Thursday, May 13, 2010

Still afloat

Still afloat

So there she is at her mooring, apparently unscathed by her captain's depraved negligence and folly in running her on the rocks, shown below:

The troll's jaw

She's floating as high as she ever did. A sturdy boat, bless her.

You can see the boil of the current around the mooring buoy -- it was running about three knots. And you can also see that there is apparently only one mooring line, not the two there are supposed to be. Hmmm.

A trip out to the boat and a closer look revealed this situation:

fiendish tangle I don't know how clear it is from the picture, but the two mooring lines are wrapped several dozen times around each other, and both are wrapped around the chain under the buoy. In fact investigation later revealed that one was wrapped more times around the chain than the other, and I honestly don't know how this is topologically possible on any plausible physical scenario. It's a tangle that the Prince of Darkness himself might be proud to have contrived. Or Bernini.

The current and the chop weren't horrible enough to prevent me from disentangling the pennant lines, which revealed that one of them was already chafed so badly by the chain that I had to go back to see Seth at the marina and get a replacement. This after what, three days on the mooring?

Seth is a very good guy and he gave me two lines -- "Replace 'em both," he said, "and leave one of the old ones on for an oh-shit line." Good advice, I think.

Here's a slightly more cheerful view of the shoreline -- the troll's smiling face, you might say:

The troll's smiling face

This shot quite unintentionally incorporates a building where I used to live -- just visible above the notch in the trees right in the center of the image.

1 comment:

  1. You were lucky (and quick enough to be lucky)! I like the "oh-shit line." I need a few of those for various parts of my life.

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