May 1, 2014

A beautiful sloop docked in the staging well nearby (place where they put boats prior to takeout). Whilst underway somewhere in Florida, it sailed under power transmission lines supposedly 88 feet above the water as marked on the charts. Her mast is about 60 feet from the water line to the antennas on the masthead. It is not clear if the wires were drooping down to mast height or something above that but the boat was subject to 80,000 volts and a zillion amps up close and sort of quick like. Though always different, huge electrical discharges almost always destroy the electronics, and sometimes the entire electrical system, both ac and dc. In this case, the surge blew the instrument pod off the steering pedestal. So, there you are sailing in a wonderful sun along the ICW enjoying music and great conversation when the instrument pod disappears in a cloud of smoke and plastic shrapnel. You notice smoke coming from the genoa tightly wound on the roller and the anchor no longer wiggles in the roller because it just welded itself in place. There is the acrid smell of ozone and body fluids. You check your paws to see if they are still attached or sticking to the wheel. Then it hits you that you are responsible for a brown out somewhere yet you survived a direct hit. Just a second or two later, after checking for fatal hull leaks and deceased crew it dawns on you that your cruise is over for the season and you just spent somewhere around seventy-five grand of someone's money, hopefully not yours.

We have seen two boats that have hit electrical transmission lines and thankfully the crews survived. The first one burned to the waterline while the crew paddled nearby. We have been hit directly and indirectly three times by lightening. The insurance adjuster told me that one should keep at least ten feet distance from overheard lines since arcing is possible over less distance. So, in addition to bridges that jump down and thump one, so can power lines. Seems sailboats are perfect paths for electricity to ground.

On a lighter note (literally), it has finally stopped raining. For the past three days, we have been a coastal flooding situation and some serious frog strangling rains not entirely unlike tropical storms. Our dock went under during a high tide and heavy rain once. It is hard to imagine how that much extra water can flood a harbor. So, my highly organized work schedule went out the door. The toe rail project should have given way to engine work but it did not. Instead, we spent three days dealing with an issue that put Bear in the hospital. Seems she had a serious reaction to some medications coupled with a minor infection. I though it was a stroke but after exhaustive testing an MRI, Ct Scan and x-rays, it was just the med issue.

I learned once again, that as much as I enjoy this boat in this place on this cruise, when Bear is missing, it is all worth nothing. Even Scurv agrees that we are crew and to quote a line from White Squall, "were we go one, we go all". Now we resume to the cruise. EEEEEEHHHAAA!

PS: please cut me some slack on spelling an grammar since I don't seem to be able to stop auto correct on my iPad yet and this is a tiny keyboard. That's my story and I am sticking with it.