Dick and Libby's Tarwathie Cruising Log

Land Versus Water Cruising

2012-02-01T10:31:00.000-05:00

Marathon, Florida
24 42.40 081 N 05.68 W

It's kind of a running joke. Cruisers start with a sail boat, then they graduate to a trawler, then to an RV, then to a wheelchair. Ha ha, lame joke. However, we've known people who have actually made each of those transitions.

In recent years, two of our closest cruising friends, gave up their boats and bought RVs. First it was Stephan and Lori, then Pat and Ray. I thought it was interesting as to their insights about how cruising on land was or was not like cruising on water. I learned several things from them.

A boat can anchor out, or it can tie up at a marina. Similarly, RVs can park in the wild, or they can go to an RV park. Our friends tell us that parking in the wild is rarer in RVs than anchoring is in boats. They spend almost all their evenings in RV parks.
Because they make reservations in RV parks, and because they are less influenced by weather, RV cruisers tend to fill up their calendars well in advance. Boaters by contrast try to resist all planning and obligations to be at a particular place on a certain date. I think that's a very profound and important difference.
The social dynamics of RV cruisers is different than boating cruisers. One reason for that (as described to me is that in the morning, most Neighbors in the RV park will take off in all directions. You're not likely to meet them again. That gives less incentive to invest on making new friends spontaneously. On boats, especially in the islands or along the ICW, you're highly likely to meet the same boats again and again, so friendships can blossom.
Creature comforts are much easier to host on an RV. Things like a reclining easy chair, or an upright refrigerator, and a TV. The TV can be corrosive though. It can seduce RV cruisers back into the mainstream consumer culture they were trying to escape from.
Repairs are more frequent, more expensive, and harder to do yourself on an RV as compared to a boat.
Like boaters, RV cruisers like to hold rendezvous with others of the same make and model, or with some other kind of affiliation. Boat rendezvous are more local. RV rendezvous can attract people from thousands of miles around.
Some RV parks, like some marinas or harbors, attract mostly transient people who come in for a short time, then leave. Others attract people who stay for extended periods, or who become semi-permanent residents. In that respect, water and land cruising are alike.

Curiously, Stephan, Lori, Pat and Ray all gave up RV cruising and moved into fast land fixed housing after a couple of years. Their RVs sit parked in their yards most of the time. Their reasons for doing that were similar and family related. Of course, unlike the sterotype, none of them are even close to wheelchair read yet. It seems that water cruising, followed by land cruising, were chapters in their lives. Libby and I don't plan to do that. We hope to stay on the boat until we're too infirm to continue.

Another difference is the kinds of traffic you meet along the road. See below. :-)

What's That?

2012-01-31T16:27:00.000-05:00

Marathon, Florida
24 42.40 081 N 05.68 W

What do you suppose this apparition is? Why is this guy wrapped in a flag?

No, he is not doing something political. He is trying to use his laptop computer out in the bright sunlight in a place where he found (a) an electrical outlet and (b) an unsecured WIFI signal. That is part of normal life for many of us cruisers.

Actually, I've been there and done that many times. I think there may even be pictures of me in the archives of this blog sitting on a grass lawn under a blanket trying to use my computer. Nowadays, I've graduated to elite status. When I can't sit in an easy chair at a library to use their WIFI, I just use my phone to couple my laptop to the Internet using 3G instead of WIFI. I also have a laptop with pretty good battery life so I can get useful stuff done without an electrical outlet.

Actually if I'm just reading or watching video, it is easiest to use the phone and skip the laptop. I can watch a movie while swinging in a hammock under the canvas tarp up on the fore deck. That's the ultimate in decadent pleasure.

It is interesting to think how fast things have changed, just 7 years ago when we started cruising, even WIFI was rare. I either had to find a hard-wired internet connection, or use a phone dial-up. The only widespread wireless solution back then was Blackberry. I do however, remember Robb a friend at work, using his cell phone as a modem way back in 2005. He was way ahead of his time.

Many cruisers in those days had pocket email devices about the size of a smart phone today. You could use the device to compose your email, then dial-up your ISP and simply hold the device up to the telephone handset. It looked very strange to see people standing there doing that. Now, I haven't seen one of those devices in several years. I assume they are mostly gone to the trash heap.

Free WIFI doesn't reach to most places out in the harbor, but there is an expensive, slow and unreliable WIFI service from Maricoms. It appears that many cruisers use that rather than bring their computers ashore for free WIFI. Evidently, people are willing to pay lots for convenience. Many smart entrepreneurs got rich providing convenience.

Note that all the above relates to coastal cruisers like ourselves. Blue water cruisers, and those who circumnavigate have to learn to get along without the Internet and without their smart phone apps most days. One can send and receive text emails via SSB (single sideband radio) but that's expensive and very limited in what you can do. I do it to post blogs and to receive weather data, but I still miss the full blown net.

What does the future hold? Wonderful wireless things for most of us, but probably no improvement at all for sailboats thousands of miles from land.

A Wonderful Mystery

2012-01-29T10:54:00.000-05:00

Marathon, Florida
24 42.40 081 N 05.68 W

Wow. Here's something completely unexpected and a real life mystery. I suppose it has something to do with convection cells but in total I find it baffling.

Rather than explain it myself, I'm pasting the explanation from APhttp://apod.nasa.gov/apod/OD below.

Saturn's Hexagon Comes to Light
Image Credit: Cassini Imaging Team, SSI, JPL, ESA, NASA

Explanation: Believe it or not, this is the North Pole of Saturn. It is unclear how an unusual hexagonal cloud system that surrounds Saturn's north pole was created, keeps its shape, or how long it will last. Originally discovered during the Voyager flybys of Saturn in the 1980s, nobody has ever seen anything like it elsewhere in the Solar System. Although its infrared glow was visible previously to the Cassini spacecraft now orbiting Saturn, in 2009 the mysterious hexagonal vortex became fully illuminated by sunlight for the first time during the Cassini's visit. Since then, Cassini has imaged the rotating hexagon in visible light enough times to create a time-lapse movie. The pole center was not well imaged and has been excluded. Thismovie shows many unexpected cloud motions, such as waves emanating from the corners of the hexagon. Planetary scientists are sure to continue to study this most unusual cloud formation for quite some time.

Florida Bay

2012-01-28T10:41:00.000-05:00

Florida Bay

We left Boot Key Harbor and went out in Florida Bay for a couple of days. It was a great change of pace.

What is Florida Bay? It is the body of water bordered on the South and East by the Keys and on the North and East by the Florida mainland. It's very big, roughly 800 square miles. It is very shallow, averaging perhaps 8 feet in depth. In many ways Florida Bay is like the Bahamian Grand Banks. Indeed, I have no doubt that the Bahamian Banks, Florida Bay and the entire Florida Peninsula must have common geological backgrounds. They are so much alike, differing mainly in an elevation difference of 10 meters or less.

However, the Bahamian Banks are mostly covered in naked white sand, Florida Bay's floor is a mud/sand mixture and much is covered with sea grass. In fact that made a problem for us. It was hard to find a sandy spot to drop our anchor. The sea grass is protected and one must not anchor in it.

Similarly, many of the pristine islands in the area are protected wildlife habitats and people are not allowed to go ashore. Libby had her eye on one called Little Pine Key because it might be a source of pine needles, but alas it is one of the protected ones.

Still, the water out there is very clear (not as clear as the Bahamas) and delightfully warm for swimming. One of our objectives was to do some bottom scraping. Our propeller in particular was buried in a mound of barnacles. It is still the old propeller, we haven't installed the new one yet. I did accomplish that, but I made a beginner's mistake. To prepare I laid out my bathing suit, mask, snorkel, gloves, shoes and scraper. But when I went it the water I forgot to put on the gloves. As a result, my knuckles were cut and bleeding. Barnacles have razor sharp edges that cut so easily.

Not to worry. I soaked the cuts in alcohol and put on bandages. Today, they are almost healed already.

We also made a second mistake, but this time it was hard to foresee. To gain shelter from the forecasted winds we anchored on the opposite side of Coconut Key than where we usually do. See the picture. X marks Pigeon Key where I went to a festival last week. Y marks where we anchored two days ago, and Z marks where we anchored last spring when Jenny was here.

It turns out that Y had terrible holding. We had trouble getting the anchor to bite. We finally managed with 100 feet of chain out in 7 foot deep water. Then a squall came through with strong winds from the wrong direction. Then and all through the night, we found that this particular spot is a channel for tidal currents. For the most part, tides and tidal currents are not much of a factor in Florida Bay. For some strange reason that I can't explain, this exact spot saw 2-3 knot currents both on flood and ebb. It was not safe for swimming. We spent a restless night worrying about the security of our anchor. Just 1/4 mile away at point Z, currents are negligible, but because of a shoal, we couldn't get there directly.

We moved to another place and anchored near a string of lobster traps. We hoped to buy some lobsters from the fishermen when they tended the traps. Alas, they never came. I wonder how many days they go before checking those traps.

Oh well, there will be other days and other places in the Bay to explore.

Opus Alveus

2012-01-26T10:21:00.000-05:00

Marathon, Florida
24 42.40 081 N 05.68 W

Well, it's finally done. For the past month, Libby has been working monomaniacally on a very big pine needle basket project. It is a set of four dinner-plate size place mats. They turned out very beautiful -- at least I think so. Her work keeps getting better and better.

However I don't think she'll tackle such a big project again any time soon. It used up all the needles we had on board, and also 500-600 yards of thread. That's a lot of stitching. She didn't do it alone. Libby's friends Sandra and Sharron also shared the work.

They are headed way up north to our friend Terri. In this case, way up north, means Jacksonville, Florida.

p.s. We're headed out to remote regions of Florida Bay for a couple of days. Perhaps no blogs.

Also on the basket front, Libby is having fun teaching other cruiser ladies about pine needle basket making up at the marina. She had been trying to keep it limited to 3-4 ladies at a time by invitation only. However, she did something imprudent. She announced a schedule change to the baskets session on the Cruiser's Net. That let the secret out to the whole harbor. Yesterday, she was overwhelmed by 15 students. Once again, her friends Sharron and Sandra lept in with helping hands. They taught the advanced students while Libby did the beginners.

Is Libby feeling put out by all this stuff? Not at all. She seems to thrive on the demand, the purpose of action, and the praise she gets. I think she's found her niche. Needing to manage the size and scope of the projects is a nice problem to have.

The Weekend

2012-01-24T06:20:00.003-05:00

Marathon, Florida

24 42.40 081 N 05.68 W

Friday night was still, warm, benign and moonless. Perfect conditions for Libby's minor passion -- rowing at night. She took the dinghy out alone just before midnight and spent a very nice hour just touring the harbor by herself in silence. Such moments are great for the soul. I'm so happy that Libby gets chances to indulge it. We are also so lucky to be in a place where the weather and public safety makes it possible to do.

On Sunday we went to a special show at the Community Theater. This year is the 100th anniversary of the completion of Flagler's East Coast Railroad to Key West. Naturally, that was an event of enormous importance to the Keys and to the State of Florida. Jellinek's performance was excellent. If you ever get the chance to see Jellinek's show, take it.

This one-man show of two acts tells the fascinating story of the man who started it all with the creation of the Florida East Coast Railway.

About “Henry Flagler”: Paul J. Jellinek, as Henry M. Flagler, has been performing for the past few years in numerous venues throughout the Southeastern coast of Florida, and had been active in theatre for more than 40 years having portrayed “Daddy Warbucks” in Annie; “Don Quixote” in Man of La Mancha; “Nicky Arnstein” in Funny Girl; “Bo Decker” in Bus Stop and more. Originally from Vermont, Jellinek currently lives in Palm Coast, Florida.

Jellinek wrote “Wild Dreams,” the title of his Henry M. Flagler presentation, in collaboration with Ms. Jill Kamp Melton, the founder and artistic director of American Showcase Company in Alexandria, VA. He was directed by Ms. Anne Kraft, a founder of The Limelight Theatre in St. Augustine, Florida.

If I Were a Young Man

2012-01-23T08:03:00.000-05:00

Marathon, Florida
24 42.40 081 N 05.68 W

My head swam with the sound of Zero Mostel singing "If I Were a Rich Man" except that I sang young instead of rich. I was reading a story in the New York Times, called "How the U.S. Lost Out on iPhone Work" It reminded me of another article I read in Atlantic Monthly a few years back.

Both articles dealt with Asia, especially China, and how the dynamics of their industrial/commercial/engineering culture is booming. It reminded me so much of the euphoria I remember of the 50's 60's and 70's in America. I was a part of it back then, as a young hotshot engineer on the top of his game and partaking in the building of an exciting new upbeat future for the world. I was an engineer by training, but computers and software were my thing. It was the ground floor of the information age and I was so thrilled to be a part of it.

The analogous ground floor for the 21st century is happening right now in Asia. It is so exciting to read about it. I can't help wishing that I was a young hotshot engineer once again but this time living and working in China rather than here.

Last summer I repeated that wish out loud to a friend who is still active as an engineering consultant who has known me since the start of my career. He was recently returned from business trips to India and China. His reply really rocked me on my heels. He said, "You better be damned good or you won't get a job there." The implication is that these Asian engineers are so sharp and so dedicated that America's best trained engineers have trouble competing. Wow; what a shock.

Think also on the global scale. Those people building a new economy in Asia are not going to slow down a bit to respect the environment or to conserve scarce planetary resources. They are going to grow unchecked for a long time before they begin to slow down.

I really recommend the article. Get a glimpse of the future. Read it here.

The Health Fair

2012-01-21T14:39:00.000-05:00

Marathon, Florida
24 42.40 081 N 05.68 W

We've often said that Marathon offers a lot for cruisers. It's true. However, one thing stands out as truly unique -- The annual Health Fair.

Here's how it works. Medical students from the University of Miami need practice on/with real people. Unlucky people get to be dissected post mortem. Luckier ones, like us, get to go to the health fair.

The health fair is open to anybody. No charge; no ID. no SSN required. They check vitals, glucose, cholesterol, dermatology, male or female exam (your choice), eyes, dental, even mental health. The fair does not provide treatment, but rather screening. It does what an annual physical exam used to do.

The students are supervised by doctors. At the conclusion, you take your file and your results to the checkout. There, they recommend further treatment or exams if indicated and a doctor review signs off on the whole thing.

The only down side to it is that there is a whole lot of waiting in long, slow-moving lines. It took me four hours to get through. The waits indicate the weakest point in these students' training --- organizing large groups of people and administering the waiting room. From what I remember about doctor office waiting rooms, it is a deficiency that lasts a lifetime.

Anyhow, full time cruisers like us have a big problem with doctor visits. We are nomads. It is very difficult for us to have a primary care physician, or even to choose a city and state in which to seek one. If we do something that requires follow-up visits, it really disrupts our lives. Two years ago we got stuck in Vero the whole winter because of precisely that problem. If you just pick a local doctor by throwing darts at the yellow pages, you get the most expensive and probably ineffective of all types of care; yet that's what cruisers face. Therefore if I may speak for all cruisers in Boot Key Harbor, I say "Thank you UofM. Your healh fair is much appreciated."

Key West for a Day

2012-01-20T10:28:00.000-05:00

Marathon, Florida
24 42.40 081 N 05.68 W

We rode the bus to Key West yesterday. That's much more convenient than bringing Tarwathie to Key West. From all we hear, Key West is a terrible place to anchor or moor. An the bus fare for seniors is only $1.50. It's a no brainer.

Down there we had lunch with Jenny's Vermont friend Mary Ann, and her nephew Johnathan. It was great to see Mary Ann again. She summers on Grand Isle in Vermont and winters in Key West; perfect way to do it.

Then we scouted the galleries and stores up and down Duval street for pine needle baskets. We were curious as to their artistry and selling prices. We only found one store that had several baskets. Their artistry was fine and their prices sky high. For example, the one in the picture below. About 5 inches in diameter and $160 for the price. Libby's stuff is every bit as nice, although she uses thread rather than rafia. I wonder if rafia adds substantially to the value in people's minds.

After that we just had fun visiting places and snapping photos of fun things that we texted to our granddaughters in real time. What a shame it is so hard to get here for school girls. They have their school schedules, and although it would be simple for them to fly to Orlando, it is much more difficult to get to the keys.

Her Name is Princess

In the clutches of sponge monster

Dick with nautical friends

Arts of the Sailor

2012-01-19T07:58:00.000-05:00

Marathon, Florida
24 42.40 081 N 05.68 W

I try. I also improve at the arts of the sailor with practice. However, I'm still humbled by how short I come up compared to the skills of my predecessors and my contemporaries.

It was time to prepare some new dock lines. In the first picture below, you see one of the old dock lines with whipping prepared by Al Hatch, the previous owner of Tarwathie. In the second picture, you see one of the new ones with whipping prepared by me. I used Al's model and a book on splicing and whipping as my guides. Try as I might, I guarantee that Al's will prove much more durable than mine.

Al's

Dick's

I should also point out that it could be worse. I've been told that "modern" sailors eschew such old fashioned things as whipping and use more "modern" methods such as dipping the end in liquid silicone rubber. To that, I say balderdash.

Ain't She Beautiful?

2012-01-18T12:39:00.001-05:00

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.7

Stunning

2012-01-17T12:47:00.000-05:00

Marathon, Florida
24 42.40 081 N 05.68 W

I am stunned with disbelief at this radio transcript. The head of the rescue corps is talking with the captain of the Cosco Concordia. Bear in mind that as this conversation transpired, people were dying.

De Falco: "This is De Falco speaking from Livorno. Am I speaking with the commander?"

Schettino: "Yes. Good evening, Cmdr. De Falco."

De Falco: "Please tell me your name."

Schettino: "I'm Cmdr. Schettino, commander."

De Falco: "Schettino? Listen Schettino. There are people trapped on board. Now you go with your boat under the prow on the starboard side. There is a pilot ladder. You will climb that ladder and go on board. You go on board and then you will tell me how many people there are. Is that clear? I'm recording this conversation, Cmdr. Schettino…"

Schettino: "Commander, let me tell you one thing…"

De Falco: "Speak up! Put your hand in front of the microphone and speak more loudly, is that clear?"

Schettino: "In this moment, the boat is tipping…"

De Falco: "I understand that, listen, there are people that are coming down the pilot ladder of the prow. You go up that pilot ladder, get on that ship and tell me how many people are still on board. And what they need. Is that clear? You need to tell me if there are children, women or people in need of assistance. And tell me the exact number of each of these categories. Is that clear? Listen Schettino, that you saved yourself from the sea, but I am going to… I'm going to make sure you get in trouble. …I am going to make you pay for this. Go on board, (expletive)!"

Schettino: "Commander, please…"

De Falco: "No, please. You now get up and go on board. They are telling me that on board there are still…"

Schettino: "I am here with the rescue boats, I am here, I am not going anywhere, I am here…"

De Falco: "What are you doing, commander?"

Schettino: "I am here to coordinate the rescue…"

De Falco: "What are you coordinating there? Go on board! Coordinate the rescue from aboard the ship. Are you refusing?"

Schettino: "No, I am not refusing."

De Falco: "Are you refusing to go aboard commander? Can you tell me the reason why you are not going?"

Schettino: "I am not going because the other lifeboat is stopped."

