A Yuletide Season Celebration

It was -2F (-18C) as I crawled begrudgingly out of our warm bed the other morning and made my way to the bathroom (a very cold seat!) and then to the kitchen for two cups of steaming coffee that I had smelled brewing for the past half hour. Keeping warm is a major occupation these days in Boston and we wonder sometimes if we're up to the task. Too much warm living. After managing a cold day of food shopping, tromping around in slush, shoveling snow and lots of shivering, we prepared to go to Lin's Earth-centered group's annual winter solstice celebration … aka Yule. The best part of celebrating solstice besides the camaraderie, eating and drinking is that solstice signifies the end of shortening days and the beginning of the northern hemisphere's slow return to spring and summer. The days will lengthen again and the warm will eventually return. Hallelujah!

We've attended many Yule celebrations with this group and it's always a pleasant experience despite my griping and grousing about heading out into the dark of night and freezing temps to get there. Milton's First Parish, dating to 1787, is a white-clapboard UU church and always serves as our venue.

The group has gotten smaller over the years, but the core group remains solid and wonderfully welcoming. Pam led us through a simple, but thought-provoking ceremony. We reminisced about the old year and shared plans for the new. We sang carols and made beeswax candles as part of the festivities. And I, thoroughly involved in the ceremonial activities, took no pictures till it was all over. Darn!

We later shared a potluck dinner and exchanged gifts in a traditional Yankee trade. Everyone brought wonderful gifts so there were no white elephants … well, maybe the year-old Truro cranberry wine qualified. But we sampled it when we got home, and lo and behold, it was quite good and will be used as a dessert wine after Christmas dinner. A fun and meaningful evening. Let the longer days commence … soon!

The Blue View - Anchor Swivels

An anchor swivel is often used to attach the anchor to the end of the chain. I say often, because not everyone sees any advantage to using a swivel.

The purpose of an anchor swivel is to prevent the anchor rode from twisting excessively. If a boat is anchored for a long period of time in an area of large tidal and/or wind changes, it’s possible that it will do a complete 360 degree swing once or twice a day. Eventually, the rode could twist enough to unlay a 3-strand rope rode or put enough twist into a chain rode to introduce torque stress on the chain and shackles. The twists may also cause a chain rode to bind up and jam a windlass gypsy.

There are potential problems with several swivel designs, however. Some swivels are weaker than the ground tackle for which they are designed. Some are subject to internal corrosion and cannot be easily inspected. Others have no way of seizing the pins and/or bolts, introducing the possibility of the swivel coming apart while in use.

Additionally, some swivels can be damaged or weakened if the pull is side-to-side rather than along the axis of the anchor. The Rocna website suggests adding a short length of chain between the swivel and the anchor shackle to eliminate this problem. On Nine of Cups, however, there isn’t enough distance between the anchor shank and the windlass to add chain between the swivel and the anchor.

In our view, we’ve always thought the risks introduced by adding a swivel outweighed the benefits. While we’ve certainly had the occasional problem in the thousands of times we’ve dropped the hook, none that I recall was due to the lack of a swivel. We do have a heavy bronze bow roller with a groove in it that prevents any twists in the chain from making their way to and jamming the gypsy, and this no doubt helps. And perhaps we’ve never been anchored anywhere long enough in the type of conditions that would introduce sufficient twists in the rode to cause a problem. The only issue – and it is more of an inconvenience than a real problem – is that our anchor sometimes comes out of the water with the flukes facing forward, but this is usually corrected by dipping it back into the water while the boat is moving or by rotating the anchor with a boathook. At any rate, I’m not convinced that a swivel will prevent this.

I like to keep an open mind about new ideas, however, and at a recent boat show I saw a new swivel, made by Mantus, that seems to have overcome all my objections. My first impression was that it’s a very large hunk of 316 stainless steel. It not only looks strong, but the manufacturer’s specs indicate that it is stronger than the 3/8 HT chain we use. It is easily dismantled for inspection, and all the pins are oversized and can be seized. Finally, the business end that attaches to the anchor is terminated in a large shackle, making it unlikely to have problems with side-to-side pulls. Mantus was offering it at a discounted show price with free shipping, and in the interest of keeping myself informed, I bought one.

We’ll be returning to Cups in a little over a week, and I plan to install it then. I’ll keep you posted on my thoughts, good and bad, as it gets used.

Finding the Holiday Spirit

It's that time of year when spirits should be running high, but sometimes it's kind of hard to get into the seasonal mood. With Rebecca's recent death and lots of other things on our minds, it's been a challenge to make the transition to jolly, but we're trying. Remembering just how much Rebecca loved Christmas and the holiday season makes it a bit easier. Being in New England with Lin and her family has certainly helped. We picked out a Christmas tree the other day and began to decorate Lin's house.

We have a new grand-niece and this will be her very first Christmas … definitely something to celebrate.

I first heard, then saw the local flock of wild turkeys traipse trough Lin's yard. We see them at dawn and dusk and they always bring a smile to my face. Tuesday, Lin's cat, watched them carefully, but wisely opted to keep her distance.

It snowed the other night. Though only an inch or so, it was the first substantial snow of the season and covered the ground, frosting the evergreens, making everything white and clean … at least for awhile.

We had a tree-decorating party with just the family last Sunday, and the spirit of the season seems contagious. The excitement of new parents delighting over their baby daughter's smiles and giggles is “chicken soup for the soul”.

I've done some shopping … the minimal amount possible, but enough to fill the Christmas stockings with fun goodies.

Bring on the holidays … we're almost ready.