Fits well on the first try.
Coming up quickly, the first weekend in June, is the annual Chesapeake Float. A bunch of fine boating chaps I know, mostly from up in Baltimore/Delaware/Philadelphia area, get together for a three day boat camping weekend on the Bay somewhere. Most of them are the usual suspects you heard of here. Most have many years of experience sailing and camping in remote areas on the Chesapeake, and beyond. A good group of folks to know.
Hibernating for the Winter
The hoist took quite a bit of pondering. It needs to be easy to use, but strong enough to hang a boat for months at a time. Old problems tend to have many solutions, and lifting heavy objects is about as old as problems get. Often each method will create a new problem for every one it solves, so settling on the right combination required some thought. It can get complicated. Like friend Steve Early, I confess to a preference for simple tools. Well, in my case, it’s an actual need, a handicap, and I believe I go a bit further than even he does.
Door widened
Here’s a little project that’s been put off for awhile: making the old shed into a boat shed. This shed has already been enlarged once. Originally it was built for a Model T and not much else. Then extended. Then sort of sealed and insulated by someone for some reason, which failed miserably. It was also wired to make an excellent electrical fire hazard, which I quickly removed. It’s falling down already – the floor collapsing, the foundation crumbling. It does have a newish roof. Perfect for a boat shed, right?
Caught thinking. Frame grab from the video.
By request, here’s an extended version of the time lapse video of the building process. I made the short one first, knowing it would be easier to hold everyone’s attention for five minutes, but it does move too fast to see very much.
Moonrise on the reservoir
Every autumn, for the last few years, I’ve posted photos of the fall foliage here for friends and family who don’t get any. Did something a little different this time.
A couple of weeks ago, I took a row in the small local reservoir in the late afternoon, going from the dam all the way back up the creek that feeds it. The low sun set the trees on fire. These boats draw less than three inches, and it was a wonder to glide over water so shallow, well back into areas I had never been before.
Aeon at rest after a good run.
My desk faces two big windows. In the afternoon, the sun slants across the porch and peeks in. There’s a wisteria vine curtain that waves coyly if there’s any wind, and through the gaps are red and yellow maples that join in, shimmering. Further off still are woods, then mountains, a ripple of blue-greyed horizon, like distant surf. Makes it hard to get work done sometimes.
Tuesday was a beautiful day, a breezy day. I ignored it successfully and regretfully until it was too late to do anything with. Yesterday was much the same, though, and two in a row is just unfair. The Schooner Race posts will just have to wait a bit longer. Terri has her weekends in the middle of the week, so we loaded up Aeon and headed for big water, back to the Chickahominy. (Caesura gets no love until she muscles her way onto the trailer.)
The schooner “Quintessence” in the foreground during
the Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race in 2007
Winds are fluky. No wind. Some wind. Takes you one direction, then another. Never know where you’ll end up. Sometimes it can be a very pleasant surprise.
A few weeks ago an email landed in my inbox from a Traditional Small Craft group I belong to. Someone needed a few more hands to help crew a schooner down from New Jersey and back. Sounded interesting, and it appears I have some free time on my hands at the moment. Hmmm.