Rough Sailing Out There

Broad Creek
N 35 04.418 W 76 37.416

Monday

We're still here waiting for the gale to subside. Perhaps tomorrow the winds will be only 20-25 and we can leave, even though we normally hate motoring into 25 knot head winds. There is a vicious rumor around that says that this storm, off to our southeast, may turn around and come back. That would be nasty. Would we have to call it a sou'easter? I've never heard of such a thing.

In the meantime, the sky remained clear and sunny all day. Last night the stars were brilliant in the clear sky. Also in the meantime, the barometric pressure is now low but high (at least not here). Freaky weather. I'll have to blame it on that super duper nova that erupted. They say it is five times brighter than anything ever seen before.

For those boaters still sailing it was not a nice day. Listening to channel 16 on the VHF we first heard a 54 foot motor vessel on the Neuse River seeking haven. He said they were getting beat up out on the river. Soon after we heard a Coast Guard vessel call in saying that they were bringing in a survivor. We listened to the news and heard that the Coast Guard picked up three people from a sailboat on a makeshift raft 160 nm east of Hatteras. Soon after that, we heard Coast Guard "pan pan"
calls about the sailing vessel Flying Colors. Flying Colors is a 64 foot sailboat with a single mast. The Coast Guard said they were receiving signals from an EPIRB registered to Flying Colors.

I took the screen on my laptop apart attempting to repair the cancer of vertical black lines that are multiplying. I sprayed the ribbon cable connectors with Corrosion Blocker and put it back together. It was no help. When I had it apart, I could see three small rusty spots on the frame, just below the lower edge of the screen. I bet those spots got wet on times when I wiped the screen with a damp cloth to clean it. The spots were nowhere close to any electronics or functional parts, but I'm
convinced that they were what allowed the warranty company to deny my claim for a repair. On reflection, I realize that third party extended warranties are a bad idea. The warranty holder is not involved in marketing policies to the public, but they control the costs for repair claims. That gives them every motivation to find flimsy excuses to deny all claims.