would make getting to the boat even harder if not impossible. So for all of these reasons I put on some boots and headed to the boatyard.

Like Robbie the boatyard manager told me a few days before there was still some frozen snow drifts making for a difficult walk to the boat but, not too bad. I used the folding ladder like a crutch or walking stick to help break through the frozen drifts. Soon I was in sight of BIANKA:

There was no snow underneath the boats but, icy  foot and half drifts along the sides. My boats southern location help keep the snow to a minimum around the boat so I could unfold the ladder. But, before I did I noticed the three foot icicles hanging down from some of the cockpit and deck drains:

Yeah, it's been a cold winter with very little thawing in between storms.  I'm going to be doing a close inspection of the cockpit drain hoses when things warm up for sure.  Just to make sure the ice build up has not damaged them. Climbing up the ladder I saw first hand how much snow we have had compared to previous winters:

Somewhere under all that snow is the cabin top and deck. Looks like it was a tactical error not to cover the boat this year. Previous winters for the past ten years had been rather mild and any snow did not stick around for long. Especially with the harbor waters helping to moderate the winter temperatures.

The cockpit was partially filled with snow. The solar panels on one side of the solar bimini were covered as well from the snow of last week:

So I was expecting the worse as I went into the cabin I had not seen since late December. But, to my surprise I found only about an inch of water in the bilge despite all the snow that hit the area:

The water was still way below the bilge switch but, unfortunately because of the recent below normal single digit temperatures the water was frozen.

 So I added a little more spare Antifreeze to the bilge and hope to come back again soon to remove the water when things warm up a bit. I still was relieved to see how little water had actually ended up in the bilge in the month and a half since I was last on board. I also checked the cover over the mast partner area of the boat and it was secure and things were completely dry by the mast step:

Despite the solar panels having been partly covered by snow I was glad to see the batteries were still fully charged. Though I turned on both battery charges to make sure they would get a little top up too while I was on board. I also took out the small ceramic heater and fired it up:

Soon things were nice and toasty. I took off my boots and warmed the insides as well as my toes after trudging around in the 20 degree temperatures and snow drifts  to get to the boat. This little heater works very well to warm up the cabin on a cold winters day. I stayed on board about an hour. Picked up the paper work I needed. I took one last look at the winter view of the docks:

The  undisturbed snow on the dock makes it seem like spring is so far away.  But, after the snow storm last night temperatures reached up to 40 degrees fahrenheit this morning and started to melt much more of the snow. This gives me hope that my next trip to the boat will be a lot easier and warmer.  

COLD ON THE SHOULDER

I've been trying to get down to the boat to check on things. I was away for the month of January so the last time I checked on things was late December. This winter has been particularly cold and snowy. I tried to get down there last week but, the boatyard is not plowed and there was no place to park on the street. Then this morning I called the boatyard and discussed the possibility of coming down and checking on the boat. Robbie who runs the yard advised against it. He said the snow from last week is now covered with ice making it kind of dangerous walk down to the yard. Especially carrying a ladder. In the meantime  Mr. NOAA reported:

"A STRONG WINTER STORM IS POSSIBLE FROM WEDNESDAY NIGHT INTO

THURSDAY EVENING. ALTHOUGH THE EXACT TRACK...TIMING AND INTENSITY

ARE STILL UNCERTAIN...THE POTENTIAL EXISTS FOR SIGNIFICANT

SNOWFALL OF 6 INCHES OR MORE."

Just great! At this rate it will be spring before I get back on board. All the winter projects are on hold too. So I decided to check on conditions out on one of the sound weather buoys:

 Thirty Two degrees fahrenheit! Looks like it is going to be a long time before things warm enough to start swimming too!  

A FEW SECONDS OF NATURE: Frigatebirds

The cold winter, snow and unplowed boatyard have been preventing me from checking on the boat this past week. Trying to keep warm thoughts and hoping spring is on the way in the meantime. Came across some video taken in Belize a few years ago when I was in warmer latitudes:

ANOTHER GOOD REASON FOR HAVING AN AIS TRANSPONDER

I installed an AIS transponder on board BIANKA two years ago. It seemed like a good idea to me. At times when sailing I've been surprised by a tug and barge sneaking up behind my at certain choke points like Execution Rocks on Long Island Sound. Situations that had me wondering now where did he come from?  Having AIS gives you a heads up of where those BIG boats are and what they are doing. Having an AIS transponder lets those other boats know what you are doing or at least your name so they can call it out on the VHF. Instead of saying "white sailboat sailing southwest by buoy X.  Also when navigating places like New York Harbor or the Hudson River it really comes in handy for both boats to make and see the subtle changes in course that eliminate the possibility of a collision. In short it gives everybody some piece of mind.
Recently on a foggy winters day off Long Island another very good reason for having an AIS transponder on board became clear. A tugboat named SEA LION was sinking rapidly off of Long Island coast in a thick fog. Captain Bjoern Kils of NY Media Boat was in the area on the boat APERTURE when he heard:

