Playing after the storm By Marissa Neely Alright, don’t roast me for this photo. I know, my PFD is loose which is basically the equivalent of wearing an unstrapped helmet but let me give you some context behind that huge grin I am wearing. It was the first weekend of October and Catalina Island clearly missed the memo because it was 80 degrees and feeling as “summer” as ever. My husband Chris and I had just accomplished our first night passage without crew, starting just eight hours prior in Ventura, and were thrilled to shed our foulies for bathing suits, jumping into the crystal-clear water as soon as possible. This was the stuff cruising dreams were made of, but that night we were reminded that cruising is not always sunshine and cocktails. After the most intense sunset, our summerbut-still-fall day was foiled by a torrential downpour. The wind whistled through our rigging as it continued to build, our diesel heater earned its keep as we huddled below
to enjoy the sound of rain. We were confident in our anchor set, as our Vulcan bit into the sandy bottom with a 3:1 scope, but as the wind continued to build from the NW Chris decided to let out more scope, leaving us at a 6:1 ratio. Lightning cracked above us, illuminating the island for a brief moment before the darkness returned.
“Unplug everything and put that in the oven” Chris said as he pointed to his Pelican case full of the hard drives that contained all of his video work, our photos, and other content. I did as instructed and fit the case into the oven perfectly, with no room to spare. Basically, the oven acts as a Faraday cage (a full metal box) and when lightning hits it, it just flows over the outside without disturbing anything inside (in theory). Even though statistically, Avocet has a 0.4% chance of being hit by lightning we still went through the motions of preparing by unplugging electronics and keeping clear of metal. With Avocet secure we turned in for the night, putting our trust in our anchor to hold us - and it did. As the electrical storm kept SisterShip 48
