It is with regret that I must rename the boat. As Rosa has left me and a divorce is underway, it no longer makes sense for the vessel to be named after her lovely island. In keeping with my previous trend, started with my beloved Battleship Nadesico, I will rename Boracay Star after a television show that has been influential in my mind. I therefore have decided to rename her Tardis, after the Doctor Who franchise. It is also appropriate as I have recently graduated from University of Florida as a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering. I will now be able to introduce myself as The Doctor, and this is my Tardis. I have started a new blog, http://svtardis.blogspot.com/ which will hopefully allow me to chronicle my latest adventures.
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
I have been reading sailing books of freedom that have been inspiring me. I finished Joshua Slocum's "Sailing Alone Around the World" first, a book I downloaded free to the tablet. What an inspiration, that he went so far without much by modern standards. He was also a very reasonable man. I concurrent read Bernard Motisseur's "The Long Way," and I think he's a madman but quite entertaining. His motivation for sailing was to escape the rat race and discover simplicity on a boat. Both these books created in me a great longing to feel the way they feel
But I digress, as this is supposed to be a sailing blog of our adventures. We both hadn't been sailing in a while, and the weather this weekend was perfect, and surprising in late November. The mild east winds meant we sailed out of the slip Friday morning. The onlookers on the dock watch expectantly for me to impact another boat. Rosa was down below busy and didn't even notice that I had pushed us out of the slip, raised main and stays'l, and was sailing away. In fact, we got as far as Boggy 1 before she even asked why I the engine wasn't running. She thought we were in the slip the whole time!
I tacked out of the bayou, which took 45 minutes due to the indecisive and swirling winds. As we reached Boggy 1 I went down below for something, and as I came on deck a FWP patrol boat had sped to within a boatlength from me. I was scared, naturally, because it's not often the cops ruch up on me as if I was capable of getting away from them. All they wanted to see was that my registration was in order, then they sped away. Little did they know that my taxes are light, as my 30 year old vessel is a classic and gets me the low registration fees of 18$/2 years. The dinghy is also a classic, but it is not based on tonnage or length so it pays the same.
Upon rounding Boggy 1 we were now heading downwind, and the 2 headsails were just not cutting it. I doused both and raised the drifter, my favorite sail. We were heading almost dead downwind with winds about 7-10 kts. This moved us at a steady 4 knots. We had planned to sail to Pensacola, but at these speeds it just wasn't in the cards. Instead we sailed on to Spectre Island, and we still didn't get there until 3pm, managing the trip without ever starting the engine, wonderful, just a little like the 2 great sailors I was reading about.
We relaxed
But I digress, as this is supposed to be a sailing blog of our adventures. We both hadn't been sailing in a while, and the weather this weekend was perfect, and surprising in late November. The mild east winds meant we sailed out of the slip Friday morning. The onlookers on the dock watch expectantly for me to impact another boat. Rosa was down below busy and didn't even notice that I had pushed us out of the slip, raised main and stays'l, and was sailing away. In fact, we got as far as Boggy 1 before she even asked why I the engine wasn't running. She thought we were in the slip the whole time!
I tacked out of the bayou, which took 45 minutes due to the indecisive and swirling winds. As we reached Boggy 1 I went down below for something, and as I came on deck a FWP patrol boat had sped to within a boatlength from me. I was scared, naturally, because it's not often the cops ruch up on me as if I was capable of getting away from them. All they wanted to see was that my registration was in order, then they sped away. Little did they know that my taxes are light, as my 30 year old vessel is a classic and gets me the low registration fees of 18$/2 years. The dinghy is also a classic, but it is not based on tonnage or length so it pays the same.
Upon rounding Boggy 1 we were now heading downwind, and the 2 headsails were just not cutting it. I doused both and raised the drifter, my favorite sail. We were heading almost dead downwind with winds about 7-10 kts. This moved us at a steady 4 knots. We had planned to sail to Pensacola, but at these speeds it just wasn't in the cards. Instead we sailed on to Spectre Island, and we still didn't get there until 3pm, managing the trip without ever starting the engine, wonderful, just a little like the 2 great sailors I was reading about.
We relaxed
Monday, September 10, 2012
Bump in the Night Trip to Pensacola and more!
First, I must write something about Memorial day which I missed last weekend. The sunday before we motored out to Spectre island, borrowing Klaus and Wendy's YOLO board. It takes 2.5 hours motor (upwind) to get there, and once there and anchored we hopped on the YOLO to attempt to learn. One of the first things "we" learned is that there is no we on this YOLO. The current was 1.2 kts with wind, so we fought to get back to the boat without taking a swim. Lesson learned, we must YOLO solo. Rosa went first and played all around for about 1.5 hours, then she came back and Mike had a try. It was very neat to silently coast into the shallows and barely disturb 3 stingrays and what looked like 2 trout. I can see how this is a cool toy, but it certainly was a workout! After playing we put the board on the boat and got ready for a rainy night. We didn't sleep too well so next morning after coffee we pulled anchor and headed home. A least this time the winds were favorable so we sailed off anchor all the way to the slip never starting the motor. Nearing the dock we doused the big jib and main while an older couple in a pontoon boat looked at us with fascination. Rosa and I have docking under sail well choreographed, so we sailed in and dropped the stays'l at the last moment, coasting into the dock without a bump. Once we had all the lines stowed we were startled when the same couple blew their horn and clapped congratulations for docking without a motor, something they'd obviously never seen. They also mentioned something about us being 'daredevils'.
