by Judy Handley | Feb 20, 2016 | Sailing Logs Year 11 |
Day 121, Year 11: Day Two, Passage to Little River—Water Pirates
Date: Saturday, February 20, 2016
Weather: Overcast, Hi 70’s, Low 50’s, Wind Variable 5, Seas 3-5
Latitude: 27 52.715 N
Longitude: 080 22.037 W
Location: Motoring Along Florida’s E Coast–Off Sebastian Inlet
Total Miles Traveled: 79 nautical miles (5:30 pm)
We were on a roll this morning. Kevin was in the water by 7:45 am to check out the prop. He quickly came back up and reported that growth on the prop was not our problem. It was actually pretty clean, so the overheating issue is probably a problem with a heat exchanger. Checking that out will have to happen later. For now we’ll just not push the RPMs and hope that we will be fine. As soon as Wonder Boy (new name replacing Kevin’s ‘angel’ status) was out of the water, he and Mark were in the dinghy and headed to shore to get water. They were so fast that I still hadn’t had a chance to eat all of my granola. They explained that they were able to go right into the marina into an empty slip and get water before anyone knew they were there. Kevin was singing a little ditty about being a water pirate. Pirates or not, I was most grateful for the water. Our water jerry jugs were purchased in St. Helena and hold 25 litres and hold almost 7 gallons when absolutely full (versus US jugs that hold 5 gallons). They put the 14 gallons of water in the empty port tank and poured the 3 gallons they brought back in a bucket in our compromised starboard tank. This is the water tank that Mark mistakenly poured a small amount of diesel fuel in last spring before realizing his mistake. We have cleaned it and cleaned it, but have been afraid to use it for anything but washing dishes. We decided last night that we were going to have to change our minds and use it in this situation. But with good water in the port tank, we could now go back to using this one for just washing dishes. The guys went back for more water. This time they returned with two five gallon buckets (my idea) and the two jerry jugs. Mark was getting ready to put the jerry jug water in the port tank when Kevin suggested that we just leave it in the jugs on deck in case of another water emergency. As you will see, that was a brilliant idea. We put the buckets of water in the starboard tank and off we went. It took us three hours to get to the Ft. Pierce inlet and Mark felt like it was close enough to slack that we could go out. It wasn’t the roughest inlet we have ever negotiated but there were 10-12 foot standing waves and about three knots of current going with us. Obviously we didn’t wait long enough. But we were fine and by 12:30 pm we were through the inlet, had raised the main, and were headed north.
It was now time for me to head below to make lunch. I was once again enjoying running water when all of a sudden, there was once again no water. I wish you could have seen my face. Total disbelief doesn’t quite cover what I think I looked like. Mark came down to check things out, and sure enough, one of the hose clamps on the water hose Kevin installed last evening had popped off and once again we lost all of the water in the port tank. This is when we really appreciated Kevin’s genius in encouraging us to keep the two jerry jugs of water on deck and not in the tank. So we have an empty port water tank and a mostly full starboard tank that we are using. If there is any residual diesel in that tank, you certainly can’t see it or smell it. And since all of our drinking water goes through a Sea Gull filter, it will be fine.
So today had its moments of drama, but it was a much better day than yesterday. We will be passing Cape Canaveral before dark and nearing St. Augustine by tomorrow evening. Kevin says he doubts my weather forecasting skills as we certainly do not have the 15 knots of East wind that should have given us a wonderful beam reach sail this afternoon. It looks to me like the wind predicted for after midnight tonight came 12 hours early. And that means no wind for the next couple of days. But at this time of year, no wind is better than too much wind, so we’ll take what we have with no complaints. I will just note that with no wind, the 3-5 foot seas are causing us to have a roly poly ride, but we will endure.
by Judy Handley | Feb 19, 2016 | Sailing Logs Year 11 |
Day 120, Year 11: Challenging Start
Date: Friday, February 19, 2016
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, Hi Temp 70’s, Low 50’s, Wind E 5-20
Latitude: 27 14.681 N
Longitude: 080 13.037 W
Location: Anchored Off Jensen Beach, FL
Total Miles Traveled: 36.7 nautical miles
We made it out of West Palm Beach this morning, but the day brought us more than a few challenges. Due to all the issues we had, we could not make our destination of Ft. Pierce before dark. And that means our arrival time in Little River will be delayed by a day. One thing leads to another.
Challenge #1: Getting fuel in windy conditions.
We stopped at the Rybovich Marina and literally got blown onto the fuel dock as it was quite windy. The staff on the dock were friendly and helpful and when we were finished they actually towed us off the fuel dock until we could maneuver easily. They were afraid if they didn’t our stern would get scraped on the dock. Since there were many multi-million dollar yachts in this marina (one had belonged to Steve Jobs), I’m sure they helped partly because they didn’t want us to hit one of those. But then again, they just seemed like extremely nice people. So that challenge ended on a positive note and we have fuel.
