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Published: January 10th 2011
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Moorise in St Marys
From our mooring as we are preparing to leave ion the winter cruise. GETTING STARTED
After a longish interruption in cruising there are always false starts and gremlins to deal with as you cast off on a new trip. This year was no exception! We needed to haul out for new bottom paint and to check all the through-hulls and zincs. We asked the boat yard if it was better for them before or after Thanksgiving. They get a lot of traffic in the fall and with the Thanksgiving cruisers coming through they opted for after Turkey Day. Since our Christmas guests wouldn’t start arriving until mid-December we had “lots of time” for the short haul we envisioned. Of course then Georgia and Florida experienced one of those rare frigid periods when yard work becomes impossible. Not only do the crew freeze, but bottom paint and wax cannot be applied. We didn’t launch until December 28 but were pleased that everything worked and the launch was flawless. Until the next day.
First one of the through hulls decided to leak. Odd, but it turned out to be a minor tightening job. Then a much bigger problem loomed when Christian called to say all the transmission oil was in the bilge and
Carter Provisioning
Carter wants to help with provisioning. it looked like the transmission had come apart! Wow! We had backed out of the lift and motored several miles to our mooring flawlessly and the transmission was loose and coming apart?? We had no idea if this was major or minor but the departure brakes were on hard. Turned out after a full inspection that the “lock nut” that holds all the parts together had come unlocked, so things WERE precarious. We reused the rear seal and found an O-ring locally but really felt we needed a replacement seal before heading off shore. If the seal fails your transmission can fail too and that is a bad day. Since it was the holiday season getting that part took four days instead of one but we were confident we could leave AND the weather looked good for an off shore run.
Then there was the provisioning. We had agreed to load lightly as we will be stopping back in Georgia after the Bahamas and before we head to Maine and Canada so we don’t need a year’s worth of stuff on board. We loaded and stowed a lot right in the yard but then had a period of time
Bisous and Carter on Setee
At first they were sleeping nicely apart. where Mary was at the house emptying cupboards for the renters and Christian was hauling to the boat. He began to complain that there was too much stuff but he always says that. Mary stows and he can’t believe there is room enough each time. When I (Mary) arrived at the boat the day before our “new” departure date I quickly realized we had too much stuff. We decided to leave the cats at the house one more day, sleep on board without them and sort it out. Thank goodness the renters were not moving in for January 1st as we had to off load several baskets and crates of things. Now of course the “stow log” where I can search to find everything we have stowed on board is wrong as things were removed and rearranged quickly. Sigh.
Turns out leaving the kitties alone in their house with most of the usual things missing is as stressful as moving them so move aboard day was not smooth. Departure day arrived, but even with meds the kitties were stressed, and Christian was exhausted. We usually welcome an off shore run so we can rest up as it takes less
Bisous and Carter in Basket
Bisous wants in the basket too. moment to moment concentration than motoring in a narrow channel along the Intracoastal Coastal Waterway (ICW). When we tested the autopilot and it was not working right that put the kibosh on and outside run. Steering 24 hours a day is more fatiguing that steering 8 hours a day!
We headed to Pine Island with the plan to adjust the autopilot, get some rest, allow the kitties to acclimate a bit and head out St Augustine’s inlet for south Florida. It almost worked. Took Christian 8 hours of “upside down in the bilge” to isolate and fix the autopilot problem (corrosion in the rudder feedback) and the 5pm weather looked good for an off shore run the next day. We timed our exit from St Augustine so the brisk sailing wind we expected from the West would not be against the incoming tide causing rough or even dangerous conditions in the inlet. That called for leaving the anchorage not before 9 am. At 5 am I was making a last check on weather (you check regularly for several days before an off shore to get a good feel for the trends) and when Christian heard the groans and “Oh MAN” comments I was emitting he knew there would be a change in plans. Overnight a trough deepened and our sailing wind (West 15-20 knots) became GALE force (35 knots) with much steeper seas . Three second intervals between waves replaced 6-7 seconds. Not acceptable. While I Wanda is more than capable of handling gale and storm force winds and seas and her crew too, we do not volunteer to go out when you can expect those conditions.
So we are motoring and motor sailing on the inside expecting that we will head out Ft Pierce in a few days. This allows us to try and see Christian’s cousin in Cocoa and Mary’s cousin and some of long time cruising buddies in Vero Beach. The kitties are fine, we are both well rested and cheerful… and the sun is shining. Not a bad start, really.
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Roni Burns
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Glad to be on your blog. By just clicking onto the blog.... I am officially on... right ? If I want Bob Jr and Chris to see it what do I do ? Of course love the kitty pics too.