San Diego: others
San Diego: others
These past three weeks have been a period of refinement. Almost every day I’ve gone through stowage areas, moved objects around the cabin to make those I use most frequently more convenient and eliminated others. I am not a shopper or a hoarder, yet it is curious how stuff accumulates, even on a small boat.
As I’ve mentioned, among the things I’ve disposed of were the paper copies of H.O. 249, the Air Sight Reduction tables, and a whistling tea kettle. The latter I bought automatically when I bought GANNET. You have a boat: you have a tea kettle. A given. But I discovered that the JetBoil renders a tea kettle superfluous. And GANNET is too small for superfluous.
I left the tea kettle beside the trash containers in the boat yard. As I expected it was gone the next morning. Perhaps to one of the boat yard workers, perhaps to someone on another boat.
That same day I put two volumes of H.O. 249 on a shelf in the marina laundry room.
A reader, Ken, asked about that. Perhaps my response is of general interest.
While I think that everyone who goes to sea should have a sextant and know how at least to take a noon sight, which provides latitude, the reality is that today that is a distant backup to GPS. I have four or five GPS units, including the iPad. All are handheld, Mostly cheap Garmin eTrex units. I don't expect that all are going to fail, but have a sextant anyway. When I was unexpectedly gifted the iMariner app and found that it contains all the information in the Nautical Almanac and H.O. 249, I decided to get rid of the paper books. The two volumes of H.O. 249 I had are very big books and presented problems with stowage on GANNET.
There is a third volume of H.O. 249 that has star information I've never owned because I long ago settled on using only sun sights. Even before I went blind in my right eye, I had visual problems that made star sights difficult, and the timing didn't fit into the rhythms of my life at sea.
The paper copies of 249 were back up for back up, and while I believe in duplicating essential systems as much as possible, on GANNET going to the third level of redundancy is excessive.
I would probably not be replacing the Torqeedo with oars if installing a self-steering vane wouldn't make using the outboard bracket impossible. I could figure out another way to mount the Torqeedo, but there are secondary advantages of getting rid of it. Oars will weigh about 25 pounds less, and interior stowage will be simplified by not having the Torqeedo and batteries on board.
Small boats demand strict discipline. Certainly GANNET does. So 249 and last year's Nautical Almanac went. I put them on a shelf in the marina laundry area and they were gone the next day. I am curious if whoever took them knew what they are. I hope so and that he or she makes good use of them.
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James from the West Coast sent me a link to a beautiful YouTube video of para-hawking. At least some of the footage appears to have been shot off Torrey Pines, just north of La Jolla. Less than two minutes that will be among the best of your day.
Thank you, James.
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I thank Dave for sending me this quote from E. F. Knight:
“I do not hold, as some do, that to be able to stand up in one’s cabin is an essential on a small yacht. If one wishes to assume an erect position one can always go on deck.”
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A couple of weeks ago NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, or “NatGeo”, now that attention spans are so diminished that everything must be abbreviated, started a tumblr feed, which I now check most mornings.
These are not the usual spectacular NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC photos. More like snap-shots you might have found in some relative’s attic, if that relative had travelled widely. I believe that most have never been published before.
The link: http://natgeofound.tumblr.com
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I pause. Suddenly quiet. No sea lion barking. There. An engine in the distance.
I’m waiting for a UPS delivery to the marina. A replacement forward hatch. Treadmaster for the cockpit. A replacement depthsounder.
Perhaps it is only an illusion, but I like to believe I’m making progress.
Friday, March 29, 2013