"MAYDAY. This is the ‘Sea Lion’. We’re sinking. Men in the Water.
Water in the wheelhouse. This is our last transmission. We’re going down." - NYMEDIABOAT

The Coast Guard rebroadcast the Sea Lions coordinates but, somewhere things got broadcast, copied or heard wrong:

"I wrote down the numbers and plotted the coordinates. The location showed close to Lake Champlain in upstate New York, about 180 miles to the north, making it unlikely that I was able to hear the actual radio transmission from the ‘Sea Lion’ so clearly. I deemed the given coordinates as improbable and started working my on-board navigation system pulling up a list of close-by ships. Most commercial vessels are outfitted with an AIS transceiver as part of an automated tracking and collision avoidance system, so chances are that they were still transmitting.
There she was! SEA LION — right on top of that list with a position only about two nautical miles to the south of my location. Putting down the throttle, we made it to the scene in just a few minutes, running 35 knots in 6-foot seas and less than 200 feet visibility."  -NYMEDIABOAT

As Captain Kils said after the rescue:

“I think it's fair to say that the AIS system saved these guys’ lives,” Kils says. “The coordinates broadcasted by the Coast Guard were 180 miles to the north of the sinking vessel — I’m not sure why. By working my AIS system I was able to mark the Sea Lion’s actual location. Realizing I was only 2 nautical miles away from her position enabled me to respond, resulting in a rescue, not a recovery.”- SOUNDINGS

The crew of the Tugboat were very lucky to have been rescued so quickly in those frigid waters. While mistakes can happen when humans try to get out location  coordinates in panicky emergency situations working electronic systems like AIS are dispassionate and will keep broadcasting the GPS coordinates until the power is lost. In this case it saved four lives. Thanks to Captain Kils and another boat in the area and having an AIS transponder on the sinking boat.
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AMEC CAMINO-101 Class B AIS Transponder
Garmin AIS 600 Automatic Identification System Transceiver w/ Programming
Raymarine AIS650 Class B Transceiver - Includes Programming Fee

PETE SEEGER'S LEGACY A SAILOR'S APPRECIATION

"What can a song do? What can a sailboat do? Some would say music exists just to soothe or distract people from their troubles. Some say sailboats are just rich men’s toys. Wrong, wrong. In the summer of 1969 they helped to start cleaning up a river." -Pete Seeger

Pete Seeger passed away earlier this week at the age of 94. I think of him often when I take BIANKA sailing on the Hudson River. Usually it might for a just few days to spend some time enjoying one of my favorite anchorages near Hook Mountain. But, I have also taken my boat on up the river all the way up to Albany when I sailed my boat into Canada for a Nonsuch Rendezvous back in 2002. To me Pete Seeger's legacy will always be his efforts to raise awareness and money in efforts to clean up the Hudson through his help in founding  of the Clearwater organization in 1966. The efforts of he and others have paid off so much that the Hudson River known as  America's River because of it's place in history is considerably cleaner today than it was just a short time ago. So much so that people including me can once again swim in it's refreshing waters.  One of his major efforts was helping to raise money to build the CLEARWATER a 106 foot gaff rigged replica of a Hudson River sloop. The type of sailing vessel  that plied the Hudson in the 1800's. I often come across it sailing in my cruises to New York and elsewhere.

I'm sure that like the Hudson River every time I see the CLEARWATER from now on from the cockpit of BIANKA I'll always remember Pete Seeger and the efforts of he and others in helping to clean up one of America's most beautiful waterways and start singing one of Pete Seeger's tunes about the Hudson River.

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How Can I Keep from Singing?: The Ballad of Pete Seeger

My Dirty Stream (The Hudson River Song)

Sailing Down My Golden River

FISHING WITH A PURPOSE

I have rarely fished from BIANKA despite often having fish jumping around the boat in the evening. I keep thinking about it from time to time. But, until I implement the stern washdown system the idea of cleaning the deck after catching and cleaning the fish seems like a lot of work for a boat that stays on a mooring and not at a dock. Then I came upon this story of a charter boat captain who routinely tags and releases fish he catches. One of his tags showed up after 16 years on a 1,200 pound Blue Fin Tuna:

"In 1997, Anderson was working the Mudhole, a fishing spot southeast of Block Island. A man on his boat caught a very young bluefin tuna, weighing just 14 pounds. Anderson, of course, tagged it and returned it to the ocean.
As the years passed, bluefin tuna grew ever more valuable and ever scarcer while Anderson continued to take sport fisherman out to sea aboard his charter boat, the Prowler.
Then, about a month ago, a fisherman out of Nova Scotia was tending his longlines about 700 miles offshore when he hauled aboard quite a catch. It was a bluefin tuna weighing an estimated 1,200 pounds."

