Century Club: Tim Ford

I got to the club around 1100 hrs and immediately another member approached me and said "come look at this."  Someone's boat was sinking in the slip.

I guess what happened was something frozen had finally melted, allowing the surrounding creek ingress. Water was at least 18 inches over the floorboards and almost up to the fids on the berths. We boarded cautiously, not knowing if the sheer amount of water below was enough to slosh to one side or the other and capsize the vessel. 

Deploying an electric submersion pump lowered the level significantly in 30-45 minutes. We monitored the bilges for the next three hours and while the water level did rise a little, we figured it might just be from the compartments and hatches slowly emptying. 

Point here is:  it has been a long sub-freezing spell and it is certain that this will not be the only boat in distress over the next week or so, as temperatures stay above freezing for a while. This could happen to anyone! So check your boat and check your bilge pump!

Otherwise, a nice,very short kayak ride allwoing me to get the new DNR stickers on the boat, so I'm street legal for a couple of years...I guess.

Kind of a bogus "day on the water" I guess, but it still took a lot of thoughtful navigation to get around the shoreline and on to the these impressive ice flows. While slipping and sliding at Ft Howard, we watched an ARC car-carrier head down the river and I swear they left a green Brewerton mark, G "7" to port! I guess the pilot knew what was up, or the darn thing would still be there.

We discovered immediately that we weren't going anywhere unless assisted by a stout hiking stick. Crampons would have been a better choice, but we don't own any.  Luckily a downed branch not too far from the parking lot provided two stout and pointed sticks when snapped in half. The trick was trying to navigate grades and then, getting back up a hill, no matter how small, was almost impossible. Had to dive into wooded or brushy thickets to move back uphill and grasp saplings or vines. 

Biggest surprise was: where did all the ice go?  We'd seen drone shots and coverage maps saying the upper bay was 90% full of ice. But when we got to Ft Howard by 1315 hrs, all that was left were huge floes that had made it ashore (we had no idea how) that had fashioned a treacherous, and slightly surreal, seascape. 

Yeah, it was a bit nippy.  Air temp in the upper 30s but it was the puffs to 35 that made it slightly less comfortable. Peak gust at Gibson Island was 43.

Around the point, I had to convince 12-15 turkey vultures that I wasn't dead.  I don't think I've ever elicited such a warm response from buzzards and from such a large flock...assuming buzzards flock . I guess they were just desparate. 

[Edit: a group of buzzards in-flight is called a "kettle" of buzzards]

These winter low tides expose a lot of neat stuff, like this ancient pier hardware that made a nifty "kayak slip" in which to eat lunch. Folks at PSA know a lot more about this than I do, but apparently the structure is from an old alum mine (google: alum) and it's noted in an 1829 issue of American as probably being owned by Richard Caton. Anyway, thanks to the folks 200 years ago for setting up a pleasant, sunny and wind-protected lunch spot!

Also: almost got my remore bilge leak detector working...almost. 

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!