Friday Funny 03/10 (Spring Forward)

Fashionably so.

 "Spring Contemplations"

It's that time of year again, where we "Spring Forward", and turn our clocks ahead one hour on Saturday night. Do people really do this? All of our "i" devices, just do it on their own. I suppose I'll need to set the microwave though. The extended daylight hours typical in an Alaskan summer, sort of defeats the purpose of Daylight Savings Time, but we do it to maintain the one hour difference from Alaska Time to Pacific Time.

It has been our first complete winter in Wrangell, and we thought we would be seeing warmer weather by now. Yes, granted it's warmer here than what we experienced in Fairbanks this time of year. They are in the minus 25-45 range right now, and we are in the plus 15-35 range. (still whining) The good folks here say this is the coldest winter they have seen in awhile. Thanks Wrangell! We had to push our haul-out out a couple of weeks to take advantage of warmer weather. Now it will be mid April, not late March.

In Alaska, the concept of spring is sort of lost on us. Everywhere else, people are coaxing their first buds, and sprouts out of the ground, we are preparing for dog mushing, the Yukon Quest, the Iditarod, and a myriad of local day races, like the Anchorage Fur Rondy, Fairbanks North American, Bethel Kuskokwim 300, Kotzebue 440, and many more. These people are all praying for snow. 

During the Iditarod, I like to follow Deedee Jonrowe, she's an inspiration at 64yrs young. She is a cancer survivor, Ironman competitor, and she lost her home in the Sockeye Wildfire in 2015. Her parka is pink, her truck is pink, and her huskies wear pink booties. You can pick her out in the crowd. 

Photo credit: Kristina Wood, Whistler Dreams Photography

Alaskans are proud of the women in the Iditarod. We all know names like Libby Riddles, (the first woman to win), Susan Butcher, (won 4 times, and lost her life to leukemia in 2006 at 51yrs young), Ally Zirkle, (who at the time of this writing, is currently in 1st position, Iditarod 2017, (now 11th)), and Deedee Jonrowe, (who has the fastest time recorded for a woman in the Iditarod, and 14 top ten finishes.) Great role models. 

From Wikipedia, JKBrooks84

Our state joke is that we don't have spring, we have what we call breakup. (Nothing to do with relationships, or a Spenard Divorce) This is the time of year when the snow is melting, and the rivers thaw carrying chunks of ice down river. We have mud, puddles, thawed animal poop, and the Nenana Ice Classic. This is a lottery for guessing the minute of river breakup on the Tanana River. Each ticket purchased is $2.50, and last year, 2016, 28 people shared a $330,000.00 pot.

Nenana Tripod on Tanana River

I guess I was bored, (translation: avoiding boat projects), I wrote a poem in the style of Shakespeare's O Romeo, and I put it on our Facebook page, Denali Rose Sailboat. Then I shared it to the Facebook group, "Alaska Life". So far that post has gotten over 1500 views, I'm astounded. In case you didn't see it, for your reading pleasure, ridicule, sarcastic reply, or total disregard.

O Spring, Spring! Wherefore art thou Spring?
Deny thy month and refuse thy name; or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn to come, and I’ll no longer be whining.

Tis but thy slowness in coming that is my enemy; Thou art thyself, though not a winter. What’s winter? It is nor warm, nor green buds, nor baby animals, nor any other but cold, belonging to November through February.

O, be some other name! What’s in a name? That which we call the final washing of winter garments, by any other name would smell as sweet.

So Spring would, were it not Spring called, retain the dear warmth that it owes, and come quickly.

Someday my Spring will come. 🎵 (sung to: Someday My Prince will Come, from Snow White)

My friend Bob posted this on his Facebook page.

Sums it up for me.

Are you ready for Spring? Let us know here in the comments, or on our Facebook page, Denali Rose Sailboat.

Please don't SHOUT! [or: What does that hand signal mean?...!]

We have always used hand signals when anchoring, but there are times when a conversation [or both hands are required for the task-at-hand...] may be better, or even necessary. 

Hand gestures are nothing new... 

In fact, gestures most likely preceded oral language- and still do if we don't know a language... [And I'm reminded speaking volume is no substitute for lack of language skills.....] 

Unfortunately, Technology rarely helps in such cases... 


Once the anchor is down, communicating with the helms person regarding present depth and how much anchor chain is out is also simply accomplished using hand signals:

...or not so simply... [blurring is intentional to demonstrate the clarity with which gestures are sometimes received... ]
And no, these are not in our abbreviated arsenal of hand/finger gestures for anchor teamwork...

Walkie-Talkies [or any half-duplex radios] work for this need, but we found too many safety issues with years of use for these purposes. [e.g., one hand for the radio; missed dialog because you were both keying the mike/speaking at once; VOX (Voice Activation) is activated by ambient sounds, effectively muting the other party; etc.] Therefore, we decided to go with full duplex capability [like telephones- all parties can speak/hear simultaneously.]

We proofed that concept for ourselves using our smart phones with headsets and one of the many freely available bluetooth walkie-talkie apps.

That cemented it for us. And since we had already decided not to risk our smart phones in inclement conditions, we tried two different, robust commercial offerings; one with a belt-clip transceiver with corded headset, one pure headset version. [They cost about the same...]

We by far prefer the SENA SPH10 bluetooth headsets. 

Cruising Solutions sells them and has some great instructional videos.
(These are very feature-rich headsets...)

We still almost always use hand signals when playing with the anchor(s) but there are times while anchoring, docking, dealing with something on the foredeck, in the engine room, etc.- especially during inclement conditions- when coordinating in civil tones works wonders. 

This is especially true for situations for which the hand signal is not visible to the receiving party, or has not yet been developed [and it is not a convenient time to make up a new one...] 

Or perhaps the hand gesture chosen under stress might not be appropriate, intended, nor well received...

Hands-free, simultaneous voice communication is also very useful when at the top of the mast, in the engine room [these work well even with the diesel engine running...] in a crowded nightclub, etc.

They are very quick to put on and turn on, easy to mute [e.g., when in the engine room, or when speaking to someone else...] comfortable, waterproof, have many features [bluetooth pairing to smart phone for music, phone calls, etc.] and just plain work. 

We have also used them on the road [their original development was for motorcycle riders after all...] when driving separate vehicles, and especially like them when backing our truck/camper and one of our 27ft trailers into tight spaces. 

Hand signals just don't apply in such situations- especially in the dark...

As back-up we still have intercom capability with our wireless VHF radio mike, handheld VHF radios, and FRS [walkie-talkie] radios [which we always issue to away teams...] 

But for us, nothing beats reliable, phone-like conversation capability- especially in sporty situations. 

There is good reason why this type of capability/technology is often categorized as Marriage Saver in nature...

What communication styles, practices, and technology [if any...] work best for you in similar situations?

PS: This is one of the follow-ups about items not included in our End of year upgrades for the boat post because they were gifts...