Now to this weekend. Mike had Friday off, and he's had 2 weeks of 2-workdays, so he wanted to go cruising. We had previously bought provisions and filled the diesel and water tanks, so we were ready to go once I got home from work. We were pushed off the dock by 4:30 and by 6 were exiting the Destin pass. Mike had done his weather research and the wind forecast indicated south winds 12-15 kts with 3' seas until about 2AM at which time the winds would decrease. We'd done 3-day trips to Pensacola and PC before except it was always 1 day to get there and 1 day back, so only 1 day for fun. This time we had planned an overnight passage with a landing in Pensacola around 3AM. Both Pensacola and PC have excellent channels, unlike Destin, so a late night landfall wasn't too scary. Another thing I told Rosa, was that if we sailed offshore then we wouldn't have to watch out so carefully about running aground or other boats, because there's nothing to run into offshore(Mike was wrong). This way we could travel and trust the autopilot while we relaxed.
However, our initial exposure to the gulf was bad! Going out the channel the coasties seemed to have moved several of the channel markers, and as we approached the main spill into the gulf the waves stood up to 7' which we were motoring into and made quite a mess in the boat as we weren't prepared. Rosa wanted to turn around but I assured here things would get better, which they quickly did. However the boat was still rolling until I managed to get all 3 sails up and then the boat performed like a champ. We set off easily towards the west, the motor shut down and us quickly making 6 kts over even and clean swells. We quickly started to enjoy how well new boat handled in these situations, and the amazing stars came into full view as we passed Okaloosa. There was no moon, so it was very dark but the stars were spectacular, very pretty!
Onward we sailed until we started hearing the buuurp, pompom, and ba-boom from AC-130 Spectres blowing something up. We even saw them dropping flares and for a while they flew right over us. Eventually the perpetual explosions started to wear on us. I called Uncle James to talk about sailboat stuff and Rosa took a nap on the starboard walkway of the deck, nudged between the doghouse and the toerail bulwark. We were about 3 miles due south of the big radar tower between Okaloosa and Navarre when...
Wham... scrape scrape, slight decelrataion. I said to James "whoa what..." while Rosa started to say "Mike" then suddeenly a stronger and more dulled wham, with a deceleration like we had ran aground. Instantly stopped! Mike was thrown on the floor in the cockpit and Rosa stumbled awake as the boat rocked. I said to James "What the H*** I think we hit something!" and dropped the cell phone in the dark cockpit. Rosa tripped into the cockpit and said we had run aground. We were about 2.5 nm offshore in 75' of water so a grounding was not likely, but we definitely hit something. Whatever it was, the boat with full sails pushed on and by the time I could get the spotlight we were beyond whatever it was.
Needless to say, this shook us up! We've never hit anything, and most times we'd run aground it was a) my fault, b)daylight and c) not offshore in swells in the middle of a moonless night. We immediately started down the crash list and went to closing and checking all thru-hulls. There were no leaks. There was no crazy vibes, and the rudder still worked. No need to call the coasties. The autopilot kept us going and we were immediately up to 6.5 kts. I marked a spot on the chartplotter, we won't go near there again due to superstition. Whoops, I need to call uncle James!! I called him up and related what had happened. He was freaked out also as that's not a good thing to hear from family who is cruising offshore fore the first time on their new boat!
All appeared OK and the boat kept chugging, but both Rosa and I felt that every time the bow impacted a wave and we decelerated slightly we were envisioning another impact. All night we were concerned that the previously open and deep gulf which was supposed to offer safe passage was instead festooned with myriad objects to run into and poke holes in our boat. Since this was on our minds, we conjectured upon the cause, the most likely being a drifting piling or tree. But how do Dolphins sleep? Could we had hit one? And Rosa mentioned a submarine, but I figured if we hit a steel submarine, or cargo container, we'd know it. Volcanos? Possible elsewhere but not here. We were supposed to takes shifts keeping watch but the impact kept us both wired. So we talked boat sinking disaster plans and methods of staying afloat and alive, a somewhat morbid conversation.
However by 1:30AM we'd made great time. We were only 5nm from the Pensacola Pass ship channel, and then the wind died. It went from a great breeze to just dead, with the same swell rolling the boat around. We quickly sparked the engine and made quick time into the pass. We pushed hard and got to anchor by 2:30am. Rosa did an awesome job as spotter for the buoys without the flashy lights. We intended to go well into the Fort Mcree anchorage area, but we kept running aground and I didn't have sense enough to look at my old GPS which has a safe route marked out. As it turned out we anchored on top of one of the route's way points. We had hoped for a nice sleep after hours of nervous offshore sailing, but instead we were terrorized by vampiric avians, monster mosquitoes who had probiscus capable of poking through the afghan blankets we attempted to shield ourselves with. I soaked myself in DEET while Rosa wrapped herself with only a slight breathing hole, neither method was acceptable. We slept poorly.
Despite our lack of rest, we still woke early. Like oh-dark-thirty early when a huge damn motor boat rolled by throwing us out of the berth onto the floor. Some people! Ok then we napped until about 10, luckily the buggers don't like the sun I think. We woke and drank coffee and breakfast, and pulled anchor to motor up into the main anchorage. The short dinghy ride rewarded us with a deserted beach, which we quickly understood why. The mosquitoes swarmed us and covered us bodily. I inhaled several, so hungry they were, and I called an immediate retreat to the big boat to obtain backup. Some battles are best walked away from, so instead we went to the spoil which had sparse grass and we found to be much less buggy.
However, this just wasn't much fun, and it was too hot to sleep so we decided to sail on to old downtown Pensacola. We only had to motor a short while and spent the remainder of the time sailing. Approaching the commercial docks we were surprised to see a rocket attached to a ship, and I had just finished a Cussler book where the Red Chinese tried to kill America by launching a smallpox bioweapon with a ship launched rocket. Pretty neat,
Near downtown Pensacola we anchored about a mile offshore in shallow water. I didn't want to pay for Palafox Pier again, and the chart showed a sketchy channel to Seville marina, so we decided to spend money on a nice dinner instead. We took the dinghy on the long ride into the little public park and beached the dinghy. We were greeted by colorful local fishermen and some nice local homeless chaps, after which we started to walk around. The heat that drove us from Ft. Mcree was more intense here, so we ducked into an odd art museum to look at several strange exhibits.
