Electricity

I use to be proud of my solar panels - a 48 volt, 200 watt panel for the 8 motor batteries and a 12 volt, 50 watt panel for the 2 house batteries.

When it comes to producing electricity here in Boot Key Harbor I am small change. Here amid the cruisers, many have 3 or 4 - 75 to 100 watt panels plus a wind generator. One motorsailor has 2,000 watts of panels on his pilothouse top and his bimini. He can run his waterheater plus his air conditioner every day off solar power. The wind generators are interesting in that they need about 10 knots of wind to start producing, but at around 25 knots they howl like a helicopter taking off, then the blades feather and they power down to protect the machinery. After a few minutes they cycle back up and repeat the process.

If that's not enough most cruisers are equiped with a Honda 2000i generator. At least I can hold my head up in that regard! Today is a second cloudly day with just a bit of wind so the harbor will softly hum tonight with the sound of all those quiet Hondas (including mine) producing the needed amps.

Update Wednesday:

Last night, actually about 2:30 am, the wind picked up and a storm rolled in. A few readers may be aware of my usual sound sleep trait. This one woke me up. The wind peaked at 117 miles per hour. all boats were heeled way over, a few were knocked down, and one turtled. Afterwards the harbor waters were littered with deck cans, fenders, and hatches. We have experienced 60 mile winds a couple times. It is impossible to describe 117 mile winds. We had to shout inside a closed boat. Everything, including us, was vibrating. Rain was moving horizontally and hitting like BB's.

Many dingys were flipped and outboards submerged. A lot of guys spent the morning pickling outboards in an attempt to save them. Pickling is removing the salt water, cleaning with fresh water, then oiling the motor inside and out. Sometimes this attempt is successful. We always tie our dingy with forward and stern lines to cleats on the side. We could see it airborne but it survived because of the 2 point tie. Those who secured dinks with a single line to the stern suffered for it.

We had closed and secured our bimini Tuesday evening so it was saved - several lost theirs.

The folks in the marina will still try for a Thanksgiving pitch-in dinner at the Dockside Bar & Grill even though it is about half down. When De Anne and I dingied over a little while ago they were still clearing debris. I'll get some turkey somehow!