Challenge #2: Engine Overheating
This is the same problem that plagued us on the trip south from Little River and is still not resolved. Kevin thinks that maybe growth on the prop is putting an extra load on the engine. We couldn’t do anything about that while underway today, but in the morning Kevin has volunteered to dive on the prop and give it a quick cleaning. Hopefully that will help the overheating issue. If not, we’ll just have to do what we did today and that is move a little more slowly than we would like.
Challenge #3: Bridges
Because we could not go as fast as usual, we wasted two hours of our day waiting on bridge openings. On the brighter side, Kevin got lots of ICW bridge experience.
Challenge #4: Shoaling
You always have to worry about shoaling in the Intracoastal, especially near inlets. Mark was down for a nap and Kevin and I were concerned about getting through two bridges that were less than a mile apart. We made it through the first bridge and we were in sight of the second bridge. While I was on the radio talking to the bridge tender, Kevin went aground. He was definitely in the middle of the channel where there should have been no problem. I told him to gun it while turning the wheel one way and then the other and he was successful in plowing on through. The bridge was still open, so I called to see if it would stay open for us. Luckily this was a patient bridge tender. By the way, Kevin was afraid this incident might tarnish his angel wings, but he more than earned his keep today with subsequent challenges.
Challenge #5: Mystery of the Missing Water
Sometime between second breakfast and lunch I went down to heat water to make more coffee. I turned on the filtered water faucet and nothing came out. I turned on the regular faucet and still nothing came out. Mark came down to trouble shoot. The water tank that was full this morning was suddenly empty. It took a bit of searching to find the problem but finally Mark solved the mystery. A hose going into the hot water tank had come loose and all of the precious water had poured into the bilge and been pumped overboard. This is the very first time I have ever headed out on a passage with empty jerry jugs. The other day when Mark and I worked together to fill the water tank, he just ran out of energy and decided to not make one last trip to fill the jugs. So we suddenly had no drinking water. We immediately turned on the watermaker, and . . .
Challenge #6: Watermaker Not Working
After running the watermaker all afternoon, we found that at some point it had just stopped making water. We had only an inch of water in the bottom of the tank. Now what to do? In the morning we will go to shore in search of water.
Okay. I’m exhausted just rehashing the day’s challenges. And Mark and Kevin are both already in bed because they are exhausted from fixing the issues. Kevin offered to put on a new water hose going to the water heater once the engine cooled down. In the meantime, he and Mark worked on the watermaker. They tried all the quick fixes which weren’t so quick and nothing worked. The only thing to do is take the unit out, take it apart, and rebuild it. That will be impossible to do with the kind of seas that we are expecting, but maybe we’ll have some calm times. As Kevin said after working in almost impossible conditions in the engine room, “So this is what cruising is all about.” Yep. And it sure is handy to have a problem solver like Kevin aboard to help Mark with these issues.
We’ll start the morning trying to rectify a couple of our issues. Kevin is going to dive on the prop and scrape off the growth. If he is successful, it is our hope that a clean prop will take some of the load off the engine and keep it from overheating. Then we are going to go to shore in search of water. It is quite a distance to shore and if it is still windy we’ll probably get thoroughly soaked with salt spray on the way back to the boat. But if we find water, it will be worth it. We have time to do this as we aren’t in a big hurry in the morning. It is about an hour from here to the Ft. Pierce Inlet where we will head out to sea. We can’t make slack tide in the morning, so we are hoping to go through the pass at slack tide just afternoon. Then we will finally be on our way.
by Judy Handley | Feb 18, 2016 | Sailing Logs Year 11 |
Day 119, Year 11: Sailing North Tomorrow
Date: Thursday, February 18, 2016
Weather: Sunny, Hi Temp 70’s, Low 60’s, Wind NE 15-20
Location: At Anchor in West Palm Beach City Anchorage, FL
A lot can happen in 24 hours. Just after I sent the log last night, I got a call from my sister-in-law Sue solving one of our problems. She read the log, talked to her daughter who is my niece Lynn, and arranged for Mark and me to stay in Lynn’s condo which is just north of Boston. Lynn is not living in the condo right now, so this will work out perfectly for us. I would never have thought of this, so thank you Sue and thank you Lynn. After I talked to Sue, Mark called. He had received an email from me earlier in the evening suggesting that we take advantage of the weather window in the next few days to move Windbird to Little River in South Carolina. After reading the email, Mark checked flights to West Palm for himself, called our friend Kevin Russell to see if he could possibly drop everything and fly to Florida today in order to sail north with us, and he also checked the weather. So by the time I talked to him at 9:30 last night, everything was in motion. Heather drove Mark to Boston to catch an 8 am flight and he arrived just before noon today. Claire drove Kevin to Dulles this afternoon and he arrived about 7 pm this evening. And the weather is more or less cooperating. So we have crew, we have a weather window, and we have a place to stay near Boston. Unbelievable. And we have received so many wonderful emails and phone calls lending support. Thank you, thank you, to all.
