More on the mess in the bay and I don't mean the AC....

This is an update to the 'barge boat story' in San Francisco bay: I didn't write this, from a source ont he scene.

HR mean 'Hot Rod', the builder/owner.
HR Jr is the builder's son.
FH is the boat, Flying Hawiian.
Viking is also HR Jr...

I did stop by to check up both a little after low tide this morning and right around high tide. I also took some pix, and if any of them help illustrate what follows.

Morning report: FH was clearly aground again, right where he was yesterday. However, he was pointed the other way i.e. bow north and stern tobacco road facing the prevailing southerly breezes. This has to be a big advantage for him in ventilating the cabin (a need that no doubt has become quite poignant by now.) Take another look at all the pix and you'll realize that FH has absolutely no provision for forcing ventilation through when bow to wind.

It also has an enormous advantage for us - - we can see the back porch and back steps from the shoreline path. That's where a lot of interesting action takes place and it was pretty much out of sight ever since he arrived at this location.

The rudder setup..

He also has a reasonable set of anchors in place instead of the weird mess of yesterday: one at the bow, one at the stern, each with decent looking scope. This doesn't get him any closer to deep water, but it should keep him from swinging into even shallower mud My problem is that, given his apparent cluelessness about kedging and such, I have no effing idea how he did this. I know that his bow anchor is the same one he's had all along (you can tell by the distinctive knot in the line about 20 feet out) and it's possible that the one off the stern is the little Danforth he was messing with yesterday. My best guess is that they pulled in that second anchor after I left yesterday afternoon, and FH then swung on its one anchor during high tide last night when the breeze went around to NW and the tide came in around midnight. If the tide then went out before that night wind changed, they could have grounded in position with bow facing south. But how they got the second anchor out to a decent distance to stabilize themselves in that position we'll never know (at least until HR writes his book.)

In any case they really didn't do much during the morning visit. they just puttered around with this and that. The most interesting thing, now that we can see the back of the boat while it's grounded is how GIGANTIC those rudders are (picture to follow) and, as I was scanning them through the glasses, it looked to me like the starboard one was beginning to work and open up a seam between the board it's attached to and the planking in the tunnel. (I tried to capture this in a picture. I don't know yet if I have. It was pretty small.) Remember, this is the rudder that took quite a beating when he was anchored out at China Camp and FH Jr. pounded on it as HR tried to tie up Jr. in a healthy chop.


Afternoon Report: I came back around 2:30, pretty close to high tide. FH was floating very easily on its two anchors in the usual southerly breeze, and the ladies in the cabin were probably ecstatic about the fresh air.

Speaking of the ladies, as I was watching the back porch someone new stepped out through the sliding door. To date the only woman I've seen is the one I assume is Mrs. Rod. Sort of solid-looking lady in maybe her 50s or 60s with gray hair, which she often wears loosely pinned up. (We know Mom is onboard, but someone said she's an invalid, and I've never seen anyone with a mobility problem.) The new lady was shorter than Mrs. Rod, chubbier and appeared somewhat younger. She also had long reddish hair very similar to the Viking's! I don't know if she's been aboard all along or just joined them, but I certainly could believe she's the Viking's sister . . . or maybe he married a woman who looks a lot like himself (it happens.) IN any case, we should all welcome her into our virtual circle.

That's the front..

Even though the boat was floating, there didn't seem to be any movement toward trying to get it into deeper water. The reason became clear when I saw HR pop up from the Bayliner with a long set of jumper cables in his hand. I have no idea what he was trying to do with them, but his body language said it hadn't worked. He coiled the jumpers and put them into the cabin. Shortly thereafter, he helped the viking pul
l the little dinghy out of the tunnel, jump in and start paddling toward the shore. That's when I figured they were going to grab me and throw me in the bilge with the other snoops.

But thankfully, he headed toward a different part of the shoreline path. He re-appeared a minute or two later paddling back to FH with a passenger. It was a young guy with a short dark crew cut. (Let's call him "New Guy.") This was no tour visit. As soon as he scrambled up onto FH he headed for the Bayliner, which already had the back seat/engine cover propped open. He spent the next 15 minutes out of sight, presumably looking at the engine. At one point HR joined him and they both were handling a shiny metallic object about the size of a 4-barrel carb, but most of the time Rod and the Viking were hanging over the rail of FH watching him from above.

The rigging

Then, as quickly as he'd gone to work, he was up on the foredeck having a serious conversation with the Viking while HR puttered with the Bayliner engine. After 10 minutes of quiet, intense talk, Viking left to join HR and New Guy lay back to take a nap or wait for his ride home.

Like a good silent movie, you don't need sound to understand the story. As I read it, FH Jr. has refused to start ever since Viking drove it back from the marina the day of Rod's screaming fit. (Perhaps because a bent prop had shaken it half to death.) The jumper cables were because HR had run out the battery trying to start it. New guy was their chosen engine expert, and what he found was bad news - - so bad that he wanted to convey it quietly to Michael rather than trigger an explosion from Rod.

A non-functioning Bayliner would seem to leave them depending on the kindness of strangers to avoid an eternity of going on and off the mud right there by the shoreline path.

Stay tuned.