A Wild Night and a Clean Bilge

A wild, fitful night as maniacal west winds pommeled us with 40 knot gusts. Cups rocked and rolled in her berth, straining and stretching her dock lines. Halyards clanged and banged noisily throughout the marina as the wind swooped down off the hills and fired one blast after another. Needless to say, not much sleep. We were glad to be in the marina. David gave Cups a wash and cleaned the bilge today. This involves opening every floor board and hauling out smelly, moldy stuff that perhaps hasn't been hauled out since the last bilge cleaning. There's never been a hose that David didn't like or keep. He keeps them all...just in case. In some cases, longer than a decade which I think to be a bit excessive. He sorted them out today and actually threw some away. I watched another yachtie eying them and scooped them up once David had walked back down the pier. One man's trash...

The boat does indeed smell better. We have no malt vinegar left aboard. Ah, the many uses of malt vinegar beyond fish and chips...that's a discussion for another time.

Dinner guests tonight. Ian & Wendy watched Cups during our absence and aired her out once in awhile. They joined us for a good catch-up chat and chicken curry followed by apple crumble.