I woke up cold again about 5:30. The 50 degree summer nights were killing me. My sleeping bag was warm enough, and I didn't really do too badly at night. But during the day, I was fighting the cold wind and wet feet and hands. Plus I was doing nothing but sitting in the cockpit steering - not enough exercise to generate any warmth.
I decided to try to make up for lost time, so I pulled away at 6:30. With dread I put on all the warm clothes I had, my foul weather gear and pulled into the river. I sorely wished for rubber boots so my feet would stay dry.
The retractable keel on the Cal 21 is raised with a winch in the cockpit. The cable runs through a 6 inch by 30 inch hole in the bottom of the cockpit. I made a floorboard to cover the hole, but high waves pound into that hole from the bottom spouting water into the cockpit. I found there was no way to keep my feet dry in big waves. So my feet were constantly wet and cold.
The forecast for rain and thunderstorms and West wind 10-20 really bothered me. I wanted to try to make a few miles before the West wind 10-20 became West wind 20-30 like it did on Friday. Usually the wind is the highest between 1 and 3 in the afternoon.
In moderately high winds, I was tacking back and forth across the river endlessly. About 9 a.m., I made a long tack close to the shore and suddenly I ran aground! With my keel down, that meant I was in 4 1/2 feet of water. I couldn't believe it was that shallow 50 yards out on the mighty Ohio River! Then I spotted a creek that emptied into the Ohio and obviously made a shallow delta.
But what to do now? I looked up and of course there was a towboat with barges coming! In panic, I winched up the keel - Thank God for a swing keel!
But as soon as I got the keel up the wind in my sails pushed me closer to the shore and the rudder went aground jamming itself against the cotter pin.
Now I realized that I had to get the sails down before doing anything else, or I was going to wind up on shore with no way to get off against the wind. But now the raised sail turned the boat downwind which is exactly the wrong direction for lowering the sails. The wind was howling against the sails, jamming the slides. One batten broke in the sail as I pulled it from the stays. I thought I would never get the sail down. I wrestled and jerked, and finally it came down.
Then I hustled below for the needle-nosed pliers so I could get the cotter pin out of the rudder pintle. I was afraid the rudder was jamming it so hard I wouldn't be able to get it out. But it finally came out with much effort.
I was free again. Now if the motor would only start back up. It did, but fitfully. Thank God! I motored out from shore, and set up the mainsail again. I had to get the sail up because the high wind and waves made it hard to go with motor alone, and I couldn't trust the motor anyway.
I put the tiller back on, winched the keel down, and wrestled the sails back up. But the end of the mainsheet had run out through the blocks. I had forgotten to tie a stopper knot in the end of the rope. I scrambled for the end of the line.
That's when I looked up and saw the tug boat right on me. It was so close and the river so narrow at this point that I did not have room to maneuver. I had to avoid the barge so I turned downwind and before I knew it I was aground AGAIN!
I went through the routine again now trying to get everything done in the right order and before the monster waves from the barge hit me. I finally broke free and running just as the barge passed! Finally, I was going again.
About 10, the rain came. It rained hard for about an hour. My feet were wet and cold. Now my leather gloves were soaked and cold. But at least, I had put on my warmest clothes under the foul weather gear. I wished for boots and waterproof gloves. It was not supposed to be this cold in June.
I wasn't tempted to stop to avoid the rain. I figured you have to go through the rain to appreciate the sunshine, bad days to enjoy the good days. In spite of the grounding, everything was much better than it was yesterday with those really high winds. The wind was, of course, still in my face, but it was a relatively steady wind and a lot more manageable.
An anonymous author once wrote this little poem entitled "Ships and
Souls:"
Ships sail east and ships sail west
While the self same breezes blow:
It's the set of the sails and not the gales
That determines the way they go.
Like the winds of the sea is the way of fate
As we journey along through life.
It's the set of the soul that determines the goal
And not the calm or the strife.
It may be true that you can go against the wind in the midst of a gale, but I can assure you that you can't go very fast. In six hours I had only made 15 miles.
The motor was running fitfully again at Turtle Creek, just across the river from Warsaw, Kentucky and only a mile and a half before the lock and dam. When I spotted sailboat masts in the marina, I decided this was the place to stop for more gas.
It was about 12:30 when I decided to head in to the marina, and that's when the motor died completely again. I couldn't believe it. I first turned away from the entrance considering my possibilities. But the dam was just around the bend and the towboats that had just passed me were stopping, obviously waiting their turn at the locks.
I decided I had to go in and look for a motor man or buy a new motor. This was just too dangerous not having a reliable motor at critical times. I got the sail down, the oars out and slowly made my way into the marina. I sure did not want to make an appearance this way, but I had no choice.
Three men met me on the dock to help steer the boat in. Of course, they asked about my motor. I explained that it died on me and asked if they knew someone who worked on them. One man said, "I think there is someone at Rising Sun." You might know.
