CRITTER BITES
October 6, 2012
Sometimes being at the "top" of the food chain can have its challenges. For instance; if one is deep asleep and is awakened by mysterious itching from four symmetrical spots at 0230, one can expect that said spots came from some angry critter that did not like to be crushed or overheated and that said spots will cause investigations involving the crew. All hands on deck and find the perp. Thus it was a few minutes ago. The perp must have successfully escaped since no sign of the monster was found. OK, what next? Since the spots are in a pattern roughly that of a medium sized rattle snake, one must look for something with at least a one inch bite pattern. That rules out mosquitoes and such and with that size bite, using my best Watson face, said critter may still be on a rampage aboard and I am hot on its trail. Even if the spots subside and the itching goes away, we will declare chemical warfare aboard sometime after sunrise. The crew gets a two hour ride ashore as the fumigator weaves its way behind the cushions and bulkheads. That should do it----or not.
We have never been to a proper boat show until yesterday when I went to the US Sailboat show in Annapolis. There were shiny new sailing vessels from just about every maker and boy were they pretty. Lots of folks squawking and gawking and waiting in line to remove shoes and take a walk in the dream world of fifty footers. Between the purchase of said boats and putting to sea are many items required to complete the vessel. That's where the vendors occupying the other half of the show comes in. Amidst the vendor firing the saluting cannon every few minutes, yes, one can buy a new cannon for such purposes including one that would quite possibly double for a two pounder, and the snack tents, one can find anything, but anything for boats. There was stuff offered that even bored winter catalog cruisers never imagined. Does one really need a full stinger of carved mahogany bass? How about authentic hand drawn charts from the 18th century? How about a vacuum type head that will not wake the dead? One wonders how many folks buy a space age graphite rowing shell that hold two folks and weighs only 70 pounds. I was kidnapped by a gizmo that makes near perfect hose clamps from wire. I did not go aboard a single vessel yesterday but consider mission accomplished when I did spring for a new freezer for Why Knot. Perhaps we can actually keep frozen stuff in that state. To the purists among us, that's blasphemy but to this crew it is a good thing. As to those shiny new dreams afloat there, we'll leave them to the next generation.
It is now 0330 and the bites have quit itching, so I think I will mosey back to the rack. Before I do that, I went topside to sit for a bit in the cool air. There was a sole halyard slapping in the near calm conditions of this harbor. A single halyard tapping in the distance. There must be five hundred sailing vessels within a half mile of our slip and only one slapping halyard in the four knots of wind now. Wow! The other remarkable thing at first sight is the trawler with the most stuff I have even seen on a non-warship mast. Just how many antennas are required in life? It has three satellite antennas, three? And what's with all the lights? One gets to see stuff at 0330. Everyone should try it..