Commander #65 "Lucky Dawg"

[Lucky Dawg]

Sailed Lucky Dawg to Muskegon Friday - about a third of it in the rain. I was in a borrowed slip in Grand Haven waiting for a convenient time to move her north to Muskegon and they rented the slip "You need to be out by noon" - I think they believed me to be a squatter. Anyway, it turned out to be a really nice sail once the rain stopped. In all of my sailing years, that is actually the first time I have left port in the rain. Luckily the sail was a beam reach at hull speed all the way, so the rain from the main wasn't dripping on my head as it would have close hauled. I offered to take Sadie out of school for the day to accompany, but "uh, Daddy... it is raining..." (with a very teenager sounding "duh!" in her 6 year old voice.)

Got to try out my new automatic bilge pump system, hardwired GPS, new electrical panel, and upgraded prop with 8 vs 8 1/2 pitch. Also discovered that chromed winches don't work very well in a downpour, and that, though I don't fancy a bimini, some sort of canvas hatch cover could be helpful while underway in the rain. Upgrade pictures to follow.

p.s. looking at the main page, I see I have now highjacked 3 out of 4 sub-forums. Sorry!

[Lucky Dawg]

New panel. Added an auto / man bilge switch - my original (from PO) just plugged via duplex and a lighter plug into the 12v; a battery meter through a 3way SPDT switch that will accomodate a second battery at some point - stays in the center-off (non draining) position unless needed to check battery level; and a simple West panel. What you can't see is the 3/8" pilot light that illuminates on the reverse side of the bulkhead when the bilge activates. A Don Casey idea that made sense to me. Wire over the top of the box is my hardwired GPS cable that reaches the GPS bracket on the bulkhead. I am quite pleased with my first shippy electrical project.

picture 1 - the mess that was inside the box - complete with wire nuts... and some interestingly connected circuits....
picture 2 - lots of extra notes and ID tags so I could remember what was what - and of course my handy dandy owners manual at my side
picture 3 - finished product.

[Lucky Dawg]

We spotted and sailed around this lady yesterday. The 185' Europa from The Netherlands - headed for Chicago for Tall Ships 2010 taking place this week. We'd missed the fleet at our home port while vacationing in Chicago.

Really remarkable to see up close - and a bit intimidating to round her bow!

more pix of this beautiful ship at http://www.google.com/images?q=Europ...w=1259&bih=606

[Lucky Dawg]

...about not much weather. They were expecting things to be a little more critical, hence Weather Channel folks on the beach this morning at Lucky Dawg's home port of Muskegon, MI. Saw this on TWC while at the gym:

http://www.weather.com/outlook/video...ecast-4276#464

Sustained storm force winds at 50kt forecast and building to 10-15 footers until tomorrow evening. http://www.wunderground.com/MAR/LM/848.html

Even since this AM, the waves are getting more impressive - http://surfgrandhaven.com/640cam2.php (4 rotating views) (for perspective, the outer and inner lights are 36 and 56 feet off the pier - and the pier is about 8' off flat water.)

I find all this wind and water power pretty amazing.

[CapnK]

Talking about weather -

We had a storm about 3-4 weeks ago, when that tropical system was down by Cuba with a band of moisture streaming all the way up the East Coast. Worst I have *ever* seen it here, in ~7 years of living aboard. Started around 1AM, and in no time at all, we had honest 4-5' swells running through the marina.

My boat was in the slip next to the Walker Bay dinghy, below. The end of that dock *should* be attached to the dolphin behind it, about 8' feet away. Within 15-20 minutes of the storm starting, that had given way and so I had nothing to attach Katie to. If you look close, you can barely see a black hook on the dolphin at the point where the 2 lower pilings meet the taller. There is another black hook on the solo piling, mid-point of the power boat in the background. Those hooks were under the tops of the waves.

The wind was coming straight across the Bay thru that gap you can see in the background, sustained at over 50, gusting I believe to hurricane strength. The airport 8-10 miles inland registered a 64mph gust.

When I was on top of waves, I saw others that were nothing but a wall of whitewater completely filling that gap, and the keel of that old Cris Craft more than I ever care to again. At the bottom of the waves, that view was completely hidden from view by water. Just sitting in the cockpit, I frequently had to hold on with two hands, because the boat was bucking so bad, getting slammed when the dock lines would catch her up (but she never, not once, shipped water over the stern! Even with all that was happening, I was amazed...). It was about then that I realized being onboard would soon become seriously hazardous to my health, and that there was absolutely *nothing*, nothing at all, that I could do about the situation; it was, in a word, overwhelming.

I never ever thought I would say this, certainly not while berthed in a marina but - I abandoned my boat, clutching a small duffel bag of what I could grab fast that would help me earn the money to buy all-new stuff, including a boat. I thought she was gone. When I came back on deck, I found that the dock had literally broken into pieces while I was packing that duffel. Took me 3 attempts to get from my boat to the dock, then had to make it across the pieces pictured below, in the midst of all the above. Craziness. In the end, Katie made it out just fine; the storm laid down really fast in 10-15 minutes after I left her, before everything broke *all the way* loose, and boats were actually banging against and sinking each other...



Here's the view from standing next to the stern of the Hunter in the above picture.



I hope I never go thru that again, and that nobody else has to, either!