The Sailing Life

McClellanville, SC to Surf City, NC

2010-04-30T16:41:00.008-04:00

As everyone who has even cursorily read this blog knows, I love breakfast. I especially love it at a local diner kind of place. Dwayne and I had agreed to meet around 8 the next morning for breakfast at the local place. Sadly, it was too far from the marina to walk or I'd've toddled off on my own, but when I mentioned I'd like to go there, Dwayne had kindly offered to drive.

I was not disappointed! It was a great greasy spoon named, appropriately, the McClellanville Diner. The food was good, the service friendly, and the coffee spectacular. Thumbs up on this one.

Anyway, I had wanted to get underway fairly early. After talking with Dwayne about the channel just across the ICW called Five Fathom Creek. Hopping out there would save hours on the ICW and going down the river at Winyah Bay. Currents run moderately fast and I was sure they'd be against me, forcing me to run the ICW up to Southport (which I didn't want to do).

So with local knowledge at hand (basically, the shrimpers use the channel, it was recently dredged and should have more than enough depth), off I went. Keeping an eye on the depth gauge and following the channel resulted in a very pleasant hour or so through the marshes with depths never lower than 15 feet. The only caveat is to keep a straight line course to the G1 before turning east around Cape Roman Shoals. The chart indicates 3-1/2 feet but I never saw anything like that.

So, my plan was to head to Cape Fear and enter the Cape Fear River entrance to avoid going around Frying Pan Shoals. I knew I'd get there around midnight, would find an anchorage to sleep until the current changed, and then continue on.

The wind continually lightened so sailing was out. Still, the seas were kind of lumpy from the days of 20+ kt winds. Nevertheless, the moonrise was absolutely spectacular! Like the ones you see in the movies or whatever where the huge moon rises into an inky black sky. One of those moments at sea that makes it all worthwhile!

Naturally, as I entered the Cape Fear River channel, the engine died. With a great deal of swearing and so forth, I changed the Racor filter and removed some hose from the electric pump where there was apparently an air leak. Yah!

Long and short, I anchored in the harbor out of the channel in about 13 feet of water at 2am, had a shower and went to sleep for four hours.

Around 7am, I weighed anchor and headed up the Cape Fear River for Surf City. You may remember Surf City from the trip down. Seven really uneventful hours later I was there. Earl, the marina manager, remembered me and I had a great time meeting others on the dock. It was so nice, I stayed two days having breakfast in my favorite place - full hungry man's breakfast for $4.59. Add a dollar for coffee and it's one of the best deals around. It might be Batts Grill. If not, it's right next door.

I had heard from my friend, Doug, who was moving to New Bern, NC. We decided to meet in Coinjock for one of their 32 oz. steaks. Really, there's no other reason to go there. But since he was on a schedule, I decided to push to meet him.

On May 1st, I left to get past Beaufort.

Vero Beach to McClellanville

2010-04-30T16:40:00.007-04:00

It was with a heavy heart I left Vero Beach and my friends Lee and Karen (and of course Gracie). A sunny and warm day to travel up the ICW to the first day's goal, Titusville. I'd been in touch with my friend Doug who was coming down to New Bern and we had decided to meet somewhere on the trip.

It's a fairly dull trip through Melbourne and Coco Beach, FL. No wind so it was a motor all the way. However, the weather always has a surprise up its sleeve. In this case, as I approached the Titusville Swing Bridge it poured. Not your usual pour but the can't see the front of the boat kind of pouring. It really makes you appreciate both the radar and chart plotter. It was over in a few minutes and I was right there for the bridge opening.

The Titusville Municipal Marina is a very nice facility. They have a decent little store and everyone was absolutely awesome. The town of Titusville is a short walk away. Titusville sort of lives or dies by the fortunes of Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center. There are parks with themes of the Gemini and Apollo projects with vast walkways and fountains and ponds and so forth.

The town is like many small towns. Small shops and stores and, of course, Your Place, a wonderful place for breakfast and lunch (dinner, too, on Fridays and Saturdays). It's not the least expensive diner I've been to, but the food is good and the service great and it's all fresh. It's worth having a bite at!

The Air Force's experimental ship was due to be launched on an Atlas V rocket so I thought I'd stick around to see it. From the marina you can see the Shuttle Assembly Building so I thought the launch would be spectacular. To be honest, I almost missed it - we did see the rocket but were too far away for anything other than the small rising bright speck and some contrail. That was a surprise - it also puts the shuttle launch into perspective because in Titusville, apparently, you can hear it!

Anyway, after a couple of days I was itchy to get going. So off I went. The trip from there to Ponce de Leon inlet is nothing if not long and boring. Really boring. There is the Haulover Canal (or Cut) which provides some amusement in the form of current but other than that, getting to the inlet is pretty straightforward.

I got to the inlet around two in the afternoon and raised sail for St. Mary's inlet. The winds were 15-20 out of the southwest so Pelican was sailing along just fine, although with the wind pretty far aft. But we were making six to seven knots through the water (about 3/4 kt faster over the ground) and it was beautiful!

The shaft generator was providing all power just fine until the belt broke around 1800. Still, I didn't start the engine until 3am because the wind died like someone switched it off.

When I got to St. Mary's inlet I decided to keep going to St. Simon's inlet for Brunswick. I mean, why not? The weather wasn't too bad and I was making great time. At St. Simon's it started raining and I stopped for fuel at Golden Isle Marina. I figured I'd head up into Georgia for a while. That turned out to be a mistake.

At 3:30pm, I stopped at the Darien River. I've written about that anchorage before on my way down. It's interesting anchoring in some strong currents but the holding ground is good. After 30 hours or so, I was pretty tired so I toasted sunset and went to sleep.

The next day I weighed anchor pretty early -I wanted to get past Savannah if I could. The winds were southwest at 18-30. Motor sailing almost dead downwind I was making 7+ knots with the jib - the motor was just taking up the slack in lulls (of which there weren't to many). It was warmish and sunny so very pleasant until I got to Ossabaw sound.

On my way down, I mentioned Hell Gate, a cut that makes a short cut through the sound. The problem there is shoaling. Even though it had recently been dredged, there wasn't enough water to go through for me - three feet at the entrance. So, I thought, no worries, I'll just head out to sea, turn up the channel on the other side of Raccoon Key. Good idea, eh?

Examine the chart on the left and the Google Earth image on the right. I made it out to the Atlantic just fine, and if I hadn't been such a chicken, I would have just taken the wind and headed up to Cape Fear and been done with it.

But, no, I decided to head back in and 'enjoy' some more of Georgia.

You'll notice that where the chart marks the channel there is no channel. Because of the shoals and the wind, the waves were 6 feet or so and in the troughs Pelican's keel hit - every 10 - 15 seconds or so. Not hard, but enough to rattle the rigging and my eyeballs. Since the chart showed a very shoal area north of the channel, I was worried of getting blow into it and having to deal with some really ugly consequences.

Guess what? After about 45 minutes of thrashing about and trying to get out of there I noticed that that shallow shoal doesn't exist. In fact, the northern channel that's not marked is fully and correctly marked on the chart. It was beautiful to find I could get on about my trip! What a relief!

Of course, now the current was against me so getting to Savannah was out of the question. I stopped at Thunderbolt Marina for the night. I was beat, worried about the keel, and very much humbled.

A couple of cocktails later, though, and I was good to go. It was a grand story to tell, so there it is.

The next morning I headed off to make some distance. Unfortunately, the U.S. Coast Guard decided to board me at the Savannah River and took 45 minutes to inspect the boat. This time, however, I got paperwork, finally. They were unfailingly polite but of the 4 yachts in a row, they stopped me. I don't get it.

I motor sailed the whole day - there's not enough wind to make good time, but with the engine running average speeds were well over 7 kts. Ended up at mile marker 509, Edisto River anchorage. It's a beautiful place. It could stand some exploring, but I'm in something of a hurry.

The next day was another great motor sailing day. Pleasant enough, but long. I finally arrived at Leyland Oil at McClellanville where Dwayne helped me dock and took my ridiculously small nightly payment. There's not much to McClellanville. It's mostly a commercial dock with fishing boats.

Lessons learned on this leg: Avoid mid Georgia if you draw more than about 4 feet. There is a lot of shoaling in the sounds. Also, I can run 30 hours without terrible difficulty.

See you on the water!

Vero Beach

2010-04-30T16:39:00.007-04:00

As much fun as I had at Indiantown Marina I knew I had to be moving along. I wanted to see my friends Lee and Karen again before I made my way home. As it turns out, I got to see John and Paula and my cousin as well.

From Indiantown you just head east through the St. Lucie Lock (drop of around 14 feet) to the level of the St. Lucie river. The lock master there is, like all the lock masters, wonderfully friendly and helpful - when it's not crazy, he'll handle lines for you and stay and talk while the lock is cycling. It's almost worth going through just for that.

As an aside, here's what I've found: state functionaries are typically friendly and helpful. Federal ones are typically obsfucators and resistant to helping. This is not true for all of them, of course, but for a significant proportion of them. I mentioned this in the difference between the people who run the national park in Sanibel and the state park on Cayo Costa - mere miles apart from each other.

Traveling down the St. Lucie river is easy and you can watch mile by mile as the terrain changes from the wilds of central Florida to the relatively urban setting of Stuart. It is also, for me, like making my way back.

Here on this part of the trip I'm thinking I'm not exploring anymore. I've been here. I'm closing the loop of the adventure. My psyche is yelling, "Go back! Go back! Get thee to the Bahamas!" Of course, I don't. I reach the end of the St. Lucie River and make a left to go north past Ft. Pierce and to Vero Beach.

The wind is out of the southwest at 15 to 20 knots so up go the sails and away I go - it's essentially a straight shot to Ft. Pierce and an easy ride. As I get near Ft. Pierce I think I'll call Joe and Del, my cousins, to see if they are still in Florida and if we can get together. Del is and Joe will be back in a couple of days! Cool!

I made it to Vero Beach City Marina mooring field around 5ish and rafted with Lee and Karen aboard Morning Glory. It was sure good to see them! And Grace, the dog, too. We had dinner aboard that night and by the time it was done, I was truly ready for sleep.

The Vero Beach City Marina moorings are cheap - $13/day. The marina itself is pleasant and for $1.60/ft/day you can stay in a slip. So if that's what you need, it certainly is reasonable. True, it's far from anything like shopping, but Lee and Karen had a car...

The next day we had lunch at Toojay's which is like a NY Jewish Deli. They have terrific corned beef and pastrami as well as meatloaf and other very tasty comfort food dishes. There may be a couple of them, but I only know the one in Vero. Del came and joined us. She also convinced me to stay until Joe came down to pick her up.

I got my shopping done with the help of Lee. His patience and good humor still amazes me (Karen's, too). We got propane and food and did some stuff at Staples and went to Stuart and generally had a good time.

If you'll remember, Teri and I had met John and Paula in Key West and had hacked around for two weeks there. Then they went up the east coast and I the west hoping to meet again somewhere like Indiantown. I had gotten there first and finished before they did but as I checked my email I found they'd be in Stuart when I was in Vero. As usual, Lee and Karen were all up for seeing my other friends and off we went to Stuart for dinner with John and Paula.

I can't begin to express what a nice time it was - It was wonderful seeing them again and finding how they've grown as cruisers. It's like watching your fledglings leave the nest, you know, when you've been their boating mentor. Anyway, we ate at Luna's Italian restaurant in Stuart, just a short walk from the city marina where Jack and Paula were staying.

The next day they headed off to Indiantown for a haul and storage until next winter.

The night before I left we had dinner at a ribs place with Del and Joe. I had the all you can eat for $10.99. They had dry rub ribs and I love them! It seems that I spend an inordinate amount of time eating. Well, single-handing is a high caloric activity. (That's my theory and I'm sticking to it.)

Lee and Karen were waiting for their mast and new sails to be done. They expected to be heading south to Ft. Pierce for it all to come together. I had decided to leave and go out the Ponce de Leon inlet for points north.

Bidding Lee, Karen, and Grace a fond farewell I turned Pelican north for our next adventure, the trip to McLellanville via Titusville and the Darien River.

It is very possible I saw you on the water!

Haulout!

2010-04-22T07:40:00.007-04:00

This post will be fairly short - it's about something that's done so frequently that most of the terror is gone for veteran boat owners. Still, as your home comes out of the water on a couple of spindly looking straps...

As you know, I was at Indiantown Marina just about 25 miles west of the St. Lucie Inlet on the Okeechobee Waterway. It's run by Scott and Raquel Watson -who, in addition to being very boater friendly, look like movie stars.

They run a green marina - there's no working on boats in the storage area and in the work area they provide plastic sheets to catch all the detritus that comes off the boats during repairs. They require vacuum sanders and grinders and that you sweep up your plastic every day. They recycle antifreeze and oil in an simple and clean way. General rules are posted and they are clear, obvious and as non-officious as possible.

The staff is all very pleasant - the yard guys are friendly and helpful and the office staff take the time to talk if they're not running to catch a boat or some other service.

All in all, if you're in the area and need a haul, their Travelift is a 50 tonne lift. (Tonne = 2000 kg) If you live on your boat, they provide water and pump outs while in the work yard.

From their brochure:

Indiantown Marina is one of Florida's largest dry storage facilities located on the Okeechobee Waterway in Indiantown, Florida.

With access to both coasts and 20 miles inland we are considered one of Florida's best hurricane holes.

We have the capacity to store over 500 boats on land and a 40 wet slip marina.

We are a full service marine repair facility and a do-it-yourself boat yard.

Ok, so now you know about the yard. Here's the haulout story.

I had arrived on Friday evening and scheduled my haul for Monday. Get this: because I didn't get hauled until late Friday, they charged me the in-water fee for the day which was less than the work yard daily rate. Imagine that!

It turned out that the wind was a help getting me to the Travelift well and I backed down there like a pro. I didn't terrify even one other boater! As you know, backing up with Pelican is more or less random.

I'm leaving the images their normal size so you don't have to download them to get a good look. Here, the wind is from the port side gently blowing me towards the dock like I know what I'm doing.

The crew gently moves Pelican into the well where the straps have already been lowered - I had put strap markers on the cove strip (the one near the caprail) so that the operator knows where to put them - in addition, I have a drawing of Pelican that I showed the operator so he could confirm my placement.

Never rush the operator. Make sure they know what you're thinking and where the straps should go. Make sure you know where they should go. There is so much damage than can be done lifting the boat incorrectly that it's worth the extra effort. As it turns out, the straps go directly below both masts on Pelican. That's just to easy!

Once out of the water, I had the marina power wash the bottom of Pelican. I knew the paint wasn't in bad condition and no sanding would be needed.

This costs a reasonable $1.75 per foot and the wash water is collected so the toxic paint that comes off doesn't go into the water.

Finally, after the wash and a fairly long ride to the work area, Pelican is blocked for painting, waxing and other stuff. If you'll notice, though, there's 13 stands holding up Pelican. Can you imagine? Usually, if there's 7 that's a lot. Notice the stand under the area between the prop and rudder - it's to keep weight off the back of the keel that isn't too strong.

This is the first haul I didn't have to take the headstay off! Just dropped the mizzen boom. Wow, that makes life much easier.

What do you do in a short haul? The obvious, painting and waxing of course - then the not so obvious. Work and lubricate or repair/replace all your through-hulls. Check the propeller shaft and rudder shaft packing. Adjust or repack as necessary. It's a good time to check and fix any dings in the hull. ( I had one from the trip to Marathon where for some reason I believed I could get through five feet of water for several miles. I mostly could except for that one rock.)

Anything that needs to be done out of the water should be done now. But I've covered the basics. The first thing I did was wash the hull with hull cleaner (which is basically oxalic acid with soap) that removes the brownish stains. Then I taped the waterline. Finally, I painted the bottom and while one coat was drying I waxed the topsides.

Then back to the painting, back to the waxing, etc., etc.

Because the days are getting longer, there was more time to work. After two days I had multiple coats on the bottom (at least two and three around the waterline and at high wear points like the bow and front of the skeg). I asked the marina to move the stands so I could do where they had been (the marina specifically states in their rules that they will move jack stands) and in a few minutes up they came to do it. Wow!

The last day out, I finished the waxing with a couple of coats near the waterline and high wear areas (bow, transom). Included here are the before and after pictures - I sure hope you can see the difference!

I do know you'll be able to see how nice the bottom looks!

After this, I got dropped back into the water and took the afternoon to make sure the rudder packing was no longer leaking and that the boat wasn't going to sink any time soon. There were some other little maintenance items so I took care of them.

I filled up with fuel and the next morning I was on my way - just a week in the yard and I'm ready for the year. Woohoo!

Up next, Vero Beach!

See you on the water!

Cape Coral to Indiantown FL

2010-04-12T12:16:00.009-04:00

I really hated to leave Cape Coral. I could make a life there - although I'm sure summer would put me off pretty quickly with the heat and mosquitos that are for all practical purposes armored. But when the weather is just warm and sunny Cape Coral beckons pretty strongly.

But I did. I pulled myself away. I managed it. Dropping the lines for the last time was hard.

Traveling up the Caloosahatchee River wasn't very exciting except for the locks which were interesting. I've been in the lock at Great Bridge, VA, which is about a one foot drop either way depending on wind, current, and rain. There are three locks to Lake Okeechobee from the Gulf of Mexico - Ortona Lock up a couple of feet, Moore Haven Lock up about 4 feet, and the Port Mayaca Lock up about a foot.

The first, Ortona, is just a few miles east of La Belle on the Caloosahatchee. Traversing the whole waterway is special in that first, there are cities, then towns, then orange groves and dairy farms and then just a few housing developments, and finally the lake. The lock operators are friendly, helpful, and kind - I'm sure they've seen it all and yet exude patience and good humor. Moreover, they're versed in the waters up and downstream of their lock.

Locking through takes about 10 minutes once you've gotten the green light, meaning your doors are open. Apparently, there's been some money spent recently on the Waterway's locks smoothing the concrete walls. Additionally, there are lines provided on the lock walls for boaters so that they don't have to struggle. This is a good thing because the lock walls are very high, generally and it's not easy to reach the cleats, especially if single handing.

You can see from the pictures that it's not that exciting - I suppose if the drop or raise was significant, it might be more so, but the operators do everything they can to prevent boats from banging around and skittering all over. In the case of the Ortona Lock, I was the only one locking through. They open on demand from 6:00 am until 9:30 pm and at all other times with a three hour notice.

By the time it got late, I stopped in Moore Haven at the Beach House Marina. No sooner had I arrived with the help of Linda who apparently runs the place then the next door neighbors Dan and Diane aboard Fitzcat stopped by and asked if I needed anything in town. The marina supplies golf carts for doing business. Very friendly - true, it's a face dock only a few hundred feet long, but there's a nice bathroom with shower, free ice (as much as you want), and the aforementioned golf carts.

In addition, Linda will come running out with an air horn every time a boat comes by throwing a wake - it's a no wake zone per the Coast Guard.

A little later, the Fitzes came by again and asked if I wanted some Mexican food - well, I sure did. There's a little nondescript luncheonette kind of place (although that gives it much more atmosphere than it really had) on the road to Moore Haven (which in itself is about two blocks long).

The food was rumored to be good, and it sure was - very tasty! And very inexpensive. And cooked to order - I wanted mine without bell peppers and Diane wanted hers without jalapeño peppers. No problems! I'd recommend the name except it just had 'Mexican Food' out front. I can tell you it's on the east side of the highway, if that helps.

Here's a funny little thing about the Beach House Marina: payment's on the honor system. Really - on one dock entrance there's a box with envelopes to put a check or cash into and on the other a stainless lock box to drop it into. For a dollar per foot per night you get everything mentioned above plus electricity and water. A deal - and a place to stay before doing the lake.

You can do the whole waterway in two days even in a sailboat. But you either have to stop before or after the lake. It had been a long 10 hour day for me and I decided before rather than after.

Because I was early for Indiantown, I stayed one more day and one more bag of ice in Moore Haven. I went up the main mast to remove all the gear up there so that I could get under the Port Mayaca Rail Lift Bridge which was about 49 feet. Now, my cousin Joe and I had measured the mast at 48 feet in Ft. Pierce, but you know, we could have been wrong. Better to be conservative, I think.

The Fitzes and I had cocktails with their dog Fitzie and that pretty much took care of dinner. We planned the next day's schedule, and decided to leave just after daybreak. Dan and Diane wanted to get to Stuart before stopping for the day.

We all left just after sunrise the next morning and were into the Moore Haven lock in a few minutes. We got out just after 8 am, and off to Clewiston we went. The wind was perfect for sailing the lake, but we had to motor into it to get to the channel out there.

I made a left into the channel around 10 am and set sail for Port Mayaca! Whew! Engine finally off. We sailed very nicely until around noon when the forecasted 20 knot winds died. Well, what do you know about that? Big surprise. Because we had a place to get to and theirs was farther than mine, we decided to do the iron genny thing and off we went.

Sadly, about a half hour later I noticed the engine getting hotter - not quite overheating, but hot. Then it started to overheat. So I stopped it and at the hottest point of the day I had to work lying on top of an overheated engine to replace the water pump and clean the heat exchanger. I was losing gallons of water in sweat! You can bet there was a string of words being had by me that day! But Fitzcat stayed by for the hour or so it took to get it all straightened out.

We made the Port Mayaca Lock around 1:30 pm or so, and waited for about 15 minutes for a lock through. After the lock, there's the train bridge I was really worried about - as bad as it is hitting the keel hard, it's much worse hitting the top of the mast. Interestingly enough, it looks just as bad going through a 75 foot bridge as it does in a 49 foot bridge. Who'd have thought?

It's only about 12 miles from the lock to Indiantown Marina, my destination for the night. Fitzcat had to make it to Stuart before stopping, about another 15 miles and a lock. With fond farewells, we parted ways - we'll probably meet again on the way up to the Carolinas.

Because I going to get there late Friday after they stopped hauling, I had scheduled a haulout on Monday. As soon as I got myself together, I called my friends Lee and Karen who said they'd come up Sunday for a visit - they're in Vero Beach waiting for their mast to be finished.

I met Drew and Shelley on the dock - a couple of young uns living the dream. They were getting their boat ready for sale and leaving for Washington State to pick up a new boat to sail to the Pacific Islands! Good for them!

Anyway more about this adventure with the next post: Haulout!

See you on the water!

Cape Coral, Cayo Costa, Cabbage Key and more...

2010-03-27T09:12:00.009-04:00

Where to start? Cape Coral Yacht Basin is a beautiful little marina run by the city that contains within its borders a sort of half-size olympic pool with a diving section, a small but pretty beach, a food stand near the beach with awesome hamburgers and not bad fish & chips. There is a conference center and tennis courts. They have a little gazebo inside the marina where the boaters have a Friday cocktail hour. There are also handball/racquetball courts. As facilities go, it's top notch. Staying there gets you free access to all of it.

True, it's up the Caloosahatchee River about five miles, but by the same token it's really well protected.

Cape Coral, like all post war communities in South Florida, is spread out with much of it on man-made canals. On the other hand, it's really flat and a perfect place to use my Xootr kick scooter to get around.

There is not much to see here or do, for that matter, other than swim or walk or kayak about. But just a little over an hour away by boat is the Gulf of Mexico with ports of call all over - the south you know because I've mentioned them. To the north is Venice, St. Pete's, Tampa and more. In between are a bunch of islands that are accessible only by boat or ferry. The two big exceptions are Pine Island, that is a real taste of old Florida and Sanibel Island that is expensive and apparently not that friendly, or at least the National Wildlife Refuge isn't.

But I'm getting ahead of myself as usual.

I arrived here on March 14th because my friend, Brooke from Noank, CT, told me she had a friend at this marina, AJ, who had said it was inexpensive and quite nice. On both counts, AJ was correct. I'm at the 'T' end of the middle dock which is an easy in - easy out slip. Given Pelican's lack of low speed maneuverability, it's the best slip in the house!

Since it was a week until Teri arrived I had lots of time to do some of the deferred maintenance - which is what cruising is all about anyway (fixing boats in exotic locations).

Every Friday evening the boat owners get together at the gazebo and bring some food and whatever they're drinking and have a little soire that ends fairly early in the evening. It's very pleasant and it allows everyone to catch up. Enjoyable!

If you're in Cape Coral for any length of time and need a place to eat, there are two very good ones - the first, Maria's on 46th Lane near Del Prado, has been in business for a long time (since 1991 under the same owner). It's an Italian restaurant with some absolutely fantastic dishes and excellent pizza. At lunchtime, they have personal pizzas for $5.99 with three toppings included! Can you beat that? I think not.

For breakfast and Cuban fare (real Cubans run the place and eat there), Mambos Cuban-American Bakery, Deli and Restaurant on Del Prado has a terrific breakfast special - three eggs, bacon, and toast for $2.99. Coffee is extra, but three people can eat there for breakfast for like $11.00 before tip. They have $.60 bakery items that are delish! Highly recommended!

The weekend before Teri arrived, my friend, Tony, and his girlfriend, Joy, came down to see me from Tampa. We ate dinner at Maria's and breakfast at Mambos. They are a long walk from the marina (a couple of miles or so), but an easy scooter and easier bike ride. Remember, Cape Coral is really flat. However, Tony drove this time.

I picked up Teri at Tampa International Airport on the evening of March 23rd. She wanted to see a beach, maybe collect some shells and shark's teeth. So we went to Sharky's in Venice, FL for a bit of wandering and some food.

Sharky's is a tourist trap - the food is pretty good, the service is pretty good, and it's crowded! There's a long fishing pier into the Gulf of Mexico and it's surrounded on both sides with a really beautiful beach. Apparently it's the shark's teeth capital of the world! Not just live sharks, but fossilized teeth as well (white vs. black).

The trick, though, is that you need to sieve the gravel and shells right at the water's edge. It is extremely unlikely to find one just laying there. More on that later, though.

It was windy and cold, so we didn't spend too much time wandering about the beaches. Besides our table got ready and so we returned to Sharky's. It would have been nice to eat outside except for the cold and the wind.

As mentioned, the food was pretty good. They have some really innovative ways of making their fish and the portions are good sized. I suggest, if you're in the area, and it's not Spring Break, you go there and relax a bit. They also have live music every night, I think, on the deck. As tourist traps go, it's worth the visit.

The plan had been to sail up to Tampa to pick up Teri, but that's three days up and three days back almost all motoring because the wind's mostly out of the north. So it was really less expensive to rent a car and drive it. Teri was only going to be here for a week so to waste three days just getting back to the area wouldn't have been great.

We got back to Pelican exhausted - and way too full from Sharky's.

The next morning, Wednesday, walking the dock, we met Chuck and Shannon who indicated they were taking "Packet Up" a 37 foot Island Packet to Cayo Costa for the weekend - they were going to anchor in a little hurricane hole and enjoy the solitariness.

We decided to go to Cayo Costa as well for the weekend, but figured they'd be way ahead of us and not really interested in company. But as luck would have it, we caught up to them right at the outside of their anchorage - following them in they ran aground (soft) and shortly after I touched. I decided that discretion was the better part of valor and we headed around to Pelican Bay (how could I not) to anchor - in reality, less than half a mile from where Chuck and Shannon were going to anchor.

Well, after running aground twice and getting stuck because it must have been mud I decided once again for discretion and anchored in seven feet just out of Pelican Bay. That said, of course, I have to give a shout out to an unknown Samaritan who towed me off the mud twice. All with extremely good humor. I wish I remembered his boat name. Sadly, I don't.

Anyway, we had a lovely dinner and watched sunset with cocktails and that was that - you don't really need to know that there was no sailing being done that day - wind on the nose the whole way.

Thursday morning I put the dinghy together and we went to Cayo Costa State Park where the rangers were friendly, helpful, and wonderfully kind. The beach on the Gulf side was beautiful and long and not terribly crowded. Teri walked with me a bit, sunned herself, and swam a bit. I walked the nature trails (because I can't stand sitting on a beach). Chuck and Shannon were there as well.

At the park, we all decided to have dinner together on Pelican, and so Teri put together a lovely dinner with my grilling some chicken breasts. Shannon made a salad. It was delicious, especially after a day of doing nothing at the beach.

They had to go back to walk their dog so the evening was early. Once again, we collapsed exhausted...

Little known fact - Cabbage Key is where "Cheeseburger in Paradise" by Jimmy Buffet comes from - Key West tries to take credit but can't. Search the web for it. You'll see. Friday the weather was iffy - but not raining and not too cold so we all dinghied over to the restaurant for a cheeseburger. No problem landing, got great service, not crowded at all. Our waitress told us that usually there's an hour wait to just get to the dock, and the same for the restaurant! The iffy weather made the trip really pleasant! Lucky us! Food was good, price ok, drinks small. If you're there, drink beer. Fancy drinks are pricey. But to touch a little Paradise...

We had planned to go back to the marina on Saturday, a day before Chuck and Shannon, and so got ourselves together to go - Sunny, hot, and no wind. Naturally. Tried to sail. No go. Got back to the marina early afternoon and went swimming at the beach. Ok, walking in the water to cool off. It's not more than about knee deep well out. But it was refreshing. Dinner was a cheeseburger (again) at the place on the beach. For a burger stand, their food is really decent. And not too expensive. And the atmosphere is quite nice with the beach and the waterway right there.

Sunday we met up with Teri's friend, Chris, from her high school days and his girlfriend, Vickie. Chris picked us up at the marina around lunch time and took us to their home for some hors d'oeuvres and a couple of drinks - then loaded up their kayaks and drove a block to the park's launch ramp.

In a couple of minutes we had kayaked into a mangrove swamp that seemed so remote as to be nowhere near civilization. It was spectacular and we got to go through tunnels of mangroves and see egrets and ibis and osprey and mullets jumping along the shore as if for the fun of it. It was a lovely few hours seeing the kayak trail and just catching up. Of course, I forgot the camera so there's no pictures...

When we got back it was dinner time and Chris suggested a small restaurant/bar in Matlacha (pronounced 'Mat-le-shay') near Pine Island called Bert's Bar & Grill. The food's good, the service good, the price good, and it's definitely worth the visit - but get the handmade potato chips. Very, very good!