Sue and Brad have been so supportive. I emailed Sue this morning to let her know what are plans were. I no sooner sent that email than she called insisting that they pick Mark up from the airport and then come pick me up to take us food shopping for the passage. When they got here with Mark, we took them out to lunch at E.R. Bradley’s Saloon which is right across from the city docks. After lunch they took us food shopping and returned us to the dock. I spent the afternoon cooking while Mark rested. And then this evening we went to shore to meet Kevin. We had dinner at the Tin Fish, our favorite little restaurant here. When we got back to Windbird, we put the dinghy on the deck and “battened down the hatches” so we will be ready for an early morning take-off. The one little glitch in our plans is the weather tomorrow. Last night the NE wind was not predicted to be so strong, but by mid-day today it was obvious that heading out to sea tomorrow could be a little rough. Captain Mark has decided that we will stay inside in the Intracoastal tomorrow. We will try to make it to Ft. Pierce and we will then then go outside on Saturday morning. The wind will have subsided a bit and the seas will be as rough. By Saturday night or Sunday morning things will have settled so much that we will have to motor, but that is fine. We just want to get the boat to a safe place where we will feel good about leaving her for a couple of months. Little River is that place, so that is where we are headed.
In an email to Kevin this morning, I called him an angel. He took full advantage of that. He immediately wrote back with a cc to Claire directing her attention to his new title. He wanted to make sure she saw it because he said it might be the only time in his life someone gives him that ‘honor’. He can joke all he wants, but when you can call someone on such a short notice and they come to your rescue, it feels a bit like an angel has touched your life. I won’t call him that again as it will go to head, but he deserves a little special attention. He will take Mark’s night shifts so Mark will only have to get up if there is a problem that Kevin and I can’t solve. In addition, he will add levity to the trip. And right now, a little levity is much needed. So thank you, Kevin.
We will raise anchor at 6:45 am and go through the Flagler Bridge at the 7:15 am opening. At least that is the plan. We will stop for fuel a few miles north and then head for Ft. Pierce. I’m actually fine with staying inside tomorrow. Sailors never like to start a passage on a Friday as it is bad luck. So we will just say that we are starting the passage on Saturday morning when we head out to sea at Ft. Pierce.
by Judy Handley | Feb 17, 2016 | Sailing Logs Year 11 |
Day 118, Year 11: Good News, Bad News
Date: Wednesday, February 17, 2016
Weather: Sunny, Hi Temp 70’s, Low 50’s, Wind N’ly
Location: At Anchor in West Palm Beach City Anchorage, FL
The good news is that there was no extreme weather today. The bad news came from Mark. Yesterday’s scan confirmed that his cancer is no longer slow growing. Things have changed quite a bit in the past month and his oncologist is recommending that he starts a trial ASAP. After the scan in January, she had tests run on specimens of his cancer that have been preserved. It’s much too complicated to explain, especially since I am not sure I fully comprehend it myself, but basically there seems to be nothing tried and true left to use other than radiation. The radiation can whack out a bit of cancer here, but then it can pop up somewhere else. That’s referred to as the “whack-a-mole” game. Thus the need for entering a trial with a drug that looks promising. The chemo drug would be used in combination with the biologic that Mark had last winter. The problem for us is that he would need to be in Boston at least one day a week for as long as the treatment is working. The other problem is that this needs to start now, not later. So we have a lot of figuring out to do. We have to get Windbird back to Little River as soon as possible and then wait for the weather to warm up before sailing her back to Cape Cod. Once Mark starts the trial treatment, he will not be able to leave the Boston area. Without the boat there, we have no place to live. So you get the idea. This will not be easy to figure out. But we will figure it out. Just hang in there with us. So no Bahamas this year and no more Florida. One way or another we, or me, or both of us, are headed north. What a difference a day can make.
I received this news this afternoon while I was wandering through the Ann Norton Sculpture Garden here in West Palm Beach. Lovely little place. I spent the morning on the boat catching up on things that needed to be done. But it was a beautiful day and I wanted to take a long walk. So I walked a mile and a half to the sculpture garden and then walked another mile and a half to City Place to the supermarket. By the time I got there it was after 4 pm, so I took the trolley back to the dock. Tomorrow I’ll stay on the boat and start getting things ready to sail north. I’m not sure when this will happen, but I’ll be prepared.
