Kaimusailing

The day after the Chinese motor came to life, really came to life, not just barely running, we were forecast to have a cold front come through complete with tornado warnings, high winds, 100 per cent rainfall, and in the morning the wind was already up. Maybe 15-20. I had no particular reason to go ashore, the mast was ready, the crossbeam was ready, the Chinese outboard was running, I could stay on board and not brave the rowing exercise in the stiff breeze.
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But I went anyway, after bailing the water out of the dinghy, and soon wondered if I had made a bad decision. The wind took me not toward the boatyard, but toward the North shore of the North River, a marsh. I ended up in the reeds. The dinghy was almost swamped. The wind didn’t have any lulls but kept increasing. I bailed out the dingy while the wind drove it into the reeds. Could I ever get out. Meanwhile Ken who had just returned from a sojourn in the Bahamas flew past on his inflatable planing on the water pretending not to notice me.
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I could use one of the oars to pole the dinghy toward the wind and row with the other oar to keep heading for the safety of the boatyard’s floating dock. It was hard going and I ended up in the reeds again and again had to bail out the dinghy. A power yacht was coming to the boatyard and they were having trouble with the wind. It was blowing like stink and I was getting hit with spray.
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I continued working my way to the dock and finally got there and tied the dinghy up. I wondered why I ever left Kaimu. The floating dock I was standing on was attached to the travel lift well, a sort of slip where boats could come in and get lifted out by the travel lift. The power yacht I had seen earlier was Stylist, a boat that used the boatyard many times before, but now they were pinned against the piling at the entrance to the well. The wind was howling. The boatyard workers, the yardbirds, had concerned looks and they jumped around with boathooks, grabbed lines, and somehow got the Stylist into the well and hoisted her.
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I put my things in the woodshop and then went to the Barn on the other side of the boatyard where Doc’s Chop Shop is located and I started the Chinese outboard again. Cold engine. Second pull. I really didn’t have any tasks to do, I went back to the woodshop and got on the computer to look at the weather report.
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Everybody was talking about tornado warnings and when it would hit, the cold front. I could see online weather radar and the front was at Tallahassee and coming our way. Someone asked what time it was and I said eleven thirty four. They said the front would hit at one. I wanted to make a lunch of beef ramen noodles before any of this happened. As I organized ramen noodle lunch people came into the woodshop and didn’t do any woodwork, they talked about this weather phenomenon. Then everyone was gone. I was alone with the wind outside increasing. I could hear a boat grinding on its jackstands. Big dust clouds were billowing up from the boatyard.
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I began working on Lynn’s printer which was in the woodshop to be checked out and finally installed on her computer. She had an installation disk but no disk drive for it on her Toughbook CF-19 laptop. I downloaded the same software from Epson and installed it. After all the usual Windows BS there was no new printer on her laptop, but a new scanner. I did this twice and it took a bit of time.
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There was the sound, in the rising wind, of a sail filling and barking, filling and barking, someones genoa was coming out of the rollerfurler. It was now raining and it was at least gale conditions. I couldn’t see what boat the noisy sail was on, but I could see the sail up in the array of masts, barking as it flapped full and then collapsed only to do it again and again. I wondered about Kaimu out at anchor, also I had new solar panels that might become airborne in enough wind.
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Ron the carpenter seemed worried. Earlier I had helped him by taking his vacuum off a boat project and used it to try to inflate an old deflatable dinghy, then I put it away under cover, out of the way for the inevitable rain. But now he had to take off and take care of something. Just a bit later, Paul, the owner of the trawler Ron was working on, came in looking for Ron. I don’t know he just ran out of here to do something. Everyone was jittery. It seems to happen when the weather changes like this.
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Jane the English professor and captain of Integrity II came around and we talked about the bedding job on her companionway. She was worried about the tornado warnings and thought the building with the woodshop would be a safe place to be. I said that her boat with its lead keel and supported by a cradle with integral jackstands would be safer. Just then the first gust hit. More dust flew up. A few raindrops. Jane ran back to her boat to get aboard for safety and check out those leaks.
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This wind was as severe as hurricane winds that have hit this boatyard. I saw Rocky’s partner and mother of Clayton, Missy, in the metal shop trying to open the door. It turned out she had been blown right across the boatyard and ran into the shop and the wind had closed the door. She had been working on a yacht and it was the one with the flapping genoa, and she was on the phone with them about what to do.
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Meanwhile I was totally frustrated with Epson’s installation package for the printer. I deleted it all and downloaded and installed individually all the drivers needed for Lynn’s printer. Outside there was rain and I had concern for Kaimu, but couldn’t go out to see if everything was OK, too rainy. The individual drivers and utilities worked out well and I printed the Windows Koala picture that comes with the Windows software. The printer was slow but the picture was perfect.
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Missy came to the woodshop to tell us about rolling up a genoa in a gale. OK. We know about that. She was excited and said she would never go out on a sailboat. The owner of the boat was trying to help her, but he was on crutches with a broken ankle and the high winds it must have been an adventure. The look on her face was of high satisfaction. She should go out on a sailboat.
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Meanwhile it was only about mid afternoon but rain was still falling, but then there was a lull, and I realized I better get going arowing out to Kaimu before the second part of the front hit, the kicker. I got stuff sorted out and took a bike ride around the yard. It was early to leave the yard, but it was the right time.
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Down at the floating dock, which was not floating, aground, and my dingy also aground, the guy that sold me the Chinese outboard for $40 was looking up at the stormy sky. I hailed him and said I got it running. He was enthusiastic about it. I then had to drag the dinghy after I bailed it out again around the dock and then jumped in with my backpack on my back and my heavy wooden clunky oars and tried to move it. We were stuck in the muck. By using the oars as poles I could put all my weight on them and nudge the dinghy forward a bit. Bit by bit I got it into shallow water. The tide was very low.
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The wind hadn’t abated from earlier. I knew it would be a struggle to work this homemade dingy into the wind which was now right on the nose. I rowed and sometimes had to lift the oars from their sockets and push, we were in shallow waters. We rowed into the chop and the boat felt heavier as the broken bow of the dinghy allowed more of the wave tops to topple in. But we made it. I tied up to Kaimu and climbed aboard and let the dinghy lie on her painter. The strong winds hadn’t sent anything overboard. A short while later the second whammy of the cold front came through and a steady rain began to fall.
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The image was taken of the wind gusts stirring up the dust when the storm started in the boatyard.
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