Wrapping up the Season

July 7

We headed back for Rockland out the west end of the Fox Island Passage. Spotted a pair of osprey sitting on a day marker along the channel. They were very still and very attentive and I thought they were just being careful of us and where we might be going. As we pulled up even with them, I realized four juvenile osprey were bathing in the shoals at the foot of the marker. The parents watching their babies at the bath. I did not have the camera to hand, so no picture.

We made it almost all the way across to Rockland, running the engine to get our 12 hours on it. Just about few miles outside the harbor the engine quit (What? Again?) and we put up sails to try and make it at least as far as the harbor mouth before calling for help. We made it to only a mile off the breakwater when we found we were making very little headway in the wind shadow of Owls Head. We did call the yard and they sent someone out in a power boat to haul us in to the dock. (sigh) At least we got to sail a bit more.

July 8 & 9

Hung around on the dock, meeting people as they came and went. Read. Got some more groceries, mostly beverages, for the next few days. Marveled at the poor fellow who hit something with his keel. Took a big bite out of it. I suggested he should tell his friends a shark bit it. Expensive damage.

July 10

Changed the fuel filter and ran the engine for a while before it developed a terrible sound. Not sure if we just have some loose carbon in a cylinder or if we are about to throw a rod. urk. We will look into that little problem over the next couple of days.

Removed the sails and had a discussion with our rigger about the new main and some other details. Plan to haul the boat tomorrow at or near high tide. With the shallow draft on our boat the tide does not have to be at dead high.

Started with some of the cleaning. The trick with a boat is to put it away dry so no mildew develops over the winter. The weather is hot and dry right now so that helps. I have also been collecting all the little tips people have passed along that might help. Some are pretty obvious, others sound more like 'folk remedies'. (pans of fresh coffee grounds to control odor.)

The commercial products sold for boat maintenance leave me in a bit of a quandry. Bilge cleaner, for example. The directions say pour undiluted into the bilges, but the disposal instructions say NOT to put the contents down a sewer or pour it out onto the ground. And the precautionary statements about not using in enclosed spaces seem pretty contradictory to me.