Repairs and "a lobster man and an old sailor lady walk into a laundromat..."

First, repairs.  Boy did we get them done!  The most important one was checking and ultimately replacing the wind indicator on top of the mast.  This worked intermittently when we first set sail this summer but finally just died.  Luke ordered a new one and we both decided that it was just as well to have the marina send someone up the top of the mast to check and repair it.  Luke has gone up the mast  about 6 times over the years, and believe me, being hoisted by a rope to the top of a 59 foot mast is not fun. We don't have spare halyards, (ropes that run to the top of the mast to haul up sails) so we first have to replace the topping lift line (a smaller rope that supports the aft end of the boom) with a heavier line, and even then, Luke can't get to the front of the mast at the top. With a bag of tools and new anemometer, the fellow from the marina is standing on the deck of Latitudes, preparing to be hoisted by a crane on the dock. That "bag" in his hands is the bosun's chair, a swing like seat, that he'll use to go up. (note - fog)

And up he goes!  The hoist doesn't do everything; the lucky climber gets to help climb, holding on to the mast with his legs, etc.. If you can see the little "sticks" on the very, very top --- that is what he's going to work on.

It was a successful effort.  The anemometer was repaired, wires were checked, miscellaneous nuts and bolts were tightened, etc.  The wind speed indicator works and we are comfortable about the condition of the rest of the mast connections.

Over the next 2 foggy days - too foggy to leave Rockland - Luke replaced the old gas can in the dinghy with a new one.  It looks like the old one is deteriorating. This was an easy fix!

The long fix was the shower sump pump, located under the floor boards.  The shower drain is below the water level, and rather than letting the water drain into the bilge, the sump pump is supposed to filter the water from the front shower and divert it overboard. Ours was just running over and into the bilge.  Just a simple box, about the same size and shape as the old one, a few screws and electrical connections.  Yulp, plus a lot of tools and work!  Plus contortions to fit into the work space. Working on a boat is always fun. Luke spent most of the afternoon on this while I did laundry and a few town chores.

So - the lobster man and and old sailor lady walk into a laundromat - sounds like the beginning of a great joke, doesn't it!  Actually, the young lobster man struck up the typical laundromat conversation and I learned a lot about lobstering. He was not working today because of the fog. again.  I didn't think anything stopped them from going out.  He is the "stern man" on a boat owned by an older lobster man (the owner gets to drive, etc, but they both do a lot of physical work).  Lobstering isn't going too well this season as the fog, cool weather, and lack of sunny days has kept water so cold that the lobsters aren't shedding their last year's shells  and they aren't moving offshore into the colder, deeper water.  We thought there are a LOT of pots out this year and we were right - all of the local lobster boats are putting their 800 pots each near the shore and in the harbors instead of working slowly further offshore.  They go out 2 times per week, checking 200 pots each time.  Three pounds of lobster per pot is average, but they are running about 1pound this season.
Most lobstering is seasonal, but a few go out all year.  Winter lobstering is totally offshore and requires a larger boat, some real weather tolerance, and is just simply rough.  Plus, the state issues only a few new year round licenses each year.  And they cost $55,000!  You only have to buy it once, but there is a lower renewal fee each year. He did say that the initial cost can be offset by the winter catch in just one winter.
I asked him why they put the lobster traps and the associated floats EVERYWHERE instead of leaving them out of the boat traffic channels in and out of harbors, etc.  He said, eh, we just put them wherever.  Gotta go somewhere.  I asked if they don't lose a lot of them when boats run over them.  He said nope, that just doesn't happen.  Then he explained the physical lobster trap set-up.  The trap sits on the bottom, with a line that goes to the top of the water with the bright float attached.  This line is actually made of 2 separate lines.  The bottom is a non-floating line which is heavy and in low tides basically sits around the trap and helps keep it from moving.  The second line that is attached to the end of that and goes to the top of the water is a floating line.  If the lobster float gets cut off by a boat engine (or desperate boat owner) the line just continues to float, top edge at the top of the water.  With GPS coordinates of every pot, the lobster man easily finds the location of the trap and can retrieve his line, attach a new float, and is all set to go again.

Then there was the lady from Asheville NC with an RV identical to our old one.  She was fun to talk with and compare RV notes and places to go.

Then there was the cab driver who said that he traced his first relative who came over from England.  The year was 1610 and the relative was a 14 year old boy who was sold by his uncle into slavery to the British Monarchy to go to America to help colonize.  He literally came off the boat in chains, a slave.  The landing place was James Fort, late know as Jamestown, VA.  When Europeans came back a year later to check on the little colony, everyone left but 1 person had died of disease.  The wayward relative had run off earlier with someone named Rebecca and was spared the disease.  Makes an interesting story.

It was an "educational" day :-)  Now if the damned fog would just finally lift, we could leave here for a few days and see more of the Penobscot.  It IS supposed to be better tomorrow.  Fingers crossed.