"CAMELS" the explanation

The hero of the book "Commodore Hornblower" uses camels to elevate two ships in order to get them closer to the enemy on shore. A camel is a hollow hull or ship that is heavily ballasted with water, sand or rocks which lowers the boat into the water. The camels are then tightly lashed to the sides of the main boat before the ballast is removed to raise all the boats as one unit. Once the ballast is removed the three boats are able to move into much shallower water than they normally could.

Maybe we should carry two dinghys on Wrinkles so the next time B and I are daydreaming and go aground we can camel her out. See how educational this site is!

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"CAMELS" sailing lingo

I am reading C.S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower series and in "Commodore Hornblower" the intrepid hero uses camels to move two ships to shallow water. No, these are not the big ugly critters with humps on their backs. Can you guess the nautical meaning?

Mike

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Happy New Year 2013

2012 was an eventful year for the crew of Wrinkles.

• We bought our CP23/3 in February.
• Sailed as often as possible.
• Returned our youngest back to college.
• Had a wedding for our amazing daughter to marry a truly great guy in August.
• Celebrated our 31st anniversary.
• Committed ourselves publicly to sell our house, buy a smallish blue water boat and take a one to two year sailing sabbatical. We have set a goal of having a boat on the Gulf Coast sooner rather than later.

That last item on the list pretty much determines what we will do in 2013. We need to continue our sailing education including sailing, ColRegs, weather, cooking aboard and the sailing grounds we hope to see. Reduce our short list for the bluewater boat through research and hopefully some physical inspections. Do all the repairs and upgrades necessary to make the house attractive to the right buyer. Go through all our personal possessions and decide whether to sell/keep/donate each item. Let's get to work!

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