Somewhere Over the Mooring Field

Rainy Day Woman

One of the first things I invested in after we moved onto Mother Culture was foul weather gear (aka "Foulies").  There is nothing more uncomfortable than taking a seat in a soaking wet dinghy with your street clothes on.  So after our first rain storm of 2008, I saved up my duckets and bought this snazzy red suit.  It serves two purposes really:  1) It keeps me dry.  2) If I fall in the water (and am able to stay afloat long enough wrapped in this ridiculous Santa Claus suit) someone is sure to spot me and save me.  Luckily, I'm not much bothered by looking like a jackass. 

The most important accessory to my outfit are my knee high rubber boots.  These boots are important for two reasons: 1) Girls can never have too many pairs of shoes. 2) These boots enable me to stand in puddles of water 12 inches deep (aka "my dinghy after a rain storm").  My neighbor Ray informed me of an unfortunate truth about these boots, however:  if you fall into the water while wearing them, they fill up with water and act as an anchor, dragging you down.  [Note to Self: Never, NEVER fall into the water wearing these boots.]

This here is our Thirsty-Mate.  Actually, it now belongs to the thief who stole it from us.  (Anyone who knows about the mooring field knows that people will steal anything that isn't locked down. And unfortunately, we didn't lock this one down.)  Upon first glance, and based on the name of course, you might suspect this little device is used for sailor drinking games.  But that isn't so.  This is a nifty device used to pump water out of dinghies.  Oh, how I miss the Thirsty-Mate!  Here you can see me hard at work in my dinghy, wearing my boots, pumping the water out with my Thirsty-Mate.   

Sometimes it happens that I'm caught on land when the rain starts.  To minimize the possibility of getting soaked in situations like these, I keep a pair of Frogg Toggs in my car.  My mother bought Ben and I each a pair for Christmas a couple years back.  I can't tell you the number of times I've outsmarted the rain by having these in my car. 

So, to the Rain I repeat some very wise words I heard once upon a time in Texas or Tennessee: "Fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again."

4000 Words

Who You Callin' A Sucker?

Yesterday, I learned a new term from baybor Gary:

Sucker Hole

-a colloquial term referring to a short spate of good weather that "suckers" sailors into leaving port just in time for a storm to resume at full force.

As you might imagine, we're some pretty big suckers around here.  Ben and I stayed at the hotel from Tuesday through Friday morning.  We even brought Adam and Jasmine back with us on Thursday afternoon, after we stopped by to check out the status on the mooring field (and Mother Culture, in particular).  For more than three days, we enjoyed heat, electricity and cable television while our other baybors rode out the succession of storms inside the comfort (?) of their boats.  On Friday morning, we returned to the field, just in time to get soaked as we dinghied back to Mo-C. 

Rain poured down for a couple hours before the bright, beautiful sun made her glowing appearance.  I popped out of the boat to tend to the solar panels, which had been battened down for days.  I didn't want to waste a minute of that glorious, free electricity.  It felt like that scene in the Wizard of Oz, just after Dorothy's house lands on the Wicked Witch of the East, when all the little munchkins appear one by one to assess the damage.  As I looked down the line of boats, I could see Adam on his deck, Justin on his deck, Paul rowing by, Ray motoring by with baby boxer Duke in the bow adorned in his life jacket.  There was once again life on the mooring field.  Was the storm finally over?

It appeared so.  I woke Ben from his hibernation and snatched up Lola and we headed for land to enjoy the good weather.  Enter Sucker hole #1 and at least two suckers. 

Just as we were finishing up at the grocery store, the sky opened up and rain spewed all over our sunny world.  Have you ever heard of a graupel?  Neither did I, until yesterday.  Apparently, this is a miniature version of that crap you call hail.  This is the stuff we live in San Diego to avoid.  We hurried back to the dock and rowed our soup bowl back to Mo-C, where we commenced to wait for Sucker hole #2. 

The rain stopped again and Ben decided it would be a good time to go over to the dock to repair a recently purchased Livingston dinghy he intends to use as a fishing boat.  Just as he hopped into his dinghy, the sky opened up again.  He hopped back into Mother Culture, where he patiently awaited Sucker hole #3. 