De Falco: "You go aboard. It is an order. Don't make any more excuses. You have declared 'abandon ship.' Now I am in charge. You go on board! Is that clear? Do you hear me? Go, and call me when you are aboard. My air rescue crew is there."

Schettino: "Where are your rescuers?"

De Falco: "My air rescue is on the prow. Go. There are already bodies, Schettino."

Schettino: "How many bodies are there?"

De Falco: "I don't know. I have heard of one. You are the one who has to tell me how many there are. Christ."

Schettino: "But do you realize it is dark and here we can't see anything…"

De Falco: "And so what? You want go home, Schettino? It is dark and you want to go home? Get on that prow of the boat using the pilot ladder and tell me what can be done, how many people there are and what their needs are. Now!"

Schettino: "…I am with my second in command."

De Falco: "So both of you go up then … You and your second go on board now. Is that clear?"

Schettino: "Commander, I want to go on board, but it is simply that the other boat here … there are other rescuers. It has stopped and is waiting…"

De Falco: "It has been an hour that you have been telling me the same thing. Now, go on board. Go on board! And then tell me immediately how many people there are there."

Schettino: "OK, commander"

De Falco: "Go, immediately!"

Yet Another Project

2012-01-17T11:35:00.000-05:00

Marathon, Florida
24 42.40 081 N 05.68 W

My project for today is to replace all the toggle switches on our boat's electrical system. I had two of the old switches start giving trouble. That's a sign that all needed replacing. These switches are not specifically designed for marine use, therefore they are subject to E-wasting disease.

As you can see in the pictures, space is really cramped in there. The switches are closely packed, the wires even more so, and the screws that fasten them are very tiny. Since I'm so subject to the dropsies,
this was not a pleasant job for me. I figure that I must have dropped those screws more times than there are stars in the sky. I took the pictures when the job was half done. See the old corroded switches and the shiny new ones.

Actually I would have liked to modernize the system and replaced all those switches and fuses with circuit breakers. It might have been posssible, but I'm skeptical about fitting them all in the same panel space as the old switches.

You see, projects on a boat can get out of hand quickly. If I had to move all or part of the panel, I would have to move the wiring bundles to them. They likely would be a different length, so I would have to replace at least some of the wires. Access to those wires is under the starboard fuel tank. I would have to remove the tank first. The tank in turn is enclosed in carpentry that forms the engine compartment and starboard lazarette locker. I would have to tear out and replace that old carpentry. Carpentry is the one thing I fear most on the boat. I have zero woodworking skills or tools.

p.s. My missing wallet was found and turned into the Marina Office by persons unknown. Everything is intact. I love cruisers. They are so honest and so helpful.

Limitations of White Chocolate as a Medium of Currency

2012-01-16T06:01:00.003-05:00

Marathon, Florida
24 42.40 081 N 05.68 W

I can't find my wallet since last Thursday. We keep checking the banks and credit card companies. So far nobody is stealing my money. Therefore, we're not panicked yet. Our theory is that it is someplace aboard the boat. If you think that things can't really get lost aboard a little boat, think again.

Anyhow, as a temporary wallet, I am using a plastic sandwich bag. I protects stuff, it folds and stores easily in my pocket. Last night, we went out for a night at the movies. We left in a bit of a hurry, after dark, with the lights out. I grabbed my sandwich bag on the way out of the boat and put it in my pocket. I got to the theater, ordered two tickets, and grabbed my bag to pay. I pulled out of my pocket a sandwich bag with bits of white chocolate. Whoops, wrong bag. They didn't work as currency.

Anyhow, Libby paid, and we saw the new Girl With the Dragon Tattoo movie. It was good. We both read all three of the Millennium Trilogy books and loved them. We also saw the three Swedish made movies about LIsbeth and hated them. It's remarkable that we're so interested in Lisbeth's story that we're watching a third set of productions of the same stories.

By the way, if you're unfamiliar with the whole Millennium Trilogy, I recommend the books. Skip the movies.

Pigeon Key

2012-01-15T10:44:00.000-05:00

Marathon, Florida
24 42.40 081 N 05.68 W

This week they celebrate the 100th anniversary of Flagler's railroad that ran all the way to Key West. Part of his railroad path was the famous Seven Mile Bridge running from Vaca Key to Bahia Honda Key. You may have seen that bridge used as a prop in the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie True Lies. Anyhow, under the bridge, not far from Marathon is the tiny island Pigeon Key. The ramp connecting Pigeon Key to the bridge has been closed, but they got a special variance for this weekend. I went there with Robert and Sandra from Carpe Diem.

It was a fine day out at the Island. Not much of Flagler's specific history was visible, but otherwise it was nice -- like a company picnic or a fireman's field day. They had sack races, and other attractions for kids, live music, booths and exhibits for adults.

Below is a short slide show from the event. Many more Google images of Pigeon Key are here.

Also The Dawns

2012-01-13T08:19:00.000-05:00

Marathon, Florida
24 42.40 081 N 05.68 W

Sunsets here in The Keys are famous. But the dawns are also great. Towit today:

Old Salt New Trick

2012-01-12T10:55:00.000-05:00

Marathon, Florida
24 42.40 081 N 05.68 W

They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks. How about an old salt? Also, what are the chances of me inventing a boat handling technique that I have not seen before used on another boat. It all sounds improbable. Nonetheless, I think I did it.

We always had a problem of where and how to tie the dinghy to Tarwathie overnight. If we tie it along side the gate in the lifelines, it rubs against the paint. Even with fenders to protect the paint, it rubs on the same spot year after year until the paint is damaged. We have such damage. Not only that, but the dinghy rocks more violently in heavy weather on the side. A month or so ago it chaffed through the dinghy painter.

Most sailboats have squared off transoms, or they at least don't have a Monitor self-steering gear hanging off the stern. They tie their dinghies behind them just fine. We do that too in strong winds. However when the winds slack off, or weaken to less force than the current, our dinghy moves forward, it works it's bow under the Monitor, then it starts banging; damaging both the dinghy and the Monitor. The banging wakes me up. I have to get out of bed, get the boat hook, disentangle the dinghy from the Monitor, then retie the dinghy on the side. I'd much rather sleep.

Other friends on W32's tie the dinghy on the side but way back so that the stern of the dinghy and Tarwathie's stern are about equal. That works better but it still rubs. Starting from that though, I found a new method.

See the picture. I tied the dinghy to Tarwathie starboard side with two lines, one in the bow and the other in the stern. Then I adjusted the lengths of those lines such that the dinghy points about 20 degrees more to starboard than Tarwathie. That puts the dinghy on port tack. The wind blows it away from the hull. It doesn't touch at all. It almost never bumps into the Monitor. As Tarwathie swings from side to side at anchor, the dinghy swings with it. The chaffing load on the lines are much reduced. Tied with two lines, the dingy is more secure than if it were tied with one line.

I've been doing this for a couple of weeks. It worked every time; all night, no wind, weak wind, and stronger winds. Last night we had near gale winds for about 3 hours. Then my method broke down and didn't work. The waves pushed the dinghy against the hull. I had to move the dinghy astern. So I guess it can be said that the method works almost all the time.

Is it possible, that this is really new? Have any of you seen other boats tie their dinghies this way?

Salts and Saltines

2012-01-11T10:39:00.000-05:00

Marathon, Florida
24 42.40 081 N 05.68 W

Yesterday I attended a seminar on Celestial Navigation. It was very interesting. Not because of the celistial stuff (which I've heard before), but rather because the captain who presented was a genuine old salt. Sorry, I did not catch his name.

As he spoke, ostensibly about things celestial, he revealed much about the life nautical in the merchant marine. He found it intuitively simple to use different navigation techniques in the Tropics, as compared to the North Sea near Norway. He discussed ways to find pawn shops in port cities where mariners hock their sextants. He talked about being a third mate being tutored by a more experienced captain. He talked about equipment and methods of navigation adapted to WWII life rafts and WWII submarines. He described how some of the navigation methods were discovered superstitiously by past navigators and captains. In other words, he knew the life nautical in depth. Total immersion. No matter what subject was being discussed, he couldn't help revealing the mariner's perspective.

I enjoyed it thoroughly. It is one of the pleasures of cruising to be able to rub shoulders with such original characters.

In parallel with that, Libby restarted her pine needle basket lessons to ladies from the harbor she's made friends with. Libby really loved doing that last year, and I'm glad she started again.

If the navigation man and I are old salts, what should we call Libby and her friends; old saltines? No no, I would never do that. They are a lovely, lively, sexy gang of girls.

We also make two runs to Big Pine Key this week with help from friends Sandra and Bob who have a car here. She picked up seven paper bags full of high quality needles. That's a good thing because a massive pine needle project she's working on had depleted her supply (I'll blog about that when she's ready.)

The Dropsies

2012-01-10T05:51:00.000-05:00

Marathon, Florida
24 42.40 081 N 05.68 W

Many a time, I've said on this blog that you can not live on a boat unless you are ready to deal with a never ending list of maintenance chores. Even rich people with big yachts, even those with brand new boats, will find that things break, and that other things need regular maintenance to keep from breaking. If you're really rich, you can hire crew to do it for you. Still, one way or another it must get done.

Actually, real boaters love doing all that stuff. When they sit around having drinks, they love telling each other about their latest projects in great detail, and when friends are invited over, the men are invited to inspect the captain's latest handiwork. Hell if you don't like working on your boat, you certainly won't enjoy living on it.

Last night, I had to unclog a blocked toilet. First time since moving on board nearly 7 years ago. It was ugly. Really ugly. To ugly to discuss on this blog.

But my real subject today is amazement over how I can get along year after year doing all those maintenance projects when I'm such a klutz. Every time I work with small stuff, like screws and nuts, I drop them. In the engine compartment, they fall into the Netherlands underneath the engine where they are the devil to find and retrieve. Never mind. I do find them and do retrieve them, then I turn around and drop them again; sometimes 3-4 times before I manage to get the screw in the hole.

The other day I was working on wiring in the engine compartment. Something I did down there screwed things up and my attempts at remedies, keep causing additional problems because I'm so clumsy. I seem to be making negative project in the last several days. Anyhow while searching for a nylon washer that I had dropped under the engine, the Honda generator sputtered and died. I went up to look and I saw gasoline streaming out of the generator housing.

Leaking gas is something that can not wait to be fixed. I quickly untied the safety rope that secured the generator up on the bowsprit, moved it down to the deck, opened it up, diagnosed the problem (gas was coming out of the overflow tube on the carburetor which means the carburetor float must be stuck.) I fixed it quickly. When I went to return the generator to it's spot on the bowsprit, I saw that the blue canvas cover with the letters HONDA on it was missing. It was tied with the same safety rope that secures the generator. The cover must have gone overboard. Oh no. What a klutz. (The next day someone on the Cruiser's Net said they found the cover floating 1/4 mile away, so I got it back. Who would think those things float?)

Family and friends who knew my father before he passed away know that I'm his spitting image. His hobby was clock and watch making. He did fantastic things with those tiny parts. Me; whenever I try to do something small and delicate with my hands, I have to concentrate so hard that my blood pressure soars, my hands start to tremble and I drop what I'm holding on the floor. The same thing happens when I try to help Libby with her stitching on the pine needle baskets. Whatever gene my father had that allowed him to do that stuff (call it the brain surgeon gene), I didn't get a copy.

If I was a mechanic working for hire, I'd be fired after the first hour. However, as a boat owner. I need only persevere. Eventually, I muddle on through all of those projects.

Front Row Seat

2012-01-09T06:01:00.002-05:00

Marathon, Florida
24 42.40 081 N 05.68 W

Friday night sunset looking West.

Friday night sunset, looking Southeast.

Saturday morning sunrise, looking Southeast.

Friday and Saturday have been mostly cloudless days. Why then the heavy bank of clouds seen in the above two photos looking Southeast? The answer is that it is a nearly perpetual bank of clouds directly over the Gulf Stream. That's how close we are here in Marathon.

I'm a power engineer by background. Therefore, I love it having a front row center street watching the biggest power engine in the world. What I'm talking about is the Gulf Stream.

The Gulf Stream moves 30 million cubic feet (850 thousand cubic meters) of water per second past me here in Boot Key Harbor. Off the coast of Newfoundland, the flow is five times larger. Compare that with 0.6 million cusec as the total flow of all rivers emptying into the Atlantic Ocean.

The water is also warm, so energy in the form of heat is also transported. Energy transport per unit of time is defined as power. The Gulf Stream carries lots of power. Lots and lots. The total power in the Gulf Stream is 1.4 petawatts. That's the equivalent of the power generating capacity of 1.4 million of the largest nuclear power plants. It is 100 times more than the total power demand of men on the whole planet. Wow that's a lot of power.

That much power is enough to give renewable energy enthusiasts wet dreams. However, the power is not so easy to exploit for our own purposes. The water in the Gulf Stream is only a few degrees warmer than the ambient water or air temperatures. Therefore the Carnot efficiency of a heat engine using that temperature difference would be so low, that such a heat engine would be impractical to make. (For the benefit of those who never had a course in thermodynamics or who slept through their course, the Carnot efficiency is the maximum theoretical efficiency. Any real life engine is necessarily worse than a Carnot engine.)

There could be another problem. If we extracted a large fraction of the Gulf Stream's power, or if we disrupted the flow it would cause global climate changes so big as to make the current greenhouse gas caused changes seem like child's play. Actually the Gulf Stream is only part of a global circulation pattern of ocean currents that transport heat and salt through all the world's oceans. Especially in the Northern Hemisphere, all the coastal climates in all countries are heavily dependent on those currents.

Anyhow, if we did have a practical way of extracting even 1% of that power, we could replace all other energy sources. If we could do it, we would, but we don't, therefore we can't. (Ugh what an ugly sentence, but it speaks precisely to my point.)

But for me, as a power engineer, it is a wonderful privilege to be able to sit here and see the visible evidence of nature's colossal power plant at work. The word awesome is much overused in today's world, but it applies here.

Florida is Big

2012-01-06T15:17:00.000-05:00

Marathon, Florida
24 42.40 081 N 05.68 W

Florida is a very big state. So big, that there seems to be ast least three climate zones. Look at the three weather forecasts below. Marathon/Vero/Fernandina south/mid/north.

Nighttime temperatures here in the keys are significantly warmer than in Vero. Up in Fernandina, both day and night temperatures are lower. Indeed, it even freezes up there. We heard that in December 2010, the fountain in Saint Augstine froze. Brrrrrrrrrrrrr.

It reminds me a big of living in Sweden. There, the weather reports have to give sunrise/sunset times in three north-south zones. Kiruna, the northernmost big city is above the arctic circle, so for portions of the year, their sunrise/sunset times are listed on the weather report as ---

I learned to sail in Sweden. In the summer it was great. I could work a full 8 hour day, then go out and sail for 10 hours, and still be home before dark. In June, Libby and I could sit on our balcony with a drink. We could see the sun go down and back up again before we could finish the drink.

The Vergennes Story

2012-01-05T09:20:00.000-05:00

Marathon, Florida
24 42.40 081 N 05.68 W

I never told the complete story about Vergennes and Hurricane Irene from last summer.

Just to review; the free docks on Otter Creek in Vergennes is one of our favorite places to visit in summer. Everything about it is nice. The ride up Otter Creek. The picturesque setting, and the charms of Vermont's smallest city. It is also well sheltered with towering hills surrounding in all directions. I think I remarked before that a hurricane could pass overhead and we would hardly notice it in there.

However, in face of the approaching storm, we decided instead to ride it out at anchor in Porter Bay nearby. That worked fine. There was only one other boat within 1/2 mile of us in Porter Bay. We were perhaps the safest people in the whole state. Other boats chose to seek shelter in the "hurricane hole" in Vergennes. Big mistake.

Why was that a mistake? Because Otter Creek extends another 100 miles or so upstream of Vergennes. It drains an enormous basin of mountainous territory. Thus, soon after the storm passed, the flood waters reached Vergennes.

We visited there, 10 days after the storm, and took the pictures below. That was just a day or so before Tropical Storm Lee dumped more rain and the creeks swelled once again. I think the trawler was stuck there for three weeks.

We talked to the boaters there and this is what they told us.

All the places at the docks were taken by boats seeking shelter. Several had to be turned away as nobody was willing to raft. One such boat was the Lois McClure, an 88 foot replica of an 1862 canal schooner. The boats were tied up to the floating docks provided by the city. These docks and their fittings are home made by locals who are not experienced in salt water environments. In one place they are attached to vertical pipes bolted onto a steel wall. In other places they are tied to posts driven into the mud. Attachments to the pipes or posts is done by chains, secured by padlocks.

The first problem was that the floating range of these docks was designed to be only 4 feet. The creek rose more than 10 feet at the crest. Therefore, the docks and boats attached to them threatened to be pulled under water, if they didn't break loose. However, a heroic city worker came three times in the next few days and at great risk to himself, he loosened the chains to prevent a disaster.

The next problem was that the creek widened until the people on the boats were separated from dry land by 50-60 feet. At first they used planks as bridges. When that became overwhelmed, a nearby homeowner lent his row boat and they started a ferry service. The fastened a line to the base of the flag pole, and the other end to the large trawler in the picture below. Then they could ferry people back and forth in the row boat while holding on to that line.

It took a long time to drain all that water from the mountains. On the day we visited, 10 days after Irene, the boats had just started leaving. That was the first day currents had slacked enough that they felt safe.

We heard stories from Catskill Creek and Rondout Creek on the Hudson River after Irene. In those cases entire marinas with boats still attached to the floating docks were ripped loose from the shore and floated down stream.

So, bottom line: Creeks and rivers that drain mountainous watersheds are the last place you should go to seek shelter from a major rain storm. The post-storm floods can be much worse than the storm.

Tarwathie was docked at this exact spot several weeks ahead.

This Krogen 49 trawler is from Vero Beach. We recognized it.

The Lois McClure departs with the aid of a tug boat (not visible).
It was touchy, she almost ran into the river bank.

Temperature

2012-01-03T09:47:00.000-05:00

Marathon, Florida

24 42.40 081 N 05.68 W

A strong cold front came through here last night. It didn't bring any rain, but it did bring lots of wind and cold. Cold is relative; and that's my subject today.

Last night in other parts of Florida the temperature dropped to the 20s. Here in Marathon the low temperature was only 60. Nevertheless, the cold is the major topic of discussion on the Cruisers Net this morning. Nobody is leaving the harbor, and many people are planning to stay on board all day rather then venture out in their dinghies. Libby and I aren't much different; although Libby was brave enough to go out for groceries first thing.

I remember when we used to sneer at Floridians who complained incessantly about cold temperatures. Well, we are now like them. Some people would say we're spoiled. Others say our blood has thinned. I won't argue. Another word for the same thing is adaptation.

It is pretty amazing how fast we adapted to balmy temperatures since we started cruising. Our migration habits keep us in the balmy zone. Basically, 25 degrees north latitude in winter and 45 degrees north latitude in summer. In spring and fall as we migrate, we tend to follow the balmy temperature band without specifically trying to do so.

In the past, we've been well adapted to cold. Both of us grew up in upstate New York where there's plenty of cold and snow to go around. I remember playing hockey on the river in -45F (-42C) weather. I felt fine. However, we never did adapt to excessive heat. Most of our lives we've lived in places where we did not have air conditioning, nor was it needed.

