Living on a boat in a boatyard has its moments. The past five days a series of strong gales has blown through meaning I am very aware my home is propped up on six boat stands. The wind wasn’t as strong as forecast, but still significant in the ‘small craft advisory’ speeds in the low 20s-knots range.
SWALLOW being on stilts means she moves differently – doesn’t move at all. This feels wrong and I’ve found myself stumbling as I’m expecting the boat to react to my movements. At the moment I am sailor re-finding my land legs.
In the higher winds SWALLOW also vibrates as the wind energy hitting the mast and rigging isn’t dissipated through heeling.
Other things are I can no longer use the sink – just isn’t right to let the gray water splash into the boatyard. All ‘used’ water now goes into a portable graywater tank from my truck camper.
Climbing up and down a ladder with groceries, garbage or to take a shower needs to be taken into consideration. Not any more an inconvenience than rowing the dinghy to shore … just I’d rather fall off the boat into water v. falling seven feet onto hard gravel!
The boat yard was good enough face SWALLOW’S bow south into the prevailing winter wind direction. This keeps the boat warmer as the winter winds don’t blow into the companionway. This also moderates the companionway leak I’m still localizing (more in this later).
So goes life floating about five feet, the keel’s draft, in the air.
S/V Swallow 
I use a hose jammed in the sink drain into a 5 gallon pale with a lid and small hole in the top. One of the most memorable nights of my life is when a emergency spill response team saw me dump the bucket in to the bay and came by to question me. I brought them aboard the Roo and made them all diner and coffee and taught them all about real earth preservation. And showed them how small my footprint was compared to theirs
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In Colorado a few years ago I was visiting a lake with a trailerable sailboat having antifouling paint on the bottom. At the invasive species inspection station I recommend that the inspector wash his hands after rubbing them along the hull. He reported me to the police for endangering his health and poisoning the lake … after some pointed description on my part about what antifouling is and that it is legal the cops realized the park staff out of their depth. I always get worried when enforcement, which I’m all for and support, is undertrained/educated and assumes others are at fault.
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