We walked around a bit more discovering it was the Pensacola brew fest. Awesome, except they were still setting up and I couldn't get any samples. We went on to a museum, but they were closing, and it was super hot so we decided to shoot for an early dinner. We decided on the illustrious Atlas seafood restaurant not far from our dinghy. It was a very fancy place, and our seafood pizza, parmesean crusted grouper and crab-stuffed mahi were very good, but also very expensive. We decided on a night on the boat, being exhausted from the previous night.
Our anchorage was calm and windy and pleasant, so we slept well. The next morning we couldn't decide on anything to explore downtown, so we set sail for Pensacola Beach. The sail was very slow, and mostly we tidied up the boat after the boisterous sails. We eventually cranked the motor and got into little Sabine harbour by 3pm. We took a short walk ashore and visited the beach then hastily returned to the boat as a storm brought wind gusts to 40kts. We thought we would be hit by a tornado but it was just a strong front. We burned 2 hours waiting for bad weather that never came, and decided to stay on the boat.
The weather was actually nice getting cool and dry, and it blew hard all night. In the morning we set sail early to catch as much wind as possible on the way home and before long we were scooting mightily under sail himeward in the ICW. As we approached the Navarre bridge we were delighted to see a catamaran regatta with at least 50 boats. Unfortunately we were too slow to get into the fray, but they certainly made us look like we were standing still!
After Navarre the wind died and it was time to motor all the way home. As we entered the bay we noticed our friends John and Peggy in uncle Pat's old boat looking good. We traded pictures. Shortly thereafter we arrived back at the dock, and time for chores to get ready for next weekend!
Now to this weekend. Mike had Friday off, and he's had 2 weeks of 2-workdays, so he wanted to go cruising. We had previously bought provisions and filled the diesel and water tanks, so we were ready to go once I got home from work. We were pushed off the dock by 4:30 and by 6 were exiting the Destin pass. Mike had done his weather research and the wind forecast indicated south winds 12-15 kts with 3' seas until about 2AM at which time the winds would decrease. We'd done 3-day trips to Pensacola and PC before except it was always 1 day to get there and 1 day back, so only 1 day for fun. This time we had planned an overnight passage with a landing in Pensacola around 3AM. Both Pensacola and PC have excellent channels, unlike Destin, so a late night landfall wasn't too scary. Another thing I told Rosa, was that if we sailed offshore then we wouldn't have to watch out so carefully about running aground or other boats, because there's nothing to run into offshore(Mike was wrong). This way we could travel and trust the autopilot while we relaxed.
However, our initial exposure to the gulf was bad! Going out the channel the coasties seemed to have moved several of the channel markers, and as we approached the main spill into the gulf the waves stood up to 7' which we were motoring into and made quite a mess in the boat as we weren't prepared. Rosa wanted to turn around but I assured here things would get better, which they quickly did. However the boat was still rolling until I managed to get all 3 sails up and then the boat performed like a champ. We set off easily towards the west, the motor shut down and us quickly making 6 kts over even and clean swells. We quickly started to enjoy how well new boat handled in these situations, and the amazing stars came into full view as we passed Okaloosa. There was no moon, so it was very dark but the stars were spectacular, very pretty!
Onward we sailed until we started hearing the buuurp, pompom, and ba-boom from AC-130 Spectres blowing something up. We even saw them dropping flares and for a while they flew right over us. Eventually the perpetual explosions started to wear on us. I called Uncle James to talk about sailboat stuff and Rosa took a nap on the starboard walkway of the deck, nudged between the doghouse and the toerail bulwark. We were about 3 miles due south of the big radar tower between Okaloosa and Navarre when...
Wham... scrape scrape, slight decelrataion. I said to James "whoa what..." while Rosa started to say "Mike" then suddeenly a stronger and more dulled wham, with a deceleration like we had ran aground. Instantly stopped! Mike was thrown on the floor in the cockpit and Rosa stumbled awake as the boat rocked. I said to James "What the H*** I think we hit something!" and dropped the cell phone in the dark cockpit. Rosa tripped into the cockpit and said we had run aground. We were about 2.5 nm offshore in 75' of water so a grounding was not likely, but we definitely hit something. Whatever it was, the boat with full sails pushed on and by the time I could get the spotlight we were beyond whatever it was.
Needless to say, this shook us up! We've never hit anything, and most times we'd run aground it was a) my fault, b)daylight and c) not offshore in swells in the middle of a moonless night. We immediately started down the crash list and went to closing and checking all thru-hulls. There were no leaks. There was no crazy vibes, and the rudder still worked. No need to call the coasties. The autopilot kept us going and we were immediately up to 6.5 kts. I marked a spot on the chartplotter, we won't go near there again due to superstition. Whoops, I need to call uncle James!! I called him up and related what had happened. He was freaked out also as that's not a good thing to hear from family who is cruising offshore fore the first time on their new boat!
All appeared OK and the boat kept chugging, but both Rosa and I felt that every time the bow impacted a wave and we decelerated slightly we were envisioning another impact. All night we were concerned that the previously open and deep gulf which was supposed to offer safe passage was instead festooned with myriad objects to run into and poke holes in our boat. Since this was on our minds, we conjectured upon the cause, the most likely being a drifting piling or tree. But how do Dolphins sleep? Could we had hit one? And Rosa mentioned a submarine, but I figured if we hit a steel submarine, or cargo container, we'd know it. Volcanos? Possible elsewhere but not here. We were supposed to takes shifts keeping watch but the impact kept us both wired. So we talked boat sinking disaster plans and methods of staying afloat and alive, a somewhat morbid conversation.
