Century Club: Tim Ford

Needed to put a charge on RAINBOW's battery, so we launched the plastic kayaks for a leisurely float while the charger did its thing.

Temps were saying 61 on the car's thermo, but it was a bit cooler in the creek.  We soon found out why, encountering some thin brash further back into the east side cove.  Nonetheless, it was pleasant enough.  Breeze was light to non-existent in the backwaters. Water clarity/visibility is a huge plus this time of year.  And the season had sculpted an interesting take on a springing squirrel in drfitwood media close to the sea oats' shoreline.

Hardly seeing any other boats on the water, aside from a club member's sailboat, the solitude of December boating is wonderful. 

I went down to try out a new motor bracket fitting to see if the shorter shaft 3.5 HP motor would work, as it's a heckuva lot easer than trying to wrestle the 6.5 HP into place on the transom. I made a mock up out of a well-aged piece of Georgia yellow pine and two pieces of douglas fir.  The motor, seated on the modified bracket, did sit low enough to bury the exhaust port and, more importantly, the intake for the water pump. But it also blocked the gear shift so that I cannot get the motor into "Forward," which is sort of important, and it also blocked the pin that gets pushed in to keep the engine in the "Up" position and the prop out of the water.

So back to the drawing board.

Then I put a kayak in to take a quick paddle out to the point and also get a better look at the bracket.  Maybe, just maybe, if I flip the bracket over 180 degrees, it'll lower the O/B enough to not need the new configuration. 

Saturday was Work Party Day at PSA, when 40 - 50 club members and friends show up to spiff up the premises, pull the moorings in the mooring field and build and replace rotted floating docks. 

I spent some time on the water by jumping on both of the docks we were replacing and acting as a "tillerman" on the ride over to the ramp, whereby these heavy water-logged structures are yanked up the boat ramp, dragged uphill to where a 30-foot dumpster is stationed and then chainsaws reduce the wreakage to sizes that will fit into the dumpster. 

I called it "Life on the Mississippi" but I really didn't do much except have a pleasant ride over to the ramp, and then stay aboard to keep the things stationed where they wouldn't interfere with floating the brand NEW docks, as they are unleased and crunch down the ramp to splash in the creek. 

As always, PSA Work Parties are amazing with the sheer amount of volunteer labour members put in, not to mention the array of talents, knowledge and general DIY industriousness displayed,

FUN DAY!

The MRSA Race to the Lighthouse got cancelled and I was just planning on another kayaking stint, perhaps tossing some lures around in the rising tide.  But instead, I got seduced into going out on Mr. Floyd's Corsair 27.  (BTW, I think the Corsair 27 is one of the top five boats ever introduced into production) We didn't have a whole lot of breeze, but still saw speeds approaching 7 kts in a few of the better wind lines out there. 

In the distance, we saw boats racing and got closer to investigate. I thought it might be the GIYS Sonar fleet, but as we got closer I could see a few IODs in the mix.  And just as we had Dutch Ship Island abeam, we got to witness a five boat IOD start right off the bow (don't worry, we did not impede or influence any boat's course or breeze).

Not sure there is a prettier design out there racing these days.  Star boats are nice but these old meter boats are just flat-out gorgeous.