Sailing Blog

Half-Hand's Graduation

2009-07-06T09:52:00.001-07:00

This holiday weekend Park graduated from half-hand boat mate to a three quarters mate. The intensive training started when we were down in Vero for a week - just us two girls on LaLeLu. Her first skill mastered was starting and running the dingy outboard. Next trick she learned was to push off anything that got too close when I was backing the boat out of the slip in Vero. In short order, the fending off trick was followed by grabbing and cleating a mooring line.
Stage two of Park's training was completed this past weekend. Park and I brought LaLeLu down to Cocoa on our own for the Fourth of July. We were meeting up with a bunch of other ECSA boats. The City shoots off fireworks in the park adjacent to the anchorage, so I knew it would be tight in there. I was nervous about anchoring on my own - well me and my half-hand. To make matters worse, LaLeLu's windlass is currently on the fritz. No worries though as it turned out to be a piece of cake. I fed out the rode by hand. Park took the helm and listened intently as I yelled "reverse" "neutral" and she complied accordingly. Great job, Park!

Surfer Girls

2009-05-28T04:52:00.001-07:00

We went to Sebastian Inlet over the Memorial 3-Day. The crappy weather kept most of the drunk power-boaters away, so the anchoarage and park were very mellow. There was an onshore flow kicking up some decent wave action on the north shore. Park and three other teeny booper friends had a blast cutting it up - alternating between boogie boards and long boards. We spent most of the weekend beachside - and the girls had fried noses and sore arms by the end of the trip.

On Down the River

2009-05-18T09:26:00.000-07:00

LaLeLu is in her new home in Melbourne. We moved her down there yesterday. On moving day, the wind was a bit sporty. It was blowing into the marina inlet - in the exact direction of our approach into our new slip. In hindsight, our premonition of a hard fiberglass and concrete landing proved folly. The water is so low right now that only a little more than half way into the slip she touched bottom and we had to drag/motor her across the last few feet of the slip over the silty bottom. No worries - the "real" depth of the slip should be 8'. The water level on the river right now is very low. Also, since the slip has been vacant for awhile, it acquired silt courtesy of boats in the neighboring slips. It would seem, as with most things, silt takes the path of least resistance, which in this case was the empty slip. Despite the less than glamorous dragging/docking approach, LaLeLu has taken quite well to her new surroundings. After she was all tied up, we sat in the cockpit and watched dolphins play behind our boat, and kayaks and small-boat sailors out in the channel. I think we are going to like it here.

A Day in the Port

2009-04-13T09:47:00.001-07:00

We spent the afternoon in Port Canaveral with family and friends. We set aside our sand paper, boat project lists, etc. and decided to enjoy a little "down time." There's a new place in the Port called Mulligans Reef that has an outside deck with full view of cruise ships heading out of the port. We found a table with a Port view where we shared stories, and enjoyed a few Coronas and some cracked conch. Cruise ships full of frantically waiving passengers with big smiles passed right over our shoulders. The music, courtesy of a down-islands band dressed in matching floral shirts, brought about some serious foot tapping and even a trip 0r two to the sand dance floor. Park is an awesome swing partner and Brandon's friend Sarah was a good sport to join us for an "all girls" dance. It's a nice way to spend an afternoon.

A Magnificent Plume

2009-03-16T09:31:00.000-07:00

A group of Harbor-Townies went out on Joe’s boat, a 46’ Morgan “Pixie Dust” to watch the shuttle launch. We went out the barge canal, and anchored on the Banana River adjacent to the Canaveral Locks. The power lines just behind us marked the line to the restricted area, and a USCG boat patrolled the invisable line in the water.

In all, there were 13 of us, but the waterline of Pixie Dust didn’t even flinch under our combined weight. I guess it takes more than that to cause a 40,000 lb boat to dip. We grilled dogs and jalapeno burgers on the aft deck, and downed a few cold ones. Just prior to the 7:43 pm launch, we watched a magnificent sunset over our starboard beam.

