"I dont want to sound maudlin, but realize I probably do. this rain is pretty intense and starting to get to me. I have a few leaky spots on the boat and had to run around and empty my little catch basins before bed last night. one of them I had not noticed till after 9pm and then 'heard a noise' only to realize it was water dripping into the container. it holds about 2 quarts and was almost overflowing. granted it's been there sitting - unwatched - since februrary. but it almost overflowed. so I emptied it and 2 hrs later it had over an inch of water again.
When the rain starts it comes in waves and buckets and massive firehose running down.
Good news? My decks are washed. Everything outside is washed. (damn near washed away!)
Yesterday I ran by the store at the end of the day to provision in case i'm stranded aboard for days on end. they are predicting rain for another week. the trick is it might be just cloudy, or a 5 minute sprinkle and that counts. the trouble is it can be a multi-hour gully washer and you cant ever tell. Well I guess sometimes you CAN tell. yesterday with the thunder, lightening, wind directions change and sudden temperature drop, plus all the black clouds rolling in at 4pm I could TELL it's gonna rain! (I looked on weatherchannel and saw huge bands of thick colorful radar coming my way) I waited 30 minutes in my trapped rain soaked car for a break in the clouds. when it finally stopped I hurried to the marina and then down to the dingy docks. but then it started raining again. so I stood around under the 'Tiki hut' with several other drowned rats waiting another storm break. I got my chance after another 10 minutes. hurried down the dock to the dingy... to find about six inches of water in her. the gas can was floating around. so I set all my bags on the wet dock and climb into my little floating swimming pool and start bailing out the water. this takes about 10 minutes. Half way through it starts to rain again. (medium strength) I was soaked through my clothes in a couple of minutes. I continue to bail water, start the outboard and make my run for the boat. *the rain picks up and I have to stop and bail twice in the short motor to the boat. I'm soaked. all my groceries are floating in the dingy, but i'm home and have food.
Next will be sleep. I used 3 locations last night. I started on the cockpit cushions because it's cooler their with the breeze up on deck. But the rain drove me below decks. So I lay down on the salon lazarette, my 'living room couch' and fell fast asleep. It gets the best breeze and stays the coolest and freshest. I slept there till about 1:30am when I woke and decided I was cold. (ha - cold? lets say it felt 'not hot') So I went to my aft cabin and crawled into my queen size bunk and past out. I slept well till 6:30a when I awoke and started checking my water buckets throughout the boat...
now i'm drinking coffee and checking email. (I got email access on the boat from a rental property over on shore. A group of Canadians shared their password with me, but that's another story) - Running now. Skip"
Sister Lynn, 'the question sister' replied:
1. You do not sound maudlin-- you sound miserable!! It sounds like an ugly, hot start to the wet season and you should move yourself asap!
2. As a non-sailor, your depiction of trying to sleep and the giant chore of getting groceries in a sinking dingy are eye-opening. They need to be posted to your blog. I'm sure you don't want to be "whiny" to your sailing readers, but to the rest of us, it's fascinating in the same way a road wreck is to someone who is driving by and gawking and thanking god it wasn't them.
How far is your boat from the dingy dock? In my mind it's fairly close and you could just get feet wet and take off with 6" of rain sloshing around (too heavy? too far?)
Lynn i DID get my feet wet. (i was wet head to toe) It's about a ten minute dingy ride from boat "when you let go of the boat and start, till you touch the dingy dock." Then you also have to raise and lower the dingy, plus tie it up at the dock. *see my attached satellite view with anchored boats. you have to dodge them and you have to go slow. (there are speed rules enforced in the marina) also note the numbers 1 & 2 where i stopped to bale out water again. (my groceries were starting to float in the water - inside the dingy) I'm not worried about my sailing friends thinking I'm whiny. They are probably laughing reminded of similar times when they got trapped out in a pouring rain - in their dingy... "If it's gonna happen, it's gonna happen out there!" - Captain Ron
i got to shore this morning (after waiting about 20 minutes for a shower to blow through) and watched SEVERAL people out sitting in their dingy's bailing water from last nights rain. The first thing i did was go to the shower house and get ME a nice fresh shower!
Now i'm in the Public Library typing this Blog post. - Dry Cool Captain Skip
PS. I mentioned going to the store. Publix, the largest local supermarket. Imagine my total surprise to come round the aisle and see this lady in front of the meat case with her parrot on her shoulder. It's the keys baby! (4yrs old)