However by 1:30AM we'd made great time. We were only 5nm from the Pensacola Pass ship channel, and then the wind died. It went from a great breeze to just dead, with the same swell rolling the boat around. We quickly sparked the engine and made quick time into the pass. We pushed hard and got to anchor by 2:30am. Rosa did an awesome job as spotter for the buoys without the flashy lights. We intended to go well into the Fort Mcree anchorage area, but we kept running aground and I didn't have sense enough to look at my old GPS which has a safe route marked out. As it turned out we anchored on top of one of the route's way points. We had hoped for a nice sleep after hours of nervous offshore sailing, but instead we were terrorized by vampiric avians, monster mosquitoes who had probiscus capable of poking through the afghan blankets we attempted to shield ourselves with. I soaked myself in DEET while Rosa wrapped herself with only a slight breathing hole, neither method was acceptable. We slept poorly.
Despite our lack of rest, we still woke early. Like oh-dark-thirty early when a huge damn motor boat rolled by throwing us out of the berth onto the floor. Some people! Ok then we napped until about 10, luckily the buggers don't like the sun I think. We woke and drank coffee and breakfast, and pulled anchor to motor up into the main anchorage. The short dinghy ride rewarded us with a deserted beach, which we quickly understood why. The mosquitoes swarmed us and covered us bodily. I inhaled several, so hungry they were, and I called an immediate retreat to the big boat to obtain backup. Some battles are best walked away from, so instead we went to the spoil which had sparse grass and we found to be much less buggy.
 |
| Atop the Ft McCree spoil |
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| Rocket ship intent on destruction of the US or oil ship? |
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| For Trippy Kittens |
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| "Three Ladies" that would have scared me as a child |
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| A strange flute |
The weather was actually nice getting cool and dry, and it blew hard all night. In the morning we set sail early to catch as much wind as possible on the way home and before long we were scooting mightily under sail himeward in the ICW. As we approached the Navarre bridge we were delighted to see a catamaran regatta with at least 50 boats. Unfortunately we were too slow to get into the fray, but they certainly made us look like we were standing still!
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Hiding from Hurricane Isaac in the Ditch
Flash back to Thursday Aug 24, I had just got off work and I'm so happy to be home for the weekend! I have friday off and the weather... well it looks fair to me, and a red sky at night must mean good things right? Except we have this little storm brewing out in the atlantic and vaguely coming in our direction. Rosa and I had wanted to go on a trip to Panama City this weekend, but given the nature of the beast we decided to stay put and maybe go to Destin Friday. Well by Friday the storm's extended forecast had it pointed at us, sending us into hurricane prep mode.
Phase I: Walmart trip for canned and fresh foods, as well as all those little things I put off until such occasions. I even bought a crate of bottled water despite our 150 gallons of potable water. Fill up the boat with diesel, the truck with gas, ensure adequate propane. Purchase sufficient wine and spirits for 3 weeks. Get enough fresh meat to fill the freezer. Clean the boat and fill the water tanks. Buy 2 Clive Cussler books. Get ammunition from storage, enough for a bunch of zombies. Do laundry. Rosa helped me run these errands and was a great help, although she was a tad upset about the ammo.
Phase II: Take inventory of all lines and anchors. Wait! Big problem here, I just sold the Hunter with 3 complete chain and rope sets, do'oh! I think I had intended to buy a new anchor, chain, and rope after I sold the Hunter but never got around to it. West Marine was instantly sold out, probably by Thursday. All I had on the boat was the primary anchor/chain/rope it came with. 40' of 3/8" chain, 250' of 3/4" rope attached to a 35# CQR, very nice but not enough. I also have a nice aluminum danforth with 10' of 3/8" chain (sufficient for a stern anchor) and a 22# Bruce (too small for this boat) without chain. This made me nervous, but I figured I could make it all work.
Phase III: Rosa cooked a fantastic Hello Kitty Fondant double-layer chocolate cake for Sommer the dock baby. I've been to every one of Summer's 6 birthdays, and I met her mom when she was pregnant, so this was fun, although we all remembered that this was the first of Sommer's birthdays that Uncle Pat missed. Rosa's cake was fantastic, professional, it could have even won awards. She does so well cooking on the boat!
Saturday morning we did a bit more hurricane prep, then we went over to Sommer's birthday. It was nice, and everybody loved Rosa's cake. Sommer released some balloons for her uncle Pat. I happened to notice that Larry's anchor and rode from his boat was laying on the ground. About 250' of 1/2" rope, perfect! Can I borrow it, "Yes", awesome! After a nice party we went back to the boat and checked the weather to find a Cat III (predicted) aimed right at us! Whoa, time to scram!
Rosa helped me get the boat ready to rock, and in an hour we were sailing out. Rosa is really enjoying sailing our new boat, so I snapped this pic while she was raising the main. We decided to sail to Hogtowne Bayou and stay the night and sail to the Ditch the next day. The weather was just beautiful, and this was the first time Rosa's been to Hogtowne. There wasn't really too much to see there as we didn't go all the way in, but we both enjoyed a good view of the stars.
The night was calm until about 1am at which point a breeze combined with a fetch to rock us and keep us up almost all night. Bummer, but this caused us to wake up early sunday and head into the ditch. Around this time I contacted my boss and asked him for the day (or a week) off work for the storm. The ditch area is rather pretty. It starts like a bayou and turns into a sand canyon with walls higher than my mast!
We anchored preliminarily near some downed pine trees, but the tides caused strong currents that reversed us, at one point out into the path of what looked like a coal barge. So I learned number 1, must have 2 anchors in the ditch for station keeping. However in the ditch we are protected from winds by the canyon walls, and there aren't any waves.
We went exploring and climbed the canyon walls. It's pretty fun to look down on the boat from above mast height. Notice the 3 anchors here.
