Skip v. Joe: Who is the best captain?
 

On Sun, 24 Feb 2008 07:13:08 -0800 (PST), Skip Gundlach
wrote:


Meanwhile, as above to all those so inclined, I'm diving again today
and expect the mud and slime will brush right off. Oh. Yes, the
hull, too :{)) - except for the bottom of the keel, already polished
from our bumping a few times on the way back from our holding tank
pumping and fuel tank filling yesterday as the tide was nearly out.

For whatever strange reasons the mind has, the above was evocative
of your progress since the St. Pete prep days on the hard. Sweating
of full of doubts.
That seems like yesterday, and here you are today, casually and
confidently diving to inspect your vessel.
Good God man, you have changed!
As an aside, I wonder how many here do frequent inspections of the
hull. I suspect most don't see it except at haul outs.

--Vic

Skip v. Joe: Who is the best captain?
 

Vic Smith wrote:

On Sun, 24 Feb 2008 07:13:08 -0800 (PST), Skip Gundlach
wrote:


Meanwhile, as above to all those so inclined, I'm diving again today
and expect the mud and slime will brush right off. Oh. Yes, the
hull, too :{)) - except for the bottom of the keel, already polished
from our bumping a few times on the way back from our holding tank
pumping and fuel tank filling yesterday as the tide was nearly out.

For whatever strange reasons the mind has, the above was evocative
of your progress since the St. Pete prep days on the hard. Sweating
of full of doubts.
That seems like yesterday, and here you are today, casually and
confidently diving to inspect your vessel.
Good God man, you have changed!
As an aside, I wonder how many here do frequent inspections of the
hull. I suspect most don't see it except at haul outs.

I've done it several times, but not often in the Chesapeake because
most places I couldn't see anything.. Once in the fall when the
water in the river was pretty clear and it wasn't too cold and it was
sunny, we went and anchored over a sand bottom (reflects light) and I
went down and scraped the barnacles off the prop, and I've also been
down at in Indian Creek (Virginia) to see why the depth sounder wasn't
working (turned out to be a combination of barnacles and a bad
connection inside the boat). Come to think of it I've also gone down
briefly in other rivers or coves - but not in the Bay itself.

And I've been in the water with a snorkel at Sombrero Key, Key West
and the Dry Tortugas in order to see how the bottom, prop and zincs
were faring.

And of course sometimes I've gone down to see what the anchor was
doing.

Bob has scrubbed stuff off the waterline from the dinghy sometimes.

Skip v. Joe: Who is the best captain?
 

On Sun, 24 Feb 2008 09:55:32 -0600, Vic Smith
wrote:

As an aside, I wonder how many here do frequent inspections of the
hull. I suspect most don't see it except at haul outs.

And you would be wrong. Even trawler folk get their bottoms cleaned
regularly and their zincs inspected / changed - either by themselves
or a professional diver.

Skip v. Joe: Who is the best captain?
 

On 2008-02-24 19:51:18 -0500, Wayne.B said:

On Sun, 24 Feb 2008 09:55:32 -0600, Vic Smith
wrote:

As an aside, I wonder how many here do frequent inspections of the
hull. I suspect most don't see it except at haul outs.

And you would be wrong. Even trawler folk get their bottoms cleaned
regularly and their zincs inspected / changed - either by themselves
or a professional diver.

"*might* be wrong" would be a proper statement. I'm pretty obsessive
about some things, but on the Chesapeake, diving on the hull is a lost
cause; the water's too dark. I feel around and sometimes scrape the
prop & shaft, but know I won't be able to inspect anything under the
waterline by eyeball.

--
Jere Lull
Tanzer 28 #4 out of Tolchester, MD
Xan's pages: http://web.mac.com/jerelull/iWeb/Xan/
Our BVI trips & tips: http://homepage.mac.com/jerelull/BVI/

Skip v. Joe: Who is the best captain?
 

On Mon, 25 Feb 2008 05:23:56 GMT, Jere Lull wrote:

"*might* be wrong" would be a proper statement. I'm pretty obsessive
about some things, but on the Chesapeake, diving on the hull is a lost
cause; the water's too dark. I feel around and sometimes scrape the
prop & shaft, but know I won't be able to inspect anything under the
waterline by eyeball.

The serious racers out of Annapolis must find some way to keep their
bottoms spotlessly clean. I guarantee it. You just can not race
competetively with *any* marine growth on the bottom or foils.

Skip v. Joe: Who is the best captain?
 

