{"id":312,"date":"2013-02-05T18:24:57","date_gmt":"2013-02-05T23:24:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tomdove.com\/blog\/?p=312"},"modified":"2015-07-12T14:04:35","modified_gmt":"2015-07-12T18:04:35","slug":"the-trip-to-haulout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tomdove.com\/blog\/2013\/02\/the-trip-to-haulout\/","title":{"rendered":"The Trip To Haulout"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u0004\u000e \u0004\u000e<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
When the snow flies, it is time to put the boat to bed.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Trip to Haulout \u0004\u000e\u0003<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

First published in several Maryland newspapers, 12\/8\/89\u0004\u000e<\/span><\/p>\n

\u0001We waited a bit too long to take \u0002\u0081\u0002\u0001Crescendo<\/em>\u0002\u0081 to the boatyard for \u0004\u001cwinter haulout, as usual. The Thanksgiving snow filled the cockpit \u0004\u001cto a depth of four or five inches and, while the day was clear, the \u0004\u001ctemperature would never reach the 50 degree mark promised by \u0004\u001cthe forecasters.\u0004\u001c<\/span><\/p>\n

That probably did not bother the forecasters. They spent the \u0004\u001cday inside a room with nice warm facsimile machines and cups of \u0004\u001chot coffee.\u00a0The five-mile trip from our pier at home to Lippincott’s \u0004\u001cmarina would not be so cozy, but we knew there would be scenic \u0004\u001ccompensations.\u0004\u001c<\/span><\/p>\n

Corelle dinnerware is one of the great inventions of the \u0004\u001ccentury. My wife, Pam, busied herself shoveling snow out of the \u0004\u001c\u001bcockpit with a cereal bowl.\u0004\u001c<\/span><\/p>\n

It would be a powering passage, as I had taken all the sails off \u0005\u001cthe spars in preparation for hurricanes and we had not taken our \u0004\u001csloop out sailing since that time. We had not sailed her much, as \u0004\u001cfamily illness, land travel and sailing on other boats had filled our \u0004\u001c\bsummer.<\/span><\/p>\n

The engine seemed ready enough; it started easily and ran \u0004\u001csmoothly on the old gasoline that had been in the tank since this \u0004\u001ctime last year. The Atomic 4 burns so little fuel that we \u0004\u001csometimes do not use a 20-gallon tankful over a summer of sailing.\u0004\u001c<\/span><\/p>\n

The water was slate gray dotted with white flecks – some \u0004\u001cwere whitecaps moving with the 15-knot wind and others were sea \u0004\u001cducks skimming along inches above the ragged surface. \u0004Few Bay residents see the sea ducks that migrate into the \u0004\u001cregion in the fall. They stay in open water, generally almost a \u0004\u001cmile from shore, and blend so well with the waves that they are \u0004\u001cinvisible from distances greater than a few hundred yards.\u0004\u001c<\/span><\/p>\n

When startled, these little fellows fly in short bursts with \u0004\u001crapid wingbeats and land comically in a splash on the back of a \u0004\u001cwave. Their black and white feathers flicker in the sunlight like \u0004\u001c\u0014an old silent movie.\u0004\u001c<\/span><\/p>\n

Hunters seek the birds, which survive in reasonable numbers \u0004\u001chere as they have not been hunted to near extinction like \u0004\u001ccanvasbacks and some other species.\u0004\u001c A lone hunter sat in his outboard runabout on the river, \u0005\u001csurrounded by black-painted bleach bottles that might resemble \u0004\u001cducks to a nearsighted viewer. He and his boat were being \u0004\u001ccarefully avoided by the sea ducks.\u0004\u001c “Big brave man. I hope you freeze,” Pam muttered as we \u0004\u001cpassed the hunter, summarizing her general feelings about hunting \u0004\u001cfor sport.\u0004\u001c<\/span><\/p>\n

As we entered the north end of Kent Narrows, the engine \u0004\u001cbegan to run roughly, probably a result of the old gasoline but \u0004\u001cpossibly just a bid for attention. \u0004\u001cIt does this whenever we get into tight situations: passing \u0004\u001cthrough Hell Gate on New York’s East River, entering the Atlantic \u0004\u001cCity inlet against the tide, docking on the Cohansey River in a \u0004\u001cswirling current. If you have cruised, you understand.\u0004\u001c<\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, the current in Kent Narrows was against us. With \u0004\u001cthe barnacle-covered prop and bottom, our speed dropped to about \u0004\u001cthree knots over the ground and we chugged lamely toward the \u0004\u001c\u0007bridge.\u0004\u001c<\/span><\/p>\n

Why do we do this? Why shiver out here when we could be \u0004\u001creading a good book and sipping hot cider beside a fire at home?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u0004\u001cNext year, we’ll winterize earlier.\u0004\u001c Sure, we will. And we’ll start getting up a half-hour earlier \u0004\u001cto beat the rush hour traffic to work, too. Dream on.\u0004\u001c<\/span><\/p>\n

Winterizing is a sad chore so perhaps it is best to delay it \u0005\u001cuntil late November – a sad, gray time of the year. If we are \u0004\u001cgoing to be melancholy, why not put it all together in one lump \u0004\u001cinstead of letting it spill over into the bright sailing season?<\/span>
\n \u0002\u0081<\/span>
\n \u0002\u0001Crescendo\u0002\u0081<\/em> is asleep at the yard now. Her veins are filled with \u0004\u001cantifreeze and her soft bunk cushions are propped up to allow the \u0004\u001ccold winter air to flow through her fiberglass skeleton.<\/span><\/p>\n

Next spring, baby. We’ll be back next spring to take you \u0004\u001caway from all of this. Then we’ll have some fun.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u0004\u000e — The End —<\/span>
\n \u0004\u000e\u0017\u0002\u0081<\/span><\/p>\n ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u0004\u000e \u0004\u000e The Trip to Haulout \u0004\u000e\u0003 First published in several Maryland newspapers, 12\/8\/89\u0004\u000e \u0001We waited a bit too long to take \u0002\u0081\u0002\u0001Crescendo\u0002\u0081 to the boatyard for \u0004\u001cwinter haulout, as usual. The Thanksgiving snow filled the cockpit \u0004\u001cto a depth of four or five inches and, while the day was clear, the \u0004\u001ctemperature would never Read More …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,1],"tags":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomdove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomdove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomdove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomdove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomdove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/tomdove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":616,"href":"https:\/\/tomdove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312\/revisions\/616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomdove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomdove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomdove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}