oh, knots

Folks, it’s winter. With winter you get storms and high winds out of the south as well as the north. Naturally, these winds have a different pattern than the summer’s prevailing westerlies. Every year a few boats are rammed around and smashed up a bit because some careless owner ties his boat up badly ex¬ pecting that it will blow from the west all year.

We walked down on a finger of one marina and took these pictures of how some boats were tied up. Actually, these weren’t tied up very well for any wind at all. Why not be kind to your boat and your neighbor’s boat? Make sure your boat is secure with adequate dock and spring lines. Now is the time to check your lines and the possibility of chafe.

Those of you who are particularly observant will notice that all these in¬ adequate lines are on powerboats and may point out that it only figures since the average powerboater doesn’t have any more sense than a turnip. Well, that’s true, but there are a few sailboats