After that, Chris brought us back to the boat.

Monday Chris took us to Ft. Myers to look around. The center of the city has been renewed but it only covers a few square blocks, but it's really pretty - very artsy. Teri enjoyed looking about, especially at the beading shop.

Then we were off to the ice cream palace, and finally back to Pelican.

We had planned to go to St. John's City on Tuesday and staying overnight before heading up to Tampa, visiting J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge and anchoring out for the evening. We had heard that the refuge was a destination we could dinghy to so we decided to tootle on over to St. James City and anchor, head over to the refuge and tour it, see the beaches on Sanibel Island, and generally spend the day wandering. We had planned to rent bicycles from the park and really see what we could see.

Getting anchored - check. Getting our little lunch/snack cooler together - check. Getting into Tarpon Bay to the park - check. Being allowed on shore to see the park - What? We can't land?

No, apparently not. There's no place to put the dinghy. Lie. There is plenty of space to put a dinghy. So called the park's main office. Lovely woman asked me to hold on - after a while she came back and said that we could go ashore, someone would help us take the dinghy up the ramp and we could tour the park. Lots of 'thank-yous'. Whoopee! We're going exploring!

Back to the ramp. A woman comes down clearly annoyed. Net result - we can come in if we promise to carry the dinghy 40 yards to the parking lot, and no, no one will help and it's a $15.00 launch fee - just so you know, the dinghy and motor weigh approximately 140 lbs. I can't carry it alone and I'm sure Teri can't carry half of it.

Why can't we put it on the side of the ramp in the grass where there's nothing? Nope, no can do. How about the dock space right here or over there? No. Not allowed.

Well, we weren't about to do that so we left. I wrote to the director of the refuge. No answer. Here's the thing: the state park rangers were spectacular. The national park system is run by concessionaires. Do you think they give a hoot? Seems not. Apparently the director isn't interested in responding either.

If you have any inclination to write to the director expressing your outrage (politely, of course), here's his information directly from the site:

Paul Tritaik, Refuge Manager
1 Wildlife Drive
Sanibel, FL 33957
Phone: (239) 472-1100
Fax: (239) 472-4061
Email: dingdarling@fws.gov

Normally I don't promote political action but in this case my reasoning is that it's a national park, we all pay taxes to support it, and the park should try to accommodate all of our citizens regardless of their mode of transport.

Ok, that's the end of that rant.

Well, back to Pelican. Teri went for a swim while I got Pelican ready to get underway and eventually we went off for a sail into the Gulf of Mexico. It was a terrific sail! We got back to the marina late-ish. Time enough for a cocktail and a bit of dinner. We watched a movie and collapsed again. Play, apparently, is just as hard as work.

Sadly, Teri's time was coming to an end in Cape Coral but there was one more adventure - I have friends in Tampa I haven't seen in some time (longer than I even remember). So we headed up there Wednesday and stopped at the beach near Sharky's to look for sharks teeth and to let Teri get a few more hours in the sun and water (which she dearly loves).

As usual, I walked the beach and found out how to find the teeth. When I got back to Teri, I borrowed a colander from a family sitting on the beach and Teri and I filled, rinsed, and examined the results from the stirred up beach just where the waves stop. After about 15 minutes of that we found two tiny new sharks teeth (white) and one fossilized one, also tiny.

Some families had a regular industrial site going with two people hauling the stuff from the water with tools specially built for this - a screen box at the end of a stick and several sorting sieves. I don't know how many teeth they got, but they were certainly industrious!

After a while, we had to make our way to Tampa to check in and get cleaned up for dinner at Yara and Al's home. Although we ended up getting there a bit late, they were still happy to see us. I used to work with Yara in New York and hadn't seen her since she moved to Florida, got married and had a baby! The meal was excellent and so was the company. It was very nice to reconnect again with them.

Since I hadn't brought Pelican to Tampa, I promised them a day out when they come up to visit friends in Connecticut!

By the time we got back to the hotel, it had once again been a long day - and we had to get up at 4:30 to get Teri to the airport at 5:00am. That was pretty hard - the getting up bit, I mean.

After driving around the airport a couple of times to find the terminal, I dropped Teri off and we said our good-byes. I was sad to see her go!

I drove back to Cape Coral, went to the grocery store to stock up, returned the car and went back to Pelican for a nap or whatever. The next day I took the dinghy out of the water, cleaned and folded it and stowed it for the trip north. Very sad. Also, twisted my back. Feh. I ended up staying until April 6th when I headed off to Moore Haven on my way to Indiantown for a short haul! The possibility exists of seeing Lee and Karen again as well as Jack and Paula!

More on that next time - the Okeechobee Waterway is long, often dull, but a real kick to travel. It's Old Florida.

See you on the water!

Key West to Cape Coral, FL

2010-03-15T14:49:00.008-04:00

When you think of mangrove swamps you're probably picturing a place that could very well be in the Everglades National Park. Most of the southern tip of Florida is part of it and it ends around Everglades City. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

A few days after Teri left for New York I got a final load of laundry done, picked up a few things, made a tour of Key West to get the 'tourista' pictures necessary to prove I was actually there.

I also decided to fill my water tanks and take on some gas for the outboard and generator so asked my friends Jack and Billie to come with me to get them. Well, the Sunset Marina, while very nice has a very narrow fairway and I managed to get crosswise in it with the wind blowing me into the mangroves. Nice. I really impressed my guests with my piloting skills...

So I hopped into the dinghy, took a line from the bow and proceeded to tow Pelican to the gas dock impressing the guys standing there. What impressed them is that I could do it with the dinghy and backwards at that. Here's a tip - if you need to tow with an inflatable dinghy, especially if it's a heavy tow, do it with a harness on the transom and tow backwards. Otherwise, the load will cause the stern to sink and the bow will blow around uncontrollably. Just apply power slowly and gently.

Well, after that little faux pas, I was ready to go. The weather report for the next few days were supposed to be good so I had the brilliant idea of heading out to the jetty at the end of the Northwest Channel from Key West. Unfortunately, it was just too rough to do that. So I went back almost to Wisteria Island and anchored for the evening.

The next morning I was on my way at 6:30 and out of the channel at 7:30. The wind was too close to sail alone so I motor-sailed to the Little Shark River. The Little Shark River, just south of Little Shark Island, has a well marked entrance - it's a straight shot from the end of the Northwest Channel.

I arrived there around three pm and anchored about a mile up the river in a very protected stretch. I figured I'd be more or less alone but by five there were an additional four or five boats spread around. Believe me, there's more than enough room. I don't want to say for how many, but enough.

Mercifully, it's still winter here because the mosquitoes in the Everglades are heavily armored - they are hard to kill, not like those wussy northern mosquitoes. I mean, a heavy smack only makes them a little woozy. You really have to put some effort into it. And they sound like small bombers flying around. But there aren't many just now. Apparently, going into the Everglades in the summer is virtually the same as blood self- sacrifice.

The evening was lovely, to be sure, and the next day I decided to go to Everglades City because, well, because it's there. And I had to have some alligator. Mmmm. Tastes like lemon chicken.

Anyway, of course the wind was on the nose, but not too strong until I turned into the Indian Key Pass. The wind picked up and became all too good for sailing. Just not for sailing through the Everglades - the channel going up to Everglades City is narrow but more than deep enough even at the edges.

I arrived at the Everglades City Rod and Gun Club around 4ish - it is 5 miles inland from the Gulf of Mexico. What a place! It's so totally a "man's" club - now it's just a restaurant and inn with bungalows, but when it was actually a rod and gun club it was quite a place. There are stuffed animal heads on the wall, a stuffed alligator, little stuffed animals like otters and wildcats and so forth scattered about. It's darkish varnished paneled walls have pictures of hunts, various guns and rifles, and other hunting paraphernalia hanging.

The food is average and a little pricey. But the atmosphere is all male. It's cool and deserves a visit for that reason alone.

Just up the street a few blocks is the Outback Cafe (breakfast, lunch and dinner) which is more my speed. Good food, fast, and a clean and pleasant setting. Inexpensive, too. Definitely a place to eat.

Also, there's a seafood place that advertises and 'all you can eat buffet $7.95' which is a bit of a come-on. It's for the salad bar and all the peel-and-eat shrimp you can do. The real seafood buffet is still reasonable at $34, but has rock crab, crab legs, clams, mussels, caviar, fried shrimp, scallops and includes the salad bar as well. It's pretty good and they keep the food fresh. It's part of the Captain's Table hotel. If you feel gluttonous, by all means, go there.

I met Mark the next morning while wandering around the property - we hit it off and since he had to go to Naples, he invited me along for the ride and to spend some time wandering around while he took care of business.

Naples has basically two streets to visit - 5th Avenue which is like a mini version of New York's 5th Avenue with some pricey stores and restaurants and State Route 41 which goes past the stores and services you'd expect in a regular town like diners, repair centers, and finally a big mall with Macy's and Sears and so forth.

A touristy place in Naples is Tin City with a bunch of small shops and restaurants. It's nice to wander around and if you're looking for souvenirs of Naples, it's the place to go, unless, of course, you want to bring back a multi-thousand dollar piece of local artwork.

After two days, you've pretty much seen all there is to see in Everglades City - had I stayed longer I might have done an airboat ride. But I didn't.

Mark and I left late in the day to anchor in Russell Bay Pass, just a little way into Indian Key Pass. He rafted with me and we had a great old time - he plays guitar really well and better yet, remembers the words to songs. So he played, I cooked and listened. A wonderful evening was had by all. All two of us.

I had to start making my way north to meet Teri so the next day early we got underway - me for Marco Island, Mark, I think, for Little Shark River. It was a bit rough out, so he may have gone back to Russell Bay Pass. I hope to meet up with him again.

Anyway, on the way to Marco Island I heard from Abbotsford II, a boat I met in Little Shark River - We've shared pictures over email but never actually met.

Anyway, I got to Marco Island first. The ride into the channel entrance was pretty wild! The wind and current conspired to form 6-7 foot waves rushing into the harbor. It was definitely exciting!
I noodled my way into Smokehouse Bay and let Abbotsford II know it was ok- the channel has been dredged recently and has enough water to get into the bay without difficulty for boats with up to a six foot draft. The bay itself has up to 19 feet depth for anchoring although it shallows in the middle to four feet or so. It averages around 12 feet.

It's well protected, surrounded by large homes and multi-storey buildings. It was blowing around 20-25 outside but almost calm in Smokehouse Bay. There's access to Marco Island at a small marina in there, but since I was only going to be there one night, I didn't bother putting it together. It's a great anchorage if you don't want to go to Factory Bay.

I got underway early (for me) Sunday morning - it was the first day of Daylight Savings time (and I seriously hate Daylight Savings Time - there really is no purpose for it, but Congress, with not being able to do anything useful seems to believe that moving it was such a good idea and easy to pass that they might as well do it and then be so proud of themselves. But I digress).

I'd forgotten I'd be getting up in pitch darkness. So when the sky started to lighten I got underway for Cape Coral, just across the Caloosahatchee River from Ft. Myers, Fl.

The winds were lighter but still too close to sail in so it was an easy motoring to Cape Coral Yacht Basin - a lovely little marina well protected in one of the canals. It's just inside the cape and is run by the city. My friend, Brooke, from Noank, CT had mentioned her friend, AJ was here and would be happy to meet a fellow cruiser, and so she is!

I've got time to do a lot of deferred maintenance in a very pleasant environment - all the people I've met on the docks are quite friendly and have offered transport to West Marine and other stores. But I've got my scooter and it's been a blast scooting about!

After Teri leaves on March 30, I'll be heading across the Okeechobee Waterway, via the Caloosahatchee River. I may be meeting Jack and Billie and Lee and Karen on the other side near Stuart! Next after that is Green Cove Springs for a short haul and then the long trek home to Connecticut.

See you on the water!

Fun in Key West, Florida

2010-03-03T07:50:00.014-05:00

The thing you really need to know about key lime pie is that it is yellow and that when wrapped in dark chocolate and frozen becomes a treat that is beyond compare. There are many places to get key lime pie in Key West, but my favorite pointed out by Jack and Billie from Billie Dancer is on the corner of Elizabeth and Green streets named Kermit's Key (West) Lime Pie.

Key West, the southernmost part of the continental United States, is literally and figuratively the end of the line. Sure, you could journey out to the Dry Tortugas and the Marquesas, but you can't stay there. The contrast between the huge cruise ships along the sea wall at Key West Bight and the twenty foot live aboard boats anchored in or near mangroves is blinding, yet somehow they're all a part of the whole scene.

By day, Key West is the prototypical tourist town with all the cruise ship people wandering around at extreme low speed and purchasing chotskies for all their friends at home. When night falls, however, it's a whole different scene - all the bars on Duval Street have their doors open and are packed with people listening to loud music and drinking like there's no tomorrow. It's Party Central and I've been told it lasts until near dawn.

So Key West is a town of contrasts.

Friday February 19th a new friend, Teri, arrived to spend the week with me. The theory was we'd go sailing, snorkeling, see the town, swim and kayak, and generally mess about. Of course, the weather didn't cooperate very well. This February has been, on average, 15 degrees colder than normal and has had near record setting lows. Worse, the series of lows continued to march across the Gulf of Mexico resulting in some frighteningly windy days that managed to kick up some fair seas even in the mooring field outside Garrison Bight.

So we explored town a lot, ate (a lot), spent one day sailing to Sand Key and back, and one day on the beach. Fortunately, we've met some very special people here (the aforementioned Billie and Jack), Dan and Susan from Gypsy who are waiting for a weather window to head towards the Yucatan.

Almost every night we've had a cocktail hour that was so well provisioned that dinner never got made or eaten. Lunch when in town has been almost universally good - Jack and Billie have eaten in a lot of places and know where to go for the best stuffed shrimp or good Mexican food. While in town my first day I found DJ's Clam Shack on Duval where they had fried Ipswich clams. I couldn't resist. They definitely hit my clam buttons!

Also, Teri and I had lunch at a small Mexican restaurant, Old Town Mexican Cafe, on Duval where the quesadillas are excellent and they make a black been chimichanga that is superb. I may have to have another before I leave!

We've also eaten at the ground floor restaurant at A&B Marina (under the A&B Lobster House) called Alonzo's on Front Street or near by it. Conch Republic next door has amazing stuffed shrimp, but the drinks are outrageously expensive. Drink iced tea.

We've come to the conclusion that no matter where you eat in the main part of town you'll get a good meal - the competition is too great for a crappy restaurant to remain. Well, maybe the Hard Rock Cafe, Sloppy Joes, and Hogsbreath Saloon could get away with it (I don't know because we didn't go there) because they're tourist icons. I can't say. But any of the other restaurants and all we went to were good, if some more expensive than they need to be.

Once out of town, say east of Garrison Bight, Key West becomes much more Florida like with malls and hotels and so forth. Unless you want to provision there isn't really a reason to see that part. If you're staying in the Garrison Bight City Marina or on one of their moorings you'll be able to walk to Winn Dixie and a large liquor store.

Everywhere you can rent bicycles, scooters, or electric cars. They can be very reasonable, sometimes as low as $25/day for a scooter. When you rent them, you're not allowed off Key West. However, even without those means of transport, it's easy to get around just by walking.

Stock Island, just to the east, has a really good restaurant, Hurricane Joe's in the Hurricane Hole Marina. Teri and I went there the day she arrived, as traveling with American Airlines where they sent her baggage to Bermuda, required good food and strong drink.

Apparently, American has decided that for your $20 for a checked bag it should get more miles than you do. American has shown such extraordinary incompetence that I, personally, will not fly them unless there's no other choice. Teri told me the flight had snacks - $3.50 for a bag of potato chips (you know the ones that are $.50 everywhere else?) But I digress. Also, I prepare you for another American Airlines story towards the end of this.

Anyway, we had the two specials and both were great. It was a bit too chilly to eat outside.

Jack, Billie, Teri, and I had decided to go to the No Name Pub on Big Pine Key, but U.S. 1 was backed up with no movement just past Boca Chica. So we turned around and went to the Hogfish Bar and Grill on Stock Island for the Hogfish Sandwich. It was excellent! The day was warm and comfortable and the company great!

The next day was warm with east winds so nothing would do but Billie Dancer and we went sailing to Sand Key with the idea that we'd pick up a mooring and snorkel. NOAA promised warm breezes and sunny weather and a perfect day on the water. We had planned to go to Boca Grande to anchor for the evening in the little channel/anchorage there.

After sailing off the mooring, we headed up around Fleming Key for a southerly course to Sand Key. Going past the historic seaport of Key West turned into a photo op for both boats. We got loads of pictures under sail. Very nice.

So, we got to Sand Key (see picture of light) and the weather turned nasty - cloudy, colder, with wind increasing and the beach at Sand Key totally under water so we decided to go back to the moorings. It turned out to be a very prudent decision as unforecast thunderstorms passed by. So much for NOAA.

I include this little video for your viewing satisfaction...

That evening we had cocktail hour aboard Billie Dancer and generally had a great time.

As I mentioned before, cocktail hour almost every evening was quite entertaining. Billie and Jack taught us a card game called 'Shithead' which is great fun. We've spent several evenings playing it. With wine, it gets even better.

One day we all went to the beach at Fort Zachary Taylor. Billie, Jack, and Teri rode bicycles and I took my scooter (kick type, a Xootr - which I highly recommend. On flat terrain like sidewalks and streets it's an amazing way to get around and almost always garners smiles from other adults. Not so much in Key West because strange is expected. But I digress.)

The beach is sort of rough coral - there's sand for laying about but you need foot protection to go in the water. The beach is the last piece of land on Key West. You go south from there and you're in Cuba 90 miles later. Go southwest and you're in the Yucatan 300 or so miles later. Go west and you hit the Dry Tortugas, and after that you're headed for the Texas/Mexico border.

As Teri's time here grew shorter we decided to take a nice day and tour Key West to get some prototypical tourist pictures. Also, to eat something somewhere that we hadn't eaten yet. I mean, there's just so many places to eat! We ended up at Alonzo's again because of the mojitos and then did our picture thing - mostly to get the monument at the end of Whitehead, the southernmost point on the continental United States.

One evening the whole group of us (Billie Dancer, Gypsy, and Pelican) went to dinner in town and then to the Red Barn Theater to see a one woman show, "Shirley Valentine" performed by Joan O'Dowd as Shirley. It was amazing (I think anyone who can memorize 90 minutes of monologue is astounding. I think anyone who can remember two minutes incredible, though, so for me the bar is set really low. But I digress again.) The theater is small but comfortable and I highly recommend a trip there if you're here in Key West for any length of time.

Sadly, Teri's time here came to an end. Fortunately American Airlines couldn't get themselves together to get an airplane here on the day they were supposed to (Sunday) and didn't fly out on Monday at all, so Teri got to stay here for an extra day. Woohoo! But even then, she had to go home so we bid farewell on Tuesday morning and that was that. She'll be rejoining me in Tampa later this month.

The weather has turned colder but will start warming up Sunday. I plan to leave for Little Shark River on Monday morning. I may anchor out overnight near the East Jetty on the Northwest Channel out of Key West so that I have a bright and early start Tuesday morning. The winds are supposed to be out of the east then southeast making the trip a close to beam reach with relatively little fetch. I'm excited about taking a couple of days anchored in Little Shark River in the Everglades...

So that's about that. Key West is a great place to visit and it can be a great place to live, too, if you anchor somewhere. Real estate is out of this world expensive and food tends to be a little more expensive than the mainland.

See you on the water!

Big Pine Key to Stock Island

2010-02-13T08:36:00.004-05:00

This entry is out of order - I'm still working on my trip to Big Pine Key, but this was such a spectacular day I had to real quick get it down before I forgot the absolute sailing high from the day. Days like this make the horrible expense of sailing worthwhile.

Everything on Pelican worked like a charm!

After being at Big Pine Key in Newfound Harbor for a week I was getting cabin fever. The winds had been in all the wrong directions at 20 plus knots so even going out in the dinghy was an effort, and a wet one at that.

Still, Big Pine Key has some places I like, like the Big Pine Restaurant (Breakfast Lunch Dinner) and the No Name Pub. There's also the Winn Dixie and CVS if you need those sorts of things.

I had met Carl and Laura of Ekotopia III and they were waiting for a break in the weather which happened Thursday February 11. I was going to wait until Friday (and I'm glad I didn't!).

Anyway, after a quick stop in town for mail, I got underway under beautiful skies and gentle winds for Stock Island. I didn't want to get to Key West so early. There's a little anchorage near Murray's Marina across the bay from the Naval Air Station (Key West), which is not on Key West but Boca Chica. But I digress.

So after the tricky bit of getting out of Newfound Harbor, I set the jib, staysail, and mizzen and shut down the iron genny. Because I was running a broad reach, I didn't bother with the main because all it would do is blanket the foresails. But as I rounded Red 4M south of Key Lois the wind came abeam and I raised the main.

I was towing the dinghy (which I'm looking for names for - "T/T Pelican" sounds so ostentatious, doesn't it?) and started the shaft generator to keep the batteries charged. This added almost a knot of drag to Pelican. Even so, occasionally in the puffs I hit 8 knots over the ground (8 plus through the water).

The day was around 65 degrees, so I was wearing shorts, a fleece vest and a foul weather jacket as well as my life vest and harness for working forward.

About four hours later, I arrived at the Boca Chica Channel, doused sail and headed in. The anchorage is very small for deep draft boats (I mean, 6 feet). But there's plenty of room for shallow draft boats and it shows - there are a lot of boats here in varying states of decay, some lived on, some not. But the anchorage is, as I said, tremendously well protected.

After I anchored, Alan, from the boat next door, stopped by and gave me the scoop about going ashore and how to get around. There's a ramp with a stone quay that you can leave your dinghy at and the bums watch over them. That's a recommendation, huh? There's a bus that travels the keys and costs $3.00 each way. It's nice and runs pretty close to schedule.

I'll be here for a couple more days before hitting Key West for fuel, water, pump out, and getting a mooring ball.

See you on the water!

Miami, FL to Big Pine Key, FL

2010-02-09T09:31:00.005-05:00

It never surprises me how many mistakes I can make. It should, but it doesn't.

I left Miami with a beautiful north wind and sailed and motor sailed down Biscayne Bay. Biscayne Bay is a lovely body of water that you can sail everywhere in. Remember that, because as you head south on the ICW, it's the last you'll find.

The southern end of Biscayne Bay is bounded by Elliot Key, Old Rhodes Key and finally Key Largo. I passed through Card Sound and Little Card Sound, and finally Barnes Sound to Cross Key where I stopped for the night at Gilbert's Resort in Key Largo just under the new bridge. It's a very nice little place with a tiki bar and a German restaurant eponymously named. I didn't get the chance to try it, though, and it's unlikely I will on the way back for reasons you'll soon find out.

I had thought I'd anchor in Tarpon Basin, but Skipper Bob's said it was crowded with moorings and lots of live aboards. It was only a few miles past Gilberts, but the siren call of margaritas, free electricity and cable was too strong to resist.

If you have a shallow draft boat, and remember this warning, it's a nice place to stop - across the creek is the Anchorage Resort and Yacht Club that apparently is better because it charges more. There is also an anchorage just south of that.

I left the next day on a rising tide but I really should have looked ahead in the chart book - there are a number of areas where the ICW is charted at 5 feet. It didn't really dawn on me until at the south end of Blackwater Sound that wind from the north had emptied these sounds of water. At high tide, it was barely 5-1/2 feet which happens to be exactly what Pelican draws.

So through Blackwater Sound to Buttonwood Sound where it's charted at 6 feet (but isn't), mostly to the end of Key Largo I ended up making my own channel. Nice.

The one bright spot was Tarpon Basin where there were hardly any boats. It is a beautiful mangrove surrounded basin where anchoring is easy peasy. It's well protected from every direction. I would recommend it if it weren't for the shallow depths on the inlets.

Past Tavernier it's shallow, and it the depth doesn't get better until the south end of Islamorada. At Steamboat Channel near Shell Key it goes to a comfortable 7-8 feet and carries that all the way to Marathon (and beyond).

Lesson learned here is check the charts days ahead - I would have gone outside in Hawks Channel from Key Biscayne if I'd done that - I just assumed I'd have at least 6 feet. In many places, just outside the channel it was 7+ feet, but it was a crap shoot.

I had made reservations at the Marathon Yacht Club for two days. It's on the Florida Bay side of Marathon and it's small and well protected from all but directly north winds. However, the bay is very shallow so even with those winds, it's not bad. I got to sail for the last few hours and with the shaft generator running quite happily arrived with batteries charged.

I had been recommended to back into the slip. Fortunately there were a lot of people on hand to help with that. In 42 feet of space I had to turn Pelican around and back in a clockwise manner (which Pelican does not want to do at all). There are boats within hand's reach to walk the stern around and so forth. So without any damage I got into the slip. Whew!

They had told me that the electric rate was $9.00. I thought that was for the two days which would have been competitive with most marinas. Nope, it was for one day. So I declined the service.

After spending a day beating Pelican up I decided to go to the club's restaurant. The food was very good and the service stellar! Everyone was extremely friendly. It was a lovely experience and I didn't have to walk all that far!

The next day a man who had helped me into the slip, Bob, gave me a ride to the Publix grocery store for food. He told me all the places to see in Marathon, but the one that caught my eye was Porky's Bayside - a little restaurant on Rt 1, just a block east of the yacht club. I decided I had to have breakfast there before I left.

After shopping, I went for a bike ride to Pigeon Key where the Flagler Museum is. You walk or ride 2 miles along the old Seven Mile Bridge. If you're walking, you really have to want to see the thing. It's $11.00 per adult to get in. After that, I did some random exploring.

Later I invited Bob over for cocktails and dinner which was very pleasant.

The next morning I went to Porky's and was not disappointed. They may have great dinners, but the breakfast was all that I could ask for and more than I should have. Highly recommended if you're in Marathon. There are a lot of fru-fru restaurants in Marathon, but as you know I'm all about good food cheap and Porky's fits the bill.

I got underway around 9:30 in a west wind (remember this, as it's important) and headed out to Moser Channel under motor and sail. I figured I'd head out to sea for a while and then tack back to the shallows and repeat as necessary. Well, the wind wasn't directly out of the west but sort of north west making it directly on the nose for the course I wanted to take and at 20 plus knots.

Here's my second mistake. I should have gone back. But no, I sailed out about four miles, tacked, and sailed back about four miles and realized I made about a mile on my course. At that rate it would be twelve or fifteen hours to go 20 miles. I'd be arriving late at night in a channel I wasn't familiar with.

While I was thinking about this I was finding I was only going about three knots. Ok, close reach in 20 knots I should be doing better than that. I was scratching my head and watching my wake when I realized that I was dragging at least one of the damn crab pots that pepper everywhere and are never ending. I could see it just under the water.

As I was trying to decide what to do about this (anchor, dive, that sort of thing) the line parted and all of a sudden I'm going 7 knots. Whew! Sometimes it pays to wait.

The day wore on and eventually I decided that beating into the waves wasn't all that much fun and it was very, very wet so I started the engine and made a beeline to the entrance buoy. Even if the water was green and clear and it was sort of warm, the trip still sucked. So, mistake number two was never travel into the wind directly especially on open water. Wait for favorable winds.

I got into the anchorage about three in the afternoon and had a well deserved vodka tonic. So there.

Newfound Harbor is a lovely anchorage and mostly empty. There is room for a lot of boats but there are only a few. It's worth a stop for Big Pine Key and Torch Key where there are some great restaurants.

I'll be here for a while - and then I'll see you on the water!

Stuart FL to Miami FL and New Canvas

2010-02-02T08:07:00.007-05:00

As I write this I'm sitting comfortably at anchor just north of the Miami Yacht Club. It's a beautiful sunny day that should reach 80 degrees with the turquoise water a toasty 80 degrees. Although I'm within rock throwing distance of central Miami it's quiet and there are a large number of cruisers anchored here. But this is just a stop before the keys. My friends Jack and Patricia from Whoosh have left this morning for the Bahamas. We'll catch up together there later...

I stopped in Stuart because I was going to go across the Okeechobee Waterway (even measured my mast in Ft. Pierce so that I could be sure I'd fit). But time constraints (the bane of a cruiser's existence) made me switch plans and go down the east coast. All for a very good reason though that will be revealed later!

I've mentioned the Harborage Yacht Club and Marina before, and I can't say enough good things about them. But while there I had a bit of a walk into Stuart where I found the 'old town' consisting of two streets of shops and restaurants that are so short that you could (and I almost did) miss them.

While I was perambulating, however, I found a kayak shop that had an inflatable two person kayak and who was willing to take mine in trade, so the whole thing cost me only two hundred dollars brand new. It's not a top-of-the-line kayak, but serviceable and surprisingly easy to use and very stable. There will be more about that later.

However, by removing the hard kayak from the coach roof I found out yesterday how badly the hatch above the galley leaked and in a half hour of no rain (and there was lots of it), I removed the glass, cleaned the frame, gooped it up with the proper sealant, and replaced the glass. Ten minutes later, it poured and continued raining all day - enough to clean the boat pretty well! Of course, today dawned beautifully! There is one more leak to deal with and at least I know where it is...

One of the major reason for stopping in Stuart is to get Adel Kahlil of Rainbow Canvas (561) 844 0557 to build me a new dodger - he's been working with my friend Cory for years (decades) and does excellent work fast - it was a pleasure to meet him and he was very professional, easy to deal with, and the results speak for themselves. I asked him for the dodger, a cover for the windows to help protect them, and a shade cover for the cockpit. It's really hard with a ketch to make a bimini, so I passed on that.

Anyway, he wasn't able to get it back to me while I was in Stuart but as I was stopping in Riviera Beach on the way to Miami it was even better - his shop is only a few minutes away. His crew came to my slip at the Riviera Beach Municipal Marina to do the fitting and install - and with a couple of simple alterations had it done by 7:00 at night. You can see the results - the biggest change for me is that I can see through the dodger and I have a window I can open for the breeze easily.

I went outside from Stuart to Lake Worth - it was a motor sail (so what's new), and the wind was just a little bit too far forward to just sail. Still, it was a pleasant if wet (no dodger yet...) ride and just six hours long. It took over an hour to just get from Stuart to the St. Lucie inlet!