That anchoring situation lasted until the tide changed and we got pushed aground. I like my boats floating so we had to reanchor. This time the boat was turned around from the above picture, slightly further out in the channel. However that was the WRONG WAY to be turned, as we found out Monday morning when we had 40kts of wind blowing up our stern. This was way too much wind to do any normal reanchoring, so we had to improvise! So, we took the excess stern anchor rope and ran it around the boat to the bow, where it was lead into the roller and cleated off. Then Rosa helped me get the rope off the stern cleat, and with speed and force the boat turned 180 until the stern anchor was the new bow anchor. Rosa helped me pull up the previous bow anchor (we are both getting muscles) and re-set it. We had cast off the side anchor and tied a fender to it, so after some recuperation we used the dinghy (in 30-40kt winds) to go and retrieve it. It was a pretty easy thing except a TREE was hung up in it, and I had to fight it free in a 2kt current (more muscles). Anyway, it was retrieved and all of monday and tuesday were easy, pointed into the wind.
We didn't have any rain, so we read books and watched movies and tried to amuse ourselves. The anchors and current ensured we were pointed dead upwind, and there were no waves or rocking. In fact it was downright boring, which is an acceptable outcome. Wednesday morning we motorsailed home in 20-25 kts and got back to the dock in 3.5 hrs which was smokin' fast! We both had a bit of fun and learned a bit about hurricane prep. If we have to go to the Ditch in the future I'm certain we'll be safe, and right now I'm shopping for proper anchoring gear for next time.
Phase I: Walmart trip for canned and fresh foods, as well as all those little things I put off until such occasions. I even bought a crate of bottled water despite our 150 gallons of potable water. Fill up the boat with diesel, the truck with gas, ensure adequate propane. Purchase sufficient wine and spirits for 3 weeks. Get enough fresh meat to fill the freezer. Clean the boat and fill the water tanks. Buy 2 Clive Cussler books. Get ammunition from storage, enough for a bunch of zombies. Do laundry. Rosa helped me run these errands and was a great help, although she was a tad upset about the ammo.
Phase II: Take inventory of all lines and anchors. Wait! Big problem here, I just sold the Hunter with 3 complete chain and rope sets, do'oh! I think I had intended to buy a new anchor, chain, and rope after I sold the Hunter but never got around to it. West Marine was instantly sold out, probably by Thursday. All I had on the boat was the primary anchor/chain/rope it came with. 40' of 3/8" chain, 250' of 3/4" rope attached to a 35# CQR, very nice but not enough. I also have a nice aluminum danforth with 10' of 3/8" chain (sufficient for a stern anchor) and a 22# Bruce (too small for this boat) without chain. This made me nervous, but I figured I could make it all work.
Phase III: Rosa cooked a fantastic Hello Kitty Fondant double-layer chocolate cake for Sommer the dock baby. I've been to every one of Summer's 6 birthdays, and I met her mom when she was pregnant, so this was fun, although we all remembered that this was the first of Sommer's birthdays that Uncle Pat missed. Rosa's cake was fantastic, professional, it could have even won awards. She does so well cooking on the boat!
Saturday morning we did a bit more hurricane prep, then we went over to Sommer's birthday. It was nice, and everybody loved Rosa's cake. Sommer released some balloons for her uncle Pat. I happened to notice that Larry's anchor and rode from his boat was laying on the ground. About 250' of 1/2" rope, perfect! Can I borrow it, "Yes", awesome! After a nice party we went back to the boat and checked the weather to find a Cat III (predicted) aimed right at us! Whoa, time to scram!
Rosa helped me get the boat ready to rock, and in an hour we were sailing out. Rosa is really enjoying sailing our new boat, so I snapped this pic while she was raising the main. We decided to sail to Hogtowne Bayou and stay the night and sail to the Ditch the next day. The weather was just beautiful, and this was the first time Rosa's been to Hogtowne. There wasn't really too much to see there as we didn't go all the way in, but we both enjoyed a good view of the stars.
That anchoring situation lasted until the tide changed and we got pushed aground. I like my boats floating so we had to reanchor. This time the boat was turned around from the above picture, slightly further out in the channel. However that was the WRONG WAY to be turned, as we found out Monday morning when we had 40kts of wind blowing up our stern. This was way too much wind to do any normal reanchoring, so we had to improvise! So, we took the excess stern anchor rope and ran it around the boat to the bow, where it was lead into the roller and cleated off. Then Rosa helped me get the rope off the stern cleat, and with speed and force the boat turned 180 until the stern anchor was the new bow anchor. Rosa helped me pull up the previous bow anchor (we are both getting muscles) and re-set it. We had cast off the side anchor and tied a fender to it, so after some recuperation we used the dinghy (in 30-40kt winds) to go and retrieve it. It was a pretty easy thing except a TREE was hung up in it, and I had to fight it free in a 2kt current (more muscles). Anyway, it was retrieved and all of monday and tuesday were easy, pointed into the wind.
We didn't have any rain, so we read books and watched movies and tried to amuse ourselves. The anchors and current ensured we were pointed dead upwind, and there were no waves or rocking. In fact it was downright boring, which is an acceptable outcome. Wednesday morning we motorsailed home in 20-25 kts and got back to the dock in 3.5 hrs which was smokin' fast! We both had a bit of fun and learned a bit about hurricane prep. If we have to go to the Ditch in the future I'm certain we'll be safe, and right now I'm shopping for proper anchoring gear for next time.
Sunday, August 5, 2012
A hot Destin trip and underwater surgery
We took off under motor but needn't go for very long until we were able to sail full fledged. It's a thing of beauty to have all 3 sail up, the boat at a comfortable heel and hauling butt across the bay. Halfway to destin we felt overpowered and simply rolled in the big jib and then we continued just as closewinded. Love our cutter rig! We weren't really hot because the breeze kept us cool. We sailed right up into the crab island channel before starting the motor. We were having such a good time we decided to go offshore fishing. We didn't have any better luck trolling offshore than inshore. We managed to do some bottom fishing, but that's when it got really hot. We didn't have any luck, so we turned around and sailed back to destin harbour.
Mike was sailing with the motor running going into the harbour when he made a mistake and ran aground. It was a soft grounding, but this big boat sticks a bit more on the ground than the hunter, so it took us about 10 minutes to get her off and moving again. We managed to get in just fine but took note that the channel had shifted from our previous safe mark.