by Judy Handley | Feb 16, 2016 | Sailing Logs Year 11 |
Day 117, Year 11: Early AM Fright, PM Trip to Lauderdale
Date: Tuesday, February 16, 2016
Weather: Extreme AM T-storm, Then Overcast Going Partly Sunny PM
Location: At Anchor in West Palm Beach City Anchorage, FL
I’m ‘done’ with this extreme weather, but obviously it is not done with me. I woke up at 6 am and thought there was a police boat outside because there was a flashing strobe light. I quickly got dressed and went to the cockpit to hear thunder and see that the strobe light was actually lightening—a very strange, flashing lightening that I’ve never seen before. It was raining and was windy, but it has been windy since Sunday evening. So I went back to bed. I no sooner got in bed when I heard that awful sound roar like a train going through the boat and about that time a gust of wind heeled the boat enough that anything not tied down went crashing to the floor. I jumped up and turn on the navigation instruments to see 35-40 knot winds. Of course, the gust that heeled us over had moved on and according to the weather on my phone, West Palm was getting 55-60 knot winds and there was a tornado watch for Palm Beach County. Aye-yai-yai. I sat in the cockpit and watched the wind blowing the tops off the chop in the anchorage making it look boiling pot. The couple on one of the boats next to us was out on deck appearing to re-anchor. I didn’t think we had drug on our anchor, but I wasn’t sure. Either that boat had just moved or we had, but whichever, we all still looked fine. I sat on watch until the wind died down and went back to bed hoping that I would wake up in an hour or so to a calm, sunny day. Well, I got one wish. It was calm, but not sunny. But that’s okay. I LIKE calm!
The rest of the day was not so dramatic. I used the water accumulated in the dinghy from the morning rain to do a laundry and then walked to the train station. I got there early, so I sat and read. I’m reading a really good book recommended to me by Detta Porat a year ago. I’m just now getting around to reading it and thought it was ironic that I was going to Fort Lauderdale to meet Detta’s husband, Tom, today. By the way, the book is ‘The Signature of All Things’ by Elizabeth Gilbert—a really good read. I met Tom at the Fort Lauderdale Airport TriRail Station and we walked down the street to the nearest restaurant. We enjoyed the meal, but more than that, we enjoyed getting to talk face-to-face for the first time in ages. We walked back to the TriRail Station and just as we got there, I heard a train whistle. It was the northbound train and we were on the southbound side. I waited until the train stopped and then went across the tracks even though the gates were down. I got to the train in time to hop on, but the conductor met me at the door to reminded me that it is a $10,000 fine to do what I had just done—when the cross bars are down, you don’t cross the tracks. I guess the next time I find myself in that situation, I’ll wait for another train.
by Judy Handley | Feb 15, 2016 | Sailing Logs Year 11 |
Day 116, Year 11: Dreary Day with Lots of Wind and Some Rain
Date: Monday, February 15, 2016
Weather: Overcast, Wind E 20-25, High 70’s, Low 60’s
Location: At Anchor in West Palm Beach City Anchorage, FL
I gave it my best effort, but I didn’t set foot on land today. The morning was a bit calmer than last night and there were a few moments of sunshine. But the wind has been blowing 20 to 25 with higher gusts for more than 24 hours and I’m ready for some calm. But wind or not, after eating lunch, I got in the dinghy and headed to shore to take a nice long walk. The wind was blowing hard enough to stir up a chop in the anchorage area. I drove the dinghy carefully so as to not get splashed, but still I could feel dots of water on my face. When I got to the dock, I could still feel the little dots of water and finally realized that it was not water coming from the chop on the water. Rather, it was mist coming from the sky. Just as I got the lock in place (we lock the dinghy to the dock ‘just in case’) the mist became dibble-dopps of rain. Walking in the rain did not sound like fun, so I unlocked the dinghy and headed back to Windbird. As soon as I got back in cockpit, the heavens opened up. It didn’t rain for long, but there were three or four more periods of rain in the afternoon. I never made it to shore.
The overcast skies, wind, and periods of rain made for a dreary day, but I certainly managed to keep myself busy. I did make that prioritized To Do list, but that was more depressing than the weather. After filling one page with things that need to be done, I quit writing. If I ever get everything on this list done, I’ll make another. But for now, one page of jobs that need to be done is enough for me! Tomorrow’s ‘To Do’ list has me taking the TriRail to Fort Lauderdale and to meet Tom Porat for an early dinner. We decided on Fort Lauderdale instead of Miami as it will be a much shorter ride home for me tomorrow night. The threat of rain should end by noon, so hopefully the sun will come out, this intense wind will settle down, and we can enjoy a nice afternoon in Fort Lauderdale.
This morning Mark sent me a photo that Heather or Jed must have taken. When I was talking to Ollie via Skype last night, I suggested somewhat jokingly that he sleep with granddad to keep him warm. Ollie looked at me and said, “I’ll do that.” And he did. The photo I received was of Mark and Ollie sleeping together in the guest bed. It simply said, “Eat your heart out.” And Oma is doing that. I miss all my guys—big and little.
