Got some catchin' up to do! :)

[CapnK]

This past weekend was the annual gigantinormous billfishing tournament that we have here, and 3 days of getting up @ 3:30AM to help out until ~7PM wiped me out for another whole, 4th day. :D

Then, last night, rested and showered, we had a particularly snotty storm blow through - winds were measured at 60mph locally. I had the CrewDogs belowdecks, we had 2 lightning strikes (among I don't how many) that were less than 1 second from flash to BOOM. Zoiks! It was howling, I even heard a low rumbling noise unlike anything I've heard before.

Ater it was all over, I went out on deck, and things just looked *different* somehow, in some way I couldn't put my finger on for a good minute or so.

Then I realized - my dinghy was no longer on the dock, next to the boat. *That* was the odd rumbling noise I'd heard in the midst of the storm, I think...

(Insert many loud heartfelt salty sailors words that wouldn't make it past the sailFar language filters...)

I'd sailed it a couple times in the afternoons during the week before the tournament, and I guess that with all that happened in the meanwhile, I'd forgotten to run the painters over the dock cleats like I normally do...  ??? :-\ >:(

Making a long story short, I lucked out. It was pinned up against the next dock upstream, laying sideways and full of water, but the mast was still attached, and when I got to it I saw that not everything onboard was lost. I've learned to tie things to the dinghy in case of capsize, and so the kayak paddle (my fav) was still there.

Gone were the rudder, daggerboard, seat cushion (throwable), a PFD, and two folding chairs that I'd  had sitting in it to keep them from blowing away when not in use. Took me an hour, but I eventually got everything back to my dock and stowed *properly*.

I figured I'd just make a new rudder and daggerboard.

But then this morning, once it got light, I found the PFD and the rudder floating in a whirlpool by the downstream dock. Yay!  8) Now I've only got to make a daggerboard.

Lesson learned. ;D

[Tim]

Glad most of it showed up Capn. Here's a grog to ya, you need it after that :o

[Lynx]

I have watch my knot become untied several times on my 5/8" polly dinghy tow line I now always time it twice. I have a 50 foot tow line on my dinghy. More than once I have awoke and found the first knot untied. Polly is good about that.

[sailorflo]

Hey Capt k that was a good storm that came though and I seen it comming I had just happen to be checking on maetta Ive got her in store mode and kept everything on deck but had I been living aboard her Im shur that something would have flown away . Glad to hear that you saved alot of the stuff ;D