Da hurricane, Rita that is!    
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Who? me scared? Not even! It’s only a category five hurricane by the name of Rita coming straight out of the Gulf of Mexico with her eye pointed dead at the Cruise Ship Dingy. So why should I be scared? Sounds like an adventure, time for Admiral Dingy to have some fun with the Cruise Ship Dingy and why not, I’ve been building this thing forever. Ok,  I’ll let you in on a secret, the Cruise Ship Dingy is not in the water; she is on her new trailer attached to her tender, a full size van. No water to worry about, just a little wind aaarrr no big.   

Ok, so Rita is coming dead center her ETA is now, she is here. Admiral Dingy and the Cruise Ship Dingy can do this. There she blows, already she is a dull roar   with an extremely dense cloud cover and an enormous amount of rain and it’s blowing horizontal. Sure is nice being inside my little coffin size dinghy, dry and out of the wind. I’m not scared, we can weather the hurricane.  The sounds are more intense now she’s a full roar. Allow me to explain, the dingy is airtight and well insolated so the noise level is not so intense with the hatch and the ports dogged down she is a lot more pleasant. Still, you can feel the power of Rita. She is becoming quite the violent lady. In a survival situation when you have to abandon ship and take to your raft or dinghy, most sailors die in the first 5 or 6 days because of exposure, being in the hot sun in the day, and the cold at night. In the case of the Cruise Ship Dingy with her 6 inch closed cell foam encapsulating the top and sides this will help tremendously, and will protect her passengers in “Surviving On The Savage Seas”. She can be closed so tight that air and water cannot get into her. Now that’s a plus, except, with no air inside, how do you breathe? Simple; she has a hookah rig built in, not the kind that you smoke hash with, the scuba kind, all one has to do is put a regulator into one's mouth and breathe just like a scuba diver, in fact two divers can dive down 60 feet with this rig, koool no tanks.

 I do believe the building across the street has crashed to the ground although I can’t be sure, it’s just impossible to see what’s going on. It’s almost totally black outside with all the clouds and rain, I have to understand what is going on through sound only, I know there are lots of trees going down either being up rooted or snapped off. Now there’s a sound you won't soon forget, the sound of a tree snapping loud and makes you think that wow that’s a lot of power. This lady has a great amount of muscle and is building in strength. She has gone from roaring to howling. The boat and trailer are really starting to dance about. She is strapped to the trailer and moving as one, I’m glad that big van is attached to her, it helps to stabilize the unit. Still I’m wondering is she going to suffer a knock down. At sea I expect to be knocked down, rolled over, pitched polled, corkscrewed, and whatever else Mother Nature will present, she will right herself even if she fills with water she will still float with all the closed cell foam she carries on her top and sides. The Cruise Ship Dingy is really showing a lot of motion from the pressure of the wind. I do not have the racing harness or the straps for my legs installed yet to hold me down in the bottom and I’m not wearing my helmet and survival suite which I’ll do at sea, really I should be strapped in with my helmet on now, simple fact this Rita girl is getting out of hand. How do you control something like her? you don’t, she controls all that is around her.          

Screaming, hat’s what she is doing now, screaming like no sound I’ve ever heard before, this lady is really, really intense. She is quite the scary bitch. Anything can happen now,. I’m wondering if I’ll get out of this alive. The dinghy is bouncing like a ball up and down, and vibrating with violent movements from side to side. I’m holding to whatever I can grab. My body is taking a beating and is becoming more stove up with every violent movement and now the pain is becoming a factor to deal with. Yes, now I’m really scared. Mother Nature is a force I can’t control. The dinghy has changed position. Now the boat and trailer have moved 90 degrees and have jack knifed themselves on the van. I’m getting thrown around inside. I have always known I needed to be tied down in the boat along with every thing else. Now I have an idea of what to expect on the open ocean. I had better get it right here, because I won't have a second chance out there. Yes, I’m getting scared, there is a lot that can happen and it’s all beyond my control. The sound and the movement have got me into a nervous state. It’s as if my nerve endings are plugged into an amplifier. Will this ever stop? Sure enough it stopped, well not really, the eye of the storm has arrived. Peace and tranquility? NOT, this is going to be short lived because the backside of the hurricane is coming.

Wow! here we go again! we have just passed out of the eye and into the wall. It is instant madness and violence, amazing how quick she came into action. The sudden movement caught me off guard and slammed me up against the side, I might have broken some ribs on that move, ouch that smarts. The Cruise Ship Dingy is on the move one more time, the wind has changed direction and now the dinghy is going on that course to the side, she’s not bouncing so much as being pushed to the other side. Sure hope the van doesn’t get pushed over, if that happens some real damage will take place, I think it will not be easy getting a crane out here after the Hurricane.  I’m sure things will not be back to normal for quite some time. I know that Rita is raking havoc out there, I can hear crashing and snapping of trees and buildings, it’s a wonder we have not been hit with flying objects even though the dinghy is built strong she is no match for this kind of force. Just too many things can go wrong and we have no defense for the what ifs, we may get the crap beat out of us but we won't drown, at least I think so, we should be high enough to stay out of the tidal surge, at sea we wont have that advantage.

