by Judy Handley | Jan 21, 2016 | Sailing Logs Year 11 |
Day 91, Year 11: Passage to FL, Day 2—Happy Birthday to Sam
Date: Thursday, January 21, 2016
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, High 50’s, Low upper 40’s F; Wind NE 10-12
Latitude: 31 43.414 N
Longitude: 080 58.525 W
Location: Sailing ~3 Miles Off
Miles Traveled: 187 nautical miles
Nine years ago, our first grandchild, Samuel Ellery Goldstone, was born on a snowy Cape Cod morning. We had sailed Windbird across the Pacific Ocean and left her in New Zealand to come home for Sam’s birth. Holding that first grandchild for the very first time is a beautiful memory. And Sam has developed into a beautiful, bright, spirited nine year-old boy. He has been a natural sailor since he first set foot on Windbird in Thailand when he was not yet two and he quickly earned the title of co-captain aboard Windbird. His little brothers have followed suite and are co-captains as well. But as Sam would remind us, he was first. And as this photo shows, he was right by Captain Granddad’s side giving directions.
And writing in the log.
Happy Birthday, first Co-captain!
Last night was warmer than expected and we didn’t need to fire up the Mr. Heather. We wore long underwear, wool sweaters, our winter coats, and Mark wore his winter hat. But with all this on, we didn’t even need a blanket. Today has been mostly cloudy, but there has been enough sunshine to keep us warm. At one point it was so hot in the cockpit we had to open up. We had up to 14 knots of wind against us last night and it seemed that we had current against us all night as well. Today, however, we have had current with us and wind behind us. We had one little scare this morning. The engine overheating alarm went off and indeed the engine was overheated. Mark checked all the possible causes—fan belt, water filter, thru-hull, impeller, and heat exchanger. Everything checked out fine, so he poured some anti-freeze in the overflow container and the engine has been running cool ever since. So either we were low on anti-freeze or something was blocking a line and was released when Mark took off the hoses to check things. Whatever it was, it is fine now. We are making good progress and are on schedule to arrive at the entrance to the St. Mary’s River on the Florida/Georgia border early in the morning. After that, the weather will determine our next move. If it is not as bad as predicted, we might motor on past Fernandina Beach and anchor just north of Jacksonville tomorrow night. But we do think we will go inland into the Intracoastal Waterway instead of traveling on down the coast. It takes longer, but at this point the weather outside doesn’t look good. Florida is a very long state and it takes three days and nights outside to get from the border to West Palm Beach. From what we are seeing, there is no three day window in the next week. If that forecast remains, then inside it will be.
by Judy Handley | Jan 20, 2016 | Sailing Logs Year 11 |
Day 90, Year 11: Passage to FL, Day 1—Love That Sunshine
Date: Wednesday, January 20, 2016
Weather: Sunny and Cold, High 45, Low 40 F; Wind N to S 5 knots
Latitude: 33 13.349 N
Longitude: 079 06.494 W
Location: Sailing ~3 Miles Off Georgetown, SC
Miles Traveled: 54 Nautical Miles (7:30 am to 4:45 pm)
It was a chilly start this morning, but the sunshine has kept us warm all day. It was so cold this morning that the lines were frozen to the dock. But with a few tugs, Mark got the frozen coils unstuck and we were off. The weather today has been as forecast—partly sunny with almost no wind coming from the NE and moving to the S in the afternoon. Some reports say we will have very little S wind all night and others indicate that we could have up to 20 knots from the SW. We vote for the “very little” forecast. Of course, this means motoring, but we were prepared for that. The seas are flat and the ride is smooth—very nice. The temperature in the cockpit has been around 70 degrees most of the day, but when the sun goes down, so will the temperature. That’s when we’ll turn on the Mr. Heater and hope that it adds a few degrees of comfort to our night. Weather aside, it feels good to be out here.
We are running close to shore and have had phone service all day. We talked to our friends Ed and Lynne Kirwin in New York this morning. And then we talked to my niece Janet and my sister Patsy in Nashville. Weather was the topic of the day. New York is preparing for winter storm Jonas to hit this weekend and Nashville was closed down today by cold, snow, and ice. It doesn’t take much to close down Nashville as they are not prepared for this kind of weather. When we hear the ‘s’ word—snow—and the ‘i’ word—ice—it makes our choice to head south as quickly as possible sound like a really good idea. And weather aside, it just generally feels good to be out here.
