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Well had the day off today and decided to go fishing of course. There are small craft advisories out with 5ft chop in the bay, winds gusting out of the NW up to 30MPH and the air temperature was 39 degrees , and water temperature was 41 degrees according to my Raymarine E80 Fish finder. None of these seemed to ring any warning bells for me since I was born and raised in Minnesota so the cold aint no big deal for me, having driven and landed my boat in 50MPH cross winds at night during the last Nor' Easter boosted my confidence so the wind didn’t bother me, and the water temp is perfect for Rock Fish otherwise known as strippers; plus I had a plan. I was going to hug the windward shore to stay out of the large waves and cut down the wind a little and try some heavy weather sailing. Well just prepositoning the 2nd reef point on the main at the dock with water ballast full it felt like I was going to tip over. Well I got everything prepositioned at the dock and tied everything down put on a life jacket and a safety harness from my UH-1 Huey Crewchief/Gunner days and fastened it to the pedestal metal loop thingy. I made it out of the dock no problem and noticed the wind was not quit out of the NW and as soon as I made my 2nd turn out into the Benet river the leads to the Poquoson River Bay Area which then connects to the Chesapeake. None of it is real deep and you wouldn’t think there was enough fetch area for waves to build very high. Well that’s what I thought and I thought wrong. The weather guessers got it wrong for sure at least out on the water. On land the wind doesn’t seem that strong but once out in an even small opening on the water it is blasting. My 26X was heeling almost 20 degrees with full ballast and sail stowed. As soon as I turned into the waves the chop was constantly spraying me even at 3knots making the wind-chill factor to cold for even this Minnesotan. Well after about 200yds of this I decided I don’t need to go fishing today and turned around and went home. Now I have my slip until the end of the Month and I have New Years Eve off but it is suppose to rain that day so this probable was my last chance to go fishing until March or April when I put my Boat back in the water after some more modifications. I will have to survive on pictures until then of good days fishing.

Road - just to calibrate you on 41F water....the CG charts would estimate you be unconcious in 15-30 minutes and dead in 60-90 minutes.....thats not a lot of time for someone to come looking for you if you are solo.....

Install a Windshield dodger, buy an extra set of long underwear, upgrade your survival suit, and get back out on the bay. A full face ski mask helps too.
Keep an Axe handy just incase Ice should start to build.

Good Luck.. Be careful.

ROAD Soldier wrote: I will have to survive on pictures until then of good days fishing.

ROAD,

I hear ya'. My Christmas Sailing Vacation in Mississippi is pretty much over. The boat is all packed and ready to load on the trailer which will be done tomorrow. Then I trailer back to Florida on Saturday where the boat will probably sit for 7 months or so. But I have tons of pics and videos...and of course all the great stuff that the members of this board post to keep my sailing DT's to a minimum.

Of course another trip to the Wash with Matt would probably be just about right come Spring Time...hint, hint...

Happy New Year,
Jim

Count your blessings of what you can do.

For me, I guess I could leave it on the trailer and attach skies to the wheels and do some ice boating.



--Russ

We have cold weather but no wind to speak of unless it is snowing or freezing rain so for the next several weeks were on the hard / ice. We are used to cold water since the Columbia river is now 32.5 deg F and only 50 F in the summer in the Salish Sea in the summer. About the first of Feb spring starts and the breeze gets better and by June the water temp starts to warm up and by Sept it gets to 60 deg's F on the river.

Sailing in the Northern Hemisphere at this time of year certainly is a pain - in Dubai we got down as low as 19C recently and it even rained on a couple of days, which put me off entirely.

In consequence of the above I have decided to migrate south until the New Year and am currently in Singapore (about 1.5 deg N); even here it can get quite chilly at night - around 29C - and I was caught out in a brief downpour whilst on Sentosa beach yesterday afternoon. If this is Global Warming, then it has a fairly odd way of manifesting itself!

On a more ominous note - perhaps more serious even than Global Warming - there appear to absolutely no decent Chandlers in either Thailand or Singapore, let alone any owners. I am getting withdrawal symptoms and may need to head back to the colder North fairly soon to get a fix; maybe time to invest in some cold-climate gear (long-sleeved shirts and trousers) and foul-weather equipment (umbrella)!

A very happy New Year to all of you and Best Wishes all round for a truly memorable 2010.

Those people in the USA. Thailand , Singapore, Dubai or Hong kong could always come on down under to Australia for fine weather check this site out for more information. http://www.seabreeze.com.au/graphs/wa.asp

John McDonough wrote: buy an extra set of long underwear, upgrade your survival suit, and get back out on the bay. A full face ski mask helps too.
Keep an Axe handy just incase Ice should start to build.
Good Luck.. Be careful.

THIS IS FUN

Rick Less

If you decide to continue sailing, you might want to take a book along incase you get stuck in the ice. Shackletons Adventure. In 1912 a british ship got stuck in the Antartic Ice and sunk. 30 men survived on the Ice with 4 life boats. After 1 year and no rescue in sight Shackelton Sailed a 23` Lifeboat 600 miles From Antartica to Elephant Island to get help. Using only a Sextant to find a small whaling town on an Island about the size of Bermuda.

You could duplicate that trip on your Mac 26. Wait until the coldest day in January and Sail out of the Chesapeake bay to Bermuda. Call in when you get back. Good Luck

John - you left off the part that when he got to the island, they had to scale a mountain range to get to civilisation on the other side....

People like this make you realise what pinheads we really are.....

Kelly Hanson East wrote:John - you left off the part that when he got to the island, they had to scale a mountain range to get to civilisation on the other side....

The had no choice but too land on the opposite side of the Island. the small ship was caught in hurricane winds and crash landed on the Beach. Barely missing the rocks. It was 5 months before Shacleton could return to Antartica to rescue the remaining crew. All the men returned to England just in time for World War One, and half the men died in battle.

I saw the Movie, Shackletons Adventure, at the Pittsburgh Omnimax theater. The New England Patriots were in town to play the Steelers for the AFC Championship. New England won and 2 weeks later won the super bowl. After the game New Englands coach attributed thier win to a Movie they had seen while at Pittsburghs Omnimax Theatre.