by miami | Dec 19, 2013
We are heading back to West Palm Beach.
After three days in the exact same marina yard where Shelly and I built our first boat Naiad in1989-90, we left just after lunchtime to come back down the New River which runs through downtown Ft Lauderdale and feeds back into the intercostal waterway – our road North to pick up Ian tomorrow night late for Christmas.
Let's back up and get caught up…
Monday we were up early and enjoyed a beautiful morning motor into and through Ft Lauderdale and right on up the New River.
When we were here in the 90's these were considered mega yachts. Now they are everywhere.
There was lots to see going up through town and Goose got all excited every time we got close to someone's yard…
There are four opening bridges, lots of boat traffic, and a railroad bridge so the capt had to be on the radio most of the time praying the engine was not going to quit.
The main reason to come here was to get as close to the generator repair place, and the marina mile where there are tons of businesses to supply the needs of the “yachting capital of the world”.
We were looking for solar panels, parts to fix the engine issues, and drop off the generator.
Calling around we found that Riverbend Marina was the cheaper place to dock (at $68 a night) so we headed that way, racking our brains to remember anyone from long ago that might still be around.
One of the couples we remembered were Vern and Yolanda who had lived a couple of boats down in Riverbend but a google search brought no results.
Pulling in to the very tight spaced boatyard, we were absolutely amazed to find the guy taking our lines was Vern from 24 years ago! He proved to be a godsend, lending a vehicle and his knowledge to help us immensely .
Vern lives in this old sailboat they put us next to while he is working (he commutes to his home in la Paz Mexico!) and he has a black cat that fascinated Goose.
As usual when we dock it's off to the races to get stuff done.
With money pouring down the drain for parts and supplies, we bought a 235 watt solar panel and all the material to mount it, engine parts, and more. (Like $115 for a laser temperature gun to be able to tell exactly what the engine temps are!) The solar panel and mounting will end up at around $750 but the headaches mounting and installing are worth four times that. It is still not finished.
I worked on it all afternoon and into the night to realize I had made some dumb calculation mistake and had to rethink it this morning – and go for more parts on the bicycle. Sometime I get in such a hurry to get done it does me no good at all!
This is me grinding the ss tubes after dark!
We finished up enough by noon to wash down the boat and get off the dock before getting charged for another day.
Time to get back to WPB and be ready for Ian who is flying in at 1045 pm Friday for his first Air Force leave. He will spend Christmas on the boat with us. We will probably go back to ft Lauderdale and look for somewhere to leave the boat while we rent a car and drive to North Carolina for Memorial services for Shelly's Dad who passed on to a better life earlier this week.
That gets us up to date… At anchor just off the intercoastal waterway, with an engine with good alarms, temp gauges that work, and a solar panel mounting but not yet hooked up. And a nice cool 68 degrees with a east breeze off the ocean blowing in the hatch over the bed!
We wish the most happy of holidays to all!
by miami | Dec 15, 2013
We can see the bottom!
When we left off, we were leaving Titusville heading south again. We were able to motor sail much of the day with the wind from the NE, and blowing just enough to help add a knot to our speed. ( A knot is 1.15 mph for you landlubbers…)
At 4pm we threaded our way almost to the ocean at a place called Sebastian's Inlet and dropped an anchor in the channel where there were boats everywhere fishing for flounder. Dropped the dink and motored out to look at the ocean – just for a sec cause it was rough!- and then turned around to a park area, dragged the dingy up on the sand and walked to the beach.
Ryan went swimming in the rough surf, and Goose got caught in a wave while chasing a sea gull. As soon as we took his leash off, he went crazy on the beach as he has been cooped up on the boat lately.
The beach was awesome as it seemed no one had been there in a long time.
We left early the 12th with the wind howling from the north gusting to 40 mph all day. The run was down a long bay open to the wind and we flew, passing any boat in our way…
After a short fuel stop, we made it to Jupiter Inlet trying to get out of the wind. The bridges really start becoming a nuisance here as they only open every 30 minutes and if you miss it by one minute you wait 29 for the next opening!
We slid through three bridges searching for somewhere to anchor, and finally found a spot just big and deep enough for one boat just out of the channel – and out of that wind!
Early on Friday the 13th we were underway and close to Palm Beach. We pulled into Old Port Cove at 1030 and dropped an anchor in the cove Shelly and I lived on Naiad with Ian when we came back from the Virgin Islands in 1992.
There sure are a lot of people in Palm Beach!
After a lot of walking, some grocery shopping, and repair parts we decided to head on down to Ft Lauderdale on Sunday for the week. This is the place to get some stuff fixed, and find some answers to power problems. We need solar or wind generation, and to fix the generator. I also realized the genoa roller furling needs some attention. The plan is to spend a couple of days there and turn around and come back for Ian on Friday.
Sat afternoon we pulled the anchor as the wind was blowing and kicking up some chop so we could move to Peanut Island, be closer and be more comfortable. Not ten minutes into this short trip the salt water circulating pump self destructed which means we have to shut down the engine! Bummer. Although I am grateful for the opportunity to get to know Yume intimately, it would be nice if she wasn't so intimate so often.
