Mad Dogs and Englishmen

... go out in the midday sun.

 Sweet lord, it's hot as hell outside. I felt vaguely guilty that we moored next to one of our mid-size barge units yesterday, and they were busy as hell, getting ready for a year-long contract in the Caribbean, loading stores and spares, overhauling all the engines, renewing lines, etc, etc.  All in the awful new coveralls that my employer is insisting that people wear.

 I went outside, spliced new eyes into a pair of heavy mooring lines that parted while I was away, and was pouring sweat. Beyond taking on a pallet of stores yesterday, that was the extent of what we did while the sun was up. Sun went down, we got some stuff done, but it was hell on productivity.

 Today we were up earlier, but done by 10am. Rinse, repeat, until the heat breaks. I'm swimming in ball soup out there. Walking outside is like walking into a hot wet blanket. After sundown, I'll do something productive, and be thankful that we had this break when we get back to work shortly after.



My marlinespike seamanship skills are rusty. While I can still splice 12-strand single braid line quickly, I made up a monkey's fist for one of our heaving lines, and it took a couple of tries. It's been a while. On the upside, it's something I can make while sitting in the AC at my desk. Once it was done, I treated it by dipping it whole into a gallon can of white paint, submerging it and letting the bubbles come out for about 20 minutes, and once it stopped bubbling, hung it over a trash can to dry. It'll sit there for a day, baking in the sun, then tomorrow hung from a mast to truly dry out over the course of the next week. Dipping it adds weight (I don't like to add a core to my monkey's fists- it's a good way to brain someone if you knock the hat off their head) and makes it more visible in low light.