Bee Fun

Sailing has taken a bit of a back seat to other activities and commitments this year so it was not until the recent August holiday weekend when we finally got onto the water.  For the past two years I have been storing Bluster in a commercial storage lot in town.  Although not ideal (which would be a free, enclosed, pull through building on my own property) this storage arrangement has worked out OK.  The lot is well managed and secure.  Over the year I stop by regularly to check the tarp, tires, etc.  On the last check I noticed a small bee’s nest attached to the lowered mast just over the motor well.  It looked empty at the time so when I arrived to remove the tarp and hitch up the trailer I would use extra care.  As I lifted the forward tarp I was confronted with a very active softball sized nest attached to underside of the in the area of the tabernacle.

This was getting out of my league so I made a call to the local exterminator and within thirty minutes he arrived on site.  The ‘forward’ colony he identified as the relatively docile umbrella wasps and the ‘aft’ colony as the aggressive yellow jacket wasps.  He suited up in his bee keeper’s outfit and proceeded with extermination.  In the end he found four umbrella and one yellow jacket nests.

 After this minor setback we are off to the ramp!