Dogfish

We have three maintenance orders for the day: reattach the starboard side NAV light, replace the zip tie on the anchor shackle, and remove the chart table to clean the milk I spilled that was inaccessible except by disassembling the chart table. Better a little work than the smell of sour milk.

One ordinarily doesn't attach equipment to a boat using zip ties, but it's not a bad practice if you're only doing it temporarily. Or so I said to myself two years ago when I mounted the port side NAV light. Kevin discovered the light unattached and hanging from its wire. The zip tie that was used to hold it in place had gone brittle and broken from exposure to the sun. To his credit, Kevin set out to do something about it. He chased down my zip ties and went forward to the bow to reattach the light. Awesome! It should last another couple years.

We are in Dogfish Bay tonight. This is my only my second time mooring here. There are mooring balls in the bay marked with the Vancouver Yacht Club phone number. I think that and the word "private" are supposed to deter people from using them, but there is nothing telling us not to use them. I say if they're going to take over the best part of this bay with their mooring balls, they should expect people to use them.

Curiously enough, when we arrived the bay was full of boats, but nobody was using the Vancouver Yacht Club mooring balls. I'm guessing that's because they imagine someone kicking them off and having to drop their anchor anyway. We arrived fairly late, after 6 PM. So there was a little chance that someone was going to come along and kick us off after we tied up to it. I suppose it's always possible, but not very likely.