|
|
| Index: | |
| October & November 2001 | |
| September 2001 | |
| August 2001 |
A great deal has transpired since the last installment. In short (keep reading for the long version), we left Apollo Beach just before Thanksgiving, spent time in Sarasota, helped our friend Heather deliver her new boat from Punta Gorda to St. Pete, spent a couple of days in Charlotte Harbor with Larry, and headed up the Caloosahatchee River for a weeklong stay at Tom and Jean Colvin's home in Alva. Tom helped us to re-rig Ginger, with the happy result that we no longer have to wade through heaps of line in the cockpit. After yet another sad goodbye, we headed south again, both passed the ultimate test of seasickness in Florida Bay, and at last made it to Marathon, where we are making our final preparations for sailing to the Bahamas.
We left Apollo Beach for Sarasota the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, arriving early Wednesday afternoon after a slow if uneventful passage. After getting Ginger settled in at the anchorage, we rowed in to make some phone calls and take care of other business. On the row in we passed by Katherine B, a 41-foot big sister to Ginger. She belongs to George and Betty Salley, the parents of George Salley, one of the people we had met there in the anchorage on our previous stay, so we were excited about the opportunity to meet them.
One of the phone calls we made that evening was to Heather Porter, one of Kim's fish biologist friends from USF. She had recently bought a fine little sailboat in Punta Gorda, and Kim and I were to help her deliver it back to St. Petersburg over the holiday weekend. Arrangements were made for Kim to be collected Thursday morning and I would be left in Sarasota with Ginger and a list of projects to work on. If all went well, Kim and Heather would arrive on The Kidd (soon to be renamed Maerin) Friday evening or Saturday.
Thursday morning, Kim was picked up as planned and I went back to Ginger and began fussing about my projects. Midmorning I was hailed by Ross and Betty of Wizard and invited to an afternoon Thanksgiving meal. Wizard is an AS-39 (aka. Loose Moose, a big plywood box of a boat designed by Phil Bolger). I made myself as presentable as possible and rowed over at the prescribed time to find a magnificent meal, all vegetarian but the Turkey. We ate in Wizard's comfortable cockpit and greatly enjoyed each other's company. After the meal, Ross and Betty departed for work and errands, and I was left with Silver and her beau, Taran who quietly began agitating to go sailing. I don't need too much encouragement to take Ginger out, so we rowed back to her and off we went. I took the opportunity to practice single-handing, as Ginger and I were to accompany Heather and Kim on The Kidd to St. Pete. Silver and Taran seemed to enjoy themselves in their repose.
Friday I continued with projects aboard Ginger and monitored channel 16 hoping for a hail from Heather and Kim, but knowing that chances were good I wouldn't hear from them until Saturday. I did my best to distract myself, but was greatly relieved when, just before sundown I heard Kim's voice over the VHF hailing me. They had seen some rough, rolling conditions and had both ended up a little green and tired, but had pressed on towards Sarasota regardless. They still had about 5 miles to go when I received their initial call, and they would have to pick their way through Big Sarasota Pass with light failing. Care and seamanship prevailed and they were rafted up with Ginger and I before it became really dark.
We ate dinner, celebrated and told stories, then made ready to depart early the next morning for St. Petersburg. Saturday morning we got underway with a fine following breeze and found that there would be some difficulty keeping the party together. Broad reaching and running are Chinese Lug specialties, and without a spinnaker, a sloop has a difficult time making all of its sail area effective on those points of sail. We spoke on the VHF and agreed that I should continue apace in case the wind faltered later in the day, that would give me a buffer for sailing slowly while they motored through the typical midday calm.
By lunchtime I cleared the Cortez Bridge and we agreed that I would wait there so that The Kidd could take on fuel, pump out the head, and we could eat lunch. I anchored in front of the marina, just outside of the very busy holiday weekend channel and waited until they came through the bridge. Upon their arrival, they found that the marina on our side of the bridge did not offer any of the facilities they wanted, and we decided to chuck it and head for St. Pete.
Since they had the engine running from the docking maneuvers, Kim and Heather turned and headed for the Anna Maria bridge. I had to weigh anchor and hoist sail to get underway, so I missed their bridge and just missed the next. This left me 40 minutes behind, which seemed a fine challenge. I have heard it said that two sailboats on the same tack constitutes a race, and I am embarrassed to say it is true for me. While waiting for the Anna Maria Bridge I was joined by a new Catalina 30 (waterline 2.5' longer than Ginger's). I went through the bridge first (under sail) and they went through second (under power). When through the bridge, they signaled to pass with their horn, then shut off their diesel. They never got close. By the time I cleared the Anna Maria channel they were more than a mile astern.