As I was coming up to the Riviera Beach Municipal Marina, I was boarded by the Coast Guard. Naturally, I was in a narrow channel, with boats coming down the ICW (large, power, fast) and an incoming current and a mooring field just a few hundred feet away. Of course, I was polite to the Coasties, but they could not have found a worse place or time to board. There's the whole of Lake Worth just a few hundred yards away. Plenty of maneuvering room etc. , etc. But I gave them my TWIC card and told them where the documentation number was and they seemed happy with that. I said I was alone and if they wanted to inspect the boat I'd be happy to have them aboard once I docked but as I a little busy just now, would they mind waiting?

They indicated they were just doing a DHS inspection - where I was from, where I was going, and how long I'd be there. Now that I think about it, it's fairly invasive and Pelican certainly doesn't look like a vessel of interest. There used to be a thing called 'probable cause'. Apparently no longer. This is what is happening to our 'freedom'. Anyway, they were happy with the TWIC card and were off in a few minutes. Then the real fun began!

The Riviera Beach Municipal Marina is pretty bare bones. The fingers are fixed, well above high water level and only 12 feet long. I ended up having to back in against a knot or so cross current. Thankfully, there was a number of helpers on the dock and I managed it without hitting anything. It was quite an experience and reinforced a; you must use the throttle with authority sometimes, and b; the fact that Pelican backs to starboard when pressed. It really helped to keep those in mind.

Once docked, my friend Lou came aboard for a cocktail and pepperoni, our favorite nosh. The canvas people showed up, and a little while later left for their shop and Lou and I left for dinner with his significant other, Jane, and her sister and friend. We went to a place called 'Dockside' in North Palm Beach. The food was really good! And priced well. Very enjoyable! Recommended if you can find it.

I decided to stay another day there and work on some deferred maintenance (that's short hand for fooling around on the boat) and later in the day, Lou and Jane gave a dinner party which was excellent! Good company and food, very healthy.

After the party, Jane gave Lou and me a ride to the boat where we shared a scotch and went to bed. My plan was to leave around 5 am, but we discussed it and got up at five and left at six. The day was overcast but pleasant. As we left Lake Worth Inlet we took a turn right and set the autopilot on a route to Miami - Government Cut.

I should mention the water color is changing daily as I head south - this day it was azure, very pretty. The wind built from the north so we popped out the jib and staysail and off we went at 7 plus knots using the engine just above an idle!

I had used OpenCPN to figure a route and at an estimated 6 knots we'd arrive around 5 pm. At 7 knots plus, we got there at 3! Government Cut is a very easy and well marked inlet. You can't miss it. We ended up sailing into it for about a half hour just for the pure fun of sailing without the engine.

In Government Cut when cruise ships are in port the Coast Guard prevents pleasure craft from going all the way through to the ICW. They make everyone go south of Dodge Island. It's not a terrible inconvenience, but under the guise of anti-terrorism, the private cruise lines have public protection. I think that's wrong. I'm sure they're not paying for it, but we all are.

We ended up anchoring just north of the Miami Yacht Club. The water had changed to a turquoise color. It was beautiful!

Lou got a ride into shore with Bill and Maureen from Carpe Diem eh from Winnipeg. He got the Tri-Rail home and that was that. I stayed the next day and found leaks in the rain and fixed them when the rain stopped.

The Miami Yacht Club has a restaurant and they have awesome burgers - just so you know if you're ever there!

Now I'm at Cross Key and I'll have a report later in the week about Biscayne Bay to Key Largo, Islamorada and Marathon.

See you on the water!

St. Augustine FL to Stuart FL

2010-01-23T08:36:00.008-05:00

It's terribly tempting to stop where it's comfortable and just meld into the local sailing community, especially when the local is as pretty and welcoming as St. Augustine. But I have to get south. And so on January 15th I shoved off for Daytona Beach.

The day was sunny and warmish - light winds and of course current against me. By warmish, I mean around 65. Still jeans and a long sleeve shirt weather. I arrived at Loggerhead Marina for the evening. It's a lovely marina with a restaurant on premises. The heads and showers are clean and spacious. They really do want to make one's stay comfortable and easy. Loggerhead Club and Marina has a bunch of facilities all over Florida.

The possibility had existed that a good friend of mine's daughter or her inlaws would come and visit, but that weekend they just couldn't get to Daytona from Orlando. So I continued on to Titusville the next day.

On my way to Titusville, near Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center, the wind was on the nose, of course, increasing as the day went on. But it was 72! Ok, so still had jeans on and a light jacket, but it's getting warmer.

There's a cut a few miles before Titusville as you head south called Haulover Cut and just south of that is a small island that is home to a family of pure white pelicans! I would have taken a picture except for the narrow channel and the high winds - I was busy trying to not run aground.

As I pulled into the anchorage north of the Titusville swing bridge I got hailed on the VHF - someone who apparently knew me!

Well, I recognize people but forget names (did you know you can almost go through life without using a proper name? You can.) Anyway, the person calling me as I was anchoring in 20 kt winds seemed a little put off that I didn't know who they were - my response was to please wait until I'm done with the multi-lap 42 foot dash and can actually see them.

With the anchor safely down, I had a look with the binoculars and hey! presto! It's Don and Ellen on Sirius Endeavour, a 43 foot Endeavour center cockpit ketch. It turns out I do know them and the other boat nearby, Synergy, with Karen and Chris aboard all from Brunswick, GA! What a pleasure to see them again! They had sailed directly from Brunswick to Titusville outside to the Ponce de Leon inlet.

Don came over for a glass or three of wine and Karen and Chris stopped by as well. They were all tired from their trip and wanted to get back to their boats, so off they went. The winds started to build and on the morning of the 17th, winds had increased to 25 to 30 kts with gusts to 35 - 40 kts. So we all stayed aboard our boats because it was just too rough to dinghy about. The winds howled all night, too. My friend, Lee in Brunswick, GA, called me to see how we were doing and told me they had gusts up to 50kts.

The next morning the winds had remained at 10-15 kts out of the southwest. That made sailing down the ICW a perfect endeavor. So at 0930, we weighed anchor and set off for Eau Gallie. Don indicated he couldn't motor very fast (and he was correct - I could keep up at just above an idle). But when we set sail, he motorsailing with his genoa, and Pelican under jib, staysail, and mizzen we were flying!

Most of the day I was running 7+ knots with flat seas and 10-20 kt winds. For the first time, I got to try my shaft powered alternator. For several hours I got to see how it worked - the drag is about a 1/2 knot and below a solid 5.5kts it doesn't produce any power. But anywhere above 5.5 kts it works like a charm - powering the autopilot, the refrigerator, and the instruments with power to spare - I think it will also power the water maker when that becomes necessary. At 7 knots, there is 6-8 amps going into the battery bank if it's low.

Another purpose for the alternator is if the main engine's alternator fails, I can still turn this one on while traveling and charge the batteries.

I replaced my solar panel some time back with a newer, 130 watt one. The old one was 100 watt and I think was so old that it couldn't produce even 50 watts. Older solar panels do degrade relatively quickly. Up north, the panel is of limited usefulness. During the day I'll get up to 5 amps out of it for a couple of hours and that's about it. Down here, at anchor, on a sunny day (which are mercifully common!) I'll get up to 6 hours of 5-7 amps out of it - it will power the refrigerator quite easily during the day. It means I don't have to run the generator or engine every day if I don't want to. As long as it's warm enough for a cool shower, I don't even need the hot water!

At Eau Gallie we anchored off a marina where Don and Ellen had friends. Unfortunately, they were swamped getting their boat ready for cruising. Don and Ellen invited me over for dinner so with bottle of wine in hand and a bag of cheeses, sausage, and crackers went over (actually Don came and got me). We had a lovely cocktail hour or two and later chicken quesadillas that Ellen apparently specializes in because they were spectacular! Sirius Endeavor is a lovely boat. Don and Ellen keep her in tip-top shape. That's no mean feat as cruising takes a real toll on boats.

I have family in Ft. Pierce who, for some strange reason, wanted to see me and so the next morning I left Eau Gallie. Sirius Endeavour was only going as far as Vero Beach to meet up with friends and Synergy. As I left the anchorage I heard a vessel 'Whoosh' calling the Coast Guard about a line of crab pots in the ICW - really in the middle of the channel.

Whoosh is another Pearson 424. Jack and Patricia are well known in our community and probably the entire cruising community. When I heard them calling the Coast Guard, I had to call them to see if she was the Whoosh I know. She was! So I followed her all day to a little anchorage just south of the Ft. Pierce inlet and kayaked over with bottle of wine, cheese, and crackers, to meet Jack and Patricia. We had a lovely cocktail hour. They are wonderful people who have cruised all over - I got a lot of great information from them about single or short handed sailing.

While traveling past Vero Beach I saw so many dead fish! Apparently they froze to death. Very sad - some were huge!

The next morning Whoosh was going out the Ft. Pierce inlet headed for Miami. I motored over to the Ft. Pierce City Marina to stay so I could visit my cousin and his wife who have a house nearby. For two days we ate, shopped for various items, and generally had a good time. Joe and Del are great people.

As a favor to Joe, I let him change my fan belts. He seemed to enjoy it, and who am I to keep someone from happiness?

The Ft. Pierce City Marina is a very nice marina - clean and friendly with two restaurants and not far from the city center or shopping. It's a little difficult to maneuver in, but Pelican is not the easiest boat to do close work with...

As I'm trying to get south I wanted to leave on the 22nd for Stuart, FL. Joe came with me and as we left Ft. Pierce. The wind, once again, was perfect for sailing with the day being near 80, so shorts and t-shirts prevailed. Joe steered the whole day with a big grin on his face. There was some bad weather north of us and a half hour after we left we got a call from Del telling us it was raining cats and dogs! Meanwhile, we were in sunny, warm, and breezy weather!

We got into Stuart at the Harborage Yacht Club and Marina so I can get some canvas work done. The marina is new and provides so many services that others charge for - they are so helpful and nice. It's amazing and extraordinarily pleasurable to be here. I have to careful I don't stick... Free wi-fi, free cable, great weekly rates, the best daily rates for the area.

Del came down to pick up Joe and some friends from up north who had just flown in, Bobbie and Warren, came by and we all went to Pirate's Cove in Manatee Pocket for dinner. We had a great time, of course. Bobbie and Warren drove back to their friend's house in Ft. Lauderdale. Joe and Del drove me back to the marina and left for home.

As I was walking down the dock to Pelican I saw my friends Dave and Nancy from Liberty - I met them in Beaufort, SC. Our paths have been nearly crossing all the way down - they're now headed to the Bahamas with a weather window. I hope to see them there!

Now I'm looking to see the best route to Key West- east or west coast of Florida. I sort of had my heart set on going the Okeechobee Waterway to Ft. Myers but I need to be in Key West by Feb 18th. More about that later. My friend, Lou, would like to do the trip from West Palm to Miami. That sounds like fun - more than motoring alone to the west coast, but I want to see what the west coast is like. Well, let's see how the canvas thing goes.

Now I'm off to fix the steaming light... It's always something.

See you on the water!

I went to sleep.

From Brunswick to St. Augustine

2010-01-15T16:05:00.009-05:00

I've said this before: I love sailing at night, especially when there's no moon and it's clear. My friend Lee and I left Brunswick, GA January 12, 2010 around 6:00pm for an overnight trip to St. Augustine. We were in company of another boat, Overdraught with Heather and Stewart aboard. They're heading to Ft. Lauderdale but we'll meet up in the Keys.

The night was calm and beautifully clear. Also, very cold, dropping to 31F. Fortunately, Lee and I were dressed in so many layers that we looked like multi-colored Michelin men, so we stayed warm.

Around 8 pm, I made dinner of pork chops cooked in chopped tomato and chili peppers with cilantro and lime juice (sounds complicated, huh? Nope, opened a can of Ro-Tel. Wonderful!) I also made Cuban black beans and rice. Right out of a package. Still, the whole meal with Mexican cheese mix sprinkled on was delicious! Coffee and Milano cookies rounded up the meal. Not bad for underway, huh?

Lee just wanted experience with night time sailing. Too bad there wasn't enough wind to sail, but there was enough to motor-sail. So that's what we did. And other than arriving in St. Augustine, FL cold and tired, it was an uneventful trip.

Unfortunately, we arrived in St. Augustine too late for an early bridge opening and way to early for the first one during rush hour so we had to circle for 45 minutes until the 9:30 opening. Once through, however, we tied up at the St. Augustine City Marina and set the boat to right and waited for Lee's wife Karen to arrive so we could have breakfast - which we did in the Athena Restaurant right downtown. Honestly, it was just ok. But we were hungry and that's all that mattered!

We took a quick trip to Sailor's Exchange, a legendary boating consignment shop. There's tons of stuff there and I'm sure I could find a use for most of it, but hey, I'm cruisin' here. Projects enough when I get back, I'm sure.

Ok, well, after Sailor's Exchange, I went back to Pelican, tidied up a bit, caught up on email, and took a nap - it was about 2 pm, anyway. Got up, fooled around a bit, made dinner, went to bed and was dead to the world until 6:30 Thursday morning.

Thursday was a big day! A old, dear friend of mine lives about 15 minutes away from St. Augustine and one of my dock mates from Stamford who is a pilot had to fly to St. Augustine for business. So there was a lot to do!

After breakfast, I got a call from Brian that he'd arrived and went to meet him to walk around town for the morning. As I've written, I detest cute. Towns that are all made up to look old-timey make me uncomfortable. However, St. Augustine is the oldest city in the United States - it's been Spanish, British, Spanish again, United States, Confederate and finally the United States again.

When you stroll through the old town, it really is old - buildings built with cochina are hundreds of years old. The oldest schoolhouse is there. The shops are mostly all local crafts persons and the restaurants fit right in. It's a very pretty town because it really is what it purports to be. No cutesie, just old buildings that have been cared for.

As you walk along the main shopping street, you'll come across little nooks and crannies that have surprising things - a waterwheel, an artist's enclave of sorts. Restaurants are everywhere - from little hamburger joints to really fancy schmancy places.

St. Augustine is one of those cities that are eminently walkable - St. George street where most of the stores are is closed to traffic. The lights on other streets are timed to make it easier to walk around. And the city is not that big - you could see it easily in a day, although you'd probably want to take more - especially if you're going to explore the fort and the Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum.

St. Augustine is also the home of Flagler College. The main building was, at one time, a luxury hotel with amazing carvings and Tiffany windows. It's a beautiful place and apparently very reasonable. One of Brian's copilots has a son there. You could wander the grounds all day.

Brian and his crew had lunch at a little Mexican luncheonette that smelled so good I was thinking of having two lunches! But I sat and had a tea with them - and then left when my friend, Jaime, called to let me know she was there. We ended up having a very nice lunch at a place called Harry's - southern cooking, and very good. Moderately priced. You can get to it from A1A - the main road that runs along the waterfront.

All the food sounded delicious, but I had their signature pork chops. Mmmmm. It was very nice seeing Jaime again. It's nice to catch up with people on a trip like this.

As an aside, at the corner of King Street where it meets A1A and the Stone Lion Bridge is a microbrewery. The food is a notch above bar food and it's really, really good. So's the beer. Worth going to if your in St. Augustine. But I digress.

So in the afternoon, I explored the fort (sadly, sans camera) and met up with Brian for dinner around 4 pm. We wandered around town and finally decided to visit a tapas and piano bar, Sangrias, on the corner of St. George and Hypolita streets. It's upstairs and has a lovely balcony that you can sit at - if the evening was just a little warmer we'd have stayed out there.

Inside, Amy Hendrickson and Corey Peterson were playing - Corey with a sax, Amy on guitar. It's an unusual combination but they sounded great. They also belong to a group called Prime Directive playing all over Florida and Georgia.

Brian and I were only going to stay a while and then find a place for dinner - but as it got later we decided to sample Sangria's wares. Wow! Delicious - the tapas plates were enough to share and very tasty - the presentation was pretty, too. So what could be better than drinking nice wine, listening to excellent music and eating good food? Nothing, I submit.

Around 10 pm, we left and got back to Pelican for some port. Discussion of many things followed and Brian left around 11:30. He had to get up early to fly back north and I had to get up early to catch the tide to Daytona.

And so, I hope to see you on the water!

Brunswick, Georgia

2010-01-01T09:50:00.005-05:00

It seems that every place I stop is more inviting than the last - Brunswick is one of those places. When you think of the gentle courtesies of the South you are thinking of Brunswick.

The Brunswick Landing Marina is a beautiful marina with floating concrete docks, very fair pricing and a five minute (well, maybe 10) from town where there are quite a few good restaurants and cafes. There is a breakfast/lunch nook, Hungry Hannah's, where you can get their 'Big Breakfast' for $6.00 including tip that includes two eggs, hashbrowns or grits, a meat, toast and coffee. Highly recommended, although it's only open on weekdays.

The marina is very boater friendly - they provided some really excellent roast beef and turkeys for a Christmas party, allow the boaters to have Happy Hour every Wednesday night at the club house where the washers and dryers are, and act as a mail drop for everyone who passes through.

The manager gives blow-by-blow instruction for people landing here and makes sure there's someone to help with the lines for new arrivals. Everyone here is extremely friendly and helpful. Other boaters enjoy the social life and host little soires on their own. I could get very used to this marina, believe me!

Outside of the two main streets in Brunswick, Glouchester and Newcastle, the town turns into mostly residential areas. At the south end of Newcastle the street is lined with huge old live oaks with spanish moss dripping from every branch. The houses there are old mansions, for the most part, many of which have been restored.

One thing you should know about the spanish moss - Don't fool with it. It's loaded with chiggers. People who use it for decorations will put it in a microwave for a couple of minutes before using it.

Following Glouchester to the east takes one to Route 17, where you can get access to St. Simon's Island and Jekyll Island. Both have lovely beaches, where Jekyll Island is mostly residential St. Simon's has a lovely little town full of geegaw shops and restaurants.

Sadly, though, Brunswick is suffering from the same thing many small towns do- namely the encroachment of big-box stores and malls. Not too many miles from the center of town are the standard mega-malls with Home Depot, Lowe's, Burger King, McDonalds, etc., etc. The malls are just splattered all over the landscape. Also, more and more communities are moving from the Brunswick town to near the malls.

So the downtown area of Brunswick is suffering. One bright spot, though, is the local hardware store, Central Hardware. Located on Norwich Street it is one of those old-time hardware stores that has everything you need, helpful people who know where it is, and probably know how to use or install it. True, it's cluttered and crowded, but it's clean and neat and if you're in the area and need something or other, it's probably there. Best of all, it's within walking distance of the marina.

My friends Laura and Cory came down to their house here for Christmas and we spent the long weekend together eating and drinking, seeing movies, and generally catching up. They are sweet and generous and I count myself extremely lucky to be their friend.

I've spent the week between Christmas and New Years taking care of maintenance on Pelican - oil change, transmission fluid change (which I don't think has ever been done), v-drive oil change (which probably has never been done, either). I'll keep an eye on them to ensure they're ok after all that. I do notice that the transmission shifts much better now.

Also, I installed my TV antenna on the mizzen mast. Not that there's anything to watch, mind you, but it was taking up space in my locker so what the heck, might as well deal with it.

Yesterday, New Years Eve day, it was like 70! Today, it may make 50, and next week the night-time temperatures are supposed to be in the high 20s. Yahh! There is a little get-together at the club house for the evening.

One other reason, besides meeting up with Laura and Cory, that I chose to stay at Brunswick is that another 424 owner, Lee, got me a deal on the slip and is quite a guy to know. It's been a real joy hanging out with him [edited because of my pedantic sister] and Karen, and their love sponge dog, Grace.

Naturally, the weather here has been the coldest in the last 20 years or so. Perfect. In addition, I've contracted a cough from hell and now have the strongest abs I've ever had. I can't talk, but who cares? I had wanted to leave the Tuesday after New Years, but that didn't happen. Next time for leaving is next Tuesday. It's supposed to be 60, rather than 20. I'll take that.

Brunswick, Georgia is a great place to stay, but be very careful - you could end up staying much longer than you had wanted. It's lovely, graceful, and the people are so nice. It's easy to live here. I will be tearing myself away from here, I have to tell you!

Well, I'm underway next week. I gotta get south to the WARM. See you on the water!

Beaufort, South Carolina to Brunswick, Georgia

2009-12-21T14:06:00.003-05:00

As I write this I am comfortably ensconced in Brunswick Landing Marina, Brunswick Georgia. It's a beautiful, well run marina and my new 424 buddy, Lee Yonkers is berthed just across the finger from me! But getting here was not so easy, my friends.

It's a tale of heavy winds, driving rain, freezing temperatures and long, lonely watches.

When I left Beaufort, SC it was drizzling, overcast and generally depressing weather. But I had the current with me! The day had been forecast to have heavy rain, gale or near gale force winds and to continue for two days with awful weather to be outside in. You lot in the mid-Atlantic states and New England have some idea. It was the day Washington, DC got two feet of snow. Incidentally, I would have paid to see that. But I digress.

Anyway, it was just wet for most of the trip until I crossed the Savannah River. Then all hell broke loose! The wind was steady 28-30 knots with gusts to 35 or so. Of course, right on the nose... As I passed Thunderbolt the seas (and given this is a narrow stream) were three feet with the tops of the waves being blown off. The only good thing was that for some reason the wind was 10 to 15 degrees warmer than the rest of the day! Man, I forgot what 30 mile per hour rain feels like - it hurts!

A half hour after it started it was over and I pulled into the Isle of Hope marina for the night. Naturally, as I tied up to the dock, the wind died, the sun came out, and the temperature remained fairly warm. That night it was cold. I'm glad I had a heater aboard! The marina is very nice - new concrete floating docks and all.

The next day dawned cold (ice on the docks) but clear and I was off at 0710. I was pushing to get to Brunswick GA so I wanted as much daylight as possible. So after a day of mostly going into the wind against the current I arrived at the Darien River where there's a small but fairly well protected anchorage.

There was another boat already anchored when I arrived. There was also a fairly strong current. I managed to alternately amuse and worry him as he watched me drop the anchor, drift too close, pull the anchor up, move a little farther away and try again. This happened twice before I finally figured out how to manage the current and wind to drop the anchor just where I wanted it.

Sunset was spectacular! The night was cold but bearable and like being on land it was so calm. I was only about 20 miles from Brunswick so I lounged about until 0800 and puttered on off to Brunswick Landing Marina. The wind was much lighter than the day before but it wasn't until noon or so when I got to the marina when it started to warm up.

With much help I tied up across the finger from a 424 organization member, Lee.

So here I am at Brunswick Landing Marina in Georgia. I'll be here for a couple of weeks during Christmas week and New Years week before I travel on.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

See you on the water!

Mosquito Creek, A Rescue, and Beaufort, SC

2009-12-17T14:40:00.006-05:00

Last night was cold. I mean, really cold. Or I'm getting old. But I think I'll stick with cold. I left Charleston around 0815 near slack high tide so I could get through the 0900 opening at the Wahpoo Creek Bridge. Needless to say, I just made it running full bore! But after that, it was all good. Motorsailing down the ICW can be relaxing and fun. It saves fuel and you can convince yourself that if it weren't for the narrowness you could sail the whole thing top to bottom. (Hint: you can't.)

So as it was approaching 1500 (3:00pm) and the sun sets here at like 4:30, I was looking for a place to stop. It turns out that just near a crucial turn in the ICW is a place called Mosquito Creek. I am glad for the cold - I'd hate to be there in the summer since I'm pretty sure the name is very descriptive of the wild life. Anyway, at a shrimper's dock, B & B Seafood, I tied up for the evening for a whopping $25. True, there's nothing there except a seafood market. No electricity, only fuel. But compared to Charleston Maritime Center, it was quiet with no wakes to heave you out of your bunk at 0h-dark-thirty.

Don't get me wrong, I loved the Charleston Maritime Center except for that. If I were prone to seasickness, I'd've been.

Anyway, it was a lovely quiet creek and I slept extraordinarily well, given I was in my fleece pants, vest, t-shirt and BVDs and socks. After a dinner of carne asada and broccoli, I read for a couple of hours and was fast asleep under the covers.

This morning I was up and underway at 0715 headed, I thought, for Bull Creek SC for a night at anchor. As the morning wore on, I found that I'd be in Beaufort (pronounced 'bee-yew-frt', as opposed to North Carolina's 'bo-frt') waiting for the Ladies Island Bridge for the 10:30 opening. I had hoped to make it at 0900, but hey, sometimes plans just go awry.

As I was spinning Pelican to bear away from the bridge I saw a lump in the water - then the lump started waiving. Then the lump started shouting, "Help! Help!" This was at 1025, so I resigned myself to missing the 1030 opening and headed over to get the poor bastard out of the water. I threw my emergency ladder overboard, stopped Pelican about three feet from him and asked him to bring the painter with him onboard - he handed me the painter and climbed up the ladder soaked to the skin.

I put his capsized boat under tow, called the bridge to say I'd be traversing slowly because of the capsized boat under tow and the bridge operator was very understanding. Anyway, I made the opening and brought the poor blighter to the dock at Beaufort Downtown Marina.

Well, he'd been nicked by the prop in the capsize, but I saw he wasn't bleeding and that he'd make a medical center once he called his brother and got a ride. I pulled his boat out of the water onto the dock and let it drain. His brother showed up, took the motor and the soaked guy, and with hearty handshakes all around, was off.

Since I'd already tied up to the dock and all, and since it was going to be cold that night, and because I saved a man's life, I decided to stay as a reward. So here I am at Beaufort, SC where but for fate I would have blown by at a blistering speed of seven knots.

My friend, Cory, reminded me that I'd been there before on their boat delivering it north from Ft. Lauderdale a year ago or so. Anyway, I thought I'd have a bit of a look around and took a walk - also, the marina provided a coupon in their little package for a free chocolate sand dollar at the local confectionery so that was something of an encouragement to leave the boat.

Off I went, having a look about - taking a few pictures, and of course getting my free chocolate (which cost $10.00 because I had to purchase some dark chocolate cashew bark, don't you know).

As I was walking back, I thought I'd go to the top of the bridge and get a picture of the whole town of Beaufort when I espied another Pearson 424 waiting for the opening - the boat's name is Sea Zen and the only person I met was Beth, although I asked them all over for wine and cheese if they could make it. Unfortunately, they were pressed for time and weren't able to come, but Dave and Nancy from Liberty, a Morgan 40 something, did and we had a great evening! Also, I learned a lot from them about the Dry Tortugas. That may come in handy later.

When the evening was done, I toodled off to bed with heaters blazing and slept amazingly well.

Tomorrow, I have to make 50 miles (a little less in nautical miles). So maybe I'll see you on the water!

Navigation Software

2009-12-15T07:35:00.002-05:00

I've been in Charleston long enough. After you soak up so much history, eat so many shrimp and grits meals, walk so many miles looking at truly magnificent homes, you're bound to take a day or three to explore some software. Ok, maybe not all of you.

So here's the thing: free navigation software. Now, NOAA has been supplying charts in digital formats for a few years now. Like books, there's nothing like a paper chart to keep track of where you are in the world (I can't translate lat and long numbers to a physical position in my head without a chart. I suspect most people can't).

Of course, chartplotters exist on many boats. I have two - a Raymarine C80 and a Raytheon Pathfinder as a backup. I'm very happy with both systems, but what about someone who doesn't have unlimited funds to acquire this stuff? What do they do? Well, here's the answer and it's way less expensive than you can imagine.

Maptech supplies charting software with its chart kits. It's copy protected, difficult to use, and requires, at this time, finding and installing an update to use Garmin hand-held GPSs. Because it's a 'lite' version of their charting software, there's a bunch it doesn't do. Moreover, it can only be used on one computer - if you need to move it to a different one, you have to convince Maptech that it's a legal move. Those 'features' are the kind that killed Lotus 123 and dBase as premier software packages in the '80s. Apparently big companies don't learn all that well.

That said, there are two programs that I know of that are free and use the free downloadable charts from NOAA.

Before I go there, though, there are two types of charts NOAA supplies called Raster Navigational Charts (RNC) and Electronic Navigational Charts (ENC). RNCs are a digital picture of the real paper charts. If you could print them out on a large size printer you would have essentially what you purchase in a store as paper charts - in fact, a company (Bellingham Chart Printers) exists that prints these files in grey scale for a fraction of the price of new colored charts. I know of world cruisers that have used them quite happily.

ENCs are data rich vector charts - they contain, essentially, a database of objects with attributes. If you query a mark, you'll receive the information about it such as name, color, purpose, height and other things. The charts themselves are visualized somewhat strangely to people used to using paper charts because they're line drawn. There's no shading. It's like looking at an architectural drawing, except with buoys.

Most chart plotters actually use both chart sets - the visualization is with the raster chart so it looks familiar, but when you click on something for information, it querys the underlying vector chart based on your cursor position and you get the presentation of the information.

Don't worry if this is getting too technical - if you're familiar with the transparencies of the human body in an encyclopedia (most have them) then you can picture how this works. If not, just take my word for it.

Now for the programs. The two I'll discuss are SeaClear II and OpenCPN. Although both are capable chart plotters and navigation aids, OpenCPN offers the ability to control the autopilot and set and save routes to follow. Both integrate easily with GPS units, with SeaClear II able to connect to Garmin units using the USB without modification. The OpenCPN uses NMEA 0183 exclusively.

Sea Clear II uses the RNCs and is very easy to use - it is not designed to be a full fledged navigation system, in my opinion. But it is very easy to use and very useful as a chart plotter. It allows you to make routes and save waypoints. I've used it for couple of years and it's great for deciding overall trip strategy. I like it alot.

I've recently been turned on to OpenCPN. I'm a big fan of open source software and I use Open Office instead of paying Microsoft huge sums of cash for a questionably useful product. But I digress. OpenCPN was written specifically to do all the things a chart plotter does - run autopilots, set and follow routes, provide information about navigational items and much more. As you move from place to place the program automatically loads the chart for that area at the closest scale it can find for where you currently on. Sometimes, that takes a few seconds, but I suspect that has more to do with my computer than anything else.