I wonder if our preferences for moderate temperature played a role in choosing the cruising life. Down here in Tarwathie's cabin, the water line is up to our hips. That moderates extremes naturally because water temperature does not go up and down as much as air temperature. Never once in 7 years have we had a night on Tarwathie when it was too uncomfortably hot to sleep. On nights when it's cold, we simply add another blanket; that's much simpler. We do have a cabin heater, but we've never run it through a night.

We've been talking lately about how nice the Rio Dulce in Guatemala sounds. It would be very nice to spend a summer there. Before doing that, we would have to find a way to get air conditioning.

Our Next Big Project

2012-01-02T08:10:00.000-05:00

Marathon, Florida
24 42.40 081 N 05.68 W

Regular readers know of our persistent problem with vibrations. We've had the problem since buying the boat nearly 7 years ago. We had it when the surveyor inspected the boat. We had it both before and after installing a new engine. We thought it was normal and something to live with until it chewed up two sets of motor mounts. We posted the question to this blog and got back a dizzying array of helpful comments. Here is a list of things we tried or considered.

We realigned the engine with the propeller shaft (5 times!)
We replaced the motor mounts (2 times)
We sent the propeller shaft to a machine stop to check straightness.
We installed a new flexible shaft coupler.
We put in a new cutlass bearing.
We removed, aligned and re-bedded the shaft log. (We don't have a shaft tube, but rather a bronze shaft log.)
We hired diesel mechanics (4 times)
We considered the thrust bearing.
We considered changing to a stiffer or less stiff transmission damper plate.
We considered insufficient clearance between the propeller blades and the hull.
We considered the propeller pitch. (Too much pitch runs the engine at too low RPM. It would be like driving a car up hill in 5th gear. The engine lugs in too high a gear.)
We considered getting bigger tougher motor mounts.
We considered modifying the engine pan that the motor mounts bolt to to make it stiffer and more stiffly bonded to the hull. That would be a fiberglass modification.

None of the above changed anything and none of the things only considered seemed likely to lead to a cure according to my expert advisers.

Missing from the above list is having the propeller balanced. We have a Maxprop. It is a so-called feathering prop. The blades reverse the engine is in reverse and the blades feather when we sail without power. The prop has many moving parts. We sent it to a prop shop as a box full of loose parts, but there wasn't much they could do with that.

We asked the Beta engine manufacturer for advice. He had us run a test with the engine and shaft decoupled. The result was no vibrations. The test seemed ridiculous to me because we reported that there were no vibrations with the engine in neutral. Their conclusion: nothing wrong with their scope of supply; align it yet again.

All that had me pulling out my hair. I visualized a future spending thousands of dollars every year trying and retrying various solutions and testing numerous theories; with no results.

Finally, almost by accident, I stumbled across one diagnostic test never tried before. I ran it full speed in reverse. WOW, no vibrations! Nobody thought before to try that. What difference should it make in forward or reverse? Besides. backing up a sailboat with tiller steering at 6 knots is difficult and dangerous. It is like backing up in your car at 40 mph. In normal circumstances, one would never attempt it. None of the four mechanics, nor Beta, nor our Westsail expert Bud Taplin, thought to run a test in reverse.

Note that all of the possible causes listed above would produce the same vibrations in forward or reverse. This simple diagnostic test eliminated all of them.

With that additional bit of diagnostic information, it took only a few minutes and one phone call to home in on what I think is the real explanation. Some of the internal gear teeth in the Maxprop propeller are worn out. 99% of the time when the engine is in forward, all the load wears on the same teeth. Different teeth are engaged when in reverse or when feathered. Of course there is no significant load anyhow in reverse or feathered. So only the forward teeth wore. Worn teeth allow play in the blade position and they shake.

Now we've ordered a new fixed propeller. It has no moving parts. It is just a solid block of passive bronze. As soon as it comes, we'll go up on the hard and install it. No more complicated feathering prop for us. I've decided that owning and maintaining such a device is above my pay grade. Let the KISS principle rein.

Wish us luck.

Special Effects

2011-12-28T17:52:00.002-05:00

Marathon, Florida
24 42.40 081 N 05.68 W

The camera app in my Droid has some neat special effects. Don't you agree?

Wanderlust

2011-12-27T08:34:00.000-05:00

Marathon, Florida
24 42.40 081 N 05.68 W

I find myself bitten by wander lust yesterday and today. We've told people we're staying here in Marathon, but still. (Cruisers tend to be evasive when people ask about their plans. Having announced plans is a drag on impulsive decisions to do something different.)

We could take a day trip out into Florida Bay and do some exploring on the Bay side of the keys.

We could take a major excursion up the west coast to Sarasota. We've never been there before north of Caya Costa. If we did that, we could begin with a visit to the Dry Tortugas. We liked that very much when we were there in 2005.

We could change our minds about the winter and head for the Bahamas. We couldn't leave immediately because I haven't bought a 2012 US Customs decal yet. The decals take many weeks to arrive.

Lately, we've been hearing very nice things about Rio Dulce in Guatemala. I don't think we'll do that this year, but maybe soon.

Prescient

2011-12-26T08:52:00.000-05:00

Marathon, Florida

24 42.40 081 N 05.68 W
Anyone who claims to label hem/her self as prescient is way out on thin ice. In this case though, I can't avoid it. Here's the story.

I got a Kindle for Christmas. Hooray! It is the newest touch model, sans all buttons except on/off and Home. I also go the insurance policy that covers breakage and loss including liquid spills. I wouldn't have dared without it.

Now flash back. It was 1998. I was between jobs and had some time on my hands. The Internet was just approaching puberty. I had my own personal web page since 1994, but now there were very many sites online. We had browsers, but GOPHER and USENET were still the major tools. I took advantage of the circumstances. I found a program called NAPSTER. It was a neat tool for locating and downloading free music in MP3 format. Those were the days before the music industry noticed and got defensive.

I used NAPSTER to download more than 600 of our favorite musical pieces. Of course, we didn't have any way to use those MP3 files. Playing music on the PC wasn't useful. There was no such thing as portable MP3 players in 1998. Still, I collected them and archived them.

I also found a place on USENET with ebooks. They were downloaded in a klunky hexadecimal ASCII text format; each in part A, B, C, ... partial pieced. It was a lot less slick than NAPSTER, but it worked. I downloaded 105 books that were on my wish list to read. Of course, I didn't have any way to use the files. Reading on a PC screen, (or later a laptop screen, or even a Droid screen) was uncomfortable and useless. Still, I collected them and archived them.

Over the years, I carefully archived those files and transferred them to each new computer. I stored the books in several file formats to assure compatibility with future needs.

When the iPod came along, and later the first Kindle. I eschewed buying them. I did not want to pay for a device that did nothing until I went to their online store (iTunes) and spent a lo ore money. They were walled gardens, and I refuse to play that way.

Yesterday, I was able to take advantage of my nearly 14 year old preparations. I put all those books and all that music on my Kindle. It took only 15 minutes. Everything works fine. I can read my books while listening to my music in the background, all on one device. Amazing.

I can't really say that I specifically visualized the Kindle in 1998. Nor could I specifically foresee the bruising battles over online downloads. Nevertheless, my preparations seem prescient if I do say so myself.

Star of Bethlehem

2011-12-24T09:39:00.000-05:00

Marathon, Florida
24 42.40 081 N 05.68 W

How do you like our Christmas tree? It is made of rosemary. It is very cute, and it is just the right size for a boat. It even smells nice. [Actually, that's causing a conflict. I think the nice smell is too strong and I want to store it out in the cockpit. Libby wants it down in the cabin. We'll have to duke that one out.]

Christmas Eve is the proper time for a Star Of Bethlehem type celestial event; right? Well, if the local clouds will dissipate, Boot Key Harbor will get to see one tonight. At 6:54:44 PM tonight, 55 degrees above the horizon to the NE, we'll see a very bright Iridium flare, magnitude -8. What is that? Iridium satellite phones are served by low orbit satellites. Just after sunset, or just before dawn, when it is dark down here and sunny up there, the solar panels reflect the sunlight. If the panel points directly at your eye (like a signal mirror) you see a bright flash. Such will be the case here tonight. If you are not in Boot Key Harbor you won't see it, the effect is quite local. However if you go to heavens-above.com you can find out when Iridium flares are visible where you live.

Merry Christmas

Mister Monitor

2011-12-23T08:55:00.000-05:00

Marathon, Florida
24 42.40 081 N 05.68 W

I never blogged before about Mr. Monitor. He's one of most important crew members. Actually, Mr. Monitor is our pet name for our self-steering gear. When at sea, we engage Mr. Monitor immediately upon departure and let him steer Tarwathie until we reach port once again.

Those who have never sailed offshore don't appreciate the need for self-steering. It is very impractical to steer manually 24 hours per day, day after day. First of all, one needs sleep, potty, and food, sail trimming, and other breaks while on duty. Secondly, human attention drifts as does the course. Thirdly, it is exhausting; especially with tiller steering. In rough seas after four hours on the tiller my muscles begin to knot and cramp. The solution to all of that is to find a way to make the boat steer itself.

Joshua Slocum, the first man to sail alone around the world, was an expert sailor. He sailed Spray mainly by adjusting the sails. Then, according to his book, he would drop a loop of rope down on the appropriate spoke in his steering wheel to lock it in place. Slocum wrote that he did that leaving Austraila and never needed to touch anything again until landing on a tiny island 8000 miles away. Bulls... I say. Even Slocum wasn't that good.

Today, many boats rely on electronic autopilots for self-steering. They do a marvelous job, when they work. "When they work," is the operative phrase. Unfortunately, one of the most frequent stories we hear about offshore passages is that, "my autopilot stopped working." In my humble opinion, they are far from reliable enough to depend on offshore. They can break down. They are also vulnerable to lightning hits or near hits that can wipe out all electronics on board in a microsecond.

We have a tiller master electronic autopilot, but we use it only on the ICW and inland waters. It isn't adequate for offshore. However, I once met another Westsail 32 whose skipper told me that he used an identical tiller master on a trip to England and back.

Instead of an autopilot, a so-called wind-vane type of self-steering is most appropriate for offshore sailing. Ours is a Monitor brand. I've been told that Monitor is the Cadillac of self-steering gear. Some people like their own brands. I'm not expert on comparing different brand. Suffice it to say that the Monitor is solidly built, rugged, and seaworthy for one or more circumnavigations with little or no maintenance. (If you watch the video below, you'll see a much cheaper self-steerer made with plastic parts. It is certainly not sea worthy.)

So, what is a wind-vane self-steering gear? It is the odd looking stainless steel thing hanging of the stern end of our boat. The most common question we get from non-cruisers is, "What the heck is that thing!" In the picture below, you see the Monitor at the stern of Zaftra (the W32 belonging to our frieneds Don and Gloria in Vero.)

In the following picture, you see a monitor in action at sea. Nobody is at the tiller. The Monitor is in control. The Monitor keeps the boat at a constant angle to the wind. That means if the wind shifts, your course shifts with it. That's optimum in terms of speed and sail trimming, but it does mean that you need to pay attention and to readust the sails and the Monitor after a significant shift. Holding course with a wind vane means +/- ten degrees. It hold the course on the average. When racing, an alert human can steer better than a wind-vane. Note the qualifier; alert.

By Ben Eriksen

So, how does it work? Sigh. That's difficult to explain. I never understood it myself until we experienced Mr. Monitor in action. Fortunately, thanks to youtube.com you can watch the video below. It is not a Monitor brand, but the video does a much better job of illustrating the principles than my words can. Key to the servo-pendulum method is that it takes power from the motion of the boat though the water to make very powerful forces to move the tiller (or wheel). The rougher the conditions and faster the boat speed, the more powerful the Monitor's actions. It is more than enough to turn a massive rudder.

Video: Mister Vee

Christmas Cheer

2011-12-21T15:17:00.000-05:00

Marathon, Florida
24 42.40 081 N 05.68 W

We're nearly ready for Christmas and beginning to get in the spirit. The shopping is done. Waiting for USPS and UPS to deliver. Not much decorating to do.

Libby needs to buy a turkey breast for our Christmas meal (no pot luck Christmas dinner here this year :-)

Our friends Darrick and Sharron and Bob and Sandra all flew home for the holidays yesterday. We'll miss them but there are plenty of other friends here in the harbor.

Best of all, Nick posted the following on his Facebook page this morning.

Insatiable

2011-12-19T12:12:00.000-05:00

Marathon, Florida
24 42.40 081 N 05.68 W

I spent all of my professional career in the electric power industry. That's not very glamorous or interesting to most people. When I meet new people and they ask what my profession was, I reply "power engineer." Almost always that terminates that thread of conversation. Nevertheless, the power industry has advantages. Foremost is job security. People's thirst for electric power seems to be insatiable. They use more and more as time goes on, and although they gripe about their monthly bill, most appear to be willing to pay more rather than cut back (see note below)

Boaters are no exception to the rule. However, boaters are more active in supplying their own needs so what they do is more visible. Tarwathie has the main engine with alternator, a portable Honda generator, a solar panel, and (sometimes) shore power, as sources of power. Many boats, have in addition, a diesel gen-set, and one or more wind generators.

An irony is that no matter how many power generation devices one has, and how much money is spent. it is not always enough. A friend in Vero has two very big solar panels, and a wind generator. After several sunny, very windy days in a row, I heard him say, "I'm want to equalize my batteries, so I'm going to move to a slip for a day to use shore power to fully charge the batteries." What? I was amazed that his batteries were not fully charged without shore power. Things like that lead to the label "insatiable" It does seem to be true that boats with extensive wind and solar installations are still frequently seen running their Honda generators. Not just occasionally, such as after cloudy and still days, but frequently.

That said, sailing cruisers are probably among the greenest people on the planet. They barely sip energy in a world where their land based peers gulp it. On Tarwathie, we are greener than many sailboats, but less green than others. A few years ago in Washington DC, we spent a month in a slip with metered power. After 30 days, we used a grand total of 12 kwh, for which we paid $3 at a price of $0.25/kwh. My friend Walt said, "Heck. My wireless router uses more energy than that." I also tried several of the online carbon footprint calculators. They said that our footprint was comparable to that of people in Bangladesh. It was only a small fraction of the typical American family footprint.

I exclude power cruisers from the above. Many of them use air conditioning, large screen TV, and incandescent lights, all of which take huge amounts of electricity. Many also connect their air conditioner to a fresh water hose on the dock and use the water once-through for their air conditioners. I've seen boats sit for weeks running and dumping fresh water continuously even though the owner never visited the boat even once. I don't know how to quatify that energy waste but it must be a lot.

I too am insatiable. We could reduce our electric needs 80% by simply abandoning our on board refrigerator/freezer. Many cruisers make do without that. Some use ice boxes. Some eschew refrigeration entirely. But no; we're not going to cut back. Instead, we plan to upgrade from a 50 watt solar panel to a 180 watt panel.

--

Note: Three recent incidents demonstrate that there really is price elasticity in electric power consumption; at least temporarily. The power market meltdown in 2000 in the State of California was one. The 5 week long blackout in Auckland, New Zealand was the second, and the 6 week long shortage of electricity in Juneau Alaska was the third. Based on the historical results, if the price of electricity doubles, public consumption goes down by 30%. Other than that, the available evidence suggests that electric consumption is inelastic. Usage does not go down when prices increase nor go up when prices decrease.

I'll say it again. Producing and selling electric energy or the devices that generate electricity is perhaps one of the most dependable, profitable, and secure jobs in the world.

Disruptive Technology

2011-12-18T07:00:00.001-05:00

Marathon, Florida
24 42.40 081 N 05.68

The phrase "disruptive technology" has been around for a few years. It was always kind of fuzzy what it meant. I think I have a real life example.

Our camera has been gradually dying of E-wasting disease. I blogged about that a few months back. I got some good advice, especially from my friend Walt, on how to choose a successor camera. I followed Walt's advice and finally figured out that I needed to spend about $400 on a Panasonic or Olympus camera that had the features I needed. However, I'm never in a rush to spend that kind of money, so I delayed.

In the meantime, I got a new phone. The Samsung Droid Charge is a great smart phone. Its best feature is a large and brilliant screen with better picture quality than an device I ever owned, big or small. However, when I got to play with it for a while I discovered that the built-in camera on this phone is amazing. It is the most sophisticated camera I ever owned. Of course, a secondary benefit is the convenience of being able to beam pictures and videos all over the known universe with a mere tap of the finger adds a lot to the perceived value.

On the other hand, good as it is, a phone camera is still very slow and awkward to start up and use. Often, by the time I'm ready to snap, the picture opportunity has passed. A device dedicated to the camera function still has advantages.

In Vero, while shopping for presents for Libby I was amazed to come across a 12MP digital camera for only $40. Wow! I've said before that my laptop strategy is to buy the cheapest laptop, for 10-15% of the price of a rugged one. I can wear out and discard 4-5 such laptops before exceeding the price of a really good one. Why not apply the same principle to the camera? $40 versus $400. Of course the $40 camera won't have all the features I wanted. Of course, it won't take pictures as nice as the expensive one. But it's well worth a try. I bought it, gave it to Libby, and we'll start using it. If we absolutely hate the result, our economic loss is not big. Indeed, the $400 cameras will probably be selling for $360 in 6 months.

That's disruptive technology. Two technologies that I did not expect and did not seek, came as surprises and completely undermined my plan to buy a $400 camera.

Good News

2011-12-16T22:19:00.002-05:00

Marathon, Florida
24 42.40 081 N 05.68 W

Our grandson Nick, is out of Iraq and heading home.

His ambition, once back at Fort Bragg is to try for Army Ranger School.

Good for you Nick. We're proud of you.

Quite a Story

2011-12-15T13:57:00.000-05:00

Marathon, Florida
24 42.40 081 N 05.68 W

Here's a very unusual story.

MAJURO — Two Kiribati men who survived 33-days drifting in the Pacific were surprised to find relatives of family members who had more than 50 years earlier drifted into the same atoll in the Marshall Islands.

Read the rest of the story here at the Marianas Variety.

Purple

2011-12-14T17:15:00.001-05:00

Someone requested purple. Libby said that she thought it was a terrible idea but it turned put really nice.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.7

Jinx Day

2011-12-14T12:31:00.000-05:00

Marathon, Florida
24 42.40 081 N 05.68 W

Man oh man. What a day. I do more than my fair share of dumb stunts. One of them was this morning.

I had a quart of marine topside paint -- battleship gray. My plan was to use it in the engine compartment and to paint the inside of the dinghy. I started in the engine compartment.

To get access, I have to lift off the cockpit sole (floor). Just last week I redid the holddowns on the sole with new weather stripping, 10 cap screws and t-nuts. I removed it all and did my work in the engine compartment. So far so good.

Then I planned to put the sole back in the cockpit, and finish up painting the dinghy. As I was doing that, the sole bumped the open can of paint. Almost a whole quart of paint spilled on the cockpit seats, the cockpit well walls, the sole, and below. Oh no, what a collosal mess!