I wanted to catch up with The Kidd without them having to slow down to wait so, despite good winds and boatspeed I hauled up our spinnaker and made for the Skyway. I am sorry to say that as Kim and Heather had the GPS, and I was too busy keeping Ginger under control to take positions for time/distance calculations, I can't verify my speed, but I believe we did just shy of six knots for the next hour or so until I finally caught them just beyond the bridge. It was a good experiment, I know I can handle the spinnaker single-handed in moderate conditions, but it sure was a lot of work compared to the single Chinese Lug sail. I was glad to have it down and stowed when we were sailing in company again.
We had a pleasant sail through Tampa Bay to St. Petersburg harbor. I steadfastly refused to motor, so I came in quite late after the breeze died and turned foul. I anchored near a huge waterstrider-like racing trimaran in the small harbor near the marina where Heather will be keeping her boat. It was all of 40+ feet long AND wide and had a mast that went nearly out of sight. It probably weighs less than Ginger does and can sail at 20 knots. It did, however, look to have even less living space and I take solace in knowing that Ginger could probably have turned it into rather expensive carbon/epoxy scrap while barely scratching her own paint (whence such violent fantasies? jealousy? hmmm).
We enjoyed marina hospitality compliments of Heather and after a meal and showers we went back to Ginger to sleep before departing first thing on Sunday. Sunday morning we awoke to strong SE winds that would have pinned us in the harbor most of the day without benefit of the engine so we motored to windward for an hour to get ourselves in position for a romping reach across choppy Tampa bay. The day went marvelously well, the winds turning fair at each leg, and despite continually falling breeze, we made Sarasota again by nightfall. The spinnaker saw a great deal of use that day, and my enthusiasm for it grew proportionately.
The rest of our stay in Sarasota was filled with socializing and business. We invited the Georges Salley for dinner, I did some electrical work for Ross on Wizard, the elder George gave me lessons in receiving/interpreting weatherfax via SSB, the younger George lent his genoa and crewing skills to further experiments with sailing Ginger with headsails, we saw the Harry Potter movie... we were sad to leave Sarasota when we finally departed for Charlotte Harbor.
We sailed south on Monday before first light and made good speed until light variable winds took over late morning. They continued well into the afternoon, but by chasing clouds and cajoling the spinnaker we made Pelican Bay anchorage off Cayo Costa just after dark that evening. On the way in we received a surprise hail on the VHF: Larry Riopelle had taken a chance we would make it in one day and come out to see us. He provided detailed instructions on the tricky approach to the anchorage, which we surely needed coming in after dark. We were quite surprised when we rowed to the spot where Larry told us he had anchored and found not his powerboat/camper experiment, Junk Rig, but a Chrysler 22 devoid of any of its sailing apparatus. Larry has named her Windless. We enjoyed the next two days with him there at the park, walking on the beach and messing about in the boats.
We made our goodbyes to Larry and started south again. This turned out to be a mistake as Pelican Bay is very tricky to exit to the south. Yes, we went aground again. The tide was rising fast, and so with two anchors out and some patience we were soon in good water again. We went out the north end and made a nice open anchorage alongside Useppa Island before sundown. We were trying to decide whether or not to trek up the Caloosahatchee River to visit Tom and Jean Colvin. The trip would take us two full days out of our way and we were feeling some urgency to get to the Bahamas. On the other hand, we had some questions for Tom about Ginger and it wasn't a common opportunity.
Happily, the forecast and our desire to meet the Colvins tipped the scale and we headed upriver. After an overnight stop in Fort Myers for laundry and showers, we motored to Alva, where we were warmly greeted by Tom and Jean. Jean kindly whisked Kim away to Costco, West Marine, and the grocery store, and insisted that she obtain every single item on the list (she kept looking at it to be certain!). Meanwhile, Tom complimented Bruce's construction of Ginger and then made some notice about the messy heaps of line in the cockpit. By the time Jean and Kim returned from shopping, Ginger sported a new euphroe on one side and was ready for a trial sail.The trial was successful and instructive. Kim found new confidence in handling the boat under Tom's tutelage and I learned that Ginger sails quite respectably with a good bit less rigging and fiddling than I had employed before. Kim was particularly impressed with the reduction in line lying about on deck and has become a bit of a crusader in that cause. Tom also noted that Ginger's weight distribution seemed fine, and he did not think that significant changes were necessary.