OpenCPN uses both RNCs and ENCs as I've explained above. There's a huge implication to this fact - first, all the charts that NOAA provides are free to download, and second, if you have a PC with a decent monitor and three USB or serial ports and a GPS unit you can have a full fledged navigation system/chart plotter. It will run any NMEA 0183 autopilot (like, for instance, Raymarine). It will use any NMEA GPS antenna (like, for instance Raymarine or Garmin). And it will run on Windows and Linux (and maybe Mac but I won't vouch for that). It accepts AIS input and displays it. It is very powerful.

So, if you wanted a system you could purchase a decent laptop for $500 or so, load it with Ubuntu (free linux), install the OpenCPN, connect your autopilot, your GPS antenna ($250), your AIS receiver (optional, but fun $500) and you'd have the equivalent of a $3000-$6000 system. Moreover, with a little ingenuity, you could add a display at your helm with a touch screen. To be perfectly honest, I'm tempted to try this myself...

Anyway, there you have it - free navigation software. If you've got the time and a PC, I'd sure enough have a look at both. The charts are free from NOAA - RNCs and ENCs. I find downloading them by Coast Guard Zone the easiest. Unzip to a directory you'll remember and point the program at it - then go to town (sea)!

That's it for now. I'm leaving Charleston to spend Christmas with friends in Brunswick GA.

See you on the water!

More Charleston and the Engine Gets Quieter

2009-11-21T13:05:00.008-05:00

The Ravenel Bridge is a new replacement bridge in Charleston that I-17 runs over. It's one of those new concrete suspension bridges and it replaces a steel trestle bridge. Like most of Charleston, it's pedestrian and bike friendly with a path for both on the south side of the bridge. The view of the harbor is spectacular! Since I didn't really feel like working yesterday, I unfolded my bike and went for a ride.

From the Charleston Maritime Center to the park on the east side of the Ravenel Bridge and back is about 9 miles. The park on the east side consists of a 1/4 mile long pier with porch-swing type chairs, little shelters, and not a few fisherpeople. It's very pretty.

The ride up the west approach to the bridge is easy - not so much the eastern approach. I ended up walking most of that. Big surprise, huh? Anyway, I got to take the panorama above and you may enjoy examining it more closely.

When I left from Whiteside Creek a week ago, the windlass ceased to function while the anchor was still down. That really pissed me off, I can tell you. So Thursday the 19th, I decided to see what was wrong and fix it. Through troubleshooting, I found that my first thought was wrong - I thought it was a problem with the foot switches and corroded wiring or connectors. Alas, that wasn't it. That is easy to fix.

No, by calling a local motor repair shop, I figured out that the problem is that the brushes and commutator for the motor was scored and wouldn't let the motor start - when I removed it from the windlass, if I gave the shaft a bit of a twist and then energized it, the motor would run nicely. So off I went, motor in hand to Excel Apparatus Services, Inc - a $25.00 cab ride away - motor in hand.

After discussing the problem with the shop foreman, I thought we agreed he'd call me with an estimate to repair the motor. When I called the next day to find out the cost, it was a whopping $583.00 - and it had already been completed! A new one is $450.00 from Defenders! Even overnighting the motor from Connecticut would have resulted in a lower cost (think $583 plus three $25.00 trips - the cab driver, Darren, was kind enough to pick up the motor and return it for a one-way charge).

In case you were wondering - I had called several times during the day to find out the cost, and the foreman was never available.

Long story short, I got the motor back and installed it. It works fine. It better work for another 30 years! Lesson learned: Never give permission to repair a unit before you get an estimate.

Ok, well, the windlass works again - I can raise the anchor manually, but with an all chain rode and a 70 pound anchor, I'm not likely to do that too many times...

One of the quirks of a Pearson 424 is that to work on anything on the engine forward of the oil fill (forward on the engine being aft in the boat) you have to remove an engine cover, engine housing and the small portion of bulkhead above the engine. Otherwise there's just no way to work there.

The small bulkhead is screwed in with 4 longish screws and I expect in the last 30 years, it's been removed enough times that only one screw really holds - two were missing when I bought Pelican. Anyway, I had a brilliant idea: Use slide bolts to hold the bulkhead in, and then, to keep the engine noise down, put sound insulation on the back of the bulkhead.

So I did.

One of the issues with engine noise is that it will travel anywhere there is no insulation - that's not to say that a little isn't better than none - it is, but the more completely you enclose the engine compartment the quieter it will be. With that in mind, I took out the aforementioned bulkhead and insulated it. While I had it out, I installed the slide bolts and then reinstalled the bulkhead. I haven't insulated the inside of the doors as I'm thinking about the best way to do it.

While I had the stuff out and the tools and the vacuum cleaner and what-not, I figured I'd to the engine box, too - one side had fallen out a couple of months ago and I thought I'd replace that and the others, too. The hardest job is getting the old stuff off - really, it peels of rather easily but leaves a mess and sheds a mess, too. I sure am glad of my vacuum cleaner!

I used a wire brush and scraper to remove most of the remnants of the old foam - it had long since dried out and came off easily. All that was left was the adhesive which was still sticky. So I didn't bother sanding or using harsh chemicals to remove it. The more stick, the better!

Next, using the old panels as patterns, I cut the new panels from the sheets of insulation I had. It's 1" thick foam with a solid layer in the center. I'm not sure why it's silver except maybe to reflect heat. Also, it looks pretty. It's easy to cut with a straight-edge and a box knife or utility knife. Once it's cut, all you have to do is remove the backing and carefully put it in place. Smooth it down, and tape the edges with the special tape and presto! You're done!

It really is a satisfying project to do and even with the access panels not covered, the volume of sound from the engine in the cabin is reduced by a huge amount. I have some scraps left over and I may apply them to other portions of the engine compartment including those access panels to reduce the sound even further.

See you on the water, but more quietly!

Charleston, South Carolina

2009-11-15T07:14:00.014-05:00

If you live on the east coast of the United States you'll be aware that the recent weather has been, in a word, crappy. On land, generally it means that you've been wearing a sweater and a rain coat. You'll, perhaps, spend some quality time with your honey or watching football or whatever.

If you're at sea (and considering the Intracoastal Waterway that's a very loose interpretation), then it wasn't so much fun.

From Georgetown I went to a little creek, Graham Creek. It was the beginning of the crappy weather. I was in the company of John and Cheryl of Leprechaun - friends of Pat who runs the Pearson 424 web site. As I was a bit ahead of them I checked out what, in good weather, would be a lovely anchorage, Awendaw Creek. It's wide and deep and very open except where there's marsh. On a calm night, it would be spectacular - there are trees that block the light pollution from a couple of houses on the AICW.

But as the weather was deteriorating I thought it was too open for comfort. So we toodled on down to Graham Creek which is surrounded by marsh and has good holding ground and depth. The skies were gray and the wind was fairly steady at 17-25kts. Fortunately, no rain.

Since John's dinghy was rather well tied on, I decided to use my kayak to get over to their boat for cocktail hour (let's face it, that's the reason we travel, right? Cocktails in exotic places?) Anyway, after a couple of very pleasant hours I looked back to Pelican and notices my ladder had washed away! I've never had that happen! I had a few choice words as I returned later and flopped onto the deck in a most ungraceful way.

The next morning as our schedules meant waiting, we decided to hippity hop down the AICW about 10 miles to Whiteside Creek. Whiteside Creek is a really spectacular creek surrounded by marsh. It's wide open to the sky and very well protected from the seas. But the weather was deteriorating quickly.

So as we arrived Tuesday November 10 in the morning about 11:30, I got a chance to kayak around for a while. Then it started to rain. And blow. By the time I got on the boat, it just wasn't worth kayaking over to Leprechaun. In fact, I brought the kayak aboard to avoid it blowing away or banging on the hull all night.

Because of the tidal currents in the creek, the boat would change directions, sort of, every six hours - just enough to make new or different halyards bang. As Tuesday became Wednesday the weather got worse - now in addition to rain and wind it got cold - the daily high was about 50 and that, my friends, is really uncomfortable. So no kayaking that day, either. The same for Thursday.

By the end of Thursday I was ready to shoot myself in the head with my flare gun. I had planned to stay there until Saturday and get a slip in the Charleston Maritime Center for a couple of weeks, but I couldn't take it any more. When the wind dropped below 20 kts, I booked for Charleston, about three hours away.

Interestingly, the AICW exits into Charleston Harbor with a well marked channel. Well marked but not right - it didn't take long to go from 12 feet in depth to 3. When accessing the AICW, make sure you stand off the point and keep R 130 50 yards to starboard. Fortunately, it's all mud.

Anyway, now that I look at the paper chart I see the issue. It wasn't so clear on the chartplotter. That's a lesson for me, I guess.

There's a heck of a current that runs through the Charleston Maritime Center. Most people enter and leave on slack tide. Not me, though. Oh, no, I'm entering at max ebb with the wind gusting to 30 on the nose. Perfect. With a great deal of help from the dock guys I got tied up.

The Maritime Center is a really nice marina - small, well tended, and the people are super nice. Those are some of the things that makes a marina worth visiting. They have free washer and dryer, reasonable electricity, weekly, biweekly and monthly rates, honor Boat U.S. cards and are literally three blocks from the old city. There is a big grocery store nearby (2.5 blocks) and in the main part of Charleston, a 15 minute walk, there are a bazillion restaurants.

I don't know if it's easier to get to marinas on the south side of the peninsula, but this one is worth the effort. It's also the least expensive of any of the marinas on Charleston proper. And it's the closest to the old town.

The downside, besides the current, is that it's a little rock-and-rolly. Wakes from everything come in here. I don't really care about that but there are some who do.

The historic portion of Charleston which essentially covers the whole of the peninsula is so history laden that I won't even go into it here. Read about it. Pretty much if anything was happening here in the United States or the Colonies, Charleston had something to do with it. From the Revolution to the unpleasantness between the North and South, Charleston was smack dab in the middle of the fray.

In what I consider a great irony, there is on Market Street, several blocks of market booths, called City Market, where you can purchase any manner of jewelry, knick-knacks, geegaws, t-shirts and what-nots housed in long buildings of brick with trestle beamed roofs. The irony is that this set of buildings were, in former times, slave markets. Many of the people hawking aforementioned merchandise no doubt are descendants of those very same slaves.

Just down the street is one of the most impressive buildings in Charleston - the U.S. Customs House. I'm not sure what goes on there but you have to admit, this is one massive building. On the north side of Charleston are at least two major ports - one, apparently, for the export of BMWs (including Minis) that are built here in South Carolina. Just north of that past the marina is another container port. There's lots of big ship traffic here.

A stroll down East Bay Street brings one past lots of interesting buildings, most of which are either restaurants or boutiques of one type or another. Since I'm really not interested in those sorts of things, I continued down until I could go to the brilliantly named Waterfront Park. I like that as it describes both where and what it is. It's quite beautiful with a gravel path along the waterfront and a long tree lined promenade just a bit inland. There are two fountains both with signs indicating that there is no life guard on duty and that you shouldn't wade alone (along with the no spitting and so forth stuff).

I walked down East Bay street to South Battery where there's another lovely park, this one with cannons salvaged from all over the harbor. One even has a plaque that more or less indicates the heroic efforts of saving the gun found on Sullivan's Island where the salvors had no idea why it had been there. Once again, the essential honesty of Charleston shows through. What you see here is what you get.

Lower East Bay Street has some magnificent mansions. Most have regular tours. Each is different from the next and all are very well kept up. It's a very pretty street, I must say. The view over the harbor is spectacular, too.

Finally, I made my way up Meeting Street where there are meeting houses, churches, cemeteries, museums, and homes. It's tree lined and pleasantly shady - even while it was almost 80 yesterday the street was cool. It encourages, like most of Charleston, relaxed strolling. All in all, I'd say Charleston is a town you'd like to slow down in.

Well, I'll be leaving Friday for Dataw Island to see friends and provision for a longer trip to Brunswick, GA.

See you on the water!

Georgetown, South Carolina

2009-11-08T13:32:00.009-05:00

I love night sailing. The whole sky puts on a show and I could stare at the stars forever! With that in mind, I left Bald Head Island Marina about 5pm November 7, 2009. The idea was to get out to the Cape Fear safe water buoy before dark. The winds were light but enough to sail with and the current was with me so even with not much sailing speed I was still going 6 plus knots over the ground.

I thought this would be a good time to try the Monitor Windvane and so I did. Son of a gun, it really works - it's a pain when the wind is shifty or very light, but it works and it saves all sorts of power when sailing. I got a pattern for a paddle from Scanmar (the people who make the thing) for a ketch rig so the mizzen boom doesn't smash it, but I think I should have used the light air paddle - the one I made was just too touchy. In light air of less than 6 knots apparent it just doesn't keep a course very well. There's no surprise there because the manual mentions that.

But for longer passages with good wind (10+knots) this baby will save all sorts of power and will steer a darn good course! I'm impressed and quite thrilled.

I'd've taken a picture but it was pitch black by the time I got it all sorted out. Maybe one day I'll do it again and take said picture.

Most of the night was motor sailing. I was running just above an idle - not really good for a diesel but very easy on the fuel. Also, I didn't want to get to Winyah Bay Inlet before daylight so I had to keep to about 5 knots over the ground.

Every so often the wind would increase and we'd be moving right along so I could stop the engine and test the shaft generator. It works, but not below about 4.5knots. Then it uses power rather than generates it. The upside is that at a solid 5 knots it will supply enough power for the autopilot, all the instruments, and the refrigerator. I suspect that at 6 knots, it'll power the water maker, too. But with 10 knots of wind I couldn't test that.

The downside is that it's noisy. I'm not sure if it's the rotating gear or the stress on the v-drive, but I'm going to have to find that out. It could just be that the split pulley isn't balanced all that well. But as an experiment, I'll call it a success!

I arrived at the channel entrance exactly at 7:00am and started up the bay for Georgetown. True, it's like 6 miles out of my way going down the AICW, but I heard it was nice here and I needed fuel anyway. So I stopped at Boat Shed Marina for the evening, putting the boat away and taking on fuel and water. I decided to have a bit of a walk in town and maybe grab some lunch.

Ok, Georgetown is guarded from boaters approaching from the south by the stench from the paper plant. Apparently, the two big employers here are International Paper and a steel mill. The paper plant emits a foul odor that travels at least 10 miles over Winyah Bay. But once past the foul plume, Georgetown is a very pretty town. The waterfront contains a mixture of working and pleasure vessels with a large proportion developed with a boardwalk. It's lovely to walk there.

The main street, Front Street, has a theater and several restaurants and touristy stores as well as a large department store. It is truly like Main Street USA - the kind of boulevard that we pine for now. It is nostalgia made real. It's maybe three New York avenue blocks long. Because it's Sunday most of the shops are closed - but a few of the restaurants are open. Now, I'll do fru-fru eating every so often (less often now while I have no job), and with that in mind, I was looking for a good place to eat.

Way at the far end of town is Aunney's (pronounced onnies , like Donnie's without the 'D'). If you like country food and plenty of it go there. On Sunday they have a limited menu, but not that limited - I had fried chicken, collard greens, mac & cheese, a piece of cornbread, rice, and iced tea for $11.00 - and it was only that because I had all white meat ($1.00 extra - I was feeling expansive). All the women there are super nice and if you like good down-home cooking and good conversation this is the place.

Kindle (yes, like the reading device) was mostly my server. But no matter who ends up serving you, you'll enjoy it and have a darn good meal. You won't leave hungry. I only wish I could have had some of their home-made desert! Mmmmm. Highly recommended! Super friendly!

The east end of Front Street is tree lined and the trees are gorgeous! This is what tree lined streets should look like!

If you're traveling by Georgetown on your way through the ICW, you should stop and set a spell.

See you on the water where I'll meet some new friends tomorrow at an anchorage!

Two Truly Cool Places

2009-11-06T16:49:00.005-05:00

'Sailing' down the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (AICW) is a dull as dull can be. True, there's some spectacular scenery, but when you get right down to it, it's a slog. Get up, get going, decide on an anchorage or marina, stop, go to bed. Repeat as necessary until you get somewhere interesting.

Having said that, I've looked to stop in marinas that are sort of off the beaten path with good rates or good scenery or both.

When I was getting to Wrightsville, NC for a meeting (also a catching up with friends, doing laundry and looking for an oil pressure gauge), I decided that rather than wait an hour for the Surf City swing bridge, I'd stop at the Beach House Marina. The dockmaster is Earl and the place is clean, very friendly, and at $1.25/ft including electricity a true bargain. Highly recommended.

Surf City, NC is quite a place, too - there's a really nice park that straddles the east coast of the AICW and has long wooden walks suspended over swamps - very pretty. They are clearly new-ish.

Contained in Surf City within easy walking from the marina is everything you could want including an IGA, a slew of restaurants (Daddy Mac's is pretty good - and eating on the deck overlooking the Atlantic is pretty special). There's a little breakfast nook, too, that is dirt cheap - a full breakfast 2 eggs, toast, home fries, coffee and bacon is like $4.99. Can you beat that? I submit not.

The downside to these places is that smoking is allowed in them. Yech!

Ok, so after spending the next day with friends and business discussions and eating and laundry, I got Pelican ready to leave for the 8 am Surf City Bridge opening and promptly ran aground. Fortunately, it was only for a minute. As someone once said, there are two types of sailors on the AICW - those who run aground and those who lie.

So, after a stultifying day, I'm at Bald Head Island Marina. This is a little hole in Bald Head Island across from Wilmington, NC and at the entrance to the Cape Fear inlet. This is a cute little marina on a very exclusive island. There are no cars, just golf carts. It's well manicured. There's a restaurant (Eb & Flo's) that in the season provides conch fritters that I'm told are better than you can get in the Bahamas. Sadly, the season is over and so I can't get any. Feh. Also, if there's a slip that's the farthest from the bright center of activity here on the island, I'm in it.

The winter montly rates here, including electricity, are very reasonable! Hmmm, well, I'm just sayin' here.

Why am I here? Because tomorrow at 5-ish or so I'm leaving for an overnight sail to Winyah inlet for Georgetown, NC. I may spend a couple of days there before going to Charleston. But the point is to have an overnight sail straight away and arrive in daylight.

The weather is supposed to be very nice, if cold. Tonight it's supposed to get to 38 degrees! Eww - I left Connecticut to get out of that crap! Still, Saturday night is supposed to be awesomely clear so I'll be on either autopilot or Monitor Windvane laying on the deck watching the incredible stars! But I'll also be watching.

I hope also to be able, finally, to test the shaft generator. I'm hoping there's enough wind to sail but not so much I'm terrified. I guess that's pretty much what all sailors want...

See you on the water! If I don't, though, steer clear - I'm stargazing!

Engineering a Solution

2009-10-31T09:16:00.003-04:00

I'm sure my windlass has not been serviced since I purchased Pelican and given human nature, probably not since it was installed. One of the major service items is to change the oil in the gear case. But it takes two men and a boy to get the darn thing out - and that's what's required to change the oil.

The measure of oil is that it is halfway up the sight glass. Since I couldn't even see the level either because it was too low or because the glass was scuzzed up, I wanted to refresh it but without dropping the motor and gear housing. Both tasks are onerous.

So I had a brilliant idea - namely, drill and tap a hole right in the middle of the sight glass. To drain the oil, remove the sight glass and let drain. I used a syringe to make sure all the oil was out. Then I put the sight glass back in, filled through the newly drilled and tapped hole in the center until the level was just higher than the hole with the syringe and finally, put the bolt back in the hole before it all leaks out - but even if it does leak out, it will leak to just a tiny bit below the optimum level.

The bolt is wrapped with teflon tape that keeps it from leaking, binding, and rotating out by itself. It is only finger tight so there's no strain on the plastic sight glass.

Now all that remains to be seen is what happens when I run the unit with the anchor on it. I expect nothing special besides the anchor going up and down.

You would think that Maxwell would have put a drain and fill plug on the gear case. There is room and it would make maintenance far more palatable.

See you on the water!

Beaufort, North Carolina

2009-10-30T15:00:00.005-04:00

Beaufort. BO-Fort. I am not much into shopping boutique stores. I like architecture but I really detest cute. So first, here are some pictures of Beaufort from the boat - this is the town's main waterfront area. The left picture is the Maritime Museum and the right is the Beaufort Town Docks - a very nice place to dock and the people are pretty nice, too. But that's not what I'm on about here today.

You all have seen an historic town. Beaufort looks just like that. To its credit, it has a really good and really cheap diner like place that you can get stuffed for breakfast for around $7.00 and that includes coffee and a tip. They also have a very good and very expensive restaurant called "The Grocery" where if you're hungry and feeling flush, it's a good place to go. Then, there's the Back Street Bar. More on that later in this journey, perhaps as early as tomorrow.

This being near Halloween I thought what I'd talk about is one of the best graveyards I've ever seen. Sure, we have pretty good ones there, but on this side of the Atlantic, if you're thinking scary thoughts about a scary cemetery you are very likely thinking of this one or one so similar that it doesn't matter.

The last time I saw a cemetery anywhere like this was in England. I have to say, though, that I'd be pretty apprehensive to be here on any given moonless night.

This graveyard also contains an area where the casualties of an Indian war in 1722 happened - there are no markers left, but there is a little sign.

I find the graves to be really interesting, if only for their construction. There are a few WWII graves but most of them date to the 1860's and earlier. I'll leave you to contemplate the pictures at least for tomorrow night. You can bet I won't be there.

Well, someone I've wanted to meet since I got involved with the Pearson 424 organization is one Tor Pinney - to say he's sailed a great deal would be vast understatement. He's written a book about preparing a boat for offshore work and he regularly submits (and gets published) articles in Cruising World and other magazines.

Well, as I was putting Pelican to bed upon arriving here a man motored up in his dinghy and it was none other than Tor - we've been having discussions on the board for at least two years. As some of the other members were to meet at the Annapolis Boat Show, he indicated "none of look like we expect." He, of course, is right - we make pictures of strangers in our mind and are almost always surprised at what we see when we meet. I must say, my picture was of a great man with a beard and flaming red hair. I suspect I've read too many comics.

But that he doesn't match that image is not important - he's a terrific guy, knowledgable and experienced, and more than that, willing to share his knowledge. One of the good people in the world, I have to say.

Anyway, he's playing in town Saturday night so I'll pop over for that.

I had a bit of a scare with the dinghy - yesterday in town I came back and two of the chambers were partially deflated. I thought maybe someone was messing with me. I limped back to the boat and pumped them up and they stayed inflated all night. But in the morning I popped over to Tor's boat (Silver Heels) and as I was going one tube kept deflating. "Crap!", I thought to myself, "I have to fix that!"

Once again I limped back to the boat and hauled the engine off, attached the spinnaker halyard to the lifting harness and heaved the whole thing on deck. Using soapy water I sprayed everywhere - I couldn't find a leak -except as Tor pointed out, probably one of the fill valves. Well, there you have it, tightened the fill valve fitting and put the whole thing back in the water and away I went.

Before I left from Stamford, I purchased a Citizen folding bike (the Gotham model with fenders). It is the least expensive folding bike I've seen and it fits under the table, weighs like 20lbs, and rides pretty nicely. It's an all aluminum frame with standard parts. I took it out for a spin today, mostly to see how it does in the dinghy and the issues with loading and unloading it. (There are none).

That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Right now it's almost cocktail hour and I thought I'd pop over to town for a bit of a happy hour.

See ya on the water!

An evening at Broad Creek

2009-10-27T17:07:00.003-04:00

I know I'm like two days behind. Yesterday was one very long day and today much shorter with a sweet landing.

I left from Coinjock yesterday about 7:30am. There were people to help on the dock so the job was easy. It turns out that you need your up-current end shoved of into the current and nature does the rest. The current through Coinjock must have been running the day before when I arrived somewhere near 4 knots! By the time I turned around to land I was a half mile down the canal!

But I digress - also, since I had dinner at Crabbies I can tell you this: the crab chowder is marvelous. The stuffed flounder was way over cooked. There wasn't enough tartar sauce in the restaurant to cover that baby.

I digressed again, didn't I?

Well just a short while east the canal opened up into the North River which leads to the Currituck Sound out to the Albemarle. Some friends I had met, Tom and Charlene on their Krogen 39 (Forever 39) were overtaking me as I was attaching the staysail halyard - and trying to look all salty, I walked to the mast and gave the halyard a great heave only to have it become unshackled and sail up to the spreaders.

Nonchalantly, I walked back to the cockpit and unfurled the jib. Needless to say there was a good deal of swearing going on - I managed to get the sail under control and off we went at about 7 knots! Woohoo! Shut the engine and sailed! Can you believe it?

Raised the mizzen and all went spectacularly. Pelican was in her glory, I'll tell you - she motors pretty ok, I guess, but when the wind's 20 kts or so, man she GOES!

I was told that the two sounds would be horrendous. I don't know where these people go, but at 2-3 feet, they were totally manageable and not at all rough, really. I mean Pelican handled them with aplomb.

We ended up motor sailing down the Albemarle because I had to make it to the end of the Pungo Canal before dark. Well, not really, but I wanted to. To say that the Pungo Canal is dull would be to be wildly exaggerating. It would be hyperbole. The charts say it's got a cypress swamp on one side. Sadly, the swamp is dying. Boats leaving large wakes wash the soil from the roots with the result that the trees eventually topple. The northern edge is already dead from something or other and the trees nearest the canal are dying. Come see it now before it's gone. Don't leave a big wake.

Anyway, I ended up at the end of the Pungo River Canal in a terrific anchorage just to the right of the last buoy. For those of you following me, you know were I was. The night was cold, drizzly, and damp with a pretty strong wind from the north. All snuggled up in my bed with lots of pillows I slept the sleep of, well, the sleepy. It was marvelous.

This morning, however, turned out to be a bit less sanguine (incidentally, I love the word 'sanguine' - it's from the French word for 'blood' (to parenthesize parenthesis - so is 'exsanguination' another terrific word but hardly useful for this blog) ) . As I left the anchorage, the fanbelt that runs the alternator and the fresh water pump on the engine broke. After much hopping about swearing, I had to anchor again and rip the boat apart to change the belt. This took about an hour.

Well, then I was off again! Today I made it to River Dunes, in Broad Creek on the Neuse River. It sounds like a gambling casino but it's not. It's a lovely water community in a place that you'd never expect. Broad Creek is a little, shallow creek with a pretty good anchorage. When you motor up it there's a little channel off to the port that you would think goes to someone's home. But a little way in, it turns into a masonry lined channel that opens up into a large basin with a marina inside! You could not be more surprised than if you walked into a dumpy looking restaurant door and inside was this huge gourmet dining establishment! (Incidentally, I had another surprising thing to compare this to but it is a family blog after all.)

It's a most modern facility and I got to stay on a 'T' dock for $1.25/foot for the night! Can you believe that? That's like when I started sailing! It's almost cheaper with electricity ($5.00) than the friggin' moorings at Sagamor Yacht Club. I mean, really!

So that's today's adventures. More when I get to Beaufort, NC where I pick up a mooring I've rented for a month for next to nothing.

Frankly, this cruising life has started out totally ok!

See you all on the water!

Resting at Great Bridge VA

2009-10-24T15:19:00.005-04:00

Well, we made it to Great Bridge, VA Friday afternoon around 1:30ish. We were very happy to get into the Atlantic Yacht Basin that Cory has been to many times, and recently I have with him. It's a few hundred yards east of the Great Bridge Bascule Bridge on the south shore of the ICW. Because it's in a fresh water section of the ICW, there's no tide to speak of unless there's a strong wind out of the east that piles up water here.

This place is a full service yard - they have any number of large and small boats in various stages of repair at any one time. Lest that give you the impression they work willy-nilly let me disabuse you of that notion. Every work site is clean and well maintained. The yard people wear their safety gear and seem, to me anyway, to work a good day's work. I'm impressed.

Their marine store isn't like any other. Because of the work they do, it's well stocked with things you need and need badly. There's no frippery there, I'll tell you what.

The dock masters are knowledgeable and really helpful.

As you know if you've been following my SPOT information, we started out around 9:30am Wednesday from Great Kills Yacht Club. There appeared to be wind filling in from a direction we could sail in - we were headed out to the Sandy Hook Channel. The breeze was light and as it turns out we couldn't sail. We didn't find that out until all the sails were raised, though.

So, essentially, you leave the Sandy Hook Channel when you can clear the shoals and make a right any stay on that course until you hit (figuratively) Cape Charles at the entrance to the Chesapeake.

Because the weather for Thursday was going to be 20kts out of the southwest (in other words, right on the nose) we decided to run a little closer to the coast. In any case, we were making good time until Thursday around noonish when the wind settled in right on the nose (as predicted). We were 20 miles out with seas building to an uncomfortable 2 - 6 foot chop and pounding into it. Pelican does not like to motor into that. Neither does her owner.

We worked our way west with the staysail and mizzen until we were in around 35 feet of water just south of the Delaware River. From there you can almost make a beeline to Cape Charles.

The engine was behaving beautifully until we were about an hour from Cape Charles at about three in the morning. Then it stopped. Plenty of fuel. Pump working, but air in the Racor. Long story short, the original rubber fuel line had a gotten a split in it and we were able to get a good connection to the fuel pump and get the engine running again after about an hour and a half.

As we rounded Cape Charles the wind died (because we could have sailed into the Chesapeake otherwise) and we got to Norfolk about 7:30am. We went through the assorted bridges until we got nearly to Great Bridge. There the Dominion Boulevard Bridge (aka 'Steel Bridge') only opens on the hour. Of course we were an half hour early (we had just missed the opening). So we tied up to a dock nearby to wait.

After the Steel Bridge, there is the Great Bridge Lock which opens when? On the hour on the half hour. Fortunately they were opening the gates as we came up and we got in right away. Actually, we were looking to tie up to wait and wanted to see what the signs said at the entrance so motored up there. That's when we noticed it was opening. If you were in a boat in that lock opening - really, we're sorry.