The wind was blowing out of the South, just barely under 20 knots. Our concerns that the wind might postpone the launch did not materialize. Right on schedule, a big ball of fire due astern of us lifted off and up into the sky. Once the shuttle rose above the horizon, its smoke plume was painted by the sun, which was too low to view on our side of the world. Of the 13 passengers aboard Pixie Dust, most reside on the space coast and have seen dozens of launches. This one was special though. Even those that have seen lots of launches previously commented on how magnificent this shuttle’s fiery plume was. Picture perfect, in fact.

And then it happened...

2009-03-09T04:42:00.000-07:00

Like the flip of a switch, just like that, the weather got nice. This weekend marked this year's turning point - Spring had arrived here in Central Florida. It went from 54 degrees last weekend to 80 (ahhhh) degrees this weekend. A play day was in order. Ron and Kristen V joined us for an excursion out the port, down the way a bit, and back. The girls saw a stingray and a few dolphins. It was Ron and Kristen's first trip out the port via boat, so they had a lot to see. I gave them the unforgetable experience of almost getting run over by the Carnival cruise ship that was leaving port. Once I figured out that the movement of the building sized boat was not my imagination, and did a hard to port maneuver, we sailed along side it. The girls stood on deck and waved like beauty queens to all the lucky passengers who were en route to somewhere really nice (I am sure). Once we got back to the marina, the girls rowed around in Mae, while the adults enjoyed an adult beverage in the cockpit, while repeatedly uttering involuntary comments such as "Man, it is so nice out today."

A Flock of Sea Gulls

2009-02-09T09:09:00.000-08:00

We took a jaunt down the river yesterday. The seagulls must be as impacted by these troubled economic times as the rest of us, because the followed us the entire way - begging like thieves. Park and her friend took pity on them and threw them English muffin bits. The wind was fluky - at times so light our forward momentum was imperceptible and the headsail flogged. It was a nice little adventure and it felt good to breathe in salt air, feel the sun on the cheek bones and the wind in the hair.

Turning the Corner

2009-01-25T14:42:00.000-08:00

La Le Lu is back in the water - where she belongs. Chris lived in the sandlot for the last week and busted ass to get everything that needed doing done. The rudder bolts and stuffing box needed replacing/re-stuffing, but we got off easy, relatively speaking. The other end of the spectrum of possible rudder problems was a new rudder bearing, which would have meant a month in the yard, and a lot of lint out of our pockets. Thank you 'powers that be' - that fix was not in our cards. After splashing, we burped the shaft seal and confirmed that Chris' rudder bolt replacement was indeed holding water - Yeah! Smug with fresh accomplishments, we made our victory march back down the barge canal. Upon arrival to Harbor Town, no one was on the dock to greet us -but neither of us cared. Some achievements are deeper and don't require the resonnation from or approval of a crowd. For some strange reason, with my boat now back in the water, the rest of my world is much less traumatic. On Sunday as we washed the yard sand off our decks, I just felt good. As I watched the trails of sand swirl down the scuppers, I felt that the weight I have been carrying for the past month has lifted off my shoulders and I inexplicably did not feel the need to worry about anything. My boat floats....everything else just falls into place.

Life in the Tree House

2009-01-19T11:59:00.001-08:00

La Le Lu was hauled out at Cape Canaveral without incident (phew!) last Saturday and now sits in the yard. The bottom looks pretty darn good for a 19 year old girl! We had a few minor hull repairs prior to new bottom paint - but nothing significant. The word on the rudder is not in yet. When we got her out of the water there was a noticable amount of play in the rudder. Hopefully it is not the rudder bearing. We are starting with replacing the rudder bolts and restuffing the packing gland. With any luck, that should do it and she'll be ready for splash next weekend.

Shrimp Run

2008-09-15T10:26:00.000-07:00

This past weekend LaLeLu and crew headed up to Titusville for ECSA’s annual Dixie Crossroads cruise. Just a week or so earlier, three tropical systems loomed ominously in the Atlantic and threatened our coastline. By week end, the monster storm Ike, who only a week earlier had its eye on Florida, was well to the southwest of us and readying for landfall in Galveston. I was still a little in disbelief that the weather window opened and didn’t completely trust the weatherman’s all clear prediction. NOAA was calling for 5-10 knot winds from the east with slight chance of afternoon thundershowers. That’s as good as it gets here in Florida during the height of hurricane season. As it turned out the NOAA prediction was spot on – that doesn’t happen often.

