Kaimusailing

It is a Sunday night and we had our favorite football games on radio, although they all lost. I fell asleep and woke up at a quarter to midnight, but only in the early evening in Hawaii, so I called there, which I always do, on Sundays.
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They were concerned, and they needed links to email and the website that hosts this blog. I was glad that I was awake, because a big wind was coming through the anchorage in Willoughby Bay. It grew and grew. I put the wind generator, the wind turbine, on line by connecting it with the starboard batteries. Then I put the inverter on line and it had the freezer and this computer on its load. The voltage dropped from 12.9 to 12.1. I knew the wind turbine would continue to put out and raise the voltage.
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The wind was in the 20-25 range and howled. I let out the big claw anchor to the bottom and monitored if it needed to be let out, i.e. didn't let out much rode. I let out more as needed, but the stupid little lunch hook Danforth held the boat throughout the blow. I had a marker to starboard, a boat that came in before the winds let loose, and I saw that not only were we not dragging, but maybe that boat was dragging.
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It was time for an overnight cheese and wine party. If we were going to stay awake on an overnight anchor watch then we must have cheese, crackers, and wine. The crackers were a discounted Townhouse brand that had NFL kick off party on the box. Perfect.
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The winds have persisted into Monday and I decided to run to shore to Rebel Marine Services to offload garbage and recyclables, pick up 10 gallons of water, and 10 of gasoline. Rebel Marine has no fuel capabilities on site, but they offer a loaner car to go to a gas station.
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I took a hot shower, then put laundry in, $1.00 per load, honor system, then took the loaner car to the gas station. After I got back I filled the water jugs and brought the water and gas down to the dock where the dinghy was.
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There was a lounge area and a couple were cooking massive amounts of food in the kitchen part of the lounge. The husband was cutting up a 50 lb. block of cheese and had a huge package of shredded potatoes. There was a huge kettle of chicken parts cooking on the stove. It turns out they were preparing for a huge pot luck dinner that they hold every Monday night. Monday Night Football? No, Dancing with the Stars.
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Rebel Marine had a peculiar vessel, called a tugantine, which was invented by the now deceased owner of the business. It is a tugboat with masts and a schooner rig. It was this vessel and its owner that started the Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race.
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After the laundry was dried, I rowed back to Kaimu with the jugs of gas and water. All this rowing was taking place in strong winds, so I was bushed. All that food cooking back at Rebel had me hungry. No lunch. I decided to deal with the freezer contents that were thawing and might go bad. I made a huge pot of meatballs with tomato sauce. I had some with penne pasta. It was cold enough to just put the big pot out on deck to cool down overnight.
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The persistent wind kept the wind turbine spinning but the starboard battery bank didn't get above 12.6V, a bad sign. I tested the open circuit output of the turbine and it was about 20V. My batteries are going bad.
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Because of the wind, going up the mast to fix the broken block up there was impossible. The forecast was for more wind, rain, ugh. It might pay off to fuel up and take the Intercoastal Waterway to Beaufort.
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The picture is of the masthead. The broken block is difficult to make out, but it is that dark area where everything comes together and the broken part is sticking out to the right. It is a part called a cheek and it looks like it has come loose from the rest of the block.