Ok, well, the lock takes a half hour to cycle and then there's the Great Bridge Bascule bridge which opens when? On the hour. If you're really, really lucky you can catch them all and make it through in an hour. If you're not, it's two hours. We weren't.

So Friday at the Atlantic Yacht Basin we really didn't do anything - had some wine and cheese and went fairly early to the Mexican restaurant across the road - El Toro Loco. It was awful. Not at all recommended. We forced ourselves to stay up until 8:00pm. Woohoo! what a wild bunch we are!

This morning, Saturday, we all got up early, had a cup of coffee and Cory and Jim were on their way home via taxi and train (Amtrak from Newport News). I did laundry, changed the oil in the engine, and replaced the faulty fuel hose which I had purchased Friday afternoon in the hopes of dealing with it then.

After that, I moved across the canal to a free dock and am here now.

On the dock with me is a DeFever 53 owned by Karen and Jeffrey Siegel who happen to own and run a site ActiveCaptain, an interactive cruising guidebook. This is a great site, too, that is constantly being updated by cruisers! It's free but you have to register. I just started looking at it and I can totally see its utility. I think I'll be on that site pretty often!

It's such a good site, you'll see it on my sidebar.

Tomorrow morning, I'm off to Coinjock to have a 32oz. steak. No, not really, but to gather myself together to go down the Albemarle Sound. Hopefully the bridge will open on the Alligator River when I need it to...

So there you have it! The first exciting days of what promises to be an exciting trip!

See you on the 'ditch'!

Day One - Great Kills, Staten Island, NY

2009-10-20T17:47:00.009-04:00

Here I am at the Great Kills Yacht Club in a small harbor on the southeast corner of Staten Island - I left Stamford CT this morning at 7:45 and had current with me all day except for about a 20 minute period through Hell Gate.

It was a beautiful day! Partly cloudy and in the high 40's. It could only have been better if the wind wasn't on the nose all day! But that's sailing in Long Island Sound and New York Harbor!

Still, a very pleasant day all in all. New York Harbor was busy as usual. Of course I had to take a picture of 'The Lady'.

Also, I'm testing my video - clearly I need to work on that bit - a short one is 185Mb and that's too much. Maybe I'll figure it out by Norfolk!

Tomorrow will be our trip offshore - Cory and Jim will be with me. We should arrive at Norfolk on Friday morning and make it to Coinjock.

While I was here, I met the owners of Roving Seas, an Island Gypsy 44 that I passed in the East River between the Throgs Neck and Whitestone Bridges. They had hailed me earlier and we'd discussed our plans so I knew they'd be in Great Kills. It's so seldom anyone gets a picture of their boat underway, I thought I'd take a couple and email it to them.

Brian and Jan could not be nicer. We had a bit of discussion and wine on Roving Seas before they had to head off to meet their son for dinner. They also turned me on to a great site, Cruiser's Net. It's all about cruisers helping each other out. While I was waiting for Cory and Jim the next morning I helped them off the dock.

Their goal is Marsh Harbor, Bahamas, too, so I hope to see them there!

See you on the ocean!

And Here We Go!

2009-10-19T11:05:00.005-04:00

Today is Monday, October 19th. This is the day before I leave for a winter of cruising down the east coast and to the Bahamas. Everyone here at the marina and all my landbound friends have been so incredibly wonderful and supportive of this trip.

This, of course, causes some conflicting feelings - How could I leave my incredible friends? How could I not, knowing how they support the journey?

I'll be leaving around 8:00 am tomorrow morning to catch high tide at Hell Gate, East River, New York. The last couple of days have been cold, miserable, rainy, and windy. This morning there was a layer of ice on the dock! I'm getting out of here not a moment too soon!

My first stop is Staten Island, NY where I'll be staying at the Great Kills Yacht Club in Great Kills Harbor on the south east side of the island. Although the entire trip will only be about eight or nine hours it will be, I hope, a bit of a shakedown of the new stuff like the shaft driven generator (if it works, there will be a post about it next) and the Monitor Windvane steering system that has been rigged for the trip.

The other day while I was stocking up at BJ's, I found a Panasonic SDR digital camcorder that's just a bit thicker than an iPhone and uses SDHC memory cards for about $199. There are higher definition units like the Flip Mino or Mino Ultra. They are small, easily downloaded but limited in how much video they store before you have to download them or erase things.

The Panasonic SDR-SW20, with standard NTSC video, has several great advantages - one, it's water resistant to 1.5 meters (almost 4 feet), it is dust resistant, it is shock resistant to drops up to 1.5 meters and finally, it uses SDHC cards that can carry up to 16GB of storage for about three hours of the highest quality video. For 8GB cards, about an hour and 40 minutes. At standard quality, it's much longer.

The fact that it's waterproof is a real plus because I can use it while sailing (expect some videos tomorrow - not great ones, but some nonetheless). Also, since it's hard to get a picture of rough weather that really looks like it feels, I hope to use it in situations where you shouldn't take a regular camera.

The other attribute that is important to me is the fact that I can change a card when full and continue recording without downloading. Although it may never happen that I need to, it is certainly a nice option.

This afternoon I'll be hosting a quiet wine and cheese party for friends at the marina - nothing terrific, just a little get-together. They won't be awake when I leave tomorrow so I'll just be slipping away into the morning...

Today is a wonderfully sunny day - with winds from the north at 10 to 20kts. If the boat isn't ready by now, it will never be. So today is pretty much a waiting day - I'll nap and straighten up things and so forth. After the little party I'll be heading off to bed. I'm so excited about leaving that I'm fairly shaking to get away!

In the grand scheme of sailing, this is a fairly calm adventure. I'm not rounding Cape Horn or even Cape of Good Hope. It's just that I'm going for a long distance (to me) and to new (to me) places and seeing new (to me) friends and visiting old friends.

If you'd like to follow me on Google Maps, I have a SPOT Personal Tracker. This little device has several functions that allow friends to see where you are. You can follow me by using this link http://tinyurl.com/WhereIsBobFine - kindly set up by my 424 buddy Pat. The real URL is ugly.

About the SPOT device: it is meant to be a personal safety device - not to replace an EPIRB that an oceangoing boat needs, but since it's based on the Globalstar satellite system, the coverage is pretty good everywhere except near the poles. I don't plan on going to either pole as I've heard they're really cold. Maybe in a few years after global warming takes effect. (I'm joking here - don't go all postal!)

Operating SPOT once set up and services purchased on the site is really simple - you can see from the picture that there are four buttons. The On/Off button is self-explanatory. We've all seen and used them. Of the other three, one is 'Ok' which if pressed for two seconds sends an email with a message that I'm Ok, and you can see where I am using a link to Google Maps. Holding the button for 4 or more seconds starts tracking so that every 10 minutes a position is marked on the map and you can follow it at the link above.

The next button is a personal 'help' button. This one sends a customized message that I'll follow up with later - essentially it's for when I'm stuck but don't really need the Coast Guard or Marines to get me. It will actually ask for lawyers, guns, and money - facetiously, perhaps, but I'm in a bind.

The last button is '911'. When you purchase the service, this bad boy will get the Globalstar monitoring station to call the authorities to help you - obviously, on the water, it will be the Coast Guard or the Navy or the Marines. On land, the police or rescue people. You press this button, you'd better need serious help or you'll be paying for the efforts. Fortunately, the button is recessed and you need to hold it for 10 seconds or so. There is no 'test' function. You press it, you're going to be visited by some highly trained and very serious people. Perhaps they'll even be heavily armed.

I'm also maintaining a maillist that I'll post to (and my 'Ok' and 'Help' messages go to). All you have to do is send an email from your account to sv_pelican-subscribe@finesoft.com - you don't need a subject or message as they're ignored. Then you'll join the 10's of people following me!

Well, that's about it for today. I hope to see you on the water!

Finishing Projects - Holding Tank & Macerator

2009-08-30T09:49:00.008-04:00

Here's the thing - as humans we're mostly interested in what goes into us and less so the other end of the process. This is certainly the case with me, so when I started the holding tank project a couple of years ago I stopped when the holding tank was installed and functional. But the design of the project was far more ambitious - it had to perform several functions and allow flexibility.

Here are the specifications:

The head discharge has to be able to be switched overboard or to the holding tank.
The holding tank needs to be well vented
The holding tank has to be able to be emptied through a pumpout, through a macerator pump and finally, as a last resort, a manual pump.
The pumps (manual and macerator) have to be able to take a suction from either the holding tank or the bilge satisfying the need for a manual bilge pump operable entirely from inside the closed up boat (SOLAS requirement).

So, with that said, the first thing I needed to do was put in a holding tank. Pelican didn't come with a holding tank - just an Electrasan. The Electrasan isn't very useful because it isn't legal in the U.S. and off shore you don't need it. In addition, it is a power hog using about 6 amps per flush. It really draws much more, but only operates for three minutes. True, you don't have to use it by just pumping through it added a lot more hose and wiring and took up valuable storage space.

Many people think that if you have a boat that's pre-MSD laws you don't have to upgrade to a legal system ever. That could not be more untrue. If you have a pre-MSD law boat without a holding tank and you change even one hose, you are required to upgrade to a legal system. So, adding an Electrasan constitutes an upgrade triggering the need for a fully legal system.

I purchased the new 30 gallon HDPE tank online from Plastic-mart.com - they had a standard one that fit in the lower bilge area. Tall and narrow and I asked them to spin-weld all the fittings I needed to one end - those being the inlet (1-1/2"), the suction (1-1/2" with a tube to the bottom), and two vents (1"). There is an excellent discussion by Peggie Hall on head and holding tank installation here: http://boatbuilding.com/article.php/MarineSanitationFactvsFolklore. Using her ideas and discussions and my nuclear reactor operations background I came up with system that would meet my needs.

Installing a holding tank is actually really simple. I added an 8" inspection port to the tank so that I could clean it if it really becomes necessary. I'm hoping never to do that, but hey, you never know. As you can see at the left, I've cut out the hole for the inspection plate. You can also see the tube that goes to the bottom for pump outs. When you order the tank, make sure they know its final orientation and that you need a bottom suction. I used the inspection plate as a pattern for the hole I cut.

You'll notice there are two 1" vent fittings on opposite corners. The more ventilation a holding tank has, the better. It is the anerobic bacteria that smell badly - the aerobic ones are the ones that actually break down sewage. That's why a sewage treatment plant aerates the sewage as part of the clean-up process. More often, holding tanks have insufficient ventilation in the form of one 5/8" vent.

The bilge behind the keel of Pelican is 5 1/2 feet deep from the cabin sole, about three feet below the top of the keel. I don't really need that much bilge space so I figured it was a great place for the tank. It's hard to show that here, but you can see there's a lot of volume down there. These two pictures show the bilge before the tank goes in and after it's mounted.

As an aside, the inspection plate from Seabuilt, Inc.
has been discussed before in another post. It is a sturdy, easy to install, and leak-proof system for installing inspection ports in almost anything -from fuel to water to holding tanks. They aren't for highly corrosive materials, but there are few of those aboard Pelican. The design is so elegant that I used it for putting an access plate in the base of the mizzen mast for wiring. It works like a champ.

Next, I plumbed in the tank as normal - vent hoses go to fittings on either side of the hull in as short a run as possible. Also, the hoses have no loops or sags. This is very important so that a water seal doesn't occur in them. The fittings are as high on the hull as possible below the bulwarks. There's nothing special about them except they're stainless steel. The deck pump-out fitting is installed on the starboard side because there's a closet I could run the hose through easily and many of the overboards are already there. You can see the 'Y' valve on top of the tank.

Once you get used to drilling or cutting holes in the hull, doing it in the deck is easy. I ordered a stainless steel waste fitting for the deck from Marine Parts Depot who I've used for all sorts of stainless fittings. The waste fitting doesn't need a key to open it. There's a lever built in so that you can leave the boat and the pump out person can do the job without searching for a key. When you cut a hole in the deck, though, where it's cored, make sure you seal the core with epoxy before installing the fitting.

I've installed a macerator pump and manual bilge pump in the same closet as the vent and pump out fitting. This looks really complicated but basically it allows you to use one pump at a time to either pump the bilge or pump the holding tank. For those of you thinking ahead, there is a check valve to prevent pumping the holding tank to the bilge. After seeing this all together I think I should have done it all with PVC pipe and PVC valves - it would have been a little less expensive, but far less leak prone. Someday, if it all goes wrong, that's the way I'll rebuild it. But for now, it doesn't leak, it doesn't smell, and it seems to work as planned. And what could be better than working as planned? I submit nothing!

Next up, water maker installation and shaft powered alternator.

I'm leaving to go south soon! I hope to meet you on the water!

When you're afraid it means you're about to have an adventure

2009-07-18T08:42:00.002-04:00

A few weekends ago I was going out to meet my friends Laura and Cory at Duck Island Roads, a small island near Clinton, CT. The plan for me was to leave Friday afternoon, travel about 4 hours and then anchor for the night, continuing on Saturday morning.

Well, the normal weather pattern for the Long Island Sound is for storms to pass north or south following the coast of Connecticut or Long Island. Guess what? Not this night. There were severe thunderstorms north and as I travelled I noticed that they were travelling not from the southwest to the northeast but from the northwest to the southeast!

Pelican is a sturdy vessel, but her owner can sometimes be a little lax putting things away. Even in the Sound waves can become rather large and short. Still when things start flying is not the time to start putting them away.

Anyway, with the radar on, I watched the storm center catch up to me and then inexplicably match my speed. With winds steady at 30 knots and gusting higher the seas built to 4-5 feet on the beam quickly. Then came the rain. I've not seen rain like that in a long, long time. Within seconds it beat the seas flat. Amazing cloud-to-cloud lightning, too.

I called Laura and Cory who had decided to pull into New Haven's Morris Cove and wait for me. They suggested I try a bit of sail so I did! Just the staysail. With that alone and the wind on the beam I was going 7.5 knots! Woohoo! Really, a very wet woohoo at that.

Other than being noisy, Pelican was behaving in a most reassuring manner. It means to me that I made the right choice in her. More on that in another post, though.

Eventually the storms cleared as I entered New Haven and tied up to my friends. It was a late but deserved cocktail hour, for sure.

Although it was nervous-making, it was not fearful in any way, shape, or means. What is scary right now is knowing there's a deadline for my cruise to the Caribbean. And that's the next adventure I'm going to have!

See you out there on the water!

100 Days

2009-07-13T11:02:00.011-04:00

It's mid July and the season here in the northeast, especially around Long Island Sound has been rather crappy - mostly rain and cool. Still, I've been working on Pelican - two current projects are installing the water maker and replacing the lifelines.

But the real issue now is that it's 100 days (plus or minus) before I leave for a long cruise to the Bahamas. That means no more fooling around. Ok, maybe a little fooling around. But not the massive, time consuming fooling around!

There are other projects that got done on the sly, as it were, where I just needed to get them done. One was replacing the emergency start battery and adding one to that bank - the original was a group 31 flooded cell battery that got cooked as all my systems are set for AGM batteries. I figured if one was good, two would be better and then realized that two wouldn't fit in the volume I wanted them in. So I made a shelf in one of the lazerettes and mounted one there.

Another project that just needed to get done was a new solar panel - no big deal but I replaced what I think was an old 80 watt panel with a 130 watt Kyocera panel and the difference was appreciable! In good sunlight the panel alone supplys 70% of the power required for the autopilot, instruments, and refrigerator. Not bad. And the panel is smaller than the old panel. Moreover, solar panels are as inexpensive as they're going to be for a while.

In getting a boat ready for offshore use there are safety issues that must be addressed. A great source of information is the International Convention for the Safety Of Life At Sea (SOLAS). In addition to many other pieces of maritime safety information, they have a checklist for getting a small yacht ready to go offshore. The checklist is provided to anyone preparing for a Marion or Newport to Bermuda race, and inspected for and enforced. It's no joke, and luck favors the prepared.

In any case, many of the items are good seamanship and common sense - all openings should be latched to prevent opening in a knockdown or rollover, for instance. You could look at the post on the new floorboard openings if you like to see how that's done.

Another issue that's important and often overlooked is lifelines. Most lifelines are vinyl covered stainless steel with swaged fittings. This is fine for new boats or boats that are not likely to see severe weather (most in marinas fit that description, sadly). But the SOLAS standard is bare stainless steel so that if there is corrosion at the ends or the middle it's obvious and repaired before someone falls through it, in theory.

Anyway, my lifelines were coated and there was apparent rust at the terminal ends so I thought I'd replace them. I have access to swaging machines and terminals and so forth, but I saw that Suncor Stainless makes SOLAS approved lifeline kits that are installable with simple tools. "Hey!" I thought, "That's for me!"

The kits come in four flavors - with and without gates and with or without coating on the wire. I chose 4 bare wire with gates kits. From West Marine with a Port Supply discount, they were $215 each. Pound for pound, they're about $30-$50 more expensive than having to purchase the fittings and doing it yourself. Still, they are several hundred dollars less than having a rigger do the job. Pictured at the left are the tools you need - I purchased the wire cutter since I needed it anyway as an emergency tool.
One item not shown is LocTite thread sealant. You need a little tube of it and I used the medium strength stuff 'cause you never know...

There's a specific order you put the lifelines together in - from the bow to the gate, from the stern to the gate, and then the gate. Before starting, however, make sure your stanchions are aligned properly, straight up and down, and if there are adjustable supports, make sure they're well attached. It will make your life easier in the long run. In the picture at the left I've installed the turnbuckle for the bow on the new spool of wire. The instructions are short but complete inasmuch as there are really only three moving parts, the collar, the wedges (three held by an o-ring) and a bronze washer. The only vague part is how tight to make it. They say in the instructions tight but not too tight. That will differ from person to person, I think.

Let's just say that I installed the line from the bow to the forward end of the gate and from the stern to the aft end of the gate, which is what you see here.

Note: This is important! Whenever a piece has adjustment, put it half-way before measuring and cutting the wire! Open turnbuckles 1/2 way. Unscrew pelican hooks halfway.

Anyway, the gate eyes screw onto studs and have lock nuts behind them, so I just installed the one end in the stanchion, took the left over piece of cable and mounted the pelican hook, hooked the hook and measured to the back end of the gate as you see to the left. I cut the wire and assembled the whole thing. The eyes are put on with the LocTite. That's the only place I used it.

Here's the gate eye completed. The first lifeline took me about an hour to install. The other three went in in about two hours. As it turns out, I didn't know the pelican hook was adjustable so I didn't unscrew it when I made my cable and it turned out too long - not a lot too long, but enough to droop and not give a great sense of security. After calling Suncor I found that you can reuse the fitting if you haven't damaged it by over-tightening. Otherwise, you need new wedges and bronze rings. No big deal.

Each set comes with 40' of cable. That should be good up to a 48-50' boat as I have about 6' left over from each line. The Suncor people are easy to deal with and are knowledgable and friendly. Highly recommended.

As I mentioned, the 100 day mark is here - so I'll be working tirelessly between sailing and partying to get the boat ready. The major safety equipment is in, with the life raft being the most recent expense - with recertification and a hydrostatic release, it's $1300...

Still, I'll see you on the water!

A Haul Out and Much More

2009-05-26T08:47:00.003-04:00

The last month has been a whirlwind - a trip up the Hudson River to White's Marina in New Hamburg, NY, a trip to England, a haul out, return trip down the Hudson, Memorial Day weekend at Mystic, CT and finally just now flying to Savannah, GA to pick up a boat for a delivery to Connecticut.

There's no real wonder I didn't post earlier. But here goes.

I decided to bring Pelican to White's Marina for several reasons. The first is that they are extraordinarily nice people who are honest, hard working, and extremely fair. It's a rare marina these days that actually wants to help boaters - that take the boater's needs into account. That's not to say they give away the farm, but they are fair and that's all we really want.

The trip up the Hudson was with friends. We left Stamford, CT on a Friday afternoon with the idea that we'd get to City Island for dinner. Well, best laid plans and all that. About an hour out, the engine started to overheat requiring running slower and slower (what little wind there was was on the nose - big surprise there). So we arrived an hour later than we wanted. As it turned out because of traffic everyone else arrived an hour late too!

So, after a terrific meal at the City Island Yacht Club where the new steward is absolutely top notch, we all toddled off either home or to bed depending on where we came from.

The next morning, the plan was to go to the City Island Diner for whole wheat pancakes but as we had to make the tide through the East River and Hudson we took the time to replace the raw water pump. Guess what? That wasn't the problem; and this is key: If you've had zincs disappear in your raw water heat exchanger then there's a really good chance that the zinc oxide (the white stuff that falls off the zincs) is plugging the tubes. In fact, 3/4ths of my tubes were plugged with that white paste. Running a coat hanger through (gently) fixed the problem and we were good to go with a half hour to spare!

I'd like to say that the trip up the river to Haverstraw was magnificent with great sailing and beautiful scenery. But it was a gray and cold day and the leaves weren't all out. But we made it to George's Island in Montrose and anchored for the night. Susie made some delicious shishkabobs and salad and we had a grand old time - there wasn't another boat around!

The next day was totally sunny and we travelled slowly up river past Tomkins Cove, Indian Point, Peekskil, the Bear Mountain Bridge, Garrison, West Point, Constitution Island (and World's End), Cold Spring and Storm King, Breakneck Ridge, Newburgh and Beacon, Chelsea and finally White's Marina in New Hamburg. Although all motoring, it was a beautiful trip. The stripers were running and the river was thick with little fishing boats. The Hudson Highlands is one of the most beautiful places in the world in any season.

Bob and Suzie went home to Connecticut and I stayed on the boat - I left for England the next week for a week and returned to help with my haulout.

Once Pelican was out of the water I had a bunch of projects I wanted to get done - the foremost being moving the boottop stripe to where it belongs. The previous owner had decided to lower it (most cruisers raise it every year or so!) and had curved it as well so that it was down at the bow and stern. This resulted in it being continuously under water.

Pearson had left a score in the molds so that you could easily see and tape where the line was. Using that as a guide, I taped off where it should go and wiped it down first with a hull cleaner (they come either as phosphoric acid or oxalic acid) to get rid of the brow staining, then wiped it with acetone to remove waxes that the acid doesn't remove and then painted it with Interlux one part urethane paint with Teflon - especially for boottop stripes. After the acetone, I sanded with the recommended 320 grit wet-or-dry paper and then wiped with acetone once more.

I found the best way to apply it is with a foam or really short nap roller and then tip it off with a brush. It requires at least two coats and preferrably three. You must wait 16 hours between them and sand with the wet-or-dry 320 grit paper between coats. So basically, it takes three days for this project.

I recommend that you use the fine-line tape for the edges you want and then extend the protection with 2" blue masking tape. I know that I'm an accident waiting to happen when it comes to painting. So the more protection I afford myself, the better it goes.

After the last coat, I removed the tape and retaped with the 3/4" fine-line tape below the boottop stripe to keep the bottom paint off the gelcoat. This would leave a nice 3/4" white line below the stripe and the bottom paint for a little definition.

Next, I bottom painted with Petite Ultra plus which is their top-of-the-line paint. It's expensive at $200 per gallon, and here's the key - do not apply it with fuzzy rollers. Apply it thinly with a very short nap roller. It goes a long way if done right. One gallon did the whole bottom with a little left over for the poppet pads.

I spent a day waxing the hull - removing the previous owner's boo-boos and scuff marks and scratches as well as I could, then waxing with Royal wax with Penetrol added like Herb does. It really works great! The wax lasts for a season.

Finally, I was truly tired of living aboard out of the water and wanted to go back in. As I was being picked up by the travel lift, I noticed water coming out of the keel at the bottom - and really smelly water at that. Upon further inspection I found that there was a crack about two feet long aft of the ballast that was weeping the full length. I also discovered that the smelly water was coming from leaking fittings on the top of the holding tank that was over-full. Yuck and more yuck.

Well, my friend, Leigh, came up to provide moral support (and incidentally figure out what the problem was) and I went to work. First, you need to know that the initial impulse is to use a hot air gun to dry out the crack and epoxy over it as a pretty quick repair. Don't do it. It will remain wet and it will continue to leak and epoxy doesn't bond to wet stuff. You'll probably try it anyway, but I warned you.

Ok, so now the correct way to fix the problem. I ground out the crack to be about 3/4" wide by as long as it was on the keel - about two feet - beveling it outwards at a 45 deg. angle. I probably could have gone farther but there was a really good bonding surface. Using rags, water, and finally acetone I cleaned up the hole and made sure that there was no water in the bilge that could leak out.

With epoxy and mat I bridged the hole and added about three layers overlapping the previous' edge by a bit. Leigh was cutting strips as I needed them. I let the first layers set up until they were stiff, but still tacky - about 25 minutes. Then I started in earnest laying strips one to the left and one to the right overlapping by a half inch or so.

Once I built up a half-inch that way I made a putty of chopped strand and epoxy and filled the remaining space until it was to the right level at the bottom of the keel. I let it set some and then put three increasingly wide layers of mat to finish it off. Finally, I made a paste of epoxy and filler and put on a skim coat for fairing.

This sounds faster than it is, believe me - this kind of work requires patience. Don't rush it. Wipe the area between coats with acetone to remove the blush. Once the skim coat set up, I did a quick sanding to smooth it out and then bottom painted the repair.

As it turned out I was the third person to make this repair but the first one to make it properly. I think the boat will fall apart before this repair does - or at least I hope so!

The next morning was a Sunday and I didn't expect to get launched but son of a gun, Chris White came down around 8:00am and kindly dropped me in the water! It took me about and hour to get the holding tank pumped and re-rig the headstay and babystay and head down the river lickety-split. I had the current with me from New Hamburg all the way to Alpine, NJ!

I had to anchor for six hours for the tide to change again at the Battery and left around 9:30pm for the rest of the trip. Once again, it was all motoring but going around the Battery at night and up the East River is a really special treat. Once out past the Throgs Neck Bridge it was just a slog to Stamford where I arrived at 5:00am. Oh, and it was COLD on the Sound that night!

Although I was tired, I went to work and got home at my regular time. So I can function for well over 24 hours without sleep - this is important for a cruiser, I think, especially for longer passages. The downside, of course, is that when you do sleep it's long and hard. I went to bed at 6:30pm and didn't wake until the alarm went off the next morning. That's less useful for cruisers...

Pelican looks absolutely stunning - like a new boat! So it was all worth it. Also, the bilge is staying dry now - something it didn't do before (water apparently leaked in, too).

Next up - Memorial Day at Mystic Seaport!

The season's here and I hope to see you on the water!

Wow, it's March Already

2009-03-22T08:48:00.004-04:00

Here it is, March 22nd. I have been bad about updating this blog, but to be fair I've been busy. Also, it's been darn cold here in the northeast.

Just like last year, all the little bits and pieces I purchased over the winter are being installed. I added a line brake to the boom for the reefing lines, a few well placed cleats for the halyards, most of a HAM radio installation (which also includes no small amount of studying for the tests) and getting equipment that needs updating updated (EPIRB and others).

Here's a tip: If you are going to sail away from the United States you need an FCC Ships Station license. Nothing is required except for $150 or so and when you apply check all the services you may use (for instance, EPIRB, VHF, radar, etc. - you don't need INMARSAT, but it's up to you). If you want to add a service later, it'll cost you another $150.

Anyway, that's not the tip. The FCC will give you a new MMSI number. If you've programmed your radio with the number from Boat U.S., you may have to send it back to the manufacturer to change it. All DSC enabled radios will allow at most 1 change to the MMSI number. The reason for this is to prevent someone changing the number and making false distress calls. The Standard Horizon GS5500X doesn't even allow one change. I didn't know that the Boat U.S. number wasn't good for overseas operation.

Here's another tip, though: if you have an EPIRB and you have not registered it with NOAA, do so. If it came with the boat, make sure you update it to your contact information. If you have an older non-406MHz unit, dispose of it. No one is listening to the older frequencies and it will leave you with a false sense of security. Registering is free and takes all of a few minutes to do here: http://beaconregistration.noaa.gov/. You'll need your EPIRB's unit identity number (UIN) which is provided by the manufacturer and is on the unit itself.

The only difficulty is if it was registered by the previous owner with a different vessel name. The process is a little convoluted but it's absolutely doable. The end result of this process is a sticker for the EPIRB that shows you've registered it. It's good for two years and it's free.

Before leaving, I plan to purchase another EPIRB that deploys automatically. The manual one will go with the ditch bag.

It's amazing on how much effort it is to get a vessel ready for offshore use. Not just physical work, but expense and thought and learning. It's often hard to look at your boat and think of all the things that make general travel safe. Most of us sail in pretty benign areas (at least on the east coast) and have many choices for ports when the weather turns crappy. Once you're offshore by more than about 50 miles it's a total free-for-all. By the time you'd make safe harbor the weather incident will probably be over. This is why the SOLAS (Safety Of Life At Sea) requirements are so strict.

What is a minor nuisance day sailing becomes possibly life threatening on offshore passages. One of my pet peeves was that several drawers in Pelican didn't have latches and on port tacks tended to open - they never fell out, but I never pressed the rail into the water either. So my first project in March was to put latches on everything that wasn't. Although I don't really care for the fingerhole type of latching, it's what I have and it'll have to do. Finger hole latching invites broke fingers. At least the holes are big enough for some wiggle room.

Sure, in port it's a nuisance in port to have to unlatch drawers every time you want to get to something, but it's a small price to pay to keep knives and stuff from flying about when you least need it.

Once the cover came off (I forget how much I enjoy the light streaming in) it's apparent how dusty the boat gets during the winter. Light is wonderful, but shows everything! So now Spring Cleaning is in full swing. Swiffer pads are the best for dusting! I wish they had one with oil for the wood, too. If I find another product that works well on the interior teak, I'll post it.

Well, I'm off to do more stuff! The bad thing about boats is that projects never end. The great thing about boats is that projects never end!

We'll all be on the water soon! See you there!

February Is...

2009-02-16T10:14:00.003-05:00

Here it is February, or actually, the middle of February in the northeast. February is the 3:00am of the year - it's the darkest time of men's souls. The fevered activity of the holidays have given way to a certain lethargy.

It is the time of the year that causes one to ponder the upcoming warmer months and their activities. Things like removing the boat cover. Sailing on weekends. Completing tasks that you really promised yourself you were going to do during the winter but just could not bring yourself to get them done.