We arrived at the boat Saturday morning with canvas in hand. LaLeLu looked naked in her slip – stripped down for hurricanes that never came. Most of the other boats in our marina were similarly clad (or rather un-clad). As we readied the boat for our outing, the hot Florida sun baked down on us and it was quite a relief to put the canvas back up. Everything on the boat that could have blown loose was tacked down or taken off. Every breach to the outside of the boat that could have let water in was plugged and / or removed. It took a few hours to re-run the lines, re-install the dorades and solar vent, and re-canvas. This was round two for us this year, so we had the routine down. Once LaLeLu was back in operational shape, we started her up and prepared for departure. I looked around at the tangled web of lines that held her in place. It was a bit like doing macramé as I wove the lines around each other in order to free LaLeLu from her confinement. As we left the slip, I could tell she was happy to be out. We too were happy to be out.

Past the State Road 3 barge canal bridge and up the Indian River to the Mosquito Lagoon – the boat knew the way. The water was coffee brown and looked like the run off from a potted plant that had been overwatered -- courtesy of Fay, no doubt. Once out of the protection of the barge canal we found the light east wind, just as the computer-generated voice of NOAA promised. Sitting on the bow I breathed in the smell of marsh-scented, brackish water picked up by the puffs of wind. The pungent air was moist and felt heavy in my lungs. There is something intoxicating about the smell of a river in the height of summer. We glided along, sails raised and gently filled with the steady easterly breeze over our starboard beam. There was not enough wind to carry our big heavy boat at a respectable speed, so we resigned ourselves to a motor sail. No matter – the girls in the cabin below were enjoying their game cube, and the engine was keeping the power supply charged. Any other day the drone of a running engine would have annoyed me - today it just sounded like background noise. It purred rhythmically in time with the bow as it sliced through the water and sent wakes lapping down either side of the hull.

As we travelled north up the river we heard the familiar voices of our fellow ECSA comrades over the VHF radio, en route ahead and behind us. There was surprisingly sparse boat traffic on the river – especially considering how nice the weather was. Even the power boats were few. Perhaps they were likewise skeptical of the weatherman’s promises. When we arrived at the anchorage, there were only a few other ECSA boats. There was plenty of room to anchor and we dropped the hook in a spot with room to swing; although, it didn’t appear that our anchoring technique would be tested on this trip. Chris lowered the dingy, and we readied the boat and ourselves to go ashore and meet up for dinner with fellow club members. It was sticky hot and our faces glistened. A brisk ride in the dingy would feel good against our sweat-covered skin.

On our approach to the dingy dock, we saw the land yacht operators waiving to the small of procession of dingies. The land yacht operators graciously gathered up the boat people and delivered them/us to the restaurant. Upon opening the doors of Dixie Crossroads I felt a welcome blast of cold air that promptly dried the tendrils of hair that were stuck with sweat around my forehead and back of my neck. We were joined by others who arrived by land yacht – though it was a relatively small group this year. I surmised that those absent were still in hunker-down mode – probably glued to their TV sets watching as Ike made its landfall on Texas.
The broiled rock shrimp dripping in drawn butter were just as decadent as ever and, just like last year, I ate way too much. After dinner back at the marina I wandered up and down the docks looking at the boats as the kids ate ice cream from the marina store. Once the sun went down the temperature dropped to a comfortable shorts/short sleeve range. We hung out with our sailing friends in the marina’s screened porch. Those of us anchored out mused about the potential for a late night bug attack – our fears proved unfounded. The nearly full moon hung heavy on the eastern horizon as the dingy procession headed back to their respective boats. The breeze stayed steady all night, swift enough so as to prevent all manner of flesh eating bugs from making a landing. The boats in the anchorage rocked their inhabitants gently all night long.

Canvas on - Canvas off

2008-09-02T08:29:00.000-07:00

It's getting to be like doing the Hokey Pokey here. You take your canvas off, then you put it back on, and repeat as necessary. Right now we have four tropical systems marching across the Atlantic. This picture shows little old Florida sandwiched in between Gustov and Hannah. Ike and the J storm are not far behind. Currently the canvas is on - hmmmm, we watch, we wait, we watch some more - ready at any moment to do the canvas dance.

