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Saturday, June 23, 2012; 2:10 pm
Scituate Harbor mooring
This morning began cooler and still cloudy, showers arrived occasionally
with a downpour or two until just before noon. Beneath the “pup tent” I
comfortably brewed up cups of coffee and relaxed, reading and writing.
I
couldn’t resist not trying the damned 5MileFifi again, but it still
won’t work.
Last year “Meship” had provided me with an e-mail address for the owner
of 5MileWife, advised me to contact him. Meship and Ali only worked the
sales and support end of the product I was informed. (Yesterday I was
informed by "Meship" that they are merely subcontractors and even at
that, only for hardware issues.)
joe@zialater.com
I’d
sent Joe Boyle a number of messages last year. He never replied to any –
until he sent me a message months after I received the new booster
wanting the old, dysfunctional one back – or I’d be charged.
Catch as catch can, as and when I got an intermittent Wifi signal I
further researched Joe, found his personal website:
http://www.zialater.com
From there, I discovered e-mail addresses and phone numbers:
“We Fly with Wi-Fi
“Wifi is getting more and more
prevalent everywhere we go. So far we have been able to get WIFI in
about 80 percent of the harbors and marinas that we have visited.
Not only do we get email and web capability, but we are able to call
friends and family for free using Skype (www.skype.com). We use an
external laptop antenna that we run up the flag halyard and are able
to increase the range of our WIFI by a factor of 10. Having
wireless bandwidth aboard the boat is a huge benefit in getting
weather, tourist information and just plain old staying in touch.
We are evaluating a few new antenna solutions and we hope to have
some feedback and recommendations on these soon.”
EMAIL:
joe@zialater.com
(Other family e-mail addresses omitted here)
PHONE NUMBERS:
410.504.1907
Current cell phone (USA): 443.995.3951
USA cell phone: 001.443.254.2284
Skype address: zialater
I’ve e-mailed him, called his listed phone numbers (Current USA works;
got a message from Christy, whose e-mail address was one of those listed
above – left my own message on her answering machine/service), again
have yet to hear anything back. Honestly – I don’t expect I ever will.
In
my opinion after all this: 5MileWifi “support” is a scam; it does
not exist.
I
called and spoke with Darrell Nicholson, editor of
Practical
Sailor magazine, where I’d first learned of 5MileWife in its
rave review. He didn’t know how to reach anyone there and was
disappointed to hear of what I’ve been through. He wants to investigate
further and asked me to write up my overall disgusting experience with
product support – which in
part is what I’m doing here.
Sunday, June 24, 2012; 5:35 am
Scituate Harbor mooring
What a beautiful morning, and forecast for the trip home to Marblehead.
The dawn sun is again pouring in through the companionway – I’ve got the
upper two cribboards in to block it – and the coffee’s boiling on the
Origo stove out in the cockpit, calling me to a second cup.
I
almost made it back to Chip Ahoy late yesterday, was standing on the
harbormaster’s dock awaiting the launch, two bags of ice in the
insulated carry bag along with my showering things, when the
spectacularly violent sky moved in all around us then unloaded its fury.
I
was late getting ashore – still wrestling onboard with 5MileWifi to the
bitter end – for a shower and dinner, again at Mill Wharf Restaurant. I
stopped at the Mill Wharf Marina to take a few photos of Chip Ahoy, was
given their Wifi password – the Wifi system just became operational on
Friday. It’s the second network I can detect, but it too is awfully
weak, even located less than 100 yards from Chip Ahoy.
I
had another Mill Wharf Restaurant NY sirloin steak dinner (load up on
the good protein), but as I was nearly done I could feel the storm
approaching. Looking out the restaurant’s picture windows overlooking
the harbor, with Chip Ahoy within sight below, I sensed the changing light.
Facing east, I couldn’t see storm clouds gathering and moving
eastward, but the ambiance, the eerie lighting out there was warning enough.
Almost finished with my meal, I asked for my bill, paid it quickly
(learned Mill Wharf Restaurant no long has Wifi service, which explains
why its old password didn’t work), and hurried out and back to the dock.
Wow, what was moving in fast was stunning – the most sudden and
threatening cloud formation I’ve ever witnessed.
I
grabbed a couple bags of ice from the harbormaster’s office and looked
for the launch. It wasn’t at the dock, was out picking up boaters from
their moorings. I stood at the top of the wharf watching, realized it
wouldn’t get back in before all hell broke loose, so I headed back into
the harbormaster’s office as the wind hit and the deluge arrived.
The
launch came in a few minutes later, offloaded its drenched boaters (two
of whom had umbrellas blown inside-out), tied up to the dock, and
everyone raced up the gangway ramp to shelter. Good thing I played it
safe, closed up Chip Ahoy tight before leaving to come ashore; with the
potential threat of a thunderstorm forecast later I had even
disconnected the mast top VHF radio antenna cable.
It
immediately became controlled chaos in the office, with the distress
calls filling the harbormaster’s radios: a Boston Whaler outside the
harbor’s breakwater with three POB in distress; a transient sailboat
trying to make it in to a mooring and safety; a boat off Plymouth in
distress. Both the harbormaster’s utility boat and the Coast Guard
vessel raced out.
Severe thunder and lightning, strong winds, and torrential downpours
slanting horizontally – the harbormaster, E-Z Rider launch driver and I sat it out
and watched the action from the comfort of the office. Chip Ahoy was
riding well on its nearby mooring, even the “pup tent” tarp was holding
up well, though I’d left the aft-starboard corner tied off across the
cockpit (for easy launch egress-access).
It
lasted for about an hour, striking at about 6:10 PM. The two assistant
harbormasters returned towing the Whaler with the three young POB,
soaking wet. The fire department ambulance had arrived, the EMTs quickly treated
them for hypothermia. When conditions allowed, the launch driver took me
out to Chip Ahoy. All was well aboard, but VHF distress calls and Coast
Guard responses continued for another hour or so.
That was one nasty storm. I was grateful to witness it here, while on a
mooring –not out there on my way home.
— Continued — |
