The weather looks good for Saturday’s summer crabbing opener. I had seriously considered upgrading my pots from the flimsy ones I have, but I decided to wait. I did inspect them and replace some of the zip ties that hold them together. I also sprang for new harnesses with stainless steel clips instead of the cheap plastic ones. I took all the ropes out and untangled them. Last summer we spent almost as much time untangling ropes as we did actually crabbing. I’ve recently learned that if you coil them in a figure 8 instead of a circle, you will take all the twist out of the rope that causes all the problems. Let’s see if I can coil that way as fast as the winch will feed it to me when we’re pulling a pot. Finally, I took the year-old chicken drumsticks left over from last year out of the freezer to thaw for crab bait.
A couple of weeks ago I also took advantage of my boat’s down time to reconfigure my anchor. I had 25 feet of chain and 100 feet of rope. When I actually used it for the first time, I realized that it was too short and too heavy. So I changed it to 15 feet of chain and 200 feet of rope. It’s now nine pounds lighter and I can anchor twice as deep. I also added markers every 30 feet. I’m slowly learning how to up my game.
Last weekend I also put the boat in the water for the first time since charging issue, to give it a shakedown cruise. I’m now going to check the battery voltage every time I start the boat, to make sure it’s charging. I took my friend Todd for a fun, low-key, and relaxed trip to Langley for lunch. I let him drive both ways, and even let him dock and undock towards the end. He seemed to love the whole experience.
While we were at the boat launch, we saw a derelict sailboat that had recently been hauled out of the water by the authorities. I’m sure that boat was once someone’s pride and joy, but it met a ignominious end.
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