I enlisted Libby's help. With a roll of paper towels and a quart of acetone, we started cleaning up the mess. Luckily I had just bought a fresh quart of acetone so we had a lot. When I lifted the sole to see how much paint leaked through I found that much of the paint ran down the channel at the side and down the cockpit drain. I looked out. I didn't see any paint on the surface of the water, but the inside of the drain was all gray. I poured some acetone down the pipe. It is 1.5" drain pipe and it should not be clogged by paint. I'll test it tomorrow for it's draining capacity.

Of course the clean up was like a Chineese Fire Drill. We got paint on our hands and shoes, and soon we were doing more harm than good, spreading paint in more places than we were cleaning. Time out to clean our hands and shoes and then finish the job.

There was about 4 oz of paint left in the can. I used it up in the dinghy. Down in the dinghy I noticed that Libby had tied it off using only the painter. I like to use a stern line as a 2nd safety. I did that. Then I went back on board Tarwathie to change clothes and clean myself more thoroughly. I packed my shower stuff and started to head to shore for a shower.

When I looked out, the dinghy was trailing behind Tarwathie by only the stern line. The painter line had chafed and broken! If I had not tied the 2nd safety line, our dinghy would have disappeared downwind for the second time this year.

Libby said, "Jinx Day." I can't disagree. I'll make it a point to do as little as possible for the rest of the day to limit exposure (how's that for an excuse to do nothing?)

By the way, the chafed line was 1/4 three strand polypropylene. It was the only floating line I had. It chafed where it goes through the hawse pipe. The past 3 days have been very windy, so the dinghy bounced around a lot. I'm going to replace it with 3/8 polypropylene box braid. I'll also start using a length of fire hose as a chafe guard on the painter. You see, on a double ended boat with a monitor in the back, we can not let the dinghy trail behind us at night. If the wind stops blowing, the dinghy runs into the stern and works its way under the monitor. Then the rocking of the boat starts bashing the dinghy with the monitor and I have to get up in the middle of the night to move the dingy to another spot. Most sailboats have squared transoms and can tie of their dinghy to the stern or to raise it on davits.

Libby

2011-12-13T09:01:00.000-05:00

Marathon, Florida
24 42.40 081 N 05.68 W

Join me in wishing Libby Happy Birthday. The occasion prompts me to blog about Libby as the subject.

I've written a lot about what it takes to live the cruising life successfully. Modesty prevents me from writing more about life in general. The reality is that both require a willing, able and loving partner. Libby fits the bill in all those accounts.

Libby follows my lead. She learns to like what I like. To take joy in the same things I do. She cares for me, coddles me, and calls me out when I'm being stupid. I don't mean that in the sexist sense. It's just the way she is.

Sailboat cruising wasn't her first major life adaptation. Twice, we uprooted our family and move to a foreign country. Libby cooperated willingly in those moves. She never did adapt to life overseas, but she did her best; so twice again we moved back to the USA.

When we decided to retire and I proposed to sell our house and car and to live on a sailboat, Libby gulped, then she said "Sure." We both had short term cruising experience, but not as a permanent life style. It was an excursion into the unknown. It was certainly not what she had envisioned for our golden years. It took a lot of guts for her to say that word, "Sure."

On a boat, quarters are extremely close. There is no room to get away from each other. Therefore, tensions, fears, and unspoken words, grow and fester. If one partner is not happy, the reality can not be suppressed or hidden.

For the first two years, Libby was concerned with her lack of technical skills. She didn't want to put me or the boat in danger. My job was to be patient, and to be a teacher and mentor. If I recall correctly, I got angry and yelled at her only twice in two years. I regret both times because they rattled her confidence. Today, she doesn't have that anxiety. She's confident that if anything happened to me, she would be able to bring us back to a safe port by herself. She's not crew, she's a full partner.

Anyhow, because true feelings can not be hidden, I'm confident in saying that Libby has come to love this life as much as I do. Neither of us can imagine living in a condo on land. It would be boring. Libby misses more frequent contact with children and grandchildren, and she misses her garden. I make sure she gets to do both of those things part of every year. (I crave the Internet, but I carry connectivity with me; nowadays in my pocket.)

My role is to be loving, appreciative, and sensitive to her needs. We are here in Marathon for a second year primarily because last year Libby had a marvelous time here and really enjoyed it. I guess, I chose the life style, but she chooses our agenda year by year and month by month. Most of the time, I'm the Captain, but she's the Admiral. She in turn gets enjoyment by making me happy and being sensitive to my needs.

So I'm not afraid to say that my success in life, including the cruising life, is a product of the partnership Libby and I have evolved.

Libby, I love you.

Boat Parades

2011-12-12T17:00:00.000-05:00

Marathon, Florida
24 42.40 081 N 05.68 W

Here's something we never had in New York, or Vermont. Christmas Boat Parades. Too cold. Vero Beach and Marathon, and presumably lots of other places too, hold very cool parades.

Vero's parade is much more extensive, but Marathon's is cute. In any event, it makes a good excuse to spend an evening out by the water side. Many local residents have parties and bonfires on the shore to celebrate.

My video skills are terrible, and that's charitable. Nevertheless, below is my video of the event. Note especially the choo-choo boat. It was very cool.

A Rare Moment

2011-12-11T09:41:00.006-05:00

Marathon, Florida
24 42.40 081 N 05.68 W

How often in your life does something happen to change your world view, and perhaps change your politics forever? If it never happens to you, you are like Archie Bunker. If it happens too often you're the meathead. If you're a thinking person, it happens but rarely.

I had such a rare event this week. It came as I listened to a segment of NPR's Talk of the Nation on the radio. That is an excellent program. This segment was called, War And Violence On The Decline In Modern Times. Read the transcript, or listen to the 30 minute podcast here.

The subject was:

Despite news of terrorist bombings, U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, and crackdowns in Syria, two recent books argue the world has never seen so little war and violence. Steven Pinker, author of The Better Angels of Our Nature, and Joshua Goldstein, author of Winning the War on War, discuss.

What changed for me? I've always believed that the UN is a corrupt and useless organization, and that UN peacekeeping was ineffective and worse than useless posturing (think of Srebrenica). The program segment made me change my mind on both. Try listening to it or reading it; it's a remarkable segment. Trust me, it is likely to change your world view in some ways also.

Nearly Perfect Moonrise

2011-12-10T08:09:00.001-05:00

Marathon, Florida
24 42.40 081 N 05.68 W

Somewhere in the Pacific this morning there was a perfect moonrise. Regular blog readers know that I'm fascinated by this idea and that I wrote about it before here and here and here.

If you see the moon rising in full lunar eclipse, it is a perfect moonrise. However, because the Moon is not the same plane as the the Earth's orbit, there are more perfect moonrises than eclipses, and many more full moons than eclipses.

Still, it's a great concept. I saw one perfect moonrise in my life so far. I'll never forget the sight. It is a worthy ambition to see another one.

Image Credit & Copyright: Babak Tafreshi (TWAN)

More baskets.

2011-12-09T08:34:00.000-05:00

Marathon, Florida
24 42.40 081 N 05.68 W

I sound like a broken record. I said it before. I'll say it again. Libby's artistic skills just keep increasing. This batch is being sent north for Cheryl to sell.

Rookies

2011-12-08T09:40:00.000-05:00

Marathon, Florida
24 42.40 081 N 05.68 W

In Vero we meet lots of first year cruisers. Indeed, as a rough guess I would say that 50% of the cruisers there are first year cruisers. (You can do the math on what that implies about the half-life of cruisers.) It's always fun to talk to them. It reminds us of our first year cruising and how everything then was extra special because we were experiencing it for the first time. It also pumps up our ego because they ask questions and solicit our advice.

Sometimes though I'm shocked and a bit shamed by the rush of rookie cruisers to buy expensive things. Of course we all need some expensive things and the first year we're forced to buy many of them. We were no different than others in our first year. On the other hand, none of us need all those expensive things, nor can we afford them, nor can we find room to stow them on board. The trick of course is to choose wisely which ones to say yes to and which to reject.

To be sure there are many willing suppliers ready and able to exploit the buying urges of the rookies. Foremost in this country is West Marine. West Marine carries the best selection of highly appropriate things for boaters. They have many good locations. Albeit they charge sky high prices for all that convenience and service.

There's a word for first year purchases. It's called "fitting out." It is presumed that whenever you start on a new boat, there are a number of things you must buy and change to make it suitable for your needs. The problem with rookies is that they really don't know their real needs yet.

The part that twangs my conscience is that many of these rookies are induced one way or the other to buy far too much. That puts a strain on their budget. It may clutter up their boat giving them less usable living space. Both things ultimately work against a successful transition to the cruising life.

Worst are the very expensive things. I'm thinking of water makers, solar panels, wind generators, giant chart plotters with built-in radar and sonar, SSB radio, life rafts, davits, arches, and enclosed cockpits. Maybe you do need those things, but maybe you don't need them ever. It's likely you don't need them your very first year.

An evil influence is the psychology "We are leaving for the islands. I'm not sure if we need this thing, but other cruisers have it. If we don't buy it now, we won't be able to buy it in the islands." If it were a salesman saying those things, we would call it "high pressure tactics". In the case of sailing rookies it need not be a salesman, nor anyone with evil intent. It comes from contact with other cruisers and from a lack of confidence that you know what you need.

The most frequent reason cited for people to give up cruising is that they had too big a boat. I'll wager that a close second is too much stuff on board, leading to expense, clutter, and demands on maintenance.

My best advice for rookies: delay. Delay every purchase as much as you can. Eventually, you'll have a better feeling for which things you really do need and those you don't. Similarly, delay setting off for exotic places, ocean crossings, or blue water sailing, until you have a year or two cruising experience in more sheltered places closer to home and close to stores. The ICW on USA's East Coast is an excellent place to start.

For everyone else, there is one more way to exploit rookie cruisers. There are times when disillusioned cruisers decide to give it up and to sell their exquisitely fitted out boat. They might be tight for cash and pressured to sell quickly. That is an opportunity for some buyer to find a great bargain.

Sculling

2011-12-06T11:35:00.000-05:00

Marathon, Florida
24 42.40 081 N 05.68 W

I didn't fool anybody with yesterday's mystery object. It is a clamp-on sculling oar lock. Here's the story.

Last summer I wrote a blog post telling how vandals had stolen our dinghy and broke on of the oars. I had to get a tow back to Tarwathie because, of course, I couldn't row back with one oar. My friend Dave read that and he said, "I'll have to teach you how to scull your boat."

Well, Dave and his wife Johnnie met us in Vero for lunch and Dave gave me that oar lock as a present. It is just what I need to convert our dinghy to a scull propelled boat. Dave also gave me a few pointers on how to scull using a rocking motion with my wrist to hold it at the right angle for the fore and return strokes.

Well, I tried it. Wow, it is much harder than I expected to scull effectively. It will take some serious practice to learn to do it well. Boot Key Harbor is a good place to practice that, but only when the stiff winds stop blowing.

I recall smirking at a few guests and relatives who discovered to their amazement that rowing with two oars is not trivially easy as they thought. Now it's my turn. Part of what I need to learn is the proper fulcrum point along the length of the oar. Hopefully, before leaving Marathon I'll be a competent sculler, and so will Libby.

Thank you Dave.

Identify This Object

2011-12-05T12:19:00.000-05:00

Marathon, Florida
24 42.40 081 N 05.68 W

Here's a little contest. Identify the object in this picture. Hint: it is nautical. Answer and story tomorrow.

Marathon

2011-12-03T17:00:00.003-05:00

Marathon, Florida
24 42.40 081 N 05.68 W

Watch for us on the Marathon Web Cam here.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.7

The Weather Made Us Do It

2011-12-02T14:25:00.000-05:00

At sea
24 42.36 N 080 59.65 W

We had grand plans to go slow and visit more places on the way. But yesterday was such a splendid sailing day and today is even better. Plus that, the Hawk Chanel is one of our favorite sailing places. We couldn't resist.

We did make one change. Instead of sailing 24 hours straight, we stopped for the night at Rodriguez Key. I screwed up and anchored in a place sheltered from wind but not from waves. The consequence was a very uncomfortable and insecure night. I had to sit up on anchor watch most of the night. Oh well, nobody to blame but myself.

It was a clear day with blue sky. To our south are the nearly ever present thick clouds marking the Gulf Stream. (A discovery of Benjamin Franklin) I took one shot of the clouds for you to see. Then I did it again as a 180 degree panorama. You will have to click on the panorama to see the whole picture.

The Color of Water

2011-12-01T14:25:00.000-05:00

At Sea
25 13.25 N 080 18.04 W

What color is it? For most substances or objects we see in every day life, that's a simple question. A few things, like the sky, do shift colors. Few or none of them match the variety of colors that water takes. Black, grey, white, rad, brown, tan, green, grey-green, light green, turquoise, blue, light blue, gulf stream blue, and invisibly transparent, just to name a few. Indeed, it's hard to think of a color that water does not take on in particular circumstances.

As for the water itself, there are only two variations; opaque and transparent. WHen water is opaque (the real word for that is turbid) it takes on the color of the suspended particles or creatures that make it opaque. It looks muddy when a lot of mud particles are suspended. It looks red when it is full of red algae, and so on. When we sail past the confluence of two rivers, the two different colors of the turbid water are very evident.

In the ocean, the salt water is mostly transparent or semi transparent. The colors we see are produced by the depth of the water, the color of the sea bottom, and the angles of the impending light. Most of the interesting colors we see start in South Florida and go sough from there. North of that, the water us usually a boring grey or grey-green or brown. In our 14 north/south migrations, we have come to associate particular colors with specific places. Polynesians are reputed to be much more skilled at that; to the point where they can navigate ocean crossings using the color (and taste) of the sea water.

As we approached Fort Lauderdale yesterday, heading south, the water became dark blue. Not the rich rich blue of the Gulf Stream, but nevertheless very nice. Around Key Biscayne it became green. That's because the waters are shallow and the bottom is sandy. Today, we're sailing the Hawk Channel in the Florida Keys. There the water will become a beautiful turquoise color that we've learned to associate with the keys. Florida Bay, on the other side of the keys, has it's own characteristic shade of green.

The most beautiful color of water is the deep deep rich blue of the Gulf Stream. That color is almost impossible to describe, and difficult to photograph. When sailors talk about blue water sailing, they refer to this deep blue of very transparent, very deep waters at low latitudes. I can tell you that when we encounter blue water, our hearts are lifted with exuberance. It is unspeakably beautiful. Blue water is not far away from us right now. The Hawk Channel is a body of shallow water bounded by the Keys to the North and West and by a barrier reef to the South and East. All we need to do is to cross that barrier reef and almost instantly, we are in blue water. We can see the thick low clouds that mark the Gulf Stream just a few miles away. We may take a short detour out there just to see blue water once again.

In the Bahamas and in the Virgin Islands, the water is so extraordinarily transparent, that the water becomes almost invisible. We see the bottom clearly and the objects and creatures on the bottom. It is like looking at an aquarium. You don't see the water so much, you see the fish, the grass, and the sand on the bottom. It takes some getting used to. Sailing on the Bahamian banks feels like flying an airplane just above the ground. Often, a dark patch of grass looks like a rock sticking up to the surface and it scares us that we might run into it.

Also in the Bahamas, all the waters are shallow. One can navigate there by the color of the water. Blue is deepest. Dark green is deeper than light green. Brown colored water marks shallow coral. Yellow water marks a shallow sand bar. Sailors make ladder steps to climb halfway up the mast to spot water colors at a distance and thus navigate tricky areas.

At night the water is usually black. In bright moonlight however it can become silvery. On exceptionally clear moonless nights, starlight alone can make the surface silvery. We've been told that an exceptionally beautiful sight is the Bahamas Grand Banks under a full moon. The moonlight reflects off the sandy bottom causing an eerie glow. We haven't see that yet.

Human eyes don't see colors well at night,so the beauty comes through variations in the gray scale. An exception is when sea creatures cause the sea to glow in the dark (i.e. to fluoresce) then it glows green or blue-green or yellow. It's very beautiful. You may be surprised to hear it but the most florescence we've seen is off the coast of New Jersey.

Once in the Stockholm Archipelago in Sweden, at night, I saw a bright yellow line in the water. It started at my eye and it ended just underneath Jupiter that was just above the horizon. The yellow line was reflected Jupitershine -- outstanding. (There was tragedy associated with that night, remind me someday and I'll blog that story.)

White water is associated with extreme turbulence. Think of white water rafting. To as sailor, whitecaps mark the tops of waves. White caps just begin to appear at 15 knots of wind, which is the ideal speed for sailing. More extensive white water also marks surf and extreme danger to sailboats. A white-out at sea marks hurricane force winds when the air is filled with suspended droplets and you can see nothing but white in all directions.

Green water is also very scary to boaters. I don't mean the turquoise green but rather the forest green color of very big waves. If a wave is so high that it gets between your eye and the sun it appears to be green. That's scary because that green water is likely to come crashing down on your head in a few seconds. I've seen green water at sea, but I've seen it much more often on Lake Champlain.

What's your favorite color of water?

Stiltsville

2011-11-30T14:41:00.000-05:00

Biscayne Bay
25 40.36 N 080 09.83 N

Ah what a pleasure that sail was. When winds blow from the West here that makes an offshore breeze. The winds can do what they will but the waves never build up. In addition, we hug the beach coming south in this area to avoid north flowing currents. They say if you get close enough to the beach so that the depth is 30 feet, you avoid most of the current. Sometimes that's so close that it feels like one could step off the boat into the surf.

Anyhow, the wind direction and velocity were ideal. We glided southward at 6-7 knots, with no rocking of the boat for many hours. Around 3 AM the wind stopped and we had to motor. Still, it was a fine passage. 26 hours from Vero Beach Marina to anchor down here in Biscayne Bay.

We had planned to go to Dinner Key, but as we got close our enthusiasm waned. We woulld like peace, quiet and an nap. Out here, near the famous Stiltsville, we will have a fine view of the sunset, a fine view of the Miami skyline at night, and lots of peace and quiet. We could have gone in to No Name Harbor nearby, but then we would miss the views. Winds will be <10 tonight, we do not need shelter.

You have probably seen pictures of Stiltsville many times. It's pretty famous. Perhaps you've seen it on CSI Miami's film clips.

Tomorrow's plan; who knows?

Stiltsville: "Crawfish" Eddie Walker built a shack on stilts above the water in 1933, toward the end of the prohibition era, allegedly to facilitate gambling, which was legal at one mile offshore. Crawfish Eddie sold bait and beer from his shack and was known for a dish he called chilau, a crawfish chowder made with crawfish he caught under his shack. Thomas Grady and Leo Edward, two of Eddie's fishing buddies, built their own shack in 1937. Shipwrecking and channel dredging brought many people to the area and more shacks were constructed, some by boating and fishing clubs. Local newspapers called the area "the shacks" and "shack colony".

Escaped From Vero

2011-11-29T13:01:00.000-05:00

ICW

I bet you thought we would get stuck in "velcro" beach for a few more months. Well it is never easy to leave, but we did it. We're motoring toward Fort Pierce right now. After a final weather check, if everything goes right we'll go out to sea from Fort Pierce and head south.

Today looks like the beginning of a wonderful 5 day long window to sail South. Not East to the Bahamas but rather South to the Keys. We could probably be in Marathon in 36 hours, but we're in no hurry. We would like to explore Conconut Grove and Biscayne Bay south of Miami. Other cruisers speak well of the Dinner Key area.