I described the way the motor was running, and one man suggested it may be getting hot because the foot is not far enough in the water. That suggestion came like a light bulb to me. That's it! That "WOODEN" noise, of course, was the foot coming out of the water in the high waves. After a while of that and the motor gets too hot and starts running "fitfully." After it gets hot enough, it freezes up completely and dies.
He suggested that I might cut off some of the motor mounting board and lower the motor. Or I might re-bolt the same board, but use only the lower two bolts. And if I wanted to work on it I could pull over to another dock and fix it. Well, that all sounded like exactly what I wanted to do!
I bought $15 worth of gas and moved over to the other dock to work on the motor mount. I asked if they had a store nearby where I could buy some boots. I was tired of my feet being wet and cold. The lady there said, "No, but we might have some old boots that the Salvation Army gave us back during the flood." After a while she came back with the boots (still covered in flood mud) and charged me $10 for them, which I was happy to pay. ("I'll bet she doesn't donate that $10 to the Salvation Army, though.)
Another boat owner (a retired guy about my age!) lent me a hand and his electric drill to widen the holes so they would line up, and I successfully lowered the mounting board to the bottom two holes. I was very optimistic that this was going to solve my motor problem.
But now the motor was so low in the brackets that I could not turn the motor all the way around, which is my only reverse gear. Before I left, I decided to try to adjust the steering arm up so it would clear the brackets. That worked and now I felt the motor was as good as new.
At the bathroom, I saw they had a shower! When I asked, the lady said I could take a shower for free, so before I left I did. I had accomplished quite a lot in an hour and a half and felt confident about traveling on.
By 2, I was ready to go. The motor started fine. I motored out with a little more pride than when I entered oaring.
But when I arrived in the river I saw the 10-20s had become 15-25s. Since my motor was working well, and I only had 1 1/2 mile to the dam, I decided not to wrestle with the mainsail, but to motor directly into the wind to the dam. I didn't want to have to mess with taking down the sail at the dam in the high winds.
After 30 minutes of running full throttle against the wind and waves, I managed to make 3/4 mile to the good. But when I turned the curve to the dam, the wind was worse. I found that I could not keep the boat pointed into the wind, even with the keel down. The front kept falling off the wind. It was impossible to go forward under such little power. Maybe if I had a bigger motor, but the 3 hp just couldn't do it. If I put up the sails, I could keep it headed into the wind enough, but then I would have to deal with the sails and the locks and the towboats all at the dam. I finally gave up and headed back to the marina, this time under power. At least, the motor problem seemed to be finally solved.
I settled in for the afternoon and did some writing and reading. Lately, I have been reading a lot about Openness Theology. I hadn't heard the term until recently. While at Moody Bible Institute two weeks ago, I found the book by that title in the library and thoroughly enjoyed reading it. It made so much sense to me.
Here is a good quote from the book:
"[Open Theism] . . . Presents an understanding of God's nature and
relationship with his creatures, which we call the openness of God; in
broad strokes, it takes the following form. God, in grace, grants humans
significant freedom to cooperate with or work against God's will for their
lives, and he enters into dynamic, give and take relationships with us.
The Christian life involves genuine interaction between God and human beings.
We respond to God's gracious initiatives and God responds to our responses
. . . and on it goes. God takes risks in this give-and-take relationship,
yet he is endlessly resourceful and competent in working toward his ultimate
goals. Sometimes God alone decides how to accomplish these goals. On other
occasions, God works with human decisions, adapting his own plans to fit
the changing situation. God does not control everything that happens. Rather,
he is open to receiving input from his creatures. In loving dialogue, God
invites us to participate with him to bring the future into being." (Dr.
John Sanders, The Openness of God )
It sounds so simple and common sense, but conservative scholars are labeling it as "heresy." The big controversy is probably over that line "God does not control everything." One of the most popular theological ideas batted around by laypeople is "God is in control." It sounds so reassuring, but I always wonder about Satan's role, and, of course, free will. This book is an excellent presentation of the ideas I had been struggling with for some time.
The wind finally slowed about 6, but I just didn't have the heart to go anymore. One big problem was finding another good place to stay for the night. I COULD make the Kentucky River in Carrollton by 10 pm, but that would be a best case scenario, and I hadn't had much best case stuff happen. And it was still threatening to rain. There was a creek near Veevay, but it didn't look big enough for me to anchor in. Or I could stay there at the marina and take it easy for the night! I decided for the latter.
It had been a pretty miserable three days (Thursday, Friday, and Saturday). It made me wonder why I enjoy doing this. Those are the days that explain why nobody will come with me. It is definitely roughing it. It's quite hard in a small sailboat with a small engine, especially single-handed.
Two big boats, with about 7 people aboard between the two, docked beside
me. I was afraid it might be a noisy night.
"Where you headed?"
"Downriver"
"Kinda choppy out there today, wasn't it?"
"Too much wind for me. I stopped here about 1:00."
I'd a lot rather be in a hurricane hole by myself than with people.
Mile 529 Turtle Creek Harbor
Mile 514 Gunpowder Creek
15 miles
made good today