Sleeping was HOT! The V-berth was untenable, the settee was sweltering. We slept very late and left to motor home by 11 on sunday.
So when we were in the boatyard I refurb'd the Maxprop and re-set the pitch one notch up from where it had been because I wanted more speed per RPM's. Well that was a bad idea, so today Mike paid penance for his actions. I donned scubs suit and tools and went scuba at the dock to disassemble the prop underwater. Each of the 10 alan nuts had a cotter pin that had to be removed, and then I was able to remove the zinc and aft spinner with 3 blades and keeper. This is a pretty complicated thing to be doing underwater, so expert buoyancy and calm are a must. This was also in 3' visibility water so I was working very close to the prop, which became problematic when motorboat waves rocked the boat. I hung a 5 gallon bucket with a scuba weight to drop the bits and bobs into. I managed to get the whole prop apart and back together in about 50 minutes on half a tank of air which was pretty darn good, and make me thing my scuba ninja skills were pretty good.
Anyway another weekend, and the boat is so much closer to being perfect. We're still having fun!
Mike was sailing with the motor running going into the harbour when he made a mistake and ran aground. It was a soft grounding, but this big boat sticks a bit more on the ground than the hunter, so it took us about 10 minutes to get her off and moving again. We managed to get in just fine but took note that the channel had shifted from our previous safe mark.
Sleeping was HOT! The V-berth was untenable, the settee was sweltering. We slept very late and left to motor home by 11 on sunday.
So when we were in the boatyard I refurb'd the Maxprop and re-set the pitch one notch up from where it had been because I wanted more speed per RPM's. Well that was a bad idea, so today Mike paid penance for his actions. I donned scubs suit and tools and went scuba at the dock to disassemble the prop underwater. Each of the 10 alan nuts had a cotter pin that had to be removed, and then I was able to remove the zinc and aft spinner with 3 blades and keeper. This is a pretty complicated thing to be doing underwater, so expert buoyancy and calm are a must. This was also in 3' visibility water so I was working very close to the prop, which became problematic when motorboat waves rocked the boat. I hung a 5 gallon bucket with a scuba weight to drop the bits and bobs into. I managed to get the whole prop apart and back together in about 50 minutes on half a tank of air which was pretty darn good, and make me thing my scuba ninja skills were pretty good.
Anyway another weekend, and the boat is so much closer to being perfect. We're still having fun!
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Family weekend sail
Today we took Mike's family out on Boracay Star. This was the first test of the boat with new rigging which Mike installed last weekend. Actually last weekend early Saturday morning we took out Pat's family, Dawn, Walt, and Katherine for a nice but too short sail with main only. Today we got to test all sails at once which was a blast! We sailed out of Boggy pass with main and stays'l, but after an hour of slight winds and 4kts I was ready for some speed. We raised the big jib and immediately we were 6+ kts in very slight winds, perhaps 12 kts. This was excellent until the wind picked up to about 17 kts which was getting us leaned over a bit too much and not adding to our speed. So we headed downwind and furled in the jib, and before long we were standing upright making the exact same speed. We really like this boat! We were able to sail right into the Crab Island area, then we dropped the stays'l and main and motored into a nice spot. Then we used the dinghy to ferry Rosa, Mom, Dad, and Brian and Mike to a shallow spot where we spent an hour our more swimming and playing. We ferried everybody back to the boat and motored out of the channel with the stays'l up. I wanted to raise the main but we were making 4.5 kts on the stays'l alone which resulted in a very restful downwind sail home. We reached into boggy pass just in time to meet a summer afternoon soaker rainstorm which left us wet but much cooler, while mom dad and Brian were already passed out in the cabin. We managed to sail all the way to the dock, and we tried something interesting considering wind was out of the west. We doused the stays'l and coasted into the dock on our own windage, docked perfectly, and didn't even wake mom. Anyway it was a wonderful day sailing with family, and it's a great feeling to have confidence in the rig's structural integrity. Look forward to more adventures aboard Boracay Star.
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Boracay Star is finally starting to get used!
I picked up the new fuel tanks thursday after work and they looked great. I'm very pleased, but a tad poorer. At least I know I will enjoy having new tanks, particularly no engine-stopping sludge on the bottom, more on why this is important later. I managed to get the first tank in no problem, but the second tank required some jigsaw removal of the side wood which holds the tanks. I wanted to remove the minimum, but I had to remove a tad bit more than I would have preferred. Anyway this required an afternoon of crawling in and out of the hole and pulling the tank in and out. Anyway with a little grunting, kicking, and sweat the second tank fell into place, and I declared victory over boat once again.
This brings the next issue, which is plumbing up the tanks. How I wish I'd paid more attention to the plans. Why would I need 1/2" NPT for the fuel pickup, and 3/4" NPT for the return, and 1" NPT for the vent? All this means is I had to buy multiple adapters to bring the hole to something reasonable for a 5/16" fuel line pickup and return, and 5/8" vent. Anyway expensive brass fittings aside, there's now the issue of how to fill these new tanks. I have a 1.5" fill welded on both, but I haven't bought the deck fills, nor have I drilled the holes yet. So I improvised and used my engine's fuel pump to suck the fuel through the 2 filters and through the bypass into the return. This took forever but at least now I have about 10 gallons of very clean fuel in the starboard tank.
So I got all this set up saturday morning, and as you might imagine I'm rather fed up with working in the hole, so off we go to Destin! And I'm tired of constant motoring, so we raised the main and the stays'l and hauled ass towards Destin. I'm incredibly pleased with the sea comfort of the boat. In the Hunter we would have been on our ear and jumping around a good bit. The Pearson held a comfortable 15 degree heel and didn't rock too much, and we scooted at 6.5 kts or so. I'm still waiting for my inner forestay to part. The crack in the swage is getting bigger at least in my mind. So I really want to get my rigging replaced. Until then I'll just take it easy.
