money shot
capable boat
fierce rowing machine!
destination in a building breeze
We needed to get some intel on the new shoal pole in the Magothy (R "10"). e.g., How to affix a weather instrument on the new, leaner and meaner Day Beacons.
But this involved a 2-mile row in one of Patrick's dories out to the mark. Patrick is a machine on a set of oars. Even when the breeze changed from a favorable 2-5 kn westerly to....OF COURSE...as soon as we got to open water, 10-14 kn southerasterly which was, naturally, just the exact direction we were heading, and with tons of fetch from the SE, putting up a nice little 1-2 foot chop, Great....
But we got the data we needed including a quick, impromptu rope wrap around the pole to get an accurate read on the diameter (we barely touched the pole and put zero stress on it, during a lull and a flat spot in the chop). Mission accomplished. Thanks Patrick!