When Sucker hole #3 finally visited us, Ben rowed with Adam over to the dock and began to fiberglass his new (used) dinghy.  Maybe this wasn't a Sucker hole after all.  Perhaps the rain was finally over... for good.  We'd been waiting five days for this.  It must have been a good two hours or so that they were on the dock repairing the dinghy.  I even brought Lola over for a walk and a visit.  (That's when Gary came down the dock and turned me on to the term "Sucker hole".)  Just as Lola and I returned to Mother Culture so I could sit down for the evening and work, I heard the drops.  They started slowly at first... and then came down with a quickness.  A while later, I heard a commotion out in the cockpit and then a sopping Ben dropped through the companionway feet first like Santa sliding down a chimney. 

The remainder of the night was uneventful.  Ben went to work and I went to bed.  By the time I awoke and he went to sleep, the sun was shining again.  I'm not sure if this is another sucker hole, but I'm certain I'm not going to be a sucker again.  I think I'll stay inside 'til summer.

Blow, Blow, Blow Your Boat

We've been getting slammed with storm after storm here in San Diego, with more on the way.  While the meteorologists and land residents focus on the rainfall, those of us living on boats are more concerned with the wind.  Yesterday, we experienced wind gusts up to about 45 mph, which pale in comparison to the microburst we experienced on December 7, 2009.  However, stormy seas make it difficult for me to work from the boat, and with school starting again on Monday, Ben and I came to the hotel so I could keep up with my workload.  They are predicting even stronger winds tomorrow (I've heard reports of possible 60 to 70 mph gusts expected) and rain through Friday.  The wind may even stick around through the weekend.  Here is a quick video of yesterday's storm:

Dark & Stormy

This afternoon we flipped the boat around in preparation for some bad weather we're expecting this week.  We're doubting we'll see winds like we did during the last storm but better safe than sorry.  This is what wunderground is predicting:
     
Synopsis For Far Southern California Coast

A 1015 mb high was over eastern Utah...and a 976 mb low was 400 nm west of the central Oregon coast at 1 PM. A cold front will move in late tonight or early Monday morning with periods of heavy rain expected Monday afternoon through the evening hours. This will be the first of a series of strong fronts moving through the area for the rest of the week. Along with the storms will be very strong winds at times and an increasing west northwest long period swell. Gale force winds are possible late Wednesday through Thursday. There will also be the potential for thunderstorms and waterspouts. Hazardous seas developing on Monday will continue through the week.

          Small Craft Advisory in effect from Monday morning through late Wednesday night

One Down

We're off to a good start on this year's goals.  Ben went diving this afternoon and found our lazarette cover in the silt a few boats down from ours.  (Along with the tail of the wind generator and a towel that we lost during the microburst.)  Looks like we can check one item off our To Do list!

Mommie Dearest

We got taken on a wild ride last night. We've heard rumors of wind speeds anywhere from 50 MPH to 125 MPH. The brunt of that only lasted ten seconds or so, but it always feels like longer when you're at the mercy of Mother Nature. I wasn't sure if I should jump ship and make a mad dash for shore or wait it out. Oddly, my safest bet seemed to be to wait it out, so I did.  So much for mild San Diego weather.  Anywho, here is a video to complement the one from last night... and some pictures below of the aftermath.

Possibly the light at the end of the tunnel?

A sunken dinghy

Jaybird's bowsprit was destroyed when a runaway boat went careening into his

The front of this electrical box was torn off

Used to be the home of the wind generator

The hinges remain, but the lazarette cover is long gone

This strut used to hold up our solar panel before it was ripped free and chucked into our cockpit

What remains of our wind generator (besides the pole and supports, of course)

Macroburst of Ego

Apparently, there is this little thing called a "microburst".  One whipped through this afternoon, shortly after I rowed back to Mother Culture on my way home from school.  (Thank goodness I wore my foulies!) Judging from the vibrations felt throughout the boat and our bodies, Ben and I believe said microburst may have exploded on or in the very near vicinity of Mo-C. Here is a video of the solar panels and wind generator in the "Before" positions. Tomorrow we'll post the "After" pics. Oh yeah... and we lost an oar. But, luckily we found it on the rocks when we braved the storm to make a packie run.