by Judy Handley | Jan 19, 2016 | Sailing Logs Year 11 |
Day 89, Year 11: Sailing South Tomorrow Morning
Date: Tuesday, January 19, 2016
Weather: Sunny and Colder, High 35, Low 22 degrees F
Location: Lightkeepers Marina, Little River, SC
It was a ‘freezy’ day here in South Carolina. Regardless, we have made the decision and are sailing south tomorrow morning. It is a 48 hour passage from here to the Florida-Georgia border and we should arrive there on Friday morning. Tomorrow is going to be warmer than today by about 10 degrees, but it will still be in the 20’s F when we leave the dock around 7 am. It is supposed to be a partly sunny day, so we are going to depend on the sun to warm the cockpit. And at night, we will use our propane Mr. Heater to keep the worst of the chill off in the cockpit while we are on overnight watch. This won’t be the most comfortable passage we have ever made, but when we look at the weather for the next 14 days, this looks like our only window. We will get hit with south winds during the night on Thursday going into Friday morning, but otherwise the winds look fairly benign. But as I am sure all of you are aware, the whole east coast is going to get hit with winter storm Jonas on Friday. Hopefully we will be on a mooring in Fernandina Beach, Florida when the worst of the winds hit. We will plan to stay there until Sunday when the winds die down and hope to do another 48 hour passage on Sunday and Monday to West Palm Beach before the next storm hits. Plans are all weather dependent, of course, so we shall see how things go.
As always, when we start out on a passage, I’ll give my little warning that there is the chance that technology could fail us and we won’t be able to send logs. Hopefully that won’t be the case and we’ll keep you informed about our crazy winter passage down the coast. Send warm thoughts our way!
by Judy Handley | Jan 18, 2016 | Sailing Logs Year 11 |
Day 88, Year 11: Uncooperative Weather
Date: Monday, January 18, 2016
Weather: Sunny and Cold, High 44, Low 20 degrees F
Location: Lightkeepers Marina, Little River, SC
Some things never change and the weather being uncooperative is certainly one of those things. But then we are trying to sail down the southeast coast of the United States in late January when uncooperative weather is expected. We have spent our day trying to cobble together some sort of plan to get us from here to get us to Cumberland Island on the Florida/Georgia border. We need 48 hours and if we left tomorrow morning we could make it just fine. BUT the temperature tomorrow night is going to be colder than tonight. Both nights are forecast to be around 20 degrees F, plus or minus a degree or so. And we have decided that we really don’t want to be out at sea in temps like that. We are still toying with leaving on Wednesday morning, but if we do that we know we will have adverse winds starting Thursday night and going into Friday morning. If the forecast holds, we would make it in before it gets too bad. But if the stronger winds forecast for late Friday morning come a few hours earlier than expected, it would be tough going. Whatever we do, we need to sit still all day Friday and Saturday as it is going to be very windy. However, at this point, the weather on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday looks like the calm between storms with mostly no wind. At this time of year, no wind is better than too much wind. During this lull we could move on to West Palm Beach and sit out the next onslaught of bad weather there. The weather late next week looks really wicked and it would be nice to sit through it with warmer temperatures. We’ll do more weather checking in the morning and make our decision then. Or maybe we’ll just flip a coin!
We talked to our daughter Heather this evening and she reported that they did get snow on the Cape last night. Since there was no school today, the boys got to enjoy the little bit of snow they got. Sam’s birthday party was today and Heather said it was the easiest party she has ever hosted. Sam just wanted a few of his best buddies to come over and play Legos with no interruptions from younger brothers. The big boys played Legos upstairs quietly and then come down for lunch. Sam requested ribs, so ribs it was. And he also requested chocolate cupcakes instead of a fancy cake. Jonah and the little brother of one of Sam’s friends spent the morning out sledding on the slushy, icy snow and had a ball. The sleds went so fast down the hill in the backyard that the boys hit the fence a few times. This happened despite a barrier of fall leaves that had been left at the base of the fence for this purpose. Evidently Jonah has a few scratches on his face tonight from the sledding, but it was so much fun he didn’t really complain. Ollie opted for quieter indoor play, so it was an easy birthday celebration and everyone had a great time. Sam’s real birthday is on Thursday, so birthday wishes from Oma and Granddad will be forthcoming then.
by Judy Handley | Jan 17, 2016 | Sailing Logs Year 11 |
Day 87, Year 11: A Chill in the Land of Palm Trees
Date: Sunday, January 17, 2016
Weather: Overcast and Cold, High 46, Low 32 degrees F
Location: Lightkeepers Marina, Little River, SC
I do believe we brought cold weather with us when we returned to the land of palm trees. The thermometer only reached 46 degrees F today and it was overcast and windy and felt colder. Tonight temps will dip to the freezing point and the next two nights the low will be around 20 degrees F. Chilly!!!
