No procrastination

Have you ever used the saying, "Once in a Blue Moon?" 

Tho they have nothing to do with "the blues", musically or otherwise, and they are not actually blue, Blue Moons are pretty rare.

A Blue Moon is the second full moon that occurs in a month.  Given the 28-day lunar cycle and the roughly 30-day average month, indeed it is an unusual occurance.  It pretty much requires one of the 31-day months (like this month), and the perfect timing of a full moon on the first day or two of the month (like this month...)

And why yes indeed, as you've probably guessed, we will have a Blue Moon this month!

The next one will not happen until 2015.  So all those things you were putting off until a Blue Moon?  Well this is your month...

No procrastination

Got light?

You do have a flashlight aboard, don't you?  You should.

Aside from all the "regular" things you'd use a flashlight for when ashore, on a boat you'll also want to have one handy so that:

1. You can inspect the bilge
2. You can inspect your shaft log packing
3. You can inspect your thruhulls... all your thruhulls, especially if item #1 has suddenly become important...
4. You can signal other boats
5. You can bungee it to something astern to serve as an emergency stern lite (don't ask)

Now, how about a red flashlight, for all of those things above, when you don't want to ruin your nite vision?

Got light?

Remotely wonderful

WHAM in its 12V/120V charging cradle

Do you have one of these?

It's a remote control for our VHF. It carries all the functions of the radio except the emergency MMSI/position transmission.  For that you have to go to the radio. Uniden calls it a WHAM mic (Wireless HAndheld Mic) - it talks to the radio using Bluetooth.

In one way, it is better than a handheld radio: when we transmit with it, we are using the full 25 watts of the main radio and the antenna 65 feet in the air. But it would be useless in a ditch bag of course, or in a dinghy

For us it is a lifesaver tho.  Jane despises the constant chatter that comes in on the radio, which on Eolian is mounted just inside the companionway,  out of the weather but convenient to both the cockpit and the cabin.  So we mostly leave the volume on the radio itself turned all the way down, and I keep the WHAM mic out by the wheel.

It's a solution that is optimal for us, and it could be for you too.

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First posting using the Blogger iPhone app.  The app is OK, but I had to go to the computer in order to get the picture to be above the text.  And of course there is that "keyboard"...

Remotely wonderful

Home again

Yesterday we came the full 61 miles from Friday Harbor back to Shilshole - 11 hours.  It was a long trip, and we celebrated its successful conclusion with the traditional beer when the docklines were secure.

And this morning we woke up in - how do I put it? - "dock configuration".   After two weeks spent at anchor, we were tied to a dock and had AC power.  It felt simultaneously weird, and yet (sadly) normal.  Today I don't have to worry about whether or not to run the generator to recharge the reefer holding plates, nor will I be thinking about battery charge state.  I am not concerned about the placement of other boats at anchor around us.  And the transition seems to have been instantaneous.  Or maybe it happened while we were asleep.

And here we are.  Tomorrow I put on "regular" clothes and go to work.

It's these times when I wish that I wasn't so darn adaptable.  I wish I could keep that vacation state of mind just a little longer...

Home again