still here! (wrote this yesterday...but forgot to post)

Wind whistling, rain rattling against the boat, boat shaking and shivering and tossing about, wires and lines clanging in the mast, occasional moments when the rigging hums like a giant cello string: so much stimulation makes me just want to go to sleep.

I look out the port and see whitecaps. I've never really gotten to observe whitecaps from this relaxed and close vantage point before and the waves look like they are being pushed along by the bullying gusts until they stumble. Sometimes their white cap is lifted and tossed ahead. I took pictures of the wildness, but waves always look milder in photos..

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I've cut off 99% of the leaks my boat had when I bought it, but, after hours of rain, things get damp. (Very mildly) irritating.

My phone just gave out a horrible noise and a flash flood alert. I think I am safe here, eh?

My water tanks are full and now the faucet overflows into the sink. Right now it is about ten gallons an hour, but sometimes it is one or two a minute...

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So, I am sheltered, I've washed several seat covers (wash while you have water! And now the cabin is in more disarray), I had a great walk this AM, my breakfast and lunch were quite satisfying, the weather seems to be ending (hmm...the forecast says it will continue right through tonight), I have plenty to read and eat, and my boat and I are fine. Life is good.

Note: today I could not resist going out in the light winds, then they picked up and up....so I put in my first reef I've ever done while sailing! A bit messy, but effective. Besides, I wanted to try out teh new line setup I had created to make reefing easier: I think I saw a similar thing on newer boats we sailed on my 8-day course 15 months back.

I sailed to Flanagan Island as the wind had come around to an unusually southerly direction and made the shelter there even better....plus, it is nice and private. I put out all my damp or wet things to dry, covering the boat with horrible-looking mess. 

Then I dug into the aft stateroom to find out just why it is so damned wet back there! Turns out that there is a bit of leak from the wheel pedestal, but the major leak is a 1/4" hole in the aft water tank! No wonder it won't hold water!

The tank is LDPE, same as gallon water jugs and inexpensive kayaks, and nothing (well, except maybe duct tape) sticks to it, so the repair they had tried failed. I carved a shingle into a dowel and drove it in and hope that it will swell and seal nicely. No water leaked out on the sail home: so far so good!