Mystery Windex damage.

[RobG]

I went down to the boat last evening for a couple of golden hours of relaxation hanging on the mooring only to find the Windex at the top of the mast trashed! The aluminum post is bent back 30deg, the back half of the arrow is broken off at the pivot and gone, and one of the wire flags is bent down. There are no other signs of damage to the mast or elsewhere so I'd rule out lightning. I'm in a large mooring field at the end of the Mystic River. Could s seagul really cause this? We don't usually have bird problems there. My boat was hit while on the mooring while I was away last year (hit and run of course) and I'm wondering if maybe it happened again and the boat pushed over enough for the masts to collide. That sounds far fetched though.Has this happened to you?

 

[svey]

Probably a bird

I think you are on the correct path thinking it is a bird. I've seen them landing on neighbors windex and bend them. Some even land beside the windex and start picking at it until they have broken everything.You might want to replace your windex with an aluminum can origami replacement. You will still need to go aloft to reinstall.I use a piece of tape recorder ribbon attached to my back stay to juge apparant wind when I'm not using my ears.

 

[Steve]

Pellet Rifle?

Could it be a case of valdalism using a pellet rifle? Are there other boats near you with the same damage?

 

[JohnS12875]

Birds

Same story on my boat. Windex bent and broken. I walked out on the pier late at night to find an osprey perched on the mast head. Guess he was just trying to make himself comfortable.

 

[Ian McGain]

I have seen sparrows use mine as a merry-go-round

BIRDS-I have sat in the cockpit and watched sparrows land on my windex and use as a Merry-go-round. They have knocked off one leg and bent the other in a 45' degree angle downward. I purchased new legs and went up in bossuns chair. I glued the legs back on. The sparrows have re-bent the legs down again. I have not tried it but I have read that you can tie a 2 or 3' wood board with notch in it to your halyard. Tie on a spare line and pull up to the top of your mast. use the down line to position the board in the correct position to push up the windex legs. Might work- beats climing the mast.

 

[PaulK]

Cormorants

Sparrows would not be big enough to really damage a windex or bend the strut. Seagulls would land on deck. Cormorants love to perch on masts and watch for fish. We've lost our Windex and had our AWI messed up by them in previous years. This is besides their sticky droppings. They have claws that can grip pretty hard, (good for grabbing fish or mastheads) and strong beaks to peck at things that move near them. They're also pretty heavy. Their numbers around here seem to have been reduced by the arrival of Ospreys, who may have chased the Cormorants up your way. Sorry. (But not too sorry, all the same.) Since they're considered Marine Birds, I believe Cormorants are a protected species. Some people discourage them with wirey spikes on their mastheads, or they somehow rig fishing monofilament just above the masthead so it trips up birds trying to land. Good luck!

 

[shoestring]

I vote osprey

Rob, My boat is moored in Wequetequock,a few miles east of you. I watched from my boat, while a pair of ospreys landed on two adjacent mastheads. A great place to check the cove for their next meal. My windex is intact so far, but who knows?

 

[Larry Wilson]

Windex and birds

Down south here in Deltaville,Va. the Ospreys have been having a heyday with windexs. The young birds like the motion of the mast swinging back and forth, and practice their balance. you see them hitching rides on incoming sailboats all the time. They can weigh close to 20 lbs and reall do alot of damage to the relatively fragile windex assembly. There is a new design in the West catalogue with a bird spike that extends 18 inches above the directional and won't allow birds to perch. The picture is of my Columbia Sabre with Osprey nest perched on the cabin top. Larry Wilson

 

[Lou 14643]

With all due respect

A full grown osprey MIGHT weigh 4 or 5 pounds. I'd even guess a little lighter. 20 pounds is bigger than any thanksgiving turkey I've ever had at my table. Pretty big bird! Maybe its a condor at the masthead ;-)

 

[Rich]

Birds, but check for lightning damage

Rob, I agree with everyone else about the probability of it being birds, but this month's BoatUS magazine article about lightning gives you some tips for what to look for in case it was a lightning strike. Lightning strikes behave very differently from each other, some leaving no damage to electronics, but hull damage and damaged thru-hulls are a hidden possibility as the lightning exits. Check for leakage at the thru-hulls or melted ground wire attachments near the stays or keel-bolts. And a laceration in the hull below the waterline could still be lightning rather than a hit-and-run boat collision...

 

[Stan10807]

Ducks

A couple years ago I was relaxing on the stern of the boat at twilight when there was a hell of a crash. I then saw a duck tumble to the dock. Shake it off and fly away. The next moring in full daylight I saw that my windex was trashed. I think he just didn't see it in the failing light.StanC320

 

[Larry Wilson]

With all due respect/ I apologise

You're absolutely right. 4.3 lbs max weight. I let my fingers type faster than my brain could process. But damn, they look like 20 lbs. lol. Larry Wilson

 

[Rick Webb]

One Afternoon in LA

Thats would be Lower Alabama. I was flying a little ol Hughes 300 and was almost struck by a Turkey Buzzard I swear that thing was 12' across and weighed about 200#. I have been told they do not get anywhere near that big but I know what I saw.

 

[Calif. Ted]

Birds, They start biting off chucks till some

big ass pelican or something decides to sit on it. I think it's mostly the crows that start by breaking off pieces.

 

[Mike4116]

A couple of years ago

some kind of bird was flying through the marina and crashed into my safety lines in the pre-dawn dusk. He/it hit the lines and scuttled comically across the deck till it got to the other side hopped on the dock and flew away. By the time I got up and peered out the port hole it was long gone. Judging by the sound of the collision it had to be pretty big. The point of my story is that if one could hit a slender safety line in low light then it could also smack into the small equipment at the top of the mast. Whatever a bird weighs at rest is multiplied by forward speed. So even a 3 or 4 lb. bird at 10 miles and hour could tear up stuff pretty good if it hit it. It's true the air is their turf, but even birds make mistakes.What's the old joke? " A duck which flies upside down will QUACK up!" Haw, haw, haw!Mike

 

[RobG]

Thanks everyone. Hey Rich and Shoestring,

nice to hear from my neighbors. My favorite afternoon sail is to go east to the approaches of Watch Hill Pass then come about and sail along the lee of Fisher's Island, out the west end to the Ledge Light area and back to Noank.See you in paradise!