Wayne.B wrote:

On Mon, 25 Feb 2008 05:23:56 GMT, Jere Lull wrote:

"*might* be wrong" would be a proper statement. I'm pretty obsessive
about some things, but on the Chesapeake, diving on the hull is a lost
cause; the water's too dark. I feel around and sometimes scrape the
prop & shaft, but know I won't be able to inspect anything under the
waterline by eyeball.

The serious racers out of Annapolis must find some way to keep their
bottoms spotlessly clean. I guarantee it. You just can not race
competetively with *any* marine growth on the bottom or foils.

IN the Chesapeake in the summer - no chance.

In the fresh water tributaries - depends. If you have a time when
there's not a lot of sediment coming down the river (so no recent hard
rains upstream) AND you have good sunlight reflecting off a sand
bottom, then there's pretty good visibility. Otherwise - you need to
know Braille.

Also you need to wear a dive skin or the like because of jellyfish.

Serious racers depends on the size of the boat I guess. Most boats
I've seen racing on inland waters look to me to be trailerable size.

Skip v. Joe: Who is the best captain?
 

Rosalie B. wrote:

Also you need to wear a dive skin or the like because of jellyfish.

How far north on the Bay are people seeing nettles just now (I mean in
season, of course)? Used to be that in the northern Bay we could swim and
not worry. I plan to hang out on the Bay a bit this summer and want to get
an idea of the problem. Reason I mention this is that we are seeing nettles
in Barnegat that we once never even had to think about.

--
Good luck and good sailing.
s/v Kerry Deare of Barnegat
http://home.comcast.net/~kerrydeare

Skip v. Joe: Who is the best captain?
 

On 2008-02-25 11:23:51 -0500, "Armond Perretta"
said:

Rosalie B. wrote:

Also you need to wear a dive skin or the like because of jellyfish.

How far north on the Bay are people seeing nettles just now (I mean in
season, of course)? Used to be that in the northern Bay we could swim and
not worry. I plan to hang out on the Bay a bit this summer and want to get
an idea of the problem. Reason I mention this is that we are seeing nettles
in Barnegat that we once never even had to think about.

I encountered a swarm of them in Nabb's Creek (just south of Baltimore)
a few years ago. I wasn't wearing my glasses when I went for a swim,
and didn't even SEE them until I had already dived (Dove?) into the
water in the midst of them! I had one miserable time afterward!

Ruby

Skip v. Joe: Who is the best captain?
 

Ruby Vee wrote:

On 2008-02-25 11:23:51 -0500, "Armond Perretta"
said:

Rosalie B. wrote:

Also you need to wear a dive skin or the like because of jellyfish.

How far north on the Bay are people seeing nettles just now (I mean in
season, of course)? Used to be that in the northern Bay we could swim and
not worry. I plan to hang out on the Bay a bit this summer and want to get
an idea of the problem. Reason I mention this is that we are seeing nettles
in Barnegat that we once never even had to think about.

I encountered a swarm of them in Nabb's Creek (just south of Baltimore)
a few years ago. I wasn't wearing my glasses when I went for a swim,
and didn't even SEE them until I had already dived (Dove?) into the
water in the midst of them! I had one miserable time afterward!

I don't know how far north, but we see them basically year round in
our marina off the Potomac.

Skip v. Joe: Who is the best captain?
 

On 2008-02-25 11:23:51 -0500, "Armond Perretta"
said:

Rosalie B. wrote:

Also you need to wear a dive skin or the like because of jellyfish.

How far north on the Bay are people seeing nettles just now (I mean in
season, of course)? Used to be that in the northern Bay we could swim and
not worry. I plan to hang out on the Bay a bit this summer and want to get
an idea of the problem. Reason I mention this is that we are seeing nettles
in Barnegat that we once never even had to think about.

They fairly regularly get up to the Wye by mid-June, Chester River by
July/August. One year saw a mess on the Bush River (above Poole's
Island). Also saw a mating pair or two of the mantas or rays
(Bull-nose?) on the Bush that weekend.

Somewhere around the web is a nettle predictor for the Bay that's not
too far off. I just sent off a message to the list I believe found it
for me. As I recall, there's a fairly narrow range of temperature and
salinity they prefer so some times the mid-Bay has more than the
southern Bay.

--
Jere Lull
Tanzer 28 #4 out of Tolchester, MD
Xan's pages: http://web.mac.com/jerelull/iWeb/Xan/
Our BVI trips & tips: http://homepage.mac.com/jerelull/BVI/