05:30
Well, the day started off with a bang… Literally.
According to the the WeatherBug Spark map, lightning struck right over in the parking lot near my truck. About 250 feet away. I thought a boat in the marina had been hit.
Did I mention we’re in the lightning capital of North America?
I woke up just after 5:00 to thunder and lightning heading our way.
09:30
Dropped by Gulfport Marina Director of Operations Denis Frain’s workshop to get some very cool audio.
Turns out Denis has a second life as a sculptor of very cool metal ocean-themed artwork.
Denis uses a 60,000 PSI water-cutting thingie to cut his designs out of sheets of aluminum, and then hand-polishes them. So needless to say, I collected some great audio to go with the interview I recorded yesterday.
Denis and John had to work out some computer issues, but soon had everything fired up and turning sheets of aluminum into angler fish, marlins in compass roses, and bonefish.
11:24
Meanwhile, Denis is in charge of the new marina renovations, including new sleek fencing, repainting the parking lot and creating a workable traffic flow for the boat ramp, among many other things.
Today: Palm trees going in…
16:30
Dove under Jacie Sails and found: (a) the cutlass bearing and set screws seem fine; but (b) there’s no zinc at all. The zinc is a thing you keep clamping a new one onto the propeller shaft, and it gets eaten by electrolysis…instead of your other metal parts!
22:15
Okay, hopefully no thunderstorms tonight. That’s a wrap.
