(08/16/05) Our daughter Jenny met us in Shelburne this morning. The three of us sailed north to the place where Jenny had arranged for us to loan a mooring for a while. Libby was so glad to have Jenny onboard that the two chatted incessantly. Anyhow, the breeze was stiff from astern so it didn't take long to get there.
When we found the mooring, I attached my anchor snubber to it. The snubber has a chain shackle, a thimble, and a rubber shock absorber.
I got in the dinghy and tried to attach the shackle to the mooring buoy ring. There was no shelter from the wind and waves and it was very choppy. That made the job difficult. It was like trying to thread a needle while riding a bucking horse. After a few minutes the dinghy dipped and dumped me into the water. The water was fine so I didn't care at first. I didn't care until Jenny asked me if I had anything in my pockets. Ay ay. I had our new digital camera in one pocket and our cell phone in the other. Needless to say, neither is waterproof.
After all that trouble, it turned out that my snubber was too short anyhow. As the boat rocked it pulled the buoy out of the water and put too much strain on the lines. In less than an hour it broke the rubber shock absorber. I decided that we couldn't last a single night in that state without chafing through the line. We abandoned that mooring and motored to Burlington where we hired a mooring behind the breakwater for tonight.
Jenny and I then took a taxi to her house where we tried to dry out the phone and camera with a hair dryer and I tried to find a replacement phone. I also bought a new length of line, thimble and shackle to make a longer snubber for the mooring. We'll try it again some other day.
Tomorrow Jenny is coming to sail with us again and it's supposed to be very windy. Tarwathie should like that.
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