Also Rosa made lunch while sailing and I introduced her to the sea rails of our stove. They're basically small metal hands that hold your pots in place while sailing. Rosa immediately loved them, and having a boat that doesn't heel so much allows her to feel more confident cooking.
Once to Destin we see the tourism in full swing, with too many pontoon rentals navigating around foolishly. We arrived to see Craig's two derelict boats anchored in our favorite spot. What an annoyance, Craig is the last guy we want to see. So we anchored in a different area, and took refreshing showers which quickly led to a nap. We slept about 2 hours which was very nice, and when we woke up we noticed a 30' motorboat anchored a boatlength upwind of me. Of all places, why anchor so slosely to me. And the guy just kept eyeing me like I anchored too close to him. Crazy people.
We then took the dinghy to harborwalk, and I needed to get gasoline for the dinghy. The dinghy had about 2 cups of gas, and the RIB doesn't row so easily so we walked to the Destin Marina to buy 1 gallon. The rainclouds started to roll in, and we accidentally left the boat open, so we dinghy'd back to the boat, closed it up, and piddled for a few minutes. We then turned around but where were my sandals? I'd left them on the dock, and surprisingly they were still on the dock when we returned. By now Rosa and I were hungry so we went to Mc Guiars and got pork chops, an Ernie burger, and Irish wakes. Stuffed beyond belief, we waddled back to the boat for a satiated night.
Annoying things sleeping on the new boat! The anchor roller creaked all night long, a ticking noise audible throughout the boat. As the rubber roller rolled slightly over the stretch of the line it was just a plain annoyance, and this was exascerbated by the 25-30 kts of wind that was buffeting the boat around. I must say however, that Nadesico had the very annoying propensity to sail at anchor, sometimes becoming broadside to the wind. The whole boat would heel due to mast windage, and continue until the rode could take no more, and the boat would snap to the opposite tack. Boracay Star performs well here, with a very small angle of deviation and barely any noticable heel. Another annoying thing that necessitated sleeping in the saloon is that the v-berth gets inadequate flow due to the stays'l boom being directly foreward of it. This meant it was very hot, and the incoming breeze largely skipped the v-berth and scooted down the hall. Well, no boat is perfect.
Right now it's sunday morning and it's blowing a good stink. Also inconveniently the wind is from the exact heading we need to get home. I'd otherwise want to test my new boat's heavy weather capability with a reefed main and stays'l, but I don't want my rigging to come undone in this weather! The anchor is holding well, but we're nearer to land than I would prefer. Un-anchoring will be a little tense, but I feel confident in my motor and fuel system at least. Weather indicated 13-23 kts at Destin airport. It's going to blow pretty good today and supposedly calm down in the evening. I think I'll climb the mast...
Actually we decided to un-anchor, and it was super-easy. The windlass is my new best friend, and it's likely to give me stronger guns without hurting my back, unlike manually hoisting the anchor like I had been doing. I had read that if either you or the boat is over 30, then you need a windlass. We re-anchored not too far away, but not before we checked the height of the water, and we were trapped in Destin harbour! The water was above the fourth board, which meant no passage for either of our boats. Thus we resigned ourselves to another night in the harbour, and I couldn't go to work monday. Such is life, so we bought some royal red shrimp and beer and had a lovely evening.
Well actually, I could have got a ride to work, but as of sunday evening the weather forecast the tropical storm that caused the high water would turn to a hurricane by wednesday and make landfall about the same time, so I didn't want to leave the boat. Instead, Rosa and I checked the water height early monday, still no dice, and it was really rough in the bay. So we re-anchored and took the dinghy to the beach. This was short lived as we were sandblasted until we left. Then we lazily strolled along harbour walk, Rosa got a smoothie while I had a few beers while talking to a quite drunk guy who at least was knowledgeable of Destin tides. I took Rosa back to the boat so she could rest, while I bought 5 gallons of diesel. After slowly pumping the fuel in the tank I ran the engine to charge the batteries. However by 5pm the wind had subsided a bit, and we were ready to try the bridge again.
I once again raised anchor, (twice in a day of 30kt winds, love that windlass!), and we puttered out towards the bridge. What greeted us was a slightly rollicky area beneath the bridge, and 3 boards and a little light showing. The board indicated 48' at center, and I think this was about correct. We eased very slowly under the bridge, fighting current and wind as is preferable in such occasions. We got closer and closer and... well the mast didn't hit, but the VHF and wind indicator scraped. The windex is only 6" above mast metal, so this was close, especially as the windex was dragging severely and we were bumping in the waves. Well this was my license to punch it (to a full 3 kts) and get through the bridge.
After the bridge what endues was more 3kt motoring, and we really loved the way the boat handled in these nasty bay chop waves. It was pretty rough, and Nadesico would have been pounding and stopping. Our boat didn't pound once, but it did hit the waves and turn them into geyers that on a few occassions soaked the cockpit. What fun! But the dodger was watertight and behind it was safe haven. After only 3 hours of this treatment, we had returned home to our dock, safe and tired.
I picked up the new fuel tanks thursday after work and they looked great. I'm very pleased, but a tad poorer. At least I know I will enjoy having new tanks, particularly no engine-stopping sludge on the bottom, more on why this is important later. I managed to get the first tank in no problem, but the second tank required some jigsaw removal of the side wood which holds the tanks. I wanted to remove the minimum, but I had to remove a tad bit more than I would have preferred. Anyway this required an afternoon of crawling in and out of the hole and pulling the tank in and out. Anyway with a little grunting, kicking, and sweat the second tank fell into place, and I declared victory over boat once again.
This brings the next issue, which is plumbing up the tanks. How I wish I'd paid more attention to the plans. Why would I need 1/2" NPT for the fuel pickup, and 3/4" NPT for the return, and 1" NPT for the vent? All this means is I had to buy multiple adapters to bring the hole to something reasonable for a 5/16" fuel line pickup and return, and 5/8" vent. Anyway expensive brass fittings aside, there's now the issue of how to fill these new tanks. I have a 1.5" fill welded on both, but I haven't bought the deck fills, nor have I drilled the holes yet. So I improvised and used my engine's fuel pump to suck the fuel through the 2 filters and through the bypass into the return. This took forever but at least now I have about 10 gallons of very clean fuel in the starboard tank.