I would also like to consider going to Marathon on the Bay side. There's a lot more to see and more stops to make on the bay side of the keys. In the past we've heard that it was too shallow and we were afraid of running aground. The feedback from others is mixed. Some day we can do it drawing 5 to 5.5 feet, others say no. I'd appreciate some email and advice from others who have done it.

I shoudn't be blogging this but ...

2011-11-28T08:22:00.000-05:00

Vero Beach
27.39.56 N 080 22.27 W

This post is very technical. It isn't about sailboat cruising, but it might be revealing about me. If that doesn't suit you, stop reading now.

For as long as I remember, I think about certain things while trying to go to sleep. It is analogous to counting sheep, except that my tastes lead me to think about scientific puzzles. For the past two decades, one of my favorites has been trying to visualize what happens on a molecular scale when a giant star collapses in a type II supernova. Go ahead an laugh; it's true.

Anyhow, recently I greatly surprised myself by actually figuring out something about the physics. I discovered something. Let me be clear. I'm sure that my discovery is nothing new or remarkable to the the scientists who study such things. It might even be written in their elementary textbooks. However, it was not written in anything I ever read. The discovery was new to me.

What is it? I'll try to explain as briefly as possible.

Dust clouds collapse on themselves because of gravity. The cores are compresses. Compressing increases the pressure and temperature (P & T). At some point, P*T reaches the critical point for nuclear fusion. Hydrogen nuclei fuse to make Helium and energy is released. The process is exothermic, i.e. it releases energy. The energy released opposes further collapse and a semi-stable equilibrium is reaches. In other words, a star is born.

When all the H is consumed, collapse restarts. P*T increases until Helium fusion begins in the innermost core. This happens again and again, until the star looks like an onion, with layers of heavier elements at the center. See the picture.

When fusion of Si into Fe ceases, the cycle ends (because Fe fusion does not release more energy). What happen then is that the center of the star collapses. The product is a remnant neutron star (or a black hole) in the center plus a massive supernova explosion casting off all the outer layers. The mysterious part, and the subject my my nocturnal musings for decades is that the collapse and explosion happens so fast. Indeed it happens in 0.2 seconds. That sounds far too fast to be believable. How can that be?

Here is what I abruptly realized after two drowsy decades. During collapse, P*T becomes so extremely high, that the heavy nuclei get smashed and split up. Instead of nuclear fusion, we have nuclear fission. For those nuclei, all the energy released by the many cycles of fusion must be put back!!! Instead of exothermic, the process is endothermic i.e. it absorbs energy! Instead of resisting further collapse, it accelerates it. Ah so.

That's not all. P*T is still so high that free electrons begin fusing with protons. The product is a neutron and some neutrinos. Neutrinos are reluctant to interact with matter so they fly away out of the core at the speed of light. It takes only microseconds for the neutrinos to exit the core, carrying energy away with them. In terms of the remaining core material, that process is also endothermic. It causes the speed of core collapse to redouble! Ah so.

There you have it. Instead of core collapse being mitigated and slowed by negative feedback, it is exacerbated and accelerated by positive feedback. That is why it happens so unbelievably fast. Ah so. That was my "discovery". It startled me and made me sit up in bed.,

Thank you for your interest. I hope my explanation was entertaining and understandable.

Wow!

2011-11-25T15:02:00.000-05:00

Vero Beach
27.39.56 N 080 22.27 W

Thanksgiving in Vero

2011-11-24T18:13:00.002-05:00

Vero Beach
27.39.56 N 080 22.27 W

Thanksgiving is perhaps the USA's best holiday. It is the best day of the year to be with family. It is the one day of the year that we most regret being on the boat instead of with our family. Oh well, that doesn't mean we must be depressed and not have fun.

The weather here in Vero was splendid today. Perfect temperatures, blue sky and lots of sun. In the morning I went to the beach and waded barefoot in the surf for a while. It felt great.

This afternoon was the time for the annual cruiser's Thanksgiving pot luck dinner. Libby worked through the morning to help set it up, then she returned to the boat and cooked a turkey in the pressure cooker. I think it was our first attempt at that. It worked well. The turkey came out moist and flavorful.

A few years ago the pot luck dinner was a near disaster. That was because the food ran out before the line of hungry people had been fed their first serving. I think everybody remembers that, and they won't let that happen again. Today there was lots of food. Those who wished were able to get second plate fulls. It was a great success. Many thans to Deb and Bob who organized it.

I took some pictures. The slideshow is here.

Bucket List Item

2011-11-23T06:39:00.001-05:00

Vero Beach
27.39.56 N 080 22.27 W

On board Tarwathie, we're engaged in preparations for the huge pot luck Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. Meanwhile, I came across the following outstanding bit of film from NASA.

My bucket list? I'm living it out right now. However, I always had one dream that will never be fulfilled. I dreamed of being in low earth orbit and spending a day just looking out the window at the earth below. To buy that privilege, I would spend all my wordly assets and forfeit the rest of my life. Alas, I'll never have the opportunity. The film below however, just whets my appetite. Click on it to watch the video, then click on the full-screen icon.

Earth | Time Lapse View from Space, Fly Over | NASA, ISS from Michael König on Vimeo.

Pleasure Doing Business With You

2011-11-22T05:16:00.001-05:00

Vero Beach
27.39.56 N 080 22.27 W

My Droid has been getting old and ready to retire. The on/off button failed, then the volume up/down buttons, then the touch screen started going crazy. I have the $2/month insurance so I could get a reconditioned Droid for a $50 deductible. However, reconditioned is not new -- the next phone might not be much better than what I have and I might have needed yet another reconditioned one in a few months. I decided to spend $100 for a new phone rather than $50 for a reconditioned Droid.

I got a new Pantech phone from the Verizon store at the mall. I must say that Verizon is not dumb. Their price for service is sky high. Their service is good, but everyone loves to complain about the phone company. However, when your 2 year contract is up and you're free to stay a Verizon customer or not, then they treat you like royalty. They sold me a new phone for $99. It is like the Droid but only half the weight (no keyboard) and with a brighter screen that easier to use in sunlight. It is also faster and has a later release of Android software with many refined features.

Best of all, they let me retain my $30/month unlimited data plan. That's $20-$40 dollars per month cheaper than data plans offered to new customers.

So far, all my old apps work, including the easytether app I use to slave my laptop to the phone. There are Verizon tethering and mobile wifi hotpot apps included, but I'm highly suspicious of those. I think they will charge me $20/month extra if I try to use those apps. Indeed, I'm suspicious and resentful of all Verizon pre-installed apps. I don't trust them, and they won't let me uninstall them.

I have to download my apps fresh, but so far the ones I paid money for before are smart enough to download for free this time.

Total time in the store to choose and activate the new phone -- 20 minutes. All that adds up to a pleasant customer experience. Like I said, Verizon is not dumb. They focus their efforts where it really counts.

Now it is Libby who has the biggest task of getting accustomed to the new phone. It does not say DROID when I get a new email. Does anyone know how to download that sound for a non-Droid brand Android phone?

I could have switched to an iphone for the same money. No thanks, I rebel at giving Apple monopoly power over what I can and can't do with my device.

UPDATE: The Pantech had problems with the charge/recharge. I looked up the problem online. It seems that numerous users had the same problems. I went back to Verizon and exchanged it for a Samsung Droid. That cost a bit more but it is a higher quality phone. So now I still have Droid, but from a different manufacturer.

Street View: Date Palm Road

2011-11-20T18:01:00.000-05:00

Vero Beach
27.39.56 N 080 22.27 W

The neighborhood behind the Vero marina and the beach is especially nice. The houses are modest in size and highly varied. The gardens and yards are exquisite and varied. The dominant trees, life oaks, make it shady and beautiful.

During the week the neighborhood is deserted, but around supper time, all the lights are on and the houses are filled with people. That tells me that the residents are working people. The homes are not second or third vacation homes for the super rich.

Some of the houses and grounds are meticulously maintained, as if the Mexican gardener is there every day. Other houses and grounds look almost abandoned, Once again, variety.

There seems to be an invisible line between Vero and Melbourne, only 15 miles north. South of the line is subtropical. All sorts of tropical plants grow here that can't survive colder climates. Along the waterways, 100% of the shore lines are overgrown with mangroves. North of Vero, mangroves become increasingly rare until Matanzas. Matanzas seems to be the northernmost extent of mangroves in Florida, and only the red mangrove species grows there. Anyhow, the tropical climate in Vero makes the plant life especially beautiful.

The other day I walked up Date Palm Road. It runs from the Vero marina and the ICW on one end, to the Atlantic Ocean on the other end. Then I walked back on Euginia Road. Along the way I snapped almost every house -- Google Street View style. The slide show here shows the best shots.

OMG

2011-11-17T21:32:00.002-05:00

Vero Beach
27.39.56 N 080 22.27 W

What have we wrought? Cheryl called Libby to say that she brought some of her baskets to a gift shop where Cheryl sell her home made soaps. The gift store sold out the baskets in no time and asked for more -- all they could get. Poor Libby, it drove her into a frenzy.

Since last summer, Libby has been basketing full speed to keep up with our social life. You see, those baskets make perfect house gifts when we are invited to dinner. But now with this store thing the demand doubled and redoubled.

Don't get me wrong, she still loves doing it. It hasn't become a burden yet. But the pace recently has been frenzied.

Below is the next batch we'll be sending to that store. I really love how unique each basket is. No two alike. Libby says that she just starts and that the basket tells her how it wants to look. She's also getting better at ending -- that is finishing the last row so smoothly that it's hard to tell where it ends.

I think that after sending this batch off, she'll slow down for a while.

Now below is something completely different. That basket was a gift to Libby from her friend Mary Ann. It is about the size and shape of Libby's baskets, but this one is made of multi-color telephone wire from Africa. She loves it.

Rookies

2011-11-16T08:25:00.000-05:00

Vero Beach
27.39.56 N 080 22.27 W

Vero Beach is a great place to meet cruisers of all kinds. A large fraction of East Coast cruisers are heading directly for the Bahamas. Few go to Marathon, but almost all of them stop in Vero. Of course we meet veteran cruisers here, but I notice that every year there is a larger proportion of rookies than veterans. The total population of cruisers does not seem to be cruising. Therefore, many of these rookies must give up after the first season. What can we conclude from that?

The cruising life is not agreeable to everyone. The freedom of movement and the simplification of life style veteran cruisers find to be the greatest appeal. To others however, they experience it seen as estrangement from family and friends, and deprivation of the accustomed comforts of modern life. We do after all, live most of our lives in a 10x15 foot area for two people smaller than a typical jail cell for one person. What can we say about that? To each their own.

It must also be true that many of these rookie cruisers have no intention of making it a life style. They are on a once-in-a-lifetime extended vacation. Some of them must be fulfilling a major bucket list item. Good for them I say. They are out there doing it rather than staying at home wishing they were doing something different.

It must also be true that the terrible economy has a major effect. Libby and I had no idea how lucky we were to get rid of our house and cars and other possessions in 2005, before the bad economy. In today's markets it might be nearly impossible for people to extract themselves from the constraints of property ownership and the employment treadmill. For those people we can do nothing more than express sympathy. It would be very frustrating to have the will and the means to cruise, yet to be unable to escape another life style.

A final possibility is that some of these rookies are following my advice. Very often we meet people who would like to cruise, but who are not confident that both husband and wife will like it. I advise them to try it for one winter season. The 80-20 rule should apply. After one season, 80% of the trial cruisers will know better if they want more. The ones who do, can try again for a full year. After that there should only be 4% still undecided. We've been told, that the magic number seems to be two years. After two years of cruising, just about everyone is decided -- they either like it or they don't.

Did I talk about financial exploitation of these rookies by the magazines, and by the sellers of marine equipment? I'll save that for another day.

Work Ethic

2011-11-15T00:01:00.000-05:00

Vero Beach
27.39.56 N 080 22.27 W

It's hard to maintain a work ethic down here.

Yesterday I intended to realign the engine. However, it was such a spelendid day weather wise, that I talked Libb6y into going to the beach instead. We spent a couple of hours walking barefoot in the sand up to our ankles in water. The water was warm. It would have been good for swimming but the high surf red flags were still out. Anyhow, it was a great day. The beach here at Vero is really nice.

Today I resolved to do the alignment. However, first thing in the morning I had to run the engine to charge the batteries. Then the engine block was hot. I had to wait 3 hours for it to cool. I worked on the job for two hours. I felt a lack of confidence that I was doing it right. Around noon, an opressively hot sun swung around just enough to make it very hot in the cockpit. I knocked off for the day. Later that afternoon I ran into Tom. Tom said that he's alighed several engines and would be glad to help. That is after he's had a few days to get settled after arriving in Vero. I guess the job won't get done for a few daya more.

On the other hand, we're retired. We have no schedule. We are not up on the hard in a dusty boat yard. Why should we follow a work ethic?

Force 10 Funk

2011-11-10T16:27:00.002-05:00

Vero Beach
27.39.56 N 080 22.27 W

I spent most of the day doing a galley stove rebuild. I'm not happy. Here's the story.

We have a 19 year old Force 10 galley stove. It uses propane. It has two burners and an oven. Recently, the oven fails to warm up. I decided it was time to fix it with a new thermostat. Since buying Tarwathie, we've had a back with a "cruising kit" of spare parts for the stove. We never had occasion to use it before. The idea of a cruising kit is to have the parts to do any necessary repair from anywhere in the world where replacement parts can not be ordered.

I remove the stove, then I took it apart. Lots of dirt accumulates in the inaccessible places over 20 years, so I had lots of cleaning to do. Both the stove parts and the spaces behind beside and under the stove got a good cleaning. Then I set out to fix it.

I figured that since the stove was so old, that I would do a complete rebuild and install nearly all the parts in the "cruising kit". I soon found that I was thwarted. With three burners on the stove, there were three of each burner-related part, except the spark plugs. All three of our plugs had failed and I wanted to replace them. Then I discovered that the kit did not include the oven thermostat that was my primary objective.

The stove has three burners, each with a thermostat. However the left burner, right burner, and oven burner come with copper tube tails of short, medium and long lengths. I found that the cruising kit had three thermostats; two shorts and one medium, but no long one. OH NO!

I called Force 10 in Canada. The original Force 10 company was bought out by another company in 2006. I talked to a nice young woman and explained the problem. She found the part numbers for a spark plug and an oven thermostat and offered to send them, but she planned to charge me. I protested. The reason why I needed them was because of a defective cruising kit bought from them. She asked about dates. The stove was a 1992 model and the cruising kit was bought in 1997.

She said that the kit was too old to honor any sort of warranty on it. I countered, "But the whole purpose of a cruising kit is to put it on the shelf against the possibility that it may be needed some day." "True," she said, "But you can't call up 15 years later and say that it is missing parts." I had to admit that 15 years was a long time, so I gave up and paid her money.

Now as an afterthought, I think I gave up too easily. It might be reasonable for a customer to inspect a kit to see if it contains all required items. However, for this customer to detect that it had the wrong length thermostat he would have had to take the stove apart and try to actually install the spare part. That's above and beyond. Force 10 should have honored my request for a free replacement.

My only other experience with the new Force 10 was a couple of years ago. I wanted to order new cast iron burner tops. They corrode. I called Force 10. They said, "Sorry those things are out of stock and obsolete. We can't supply one." I checked some of the cruisers forums on the Internet and found that lots of Force 10 customers had that complaint. They were angry that the only option Force 10 offered was to buy a whole new stove for thousands of dollars. Then I checked the West Marine catalog. They are selling new Force 10 stoves with identical tops. Then I looked in my cabin. I also have a Force 10 cabin heater. I tried to move the burner top from that to the stove. It fit perfectly. Force 10 was lying when they said there were no more of those burner tops to be had.

Now, when the parts I ordered come, I'll have to spend another day to take the stove apart once more to install them.

Humph. Indignation. :-(

On a completely different subject, I rode my bike to the beach today. Look what I found when I got there.

Fame

2011-11-09T13:46:00.000-05:00

Vero Beach

27.39.56 N 080 22.27 W

I mentioned that our daughter Jenny and her friend Christian ares working on a project to transform a public library into a single family home. Well, her blog here attracted attention from the Burlington Vermont newspaper, Seven Days. See the article and photo of Jenny & Christian here.

Libby's Secret Revealed

2011-11-08T16:55:00.000-05:00

Vero Beach
27.39.56 N 080 22.27 W

Oh boy, isn't that a titillating blog title? Well, I heard that Chuck Norris is a superman because he knows Victoria's Secret. Why can't I do the same with Libby's secret. Here goes.

One of Libby's favorite things to do is to row in the dinghy late at night at times when everything is still and calm. Vero is the perfect place to do that. We are in a sheltered harbor and nearby are numerous channels that lead off into isolated places in the mangroves where you see no evidence of mankind. She can row silently, or just coast or just stop rowing, sit and enjoy the peaceful quiet.

This week has been a great time to do it. We have a waxing moon about 3/4 full. When there are no clouds around it is very bright, and things leave stark shadows. It has also been very still at night, and the surface of the water becomes like a reflecting pool. Leave late enough and the insects aren't agressive. Get away from the houses and the roads and the only sound you'll hear at night is the woosh-woosh of the dolphins breathing.

Another strange factor has contributed. Ever since the daylight savings time Sunday morning, Libby and I have both been waking up extra early. Not one hour earlier, but at 0345. Two nights in a row we woke at that time and had no interest in going back to sleep. We got up. I played on the computer and Libby went off for a solitary row. Great times. Why are we waking up then? It's hard to be certain. I think it may be because the nights are so much warmer here in Vero. It is the temperature signal that causes us to wake. For the past two mornings it was 72 degrees at 4 AM.

Glad To Be Inside

2011-11-07T08:07:00.001-05:00

Vero Beach
27.39.56 N 080 22.27 W

It was old home week as we arrived here at Vero yesterday. We got to say hello to very many cruising friends, plus permanent resident friends. It was a bit amazing. It is not so amazing why we feel at home in places like Vero and Marathon -- we have so many wonderful friends there. Home is where the heart is. Libby and I carry our home with us, but it stops in places where our heartstrings have other attachments.

Not everyone was here. Charles and his dog Snoopy are missing. We thought they would be here forever, but I was told that they moved on to the Chesapeake Bay. Contragulations Charles for escaping.

Two of the friends are Andrew and Vanessa from the good ship Tally Ho. We were surprised to see them. Usually, they stop in Vero only briefly before hopping over the Gulf Stream to The Bahamas. Right now they are very frustrated because there has been no window in two weeks, and the forecast calls for at least one more week of northerly winds and mountainous seas. Yesterday, the seas offshore were 11-14 feet and that is before reaching the Gulf Stream. High seas and strong northerly winds would make the Gulf Stream a very bad place to be this week. Its frustrating for those who want to cross but comforting for those of us just glad to be here in a sheltered harbor.

Just to illustrate the winter weather in the North Atlantic Ocean right now, I included the three pictures below from passageweather.com They show atmospheric pressure, wind speed and direction, wave height in meters, and Gulf Stream flow. Florida is just on the western fringe of the bad weather out there. However if you combine that with the Gulf Stream flow (the 4th picture) it makes for a very nasty combination -- hardly Perfect Storm stuff but nasty nevertheless.