Fortunately there was a pump on board that did not work (of course) but parts could be and were scavenged to enable us to get underway withing an hour. The problem with these “issues” is that they make me very nervous thinking about what will go wrong next.
We anchored for the night behind a bridge on a beautiful calm night where we very much enjoyed sitting out in the cockpit with a glass or two. It's great how conversation returns when you turn off the electronics and sit under the moon!
This morning began with an alarm on the engine that set everyone's nerves on edge. Dropped an anchor and the mechanic went to work again to isolate the issue to a bad low oil pressure sender that was replaced just two weeks ago. Crap.
So tonight we are in this itty bitty lagoon with about 6 inches of water under the keel, but out of the wind that is supposed to start blowing again tonight.
We are only 25 miles from Ft Lauderdale.
Ryan is happy because someone in one of these houses all around us did not password their router and he is playing video games with his friends. BTW he and Goose went swimming today in clear ten feet of water that was 78 degrees!
Sorry for lack of pictures. Blame it on the crew. The capt/mechanic/blogger has been busy!
Oh, and we are getting ready for Christmas!
Our Christmas wish list from Santa? A wind generator, solar panels, a bottom paint job, repairs to the Westerbeke generator, nonspillable ice trays…
by miami | Dec 11, 2013
How far are you going to sail is the single most often asked question we get.
Our answer has always been “until we can wear shorts and flip flops and the water is clear!” Look out now here comes some white (sort of flabby) skin!
As I type this we are passing Cocoa Beach to the east, under the genoa sail and motor doing about 8 miles an hour…
The crew is working on the woodwork and it is a glorious day.
We stopped last night in Titusville and picked up a city mooring as the wind was forecast to blow fairly hard, the crew needed showers, and Goose had to go again. Sometimes I think that is all he ever does. Still working on the carpet training. About 8pm the wind sprung up from a dead calm out of the north as forecast and by 11:30 was blowing a good 25 knots. Got up and checked everything just to be sure…
All gone this morning and the wind is a nice 15 knots out of the east. Perfect for a sail! We even put up the mizzen sail Bill Fowler in Texas sent to us! Thanks Bill!
It is now less than three days to West Palm Beach so we are making tracks waiting for the call to go to North Carolina.
So, we are in the shorts and flip flop weather but cannot yet see the bottom. Soon!
by miami | Dec 9, 2013
Today we made it to Flagler Beach Fl. We are up a small creek next to a Searay motor yacht facility.
There were lots of fish jumping so Ryan got out the cast net and practiced catching some – but not enough for dinner.
Saturday we wanted to stop in St. Augustine and check out a place called Sailors Exchange where they trade stuff they have for stuff you have. We ended up taking the dingy around a creek to get to a Home Depot so I could replace the $200 battery drill I kicked overboard in Savannah.
We got to sailors exchange at 2:30 to find they closed at 2, Bummer. Back to the boat and listen to all the yelling and partying going on ashore.
We woke up early on Sunday, as I wanted to install an isolator oil pressure hose bought back in Brunswick. Although it looked like the pipe I was worried about breaking was about to make me disassemble the damn motor to get it out, it finally gave up and let me get the job finished. While I was in there, there was a small fuel leak from the high pressure fuel pump that was bothering me so I put a wrench on that and of course that pipe broke right off!
Sunday morning no less. And not just any pipe – a very special pipe. So we decided that we were glad to be somewhere we could get it fixed on Monday and just hang out for the day.
The problem was the day was yucky. Fog rolled in about 8 am and stayed with us the whole day. We walked around town in the morning, paid for an overpriced under tasting lunch, and went back to the boat at noon to untangle the mooring.
We decide to be positive and hauled Ryan up the mizzen topping loft to install a flag. It looks great, but we got so wet and cold from the wind and the fog we had to retire below for hot chocolate.
Not long after we noticed the voltage from the batteries reaching a low point that made the captain uncomfortable who then declared no more power usage – lights out and no internet.
OMG we had to actually talk to each other! Pretty cool.
Finally about 8 pm the low voltage made me realize I might be able to solder the pipe so, in a flurry of activity I had the engine running and charging in about ten minutes!
This morning we moved to the docks for a couple of hours, got the bikes out a pedaled all over town looking for replacement parts which were not to be found.
So the repair has held for the afternoon run here ( averaging 9 knots woo hoo!) and will continue to hold until we get down to West Palm Beach, or somewhere with engine repair facilities or we sat somewhere long enough to order one.
.
Shelly and Ryan decorated for the holidays and we look all Christmasy!
It looks like we will be finding a place to dock Yume for a few days while we rent a car and go help the mother in law Sally as she goes through the pain of losing a life long partner.
Shelly and I talk about this and we know it is something we all must face as couples sooner of later but none of us want to… And it is hard as this leaves only Sally as the sole parent we have.
Life goes on does it not?
On a more cheerful note, it was fun exchanging texts with my fried Jim today who was stuck in traffic in Atlanta while we anchored, threw the cast net for a while, fixed a nice supper of pasta, fresh cheese and cold white wine, and caught up on emails and work for p4p!
Life is good.
On to Daytona Beach and beyond tomorrow. Forecast is 75 and sunny. Thank you God!
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