Over the next few days we largely re-rigged Ginger and I installed our inverter. (The laptop is PLUGGED IN as I type this, boy is it an energy hog! It seems to draw a steady 18 watts under normal usage.) Jean ran Kim and I to Alva Hardwoods to buy wood for new (Colvin-style) euphroes and dumbbell blocks (I selected a nice offcut of quarter-sawn 4/4 Osage Orange). I "supervised" as Tom made the parts in his shop. He was pleased with the selection of wood and the sawdust he made was a delightful, bright mustard yellow. With Tom's instruction, we measured, cut, whipped, lashed and knotted until Ginger was fit to sail again. We were left with a huge pile of leftover line, and we have more yet to remove (a length of the latter caused some mischief several days later... keep reading). Such is the difference between Tom's rigging and the one suggested by the English sail maker.
We stayed until Tom and Jean's schedule permitted another sail with the new rigging. Throughout our visit Tom and Jean took time to talk, share meals with us, and help us prepare for cruising on Ginger. They were busy with their own work (Tom is completing construction drawings for a 60' power cruiser, and Jean is very active in the Alva community), but went out of their way to show us hospitality. I piddled with their fine web site (www.thomasecolvin.com) a bit in hopes of improving the speed with which pages load. Give it a visit to learn more about Tom and his beautiful boats.
Come late Friday morning I was finishing up my work on their web site, and there were no more reasons for us to hang on any longer. Jean fed us one last meal, they loaded us with citrus, we hefted Root onto the sidedeck and lashed her down, and we sailed/sculled slowly out their canal and down the river. Light winds were predicted for the evening and the next day and we got them in spades. The lack of wind made the tides very significant, especially near the mouth of the river and up to the Sanibel Causeway. The tide schedule demanded some pre-dawn sailing from Fort Myers to the Causeway, which with the exception of one small detour, we executed with aplomb. The detour cost us about an hour, which multiplied itself threefold in trying to actually depart San Carlos Bay. We found ourselves tacking out against a light headwind and a rising flood tide. Ginger pointed well to the wind, but the tide kept us going sideways back and forth across the bay for two long tacks. Finally, as the flood current reached its peak (about 2 knots), the wind freshened and we gained enough speed to beat it. We cleared the bay and its foul current (which was due to continue until well into the afternoon) and sailed out into the Gulf of Mexico.
We sailed closehauled against moderate winds and chop all day, and in anticipation of light offshore winds that night, we anchored right off Bonita Beach. The wind did turn offshore and ease late in the evening, but the swell remained from the south, resulting in some unsavory rolling behavior at anchor. I rigged up a bridle to Ginger's quarter to head her into the swell. This seemed to do the trick and her motion improved markedly.
We needed water so we got an early start the next day and made Naples in time to be carried in against the wind by the flood tide. It must have mystified all of the powerboaters to see this odd little boat tacking her way so smartly up the narrow, busy channel directly against a stiff breeze. We made the City Dock just at high tide, filled our water jugs, bought some token fuel and departed on the ebb. This time the wind was fair, so our departure was quick and easy. Based on the forecast for continued east winds we decided to make for Marathon by sailing through the night and into the next day.
We continued SE down the coast with rising E winds all afternoon and early evening. As night fell we were offshore, well south of Marco and the winds and seas were rising. When Kim took the first night watch the seas were 3' and the wind was 15 knots gusting up to 20. I didn't sleep much, but I rested in anticipation of my 2300 - 0300 watch. By the time my watch had arrived, Kim had two panels reefed and the seas were 5'. The trend continued throughout my watch and when it was time for Kim to take the helm again (0300 - 0500) we were triple reefed and having difficulty keeping our SE course. It wasn't until my 0500 - 0700 watch that conditions eased slightly and just before sunrise I raised full sail and started making good the course to Marathon again at good speed. The weather and waves were a little scary and the watchkeeper was regularly doused with spray blowing up over the boat, but there was never any question that Ginger was up to it.
We proceeded down the deep outer part of Florida Bay, into 5' - 7' seas and 20 - 25 knot breeze. Ginger was moving very well under full sail and climbed to windward, making up for lost ground throughout the night. Our prospects for reaching Marathon looked quite good, assuming conditions remained stable or improved. It is at these times, when it is very tempting to breathe a large sigh of relief and perhaps feel a bit smug, when one should take extra care to preserve the good fortune one has found... Florida Bay is FULL of crab pots. I had been paying little attention to them other than to try to avoid running right over them. One minute we were romping along at just less than 5 knots, helm balanced, Ginger steering herself. The next, we were dragged down to a crawl and the lee sheets were pulled bowstring tight. The tail of the lee sheets had gotten washed overboard and were trailing behind when the knot we had tied in it to mark where it should be cut fouled on a crab pot buoy. I am sure we gave those poor crabs quite a ride.
