Saturday, March 11, 2006
Balmy Beautiful Beach Weather
So.......As I get home last night the lightning and thunder start, and then comes the hail. And it keeps coming and getting bigger, so eventually the good 'ol trusty cockpit cover starts to sag from the weight of all the ice. I climb up into the cockpit and start to shake the two inches of solid ice pellets that has collected, off the cover and BOOM! The sky goes wite (I had to)and the boat just skakes violently. I figure the strike had to be somewhere very near, cause the boom came pretty much right at the same time as the strike. Then we get several more, and the lights are flashin', and the boats shakin' and the hail keeps commin'. I love this weather stuff, but for a minute there, I was stayin away from the mast, if you know what I mean....and I think you do. To make a long story short, as I write this, cup of coffee in hand, there's two inches of solid ice in the back of the cockpit, and the docks are under about an inch of the stuff and frozen solid.
The moral of this story?
I really need a digital camera.
The moral of this story?
I really need a digital camera.
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As your technical advisor, I heartily recommend the Canon PowerShot A610. http://reviews-zdnet.com.com/Canon_PowerShot_A610/4852-6501_16-31475448.html?tag=sub
Good timuh! :grin: Love the descrip, you should be doin the weather, stead of the weather doin you!!! ;-)
I once had a lightning strike about a hundred yards away, during a lightning storm at about 7,500 in Sierra. Blind for a few minutes, n deaf for half hour or so.
Aside from the one time thinking I was gonna fall in an icy blue pool on a snowfiled/glacier at 13,500, that was the most scared I've ever been.
No where to go, strikes all around. Backpacks with aluninum frames, tents with alunimum stakes. Do ya run into the tree line or out in the open?
Good timuh!!!!
I once had a lightning strike about a hundred yards away, during a lightning storm at about 7,500 in Sierra. Blind for a few minutes, n deaf for half hour or so.
Aside from the one time thinking I was gonna fall in an icy blue pool on a snowfiled/glacier at 13,500, that was the most scared I've ever been.
No where to go, strikes all around. Backpacks with aluninum frames, tents with alunimum stakes. Do ya run into the tree line or out in the open?
Good timuh!!!!
# posted by 
: 9:53 PM, March 11, 2006
: 9:53 PM, March 11, 2006
Try standin' around a bunch of 50 foot metal poles grounded to the water! I keep a 15 foot battery cable that I secure to the bottom of the mast, and then throw overboard so hopfully if hit, the juice'll travel down the mast and feed to the water through the cable, thus saving the inhabitants of the vessel.
I hope.....
I hope.....
and after all this time I always figured it was the Chipoltle sauce!
But honestly, it took till half way through Saturday afternoon for the inch or so of mixed ice & snow to melt away from my deck...that is, being helped along the way by Martin & Cuz chipping ice with a dull boat oar inbetween loosing poker hands within Zeke's Bistro. We even bad-mouthed Dave a few times just to see if he would arrive and save the day, or at least some of the many poker chips I spirited away from Martin & Cuzzy....
But honestly, it took till half way through Saturday afternoon for the inch or so of mixed ice & snow to melt away from my deck...that is, being helped along the way by Martin & Cuz chipping ice with a dull boat oar inbetween loosing poker hands within Zeke's Bistro. We even bad-mouthed Dave a few times just to see if he would arrive and save the day, or at least some of the many poker chips I spirited away from Martin & Cuzzy....
I'm both sorry and glad I didn't make it up the river to Huckleberry Island Saturday. I was asleep on my couch by 9ish and back up early Sunday, Sunday, Sunday. Thanks to the bartender at Linwood's for the bloody mary.
Oh...and I like the Canon cameras. Digital Elph. There's choices amongst them for memory stick style and battery type. I just picked the latest one with SD memory. SD...CF, no matter. Buy a spare battery and charger and buy a bigger memory stick. Something in the neigborhood of 256mb. Also buy a media reader so you won't burn battery life sucking the pictures into the computer and out of the computer. Use the new, 256mb memory stick for taking pictures and save the little one that the camera comes with for spares and for taking the ones you want printed to Walgreens or Bay or whatever.
Thanks martin, I'm going shopping this weekend.
From the Coast Guard.
'Today's fiberglass-constructed small boats, especially sailboats, are particularly vulnerable to lightning strikes since any projection above the flat surface of the water acts as a potential grounding point. In many cases, the small boat operator or casual weekend sailor is not aware of this vulnerability to the hazards of lightning. These boats can be protected from lightning strikes by properly designed and connected systems of lightning protection. However, the majority of these boats are not so equipped.'
This is why, when it starts goin' off, I connect the cable to the bottom of the mast, and throw it overboard to ground the mast to the water directly. The path of least resistance. Too many proven instances of loss of life in sailboats, to not take it seriously.
All on the side of safety, my friends.
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From the Coast Guard.
'Today's fiberglass-constructed small boats, especially sailboats, are particularly vulnerable to lightning strikes since any projection above the flat surface of the water acts as a potential grounding point. In many cases, the small boat operator or casual weekend sailor is not aware of this vulnerability to the hazards of lightning. These boats can be protected from lightning strikes by properly designed and connected systems of lightning protection. However, the majority of these boats are not so equipped.'
This is why, when it starts goin' off, I connect the cable to the bottom of the mast, and throw it overboard to ground the mast to the water directly. The path of least resistance. Too many proven instances of loss of life in sailboats, to not take it seriously.
All on the side of safety, my friends.
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