Hurricane Charlie was a wet firecracker here in Connecticut
today. This year everything has gone either north or south of
us.

Yesterday evening, predicted winds from Charlie were 39
mph winds and very heavy rain. One broadcast stated two
to four inches--which sounded ridiculous to me. To prepare
for it, I checked all ECHO's mooring lines, pumped the bilge,
went over to the HOOT and put bigger blocks on the trailer
wheels.

When I got home, I checked the forecast one more time,
no change, before calling my friends to cancel Sunday's sail.

Last night we had light rain and no downpours! I woke up
to find overcast sky's and a totally different forecast for light
winds 5-9 knots, and no rain! I checked four different weather
sources because I could not believe the forecasters could have
been so far off. They were.

Today, I called everyone and the sail was back on. Four cool
people showed up, helped me install my new backstay adjuster
and backstay. Last we I pulled my backstay and dropped if off
with a rigger to install two insulators in it. I was eager to get it
installed on the boat so I could sail this weekend.

I picked a long length to make the insulated portion of the backstay
plus the lead in wire around 66 feet. 68 feet is a 1/4 wave antenna
on the HAM 80 meter band and 1/2 wave antenna on the 40 meter
HAM band. I'm looking forward to trying it out with my ICOM radio
and antenna tuner. This set up should give me great regional coverage
for the east coast on 40 meters during the day and 80 meters at night.
I had a good contact with base stations as far away as Southern
California from Block Island, Rhode Island, with similar length antenna
a few years ago.

I was tempted to put a third insulator in the middle of the backstay
to build a loading coil around it, to center load the antenna, which
gives better radiation pattern. I may do that still. First I want to test
out my new antenna, which will take a bit more work to mount the
AT-4 tuner and make up a cable to connect it to my IC-706 radio.

I could not find anyone who would rebuild my Navtec backstay
adjustor, and guarantee the work, so I bought a new one. I'd
rather have a new one than spend the same amount of money
rebuilding an old one several times.

It was much easier installing the backstay with four people
helping versus only one taking it off. Winching my friend Mike
up 60 feet last Tuesday, by myself, was backbreaking. Today,
with no wind and lots of people it was fast and easy. Monica tailed
the big winch, and her husband George and I took turns on the
organ grinder, while Dawson kept the slack out of the safety line.
It may be overkill, but after feeling vulnerable at the top of a mast
many times with only one halyard, I've started using two halyards
a few years ago. Mike went up the mast again, and his climbing
efforts were improved over last time--a huge help! The whole job
took 30 minutes.

It turned out to be a pleasant sail. The overcast sky's kept us
from getting burned. We had only two problems, a wrap on the
forestay when jibing the drifter around the Middleground Lighthouse,
which was a pain to clear, and the engine quit when I was getting
ready to dock. Having extra crew made all the difference in each
case.

When the engine quit, I immediately anchored in the harbor, and
called the ferry on the radio, to let them know what was going on.
It was probably a nice change for them to have something different
happen. Fortunately there was room for the ferry's to get around
us, while George and Mike pumped up the inflatable. The inflatable
and outboard worked well to shove the boat back to the dock. If
I had more experienced crew I might have tried to sail it in, but I
wanted to back it in--so power was the best, albeit less elegant,
option.

For some reason the engine would start, but die when given some
throttle, or simply quit after a few minutes of operation. It started
fine every time. I checked the cut off valve and it was good. After
thinking about it tonight, I decided it must be the in-line electric fuel
pump I added to help bleed the system. I think if I pulled it out, the
problem will go away. We'll see.

All it all it was a nice surprise to sail on a day that was supposed
to be heavy downpours and high winds. And the bigger than usual
crew was a huge help. I didn't have to haul up my anchor or clean
that sinking mud off it, or even ask anyone to do it! Monica brought
sandwiches and drinks for all. It was a very nice day and came
together well at the last minute, even though it was planned and
canceled.

I'm not much of a planner and usually sail with small crews. I just like
to jump in the boat and go when the weather is perfect. But, at the
last minute finding crew can be a chore. Next time, I'll plan even farther
in advance, and invite even more crew. Taking a chance on the weather
and planning in advance have advantages. I still don't know what to
do about those week days when the weather is perfect and I can't
find crew.

~Bart

Links for information on the radio, tuner and hardware used are listed
below.

Review of IC-706 ( I highly recommend this radio. I have two)
http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/63

Review of AT-4 antenna Tuner (I highly recommend it)
http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/1071

Ronstan Insulator (Did I goof and buy something French?)
http://www.ronstan.com/catalogue/R102.pdf

Nactec integral backstay adjustor (Connecticut Company!)
http://www.navtec.net/products/index...ter&part_id=72