The tidal grid itself was damn cool. Basically, it's a grid of heavy duty planks that are well submerged at high water, but exposed at low water. We motored over to the grid at high water and just waited until the tide dropped enough that the bottom of our keel was resting on the planks (and we tied off to shore so our precious home didn't fall over). Once the water hit low tide, we could go stand in the mud and on the planks to inspect the bottom of the grid. Brilliant! Jason is counting this as our first episode of running aground since it's bound to happen sooner or later. :) We were the gossip of the town while we were on the grid. Lots of boaters and townies would stop by and check on our progress, including the town cop. At one point, someone came over and said they had heard it might be the cutless bearing - word was getting around!
We met some great people, though, and Port McNeill is definitely worth the stop - they've got everything you need and the friendliest people ever. We met our 2 newest boating buddies at the (very expensive) laundrymat - Kelli and Scotty from s/v Happy Camper.
Now, I know you're all wondering "hmm - did Christy and Jason go see the world's largest burl while they were in Port McNeill?" No, sadly, we did not. It was a few km out of town and we were pretty wrapped up with not letting our boat fall over and fixing the clunking. You CAN, however, go see pictures of the world's largest burl on the interwebs. Sorry we couldn't provide any of our own...
:)
The tidal grid.
Hello World aground!
The townies watching the show.
50°35.484'N 127°05.346'W
8 comments:
How do you align your keel with the planks? From what I see in the picture, if you were a few feet forward, or had about 10" more beam, you'd be in a really weird spot!
We studied pictures of our keel from when the boat was hauled out. We knew that the aft end of the keel started at first gate stanchion and the forward end of the keel ended around the dorade guards. The beams we wanted to sit on were lying in between two posts that ran up the wall so when we pulled in, we lined up those posts with the spots on the boat that marked where the keel laid. Then we tied the boat down tight so it couldn't move fore and aft while the water dropped under us. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.
That is craziness! You guys are more clever than I imagined :) I also did not realize that the keel could handle the wait of the boat like that, especially since it's filled with approx. a ton of candy.
yes, it holds the wait, but not the weight very well. where the hell did you learn english sista? :)
Uh, I meant "wait" as in waiting for the tide. Your boat always seemed very impatient to me.
McKenzie - you may not realize this but Rolos are not only a delicious and healthy snack but have structural integrity.
surely not Rolos alone... i've always thought the whatchamacallit was the key to making things work! i'm very jealous or your trip... a cetain Cathy in Cleveland turned me on to the blog! Safe travels!
I like the hull form shown in that photos.
-Traveller (still in Iraq)
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