Saturday, August 4, 2007

Distance Travelled: 6.5 nm | Northeast Harbor to Somesville

Sluggish getting up after late night. Still humid and hazy-foggy. Had considered heading to Winter Harbor but I decided to go to Somesville instead. Tired and wanted a snug harbor so I could sleep well that night! Headed ashore for showers, then put boat together. ¶ Dropped mooring around 1200. Powered to Clifton Dock for 5 gal diesel plus fresh water for tanks. Powered around Sargent Head into 20+ knots steady wind! Unexpected and right on the nose. Figured that we be sheltered in less than 1 mile however, bu the cliffs of Somes Sound. Indeed, soon the wind moderated and we hoisted main. Had a nice beam reach up the sound until Valley Cove where wind died completly. Motored up the sound. Arrived and scoped out anchoring possibilities. ¶ Dropped hook near where can 9 used to be in about 20 feet at low. Set hook. Sent G for a nap and relaxed. Around 1630 I called Port in a Storm for hours: 1800. Woke G and dinghyed in to the bookstore. Spent about 1 hour there. G liked a coffee table book called "The Deep": pictures of deep-sea creatures. Back aboard around 1800. ¶ Almost immediately someone dinghyed over saying "theres a sailboat sinking! We need hands to man the pumps!" Over I went. [ed: boat was a Pearson 30 named Bracarole, port of Marblehead, but actually moors near Abel Boatyard in Somes Sound] Turned out they had enough hands and I "stood by" until Coast Guard arrived. Eventually got it bailed and CG left so I headed back over to check out the situation. Stuffing box, as we had suspected. Someone had gotten in there and stopped the leak, but just barely. ¶ No one there seemed to know how a stuffing box worked, so I offered to take a look. Access was HORRIBLE but I took off my shirt and wiggled back into the tight, wet, slightly oily space. Yuch. Turns out the bronze section of the s.b. had come out of the hose! Hose was double clambed with AWABS, but must not have been tightened enough--and the gland was way over tightened: I couldn't turn the gland on the shaft! The had stopped the leak by getting about 1/4 inch of the s.b. flange back into the hose. No tools aboard Bracarole. We tried to get necessary tools from one of the other cruisers standing by but he didn't have what we needed. Eventually got my toolbox from Dasein. Everyone was impressed by my preparedness, which struck me as funny: compare to Glissando! I eventually was able to loosen the clamps plus packing nut. After much swearing I was able to hammer the box back into place and clamp it. I adjusted the packing gland appropriately and we sent Bracarole on her way back to Able Boatyard, about 1 mile away. ¶ Went home, exhausted, to find that H had already made dinner! Yay! Early to bed.