12/18/2014

Rain Dripping

At the risk of sounding a bit spoiled at the fine weather we usually have this time of the year on the Coastal Bend of Texas, a few days ago a frontal passage brought about several days of 45 degree temps and a constant drizzle. It was not enough to get one wet very fast and reminded me of the initial onset of monsoons in the jungles of SE Asia. Stay out long enough and even one’s soul gets damp. That was the kind of wetness Bear and I enjoyed starting the second day after leaving Port Aransas (Port A) a few years ago. We left on a very sunny day and two days later that changed. We spent a week in a port waiting for the winds and bitterly, at least for us, cold winds to lay a bit. For the next two weeks, February had its way with us as we sailed through the swamps of Louisiana. It was not uncommon to have the droplets freeze overnight on the dodger. We actually sailed little since we were in the traffic of the ICW west of Harvey Lock. Had it not been the start of the great adventure, we most likely would have stopped and waited for warmer weather. We had no idea just how far our cruise would take us nor how long it would last.

Why Knot now sits as she did before we left without all the solar panels, fuel cans on deck and generally all the stuff on deck such as bicycles and such. To look at her now, she appears to be a weekender never to sail beyond the sea buoy at Port A. She looks like she has spent sixteen years just day sailing. A closer look reveals dings and scratches, spider cracks in gel coat and a dodger in need of replacement. That will happen perhaps this next year.

Most folks look at cold, wet days as a reason to stay indoors. Most do not know what a joy it was at the time to have cup of really hot coffee at the helm during a drizzly time at sea. As much as I seldom wear socks these days, Bear came down stairs yesterday morning with a really thick pair for me to wear inside. Dang, I forgot how comfortable socks are on a cold morning because socks on deck in a drizzle have just the opposite effect.