That normally would have just been a diversion, and would not have changed the outcome of the day significantly, but we were due to be put to a test. While I was clearing the sheet from the buoy, Kimberly noted that our porta-pottie was full and that since we were more than the requisite number of miles offshore we should dump it here instead of waiting for the Keys where they have problems with such things. I agreed that it was a good idea and Kim went forward to handle the task. I had filled the upper tank with flushing water, which made the unit difficult to handle. In her struggling to get it up on deck, the valve to the lower unit snagged on something and it belched forth a significant volume of its contents into our forepeak. Consider: 20-25 knot winds, 5-7' seas and a forepeak full of sewage! Kimberly was a little daunted so I went forward and together we emptied the forepeak and cleaned it and its contents (including several hundred feet of rope). If someone were ever to devise an Advanced Seasickness Test this would surely be it. We both passed, but by the time we were done and tried to get the boat underway again I couldn't get Ginger to carry full sail safely and she had developed a wicked weather helm. I also couldn't get the reefed sail to set as well as the full sail so we could no longer make good the course to Marathon.
I suggested heaving-to for a while and regrouping, but Kimberly had other ideas. After some clever chartwork she identified a good anchorage at Little Pine Key that we could get to, only 13 miles from Marathon. Unbeknownst to me, the self steering gear had been knocked out of whack during the crab pot incident and it made handling the tiller difficult work (this almost certainly accounted for our not being able to resume our course to Marathon). Fortunately, the new anchorage was closer than Marathon and we were going wonderfully fast on the new course (surfing up to 7.2 knots, 6.4 knots sustained) and we fetched the channel quickly. We were able to sail about half way in, but the rest of the channel was too close to the wind and too narrow for effective tacking in the strong wind. Beet (the Sabb) was put to the task and brought us in to our anchorage in time for sundown.
We enjoyed our private anchorage at Little Pine Key all of the next day. I worked on some maintenance/improvements projects and Kim tidied and made lentils in the pressure cooker which would provide the basis of three meals over the next few days. Kim finished her to-dos first and rowed off to explore the shoreline in Root while I disassembled the after part of the boat to work on the engine. Eventually, all the day's tasks were completed and we turned in planning to leave in time to make a fair tide at Seven Mile Bridge the next day.
We got underway in good time and, despite light and fitful winds, made the bridge a couple of hours early for the ebb tide that was to carry us through. We decided to give it a go anyway and crept through the bridge at less than a knot against the 1.5 knot current. The sail to Marathon was completed uneventfully and we sailed into Boot Key Harbor early in the afternoon. Marathon! What a place! There are SO many boats crammed into the harbor that we are swinging mere boatlengths from other boats. As usual Ginger attracts a lot of attention and by the time we were done tacking through the anchorage to our chosen spot we had made a few new acquaintances. As had been recommended to us, things are very convenient for the transient boater hoping to provision here. The community of sailors is vibrant and there are many beautiful and interesting boats.
Some friends of Tom and Jean Colvin kindly agreed to receive a package of boat equipment and a package of our mail, so we have gotten whatever had been sent to Kevin and Denise on our behalf. We will be staying in Marathon only long enough to receive the package of equipment and make some further improvements to Ginger's fresh water system (we splurged and bought a watermaker at Tom's encouragement!). Depending on weather, we will likely either cross to the Bahamas or wait for a weather window at Tavernier Key on Christmas. We probably won't have access to facilities so we don't expect to have contact with family or friends on the day.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS! We love you all!
Well, not in Apollo the whole time, but it is still our base for now. Since the last installment we have designed and built a bowsprit/anchor roller (again much thanks and credit to Stewart and Kevin Boots of SK Design), spent a week anchored and sailing in Sarasota, built a new sculling oar and made repairs to Root (our trusty dinghy).
We had a great time in Sarasota and got lots of stuff done. Most importantly, we met some other cruisers/sailors/boat-people. We entertained several visitors and took them on daysails on Sarasota Bay when the weather allowed. The winds were mostly from the NE and brisk (15kts gusting to 20) which made for romping reaches up and down the bay. The conditions encouraged the demonstration of the ease with which Ginger can be reefed; all were duly impressed.
The strong NE winds were the main reason we chose to stay in Sarasota as long as we did, waiting for the front to pass and the winds to clock South. The day the winds were projected to turn we got an early start, making great progress NW in ENE winds of 10 - 15kts. We arrived at the Anna Maria bridge in good time to find the beginnings of a pile-up of sailboats due to a bridge malfunction. We were stuck tacking, wearing about (gybing), and holding station in front of the bridge as it got more and more crowded. On one pass around I strayed too far on the lee side of the channel and we went aground (again).