February is the month to sleep. It makes one appreciate the concept of hibernation. It is, with the exception of Valentine's Day, a month with nothing to recommend it. Sure, the days get noticeably longer - a few minutes each day - but it's cold and windy and causes one to scootch down in ones covers for another hour of two of sleep.

February doesn't have the promise of March. It doesn't have the excitement of January. It is the stuporous month like the hour after a great big meal before you go to bed. It is such a boring month that we've started consulting with a largish rodent to see how long this plunge into cold and boredom will continue.

The death and cold of winter is stark in February. There is no promise of spring. Intellectually, of course, we know spring is coming but from day to day there is nothing to indicate it. Passing through February is like swimming through molasses. It becomes an effort to do anything.

Of course, your experience may differ. But for me, February is a black hole. I've been living under a green boat cover for three plus months, even in bright daylight I need lights. The heaters run constantly and I am veritably shaking with the effort to not scream.

It is very fortunate, then, that February is so short. I suspect that Pope Gregory also knew that the shorter the better for February. Sure, let the sylvan month of July and the halcyon month of August get an extra day each! And take it from February so it gets itself over faster than any other month.

For all of you with a birthday in February, I salute you! Happy Birthday! For myself, I'd just as soon skip directly to March.

Anyway, the truth of it is that the year continues and soon the cover will be off. Those projects like the wash down pump and water maker and macerator pump and HAM radio and other stuff will get done in the spring. When the social support system shakes itself awake from it's winter's slumber. When you can work outside without four layers of clothing. When the first faint traces of a tan occur if only on one's bald spot.

C'mon March! Hurry it up!

See you all on the water soon now, oh, so soon!

Happy New Year 2009!

2009-01-17T08:31:00.006-05:00

Wow, it's already the middle of January! Happy New Year!

I can't believe it - in a few days Barack Obama will be President with all the hope that brings. He's got a tough row to hoe, but he's picking a cabinet of people who are as smart or smarter than he is whether he agrees with them or not. That is the mark of a true leader - he knows he doesn't know everything but he employes those who do know to advise him. That's quite a change from the last eight years.

That's it for my political statement.

Ok, the country is in the middle of a blast of cold - the last couple of days have not gotten out of the low teens and the nights have been in the single digits. That makes living on a boat a challenge. It becomes difficult staying warm, I must say, even with the heaters running.

My original plan was to prepare the boat to travel to England by travelling up the coast and visiting Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Greenland, Iceland for the winter, and then on to Ireland and England. I find that I am not that enamored of the cold. So I do believe there's a change in plan.

I'll be heading south for the winter. Since visiting the Bahamas this summer I have become enthralled in the possibilities. I've also seen some wonderful places on the Intracoastal Waterway where I could very easily spend days ore even weeks exploring. And then there are the Bahamas!

The plan after that is to start north in the spring, stop at Bermuda for a bit, head on over to the U.S. and travel to Maine and then hop off to England directly. Some 30 days later or so arriving there or Ireland and after that England. I'd love to explore the Baltic countries. But who knows? Life is what happens when you're making other plans.

There is a point here, no matter how veiled. Plans change. My cousin has expressed a great interest in doing the 'Great Loop' in his boat. His wife is not interested. So that may be an interruption in the trip to England as well. It's too bad there aren't two of me. Ok, maybe not.

As the time draws near, though, I am more frantic - there are so many things to do that it seems insurmountable. I have to install my HAM radio and get my license. I have to decide to inspect my liferaft or purchase a new one, I have to install tiedowns and new grabrails, get my HAM General License with the Mobile Marine designation. Prepare first aid kits, stow everything in an orderly manner, refurbish and install the watermaker, purchase and install solar panels and shaft generator, install a washdown pump. Also, I need to haul the boat, service her, install the hailer and digital TV antenna, check all the rigging, take care of the teak, and fix whatever breaks. As Charlie Brown put it, "Yaaahhhh!"

And those are just the big projects....

Still, there has to be time for fun. This whole project must be fun. It has been and continues to be argued that man is not meant to be happy. I think that's pure hooie. We are not meant to be happy all the time, surely, as that indicates a mental deficiency, but overall we can live happy lives and we can enjoy life without hurting others. Happiness comes in many forms. The pursuit of happiness can be accomplished without destroying the planet. The big question, however, is whether we are capable of performing such a feat. I sincerely hope so but am not sanguine.

Wow! The new year certainly gets me waxing philosophically!

With the circulators running in the marina, you could almost believe you're at anchor with the waves lapping gently at the hull. I am so hopeful of this summer's activities. In the cold and dark of living below a Fairclough cover in winter hope for warmth and sun and swimming and sailing and cookouts and exploring and lazy days at anchor and exciting days under sail and clear nights under the stars and sailing under the full moon and safe harbor in a thunderstorm and cool showers on hot days and fishing and fresh mussels, clams and oysters and all those times with friends or alone grows like a sprout from a seed in a little plastic pot that you keep on the window sill and sometimes forget to water but then do and feel bad about it because you did forget but then forgive yourself because you know the little plant doesn't hold grudges as it just wanted a little water to be happy.

Be well, keep warm, and we'll all be on the water soon! See you there.

Kudos to a Business that Cares

2008-12-05T16:21:00.003-05:00

Let me tell you a story of how a business should be run.

Last September on a surprisingly cold, windy, and rainy day, I was in Northport, NY rafted up with my good friends Laura and Cory. We had had a lovely evening before with Herb and Gina and Bobbie and Warren aboard Laura and Cory's boat.

The next morning, as I said, turned out to be rainy and cold. Laura and Cory had to get back to Stamford so when they were going to weigh anchor I had no choice but to do the same.

Unlike their Kady-Krogen, I had to be outside for this little trip back and so reached for my favorite foul weather gear, a Gill O2 jacket. As I was standing out in the rain I noticed I was getting wet. Inside. Like totally soaked. I thought maybe it was just the dampness, but no, it wasn't. I was wet.

This is not the behavior one expects from foul weather gear, so that week I figured I'd call Gill and see what's up. Of course, my expectations were low as the jacket was five or six years old, but it had been taken care of, so I thought, "What the hey..."

After getting the phone number for customer service, I called and talked to Becky - she was as nice as nice can be and suggested that sometimes the waterproofing wears out and I should try that first, and then let her know how it went. Really, she wanted to know.

Off I went to a sporting goods store and picked up some waterproofing stuff. Two bottles of waterproofing stuff as the jacket was considerably larger than a couple of pairs of shoes.

Back at the ranch I started in on the jacket and noticed that a panel in the back below the shoulders was all broken up and I could see the liner through it. That was obviously the source of water inside the jacket.

Soon afterwards, I called Gill again and spoke once more with Becky. She indicated I should send it in and they'd have a look at it and either repair it or replace it if they thought it was a manufacturing defect. It turns out Gill has a lifetime guarantee. I did not know that.

I wrapped the jacket up, put it in a box, and fired it off to Gill at the address she provided. Inside I placed a letter describing the whole sad story. I figured I'd never see the jacket again and it would be deemed my problem.

A few weeks later while staring into the blue it occured to me that I should give Becky a call. Being the man of action I am, I waited until the next day and then called her. "Oh, yes!", she said, "We've just sent out a replacement jacket to you - actually we don't make the one you sent anymore and so the new one is an upgrade. You should have it, umm, let me see here, by Wednesday." Then she added that the panel had delaminated - it might have been the end of the roll or something and I had not done anything wrong.

I was stunned into near silence. No I wasn't - I was just yanking your chain. I reserve stunned silence for other things. I thanked her profusely, and she seemed genuinely pleased to have been able to help. I hope that was the case.

But she was wrong: The jacket came Tuesday. And it's so nice that all the people on my dock want to steal it. Hard to do with me in it, I might add.

So there you have it - I had to get this out because if you're looking for foulies, and you don't know whose to buy, go with Gill. If they can stand behind their product like that it's got to be good.

There's my feel good story for the year. Let's see Oprah beat that! Ahahahaha!

See ya on the water!

There Is Never Enough Space!

2008-11-29T11:18:00.011-05:00

I'm going out on a limb here and stating a truism: There is never enough stowage in a boat. No matter how much space you think you have, you'll fill it and want more (I think it's the reason people purchase bigger boats - they can have more stuff aboard).

In Pelican, there are three usable cabin sole openings. The forward one in the v-berth cabin is large enough to stow some wine and get to the knot meter for maintenance. There's one in the main cabin just above the keel and deeper area where I've put the holding tank and a third that gives access to the Walter V-Drive.

However, sticking my head in the opening in the main cabin I can see there is enough volume below the cabin sole to store, literally, tons of stuff. But it's not accessible. The main space aft of the mast on top of the keel is 18" tall, 20" wide or so, and 5 feet long - to either side are stowage areas following the hull, going the whole length of the cabin, way up into the v-berth. But sadly, no access.

Well, that's changing. I wanted better access to those volumes and to upgrade the latches on the floorboards so that they meet the Saftey Of Life At Sea (SOLAS) specifications. So, with help from my good friend Leigh we set about cutting the openings out from the cabin sole. One great tool we used is a new one from Dreme l - called the Multi-max. It vibrates and you can get a small saw blade that allows you to cut the corners square. The basic kit comes with one.

After cutting out the openings, we cleaned up the edges and framed out the openings with 2x3 Douglas fir. That's the same type of wood used by Pearson to frame out the cabin. Since it's really very dry there, fir is perfectly fine. If it were wet all the time, I'd probably use oak or even better, ipe, a really hard, dense wood that is supposed to be a sustainable wood. It's very hard to work with, so think twice before starting a big project. But it will last forever in almost all environments.

Anyway, once the things were framed out, Leigh took the cut out sole board home and framed them in oak - which is what Pearson did. They didn't use teak.

When I got them back, I took the time to fit them properly. Leigh had made them exactly the same size as the hole so I just removed 1/32" on each side with an electric plane and hey! Presto! Perfect fit.

Now, for me, comes the hard part. I'm great with plumbing, electrics, electronics, welding, machining with all sorts of materials. But put a piece of wood in front of me and you can be sure it will end up as toothpicks or scrap. That's just the way it is. Wood and I just don't get along.

As it turns out, Leigh, sometime in the past, had made patterns for mortising the latches - we had used them to lock down floorboards on some boats participating in the Newport-Bermuda race. SOLAS, as I mentioned, requires all openings have positive latches and these are the strongest and easiest to use. Anyway, there are two patterns; one for the square opening you see at the sole level and the other for the mechanism below. In addition, I have to drill a hole below that for the rod to stick out from. The latches are available at Marine Parts Depot (see link on sidebar) at half the price anywhere else and unlike the ABI ones (very expensive) these have stainless steel bolts - The ABI ones have or had bronze or brass ones which were too easy to snap.

This is the first pattern - the fitting must start at least 2" from the edge of the board so I've marked the pattern at 2" from the inside edge of the opening. I can line it up and center it and then clamp it. Using a router and a 1/2" pattern bit slowly adjust it until the depth is correct - the cut in the wood is about 3/32" but I took the time to compare it to the fitting's thickness so it would lay flush. You'll notice that the pattern has boards on it - there's a reason for that and once the bit is cutting to the proper depth, merely changing the pattern will make the depth cut for the mechanism perfect.

You'll notice on this board there is an old mortise - this is from the pull ring. Fortunately, the pull ring hardware fits exactly within the footprint of the new latch and is exactly in the right place. Remember, the latch you purchase will have a rather large variability for the distance from the edge so if you need to move it one way or the other you can shorten the arm or make the latch on the frame wider - there is really about an inch of play. Finally, I squared the corners with a sharp 1/2" wood chisel. Take your time and do this right and it will make installation look totally professional.

The second pattern is lined up with the first pattern's corners - notice the little triangles cut out at the corners of the pattern hole. These are exactly the corners of the first pattern and allow you to look down and see the mortise that exists. The inner hole, the one you'll route out, is not aligned on any edge - it actually is short of the edge enough so that the screws in the latch will bite wood. This is very important.

You can see the whole mortise now with the 1-1/2" hole drilled for the mechanism and shaft. This bit of routing creates lots and lots of sawdust. Don't do it in the boat. Really, you'll be cleaning up sawdust for years. Just cutting the openings took me almost a week to get all the nooks and crannies clean. What a mess!

My friend Bob Muldoon made me some aluminum angle fittings for the latches to lock to - they are simply 3" long sections of 90 degree angle with three holes drilled in one arm for attaching to the frame below the sole. Dead simple. I installed them so that they were even with the top of the frame and the sole would sit just on top of them. Then I adjusted the arm on the latch to be just next to the arm of the angle that protrudes into the opening.

There are many ways to hold down the sole openings - on other boats, I used pins on one side that slid into sockets and only one latch on the opposite side. On Pelican, I used two latches because it's just easier and there is less likelyhood for splitting the cabin sole where they go. For the price of the latches, it just made sense - it also gives me two handholds for the piece.

So, then, here is an example of a finished sole opening. This particular one on the port side will allow access to one end of the watermaker - just aft of where you see the toe of my foot is another new access panel that gives me access to the refrigerator compressor and where the actual water maker pump and plumbing will be.

As I write this it's snowing the first real snowstorm of the season. It's hard to imagine that! Ok, not hard - all I have to do is go outside. But here in Pelican I'm warm and toasty. There are a tremendous number of winter projects and I'm excited about each one!

All to soon this downtime will be over and it will be sailing season again! I can't wait for that either! If I don't see you on the docks, I'll see you on the water in spring! Happy Holidays! Happy and healthy and good boating New Year!

Another Season Passes

2008-11-02T10:00:00.003-05:00

I'm back from my delivery of an Outer Reef 65 to Palm Beach. It was eventful and boring in equal measures. We had three systems including gales offshore pass on the trip down and had to spend more time in the Intra Coastal Waterway (ICW) than we wanted to.

The ICW is suffering from a lack of funding. It's supposed to be dredged to a depth of 14 feet but in many cases it's less than half of that and with wind from the north or north west tends to empty towards sounds like the Albemarle or Pungo River, Neuse River, or Pamlico Sound. Moreover, in the larger bodies of water it gets uncomfortably rough.

Anyway, inside a big powerboat (expedition trawler) with stablilizers it's warm, comfortable and level. There's pitch, of course, but no roll.

I can't stress this enough: There are logs in the ICW that float below or just at the surface of the water. While navigating it, you MUST keep an active watch. Some boaters will report the deadheads as securité anouncements on the VHF, but more often it's up to you. Actually, it's always up to you.

One sad thing about the ICW is that where there are no speed limits, large powerboat wakes are destroying the banks. This is bad because the eroded materials end up in the ICW and because the undermined trees end up as deadheads that can be hit. In vessels with protected rudders and propellers they are just noisy. In boats where that's not the case they're a disaster lurking.

What was really nice was going with someone who has experience on the ICW. Cory has been up and down it 30 something times and knows all the cool little places. I plan on stopping at all of them and more on my adventure.

Many people get Beaufort, NC and Beaufort, SC mixed up. The North Carolina one is bo fort and the South Carolina one is beu fort. Easy way to remember this is 'o' comes before 'u' so the bo fort (Beaufort, NC) is above the South Carolina one. The members of the local populace gets very irritated when you mix them up.

Beaufort, NC is a sailor's town. Sure, powerboats stop there but unlike most other marine towns, they don't hold much sway. Beaufort is a jumping off point for the Bahamas, Bermuda, and all places south. It's below Cape Hatteras so you can avoid unpleasantries there. True, there are still two more capes (Lookout and Fear) which have similar histories of shipwrecks but are not, for some reason, avoided as assidously.

I met a fellow 424 owner, John Stevenson, and we had a nice afternoon together and he joined us for dinner at a very tasty restaurant just up the road from the town marina. I think it's on Queen Street, and it's not called a restaurant but a market. It's a little pricy, but not bad. And the food is excellent. John has been all over the Atlantic with his 424 and is extremely knowledgeable. It was a stroke of great luck to hook up with him. He's off to the Bahamas now.

There's a little bar on Middle Lane, too, where if she's reading this (highly doubtful), I'd like to thank the lady who popped in and danced with me for one dance and then left. Very much like a drive-by dance.

We had to stay in Beaufort for a day and a half while we had propeller work done. Remember the deadhead thing? Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement. All I can say is I'm glad I wasn't at the helm when we hit.

Here's something else. Generally when you hit something with a prop the prop bends. It's the nature of the material. What you don't expect is a brittle failure. Check out the pictures of the prop that was the most seriously damaged. The props are supposedly bronze. Bronze is an alloy of copper, tin, and zinc (as well as other metals). Unfortunately, tin is more expensive than zinc so many foundries use more zinc than is best for the application.

Normally, this isn't a problem. However, in a marine environment what do you put on your shafts to protect them from electrolysis? Yes, that's right, zinc. What happens when the zincs are all used up due to stray currents in a marina or a poor bonding system? You got it - the propellers become the zincs resulting in the loss of zinc from them - you can tell because they become pink. Check it out - especially at the hub. Those pink splotches are from the zinc being sacrificed.

What this means is that the metal won't fail in a ductile manner (bend before breaking) but in a more precipitous brittle manner. It's very important, therefore, to make sure you keep up with your zincs. Propellers are expensive. Zincs are not.

What is most incredible about 24hr sailing is nighttime at sea. I've mentioned it before on another entry, but each time I go out on the foredeck and look up I'm amazed. Totally amazed. You can look out and think it's cloudy but it's not - it's the Milky Way! There are so many stars to be seen that you can't pick out many of the well known constellations! There's almost no space between all the stars! I could lay out on deck all night long and watch except for the cold spray. When farther than 20 miles from land and therefore out of shoreside light pollution range it is more than worthwhile to stare at the sky. Highly recommended.

Finally, my friend Cory gave me a PowerSurvivor 35 revers osmosis water maker originally sold by Recovery Engineering who was purchased by PUR and finally by Katadyn. I'll be rebuilding and installing it this winter.

Sadly, the season is coming to an end. Yesterday there was a flurry of activity at the marina - people taking their sails off the boat, winterizing their engines, and performing all sorts of end-of-season tasks. I'm hoping for another good weekend to sail and then I'll cover the boat. Usually, I wait for horrible weather to do that. Maybe this year, too...

Way Down in Virginny Town

2008-10-22T18:35:00.002-04:00

Well, here I am aboard a 65' Outer Reef on a delivery to Florida. My friends Cory and Kevin are involved in this thing (Cory's the Captain, Kevin and I are the crew). This is an expedition trawler. Quite a lovely boat, actually.

We're tied up at a really nice marina, the Atlantic Yacht Basin, just south of the lock in the ICW south of Norfolk, Va.

We left a couple of days ago and a series of lows came across the mid-Atlantic states making the outside really, really uncomfortable with spray over the pilothouse and 8-10 foot waves. Sure, the boat has stabilizers, but there's a limit. Also, since we're running someone else's boat, we came inside at Cape May and up the Delaware to the C & D Canal, and down the Chesapeake. We're running 24 hours a day when outside on 3 hours on watch, 6 off.

Although this is a paid position it's still fun. Let's face it, you can crew on an old, beat to crap sailboat or a modern motor yacht and I'm telling you that unless you're a glutton for punishment, you'll go for the motor yacht. Heat, A/C, long showers (because of a water maker), full galley, stabilizers so the boat doesn't roll (it still pitches and yaws), and some very nice living arrangements makes the trip quite nice even if it's not my very own boat.

On the ICW we only run dawn to dusk. You can run at night but it's not really recommended. It's very nervous making and with a 2.5 million dollar yacht at your command and you'd better think twice before taking the risk.

There are a bunch of lows marching across the US as is normal for this time of year so every day we have to decide daily whether to go outside or not. For the next couple of days we'll be inside bypassing Cape Hatteras and if possible we'll leave from Beaufort, NC to go outside. More on that later in another blog.

So after a rough night outside the coast of New Jersey and a moderately tense night down the Chesapeake, we're here.

Getting from Mile Marker 1 in Norfolk to Old Bridge which should take 45 minutes took almost 4 hours today. Jeez, what a pain. We had 30 boats or so trying to get through bridges that only open on the hour or a lock that fills and empties at the speed of the boaters involved. It was nice to see some professionalism in the boaters (and some not). Only one boat ran aground and only one person ended up in the water - trying to get his inflatable out from under his self steering gear.

Tomorrow we'll be heading to Beaufort, NC, as I mentioned. The ICW can be very beautiful so I'm looking forward to the trip.

Will write more when I can - I hope to see you on the water!

I Can't Believe Summer's Gone Again

2008-10-19T10:52:00.012-04:00

Wow! The summer slipped by so quickly! Driving through the woods in the Hudson Highlands the sun was setting behind me and the leaves were swirling down from the trees, sparkling, beautiful and nostalgic, blowing like moments past. (I give credit to my friend Tracy for the last phrase - much better than my own.)

Normally I'd've written a great deal about my vacation but this year it was on my friends' Laura and Cory Kadey-Krogen 54 they purchased in Ft. Lauderdale. We took Ursa Minor from there to Cat Cay in the Bahamas, across to Great Harbor and into the Gulf Stream to Savanah, Ga. Up the ICW to Great Bridge, Va racing Hannah - a storm that was hyped and then wasn't. Across the Gulf Stream we powered through feeder bands for Gustav - some of the squalls were 50kts and blinding downpours.

On the ICW it was basically a delivery. Long days - mostly because we were outrunning Hannah, as I mentioned.

High points of the trip: Cat Cay, diving around Great Harbor for lobster and conch, and free wine in Beaufort. Also: Taking a shower in the runoff from the pilot house roof in a squall. Really, really nice. I learned how to clean lobster, couldn't follow cleaning conch (and actually, for the $3.00, it's much better getting it done by locals). It seems that there's an inverse relationship between ease of capture and ease of cleaning of creatures in the Caribbean...

That's not to say there aren't beautiful places on the Intracoastal. There are - there are cypress swamps and freshwater creeks and large marshes piled high with oysters and mussels (which as you may remember, I love). There are also dolphins in the ICW - they love to play in the bow wave. I tried to take pictures, but it's not easy. Mostly what I got is underwater blurs.

When I was in Ft. Lauderdale (a place I have an extremely low opinion of, incidentally, Travis McGee not withstanding) I purchased an inexpensive underwater camera and case - good to 139 feet, which I probably won't ever free dive to. I got some excellent pictures of sea turtles at Great Harbor. I'm told it's really odd as most of them have been eaten.

Cory caught a load of lobster and taught me how to clean them for eating - basically, for the Caribbean lobsters that have no big claws, you only eat the tail. So, although kind of gross, you rip the tail off with a twist, break off a piece of the antenna, insert it into the now detached tails' rectum a little bit, twist it to get the intestine caught, and pull it out. Then you save the tail and toss the rest away. Later on, when you eat them, though, it's worth it. They're good - more flavorful than Maine lobsters.

There was a great deal of activity for the two or three days in the Bahamas. We wanted to stay longer but there were four storms either forming or coming across - Gustav, Hannah, Ike and an unnamed one forming near Africa. So we had to leave. Too bad - but I'm definitely going back. It's hot there, but nothing as oppressive as Florida. The people are great, too!

I just finished a project I wanted to take care of since I purchased Pelican - namely, getting the bilge pumps working and wired properly - they were wired to a breaker not fed directly from the battery and there was no way to run them manually. There are two, a Rule 1500 gph with a low in the bilge switch, and a Rule 2000 gph with a switch about a foot above the bottom.

The upper float switch didn't work although the lower did the job quite nicely. While rebuilding a workboat for my employer I saw some very nice bilge pump switches - Auto, Off, and Manual with a light that indicates the pump should be running. I decided to mount them at the nav station where they were out of the way but accessible. The West Marine switches have their own 20amp breaker. You can also get them with a fuse holder - everything else is the same.

After measuring and cutting the holes, I pulled and disconnected the wiring from the bilge pumps - this is an excellent time to test everything. I tested that each pump ran by providing power directly to them and that both switches worked with a multimeter. It turned out that the upper float switch connectors had corroded but the switch was ok. I ran new marine 14 gauge wire, one three conductor wire for each pump and switch so they could be run independently.

After rewiring the pumps and their float switches, I wired the the panel switches and while everything was out I tested they worked as planned - the diagram that came with the panel switches wasn't too clear and moreover, the top and the bottom of the switch was reversed in the diagram. When you make connections that are going to be exposed to water, make sure you use the heat shrink ones - and shrink them. I used them for all the pump and switch connections and then wrapped the whole mess with that rubber tape that only sticks to itself.

Finally, after checking the panel switches were all wired correctly and worked as expected and so forth, I mounted them and hey! presto! properly wired bilge pumps. Incidentally, the power comes from the buss bar connected directly to battery bank 1, the big three 4D AGM battery bank. That's why the panel switches have their own breakers.

Well, that's it for now. I'm leaving for a boat delivery to Florida and when I return I suppose I'll have to put the cover on again. Darn! The season was just too short!

Upcoming projects for the winter will be refurbishing and installing a watermaker and finishing the plumbing for the holding tank - wiring the macerator pump and testing all that. There are others I hope to get to, including learning celestial navigation. Also, my opinion of the XM weather thing for the Raymarine C80 display. I installed that this summer and am not terribly impressed. But I'm prattling on.

The Right Tool

2008-08-02T11:38:00.003-04:00

Ok, although you haven't been hearing about this, my rudder post packing gland, very similar to a main shaft stuffing box, has been leaking. I'm not surprised as it looks as if it hasn't been adjusted in the thirty years since it was installed.

I was going to repack it but there was still a great deal of adjustment left. But here's the thing: the tools you can purchase at marine stores are absolutely worthless. They bend and warp and don't have any use aboard a boat. But the right tool is available - and it's from one of my favorite tool companies, Rigid.

You never want to use pump pliers or pipe wrenches on a stuffing gland. The last thing you want to do is chew up the relatively soft bronze fittings. Once you do, you'll never be able to use a real proper wrench again without removing whatever shaft you're dealing with.

So, I've been struggling with this dilemma until I found these wrenches. They are perfect! Boy, oh boy, the job was done in just a few minutes rather than the hours struggling I've done so far trying to move the nuts.

So, the first job is to loosen the locking nut - with this wrench adjusted properly, it was a couple of taps on the handle with the hammer and presto! All loose. Then I removed the actual packing nut and held it up above the whole fitting. Next, I ran the nut down the threads as far as I could and back a couple of times to clean the threads. When doing this, don't rush. Go a little way, then back off - there should be water coming through the packing material that helps wash away the salt and corrosion.

Finally, I schmeared lithium grease all over the threads and re-ran the locking nut back down. Then I put some grease on top of the packing itself and ran the packing nut down to a little over hand tight so that no water was coming out. Remember, the rudder shaft doesn't really need a lot of lubrication as it doesn't spin. The main shaft has a little different adjusting procedure.

The last thing to do is to snug the lock nut up against the packing nut and Bob's your uncle. It will take you way longer to read this than do. Repacking only changes this in that you have to remove all the packing letting in a considerable amount of water (not a dangerous amount, though) and replace with whatever kind you like - I like the graphite impregnated stuff.

A Rendezvous and Various Adventures

2008-07-29T08:16:00.005-04:00

There is a Pearson 424 owner's organization - Of course I belong to it - that has such a tremendous wealth of information and opinion from people who have sailed the 424 all over the world. All of us have had similarly different experiences (that's not double-speak - your right hand is like your left hand only different, if you get my drift) and have come up with some pretty spectacular solutions.

For this trip Paul and Jo from Canada who are new 424 owners came along. They're really nice people and it was an extraordinary pleasure to have them along. Both are experienced sailors and this will be telling a little later on.

The really neat thing about all this is that even though the solutions are different, they're all quite valid and totally satisfactory. It is in these solutions the owner's personality become apparent. There really is, it seems, more than one way to skin a cat.

This weekend (July 26-27 2008) was a rendezvous for the 424 owners. Rodd and Thatcher who keep their boats there suggested Three Mile Harbor, NY (just west of Montauk, the end of the South Fork of Long Island). The harbor is quite large with a mud bottom. More on that later. Six of us showed up and we rafted together.

There are several things I learned this weekend. First, how to kedge an anchor. Second, a Fortress anchor is worth its weight in gold (big surprise to me). Third, you can move a raft-up en masse with the help of hand held radios. Fourth, my outboard motor works like a champ and drives the 10.5 foot Achilles dinghy really well. Fifth, boats that are the same aren't.

Remember the mud? Well as you put more boats on a raft-up, you need more anchors. We started with two and as Saturday wore on we had two or three more boats arrive. As the anchors were mostly on the other side of the raft up, I volunteered to set one of mine. Since my main anchors are a 45 lb CQR and a 70 lb Bruce I wasn't interested in taking one of them out in the dinghy. I happen to have a Fortress 23 and that seemed a good choice as it only weighs about, well, 23 lbs.

First, if you're going to kedge by yourself (there were others there, but this was an excellent opportunity to try on my own because there were others there) and even if you've got help, first flake the anchor rode out - I flaked the chain on one side of the deck and the nylon rode on the other. Figure out how much you might need and add a few more feet. Make sure the lines are not overrunning each other. This sounds obvious, but a knot in the rode will make your life very difficult. Put the anchor where you can reach it safely from the dinghy. Obviously, a 23 lb anchor is pretty easy to carry, for me, anyway.

Bring the dinghy to the anchor and put the anchor gently into the bottom so that you don't puncture the dinghy. Holing the dinghy is considered bad form. I found using reverse so I could watch the rode paying out to be the best way. It may be difficult running astern if there are big seas, so be prepared to go forward and watch you don't tangle the rode with the engine. Once far enough out (you decide), drop the anchor and chain part of the rode like you'd normally do it from the bow, drifting back towards the boat as you do.

Once the anchor is down, go back to the boat and pull the rode in to set the anchor. It turns out that the Fortress/Danforth type of anchor sets pretty easily in mud. The plow type anchors don't. Bruces do.

Anyway, after that little drill, the wind came up and we started to drift. The two plow anchors skipped along the bottom and finally my Fortress really dug in. We had 150,000lbs + of boat holding on my anchor in 15kts wind!