Feels Like Homel

2011-11-06T12:24:00.000-05:00

The Indian River
27 40.98 N 080 23.07 W

I just went on deck to relieve Libby. When I got there, the scenery looked awfully familiar. No mystery. The power plant and the bridge at Vero Beach are visible 4-5 miles to our south. Regular blog readers know that Vero and Marathon are are two major wintering holes in Florday. We'll stay here several weeks, then move on to Marathon.

Well, this season's migration ended with a bang. Yesterday afternoon a real gale kicked up. I don't know the actual wind speed. It must have been 30-40 knots. It kicked up some pretty good waves on the ICW. We were in good shape however, less than 2 miles after the wind came up we were able to turn left behind the southeastern side of the Melbourne Bridge. There we had good shelter from the North and East. Let it blow, we said, and it did. All evening and into the night the wind raged, but we were fine.

So, let's sum up the Fall 2011 migration.

It began with the fear that we could be landlocked in Lake Champlain over the river. That lasted about a week when we heard that the Champlain Canal would reopen after storms Irene and Lee. When it did open, we traversed the canal and the Hudson River without difficulty.
We met Carpe Diem behind Liberty Island in New York Harbor. I spent a day being a NYC tourist.
Then we embarked on an unfortunate and unwise motoring passage to Newark, VA. I say that because it turned out to be strain on our engine (and Carpe Diem's too). We did it without a good plan B thinking of what we would do in case of engine failure. We also did it racing a closure of the weather window. I'm not proud of that decision.
We had a lovely time on the Dismal Swamp Canal, the Outer Banks, and the Neuse River. We saw a lot of nice stuff, made new friends, and got to visit old friends and to visit family. Great.
We discovered Carolina Beach State Park. That will be a regular stop from now on.
We had a very nice, but slow passage from Little River, SC to Fernandina Beach, FL. We suffered a broken engine mount at sea, but with sails plus a little jury rigging we got in OK.
We were overwhelmed with hospitality of friends in Fernandina and Daytona. It's sure nice to have friends along the way.
We've had a mostly pleasant and uneventful ICW passage in Florida to here.

I hate to sound like a broken record, but the bottom line is that we had a lot of fun. We seem to have a lot of fun every year, even though each year is a bit different. I guess that's why the cruising life is so great. After all, having fun is the point; isn't it?

The Indian River

2011-11-05T11:18:00.000-04:00

The Indian River
28 20.81 N 080 42.85 W

I wrote several times before about how fond we are of Florida's Indian River. It is a very safe, secure, pleasant and fun place for cruisers to hang out. We got here yesterday in the late afternoon. I was surprised at our fast progress. We left Daytona late, at 1030, because we took time for a very pleasant breakfast with fellow cruisers Fergus and Carol. However, a following wind and favorable tides more than made up for the late start. By supper time we dropped the anchor near Titusville.

Our friend June challenged us to take advantage of the wind to make it all the way from Titusville to Vero Beach in just 7 hours. I looked it up on the charts. The distance is 65 nautical miles. To do that we would have to average 9 knots of speed. A 32 foot sailboat will do that about as readily as pigs grow wings. Sorry June, we won't make it all the way there before sunset today. We'll probably anchor for the night somewhere on the south side of a bridge and continue in the morning.

We did have thoughts of going to the Cocoa Beach Air Show today. We're passing Cocoa as I write. However it is a chilly grey day with lots of low clouds, making it a poor day for air shows. Too bad. In most cases we love air shows.

Has the dolphin population increased in Florida? I doubt it, but it seems that way. Both yesterday and today we have seen numerous large pods of dolphins in all directions. About once per hour one of the pods decides to swim along beside us for a while. I wish that we could have our granddaughters here with us. They would be thrilled by the proximity of the dolphins.

By the way, Libby noted that we'll arrive in Vero 10 days earlier than last year. Our north/south migrations hardly adhere to rigid schedules as you would expect. Weather is a major variable in rates of progress. The surprising thing is that despite the variability in overall migration schedule, our times at crossing the mid-point, Oriental North Carolina, are almost exactly the same fall after fall, spring after spring, year after year. We don't plan it that way, it just happens. It makes us feel kindred-ship with the geese, whose migrations are variable but predictable.

Weather Induced Attitude

2011-11-04T08:09:00.000-04:00

Daytona Beach, FL
29 14.12 N 081 01.44 W

Thursday was sunny, warm and calm. We decided to stay put and to laze around Daytona Beach for anohther day. We walked the streets, waded in the surf at the beach, and met Kerry for dinner. Kerry is a high school class mate who lives near by. Today, we're meeting Fergus and Carol for breakfast. They are a couple we met at a Westsail rendezvous a couple of years ago. It has been a lot of fun.

We had planned on moving today down to Rockhouse Creek and to explore the Ponce Inlet area by dinghy. Then, we'd move on to Titusville and maybe take a mooring for a day or two. But, the weather is changing. Starting this afternoon, and extending for two days it will be very windy and cooler. That weather induces a very different attitude. Now our thoughts are on moving south ASAP, and hooking up to a mooring in Vero. We'll have strong winds behind us all the way so the passage should be fast.

Is that the same kind of weather-induced attitude that makes the populations of cold climates so industrious while populations of tropical area so laid back? Probably so.

In the 1960s, I spent most of a year in Daytona Beach. I worked at General Electric's Apollo Support Department in Daytona. They put me up in a hotel room overlooking the beach. I learned a lot about Daytona, its nature, its tourists, and its people in that year. I enjoyed seeing the motorcycle week, then Daytona 500 race week, then family vacation week, then college kids spring break week, one after the other. We did clambakes on the beach, and I found a beached whale one morning.

Sadly, Daytona has changed for the worse. The Beach is much narrower than it used to be. Even at high tide, the beach in the 1960s was up to 100 yards wider than it is today. It has suffered lots of erosion. Also, the air up and down the beach appears hazy with pollution. Also, some of the surf is a nasty yellow color suggesting unthinkably nasty stuff. Even the city and its populace also seem less nice then in years past. Too bad for the tourists who are forced to vacations where the hotels are located. There are much nicer, more pristine beaches in Florida.

Matanzas Pictures

2011-11-03T08:42:00.003-04:00

Daytona Beach, FL
29 14.12 N 081 01.44 W

Foliage First Construction

Part of our Libby Tree Hugging Series. Wonderful live oaks, second only to Cumberland Island

The Fort

Matanzas means massacre. Read the history here.

Some of the wonderful plants

Carelessness

2011-11-02T08:25:00.000-04:00

Matanzas Inlet
29 43.02 N 081 14.48 W

My excuse for doing stupid things is that I need material that entertains my blog readers. Well yesterday I delivered.

We anchored in the Matanzas River with the idea of walking the beautiful nature trails and beaches. We took the dinghy ashore to do that. I tossed the dinghy anchor in because we would beach it on sand and I didn't want it to wash away on a rising tide. When we got to the beach I judged that the tide was already past high. Instead of anchoring the dinghy, I tied it off to a sign post. Well, when we returned an hour later it was gone. OH NO!!!

I can't believe I was so careless and that I did so when the dinghy anchor was only an arm's length away. It's all for you blog readers ;)

However, good fortune was smiling on us that day. It just happened that a uniformed park ranger was near by. He was Andrew, manager of the Matanzas National Monument park. I told him about the missing dinghy. He went searching in his car, while Libby and I walked the shorelines searching. We were all afraid with the falling tide that it would be sucked out to sea. Nothing found.

Then Andrew theorized that it would drift in the strong wind. He pointed to a place about 1.5 miles across the bay. "Let's go in my truck and look there," he said. When did so, and when we got there Andrew spotted our dinghy tied up to a private dock behind a house. WOW! We drove to the house and knocked. Nobody home. But the neighbor came out and said, "Yes. The homeowner Dave saw it drifting past and tied it up." So now we are reunited with our dinghy and very grateful. If anybody says anything bad about Floridians, I'll remind them about Andrew and Dave.

By the way, the trails and beaches were beautiful. I took lots of pictures. I'll post some of them soon.

p.s. My daughter Jenny has her own blog now. See it here. It seems that Jenny and her friend Christian partnered and bought a library. It was a branch of the Winooski Vermont Public Library that fell unused. They bought it from the village and their project is to transform it into a single-family dwelling for resale. We hope they earn a ton of money doing that. Anyhow, Jenny's great idea was to document the library transformation process on a blog. Cool.

Big Bertha

2011-10-31T16:52:00.001-04:00

Matanzas River
29 48.97 N 081 17.53 W

We had a leisurely day on the ICW. We decided to bypass Saint Augustine. We've seen the sights there before, and we had no errands to run on shore. The bottom line was Libby's statement. She said that if we stopped to get a mooring for the night, she would not be interested in going ashore.

And now for a topic left over from last summer:

In the picture below you see me holding Big Bertha. That’s what I call our 80 pound Luke anchor.

We bought Big Bertha specifically for Lake Champlain and places like Porter Bay. You see, zebra mussels have invaded the lake and made the water much clearer. That allowed sunlight to penetrate to the bottom to depths it never did before. That in turn caused an explosion in weeds, especially the kind called milfoil.

Many of my prior favorite anchorages were so choked with week that I couldn’t use them. I could drop the CQR anchor or the Danforth anchor but they wouldn’t bite. The problem was that the weeds were so thick that the lightweight anchors couldn’t penetrate down to the mud. I had to increase my minimum anchoring water depth on Champlain to 15’ and then to 20’. My favorite sheltered spots where I could anchor close in at 7’.

The solution was Big Bertha. She sure penetrates to the bottom. The two pictures below show us raising anchor after Tropical Storm Irene in Porter Bay. The entire 120’ of chain I had out was fouled with weeds, and Big Bertha brought up 150 pounds of weeds with her. I was sure sweating by the time we got all that on board and clear of weeds.

When not on Champlain, Big Bertha comes apart in three pieces. I store the pieces in the lazarette, down below the water line. A secondary benefit is that we have a great storm anchor if we ever need it. We felt extra secure during Irene with Big Bertha and 120’ of chain out in 7’ of water.

A fisherman’s type anchor (such as the Luke) is also useful if you must have short scope. Suppose you come into a harbor so crowded that you can’t anchor with anything more than a 3:1 or even 2:1 scope. Then the fisherman anchor can serve you well. They rely more on their own massive weight to hold rather than a clever shape.

Big Bertha is so big that she has a 7/8” shackle on the end. I use 3/8:” shackles to attach my anchors to our 5/16” chain. No way a 3/8” shackle can couple with a 7/8”. I have to tie an enormous bowline knot in our chain to attach it to Big Bertha. I wire down the loose end. It appears to do the job well. I've never tied a knot in chain otherwise.

When we are sailing on Champlain, Big Bertha can’t be left on deck. We carry her tied to the side up at the bow. I figured out how to do it in a way that isn’t loose and doesn’t scratch the hull.

When we pull into an anchorage on Champlain among all those local weekend sailors, you should see their eyes pop when I unleash Big Bertha.

No Plans, No Cares

2011-10-30T11:53:00.000-04:00

Sisters Creek
30 26.09 N 081 27.39 W

On Friday our friends Mike and Nancy took us out to a nice restaurant in Mayport. It was right next to the Mayport ferry terminal and it had a great view of the river. We were interested in Mike's stories about hiking on the Appalachian Trail. It has certain similarities to boat cruising, but many differences. Thank you Nancy and Mike.

Today we're heading down to visit Terri and Larry on the Saint Johns River. They have a place on the water just a bit west of the ICW. Tomorrow we'll head south on the ICW, hopefully with a near optimum tidal current boost. I would like to get past Saint Augustine Monday, then head for Matanzas Inlet arriving at high tide on Tuesday. We can spend a day or so exploring there.

After that what? We have no plans, no schedule, no cares. For the next 5 days or so the weather does not look favorable for going outside. Therefore we'll just poke along the ICW. Maybe we'll try the new marina at Marineland. Maybe we'll call our school mate Kerry when we're in Daytona. That's not a bad agenda; right?

Smartphone Apps Redux

2011-10-28T12:07:00.000-04:00

Fernandina Beach, Florida
30 43.14 N 081 32.78 W

My friend Don bought a new smartphone. He asked me to update my list of apps that I find useful while cruising. Glad to. Here goes:

Nautical Apps

Navionics USA East -- a full featured chart plotter with the whole USA east coast. Does things your regular chart plotter can't. Does not need a cell phone signal to work. Battery hog but a great backup for only $9.99
Tide Predictor
Weather Bug Deluxe -- great weather centered on your GPS pos. Doppler radar shows animations of thunderstorms up to 100 miles away. You can tell if a storm will hit you or not. Get the deluxe version (I think $1.99)
First aid quick ref in your pocket
Real Calc
Hurricane Hound Free
Bubble level
Sound meter & Vibrometer. These meters are not calibrated but you don't care. Just start a log and record baseline values (such as cruising at 1800 RPM with phone flat on deck above the transmission.) Repeat periodically. You're looking for sudden jumps or creeping trends.
Tricorder - named after the hand-held scanners in the original Star Trek, but it's very useful. See gravity/acceleration in 3 axes. magnetic field in 3 axes. Acoustic spectrum. GPS position and satellites. Cell phone signal and WIFI signal strengths, and solar activity. Gives you a window on the built-in sensors in your phone.
Nautichart phone version of activecaptain.com (I don't like it much)
passageweather.com is a primary source for weather. Go there, and they have a phone app. Sailflow.com is similar but better for inland waters. You can save bookmarks with both passageweather and sailflow for your favorite regions, then put icons for those bookmarks on the desktop for quick access.

Star Gazing

Google Earth. Centers on your GPS position. See what's behind that bank of trees. Like having a chopper mounted camera following you around.
Google Sky Map. Blows everyone's mind. Point your phone at a bright object in the sky and this app shows you it's name.
Predisat -- see times & where to look for ISS flyovers and Irridium flashes.
Meteor Showers -- like predisat but for meteors
ISS Lookup -- see where the ISS is right now.
Sky Eye a built-in planetarium progrem. (on your laptop get a world class free program Stellarium -- great fun)
ZP Dashboard. Like a pilot's heads-up display for heading and azimuth. Useful when trying to locate an object by declination and elevation.

Utility

Two touch timer -- timer/alarm clock
Barcode scanner
App2SD -- may or may not work on your phone. Moves apps from scarce memory space to plentiful SD card space. Makes your phone faster but startup time for apps might be slower. If this doesn't work, you can fill up your phone's memory faster with too many apps.
Wifi analyzer.
Data quota. Who's your carrier? I have Verizon. They provide an app that shows my data use for the month, so I can compare it with my quota. Vital.
Password Master I store copies of all my online and phone account names and passwords here. It is protection if you forget them.
Lookout -- vital, free, antivirus security for your phone. Also backs up some stuff and has features for a lost phone. I don't need the premium version.
cab4me Gives you the phone number for the nearest cab to your GPS pos.
S2 Calendar Widget -- displays this month's calendar as an icon on my home screen. Click it to make appointments.
Easy Tether Pro -- My most important program. It makes my phone into a broadband modem for my laptop. I'm using it right now to write this email while under way. At night, Libby and I watch movies or TV shows on the laptop via the phone's tether. Cell providers and Apple are cracking down on tether programs. They want to charge you an extra $50/month for tethering service. My app I got for $9.99 before they clamped down so I'm grandfathered. You should at least try to get it and install it.
Call Confirm prevents butt calling. Pops a window that makes you answer YES I really do want to dial this number.
ebay
key ring. Scan and store the numbers of all your credit/loyalty/membership cards. Then you don't need those cards in your wallet and/or provide a backup record in case you loose a card. The app claims that it can show the card barcode on the screen and the store's scanner will scan it, but that part doesn't work.
Shake To Answer -- does what it says.
Quick Settings -- give much easier and more convenient access to phone settings.

Entertainment (whatever suits your taste. I use the following)

Youtube viewer
News - I'm a news addict. Every day I use apps for Slashdot/NY Times/Drudge Report/NPR/Dilbert/Fox News/USA Today/Washpost/Public Radio.
Google Reader. Give it the list of blogs/podcasts you follow. It gives you a consolidated list of new stuff since you last looked.
Music -- MP3 music/podcast player.
Listen -- player for online podcasts
Angry Birds - everyone else on this planet has it already, you might as well do it too.
Bubble buster, Space Physics, Fish Food, Toss it, Quadit, solitare -- fun games

Caution

If you have a data cap of 2GB or less, you'll have to watch your use. Video sucks it up fast, about 0.5 GB per hour of viewing. Audio takes about 1GB every 6 hours of listening. If you have 4G, it is so fast you can use up your monthly data quota in 11 minutes!!! If you have a 256MB cap, you'll need WIFI almost all the time. Be careful. I'm lucky to be grandfathered with unlimited data for $30/month. That lasts as long as my contract. If I ever get a new phone and a new contract, I lose the grandfather privilege.

Repaired and Ready

2011-10-27T22:30:00.001-04:00

Fernandina Beach, Florida
30 43.14 N 081 32.78 W

Well, our new mounts are in, the engine is aligned. For the time being, vibrations seem to be a minimum. We have yet to settle on the long term solution. I plan to go on the hard at Cracker Boys in Fort Pierce, but we have not net decided on a course of action. Stay tuned. I'll let you know what Beta says.

A very favorable surprise was the good service from Tradewinds, a local marine service company with proprietor Wayne York. They did the job in 3.5 hours @65. Two years ago, Helseth Marine, from Vero Beach, took 9 hours @$100, and the end result was not as good. Quite a difference. Our local friend, Charlie recommended Tradewinds. Thanks for that tip Charlie.

On the social scene, we've been riding high this week. Yesterday I was using my computer in the sailors lounge here at the city marina when I heard a loud voice behind me, "You're Under Arrest." It was Darrick, the police chief from Wisconsin who is now Captain of the cruising boat Y-Knot under direction of his Admiral Sharron. They left Beaufort NC the day before we left Little Inlet. Darrick was better at reading the weather than I was. He hugged the coast rather than following the rhumb line. During the two days we were out, Y-Knot passed us and arrived at Saint Marys Inlet 5 hours before we did.

Tonight, we had a visit from local cruisers Larry and Terri. They live nearby on the Saint Johns river. We introduced them to Darrick and Sharron, and the 6 of us went out for a very nice Italian dinner. Fernandina Beach is a great place for such activities. It is also a great favorite for tourists. Every day we see tourists walking around the waterfront obviously charmed by the atmosphere. It reminds me of how Libby and I were instantly enchanted by Boothbay Harbor Maine when we first encountered it on our honeymoon way back in 1965.

Tomorrow night we have a date with Mike and Nancy. After that, we're not sure on our next move. The weekend weather is not the best for going offshore.

Holding Pattern

2011-10-26T12:06:00.000-04:00

Fernandina Beach, Florida
30 43.14 N 081 32.78 W

I got lots of good comments and advice yesterday about my vibration problem. Read the comments to yesterday's post.

We're going ahead with the motor mount replacement without having a real resolution to the vibration problem. What choice do we have? I plan to consult with Bud Taplin and Stanley at Beta before proceeding.

