Century Club: Tim Ford

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Friday, January 9, 2026
Number of days:
1 day
Jan 9 - Govee blues

Spent like an hour or more trying to hook up a remote sensing system in the bilge, or near it, to alert me via email that there is water in the boat.  But some glitch, probably my own stupidity, kept it from establishing the remore aspect of the device. I guess I'll have to watch a few more YouTube vids.

The air temperature wasn't bad, but the dampness made it feel cold below decks. My patience was wearing thin. But luckily some wonderful, generous, close friend had bestowed on the boat a bottle of Allagash Tripel along with the water bottle I left on their boat back in November. 

Lack of success does give me a good excuse for heading back down to the boat soon.  That, and I think I forgot to turn the bilge pump back on....

Sunday, January 4, 2026
Number of days:
1 day
2026 - Day 1
  • Not the dead's lid

Man, I struck out last year.  A palty 80 days!  OK, such is life.

AFTER a having the flu for the holidays, I hadn't been down to the boat in quite a while and I was worried about the windy and gale conditions that had occured during my protracted illness.

Turned out everything was fine, very little chafe on the lines, but I did install a bit of anti-chafe material at selected pionts should anything in the 30-50 mph range show up in the next month or so...I don't think it will but I mean, it is winter.

Got a super nice paddle in though! Very low tide and I did see something of interest on shore this time.  It looked like the lid to a burial device had become exposed on shore!  Then I thought, who the heck would bury someone that close to the water's edge?  Turned out it was just the lid to a dock box or possibly a cockpit locker on a large boat.  Fine with me, I needed a dead body like i needed another bout of some god-awfu winter pathogen. 

2026!  Let the games begin!

 

 

Tuesday, December 16, 2025
Number of days:
1 day
Dec 16 - check 'n paddle

Got a note that the boat had a suspicious list to port!

That was concerning because my boat lists a few degrees to starboard. I pictured a few hundred pounds of new, very cold water ponding up below on the port side for some serious, ungodly reason. 

So a big sigh of relief when I finally got to the club approx. 0915 hrs.  Air temp 26 F.  A bit of an issue getting the companionway open, due to it being iced in place.  But all in all, it was a successful trip - got my solar panel clear of snow and ice and producing electricity.  Got in a quick paddle to check ice levels in the creek. Solid up to an inch in isolated protected spots, mostly just slushy brash elsewhere. 

Fun paddle!

Tuesday, December 9, 2025
Number of days:
1 day
Dec 9 - Lunch at the Beach

I needed to take the porta-potty off of RAINBOW and also check a recently deceased club member's boat (R.I.P. Glenn!). The air temp had warmed up to a balmy 27 degrees and it was 31 F below decks on RAINBOW.

Of course, the potty had a big chunk of ice in it, but had not cracked (thank god).

Took a quick paddle out to Cedar Island and ate lunch with the nose of the 'yak on the beach. Somehow my approach to this spot went unnoticed by a huge, old Great Blue heron and the stupid thing launched, very noisily, from a nearby branch about 12 feet away from me.  Almost needed a change of underwear...

 

 

 

Saturday, December 6, 2025
Number of days:
1 day
Dec 6 - Quick Paddle

Stopped down to check on RAINBOW and get the main and mainsail cover off the boom. Had time for a quick paddle and admire the late fall light on the creek. 

Saturday, November 29, 2025
Number of days:
1 day
Nov 29 - EYC Leftover Bowl
  • beautiful conditions for the delivery home
  • Shared company with RITA exiting the Magothy

In spite of the temperatures usually associated with this event, I love the EYC Leftover Bowl.  It's one of my favorite events, mostly due to how festive and affable everyone is at the party.  EYC does a terrific job of this. We took first place and had two kids under 9 years old on board.  They were troopers and were our spokepersons for thanking the RC boat profusely. All-in-all, it was cold, but the breeze shifted around to the south for the delivery back to the Magothy and it felt much warmer than last year's trip home. Thanks a million to the Incommunicado folks for having me aboard.

 

 

Sunday, November 23, 2025
Number of days:
1 day
Nov 23 - Killing Time before the Jets

Another quick paddle - maybe an hour, to the back of the creek and then the cove behind PSA. Cold at first, but then the day just kept getting better. 

Thursday, November 20, 2025
Number of days:
1 day
Nov 20 - quick pre-meeting paddle

Took 40 minutes to splash a kayak and paddle out to the river on a calm, gray day.  Great light.

Sunday, November 16, 2025
Number of days:
1 day
Nov 16 - Back Again
  • Should show TWO masts
  • breakfast spot as breeze roars
  • adequate separation...I guess

Got a message around 6:30 a.m. that I should come down and check lines and spreader separation from the boat next to mine. I was not there when they tied up, and it looked like, from the Lawn Camera, our masts were perfectly in line, which is a no-no in any sort of a raft-up situation. 

So I drove down. 

And as it turns out, the camera angle from the fixed point on shore made it look like the two masts were perfectly in line (see photo), but actually they did have some level of separation.  I wanted a bit more, of course, so I cranked in the spring line and gave it about foot or so of fore and aft separation.  Adjusted the breast lines and fussed aorund with the fenders.  This took about an hour.  Maybe more.  

Then it got windy. Peak gust a few miles away on Gibson Island was 46 (mph) and it was due to get windier. So I went below and ate breakfast, or "brunch" by this time, and listened to the puffs roar down the creek.  Then I went to the floating dock abeam of RAINBOW to see how it was riding in the big breeze.  I wasn't satisfied so I tweaked the lines a little more. 

Let's face it, when you know it's going to howl, are you ever completely happy with how your boat is secured?  

Saturday, November 15, 2025
Number of days:
1 day
Nov 15 - Double Back

Got a message that the boat I'd help get out yesterday was coming back, probably due to the forecast for Sunday and it would be great if I were there, on my boat, to help with getting his boat inside of mine, rafted-up to the pier.

Turned out their ETA back to PSA was a tad later than I could hang around, so I spent an hour or two setting new fenders up on starboard side and figuring out a way for them to release me as easy as possible.  Finally came up with a scheme. 

Took some casts from the pier to see if any pickerel were hanging around, and they were.  I got a couple of solid strikes but didn't want to pursue it with a kayak or in the dinghy.  

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