My brilliant idea was to start the engines of the two outboard boats on the raft-up and idle or whatever to a new anchor point and drop all three major anchors (I decided to use the Bruce), drift back to set them and call it a day. So that's what we did using hand held radios to coordinate the port and starboard boats for directional control. I'm sure it was quite a sight to see the six boats motoring about the harbor all tied together. I wouldn't recommend this for rough water. Of course, if it were rough, we wouldn't raft up.

I have never used the motor on my dinghy. Moreover, I've never actually used the dinghy for anything but washing the boat in the water. If you want an inflatable dinghy and you don't want a RIB, then make sure that the dinghy you get has an inflatable floor and keel. Highly recommended because it makes the dinghy more maneuverable and it tows much better than the flat bottom ones. Oh, and it can plane.

My 8hp Nissan 2 cycle outboard is more than sufficient for my dinghy and now that I figured out how to get it into the dinghy without undue strain and gnashing of teeth, I'll use it more. Knowing I was going to have to use it, I made an engine harness for it. I use the mizzen boom an mizzen sheet as a lifting device to lower it over the side to the dinghy's transom. Very easy. No drama. Works like a champ. The same in reverse to remove.

I really got a lot of experience on things you'd never normally have to do and that made the weekend worthwhile even if the people hadn't been absolutely spectacular!

On the way back we rounded Orient Point into a serious thunderstorm - winds gusting to 38 kts steady at 30-35. Well, sir, we were puttering along before this with the jib, staysail, and mizzen and when the wind went to 25 kts or so we rolled in half the jib. Then as it built, we rolled it all the way in. Call me chicken, but at that point I had the engine running at an idle. The lee shore wasn't so far away. Anyway, the staysail and the mizzen powered us through at 7+ kts (hitting 8+ at times) on a close reach and there was no drama! The boat was heeled about 10-15 degrees and that was that. Easy to steer and easy to deal with. I was pleasantly surprised and really thankful that Paul and Jo were there.

Now I know what the boat can take and I know what I have to do to keep all the stuff where it belongs in a seaway. It turns out that the normal elbow catches don't do the job. If there's any weight at all behind the door/drawer the catches will let go. Moreover, I think that the catches where you have to put your finger inside a hole to unlatch is pretty much asking for a broken finger at some time. So the search is on for a solution - external, positive, easy to use. I don't really want to use barrel bolts because too much fancy stuff has to be done to make it work, like blocking the barrel up to the height of the drawer face. But as a last resort, I'll do it.

Recently I added a cockpit shower. Here are the pictures of the external and internal set up. I picked the place to put it because that's where the dockside water fitting is and there's little or no structural stress and it's easy to work behind that face of the cockpit. I chose the fitting because it has a sealing door. One thing I don't like that much is that where the hose goes in is a potential leakage point when using the shower, but I left the hose long enough that I can be pretty far away when using it. You'd not use it in a stormy seaway anyhow.

There's nothing better than a cockpit shower for keeping salt out of the boat. A very worthwhile project and it took me about 2 hours to install. True, I've done it before, but still, it's a really easy project.

Well, more later. See you on the water!

I Love My Boat and a Rant

2008-06-26T08:00:00.005-04:00

Of course, everyone loves their boat. They may say otherwise but they still mention it with pride. Certainly I was that way. But the other day I was sailing to Northport in a convoy of friends. The winds were light and I set the staysail. As my friends Herb and Gina passed by, they took some pictures.

Ignore the fact that I'm hanging on like an old man. I had just lifted an 8D battery out of a box and my back was killing me.

But the point here is that when I saw this picture my heart jumped! That big ol' tub of a boat at the dock is really pretty under sail!

Since this picture was taken, I've put the Pelican logo on the bow and hope soon to have the new main sail and spinnaker with the same logos. It may be too much, but I don't think so.

Anyway I've had this picture since Memorial Day and it still tickles me every time I see it.

Life on the docks during the warm season is pretty interesting. There is or could be a party every evening. There is definitely a gathering every evening as we each see what happened to the other that day. It's really pretty nice. After dusk, when the no-see-ums come out and start being annoying generally we'll all disappear into our boats.

Since the mast pulpit installation I've finished the basic holding tank set up (there is a little more to finish for being at sea) and started the SCADTech Tank Level Monitor installation. Also, I've purchased tubing for replacing the water tank vents and suction lines. They're all old Tygon tubing that's degrading at an alarming rate and they have no reinforcement. There is always something to do. But summer is for sailing and I'm having a really hard time getting myself together to work on the boat.

Fuel prices are out of this world, as everyone knows. I get one or two 5 gallon cans filled each week depending on what I've done over the weekend. I don't like doing that because the fuel tax for marine fuel goes to the Wallop-Bureau act spends the money on things all us boaters need or want. However, the marinas here are charging 6+ dollars per gallon, clearly more than necessary. Especially when marinas up the Hudson River are charging just a little more than the price at a gas station.

I've probably ranted about this before, but if you're in a business that depends on discretionary dollars, you'd better not charge so much that your customers leave. Last year used boats were selling pretty well; not so much the new sub-million dollar boats. At this point, however, the market for used boats isn't moving and there is a glut. People are leaving boating because it just isn't worth it.

True, there are some die-hards. But more and more, anchorages are full and transient moorings empty. Permanent moorings are full in yacht clubs and marina slips are empty. There is a trend here. This time, because I don't expect fuel costs to go down significantly, the trend will not reverse easily. This has been coming. In the northeast, you can very easily pay $3.50 per foot per night for dockage plus $5 or $10 per night for electricity! I don't know about you, but if I go to a hotel for $140 for a night, I don't expect to pay extra for electricity. So, if there's someplace ashore I really want to go, I'll drive there or dinghy in.

There's also another disturbing trend I read about recently in a Boat US magazine. Outdoor activity participation has decreased almost 50% since the 1980's! National parks attendance is down by that much over the almost three decades. Child obesity is almost at an epidemic. Heck, adult obesity is an epidemic. It seems no one wants to go outdoors. When did that start? Think about it - mid to late 80's - video games. Online services. 24 hour television.

Is it any surprise, then, that our disregard for the natural world is increasing? That we can't get a government together that actually cares more about the future of our country and world than big oil and the military-industrial complex?

In a recent Scientific American, Japan is researching the technology of bringing power from space to earth via laser or microwave. We're setting up a missile defense system that's doomed to failure. Northern Europe countries are setting up wind generators at sea. We're suing companies that want to do it because 'it will spoil the view' (this applies to the wind generator farm proposed for the Nantucket Sound - a barely navigable stretch of water for boats with a draft over 10 feet). We, in New York, have to petition the government to not allow the Broadwater project in the Long Island Sound - an LNG station in the middle of the Sound (see http://www.broadwaterenergy.com/ and http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16594903/ ).

Europeans stress conservation and have for decades. They have some extremely nifty cars that get 40 miles per gallon. What do we want to do? Drill offshore in environmentally sensitive areas. Drill in places that won't produce oil for 15-20 years! Last evening on National Public Radio's (NPR) Morning Edition there was a piece "Big Oil's Alternative Energy Ads Scrutinized". Even though the big oil companies are getting huge profits, they are spending tiny amounts (relatively) on research for alternative energy.

Well, if you're an oil company, you want to sell oil.

And if you're an oil man president and vice president, you want to sell oil.

It's really, really clear that we, you and I, are witnessing the last days of America. Every great civilization has followed a clear path of violent rise to power, golden era of prosperity, and either violent fall or a just fading away to a lower status.

Is there anything we can do? There sure is. We can get off our fat lazy asses and get back on track with education, outdoor activities, energy conservation and stop our collective whining. We are or have become a nation lead by fear, not bravery. We think of ourselves and not others. We want to be taken care of rather than taking care of ourselves. We can aspire to greatness, not wealth. We can use diplomacy instead of force. And more than anything, we can learn to laugh at ourselves again.

Sorry about the rant. I usually don't do that here because sailing isn't political. I don't care who you are, when you're at sea you have only one thing to do: stay afloat. Democrats and Republicans and Independents all drown the same way.

Mast Rails and Their Installation

2008-05-16T12:26:00.009-04:00

When I was young, say, last year or so, I never had a use for mast rails. I could prance about the deck with nary a worry in the worst of the worst weather. I was, for all practical purposes, the mountain goat of deckdom. I'm sure you'll believe that.

My efforts since purchasing Pelican (nee Pelicano) have been to make her an ocean going vessel that I can single hand.

Towards that end, I decided that since I couldn't run all my sail control lines to the cockpit, that I'd keep them at the mast. These lines include the main and jib halyards and the main reefing lines. It doesn't make sense to have to run back and forth from the cockpit to manage sails, especially if you're trying to get it down quickly.

I know you'll say, "Hey, wait! Didn't you move all your lines aft to the cabin roof on Inertia? I mean, you went to such trouble!" You'd be correct - the difference was that Inertia had a clear route for all the lines that wouldn't result in me tripping every time I went forward. Pelican's layout is not the same and since I can't run that many lines, I won't - actually, the only three will be the staysail sheet, the boom vang, and the main sheet. Everything else is at the mast.

Now doing all this work at the mast could be easy-peasy if the weather's nice. If it isn't, not only will I be hanging on for dear life, I'll be trying to get something done. Tada! Here enter's the mast pulpits (or mast rails, or sissy bars depending on your proclivites).

Mast pulpits are sturdy bars that give you a place to lean when working on the sail handling gear. They should wrap around you so that pitching won't fling you from your perch and they should be sturdy enough and well enough attached that you can hook your tether to them or to their base, in my case.

The Pearson 424 Owner's group got together to order a mess of these things - One member spent considerable time measuring and making pricing requests and finding Railmakers, Inc. to make 16 pairs for a deep discount. Dave at Railmakers was very helpful and patient, too.

Anyway, a month or so later, the rails arrived and I waited for a nice weekend to install them. Here's how that went and lessons learned.

When you get these things, you have to figure out where they're going. We measured for a certain location that most people wanted. In my case, because I have a staysail, I didn't want it banging on the rails all the time so I moved mine aft and outboard so that the feet still fit the contours of the deck. They must also clear all the lines that may be near, and they must be comfortable to lean against and work the various controls on the mast.

In this case, I measured the front and rear legs for the port side mast pulpit from all sorts of fixed points, such as the mast, a hatch edge, the shrouds and wrote them down - 4 or 5 measurements for each of the two legs. I then took those and placed the starboard pulpit in the identical place. With a Sharpie, I marked one hole for each footpad. There is a lesson to be learned here: Use some kind of tape to hold the things in place while you mark. Trust me, you'll be glad you did.

The next step was to drill placement holes - I knew I'd have to remove the outside overhead panels to mount these things, but I still needed to know where to clear away interference inside. So I drilled one hole in each leg in the most limiting direction - inboard for the inboard legs, outboard for the outboard, forward for the forwardmost... and you get the rest. Actually, when marking them I chose the hole. Then I took a picture. You can see that the inboard legs fall right next to the trim for the overhead. That means some work for the chisel. Note the little whitish lines - those are the long bolts I used for location.

Railmakers, Inc. provided backing plates with the rails - very nice ones, I might add. I needed to clear enough room in those strips to put the plates. With the rails in place and being held with the locator bolts, I used the trusty Sharpie once again to mark the rest of the holes. Then I removed the rails and drilled them babies out.

The next step usually is to take a bent nail and scrape out the inner core. I went one better - I took a 1" hole saw and sawed the inner liner and core out. This gave me a great big place to fill with epoxy for strength and compression resistance. Each hole got taped over with duct tape. Make sure the duct tape is well bonded. Also make sure you don't cut the outer skin. Once drilled, the core pops out with a little persuasion from a screwdriver (like making wood plugs).

Now comes one of the hard parts. Here's what I learned. You need to use a syringe to fill the holes from the top. The West System has them pretty cheaply. You will be tempted to use 5 minute epoxy. Resist the temptation. 5 minute epoxy doesn't give you enough time to mix, put in syringe, squirt in hole, clean up mess, and self-level. Trust me on this. There are two ways of proceeding - one, use regular epoxy, West System or whatever and get that whole mess going.

Or, for a bit more money, Devcon makes self mixing injectors for 30 second, 5 minute and 30 minute mixes. They're about $4.00 a pop, but buying even the smallest amount of the West Epoxy with pumps and mixers and blah, blah, blah will cost you more and then you'll have to store the stuff until the cans get rusty and leaky and you throw the whole mess out. Ok, so, I purchased about 6 of the 30 minute injectors - each one will do one and a half of the holes or so.

Remember how I knew not to use 5 minute epoxy? Yup, the other holes. The 30 minute stuff is also much stronger, being a 2500 lb mix. Since I have other repairs, I'd probably get the West stuff if I had to do it over. I'm older, wiser, and stickier... If you look closely at the adjoining picture you'll see the three wrinkly areas on the tape patch - that's from the heat of the epoxy curing. You'll need to go around the holes several times as they self level. Also, keep checking below that the epoxy isn't leaking out all over your whatever.

When you're done with this part, take a break. The epoxy is supposed to cure in 30 minutes. Wait. Wait a little longer. It gets harder as time goes by. In fact, unless you're like me with almost zero patience, put your stuff away, have a cocktail, go have dinner. Tomorrow's another day.

Ok, epoxy's cured. Remove the tape. You're ready to drill holes. Here's what I did: I drilled one hole from the top through where they were before. Don't drill them all - just one per leg. Place the rail and run a bolt through, put on a backing plate and tighten it down so the holes remaining line up with the spots of light you'll see through the epoxy. It's easier to drill into the light then the other way, and the bit will find the hole in the feet, at least close enough so that you can remove the rail and drill down from the top. Trust me, this is the best way to do it because if you do it the other way, I guarantee the bolts won't line up with the backing plates.

Dude and dudettes! You are ready to mount the rails! Ok, here's the next hard part. You can do it yourself. If you stand on the table you can work the screwdriver outside and a socket wrench inside. But it's easier with help. So offer a mate a beer and give him/her the screwdriver and go to town.

I used 4200 UV as the bedding material. I like it alot because it's really sticky (but not as bad as 5200) and it doesn't turn chalky from the sun. Slather that stuff on, making sure you get a good seal around all the holes. Carefully place the rail in place and start running the bolts through. With your assistant outside, run the nuts up until the goop starts oozing out or until the plates are almost all the way down. Don't tighten them tight. Now's a good time to quit for the day.

4200 UV takes 24 hours to cure properly. Wait. Really. And for God's sake, don't try to clean up the excess unless it's dripping down the sides of the cabin top! Let it cure. Tomorrow, you'll be taking a knife or razor and slicing the excess clean away. Really. Don't get impatient. Wait. Replace the overhead you removed, clean up the boat, and you're on your way!

When you're done (tomorrow) you'll have a lovely set of pulpits installed that will keep your ass in place when you most need your ass in place. Your friends that call them the pejorative 'sissy bars' isn't someone who's been out in a blow wrestling with lines and sails and so happy they have a secure place to park themselves to get the job done.

See you on the water real soon now!

The Sailing Season Is Here Again!

2008-04-27T10:33:00.004-04:00

The cover is off! The cover is off! The cover is OFF! Man, is that a great feeling or what? Sure, the boat's a mess and needs cleaning in the worst way, but real live sunlight is coming in all over! Man, oh, man.

Today it's cold and drizzling, which is ok because we need the rain and it is April, after all. I figure I'll stay nice and warm in the boat, catch up on my reading and writing, and nap and so forth.

While I'm drinking my first cup of joe, the bilge pump came on. That's ok - it does that once in a while because the rudder packing gland leaks. I'm working on that. But worse, in a couple of minutes it comes on again. And a couple of minutes later. And so on.

Well, this needs investigation so I looked into the bilge and I see water running into it at a pretty decent rate. Ok, everything out of the lazerette so I can see if the rudder packing has gotten worse. Nope. Check the dock side water fitting that I put in last weekend (see below), and nothing's leaking there either. Investigate the bilge some more and see the water is coming down the side - not the center as I'd expect from the rudder post.

Well, it turns out the hot water heater is right near there. I opened up the locker and hey! voila! water is spraying out of the cold water line to the heater. Turns out whoever plumbed the original tube in just loosely put on the hose clamp - enough not to leak at pressure of the water pump but not the shoreside water pressure. Not only that, but they put the hose on a pipe nipple as opposed to a hose barb. No worries - I loosened the clamp, slid the hose up another two inches, tightened the clamp, and added a second behind it. Problem solved. And boat is still floating.

Now, about the shore-side water fitting. I love them! It saves filling and managing the tanks when living aboard. Moreover, you always get clean water at a regulated pressure so no worries about running out of water when all soapy... and the piping will provide the cold water side of the cockpit shower.

I did this once on Inertia (and in the process flooded the battery charger by not tightening all the fittings before applying water pressure...oops) and was happy with the whole installation. This time, however, because I may plumb it so I can fill the tanks with water, I added a filter inline. The water comes through the regulator via a standard hose, goes through the filter and connects to the cold water side of the water heater. It's all done with flexible plastic tubing and fittings that are easily and inexpensively acquired at Home Depot. Since it's good enough for a house, it's good enough for a boat.

One of the great tools for doing this job is the Rigid Flexible Tubing Cutter - it's like a pruning shear except with one very large blade. The plumbing fittings require square cut ends to work properly - this tool holds the tubing square before cutting. The blades (very sharp) are replaceable. It's cheap and totally worth it for cutting any kind of plastic tubing. Highly recommended.

My new mast pulpits have just arrived - hopefully this weekend I'll be putting them on. Expect a full report!

I hope to get out on the water the weekend of May 9 - maybe I'll see you there!

One of the First Signs of Spring

2008-03-29T14:46:00.008-04:00

I don't know about you but my nav station collects stuff. By season's end, the inside contains little bits and pieces of things that have long ago been replaced, fixed, or otherwise rendered unto Neptune. It seems that the natural place to put things that you don't know what to do with is the nav station surface. So much so that before you can go for the first sail of the season something must be done or face charts, bulbs, little bits of wire, tape, Eldridge's (last year's), the screwdriver you use when you're too lazy to find a proper tool and whatever else hides in the corners ends up on the cabin sole or in the bilge.

So last weekend while installing my radio/CD player I had to clean it up. The first thing I found is that I have a bunch more spare parts than I knew. The other thing is that there's lots of room there for, well, navigating. Who knew? So, for the first few weeks of this season I'll have a ship-shape nav station while it waits to accrete this year's detritus.

My point here is that it's another spring and the beginning of a new season. There was a lull in work on the boat because it was cold and dark and unfriendly and frankly, all I really wanted to do aboard was sleep. I felt bad because I hadn't gotten anything done.

But in the last few weeks I've installed the new VHF with DSC calling and locating, new self-tailing winches (purchased as a celebration of a new job), and the stereo mentioned before. I'll finish up the holding tank plumbing now and will be setting sail late April for the season's first cruise. I can't wait!

Because of travel plans, I won't get the cover off until April 20 or so. But then, watch out! The weather keeps getting nicer and nicer. I sure do hope work doesn't get in the way of fun this year!

So, installing winches. Here goes. It is my feeling that you can't have enough of the things. Moreover, the standard placement of the winches Pelican meant that you have to go into autopilot to adjust the sails. This is a terrible way to singlehand, especially if the autopilot fails. I know since I've done it.

I recently came into a little bit of money and purchased two Andersen 46STs to use as primaries near the wheel (which I replaced with a 48" wheel). The first thing to consider is the actual placement. In Pelican's case, the mizzen stays and main backstays are right where you'd put a winch in a perfect world. Since it's not, I took a winch out of the box and put a winch handle in it and placed it where I could spin the handle without hitting my hand or anything else. I placed them outboard as far as I could on the coaming. I marked the circle where the base would be.

Next, I looked under the coaming to see if there was anything I wouldn't like to drill into, like electrical or fuel lines. This is a sometimes overlooked step that results in all sorts of grief. I've said it before: Good judgment comes from experience; experience from bad judgment.

Anyway, the winches come with a template, but since you have to take the top off to mount them, I just took it off, lined up the base with the circle I drew earlier, and with a marker marked the five mounting holes.

Since the mounting bolts are 5/16" I drilled all the holes to 7/16", taped the bottom and filled with liquid epoxy. After that set (well, a little longer because the neighbor came over and offered some wine so that pretty well finished that day's work) , I re-drilled the holes to 5/16".

Next I put 3M 4200UV around each hole and put the winches in place. With the help of my aforementioned wine producing neighbor, I crawled in the locker and he held the bolt head while I cranked from below.

Now as you see the picture from below, you'll notice I used fender washers instead of a full backing plate. When drilling through the coaming, I noticed the core was solid mahogany rather than plywood. It was 3/4" thick, as well. Since winch loading is sideways and not straight up I'm not worried. The original winches had no more than a regular washer and a lock washer and they've stood up for 30 years.

Because of the stays, I'll have to put a turning block on the port side to clear all the interference and to avoid the forward winches. I'll do this when the cover comes off later this month.

Soon, we'll be seeing each other on the water! I, for one, can't wait!

A Useful Skill

2008-03-01T08:22:00.004-05:00

Everyone who sails can tie or wishes they could tie a bowline without using the rabbit-tree-fox trick. It's true that with much practice even the internal thinking, "Ok, the rabbit comes out of the hole and goes around the tree..." will go away. The point is, the bowline becomes the knot for every purpose - dock lines, anchor rodes, combining lines, tying genoa clews, and so forth.

That's fine, but where a permanent loop is required, a splice is far more professional and proper. The new braided lines take a lot of work to splice and requires special tools in the form of hollow fids. But three strand nylon line - that of the most common dock, anchor, and snubber lines - is spectacularly easy to splice. Eye, end, and long/short splices are quite easy to do and once one is known, the rest are easily mastered.

In my reading about chain anchor rode I found that leaving the stress of anchoring on the bow rollers is considered bad form - the roller isn't designed for that kind of stress and the capstan, if your boat is so equipped, shouldn't be trusted to hold the strain. The solution, of course, exists in the form of snubber lines typically made of three strand nylon.

Snubber lines are deployed by hooking to the chain outboard of the bow roller and led through the bow chocks or hausepipes to the bow cleats. More chain is deployed until the strain is taken up by the snubber lines. Finally, the capstan is locked as a precaution.

This arrangement, although a bit more of a task to deploy, will help the boat ride more calmly at anchor (especially if your vessel has a tendency to sail about the anchor) and provides three points of failure.

There is another benefit to this arrangement: You can take one of the snubbers aft to another point to help the boat ride more smoothly in a crossing current/wind situation - instead of rolling with the waves, the boat can be pointed into or away from them.

That's why you want snubbers.

For a very nice manual for splicing, check this out: http://www.gleistein.com/en/files/Splicebook_EN_short.pdf

Here's how to make them (always make two - that way normally two in the bow, but one for the stern if you're deploying that anchor).

First, decide what size line - for my 42 foot boat, I chose 5/8ths inch line - I could have gone to 3/4ths but that would have made them to hard to manage.

Purchase the appropriately sized thimbles and shackles. The hook is a bit more difficult as you have to make sure it fits your chain. Just so you know, there's about a dozen chain sizes in the range we'd use. Mine are 5/16ths with short links - I think high tensile chain. The point is, get the right size hook.

I decided to make mine about 28 feet long. Normally, you'd only use about 10 feet, but better too long than too short. Also, the line can be an extra dock line or tow line or a lifting line.

I put an eye splice on one end large enough to go over my cleats and all the hardware on the other end.

Once you can do an eye splice properly, it should take you about half an hour to make an entire snubber. Don't worry if it takes longer. The more splicing you do, the faster it gets.

I make my own dock lines. Sure, you can purchase them. But can you purchase them exactly the right length? Or with an eye on one end and an end splice on the other? Or two eyes? Whatever you think you need or want, you can make.

Personally, for dock lines, I believe they all should be the length of the boat. If you have custom spring, bow, and stern lines then you have to sort them all out when docking. If they're all the same, it doesn't matter which one you take forward. One line can be a bow or stern and spring line. It's better to sort out the lengths after you're safely docked than when you're in the middle of docking.

Others disagree. But I dock my Pearson 424 alone so this is what works for me.

There is something else to making your own lines: You'll garner awe from other boaters who have no idea how to do it. Here's something to try: work on splicing on deck while at a marina. You'll be surprised at how many people will come over to see what you're doing and exclaim amazedly at your ability to splice!

So - make some snubbers if you use chain rode. Learn how to splice - it's a wonderful skill and fun to do. When you learn it, you can pass on the skills.

It's March today! The season's almost here! Woohoo!

I can't wait to see you on the water!

Requiem for a Friend

2008-02-29T13:21:00.003-05:00

How should I start to tell you about Bob Gainer? Should I start with the end? The sadness and empty space caused by his untimely demise? Should I start with the happy times? Or about how incredibly smart he was? His encyclopedic knowledge of sailing and ships?

Bob Gainer was my friend for 30 years. We fooled about with boats together, messed with computers together, spoke about sailing and sailboats over rum and coke and Black Russians. In almost every case, I came away with more knowledge and more esoteric knowledge than I'd previously had.

This was his way, and what everyone I know in common with him felt. He was a master rigger and woodworker. Kind to a fault, with a tremendous sense of humor.

All these things, however, don't go halfway to describing the person he was.

As a teenager, he, um, liberated a small open boat and sailed solo to Nova Scotia and back much to the consternation of the owner who had told him to take the boat to paint it. At 21, in 1974, he sailed solo across to England in a 22 foot Sea Sprite. This was with no self-steering or electronics, save a VHF radio.

Later on, he took a two-tonner out to deliver it to Europe. Here's his story in a nutshell:

"I owned an Allied built Chance 30/30. It was a great boat to sail but had a few
problems offshore if you get into very bad weather.

"Admittedly you wouldn’t make it a habit to sail in a hurricane but it gives you a very good idea of what a boat is capable of in cruising.

"In October of 1976 I was in Hurricane Gloria with 90 Knots wind speed and 45 foot (or better, its hard to tell) waves. Just to the north of me was the 590 foot 15,028 ton Sylvia L Ossa with a crew of 37. She sank with a loss of all hands sometime between the 13 to the 15 of October.

"During the height of the storm the truck fitting failed by cracking between the hole for the headstay clevis pin and the corner of the casting adjacent to the mast. The loss of the headstay was to say the least very awkward at that time.

"In trying to turn the boat downwind after the headstay went the rudderstock failed at the bottom of the bolt under the tiller and the stock sheared off.

"Within the next hour the motion of the boat was so violent that the hull failed with a crack forming between the aft-most keel bolts. You could see the sides of the crack moving up and down as the boat rolled. She started to make water at that point.

"After getting beat up for that hour I had the boat back under control and hove to. Before the storm was fully over the steering was repaired and a new head stay was up. The leak was getting bad so I started for the nearest dry land as fast as I could go.

"At this point Hurricane Holly was predicted to be coming my way. I had enough of bad weather so I sent out a Mayday by SSB and that was received by a Dutch tugboat and they relayed it to the German ship Hagen of the Hapag-Lloyd line. She had passed me in the night some 100 miles to the west but she turned around and came back to get me.

"When she got to me the wind was climbing and had reached 60 knots. When my boat came alongside the Hagen the crack at the aft two keel bolts propagated along the
entire length of the keel. The bottom of the boat flexed downward and opened up
at the bolts and she started to sink.

"In the hour so before we met we spoke by VHF and they asked for the dimensions and weight of the boat. There plan was to weld a cradle to the deck and if they could, they wanted to pick up the boat with two wire slings and swing her inboard to the steel cradle.

"When we did get together the captain kept his ship away from my boat a few feet and had two of his crew come onboard with wire cutters. They helped me off and then cut the standing rigging while some crew on deck held the mast. They brought the rig on
deck and on the next roll she was out of the water.

"I don’t think she hit the ship but once during the entire time. That one strike crushed about ten feet of hull-deck joint. I had been beat up so much from going up the mast to rig a headstay that I couldn’t walk and that’s why I needed help to get off my boat.

"The entire rescue was over in under ten minutes and they never came to a full stop.

"The bottom line is the keel area of the boat is not strong enough and the rudderstock needs to be solid instead of heavy wall tubing. When the boat was on deck I found that the fairing forward of the rudder had also failed and the keel had dropped over 1/2 inch by digging out the fiberglass under the washers for the keel bolts.

"Other then that I thought the boat was great."

This is pretty typical of Bob. Not that he was a disaster ready to happen, but he took most everything in stride.

As it turned out, he had been declared dead, had his obituary in the "New York Times" and ended up with a book written about the adventure, "Presumed Lost". It's no longer in print and Bob really didn't care for it because it was more about how he ended up on the ill-fated Chance 30-30 than the storm itself.

The sea was in his blood - he was preparing a Tartan 34-C for a trip to west Greenland. He was teaching young people about boats, boat construction and the sea through the auspices of the Hudson Fisheries Trust. He was about to be part of the deployment team for The Beacon Institute for Rivers and Estuaries.

I could write for hours, if not days, about Bob and his adventures, jokes, knowledge and kindnesses. But I think I'll stop and leave you with this quote:

"...The sea absolutely doesn't care about you one-way or the other. But the sea will exploit all your mistakes and weaknesses and is relentless in its probing to find those mistakes.

"...No mater how well you have prepared, no matter how skilled you are the sea will always win.
The sea is very patient and will always win in the end. The sea has all the time in the world to wait for you to make that mistake, your last mistake.

"The sea may give you a free pass a couple of times, if it wants, but when it decides to strike, the sea will sink you. People just don't understand, they can't understand how fast the sea can go from the pretty picture postcard you buy at the beach to the raging devil himself.

"And the next morning, if you are there to see it, can be the most beautiful sunrise that has ever been since the beginning of time.

"I have several friends that have lost playing this high stakes game. Without exception they had the skill and boat that was necessary to do the trip. I don't know why they lost the game; all I know for sure is that the sea won, again. The sea will always win in the end; it's just a question of time."

You are missed, my friend.