In any event, we'll be here in Fernandina most of the week. We had dinner with Charlie & Mary last night (Thank you very much.) Tomorrow we're meeting with Larry & Terri, and on Friday with Michael and Nancy. That's a pretty full social calendar. We love it.

After that? We're not sure what. Remnants of Hurricane Rita may pass here on Saturday bringing gale winds. Maybe not. Weather forecasts on Rita are very uncertain. We sure hope that's the last named storm this year.

So far, we're still well ahead of the pack of cruisers heading south. Many of them are restricted by their insurance policies to not go south of the Carolinas before November 1.

Wits End

2011-10-25T14:16:00.000-04:00

Fernandina Beach, Florida
30 43.14 N 081 32.78 W

We're at the City Marina a few days. My friend Charlie connected me with a mechanic. He ordered new mounts. We'll put them in Thursday.

Jeff and Wendy commented on my problems.

Your temporary repair to your engine was very ingenious, I'll have to remember it. Unfortunately, it sounds like the problem you had with a broken motor mount may just be a symptom. When you mix it with the shaft seal leaking issue it may be a growing problem with your engine or possible its alignment.

I certainly agree with them. But I'm at wits end. We had the new motor re-aligned twice already. I had the shaft straightened and checked and the propeller balanced. I've spent $3000 so far trying to cure the problem with no results. Still, the motor shakes. Evidently, it shakes so much that it ruins motor mounts in just 2 years. The previous Perkins 108 motor shook just as much, so I've come to accept it as normal. My problem is that I have no experience with an inboard diesel that didn't shake. I don't know what level of vibrations are normal.

I have two more clues. My transmission ratio is 2:1. According to Beta, all other W32s with Beta engines have a 2.5:1 ratio. I, and they, have no idea why mine came different. A second clue, if we run at more than 2000 RPM, the engine temperature begins to climb. My top RPM at full throttle is 2500. Some people say I should have the prop pitch set for 3000 RPM tops and cruise at 2400. But if I did that, the vibration and the temperature are both too high. Could it be the transmission ratio?

A third possible clue. We use a shaft saver coupling between the transmission and the shaft. I replace that also, the last time we changed the mounts. To align the engine, they must remove the shaft saver, align, then replace the shaft saver. Could having a shaft saver in the first place spoil the alignment? It's not easy to remove it. Without the shaft saver, the shaft is too short. I would have to have a new shaft made to test it.

I'm at my wits end what to do next. When these mounts are replaced the alignment must be re-done, but for how long will it last? I wonder if I shouldn't take another approach. Find a mechanic to take the job on a results-oriented basis. "Fix my vibration problem. Whatever it takes. I don' pay a cent until it runs smooth as silk." I worry that they'll charge me more than the cost of a new engine to accept that risk. What do you think?

In From The Sea But Limping

2011-10-24T12:00:00.000-04:00

Saint Marys, Georgia
30 43.14 N 081 32.78 N

Florida HO! That's what I shouted when Libby awoke me at 0600 and I looked outside. We were only 1 mile from the jetty at the Saint Marys River entrance. I could plainly see Feranadina Beach. Thus Florida HO. It took us 47 hours to make the 250 miles here from Litte River SC.

So, why have we backtracked to Georgia? Look on the map. We are just a fraction of a mile from the Florida/Georgia border. I thought this was a nice place to anchor and take a restful nap to catch up a little on sleep.

Successful passage yes, but we came in limping. Sunday evening, the wind died and Libby started the engine. It started but we were startled by an awful noise that sounded like stones in a meat grinder. I told her to put it in neutral. The noise got worse! What the H could it be. I opened up the engine compartment and did a visual inspection. Sure enough, I could see that the right rear engine mount had broken. The noise came from vibration at the broken mount.

What could we do about that? I racked my brain. Then I had a great idea. I raised the cabin floor and pulled out two big C clamps that we store down there. I then crawled over the warm engine and used one of the clamps to hold down the broken mount. It worked! Upon restart, the engine sounded normal. Boy am I glad we had those clamps on board.

Suppose we had no clamp, what could we do? Well, sailboats have an advantage. We could just have sat out there waiting for some wind to return. At the time of the breakdown we were 45 miles off the coast of Georgia. Then we could have sailed to one of the several inlets along the coast of Gerogia and Northern Florida. Then we could have waited for flood tide to help, and attempted to sail in. That would have been problematic because the currents are swift and the winds were light. We might have failed to navigate to where we needed to go against currents. Of course, that means we could have sat at anchor still longer until a sufficiently strong wind came along. But what would keep the batteries charged all those days? Alternatively, we could have chickened out and called Tow Boat US to come tow us in.

I guess that reveals a truth about our life style. Given enough time and patience, we could of course navigate anywhere the explorers went. They had no engines, electric lights, or refrigeration systems. But we would choose to be towed instead. Our lust for our conveniences overwhelms ancient skills and perseverance. I know many of our land-based friends think us to be very primitive and adventuresome to live the life we do. That's true in one sense, but it is also true that we're still much more pampered and spoiled than ancient sailors were.

p.s. We'll stay in the Fernandina area until new motor mounts are installed. By the way, those mounts were only two years old and the second set of motor mounts since we installed the new engine four years ago. What should the normal life of marine engine mounts be? Two years sounds short. However, we put 2,000 hours on our engine in two years. That's 5 times the hours per year than typical boat engines experience.

Southward

2011-10-23T11:53:00.000-04:00

At Sea
32 00.01 N 080 12.34 W

Well, the creatures showed up yesterday after posting my blog. I saw a dolphin.

Soon after a goldfinch came hopping into the cockpit. Several times before we have had land birds land on the boat when we're out to sea. In our first year sailing, a little bird we called Birdie Num Num rode with us from New Jersey to Virginia. The implications are sad. Every day there must be numerous land birds who accidentally fly out to sea and get lost. If they don't know how to fly back to land, they'll die. Finding a boat at sea is a refuge and can be a life saver. The goldfinch stayed with us overnight, but we have not seen him this morning. Fare thee well goldfinch.

But this morning we also picked up a gorgeous moth as a hitchhiker. I presume he has the same problem as the birds. Hopefully, he'll stay until we get close to land.

Our AIS is working well. There were several ships coming in and out of Charleston as we passed by last night. Using the AIS I was able to track each and to determine that they were no threat to us. The peace of mind AIS gives is is much appreciated. It would be better still to transmit our own AIS info, but one small step at a time.

We made 120 miles in our first 24 hours. If that keeps up, we'll arrive early Monday morning. Unfortunately, ebb tide at St. Mary's inlet is 0730-1330. Hmm, can we hurry? Should we delay? The answer is neither. Winds are highly variable. We'll take what we get and decide on when to enter the inlet when we're within a couple of miles.

The Lonely Sea

2011-10-22T14:30:00.001-04:00

At Sea
33 25.01 N 078 53.48 w

Ah it feels good to be out here again. We like the sea, albeit in small doses and when the weather is nice. It is sunny day, but a little chilly. Tonight should be spectacular, very clear, very dry and very cold. That's OK, we'll put on long johns and several layers so we'll be comfortable.

There's a meteor shower going on but I neglected to look up which direction to look before leaving. Oh well.

A power boat just zoomed past us 100 feet away. Other than that, we're totally alone out here. No ship, no dolphins, no whales, no traffic, no radio calls. No radio? You know there must be something wrong with our VHF. We should be picking up radio traffic from the ICW which is less than 20 miles away. Coming down from NYC to Norfolk we also had trouble receiving VHF, but not transmitting. We get strong signals, like NOAA weather radio, but not weaker ones. I'll have to look into that; not sure what the problem could be.

Just because we don't see fish doesn't mean they're not here. I was watching some nearby terns. They were having a grand time diving on the surface to snatch something to eat.

By the way, I saw a scene this morning I wish I could have caught on film. As we left Little River Inlet around 0700, a little aluminum boat was coming in. In it were a couple about as old as we were. Between them was a net bulging with fish. I guess 300-500 pounds of fish. It was a big catch. The fish were all small, 305 inches long. I don't know what one would do with them other than make a grand fish stew. There are famous seafood restaurants near there, perhaps they sell the fish to them. Anyhow, the boat, the fish, the net, the couple, the light and the morning mist would have made a grand photograph if only I had a high quality camera at hand. Perhaps even a fine camera would not be enough; a rocking sailboat is far from a stable platform for taking great pictures. If I was artistically talented, I could paint a picture from memory. Alas, my art never progressed beyond stick figures.

Ready, Set, ...

2011-10-21T17:09:00.000-04:00

Little River Inlet, Calabash, SC
33 51.50 N 0778 34.16 W

Whew, we finally escaped from Carolina Beach. Our original intent was to stay there 1.5 days; enough to have dinner with Tom & Kathy, plus time to explore the nature trails. It became 4 days because of weather and it started to get boring. Yesterday, it was really nasty out on the river. A really strong wind opposed the tide and whipped the water into a froth. The humid wind was bitterly cold. Nobody in the marina wanted to leave, including us.

Today, was nice. Highs about 75F and low 45F. It will be like that the next three days at sea. Light following winds, following seas, and almost warm during the day. Night watches out in that open cockpit will be very cold. However, we hope that each night will get warmer as we move south. 250 miles to go to the Saint Mary's River Inlet, estimated time 48-60 hours. We leave at first light tomorrow racing a falling tide.

Congratulations to Mabrouk and all our Lybian friends. Weeks ago, I asked Mabrouk if he was happy at the success of the revolution. His grim reply was, "He's still alive." For many Lybians it was more than a governmental revolution, it was a violent and just end for a hated cruel dictator. I think the Lybian people were entitled to it.

Too Good To Be True?

2011-10-20T09:10:00.000-04:00

Carolina Beach State Park
34 03.03 N 077 55.14 W

Last year, one of our friends sold their W32 for $70,000. It was a very nice boat, but in our (unbiased) opinion, not as nice as Tarwathie. Today, I got word of another nice W32 that sounds very good but for only $4,000. There must be a reason, but I admit to being puzzled. The details follow.

Note I have no interest in that boat, or the broker, nor do I recommend anything. I'm posting it because it is curious. From here.

32' WESTSAIL

Click on image to enlarge

Year: 1977
Current Price: US$ 54,000
Located in Deltaville, VA
Hull Material: Fiberglass
Engine/Fuel Type: Single diesel
YW# 6944-2287099

Photo Gallery Full Specification E-mail Us About This Yacht

Other photos: Westsail 32 - Salon, Westsail 32 - Galley, Westsail 32 - Custome galley storage, Westsail 32 - Chart Table, Westsail 32 - Quarterberth, Westsail 32 - Salon, starboard, Westsail 32 - Salon, port, Westsail 32 - Port Bulkhead in Salon, Westsail 32 - Pullman berth, Westsail 32 - Head, Westsail 32 - Storage in forepeak, Westsail 32 - Looking aft, Westsail 32 - Engine, Westsail 32 - Deck Layout, Westsail 32 - Cockpit with awnings over, Westsail 32 - Deck from bowsprit, Westsail 32 - Granny bars & staysail track,Westsail 32 - Stern platform w/ equipment, Westsail 32 - On the hard, stern view.

FURTHER PRICE REDUCTION - AUGUST 2011! OWNERS WANT TO SEE 'RELIANT' BACK ON THE WATER WITH A NEW CREW. BRING OFFERS ON THIS IMMACULATE WESTSAIL!
"Reliant" has had two owners. The first owner bought the boat as a hull, deck and bulkheads (#694) and crafted the interior. He was a master woodworker and used the highest quality materials, including Atkins and Hoyle bronze hatches. He fabricated every door, drawer & trim piece out of a variety of woods such as Canadian White Pine, Ebony, Teak, Black Walnut & Goncales Alves for the cabin sole. He even fabricated some of the hinges. The interior bulkheads are finished in white which makes the boat light down below and offsets the beautiful wood of the cabinet doors, headliner and cabin soles. This makes a nice change from the dark wood look that characterises many Westsail interiors. The boat has travelled down the East Coast of the USA to the Bahamas, but has spent most of her life in the fresh water of the Great Lakes. The current owners acquired the boat in 2000. They have continued to upgrade ‘Reliant’, installing more modern electronics, replacing the stove, head & cushion covers as well as purchasing North tanbark sails, installing a Cape Horn wind vane and installing a new Yanmar engine in 2004 (currently showing 601 hrs). They built a removable cockpit floor to give easy access to the engine compartment – what a bonus! The systems are simple and the boat is in superb condition, no expense has been spared to keep her looking good. She is ready to go South or just to go sailing. If you are looking for a classic Westsail 32 in Bristol condition, come and take a look at Reliant: she is gorgeous.The owner is a motivated seller because he believes the right place for aboat is on the water, being used, and he currently does not have the time to use "Reliant".

Hi, I am Jonathan Hutchings, the listing broker for this yacht. I am a Certified Professional Yacht Broker (CPYB) and take pride in listing quality yachts. I inspect all the boats I list, where possible take all the photos and represent the boats as accurately as possible. I am an experienced cruiser and racer who has crossed the Atlantic several times and who understands boat buyer's needs. Feel free to call me at any time to discuss this listing. I look forward to hearing from you. Call my cell (804)436 4484.

Contact:
Jonathan Hutchings (CPYB)
Annapolis Yacht Sales South in Deltaville, VA
jonathan@annapolisyachtsales.com
(804) 776 7575
(804) 436 4484

Beauty in Variety

2011-10-19T18:25:00.000-04:00

Carolina Beach State Park
34 03.03 N 077 55.14 W

The nature here is very beautiful and varied. Down at the river bank are barrier dunes and sea grasses. Behind those are salt marshes. Only one half mile inland are strictly fresh water cyprus swamps. In between are a half dozen other ecologies.

Even the river water is a mixed environment. We are about 10 miles from the sea. Powerful outflow currents exist, but also powerful tides come in. As a guess, I would say that the water here is fresh 1/3 of the time, brackish 1/3 and salt 1/3. Only highly adaptive species survive here but the ones that do are especially robust and prolific.

One mile behind us is Carolina Beach and the Atlantic Ocean.

capefearnative.com

Long-leaf Pines, Reindeer Moss, small Live Oaks dpughphoto.com

http://www.carolinabeachtoday.com

en.wikipedia.org

Pitcher plant en.wikipedia.org

wildernet.com

p.s. On a completely different subject. I reserved a couple of easier to remember URLs for this blog bit.ly/tarwathie and bit.ly/dickandlibby

Murphy's Law Is Recursive

2011-10-19T09:40:00.000-04:00

Carolina Beach State Park
34 03.03 N 077 55.14 W

You all know Murphy's Law; right?

If anything can go wrong, it will. And at the worst possible time.

Well, back in my engineering days I was fond of saying that Murphy's law is recursive. In other words, it applies to Murphy too. Whenever you are certain that you know things will go bad because Murphy predicts it; you get surprised and they go right. I have three cases in point from recent days.

One thing we have not fared well with in 6.5 years of cruising is house batteries. We bought so many batteries, I can't count. They failed left and right. Most recent was a battery that died from a cracked plate. Such a demise is abrupt and easy to diagnose, that battery will not make 12 volts any more. If run in a parallel bank with other batteries, it pulls down the voltage of the whole bank. Well, the other day in Wrightsville Beach, I thought it happened again. Within minutes after shutting off the engine after a full day motoring, the bank voltage dropped to 12.10 volts. Uh oh. Sure sounds like another bad battery.

Monday I had an idea. Maybe we could buy a new battery locally and have it delivered to us here a thte state park. I got my tools and volt meter and set out to make sure both batteries had adequate water and to figure out which was bad. To my surprise, just as I removed the battery box tops, the bank sprang back to life. It wasn't a bad battery after all, it was a lose wing nut on one of the terminals. Got you that time Murphy.

Tuesday I set out to fix another problem. Regular readers know that in recent weeks I removed the water tanks twice in a futile search for a leak. Before putting them back I re-plumbed them with new hoses and clamps. That's a lot of work. Alas, Libby discovered that all our water use was coming from one tank, the second tanks was not participating despite the fact that both valves were open. Darn, I thought. I'll have to take them out a third time to find where I screwed up.

When I lifted the floor to do that I instantly spotted the real problem One of the hoses was bent too sharply and formed a kink. That only took 10 minutes to remedy. No removal of tanks was needed. Got you again Murphy.

Today, we were supposed to leave this place and continue south. We already sampled the pleasures this place has to offer. However, the weather forecast was grim. Very heavy rain, severe thunderstorms and headwinds up to 30 mph. Also, we would have had to leave early at first light to catch the tide. I got up at 6AM, and yes it was raining heavily. I decided we would stay another day. At 8AM I went up to the office to pay for another day. I lingered in there 15 minutes listening to local history stories from the two rangers. When I stepped back out, the rain had stopped, the sky was blue and there is no adverse wind. Murphy got me.

p.s. We're still hoping to get out to sea on Saturday. However, yesterday's forecast showed that we had an 80 hour window. In this morning's forecast, the window shrank to 40 hours and Saturday is still 3 days away. Keep your fingers crossed and don't think about Murphy.

Happy Campers

2011-10-18T08:16:00.000-04:00

Carolina Beach State Park
34 03.03 N 077 55.14 W

One of the delights about USA East Coast Cruising is that there are so many places to see. No matter how many years we keep at it, we discover some new ones each year. This time it is Carolina Beach State Park on the banks of the Cape Fear River.

Many times before, we passed by this spot on the banks of the Cape Fear River. We always knew that there was a park here with a marina. However, we were warned of shallow waters at the entrance and we were afraid of going aground. Then, we heard a notice that the park would be closed for several years for renovation and dredging. Now for the first time we were able to come in to the park for an overnight. Bonus: it costs only $30/day to stay here; half the cost of a regular marina. Bonus: Al the facilities are brand new, hardly used, and very nice. Bonus: On a weekday we had almost the whole place to ourselves. See the picture below.

What a delight! The park is full of nature trails. It was fun to walk around. Bonus! See the picture below. I found a stand of pine trees with the longest needles we've ever seen. Libby is a happy camper.

Another bonus. This place is very close to the winter home of our long time friends Tom and Kathy from Schenectady. We have many mutual connections, and we tried to meet as we passed by this way, but the last time we succeeded was 5 years ago. Last night we made up for that. Kathy & Tom invited us to their new house for dinner. We had a wonderful time. Thank you much Tom & Kathy.

Now what? We are killing time. A promising weather window appears to be forming starting Saturday afternoon. We'll spend another night here at the park, then continue on Wednesday. On the other hand, Tom said that the weather Wednesday is supposed to be terrible with very heavy rain. If that's the case, we'll just stay here another day and leave Thursday. We could go out to sea on Saturday from Little River Inlet near Calabash, SC. With favorable winds we could be in Florida 48 hours after that. We would like to spend a day or two on Cumberland Island, then move on to Fernandina Beach.

E-wasting Disease

2011-10-17T06:01:00.002-04:00

Wrightsville Beach, NC

Reader Randy asked me to write about electronics problem on board. Glad to. We've seen a lot of it.