Last night when we got here, we started checking the weather for our passage south to Florida. We had promised ourselves we would sit still for a week or two until we figure out what is going on with the nighttime pain in Mark’s abdomen. But when Mark saw four straight days with mostly north winds (tomorrow through Thursday), he changed his mind. If we left tomorrow morning (Monday) we could be in West Palm Beach by Friday morning. We saw the forecast for two 20 degree nights (Monday and Tuesday) in this part of the world, but we ignored that because starting on Thursday or Friday of this week, it looks like southerly winds for all of the next week. It looked like we would either have to leave tomorrow and freeze or wait two weeks. So we decided to spend today doing the last provisioning and be on our way. But this morning, we started rethinking about just how cold we would be in the cockpit at 21 degrees F and it did not sound like fun. In addition, Mark has come down with a cold and probably doesn’t need to be doing freezing nighttime watches. Nevertheless, we did go ahead and do the last grocery shopping. We are ready to go, but we decided to stay put. It might be possible to leave on Wednesday and get as far as the Florida-Georgia border by Friday and then wait out the southerlies there. Or we could continue on in the Intracoastal from there as we did last year. Another option would be to travel the Intracoastal all the way from here to southern Florida. The problem with that is that the Intracoastal has some very shallow areas between here and Florida and the thought of going aground is not inviting. But however much we dislike traveling in the Intracoastal, at this time of year it might end up to be our only choice. The next two days will be spent doing more weather watching and by Wednesday morning we hope to make a decision. And we hope for warmer weather.
by Judy Handley | Jan 16, 2016 | Sailing Logs Year 11 |
Day 86, Year 11: Back in the Land of Palm Trees
Date: Saturday, January 16, 2016
Weather: Partly Sunny and Warm, High of 61 degrees F
Location: Back Aboard Windbird, Lightkeepers Marina, Little River, SC
After a tour of another universe this morning, we are back in the land of palm trees tonight. Our day started with a fantastic breakfast prepared by Kevin with coffee and fresh baked bread served by Dillon. Kelly and Dillon, the friends we met last night, came over for breakfast. I know Kevin and Claire are going to miss them when they (Kelly and Dillon) leave Janelia this spring. After a few weeks of biking in Japan, Kelly and Dillon are both headed to Princeton to do post-doc work. Dillon is from Cambridge in the UK and is about 6’5” tall. Although I have never met the husband of our daughter-in-law Jo’s sister, Dillon reminds me of pictures of Tom Warmerdam just because of his height. Tom is also very tall at 6’7”. Tom and Jo’s sister Kath live in Southampton, about four hours from Cambridge where Dillon is from, but with Dillon’s deep interest in biking, I told him about Tom as Tom is an award winning bike frame builder. You never know, they might meet someday.
After breakfast, we said farewell to Kelly and Dillon and headed off with Kevin and Claire on a tour of Janelia Farm. The Howard Hughes Medical Institute opened their research center at Janelia Farm in 2006. Obviously money was no object in the construction of the facility. It is literally like entering another futuristic universe. All construction is glass and steel. As you walk from the new housing area where Kevin and Claire live, you walk past the Janelia mansion that was once owned by Vinton and Robert Pickens. They had two daughters, Jane and Cornelia, thus the name Janelia. From the manor house, there is a view of Sugarloaf Mountain across the Potomac River. Due to a scenic easement that was legally binding in the purchase of the property, no buildings can obscure the view of Sugarloaf. So from the manor house, you don’t even see the main research facility which is called the Landscape Building. The 900 foot-long building is built into the hill and from the manor house, you can actually walk along the entire roof line which is landscaped with many varieties of grasses. When you enter the building, you walk down three flights of stairs to the bottom floor some 275 feet below the roofline. As you walk down the stairs, glass is above you and in front of you, allowing a complete view of the rest of the campus and all the way to Sugarloaf Mountain in the distance. The research center houses one of the largest installations of structural glass in the United States. The offices and labs are all surrounded by glass. The place looks more like an art museum than a research facility until you actually enter the labs and see scientists using the equipment. Claire showed us all of the areas where she works to uncover the secrets of the human mind using fruit flies as the model. What a fabulous setting for doing research. It really is an amazing place.
After a tour of the research facility, we walked out the front of the Landscape Building to see the outdoor landscaping. There are ponds and plants intermixed with grasses and sculptures. One sculpture of particular interest was a 7 foot tall and 3 foot wide white granite sculpture called Curved Wings by Bertalan Andrasfalvy. He is just a little older than Kevin and Claire and is not only a sculptor, but also a researcher at Janelia. Curved Wings is a butterfly, not a fruit fly, and the small scale model he sculpted to present his idea to the institute sits in Kevin and Claire’s apartment. Bertalan is a friend and when they approached him about buying the small model, he offered it to them at a ridiculously low price. They had to talk him into taking more money for it! But what a special piece they will take with them when Claire leaves Janelia.
Another friend we met last night was Jason Osborne. He is with the Instrument & Design Fabrication Group at Janelia and makes cutting-edge neuroscience instruments for Janelia. In addition, Jason is also interested in paleontology and geology. He has taken Claire on various fossil hunts. Most finds are sent to museums, but Claire has collected some fossils on her own that are quite impressive. When she and Kevin are sailing the Chesapeake in the summers, they stop at beaches and Claire digs into the banks finding specimens of all types. She gave us a fern fossil in shale from a trip she and Kevin took with Jason to a Pennsylvania coal mine. Thank you, Claire . . . for the fossil and for the fabulous tour of Janelia. It was so special to finally see all of the things Claire has told us about for years now.
