10/02/2010, I'd rather be Lucky than Good
What does a Cruiser think about when they are off the boat? The answer is The BOAT, especially when the boat is left in a marina during hurricane season. Between Lori and I, we must check www.eebmike.com 20 times per day to make sure THIRD DAY won't be threatened by a hurricane. Not to count our chickens (or hurricanes) before they hatch, but this year's Pacific hurricane activity has been far below the historical norms and some meteorologists are giving credit to this season's moderate La Nina weather pattern for the decrease in activity. La Nina, El Nino, or dumb luck, we will take it and be thankful. I've often repeated a line that my dad would use, "I'd rather be lucky than good" and if we can make it through the 2010 hurricane season without having to take evasive action or run from a hurricane we would definitely fall under the category of "lucky".
| Summer in the Mar de Cortez 2010 |
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Comments [2]
10/01/2010, Prepare to Abandon Ship!
The new boat came with a life raft that was last certified 15 years ago and was first made in 1975. Since we already had a new life raft, I didn't know what to do with it. The canister was huge, by modern life raft standards, and since the company told me that they wouldn't recertify a raft that as over 30 years old, there was no real way to verify that it would still work if the ultimate disaster happened and it was needed. More because we didn't know what to do with it than having a plan for it, we left it on deck when we left San Diego. We didn't feel right in giving it to a cruiser that would actually depend on it working, so we decided that it would make a great kid demo and float at the cruisers full moon party! So all the kids gathered around and Jason pulled the ripcord.
Pop....Bang!
She Floats
Then the Kid Testing Begins
Just the fact that it opened surprised me but the fact that it survived an afternoon with the kids was simply amazing, but now we still have the same problem we had before. Now instead of an old un-certifiable life raft in a container, we have an old life raft that has been opened to get rid of. We didn't want to just toss it in the trash and we are hoping to give it to one of the Yacht clubs here in Mexico for use as a demo unit at their various cruisers events.
As the kids played on the raft, the adults all looked on with the expression on their face of unease because the site of an inflated life raft raises some pretty ugly thoughts and fears about having to see one inflated next to their boat. The sounds of kids screaming while they played would be replaced with orders to abandon ship, and as most bad things seem to happen, it would be at 2AM.
| Summer in the Mar de Cortez 2010 |
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09/30/2010, ...again....
It's been so hot here in Santa Rosilia that even Cortez doesn't want to leave the air conditioned boat!
If it all goes as planned, by noon today we will be back in the USA and it will be Cortez , rather than the crew of THIRD DAY that is in a foreign land.
[1:40PM Update: survived the bus trip form hell...never again....rental cars from here on out!]
| Summer in the Mar de Cortez 2010 |
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