Tonight, will be a short post after a busy day. Irish Hurricane came 48 miles this afternoon, from Oriental to Belhaven, North Carolina. All of us were up early to get a jump start on the miles.
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Pete and Katie took a good run before we got underway. That is, Pete rode his bike. Katie ran. Meanwhile, I set up the bridge – iPads, VHF check, chart plotter, and Bad Elf. There are switches to turn off and on at the main panel to power the bridge.
Other switches secure shore power and water and need to be toggled before we unhook either one to switch to 12V battery power and water from the boat’s tank. Ship’s power goes off on the 120 panels (one for a/c, one for appliances and lights). The pressure pump goes on to force water to faucets and heads from the tank.
We filter our drinking water twice: once through the inline filter at the hose and a second time through a Brita pitcher. One pre-underway task is filling the Nalgene bottles that in turn supply the Brita pitcher in the galley. Another task is to ensure the water bottles and other loose gear are stowed for sea.
Last week Pete found an unstowed cantaloupe, forgotten on the counter, in the aft cabin. Presumably it had tumbled like a happy basketball from the console next to the Nalgene bottles then through the salon and down four steps before coming to rest under the vanity.
A last thing to do is make a quick round to make sure gear is secured. Two particularly important objects need extra TLC: the countertop TV and my desktop computer. The TV clips to a nearby bulkhead. My computer wears a tee shirt to protect glass before I lay it face down on grip shelf liner.
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By the time Pete and Katie returned from their run, IH was ready go to. We lingered on the dock chatting with the Michiganders forward of us and the North Carolinians aft. Everyone had a plan. One boat was heading south, one north, one nowhere at all. We all have internal compasses against which we plan. They all point north, though we follow different courses.
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Docking at the end of the day is like running a movie in reverse: water hose over, shore power on, switches reswitched and unswitched. A ride for Katie. We chat with other boats along the dock and near the kayak launch Katie claimed as her stick-chasing venue. She’s turning into a powerful swimmer.
One family is working hard to expose their teen-age son to the world he will shortly inherit. Another couple, longtime lake boaters, are uncertain about saltwater and its complications: coastal winds, tides, and currents to name three.
Katie made friends all around. Somehow, she convinced the teen-ager to replace her old, torn, and worn ball with a brand-new one. As with this morning, everyone discussed plans. One boat is heading east, one north, one south.
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My watch today included a large turn – close to 270 degrees – over several miles. We set out going southeast then came left, and left, and left. until we were heading west. I watched the numbers spin around the compass as we turned, marveling at the instrument’s simple concept.
The beauty of a compass is it stays true to North. When you change course, you can look at the compass and believe you have not turned at all. It might appear for a few seconds that the compass that has moved, not the boat. This is only an illusion.
A properly calibrated compass always points to magnetic north (a gyro stabilized one, to true north). It does not lie. It is reliable under all circumstances. You may believe the vessel you are on has not changed course, that the compass is the unreliable thing. But that, as I said, is only an illusion.
The trick is to trust the compass: to not be fooled into believing the truth is a lie. To disbelieve the notion the ship itself has not changed course. It’s easy to get lost without a compass.
But I digress. We had a satisfying if long day. Tomorrow promises to be another as we follow the compass north.
Irish Hurricane 