I hopped into the water to give Ginger a push into deeper water when we were approached by a gentleman and his wife on a large pontoon boat offering assistance. We had never tried getting free by being pulled off so I decided to give it a go. I made the towline fast to one of Ginger's massive bow bollards and stepped out of the range of any potential backlash should the line (or the pontoon boat's cleat) break. With a little direction about where the deeper water was, Mr Pontoon heeled us over and pulled us off with aplomb, much to the disappointment of the Towboat/US vessel that was standing by since early in our attempt. Shortly afterwards (perhaps one or two more laps in front of the bridge) the bridge was cajoled into opening and we went through with the other vessels that had accumulated on both sides. Despite the traffic, close quarters, and bridge/land induced wind flukiness there was never any need to start the engine and we got a hearty, "Looking good!" from the bridge tender.
The wind clocked NNW at an inopportune time and we found ourselves tacking out the narrow channel along Anna Maria Island to Tampa Bay. Some creative navigating took us out through a hole in the bar well west of the channel (and past the LARGEST Stingray I have ever seen) under the gathering clouds of a thunderstorm. We reefed down and ran from the Westerly storm winds, making a steady 6.7kts in the best possible direction with 3 panels up in about 30kts of breeze. I got suited up before the rain started and was not uncomfortable at the helm in the deluge (our first under sail in Ginger). The greatest concern was the lack of visibility and our proximity to the shipping channel. Kim plotted our position throughout and gave heading directions, and when we could finally see the Skyway Bridge we were on course and in good shape.
The forecast E to SE winds predicted never materialized so we slogged our way to Apollo Beach Directly upwind against choppy 3 - 5 foot seas. We spent over 2/3 of the trip covering the last 1/3 of the (straight line) distance and arrived very early the next morning. After the trip I was inspired to commit some of the day's images to verse, so now we have a poetry page for the site.
We have made some efforts in the direction of selling our beloved blue VW Jetta TDI, but our hearts are not entirely in it. If you know someone who would love a nice car with average mileage (55,000 miles for a 1998), great fuel economy (48 mpg) and lots of good Karma, let us know, we are asking $13,000 and might be willing to deliver it a significant distance to the right buyer.
Since arriving at Kim's parents' house in Apollo Beach we have made some significant equipment upgrades to Ginger. Some of these changes put her out of sailing condition for weeks at a time, but recently we have taken to the water again. We are happy to report that without exception the changes make Ginger easier and more comfortable to sail. The changes include:
The trim-tab for the self-steering is a little sticky (paint in the wrong place) so it only works in a stiff breeze, but just having the trim tab is a huge luxury. Ginger can now be set up to steer herself for reasonable periods of time just by setting the tab correctly and locking it down. We need to get used to using the chartplotter, and the gain needs to be dialed-in before we can depend on the depth sounder, but having the electronics working has been nice. Kimberly has been doing all of the basic maintenance: here she has access to an air-chisel as an aid in the never-ending war on rust.
Once the rudder was replaced after the trim-tab modifications we celebrated by inviting Kimberly's cousin Brian over from Orlando to help us test it. His visit was marked by high winds -- our party of 5 (Brian, Mom & Dad Boots, Kim and Chris) persevered on a blustery afternoon. We sailed a couple of hours in 20-25 knot winds, and found Tampa Bay to be a rather rough place under those conditions. We all got well doused with spray but enjoyed ourselves nonetheless.
More recently, we took a weekend jaunt down to Bradenton on the Manatee River with the intention of entertaining two couples of friends. The sailing was pleasant and easy, but too slow to suit the day's schedule. You can read about the outcome of that day's sailing here. We did eventually make it to our anchorage and had a quiet morning to reflect on the previous day's events and to consider our remaining plans. In the early afternoon, Kristen Penney and Mike Sommers arrived as planned, expecting to sail on the river with us, spend the night aboard, and disembark the next morning. However, an approaching frontal system threatened nasty weather. We had a relatively small window in which to get back to Apollo Beach before the trip would become difficult and unpleasant. When Kristen and Mike arrived we proposed that we leave for Apollo Beach immediately to take advantage of predicted favorable conditions. They rose to the occasion and proved to be game and able crew (Kristen weighed the anchor and Mike started Beet on his first attempt). The predicted fair winds never freshened much, but we had a pleasant drift up to Apollo Beach.
We just completed our 413-mile shakedown cruise, from North Palm Beach to Apollo Beach.