This Day Too Shall Pass

2008-08-28T06:51:00.000-07:00

Sailing is the ultimate teacher of life lessons and I am ever aware of how sailing parallels life. Generally in life, we do our best to avoid problems – we steer around the storms whenever possible. Some storms are unavoidable, and a sailor learns that when you are overtaken by a storm, the best option is to face it head on. Running from the inevitability of a storm is futile (and it gets your cockpit all wet.) That doesn’t mean a sailor gives ground to a storm, nor does it mean in life you would back down from your problems. Some storms are not so easy to ride out. When the adrenaline wears off, you have to dig deeper. Persevere and hold your ground, sailor, and know that it will pass. It will pass.

Good Riddens Fay!

2008-08-25T04:30:00.000-07:00

"It's only a tropical storm" I said as we were preparing our boat in advance of Fay's arrival. I guess she showed me. The storm sat just about on top of our marina for three days and rained, rained, rained. The official start day of Fay's impact in our area was Tuesday. Wednesday and Thursday came and went with Fay nearly stationary over Brevard county. We watched her on the Channel 6 dopler radar - her rain bands swirled over the gulf stream, filled up, and dumped onshore. It was a vicious cycle and wondered if it would ever end. Saturday and Sunday, with Fay finally moved north west of us, she was still dumping rain over central Florida as her massive bands spun into the Gulf of Mexico. I was ever so relieved that we had "over prepared" our boat for Fay. We stripped LaLeLu's canvas and tied the sails up. We removed the dorades and solar vents and put in the plugs. We took everything off the deck and out of the cockpit. Only thing we miscalculated was leaving the dingy on the davits (with the drain plug out of course). When the water started rising, the dingy was level with the dock and started rubbing on it and the dock box. Our friends kept a watch on it - they lowered it into the water, and kept pumping it out. Before the storm was said and done, a very clever friend had turned the dingy upside down to keep it from over-filling with the massive quantities of rain water. Thanks guys! At the height of the storm the water in our marina was near level with the docks, and covered many of the finger piers. It was so Erie to see the boats sitting level with the docks, more than three feet higher than they normally sit. They all looked so big! LaLeLu was sitting so high that you could not get on or off of her w/o help. I don't know what the exact rain fall was there, but some parts of the county received nearly 3'. I was very pleased and relieved that LaLeLu stayed bone dry in the cabin - if we had any leaks, they definitely would have been brought to light in this monster storm.

Sunrise, Sunset

2008-08-11T09:24:00.000-07:00

A picture of a sunset/sunrise is like a post card of a vacation. It looks nice, but you need to be there to really experience it. A sunset or sunrise viewed from land can be a spectacular thing, but from the water the rise and fall of the big orange orb takes on a mystical quality.
The most spectacular sunsets I have witnessed have been viewed out the cockpit of my boat. When you are surrounded by water and there are few distractions, the big round ball takes center stage. A beautiful sunset can stir the soul. Likewise is the sight of a rising sun. This summer we were sailing off the coast of Florida from Port Canaveral to Lake Worth and got caught up in a terrible storm that lasted all night. Chris and I were completely exhausted. The following morning the storm parted and we were treated to a magnificent sunrise. As we limped into Lake Worth inlet, the ten foot seas settled just as the first rays of the day broke through the clouds. With the encouragement of the new day, the night before was well on its way to becoming just another sea story. Photo credit: Most of the photos above were taken by my friend, Donna. I was in the general area when they were taken, but apparently too mesmerized to get my camera :)

Fav Pics of LaLeLu

2008-08-01T09:51:00.000-07:00

LaLeLu is a chameleon - she has many differant "looks". Here's a few of my favorite pics of her taken over the years:

Happy Birthday America!

2008-07-21T05:09:00.000-07:00

This 4th we went to Cocoa and anchored LaLeLu just south of the 520 along with many other boats including almost everyone we know from Harbor Town. Imagine was anchored up-channel from us and we took turns hanging out in each other's cockpits all afternoon. As darkness settled in, throngs of power boats arrived and the traffic on the bridge was stopped. Chris, Park and I dingied over to Imagine with our Sport Seats and sat on the bow with Kenny and Pam to watch the show. The scattered thundershowers called for by the Weatherman never arrived. The firework display garnered a respectable number of oooohs/aaaaahs. After the grand finale, we watched another light show as green and red nav lights of the power boats paraded back down the river to where ever they came from. The spectacular evening was followed by a very peaceful night on anchor.

