"Skip Gundlach" wrote in message
...
Sound Advice - sent September 24, 2008


snipped some

Undoing all the storm preparations took a while, and our usual
sloth and indolence in the morning prevailed before that, so we
didn't get off our very kindly-offered, very secure mooring,
before about 2:30.

Stupid to get such a late start because of laziness. Your departure time
should be planned the day before to take maximum advantage of wind and tide
and to make your destination before dark.

You may recall from the last that there's a
very defined channel, and a lovely anchorage, surrounded by much
shallower water. On the way out of the anchorage, Lydia, not yet
quite awake, got on the wrong side of the red buoy, and ran very
hard (as in, firmly, but not in any way damaging or permanent)
aground on a sand bar, throwing me to the salon floor by way of
the mast on the side of my head.

Not quite awake at 1430 hours? Then slap her a few times. If she can't
follow the channel markers she has no business at the helm and you, as
captain, have no business allowing her there. Stick her in the galley where
she belongs and let her hand strong black coffee to you out the
companionway. Do it before she causes to break your fool neck next time.

That reinforced the saying of "one hand for the boat, one for
yourself" - a safety mantra - you never know when the boat might
suddenly move in an unexpected direction. Of course, we weren't
really under way, so I'd not taken that precaution, and, in the
end, the biggest result was a lozenge-shaped bruise with a slight
skin split on the side of my head, quickly becoming nothing but a
discoloration. All our misadventures should end so quickly and
easily! Our MaxProp reversed us out of the sand in very short
order, and we proceeded out of the harbor under sail.

Sad that you can't commence even a short trip without a typical, ludicrous
mishap. One of these days you two Rubes are going to have to get serious.

snipped some
Once we got on the Sound, not only did the wind and waves pick
up, but so did, as forecast, the wind, moving to 15-20. Due to
our angle of attack, it was a beat to get high enough to tack
down to Mattituck, and still make some westing. However, our
sloth in the morning made it such that it was apparent we'd not
make it to Mattituck until well after dark.

Like I said already, stupid, stupid, stupid.


snipped some more

We came in at about high tide, which, of course, helped, but
rarely saw less than 5' under our set-for-7 feet sounder, and
frequently were over 10'. The inlet is pretty clearly marked,
with one anomaly of a red without its little hat, which in
marginal light might have been confused for the
otherwise-all-cylindrical greens. No lights on any of them, but
easy to see and follow.

Stupidity yet again. You should arrive on a rising tide in case you do go
aground you will have a chance of being lifted off. If you go aground at
hight tide you're likely to be stuck for a long time unless you can get off
before the tide falls. It seems like you learned little to date about
working the tides and timing your trips.

more snipped

Just when I give you some credit for having learned a thing or two you write
something that makes me wish I hadn't.

Wilbur Hubbard