Drove all night and got up here . Now I got me some contracting to do to outfit an aluminum skeg onto the stern and put in a bigger set of bernoullis for the bow thruster jets.
I love it when you talk like that.
Just got the bill for the thrusters and the skeg. I need to part with some unneeded body parts. Whats a kidney go for?
These arethe chronicles of the lobster boat "Iapetus".
George, so do I!
So, when do you set sail?
another farmercouple fan here...
we leave end of June, But well go up a week or so early and test out the new thrusters so I dont have to learn how to "parallel park" on the job. Nothins worse tha pulling into a marina with work boats and plow into something like a damn fool. Ya wanna look trim and competent in someone elses water. Down here on the Chesapaeake we have what we call "the Penssylvania Navy" where guys go out and buy new Donzi ciggy boats and drive them into pilings in their first time out.
Some jerk killed his new trawler and by not understanding that the number of feet you "draw" has always gotta be smaller than the actual low tide water column by a foot or more because boats "bob" up and down especially in windy days. He just took some bottom out on debris or rocks in the "flats' and , as far as I last jheard, hes still sitting there until a marine service can lift him and move him on a barge.
Were pretty conservative and study the chart CDs twice and keep a paper chart on a table in the pilot house.
Gotta admit that this one will be a bit daunting than our last. The Belle Isles were a bit dicey and as we turn into the North Atlantic on East Newfoundland, Ive heard stories of the big waves, so were trying to carve as much an inland waterway route by keeping some islands to port on returning.
The new skeg is a thick wedge of heavy gage aluminum and it protects the prop just nice. Its aerodynamic so it helps the boat get on a plane in less than 10 seconds (its not a speed boat) . Its more like a fast, agile little trawler.
In case everyone has forgoten the MAsefield poem "Sea Fever"
Quote:I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by;
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And a gray mist on the sea's face, and a gray dawn breaking.
I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.
I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull's way and the whale's way, where the wind's like
a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.
The Trumpy yatch "Eleanor" , once owned by Howard Hughes is for sale, I understand. It can be had for only 1/2 mil. Thats really a great buy for what is essentially the sister ship to the presidential yatch "Sequoia".
Its been re built and outfitted with all sorts of electronics and full thrusters. Its got full rangr radars and more computer crap than a Staples store.
Its not very beamy so, for a water displacement hulled boat thats over 75 ft, it oughta go fast figgerin the top speed is about V=1.25 x SQ root of wetted surface / beam factor
Farmerlad - you keep misspelling 'kegs' as 'skeg'.
There is a sort of keel-thingy called a skeg, but in all my nautical days it was kegs we took on board - sometimes we had to ditch useless things like lifejackets and sonar to fit them on.
hee hee. Ive sold one kidney to pay for the thruster and skeg deal. But I can parallel park the boat. Shes in the water and were goin up next week for a wee shakedown in the Bay of Fundy. I wanna blow all the stable diesel out before we load up on fuel and provisions. We found all sorts of dried "portable soups' (reminiscent of Lewis and Clark.) Ive gotta do lots of weight calculatin and I built a little tender cause some bastid stole our zodiac. Ill need to make some tie downs on the back platform. Diesels a bitch up here in Maine. So Im takin some 20 cans of ag diesel. At least my first full tank will be cheap. Unless we go up in a fireball on I-95.
The Straits of Belle Isle.
Lots of songs about them.
You've got some interesting times ahead of you, FarmerFolk.
ehbeth, Im only familiar with the one Stan Rodgers song that even mentions The straits of Belle Isle. Were leaving to practice parallel parking, and take inventory and begin provisioning, well keep in touch via some hot spots in Bangor and St Andrews NB.
Times gettin closer. Weve decided to go up for real about the 23rd and provision up and start living aboard for a few days to get our sea legs. I have some real concerns about the open ocean and the predictions for long term weather. WE cannot handle 30 ft seas and have an enjoyable trip. If it looks like an early storm season, Im making an executive decision to go up Fundy and have us trucked across to Cape Tormentine and keep l'eward of all the open Atlantic weather until we hit the East side of Newfoundland. Then Ive already plotted courses that keep us on an "intercoastal" passage on the lee of the islands. When I get hinky about something , and I really have some bad feelings about going out past Sable Isle this year. I have no rational reason, Im just getting a sense of "dont go there" We would be there in mid to late July, depending on our stops.
Go, Farmerman, go.
Hold your dominion.
Arrrrr.... my hearties....
Ahoy! (bmk)
Right, I've read it now. Bon voyage, Farmerman. You should be sailorman, of course.
May the spirit of Slocum speed your keel and keep safe the barky.
well, we have to make some adjustments to the thruster bernoullis , they dont seem to be effective unless I have the engine going at 2500RPM. Thats way too fast . I want them working at idle or at least 800 rpm. Thisl push our push off date back a week or 2 ( now we are into July). Idont wanna come back by the Placentia -to-Cape Breton route in peak Hurricane season. Theresw about a 350 mi stretch of open N Atlantic that always gets swells and rogue waves from crap going on down in HAtteras. I hate having to park and sit out weather for a week or more , but, as I said, we are not bold sailors. We are cautious and respectful of the Ocean. We still qualify as a "small craft"
Here's some light reading to take with you....
Nat Philbrick, In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex, Penguin Books 2001.
was that the one which is annotated with the "Moby Dick" story lines and references?.
Moby Dick is indeed based on the incident in which Essex was rammed by a whale. I've not read the book to which Mr. Pondquility refers, but that is what this is all about.
