"Those" dock people talking again... I guess they are a universal phenomenon...They don't go anywhere on their boats and they don't have much else to do but second guess what the rest of us are up to. I remember being one of them from time to time, so it is human nature in some perverted way. The word on the street is that we in Holding Pattern are aground and Steven on Shamwari is dragging. It's pretty finny stuff. I've heard it by word of mouth, I've heard out of the horse's mouth.
We are the only two boats out here in the anchorage so we're very visible. What's funny about it is that Steven has a 30' that draws 6 1/2'. Our 40' draws 5 1/2'. He is much further out and exposed to the current of the river. His keel and therefore position of the boat determines how he sits in the water usually, not wind. We are much more protected, draw less, and lie to the wind most of the time it blows more than 10. So since we sit often cockeyed to one another, they assume he is in deeper water and smaller...we are in closer and bigger...since we're sitting different we must be aground.
Now they also think Steven is dragging. Well, he went sailing twice last week in rough weather to try out his new storm sails and test some new rigging. We went out once to test out roller furling and the lazy-jack system I designed for the mainsail (that's another blog...) So since we're both in slightly different positions AND it has been blowing 10-30mph for several days...he is further out so he is dragging.
This is good stuff. Since not many of them have been on the hook for quite sometime (this is one of "those" workyard/marinas where less than 5% ever move.) It is one of the most wonderful places we've ever been, we both love it here. If we were to pick a place to be Shanghai'd for a while, this would be it, hands down. So, I'm not knocking it one bit... but we just keep hearing the same things... "You're aground, huh?" "When did Steven drag?" "Can you feel yourself aground?"... and friends telling us "so and so told me you were aground out there" We find this all quite amusing. Some folks are quite troubled by it. We seem to be quite the center of attention. | 