I call it e-wasting disease. Consumer electronics especially have a short lifetime. They seem to die from electrical contacts failing to contact. In my opinion that is because of corrosion on the contact surface. Remember that today's electronics are very small and delicate. That's part of miniaturization. Part of the problem is that contact surfaces are plated with noble metal only only one thousandth of an inch thin. Right now my Droid and our digital camera have e-wasting disease. Both are less than 2 years old.

The other part of the problem is the salt air environment. On a boat surrounded by salt water, there is always salt in the air. Usually, you can't see it or feel it, but it's there. The salt coats everything, and microscopic salt crystals find their way into tiny enclosed spaces. Salt is hygroscopic -- i.e. salt attracts water. Salt coated surfaces are perpetually moist. The salt pulls water out of moist air. Moist salty solutions on the surface of contacts cause rapid corrosion, and thus e-wasting disease.

It was never so evident as when we sailed across the Gulf of Mexico and back. Everything inside and outside the boat was salt encrusted. All our clean clothes in the drawers became salt encrusted. When you put on clean clothes, they felt wet and they stayed wet 100% of the time. It was uncomfortable. Salt also got in to all sliding metal-metal joints such as bearings. They seized up and forced me to take them apart, clean them, and re-grease them. That was the worst and most obvious, but even outside the Gulf of Mexico, the same problem exists albeit not so severe.

None of the electronics on board specifically designed for marine use have failed from e-wasting disease. Our SSB radio, AM/FM radio, pactor modem, wind instruments, GPS, radar, and VHF radios all seem immune. The difference is in the selection of metals and the size, shape and thickness of electrical contacts. Seaworthy devices cost much more than normal consumer electronics. There's a reason.

So, what can we do about it? First and foremost, I buy cheap. I figure that consumer electronics on board have a lifetime of only one year. Anything better than a year and I'm ahead of the game. Expensive brands do not last longer, so I don't buy them. That's especially true for computers. I paid $275 for my current Samsung netbook. I paid an additional $250 for a 3 year extended warranty. Perhaps more seaworthy would be the Panasonic Toughbook, but it that costs 600% more!!! It's not worth that much. Buy cheap and don't weep when things fail. Because of technical obsolescence it's nice to replace stuff frequently anyhow. I face that with my Droid right now -- should I spend $50 with my insurance plan to get a reconditioned Droid, or should I go for a new more modern phone? Ditto with the camera.

I might opt for $300 a ruggedized Olympus or Panasonic camera, bI'm a bit skeptical. Waterproof items are not necessarily e-wasting disease proof.

Randy asked about packing things with desiccants like silica gel. I've never tried it. However, if the item will be unpacked for use every day, then I doubt if it would do any good.

Another boat hazard is EMP (electro-magnetic-pulse). EMP is caused by nearby nuclear explosions. Hopefully we won't encounter those, and if we do EMP will be the least of our problems. EMP is also caused by nearby lightning strikes. Aha! We do encounter that.

Once in New Hampshire our mast got a lightning hit (or maybe a near hit.) The current was conducted down the mast, through the grounding wire to a Dynaplate grounding device on the bottom of the hull. Nothing got burned or melted, but the EMP destroyed the SSB, radar and wind instruments. The repair bill was $8000. The insurance adjuster said that was modest -- $25,000 claims for EMP damage on sailboats is common. The lightning doesn't even have to hit your boat to get EMP damage; it can hit a nearby boat and still damage your stuff.

Besides our grounding system we protect things from lightning by putting them in the oven when cloud-to-ground lightning is near. We can fit the laptop, phones, GPS, and hand-held radio in there. It would be nice to have room for the radar, SSB, chart plotter and more but they are far too large.

If you don't have an oven, I recommend cookie tins as a Faraday Cage-- like the round tin cans that Christmas cookies come in. Some experts pooh-pooh that idea, but I think they will provide a decent measure of EMP protection. When no lightning is around, you can store other things in the tins.

One more thing regarding lightning. Experts are divided on whether grounding the mast protects you or not. The real life results of lightning hits are diverse and highly unpredictable, hence many conflicting (yet true) anecdotes. If you do ground the mast like we do, be sure to route the ground wire inside a plastic electrical conduit where it passes through the cabin. Without the conduit, when the wire vaporizes, it can fling molten copper in every direction. Surely you don't want to be in a confined space with naked copper wire.

Bellyache

2011-10-16T09:59:00.001-04:00

Enroute ICW, Surf City NC
34 28.80 N 077 28.99 W

A great advantage to writing your own blog is that your can air your pet peeves without contradiction. Today, I'm going to indulge.

The waterway is not a superhighway. It is not a highway at all. People who drive their boats as they do their cars on the highway are a menace.

The other day, coming into Beaufort, two sailboats and a megayacht came up behind us. Megayacht? Yes, it was maybe 80 feet long and according to our AIS, even its dinghy towed behind was equipped with it's own AIS transmitter. That's right. We saw both the vessel Twilight and the vessel T/T Twilight on the AIS about 50 feet apart.

Anyhow, as I approached a bend in the channel they all caught up with me. Twilight got on the VHF and asked for permission to pass, very professionally. I said, "Come ahead Captain on my port side. I'll slow down for you." But I looked behind and the first of the sailboats was less than one boat length behind my stern, and the second sailboat a boat length behind the second boat's stern. I called on the VHF; "Sailboat on my stern, I'm going to slow down." No response; I dared not slow. He probably didn't listen to the radio. So what happened. Both sailboats pulled out to pass on my port simultaneously with Twilight passing. Twilight was forced to the extreme port side and Tarwathie forced to the extreme starboard.

Even though the channel may be as wide as a three lane highway, it isn't It is more like a one lane highway with wide shoulders. The shoulders may or may not be dredged to minimum depth. The overtaking boat has the burden. The overtaken boat has the privilege of maintaining course and speed right down the middle. It is a courtesy to ask the overtaken boat to move to the side and/or slow down.

What did those sailboats do wrong? In chronological order: 1) They should have anticipated Twilight would pass, and hung back. 2) They should never have planned to pass exactly on a bend. 3) They should have listened to Twilight on the radio. 4) They should not have tailgated me or each other. 5) They should have listened to me on the radio and acknowledged. 6) They should not have passed me while Twilight was already passing. That's an awful lot of errors in 90 seconds.
On two occasions yesterday sailboats passed us as we were passing under a 65 foot bridge. That's an absolute no no. When passing under a bridge you are likely to encounter sudden, strong, unexpected gusts of wind or bursts of cross currents. You must be at highest vigilance and ready to correct course deviations. To pass another boat at that time is lunacy. Even meeting a boat coming the other way under a ridge is something to avoid if possible.
Approaching the inlet near Swansboro, the waters were mobbed by small boats. Most of them were anchored and fishing. There were hundreds of them. Other boats were in a big hurry to get out to sea via the inlet or in a hurry to get to some other fishing spot. They zoomed past at speeds between 30 and 65 miles per hour, weaving in an out among boats. Libby and I were horrified. That's much too fast for congested conditions. Fatal accidents are likely.

Also, even though high speed boats make very little wake, that does not mean that they should come as close as 3 feet to other boats. Good grief. That close at that speed even a sneeze can lead to a collision.

The USCG rules of the road are not explicit on any of those things. I think boater education should cover such common sense rules that go beyond the law. After all, the inexperienced boater violating those rules is most likely to injure himself or his boat first.

Thanks for the opportunity to vent.

p.s. We sat out the nice balmy weather at Oriental. Now, we're facing a whole week of adverse winds, while motoring down the ICW. Libby is disappointed to say the least. She wants to be out at sea. The first opportunity appears to be next Saturday, the 22nd. Meanwhile we're poking along. Mile Hammock last night. Wrightsville Beach tonight. We're going to try to get in to Carolina Beach State Park Monday night. Never been there.

The Rainbow Pic

2011-10-14T05:44:00.004-04:00

Oriental Public Dock
35 01.49 N 076 41.73 W

Is is worth it to bring Tarwathie on a 4000 mile round trip to Lake Champlain every year? Was it worth the trouble and expense to put the mast up? Yes yes yes, thousand times yes. Sometimes, it only takes one magic moment to make everything worthwhile. So was the case August 22, on Lake Champlain in Shelburne Bay. The picture of Tarwathie below is not faked or retouched in any way.

Click on the image to see it full screen and uncropped. Look closely at the upper right and you can see a second rainbow. The wide angle lens was not wide enough to capture the 2nd of the double rainbow. It really was a magic moment.

You can download a high resolution copy of the picture here. It was taken by, Brian McPhee
bmphoto@videotron.ca; a professional photographer. He just happened to be anchored near us that evening and in a perfect place to make the shot. Professional photographers can be prickly if their work is misued. Brian gave permission to post it to my blog.

Hurry - go, No hurry -stop

2011-10-13T08:09:00.000-04:00

Oriental Public Dock
35 01.49 N 076 41.73 W

Yesterday, George and Carol from Traumeri drove down from New Bern to say hello. We all went out for pizza. Oriental is a fun place.

It was our plan to leave this morning, heading for a weather window starting Sunday to go out to sea from Cape Fear. Well, this morning when I got up, I rechecked the weather first thing. The supposed window on Sunday vanished. Now the earliest possible window is a week from today. So, we changed plans. We'll stay here one more day. I'll wave to the web cam.

That is a recurring pattern in our migrations. We hope for a window. When it doesn't come, we stay on the ICW and motor. After a while, we begin to get frustrated; longing for the open sea. Oh well, such is the life of the East Coastal Cruiser.

I have a mission today. Al, the previous owner of Tarwathie, has a new boat, Maylay, that is up on the hard here in Oriental. He asked me to check her out. However, he can't remember which boat yard it is in. I'll visit them all until I find the right one.

By the way, Libby and I got our morning belly laugh from this article. Read it out loud to your partner, you'll love it.

My Droid is misbehaving. First it was the on/off switch, now it is the touch screen. I think it has salt air disease. (Most consumer electronics on board suffer that fate.) I pay the insurance fee for all hazards, but to invoke that, I have to have a new phone sent to a snail mail address. What address to use when we're on the road? I have a good candidate in Fernandina Beach, FL. However how long will it take us to get there? One to three weeks. That's not precise enough for the insurance company. When they send out a new phone, I only have a few days to return the broken one or else they charge me $500.

Snail mail is one of the most vexing problems when living a nomadic life. It was much better in Sweden in the 80s. There, any ordinary letter mailed today, would reliably get to the destination anywhere in the country the next morning. All mail was express mail. I don't know if they still maintain that today. It was nice.

Whole Again

2011-10-12T14:39:00.000-04:00

Oriental Public Docks
35 01.49 076 41`.73 W

See us on the Oriental Harborcam. Until Thursday morning.

Well, it's been a busy few days. We had a great time with Dave & Cathy. They like to spoil their guests and we didn't object.

Dave drove us back to Hancock Creek Monday evening. Soon after he left to drive home I realized that our bag containing computers, wires, batteries, phones, and cords of all kinds was left in David's trunk. Oh no! Could I live with no Internet for 24 hours? It was hard but I did it. Dave mailed the bag to general delivery Oriental, and I picked it up this morning.

Also this morning we left Hancock Creek Marina. Jeff & Wendy and all the other people there were great. We said it before and we'll say it again -- North Carolinian hospitality is the best.

I also got a delivery from Beta Marine with new air cleaners at Oriental. That's been on the list for a while. Auto parts stores were unable to find an equivalent size.

Good news -- The Provision Company is back! Since 2005, The Provision Company in Oriental has been our favorite alternative to West Marine for all things marine. Last spring it closed, apparently out of business. Today, it's back -- apparently with new owners. I bought a new bilge pump and float switch.

Another thing on my list since Irene has been the fact that our automatic bilge pump was broken. (We have an emergency electric bilge pump and a manual bilge pump as backups.) The emergency bilge pump lowers the water barely below the floor level under the fresh water tanks. I now think that was the cause of constant wet under the water tanks. I removed and replumbed one tank at the DSC Welcome Center, and the other tank at Hancock Marina. Neither of those stopped the leak. Now I believe that was unnecessary. However, it wan't wasted. The tanks needed cleaning and the plumbing needed renewal anyhow.

I'm unhappy with our old bilge pump (see the picture above). It was a fancy kind that has a built-in electronic water level sensor that should be immune to contamination and debris. It was only two years old. The sensor failed, causing the pump to run constantly which in turn caused the pump motor to fail. Never again. The KISS principle applies. A mercury float switch is simple. I'll stick with those.

By the way, my latest theory about our leak is that it is the shaft log. Yesterday I took everything apart to make a visual inspection of that area. The floor was wet back there. I suspected the hose clamps, but no -- they were find. I wiped up all the wetness and moments later some drops appeared from the shaft log. Aha! Fixing it, is something else. I can't tighten the lower bolt without removing the propeller shaft, and I can't re-seat the log while the boat is in the water. Sounds like we'll have to live with that leak until the next time we're on the hard. It's only a gallon a day. It doesn't threaten us unless we were to leave the boat unattended for a week or more.

No computer

2011-10-11T17:42:00.001-04:00

Blog more later

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.7

Different things.

2011-10-10T10:29:00.000-04:00

Zebulon, NC

Yesterday Dave and I did something we've never done before. We built a new PC from components. We had parts and advice from my grandson Bobby. Guess what -- it worked first time when we turned it on! That is despite the fact that we had lots of leftover parts, and leftover wires that didn't plug into anything. Then Dave installed Windows 7, piece of cake. Then we plugged in a network cable -- bingo we were online. I installed Google chrome and AVG antivirus. We're in business.

Hats off to Bobby for the encouragement and good advice.

Dave's real objective with this PC is to dedicate it as a games machine. Somehow I doubt that. It will get used for lots more than games.

Doing all that is easier and cheaper than I imagined. If I were a landlubber today I would set up my own dedicated games PC with 3-5 video monitors and run the flight simulator programs.

Something else new. blogger.com now offers many ways to format and to browse this blog. Some of them look very useful and very attractive to read on a large monitor. However, I think regular readers are used to the way it looks and feels today so I'm reluctant to change. What a shame they don't offer the option for each reader (as opposed to each blog author) to choose the look and feel.

Libby's Latest

2011-10-09T09:28:00.000-04:00

Zebulon, North Carolina

Below is Libby's latest. This one is decorated with walnut slices. She made it as a house gift for Cathy and Dave.

Hospitality

2011-10-07T10:01:00.000-04:00

Cherry Point MCAS

We remarked several times before how hospitable the people of North Carolina are. Noplace is is more evident than here at Hancock Yacht Club. We come here foremost to visit with our friends Jeff and Wendy on the W32 Calypso. However, once we get here all the other people at the club are wonderfully friendly and welcoming.

The club is on the property of the Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station. It can be noisy. We're near the end of the runway so low-flying military planes are passing over all the time. Also, at times we hear the boom boom of artillery and explosive training.

They have a tradition of meeting at the yacht club tiki bar every day at 1630. That's very nice, at least on warm days. But even on cool days they bundle themselves up in extra layers of clothes and sit there on the waterfront.

The marina suffered damage and sunk one boat during Hurricane Irene, as did almost everyone along the Neuse River. Where Tarwathie is tied up, the pilings stick 8 feet above the water. The piling next to us has scrapings of a sailboats bottom paint on the top of the piling. Imagine what it must have looked like out here when that happened.

Saturday/Sunday we'll be in Zebulon with Dave & Cathy. :) Probably no blogs those days.

Amazing Story

2011-10-06T08:26:00.001-04:00

Oriental, NC

We spent the night at Oriental. (Sorry, we're not visible on the web cam.) Lots of Hurricane Irene damage here.

I very seldom repost news stories on this blog. Today, I found a story so astounding, I'm making an exception. See below from The Navy Times.

Fishing crew details mistaken attack by DDG

By Sam Fellman - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Oct 4, 2011 9:57:30 EDT

Fisherman Jimmie Eady was packing the afternoon’s catch of red grouper and triggerfish into the hold of his 35-foot-long boat on Aug. 17 when he heard the first round hit.

It landed with a thunderclap in the Atlantic Ocean about 75 feet from Zig-Zag, Eady’s commercial fishing boat, which had been fishing roughly 48 miles off the North Carolina coast. The round kicked up a splash large enough to soak Zig-Zag’s deck and canopy. The impact jarred the boat.

Then, moments later, came another roar. This one splashed closer. And another.

The hits encircled the boat, raising a shroud of spray. After a momentary shock, Eady and his two crew members realized they were being bombarded by the deck gun of one of the Navy warships about eight miles away.

“Cease fire! Cease fire!” Eady shouted into his VHF radio as more 5-inch gun rounds pounded the water. “You’re gonna kill us!”

A round landed 20 feet off the bow, Eady recalled, right as the warships began to repeat “cease fire” on bridge-to-bridge channel 16. The gun fell silent. Fourteen inert rounds had been fired. Zig-Zag wasn’t damaged and no one was hurt — the immediate aftermath was “just some shook-up fishermen,” Eady later recounted. The 49-year-old fisherman pulled up the anchor and gunned the motor, steering away from the warships.

Eady and his crew had become the inadvertent target of the destroyer The Sullivans, which was conducting a gunnery exercise against what it thought was a towed target in the Cherry Point Operating Area off North Carolina. After an investigation into the incident, the destroyer’s commanding officer was fired Sept. 7 — which was to be the ship’s deployment date — and the ship was ordered to recertify under a new CO. The new requirement delayed the ship’s deployment, forcing the Navy to extend the deployment of the cruiser Monterey, a ballistic-missile defense ship in 6th Fleet that has already been deployed for six months.

Easy LIfe or Hard Life?

2011-10-04T12:51:00.001-04:00

Ocracoke Coffee Company
35 06.73 N 075 58.61 W

Yesterday I went to the beach on my bicycle. I've never been there before. What a great beach! It looks much like the beach at Cumberland Island. It is about 16 miles long, nice sand, backed by a barrier dune, and populated by lots of birds and shells. The water was pretty warm too. We are really close to the Gulf Stream here.

I think I'll go back to the beach again this afternoon.

This morning I worked on a stack of three electrical problems that needed repair. My list of projects never hits bottom. On the other hand, I never give up. On the average, I think the backlog of projects waiting attention stays about constant.

I also found that our engine air filter was very dirty. I never checked it before. I figured (incorrectly it seems) that there was no source for dust in that engine compartment so the filter would never get dirty. Wrong. There's no place on Ocracoke to buy a new one so it will have to wait a few days.

Libby found a roadside taco stand called Eduardo's. She bought two burritos for supper last night. They were huge. We got two meals out of each.

Tonight we have a Balderdash tournament arranged. We have a pretty cosmopolitan Eagroup too. Ourselves, a couple from Prince Edward Island Canada, and a third couple from The Cayman Islands. The Cayman Islanders came here in a little motor boat that doesn't look at all like a cruising vessel. They are intrepid though. They watched carefully for a weather window and made the ocean passage from Cayman to Cuba, then they did it again from Cuba to the Florida Keys. After that it has been ICW all the way. Cool.

So, I did three hours work in two days and here I am complaining about how hard life is.

p.s. The fresh water leak I repaired last week is diminished but still leaking. It leaks about a gallon per day. Sigh, I'll have to remove, inspect and re-plumb the after tank. That's a lot harder than the forward tank.

Web Cam

2011-10-03T12:31:00.000-04:00

See us front and center on the Silver Lake webcam