I might start doing the same there would be less mess and I would not have to worry about constantly cleaning the boat and not always feeling obligated to eat the fish I caught. But, I would also be helping to advance the study of the world's fish stock. Something to think about.


Tuna: An Angler's Guide to a Great Gamefish
Giant Bluefin
Tales of Swordfish and Tuna

ELECTRIC PADDLE MAINTENANCE

I mentioned in my review of the Electric Paddle outboard a few weeks ago that it looked like the only maintenance it needed was to dip the lower unit in some fresh water and let it drain. But, in rethinking that there is one other maintenance procedure that I needed to do. That was to put some Tef-Gel on the motor lock down screws. Which is easy enough to do even on a mid winter check on the boat. The Electric Paddle is light enough and has no potential leaking fluids to worry about so working on it on the cabin table is possible:

It takes on a minute to apply the Tef Gel to the hold down screw threads:

Then some turns of the screws to distribute the lubricant on the threads and you are done. Like the Thoosa 9000 electric propulsion system on BIANKA the Electric Paddle outboard requires  minimal maintenance. Leaving more time for sailing or working on other projects.

SONGS FOR SAILING: Albatross

I've come upon a new song to add to BIANKA's MP3 player category of songs for sailing. I usually don't play music while under sail since I prefer the natural sounds of the water and nature. At anchor or while working on the boat over the winter it's nice to have a little nautical tune on the boom box. I don't know how I came upon it but, Fleetwood Mac's Peter Green composition  Albatross seems perfect for lazing in the cockpit on a starry night, laying on a coat of varnish or breezing along at four or five knots.

DIGITAL WATERS: Using the ACER C720 Chromebook

I am going to be traveling some place warm soon where my gal and I will be on board a forty five foot Catamaran and spending a part of the winter snorkeling, diving and just basically enjoying the warmth. Just like when I am on BIANKA these cruises unleash the creative juices and I wish I had my laptop with me to do some writing. I've been recently looking at the Google Chromebooks which are basically a light laptop that works primarily through the Internet . Not as full featured as a real desktop or laptop computer and does require access to a wifi connection in order to do a lot of things. But, it does come with a basic word processor and have some on board storage for documents in the solid state memory. It’s light and seems good for traveling. At around only two hundred bucks it seemed like a good thing to have even have as a backup to the laptop. So I bought one.

I choose an Acer C720 Chromebook
Both for price and the mostly favorable reviews. So far I am very happy with it and I’m doing everything I usually do with my laptop including writing this blog post. It boots up fast, much faster than the laptop and so far there have been none of those annoying updates and reboots that Bill Gates and company unleash on the digital world from time to time. So far so good though I have only been using it for about an hour.Acer C720 Chromebook

I took the above photo with my cell phone and downloaded it into the Chromebook and it loaded fast and looks as good as my laptop. I also went and checked out Active Captain:

Which is  another site I tend to use a lot when I am on cruising on the boat. Here too access was fast and graphics good. So as long as I have WIFI access which I can create easily with my cell phone acting as a modem. It looks like the Acer C720 Chromebook will work for me both when traveling and when on board BIANKA. I’ll post further remarks as I get to know it better but, the first two hours I’ve been able to make this blog post pretty painlessly. A good sign of things to come.

SONGS FOR SAILORS: High and Dry: Gordon Lightfoot

I went down to the boatyard to do one of my off season checks on the boat and there was BIANKA  high and dry patiently waiting for spring on the jackstands:

As I saw here there a Gordon Lightfoot song popped into my head called High And Dry from the 1970's album called Sundown.  It was an album I use to listen to when I was in High School which was a couple of years before I took up sailing. As the song played in my head I thought yeah this lament for a boat or a girl deserves a spot on my MP3 player:

With a lady-like devotion

She sails the bitter ocean

If it wasn't for lovesick sailors

There'd be nothin' left but flotsam

Singin' why me oh my

Is there a better man than I

I hope you find your way back home

Before you're lyin' high and dry

I hope you find your way back home

Before you die 

Though I'm having trouble deciding between two versions of the song there is the original High And Dry from the Sundown album. Then there is the High And Dry [1988 Version] from Gord's Gold Volume II. I just might have download both versions.