And So It Ends

2008-07-17T05:19:00.000-07:00

Providing us with a glorious spectrum of reds and oranges, we watched the sun set behind the thunder clouds that were building just off the coast of Florida. LaLeLu's motion was easy and effortless as she glided along, in a groove, motoring with the current, and a slight following sea. Still no wind, but with the push of the stream we were able to throttle back to 1500 rpms and still make 7.3 knots. After running hard the prior day, 1500 rpms felt like a mere purrr. The last drops of daylight finally gave way to darkness at about 9:00 pm. The moon rose slowly from the east and the coastal clouds that were obscuring the sky dissipated and cleared. At about 11:00 pm we had a full moon overhead, a sky full of stars, 10 knots of wind on the aft port side, biolumenecsence lighting our bow wake and a following sea. These are the nights you only read about in sailor's fairy tales. We were able to raise the main and head sail. After unzipping the dodger/bimini connector, Chris and Park used the `star cards' to identify the constellations. Before we knew it, we were an hour outside of Port Canaveral, trying to fight off the urge to sleep. As we feared, we arrived too early and had to wait outside the port for just a bit. At 6:30 am we were hailing the 401 bridge, and at 7:30 am LaLeLu was back in her slip at Harbor Town. Fairwell Abacos - until next year.

Headin` Home

2008-07-16T10:04:00.000-07:00

We pulled anchor from Great Sale at 7:30 a.m. There was no wind and flat seas. I wasn't complaining, though. Motoring across the bank to the rhythm of the flogging mainsail and clanking rigging was one hundred times better then the seat-of-the-pants adventure we had the day before. We motored alongside Jim, Tammy & gang on Sweet Chariot - over the bank and into the stream. As the morning faded into afternoon, the aqua-velvet water of the bank transformed into the indigo blue water of the gulf stream. Chris and Park conducted a quick ceremony to Neptune to secure favorable passage conditions by making an offering of a can of Budweiser. Chris proclaimed his offering of the King of Beers to the King of the Sea, as Park poured the beer from North to South and East to West. It must have worked because the seas were kind and gentle for the entire crossing. In fact, it was so calm that I was able to boil eggs and make potato salad while underway. When I wasn't boiling eggs, I spent some time fishing off the stern.
Every time I put the lure in the water I got a hit. One was a very large barracuda. When I pulled him up alongside I could see he was about 4' and had many very sharp-looking teeth. Deciding that I did not want to part with any of my ten fingers, I cut him loose - favorite lure and all. We watched on XM weather radar as the thunder cells built off the south east Florida coast, and miraculously we were able to skirt each one of them without hardly a rain drop of water felt on our heads.
We took turns finding tankers and cargo ships in the distance and watched them over a fixed point (such as a thumb held in front of an eye) to confirm they were on a different course than we were. As we hit the Gulf Stream our speed picked up to over 8 knots, even without the assist of wind, and we had to throttle back to keep from arriving too early at Port Canaveral. And so it went, as the afternoon turned into evening, the motor droned on as we skimmed along on our course home.

