Opua: tie rodded before lunch
Opua: tie rodded before lunch
Among the idiosyncrasies of my vision is that depending on which eye I look through I misread the luminescent hands on my watch at night. So I woke at 4:30, but thought it was 5:30 and got up.
As a long ago philosophy major and even, briefly, graduate student, I have an appreciation for the philosophical questions about what passes for reality and our perception of it. My visual perception of it is certainly altered. I am fortunate that modern cameras auto-focus.
After my almost-always-the-same breakfast of orange juice, vitamin pill, enteric aspirin, Lipitor--these last two are so commonly prescribed for those of us over sixty that someone, only half jokingly, said they ought to be in the drinking water, like fluoride--black coffee and uncooked oatmeal with trail mix, dried fruit and powdered milk, I worked on an article for a while, then rowed ashore.
I took the dodger with me for minor repairs and was walking across the marina parking lot when I saw the machinist riding a bicycle, which many workmen use to get around the marina and boat yard. Thinking I would save myself a futile trip to his shop, I flagged him down and was told that the tie rod was ready. Not only that, but the bill was only for just over $70 US, less than half of what I had expected. I don’t recall when that last happened.
The top of the tie rod is tapped and the base drilled for ¼” bolts, which is the size of the holes in the traveller.
Not wanting to have to row ashore again, I bought 2”, 2 ½” and 3” bolts. Those unneeded would end up in one of three plastics canisters I already have of miscellaneous bolts and screws.
I did not take the measurements for the tie rod. Matt of Ashby’s did. As I rowed back to HAWKE I found myself hoping he got the length right. He did. I shouldn’t have had a doubt.
Years ago, maybe decades, I read an article about investigating the causes of airplane crashes in which the author made the observation that Murphy’s Law--what can go wrong, will--is completely wrong. Things usually go right, which can led to complacency. Airplane crashes he concluded are almost always due to multiple things going wrong which collectively cascade into disaster. That is my experience at sea as well.
Today’s tie rod installation proved Murphy wrong again.
Last Wednesday I was at Paradise Bay. The Wednesday before tied to Ashby’s dock. I’m looking forward to watching my first Wednesday race start of 2011 in a few hours.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011