As it happens we were more than prepared.
The wind howled and the rain poured. We danced a little piling jig for a few hours and discovered a few new leaks that only appear when continuous heavy rain falls. The most frustrating one was right over our bunk. We were too tired to do anything other than a bit of 3 am plumbing, in the form of a piece of dowel held in place by tape so it could carry the drips down an angle to a pot.
Early the next morning it was freezing cold and the stillness made us think we were in the eye and would be slammed by the other side in a few hours.
I went out to take stock of any damage and prepare for part 2.
But we were in good shape. The tide was very high and we were in fact cut off from the shore by the short bridge to the floating dock. I checked all the lines to the pilings and we had a little chafe on one of the forward lines.
It turned out that it wasn’t the eye, it was the end of the storm.
That was it.
One of the worst hurricanes in US history and we don’t even have a decent story to tell the grandkids one day.
On Thursday the long awaited roller furling systems for the main and mizzen masts arrived and we have them all neatly stowed in a garage. On Friday we stripped off the old sails and stackpacks and carted them up to the garage too.
Before we can install the Rollerfurling gear we have to strip off the current battcar system. We got Tom strapped into the bosun’s chair and I started cranking him up the mast so he could drill and use the impact screw driver to strip off the old track. Neither of us have heads for heights, but he got close to the first spreaders before he had to leave for the day.
Sandy must have been having one of her ‘other twin’ days... she’s a Gemini, because she decided she wanted to have a go at stripping the track off the mast.
We went to the mizzen mast and she learned how to use the impact screwdriver on some of the lower sections we could reach without the bosun’s chair.
Then I strapped her in and started to hoist her up the main mast.
There was a biting cold wind, but blow me down if she didn’t get way up between the first and second spreaders, nearly 2/3rds the way up the mast. But then she looked down and suddenly decided she’d more than done her bit!
We have so little time left and still so much to do. My short list is now longer than my long list!
I'm starting to understand why it took Noah over a hundred years to build the ark.
A few weeks ago I ordered a new dinghy. Our old one was totally useless with leaks all over the place. I’d seen this particular dinghy on the Buster’s Marine stand at the Annapolis Boat Show.
I specifically picked one that has a locker in the bow so that a small anchor can be kept along with anything else we want to leave in the dinghy, out of sight and secure.
The dinghy arrived and as soon as I broke it out of its packing crate we discovered it had no locker.
I phoned the dealership in New York and the owner sounded as surprised as we were that it didn’t have the locker. He promised to get onto the factory and call me back. Three days later he still hadn’t got any answers, and I told him he’d better come and pick up ‘his’ dinghy because the hurricane was coming. I lashed the dinghy down for the hurricane and started trying to chase them again right after the hurricane was over.
No response to emails and the phone just rings out.
So, I called Mercury Marine, it’s a Mercury inflatable, and they admitted there had been a problem with the brochures showing this model with a locker when in fact it doesn’t have one. I’m hoping they will do the right thing and let me upgrade to the next model at a very low cost.
They suggested I try to sort it out with the dealer, and when I told them it was Busters, they said it will be months before he is back in business. He is having to totally rebuild his building after hurricane Sandy! I guess my complaint is not his biggest problem right now.
We've enjoyed watching the season change here. The geese flying in with their strange honking sounds is so new to us.
But I think America is trying to get rid of us. First the hurricane and now it has turned seriously cold here, in fact it's 10 degrees below average for this time of year. We're nudging zero degrees.
I wonder how much longer it will be before the squirrels disappear for the winter.
We were so sure we’d escape winter’s cold, but it seems to have caught us.
Until next time...