Dawdling Under Canvas
Along the A September 2008 Cruise in Wayfarer 8328 Naomi by Jim Fraser September 15-16 ... |
September 15
Monday:
Rain and wind were forecast for
the night but I didn’t
anticipate the strength of the foul wind. The
updated weather forecast on the VHF radio, which I
checked in the
depth of night, wasn’t encouraging. Winds
southerly gusting to 60 km veering to westerly
reaching 70 km were
expected. My anchorage was too exposed
and I’d get out of here at first light.
After releasing the shore line, I hauled in the bow anchor. It was heavy to lift off the bottom and when it surfaced I saw the reason. Between the flukes and the shaft of the Danforth was a blackened, waterlogged tree limb. The anchor had never set in the mud and would have dragged this limb along the bottom as the wind strengthened. Just across the river was a more sheltered anchorage behind the tree line. It wasn’t perfect but as the wind shifted to west it should improve. I resigned myself to passing the day there. Soon Naomi was at anchor with a stern line ashore. This was a good time for house keeping chores including getting washed up, doing a laundry and cooking meals. Then I set up my thermarest chair, stretched out my legs on the side deck and settled down to reading and lazing about. The turbulent weather gradually moved on. During the evening, I listened to KD Lang in concert at Massey Hall on CBC Radio 2. I was well fed, warmly dressed and content. The book I took along was Four Months in a Sneak-Box by Nathaniel Bishop. In the late 1870s, the author purchased an east coast duck hunting boat and took it down various rivers, including the During
the
evening, a full moon rose which blotted out the Milky Way but left the
major
constellations in place. As I looked up,
Naomi’s mast pierced the
centre of the Northern Cross. Closer to the
horizon, a timid big dipper
appeared to slowly enter the tree-tops, then hesitate and back out
again
with
all its stars maintaining immaculate formation. This
illusion was caused by Naomi
gently yawing on her
mooring lines.
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September 16 Tuesday:
click here for full-sized chart image (left half) click here for full-sized chart image (right half) What a contrast with yesterday! There
wasn’t any wind at all. I motored the
complete length of
Early in the evening, a large sailboat slowly approached. The crew was hoping to moor at this wharf, but I had beaten them to it. There is only room for one vessel on the wharf head and the flanks were too shallow and short for them. Since a shoal draft Wayfarer could lay to the wharf ends, I offered to line Naomi around from the wharf face to its side. The
couple sailing this vessel
thanked me for shifting
berths and then asked me over for drinks. Their yacht’s cabin had
standing
room, comfortable settees, berths, chart table, heater, refrigerator,
enclosed
heads and a warm wooden interior. When I returned to Naomi I knew I
should
think that even though their yacht was pleasant, I wouldn’t trade
Naomi’s
Spartan interior for anything. However,
I would at that moment, gladly have traded my chilly boom-tent
enclosure for a
cabin like
that.
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