(Photo courtesy John Fasulo)

Work Proceeds Apace

2008-02-16T19:08:00.004-05:00

There's been a hiatus of sorts. It's been cold, but not really, and the holidays are pretty much over. I've been hunkered down and if I could hibernate, I would.

As February comes to a close and I can feel spring coming, if not externally, certainly internally. I feel pressed to start installing all the things I've purchased. That includes a holding tank, new VHF radio with hailer and fog signals, the TV antenna (which has been shelved since the cover went on), manual bilge pump operable from inside the boat (a SOLAS requirement), a radio/cd player with speakers in the cockpit and down below, and a bunch more stuff.

Anyway, I was putzing around the Pearson 424 site and one of the things another owner did was to put access hatch in the outboard wall of the shower. There is a HUGE amount of wasted space there - I knew it was a big volume, but I didn't realize how big. A small person could live there!

So today, when I got finished installing the new holding tank vent lines and through-hulls and the waste pumpout fitting, I figured I'd install this hatch.

I purchased a 11" x 15" waterproof hatch and cut out the hole for it and installed it in about an hour and a half. There's a tool called a Roto-Zip which is like a Dremel tool on steroids. It fits between the Dremel and a full-blown router. It spins a little bit very, very fast and will cut through fiberglass with speed. The only downside is that until you get used to it you'll cut lines that are as far from straight as they can be. I use it all the time. Of course, it works with wood as well.

Anyway, that's what I used to cut the hole that I marked from the pattern supplied. Cutting fiberglass is a MESSY job. Another tool I bought last year is a wet/dry vacuum powered by a 24v Li battery made by Rigid. They make great battery powered tools that are guaranteed for life. No joke - my friend Leigh had an old one (18V) and the battery crapped out. Rigid sent him a new one, no charge. Highly recommended. I use the vacuum now whenever I work on the boat because it's so easy and I clean up after an awful job like this in a heartbeat.

As I've mentioned, I've started the holding tank job. There will be a whole entry on that. One of my flashes of brilliance has struck. The holding tank is normally pumped out through the deck. I'll be installing a macerator pump for those times I'm offshore, but what about when the electric pump fails? Ah ha! I'll install a manual pump, too. But get this: when inshore, those pumps will take a suction on the bilge. That way the manual pump serves two purposes!

So far, I haven't thought of a downside. Maybe someone will. Let me know. It seems like such a good idea...

While I'm about the holding tank project - I decide to install the new tank level sensor I got from Sailor's Solutions. You know I've raved about them before. Well, I had a question about the sensor placement and on a two minute call I got the name and number of the person who designed the system. In two shakes of a lambs tail I got the answer and life is beautiful. I will say this: Put the strips on before you install the tank. It will make your life much easier.

It turns out that one of the 424 owners is part of the group SCADtech who designed the tank monitor and Sensi-bulb. That's pretty cool.

Now that I'm on a roll, I hope to get the holding tank installation finished in the next couple of weeks. Unfortunately, work gets in the way of messing about in boats.

Spring is nearly here. I know it doesn't seem like it. But soon, I'll be seeing you on the water. I can't wait!

Happy New Year 2008!

2008-01-04T08:08:00.000-05:00

Here I am starting my third year with this blog - and this year will be an amazing one, I assure you!

More than anything, I hope you all have a wonderful 2008 filled with happiness, health, and the love of your family and friends! Great success would be nice, too.

As I write this it's cold here. Arse biting cold, in fact. Two heaters on Pelican are just barely keeping up so there's going to be an upgrade here real soon now, definitely before the next cold snap. Next week it's going to be in the 50's. Go figure.

I've been to England for Christmas at my sister and brother-in-law's home. There are some lovely places to sail on the Irish Sea and beautiful harbors to stop in. I'm going. What a place! Tentative plans are for the spring of 2009, with fall back to spring 2010. There's lots to do on Pelican and you'll be privy to all that.

Here is an observation I have about the U.K.: no matter where you point a camera you're going to take a postcard picture! You can't help it. This comes from someone who is absolutely incapable of composing a picture.

One of my devoted readers, Brooke, (there are two) offered a suggestion for a new digital camera. My Kodak DC280 is a fine 3 megapixel (MP) camera but it's getting long in the tooth and even low-end digital cameras today have 8 MP capabilities. I like doing panoramas and the Kodak can't take pictures fast enough. It takes about 10 minutes to take the 8-10 necessary.

So on Brooke's advice I purchased a Canon SX100 and a 2GB SD card for saving pictures. Let me simplify this: it's great! I love the thing. It has 10x optical zoom with image stabilization, it has all sorts of modes, does movies and takes terrific pictures (see above). Other than my propensity to push the power button rather than the shutter one (my fault, not Canon's), it's a terrific 8 MP camera. And if you want to play with settings, you have about a bazillion. Almost as flexible as a professional camera. Highly recommended. Thanks, Brooke! You rock!

As I am planning to do all sorts of navigation lighting upgrades I was thinking to myself about how many breakers the nav lights take on the panel - it turns out they take 5 breakers of 10 or 15 amps. Since I want to add, eventually, a Single Side Band radio (SSB), and maybe a watermaker and probably other stuff I'd like to free up some breaker space. One of the participants on the Pearson 424 owners' site mentioned he'd moved all the nav lighting to a new panel.

First, I turned off every DC load and then I turned on all the navigation lights. This resulted in an 8 amp draw. Normally and legally you wouldn't light every lamp because it would make a confusing light pattern. The lighting is as follows:

Normal low nav lights (two on bow, one stern)
Masthead tricolor light
Masthead anchor light
Steaming light
Masthead strobe light

Each one with its own breaker! So, I picked a 10 amp breaker labeled 'Nav Lights'. Why so low an amperage? Because I plan to replace all the bulbs in the navigation lights with LEDs from Dr. LED so that the total current draw will be more like 2 amps. I'll buy them in the spring when I can get them in. Now's not the time for climbing the mast.

I got a 6 fused switch panel from West Marine for $50 or so and some crimp fittings to do the job. I installed it next to the main panel and just moved the wires from their current breakers to a switch on the new panel. The whole project took about 3 hours, 4 if you include the schmoozing at West Marine...

The net result is that I have one main breaker for all navigation lighting and each light or light set is controlled from a common panel. I have 4 free breakers now and the last switch on the new panel will be for the compass light. As it is now, the compass light only goes on with the lower navigation lights. It should go on any time I want it on. Or off, for that matter.

The new panel is the one between the main panel and the Xantrex Link 2000. It solved another problem, too. It filled a huge hole in the wood that was left from removing a Datamarine Log instrument. Tada!

In 1978 when Pelican was constructed there were no electrical standards for pleasure craft, especially with regards to ground fault interruption. Well, I'm going to add two GFCI outlets, one on each AC circuit. It means cutting out the current outlets because they are siliconed into their hole, adding plastic boxes, and installing the new outlets. I'll let you all know how it goes.

When I purchased Pelican, the main salon table wasn't attached to the cabin sole. It may have been at one time or another but the fittings had disappeared over the intervening 30 years. So, how to replace them? First figure out what they're called and then go to Jamestown Distributors and get them. It took a while, but they're called table leg fasteners. Who knew? Anyway, once acquired I mortised them into the cabin sole and ba-da-boom, ba-da-bing, fuggeddaboudit!

Net result: I can use the table opened without it sliding around and tipping over.

Part of the the joy of boat ownership is doing these small, pleasant, easy, and satisfying jobs that make life aboard a little bit more pleasurable.

Finally! Big News! I am officially a Master of Steam, Motor and Auxiliary Sail up to 50 Tons inland and OUPV vessels near coastal to 100 miles offshore! (Captain's License) I also got my MMD card (Merchant Marine Document) as an Ordinary Seaman. It means I can work on commercial vessels and I can do things like mop decks, serve food, wipe steam engine piston rods, and other very low level stuff. It also means I can go to a military base PX. Will I ever? Who knows? Also, it's a start towards getting my AB card - Able Bodied seaman. That's my next goal. Then I can stand bridge watches.

Ok. That's all the news for now. It's January, so only two months to go! Woohoo!

Mid December, 2008.

2007-12-15T12:07:00.000-05:00

Here it is, a month since my last post. I'd love to say I've been super busy doing all the projects I slated for the winter, but confess, I cannot. The biggest project completed so far is the replacement of the 36" wheel with a 48" wheel from a consignment shop in Washington, Second Wave. Also, I've put on the bronze manufacturer's plate from Bristol Bronze.

I heartily recommend both businesses - Second Wave because they were friendly, competent, and responsive. The owner of Bristol Bronze, Roger, will talk as long as you care to about bronze, alloys, corrosion resistance, almost any metalurgy, and the proper application of metals. He's a wealth of knowledge and very entertaining. Plan to spend an hour on the phone.

The boat is covered - the story of the $500 Fairclough cover is legend here at the marina, and if anyone cares, I'll relate it, but suffice it to say, if you're looking for something, check out the ads in Soundings Magazine. Sometimes you find the most incredible deals.

The cover is easy to put on - Herb and I put the frame up in three hours even though we'd never seen it before. It takes longer than that for his on a similar boat (Passport 40). The frame came directly from Fairclough for $1260, and is constructed out of 1" galvanized conduit with special castings for connecting the rafters. It took me about three hours to put the cover on by myself. So, next year, it shouldn't take more than about 5 hours to put up. Not bad, and it pays for itself in two years (it's over $1000 to shrinkwrap my boat! Can you believe that?).

I'm off to England next week to see my sister and brother-in-law and to go narrowboating with a newly found friend. It should be interesting.

Although the winter solstice is just now coming up, meaning winter's just starting, I am already looking forward to the spring. I thought I'd get a lot more done under the cover, but I have to say, I'd rather be off the boat than on - living in institutional green lighting is not conducive to great bouts of joy. The upside, of course, is that the boat is pretty much toasty warm and very comfortable even in 20 degree weather. I have to admit to wearing socks to bed, though, because my feet are near the chain locker which is vented. But it all works out.

Living aboard is turning out to be really pleasant. I can imagine there are those who think it odd, but I do have running water, a stove, a refrigerator and so forth so it's not like I'm camping out. Oh, yes, I have a TV and DVD player which are incredible time wasters.

But really, it's winter. There's time to waste.

We've had a couple of snowstorms here, mostly remnants of the big storms in the mid-west that left so many people without power. We're expecting another big one this weekend, but should be all cleared out by Monday. Good weather for my flight on Wednesday.

I've decided to start practicing my guitar again because it's pretty clear I'm not going to get any meaningful work done on the boat. It's nice to pull it out at dock parties and do a couple of numbers. Get's 'em going every time!

When I come back from England, the days will be growing longer! I can't help but be excited about that. Sure, there's January and February, but I'm hoping (foolishly) that we'll have warm ones and I'll be about taking the cover off early March. That's only 70 days away or so.

It's nice being at a dock, I must say. Very nice. Also, very expensive. But not as expensive as owning a house, that's for sure.

One of the downsides to living aboard is that every day you see new projects you want to do - of course, they're all do-able. All it takes is money. Here's my short list for this year:

Change my halyards to be internal giving me a spare jib and main halyard on the mainmast and a spare mizzen halyard or mizzen staysail halyard on the mizzen.
Install all the hardware for reefing on both booms, moving the sail raising and lowering controls to the masts.
Install a new Garhauer traveler for the main. They have a really nice one for the 424. This is sort of a gimme - it's not strictly necessary.
Install the new deck fill fittings I purchased from Marine Parts Depot
New sails from Somerset Sails.
Move all the in-hull navigation lights to the pulpits and fill in the holes created. This is important for offshore sailing and for the longevity of the lights. I'm also replacing all the bulbs with LEDs from Dr. LED.
Build new holding tank and install related equipment. Get rid of ElectroSan.
Replace failing solar panel and install additional ones on the seahoods of the two companionways.
Repair gelcoat on main deck.

That covers it for this year. They're all big jobs and they're not necessarily in order.

In the beginning of January, I will have finished all my paperwork for my Master's license. I've been down to the Coast Guard station in New York City and started all my stuff. I'm a pee in a cup away - that's the required drug test that I let expire. Silly me.

My friend Cory may be getting more delivery jobs and I'd like to go with him - it's an opportunity to go boating and get paid for it. I like that. And I'll get some really good offshore experience.

I guess winter is a time for reflection. Mostly because it's too damn cold to sit around outside. Still, I manage trips to the marina office to shoot the breeze with Rick and have some coffee. He's really good about that. Always a fresh pot. What could be better?

I expect to pick up a more modern digital camera this weekend so that it's not such a big deal carrying it around. My current one is 3 megapixels, and I'm looking for a 7mp one. Two years ago, that would have been $1000. Now it's less than $200.

If this post seems to be all over the map, well, that's because it is. I could go out in the cockpit and measure for my mizzen, but, well, it's hard to get myself together to do it. I'm looking forward to my little vacation. Very exciting.

If any of you are going to be on the Coventry Canal, I'll see you on the water! Otherwise, stay warm (or cool if you're in a hot place), have an extraordinary holiday season. Think about this: we'll all be out on the water real soon!

Kudos, New Stuff, and Where You Can Get Deals

2007-11-14T11:41:00.000-05:00

I know I haven't finished the saga of the 2007 vacation, leaving all who care biting their nails to the quick. I will complete the trilogy without a doubt. Before that happens I have some stuff to pass along.

I've moved Pelican from the City Island Yacht Club to its winter slip at Avalon at Stamford Harbor Marina. During a visit by my sister and brother-in-law from England for a family reunion, I got a call from my friend Herb. I'd been looking for a winter slip and the prices for the marinas I know of were totally off the wall.

Herb indicated he'd been talking to one of the people at Harbor House who'd heard about Avalon and their unbelievable rate of $850.00 for the winter plus $300 for electricity (or $50 per month). Contrast that to Harbor House at $50/foot plus $10 per day for electricity - on a 42 foot boat, or Yacht Haven at $60/ft plus metered electricity.

I was leaning towards Yacht Haven because they metered the electricity - if I use $300 per month, fine, I'll pay for it, but if I don't, why should I? That's just stupid. And Harbor House has meters, they're just incapable of reading them.

Anyway, I met with the managers of Avalon, Jacqui and Rick, who are the nicest people you could imagine. Jacqui actually runs the marina and Rick manages the Sailing Specialties brokerage in Stamford. They live aboard their own boat.

So, of course, I signed the contract - $1200 for the winter in water with electricity! Very nice.

Jacqui and Rick have the right idea about marinas and charges. Kudos to them!

Now on to some really good sites:

First, a lot of my deck hardware like fills and so forth are aluminum with plastic caps. They look terrible, and the caps are pretty well destroyed from UV exposure. I decided to look into replacing them. I found Marine Parts Depot who supply a large assortment of really nice stainless steel hardware. They're currently having a sale and here's the coupon number to use if you are going to purchase anything: MPD002. I don't know for how long it's good for, but it's for an additional 15% off already incredible prices.

I ordered deck hold downs ($19 each), two mast steps ($18 each), and four deck fills ($17 each). They're beautiful and perhaps 20% the cost from anywhere else.

I mounted the mast steps on the mizzen so I could reach the sail head without stepping on the winches. The deck hold downs are for the cabin sole openings - I plan on going offshore and it's a SOLAS requirement. More on that in another entry.

I've joined the Pearson 424 mailing list, and from them I got the information for a company (actually one man) who makes silicon bronze manufacturer's plates for Pearsons as well as the funky hinges they had custom cast. The company is Bristol Bronze and Roger is a font of information - especially where it comes to using bronze fittings. I suspect that if you needed custom fittings, he'd be the go-to guy for them. I ordered both the plaque and the hinges. What the hell, it's only money!

Pelican's wheel is too small to sit comfortably and steer her. It's 36" diameter and with the dodger, I can't see where I'm going. More to the point I like sitting either on the windward or leeward combing to steer - I wanted a bigger wheel so I could reach it from there. There's more than enough room in the cockpit to put one in, and when I met the owner of hull #1, I saw he had a 48" wheel. Edson wants something like $900 for one. It's still cheaper than modifying the dodger, but it's a lot of money for a shoestring operation.

I found one at Second Wave Marine Consignment and am currently awaiting it's arrival. They are nice, knowledgeable, and helpful. Also, the cost with shipping is less than 1/2 a new one - and wheels that aren't bent or broken don't wear out.

Finally, for today anyway, my friend Laura gave me a copy of her friend's book, "Offshore Sailing" by Bill Seifert. I know he's gotten Laura's boat ready for the Newport- Bermuda races and Marion-Bermuda races, and I agree with just about everything he has to say (anyone who agrees that silicone sealant has no business on a boat is a-ok in my book).

Highly recommended.

I'm hunkered down for the winter where I'll install all the goodies I've purchased. Including my extraordinary deal for a Fairclough cover. Amazing. More on that later.

Since it is that time of year I won't see you on the water, but I will see you in the bar, no doubt!

Hadley Harbor and The Sucking Muck of Death

2007-10-28T09:50:00.000-04:00

When last we left our intrepid travelers, they had just arrived in Hadley Harbor, about a mile and a half southwest of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. It consists of a small harbor surrounded by Naushon Island to the southwest, Nonamessett Island to the east, and Bull Island to the north.

There are people who live on both Naushon Island and Nonamessett Island and there is a something like a commercial dock on Naushon.

We arrived around 11am before the crowds and as I mentioned got moorings. Laura and Cory immediately set to go fishing and I kyacking. I circumnavigated Bull Island and went nearly out to the channel to Woods Hole.

On the way back, I was going down a channel to explore and I noticed two signs - "Cable Area - Do Not Anchor" and right smack in line with the two signs was, guess what?, a great big powerboat with it's anchor down. "Nice", I thought to myself. I wish I could be so oblivious.

It was a beautiful day! Incredible blue skies. Puffy white clouds. Colors so sharp and crisp. Like being in a different world.

Soon we all returned to our boats and decided to go clamming. The tide was ebbing and we left in the dinghy through the cut between Naushon Island and Uncatena Island towards a beach we knew of.

Cory decided to stop where we saw some shells indicating there may be clams. When we got out of the dinghy we sank up to our calves in mud. Very carefully we waded ashore, but in the meantime I had had to remove my sandals because they were getting sucked off in the mud. Just so you know, I hate mud. I really hate sinking in mud. Keep that in mind.

Anyway, I left my sandals in the dinghy and when I got ashore, I found that walking was difficult on shells barefooted. Cory and Laura went farther on to another beach and since they had already started looking for clams, I decided to go back and bring the dinghy around to them.

Mistake #1. Recovering the dinghy alone. If you're with people, they should know where you are - and what you're doing. Duh.

Mistake #2. When you're walking in snow, walk in someone else's footsteps. When you're walking in mud do not do that. Of course, that's what I did. Halfway to the dinghy I was up to my crotch in mud and every time I tried to get one leg out, the other would just sink farther. This caused great consternation because when your legs can't shift your balance is affected.

Now, I was crotch deep in mud, and worried about falling over because putting my hands out would not stop me as they would just stick in the mud, too. Even though the water was only about six inches deep, I was getting concerned about this - well, more than concerned. It would be a less than spectacular ending to a great vacation - this drowning in muck.

You're probably wondering how I got out. Well, sir, I didn't.

Just kidding. Here's how you get out of that amount of mud: very carefully. The key is to get one leg out by moving it slightly right and left and fore and back. Point toes down, and slowly draw that leg out. Move it to where no one stepped. Be careful because if you fall, getting up will be difficult. The biggest thing is: Don't Panic.

Eventually, I got out and got to the dinghy where I used its buoyancy to get the heck out.

So, I brought the dinghy around to where Laura and Cory were and washed off all the mud. Here the seabed was sand and it was much easier to get around. Off to the west was Buzzards Bay. It was stupifyingly beautiful. You just had to look there slack-jawed.

As it turns out, we couldn't find any clams. Apparently, someone had looked there and decided it wasn't a good spot. But Cory found mussels and oysters! Woohoo! We love them! So we picked a bucket full of both of them - leaving the small ones and the very large ones. Not that there was a dearth of either. But I never knew where to find them and now I do! What a lesson!

After a while we headed back to the boats where I volunteered to host the party, as I had a grill. So I set up, and we had a blast! Melted butter, grilled oysters, and steamed mussels. Then I made a mussels marinara with spaghetti. We ate like kings and queens and went through three bottles of wine! It was terrific. And messy. Very messy. But great fun. I learned how to get oysters open.

Man, that is living!

The next day, we hopped fooled around in Hadley and then headed for Onset, MA, only about an hour away. There was no wind. We had arranged for a slip at the Point Providence Yacht Club which is a great stopping point for anyone. They are very friendly, fairly priced, and they have Friday night fish fry dinners for like $15.00. Drinks are 2 or 3 bucks at the club bar. Man, oh man, we ate like there was no tomorrow.

But for lunch we had steamed mussels left over from Hadley Harbor - Cory towed them behind in a mesh bag. So, I guess I'll have to get one of those.

Cory and Laura's friends were going to meet us for the weekend, this being Friday, and sail around and meet people in Sandwich. Laura knows people everywhere. Amazing. I decided to ride my bike to the store to get some supplies. There is an easy way to get there and a hard, dangerous way. Guess which way I took. The way back was much less frightening.

Saturday morning, Laura's friends showed up and we left for New Bedford. As we were leaving the harbor I found out my autopilot wasn't working as whenever I put it on "Auto" the boat would go in circles. Not terribly helpful. So I had to hand steer downwind all the way in light winds.

When I finally got there 6 hours later and rafted up with Cassiopeia, I had only two things on my mind - peeing and eating in that order. Laura and crew went to tour the harbor and I had a bit of a nap. I was awakened by talking right near the boat - too near. I popped my head out and I met the owner of hull #1 of the 424s! We talked for a bit and then he was on his way. He had never met anyone with a hull number close to his. Mine's number 8.

We later had dinner aboard Cassiopeia, and while the guys watched "Borat" and drank, the women went to bed. They were the smart ones.

Next morning: Off to town for breakfast at a little hole in the wall that made really good food. I had eggs and linguica, pronounced linguisa. It's Portuguese sausage that tastes like Slim-Jim. Good. Mmmm.

After breakfast, we left to go through the Cape Cod Canal to Sandwich where we were meeting Laura's friends for a barbecue and no small amount of drinking. More on Sandwich in the next vacation installment.

Winter is coming and Pelican is safely ensconced in her winter slip at Avalon Marina, in Stamford, CT. What a lovely place! The managers are boaters and amazingly friendly people. They are the best! I may stay here in the summer so I can finish Pelican's upgrades. More on that later, too.

The potable water pump failed the other day and I replaced it with a Jabsco VSD pump. It's quiet, and varies it's speed according to the demand. It's really great and it's worth every penny. Here it is from Defender: http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?path=-1|51|299222|121271|316442&id=121735 If you have to get a new pump, this is the puppy. If you've already have pressure tank, then just get a regular pump. But if you've been haunted by a cycling diaphragm pump, this is a good replacement.

Sadly, I probably won't be on the water for a while - so I'll see you on the dock!

A Plug

2007-10-04T13:18:00.000-04:00

I know you're all breathlessly awaiting the next vacation installment, but in the meantime I've been working on the boat doing various projects.

Power usage has always been a bugaboo for me. Since I live aboard and aboard in the summer is on a mooring, I'd prefer not to have to run a generator or the engine every night. So until I got some new lighting, I was being very cautious with my use of internal lighting.

The Pearson 424 has a number of standard overhead round lights, as well as some classic vintage '70's lights made out of what looks like small Clorox® bottles. They have Edison fittings (like you have with screw-in incandescent bulbs at home) and they draw about an amp and a half each. The overhead lights only a little bit less.

So to have a cheery interior you're looking at a current draw of nearly 10 amps! That is more than the autopilot, instruments, and radar all together draw!

I've mentioned Sailor Solutions before. They have lots of neat and useful stuff for boats that you can't find elsewhere. But their big product is their Sensibulb™ , a LED light engineered to provide very nearly identical light as an incandescent at much lower temperature and 1/10th or so the current draw - which means I can light the whole boat up like a Christmas tree for just about the same current draw as one of the old bulbs.

I now wallow in light. Read for hours. I love it. You can check out what I did with the normal white LEDs on Inertia on a previous post. As pleasant as that was, this is doubly so.

The only downside is the cost: They are about $40.00 each. However, if you take into account they're rated at 10,000 hours and the wear and tear on your generator or engine they save will be paid back. Also: you don't have to purchase new bulbs every couple of years.

They provide a warm, soft, yellow light that is nearly indistinguishable from normal lighting. The Sensibulb™ plugs into a normal halogen bulb socket. Sailor's Solutions provides socket adapters for all types of sockets at a reasonable price (although the Edison ones are becoming rare). They also provide full light fixtures with dimmers (yes! they can be dimmed!)

If you're thinking of updating your interior lighting, these are the bulbs. I can't recommend them enough. You'll be happy as a clam bathing in your low current light!

See you on the water!

Point Judith to Hadley Harbor

2007-09-02T16:41:00.000-04:00

On the eastern end of the Cape Cod Canal is a small marina, marked on the chart as a harbor of refuge, in Sandwich MA, called appropriately enough, 'The Sandwich Marina'. This little hole is all there is for protection from the Cape Cod Sound - which, I'm told, can be very nasty indeed.

It's not very big, but right nearby is a great seafood store and a pretty good seafood restaurant. They're called 'Sam's Seafood Store' and 'Joe's Seafood Restaurant'.

"But, " you may think to yourself, "how did you get there? When last we heard you were at Point Judith!"

Ah, that is the story you are about to be told.

After I arrived in Point Judith, I set about kyacking about the place. In my travels, I met a lobsterman and while he pulled traps we talked of this and that. He has about 120 traps in the harbor of refuge and works them manually. This day, however, his traps were empty because someone else had emptied them! I would have been pissed off, but he seemed merely miffed. Said it wasn't the first time and probably wouldn't be the last. He also told me there was going to be a lunar eclipse the next morning around 5:10.

About 9:30pm Cassiopeia sailed in and tied up to me. We had a drink under a beautiful moon to celebrate the vacation, and then went to bed. I awoke at 4:30 and thought, "I'll just get a bit more sleep - then see the eclipse." And so I did - get more sleep, not waking until 7:00. Ah well, it is vacation after all.

We left on the tide for Cuttyhunk that morning and with the wind too light to sail, we motored on over. There are two entrances, one on the west opening to Buzzards Bay, and one on the east opening onto the Vineyard Sound. If you have a choice, take the Buzzards Bay one - the eastern passage is very short, but very narrow and I'm told, tricky.

We anchored in the inside harbor that evening (Tuesday) where it wasn't at all crowded. We took the dinghy out to the east side of the island and Cory and I went swimming and snorkeling. It was beautiful! Spectacular. While we're swimming about, we saw some large fish we couldn't identify.

As I'm swimming about, a fisherman in a kyack paddles by - realize we're out in a surf zone probably a half mile off shore. I struck up a conversation with him and asked what kind of fish they were, and found they were black (or ocean) bass and tautog. The thing about this little adventure is the appearance out of nowhere of the fisherman with the answer to the question weighing most heavily on your mind. Talk about synchronicity.

Laura and Cory had caught a bluefish on the way out and which we had that for dinner. And a ratatouille Laura made with their home-grown vegetables. Maybe it was the long day, the fresh sea air, or the food was just really good, but we were totally satisfied.

On Wednesday morning, Laura and Cory went fishing and I kyacked into town. I figured I'd have a walk around the island and see what I could see. Cuttyhunk is a little jewel of an island with a little market, and one hill. There's also a Bed and Breakfast on the mid-east side of the island. Since there's only 5 roads that all meet near the dock, it's very hard to get lost. There are a few tourist like shops, but generally, not too much.

What is interesting is that there are no cars on the island; the main method of transportation is ATV and gas powered golf carts or 4 wheeler carts. It's very cool. On the southwest side of the island is a clam/oyster farm. They supply the seafood place on the dock.

I got some stuff at the market and headed back to the boat. Laura and Cory came back shortly thereafter. After a quick lunch and the most interesting discussion of the construction of sandwiches (Laura's a kind of 'fling-it-together' sandwich maker, and Cory isn't), we all headed off to see if we could spear some of the fish we saw Tuesday.

Well, no luck. On the way back Cory decided to look for clams. I don't know why. But we found them near the anchorage! We found a bunch! So we had steamed clams before dinner! They were great - so sweet. You can't believe the difference between just harvested clams and store or restaurant bought.

Anyway, Cory had installed a flat-screen TV and digital antenna so we watched the news and had a bunch of wine to drink. Also, Port and Chocolate.

It turns out that the bed and breakfast on Cuttyhunk is called "The Fisherman's Club" and nothing would do but that we go have breakfast there before heading off to Hadley Harbor. The walk is about a mile from the dinghy dock. It has a huge yard with a volley ball net and spectacular views of Martha's Vineyard, the Vineyard sound and a small island called 'No Man's Land' - apparently a practice target island for many years. The breakfast was delicious and the staff comely.

It is a beautiful B&B that really was a fisherman's club.

Waddling back to the boats, we readied for our exodus and left. After getting back to Buzzards Bay, I decided there was some wind, dammit, so I'm going to sail. At this point the autopilot was sort of working. It was only working on certain headings and I happened to be on one of them. So up went all the sails and Cassiopeia in the form of Cory was kind enough to take a bunch of pictures. (See nice one on left....)

There wasn't a bunch of wind but it was very nice to sail. Although Pelican motors very well, it sails better. It's taken some getting used to - it isn't like my previous boats; the best I can do is compare it to driving. My former boats, Inertia and Wind Hawk were like sports cars. Their handling was quick and precise. In the case of Wind Hawk, you could almost say 'twitchy'. Pelican handles like a Cadillac. It will go where you want it to but it will do it in it's own time. It's a very different feeling for me, but I'm getting used to it.

After a couple of hours, the wind died and the current turned foul so using the iron genny we proceeded to Hadley Harbor - it's about a mile south of Woods Hole and it is surrounded by lovely little islands. There are free moorings there on a first-come first-serve basis.

We were lucky enough to get moorings.

Next time: Hadley Harbor and Death in the Muck

It's still sailing season, so I'll see you on the water!