TwoGether

Sunday 3/4/12.  The morning started with heavy dark clouds signaling the arrival of the cold front. Soon the wind picked up and the rain came.  It was like being in a drive-thru car wash. It was comforting to know we were tied up in our slip. Yesterday the temps were in the upper 80°s and today won’t make it to 65°.

Meet Billy Owens. 

Billy is the owner of “Ole Dixie” the boat in the next slip.  She was built in 1984 in South Carolina.  The original owner was having a shrimp boat built and decided to have a live-aboard boat built on the same haul design.  The cabin is longer than a shrimper since there was no rigging for working the nets and drags.  To compensate for the lighter weight there is concrete poured into sections of the hull for ballast.  Billy bought her in Alabama and has taken her all over south Florida and the Keys fishing.

Billy has an unusual business. Along with owning a machine shop in Indiantown, he tips sailboats. (Don’t confuse this with cow tipping.) There is a railroad lift bridge across the St Lucie Canal near the Port Mayaca Lock.  It only has a clearance of 49 feet with the lift up.  Many cruising sailboats measure 50 to 60 feet to the top of the mast.  By attaching barrels on the side of a sailboat, then fillng them with water, it tips the boat to one side lowering the height of the mast above the water, allowing it to go through the bridge.  This allows the sailboat to go across the Okeechobee Waterway saving a 350 mile trip around south Florida.

By 2:00P the sky was clearing and the wind continued to blow.  There was a definite chill in the air.  Tomorrow the winds, during the day, are forecast only 10-15 but gusting to 25 in the evening.  Then wind gusts as high as 30 through Thursday evening.  I think we’ll stay put for now.

Since we couldn’t receive Fox TV and watch the race we played games.  As evening arrived it was cool enough to cook on the stove.  Linda decided it was a good evening for a big pot of spaghetti; I concur…Yum.