No Place to Hide

2008-07-14T09:51:00.000-07:00

From Hope Town, we started heading north for our return stateside. The weather went from iffy to down right crappy as we picked our way northwest to Great Sale. I wrote the storm story below in the cockpit the day after we experienced a particularly nasty storm that took us by surprise. On Thursday June 19, we pulled anchor from the ferry landing anchorage across from New Plymouth/Green Turtle.
We figured if we could keep a pace of 6.3 knots we could make the anchorage at Great Sale in time for cocktail hour. In hindsight, the plan was a bit ambitious considering that weather was calling for 100%thunderstorm coverage.
When we rounded the "corner" where Great Abaco meets Little Abaco we got hit with 27knot winds. Chris said "I don't want to sail in 40 knot winds and get beat up all day." Accusing him of being dramatic, I rolled my eyes and said "We're not sailing in 40 knot winds!" An hour after my bold proclamation as I was at the helm, I verified that the winds indeed were NOT 40 knots! They were 45 knots! We spent the next 6 hours teetering somewhere between sheer terror and exhaustion. There was no land mass in the area that could give us protection from the direction of the storm so our only option was to push through it. At times our trail on our chart plotter looked like spaghetti as we went in circles keeping the boat pointing into the cyclonic wind. When we were able to make headway, we could only eek out 2-3 knots at near wide open throttle. At one point I thought it had calmed enough for me to crawl up on deck to turn the dorades and snap the bottom of the dodger down (both of which were letting water into the cabin and causing soggy conditions below). At the very moment I got up on the deck, I felt the bottom fall out from under the boat as we screamed down the biggest wave of the day. I watched in slow motion, my fingers braced in death grips on the jackline and dorade sissy bar, as a wall of green water stood up over the top of my head and crashed down on top of me. When it cleared I looked at Chris through the dodger and his eyes, big as basketballs, met mine and neither of us said anything - just exhaled.
We fought this storm for more than two hours, and when we finally got through it, another monster storm chased us and was just at our backs for the next four hours. We limped into Great Sale at sundown - beaten, tired, wet, cold, hungry, but ever so relieved to be anchored.

Beautiful Hopetown

2008-07-11T04:48:00.000-07:00

The guidebooks made mention of the quaintness of Hopetown, but "quaint" does not do Hopetown justice. Hopetown is a small island with a lighthouse as its claim to fame. The lighthouse still operates on Kerosene and the weights that spin the lens are hand-cranked up to the top every night. It rises from the shoreline like a peppermint stick and can be seen for quite some distance. If you have read Jimmy Buffett's "A Salty Piece of Land" you are already familiar with this lighthouse. And yes, it really does have a Fresnel lens. The town that surrounds the lighthouse is postcard perfect. There is a thriving population of full-time residents on this island. The pastel colored houses are neatly maintained and most have white wedding-cake-like roofs. There is a slight variation in elevation throughout the island which provides some interest while strolling the streets. The narrow streets are trimmed with lush tropical plants and vines bearing an array of brightly colored flowers. The anchorage is tucked back inside a cut in the land and is only approachable to us at high tide. We opted to anchor on the outside so as not to have to negotiate the shallow cut. The island is slow and laid back - as it is with all the Bahamas - but more so here. It is not a really a place you want to go to party - unless your idea of fun is BINGO (and yes, there is a BINGO hall here). This is a place to soak up the history of the island chain, view the islands from atop the lighthouse, shop in the quaint stores and stop for an ice cream cone. I absolutely loved this island and it was just the right speed for me after spending three days at Guana.

Great Guana

2008-07-08T13:41:00.000-07:00

Our passage around the Whale, en route to Great Guana, turned out to be a non-event - we just had a few rolly polly swells at the mouth of the Atlantic. A short jaunt south and we found our way to Fisher's Bay. We elected to grab a mooring - $15 a day is cheap price to pay for a good night's sleep. (Sleeping in two hour increments on anchor watch gets old real quick.)
On our first exploration onto shore we immediately noticed a big contrast between this island and Green Turtle. The latter boasts a thriving population of local residents and businesses. Guana appeared to have few residents and its businesses catered primarily to tourists. It was interesting to finally see Grabbers and Nippers for myself - as I've heard others describe them often in the past. I also had to do my own survey to compare each establishment's slushy rum drink: Believe me I did a full blown study on the Grabber vs. the Nipper.
On our second day in Guana, we snorkeled the reefs in front of Nippers, swam in the Aqua-Velvet colored water and basked on the sugar white sand. After we had our fill of that, we lumbered up the brightly painted wooden stairway and found a poolside chair under a hula-skirted umbrella. As our bar tab will attest, their is some sort of force field poolside at Nippers that won't let you leave. Park drew pictures of tropical scenes as we swam and 'tested' many slushy, fruity rum drinks. One of Park's pictures now hangs above Nippers' bar. At Guana we met up with the other parts that we crossed with, and also connected with others we knew that were already in the islands when we arrived. Even our next-dock neighbors from Harbor Town were here. It was so cool having all our friends in paradise with us. I think there must have been 12 boats in Guana that we knew. We all did the pig roast at Nippers on Sunday and the BBQ at Grabbers on Saturday. When we weren't swimming/snorkeling we partied like rock stars. One night, our boat even got TP'd. Our three day visit to Guana was most excellent but went by in a flash.