The dinghy has turned around 180 degrees she is now jacked knifed on the other side of the van and facing into the wind and bouncing like a basketball, not even a basketball is smooth and this is violent with side to side and up and down movements, must be time to bend over and kiss something goodbye. Zero, O, Ought, Nothing I can do but hold on and I’m too damned scared to enjoy the ride. Rita is starting to decrease slowly as she is passing, it appears that my beloved little ship has made it through without being stoved in, and I’m starting to feel somewhat at ease, even though I’m somewhat beat up. 

Well, I know what it’s like now to be in a hurricane in a very small boat, what a rush and what an adventure, she was not dull and boring. With that in mind I will have thoughts of my next hurricane only it will be at sea. Truth is, it will not be a hurricane. I’ll be sailing the Pacific Ocean and they are called typhoons. In the Indian Ocean there called Cyclones. I would like to do one of each before I stop sailing and yes aboard my beloved  Cruise Ship Dingy, she is only 9’ 11” but one tough lady.     

I have to say that I did enjoy Rita, she was interesting to say the least, and I just wonder what she would be like at sea. I have built a strong dinghy like no other and I have a lot of confidence in her design and craftsmanship, and I’m really looking forward to sailing her in foul weather, a big one like Rita, can’t get any better than that. 

It’s still storming and Rita has not even passed by yet, we are still felling her last moments of strength as she moves north, I should stay where I am. The camera crew form Good Morning America came by with the local sheriff just a few moments ago. They wanted to know if they could tape me and the Cruise Ship Dingy for their show, well I agreed and the first question they asked me was I scared riding out the hurricane in that wierd and unusual boat, I said no, won't do that again, they wanted sensationalism. I guess they have to sell the news; I’ll make note of that and store it away for next time. Anyways, we did the interview and yours truly was there smiling for America with the Cruise Ship Dingy as background, the interview was short but fun. I have learned that being scared sells news. Well, I was scared. I just didn’t want the world to know, next time I’ll tell the truth, Hell yes I’m scared.

Well. it would be logical to stay here and not move until after the storm subsides completely, got to admit that I’m worried about Neptune’s Castle; that’s the 62-foot sailing ship, the mother ship that I just moved off of and into the Cruise Ship Dingy. I have lived aboard for 20 years I have loved her from the beginning, I now I’m living in her dinghy. Wow what a cultural shock! The head aboard Neptune’s Castle is larger then the dinghy, oh and the dinghy does not have a head. What a difference, people just can’t understand why I’m not cruising in luxury with a 9 man crew and all the comforts of shipboard living.

How did Rita greet her?  were they fighting it out? most likely yes. Neptune’s Castle swims well at anchor or under way. I use a three point anchor set coming into a swivel and shackle to a single chain with as much road as I can get out and still have enough room to swing. I will be using that same set up aboard the Cruise Ship Dingy when it becomes necessary to really anchor down. The Castle was left with a 6-point tie, 4 to sizable trees and 2 for spring lines, this is only to one side of the bayou, not the best way to tie. With that tie you have nothing to keep you off the beach should the wind blow you on shore, you could run 2 anchors off the side one at the bow and one at the stern take those straight out and set them in deeper water, it’s kedging to the side, and even at that rate you would have to tend them, that’s your only other way.  

Will Neptune’s Castle survive Rita a category 5 hurricane? There are 3 possible things that could happen. 1. Has the wind and title surge washed her up and onto the beach leaving the ship careened on her side high and dry? 2. Has she holed herself and lying on the bottom of the Bayou caused by some debris in the water. 3 The best case is that she still swims with major or minor damage? Survey says yes she still swims with no major damage done, well not too major. The beautiful teak woodworking on the life rails is gone on the port side, too bad, that was some nice wood, and main hatch itself is gone with some other damage. I always wanted to go to the Yucatan or beyond and find some small port where they had local wood craftsman and many varieties of exotic wood, and just play with the skills of the wood carvers and the wood workers. Neptune’s Castle is a beautiful ship, inside all mahogany, outside all teak, great wood, I’m just thinking there is a lot more to wood than those two. Now I have the opportunity and the need for repairs of that nature, what do I do? sail away in the dinghy, and put the mother ship in mothballs? don’t make since.

By Admiral Dingy

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