----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, December 23, 2007 9:12 PM
Subject: Christmas List - Lowest Tide - sunk in the mud
Have you got your list in? Penny has.
Today was one of the lowest tides of the year - and we were
buried in the mud - down to the ships belly. Is it any wonder that
the generator wouldn't run properly yesterday - and the intake filters were
clogged with mud. It's plain to see why.
The distance from the top of the black antifoul
paint - to the bottom of the keel is 9'6" - which means that a good 2 metres of
keel is buried in the mud.
When it's high tide - 6 hours later - the deck of
the yacht yacht rises about 6' higher than the dock - and we are pretty well
floating - but probably have about a foot of the keel still in the
mud.
None of this is doing any harm - and the yacht sits
quite comfortably down on its full belly. I imagine that part of the
skeg and rudder are also in the mud - and maybe some of the prop - but it's just
dirty soft slimy mud - and I can't see it doing any harm.
But it will not be possible to run the main engine
or the big generator - while ever it's low tide here - because the seawater
inlet is buried - and it also explains why I've had trouble sometimes trying to
pump out the grey water sump tank - it's definitely fully blocked at low
tide.
Otherwise it's been a pleasant sunny
day.
It's almost Christmas - only 2 days to go - and it
looks like we may spend a quiet one here aboard - just Penny &
I. It's not that we haven't been invited - it's just that we're a
distance away - to be travelling about on Christmas Day - so we'll get a
few treats tomorow - and spend the day in quiet reflection - and kind thoughts
of the rest of you. So don't worry about us.
It's been a big few weeks - and who'd have thought
that we'd be spending Christmas Day aboard the yacht - ON THE WATER.
I'll bet there were a few who would have bet otherwise.
All the best - Merry Christmas - and we'll keep
sending like always.
Rodney & Penny