So I got all this set up saturday morning, and as you might imagine I'm rather fed up with working in the hole, so off we go to Destin! And I'm tired of constant motoring, so we raised the main and the stays'l and hauled ass towards Destin. I'm incredibly pleased with the sea comfort of the boat. In the Hunter we would have been on our ear and jumping around a good bit. The Pearson held a comfortable 15 degree heel and didn't rock too much, and we scooted at 6.5 kts or so. I'm still waiting for my inner forestay to part. The crack in the swage is getting bigger at least in my mind. So I really want to get my rigging replaced. Until then I'll just take it easy.
Also Rosa made lunch while sailing and I introduced her to the sea rails of our stove. They're basically small metal hands that hold your pots in place while sailing. Rosa immediately loved them, and having a boat that doesn't heel so much allows her to feel more confident cooking.
Once to Destin we see the tourism in full swing, with too many pontoon rentals navigating around foolishly. We arrived to see Craig's two derelict boats anchored in our favorite spot. What an annoyance, Craig is the last guy we want to see. So we anchored in a different area, and took refreshing showers which quickly led to a nap. We slept about 2 hours which was very nice, and when we woke up we noticed a 30' motorboat anchored a boatlength upwind of me. Of all places, why anchor so slosely to me. And the guy just kept eyeing me like I anchored too close to him. Crazy people.
We then took the dinghy to harborwalk, and I needed to get gasoline for the dinghy. The dinghy had about 2 cups of gas, and the RIB doesn't row so easily so we walked to the Destin Marina to buy 1 gallon. The rainclouds started to roll in, and we accidentally left the boat open, so we dinghy'd back to the boat, closed it up, and piddled for a few minutes. We then turned around but where were my sandals? I'd left them on the dock, and surprisingly they were still on the dock when we returned. By now Rosa and I were hungry so we went to Mc Guiars and got pork chops, an Ernie burger, and Irish wakes. Stuffed beyond belief, we waddled back to the boat for a satiated night.
Annoying things sleeping on the new boat! The anchor roller creaked all night long, a ticking noise audible throughout the boat. As the rubber roller rolled slightly over the stretch of the line it was just a plain annoyance, and this was exascerbated by the 25-30 kts of wind that was buffeting the boat around. I must say however, that Nadesico had the very annoying propensity to sail at anchor, sometimes becoming broadside to the wind. The whole boat would heel due to mast windage, and continue until the rode could take no more, and the boat would snap to the opposite tack. Boracay Star performs well here, with a very small angle of deviation and barely any noticable heel. Another annoying thing that necessitated sleeping in the saloon is that the v-berth gets inadequate flow due to the stays'l boom being directly foreward of it. This meant it was very hot, and the incoming breeze largely skipped the v-berth and scooted down the hall. Well, no boat is perfect.
Right now it's sunday morning and it's blowing a good stink. Also inconveniently the wind is from the exact heading we need to get home. I'd otherwise want to test my new boat's heavy weather capability with a reefed main and stays'l, but I don't want my rigging to come undone in this weather! The anchor is holding well, but we're nearer to land than I would prefer. Un-anchoring will be a little tense, but I feel confident in my motor and fuel system at least. Weather indicated 13-23 kts at Destin airport. It's going to blow pretty good today and supposedly calm down in the evening. I think I'll climb the mast...
Actually we decided to un-anchor, and it was super-easy. The windlass is my new best friend, and it's likely to give me stronger guns without hurting my back, unlike manually hoisting the anchor like I had been doing. I had read that if either you or the boat is over 30, then you need a windlass. We re-anchored not too far away, but not before we checked the height of the water, and we were trapped in Destin harbour! The water was above the fourth board, which meant no passage for either of our boats. Thus we resigned ourselves to another night in the harbour, and I couldn't go to work monday. Such is life, so we bought some royal red shrimp and beer and had a lovely evening.
Well actually, I could have got a ride to work, but as of sunday evening the weather forecast the tropical storm that caused the high water would turn to a hurricane by wednesday and make landfall about the same time, so I didn't want to leave the boat. Instead, Rosa and I checked the water height early monday, still no dice, and it was really rough in the bay. So we re-anchored and took the dinghy to the beach. This was short lived as we were sandblasted until we left. Then we lazily strolled along harbour walk, Rosa got a smoothie while I had a few beers while talking to a quite drunk guy who at least was knowledgeable of Destin tides. I took Rosa back to the boat so she could rest, while I bought 5 gallons of diesel. After slowly pumping the fuel in the tank I ran the engine to charge the batteries. However by 5pm the wind had subsided a bit, and we were ready to try the bridge again.
I once again raised anchor, (twice in a day of 30kt winds, love that windlass!), and we puttered out towards the bridge. What greeted us was a slightly rollicky area beneath the bridge, and 3 boards and a little light showing. The board indicated 48' at center, and I think this was about correct. We eased very slowly under the bridge, fighting current and wind as is preferable in such occasions. We got closer and closer and... well the mast didn't hit, but the VHF and wind indicator scraped. The windex is only 6" above mast metal, so this was close, especially as the windex was dragging severely and we were bumping in the waves. Well this was my license to punch it (to a full 3 kts) and get through the bridge.
After the bridge what endues was more 3kt motoring, and we really loved the way the boat handled in these nasty bay chop waves. It was pretty rough, and Nadesico would have been pounding and stopping. Our boat didn't pound once, but it did hit the waves and turn them into geyers that on a few occassions soaked the cockpit. What fun! But the dodger was watertight and behind it was safe haven. After only 3 hours of this treatment, we had returned home to our dock, safe and tired.
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