Another day at the office

Hurricane Idalia is history

Hurricane Idalia is now moving across southeastern Georgia. South Florida is, again, hot and humid.

As I write at 3:45 p.m. EST, in the marina, winds are 10.6 knots from 223°, and the temperature is 89° with 70% humidity.

That’s a feels-like temperature of 99°!

Only a few outer bands of the hurricane passed above Avemar on Tuesday evening. The highest gust recorded on the B&G was 29 knots. It rained very hard for brief periods a few times overnight.

April came to visit this afternoon to work from the boat. She works virtually and mentors university students studying for undergrad or advanced degrees in special education.

(I suspect she is doing a sea trial of the new [replacement] Starlink antenna that I temporarily mounted on the bow pulpit.)

She reported similar conditions at her house, possibly with more rain than I received on the boat. She lives about 45 minutes further south of the location where Avemar is harbored for hurricane season.

I just ordered an inexpensive “automotive” 12-volt fan from Amazon to test on the boat before buying two more if the experiment works.

The two expensive “marine” fans that I bought in 2021 gave up the ghost at some point over the past few months when the boat was on the hard in the storage yard. Black carbon or magnet dust went everywhere when I removed the broken fans from the v-berth and galley.

I guess they, like Avemar, didn’t like sitting in the baking Florida sun, unused, either.

I get that.

I also ordered material to manufacture a bracket to mount a stern light under the aft end of my solar panels. The previous light was mounted on the stern rail.

Because of that location, the light drove me crazy while sailing at night. It reflected off the white wind vane paddle, casting ghostly dancing shadows in the cockpit with every gust of wind.

Now, I have to make a bracket and try to fish two more wires from the light through the solar arch tubing and down to the cockpit switch.

Laundry and dinner should complete my work day.

Oh yeah, I also need to shop for shoes for a wedding in a few weeks.

Boat work always seems to continue!

April will finish her real work at 9 p.m.

Here’s the shorter post-storm update: All is well on Avemar… as long as the AC keeps working!

We wish the best for fellow sailors and others already on Idalia’s path!