Abacos: Mangrove to Green Turtle

2008-07-05T19:12:00.000-07:00

Our crossing (on the second try) was very nice and gentle. We crossed with 6 other boats from Lake Worth, leaving at ebb slack at 2:00 am and arrived in Mangrove Cay the afternoon of the following day. On the crossing, Mahi were nearly jumping into every one's boats. I heard at least three calls of "fish on" delivered via VHF. We started the phenomenon by landing a small female on our boat. My gaff job was less than pretty and she bled all over the cockpit. That afternoon we anchored with our crossing comrades at Mangrove. Raising our Q flag that evening was a right of passage that we had waited two years for. Our initial crossing group splintered off into separate groups. We buddied up with Jim and Tammy & crew on Sweet Chariot. Early the next morning we headed out with Sweet Chariot for a long slog to Spanish Cay for clearing customs. Once cleared, we exchanged our yellow Q's for the Bahamian courtesy flag - another sigh of relief, and another badge of honor. At this point I finally allowed myself to say "Phew! We really made it." That evening we anchored with our buddies Jim, Tammy and gang right outside the marina at Spanish Cay and snorkeled around the boats in the morning. It was so cool to be able to see the anchor laying on the sea floor below. After splashing around several hours we pulled anchor and headed to Green Turtle. Our ECSA friend Walt told us in advance of our trip to Bahamas that Wednesday was the night to be in Green Turtle. Well as luck would have it, we arrived on Tuesday and stayed there through Thursday. Wednesday evening found us loaded up in our dingys, headed for the Green Turtle Club for a little dancing under the tree. The Gully Roosters entertained us with their unique blend of island music - something between hillbilly and reggae - and made it impossible to keep our feet still. After a night of dancing like we were on hot coals, we enjoyed a day of snorkeling and beach combing. On our snorkel adventure we saw a Lion fish and many nice-sized lobsters. The spiney creatures taunted us, obviously well aware of the fact they were out of season. After our underwater adventure, we combed the white sugar sand of the nearby beach. Ahhh, I think I am going to like this vacation.
(note: this post is dedicated to Carla - my friend who thinks I am a slacker when it comes to prompt posting on my blog. I still luv you girl!)

Abacos Pictures

2008-06-27T05:29:00.000-07:00

Doing the YMCA on our run from Mangrove to Spanish Cay (to clear customs).
Arrival in Green Turtle Cay. We stayed here in the New Plymouth anchorage for a few days. Great snorkeling and fun town.
Next stop - Great Guana, home of the rivaling Nippers and Grappers. We tried a few of each! We stayed on a mooring in Fishers Bay for three days.
The wonderfully quaint island of Hopetown. One day is definately not enough time at this stop. A return visit is in order.

Holding a freighter on the way home - mid stream.

Monsters of the Sea

2008-06-21T17:45:00.000-07:00

Now here is a sea tale that is no tall tale. It happened only a few days ago. You see, I've been inside the belly of the monster, and I am here to recount the woeful story.

The Monster of the sea has an insatiable appetite for sailors. On this particular day it snuck up on us unaware and swallowed us whole - boat and crew. Alive and confused we were thrown in every conceivable direction. The belly of the Monster was a dark and frightening place - pitch black except for momentarily blinding and searing flashes of fire that poured from her nostrils. We prayed not to see, because sometimes not seeing is better. That said, nothing visual could compare with the eerie sound of her rumbling innards, which sound was far more frightening than anything that could be seen.

There were other poor souls entombed along with us. With every flash of light I caught a glimpse of their helpless faces that mirrored our own despair - Their vessels likewise thrashing to and fro - Their cries for help met with no relief. All attempts to escape were in vain. Despite our best and valiant efforts to flee the walls of the Monster’s womb proved impenetrable.

Then, just as we were ready to surrender completely, she spat us out in the same venomous manner in which she took us in. Silent deals were made with Neptune as we gathered our wits and ran from her. The Monster taunted and chased us for miles. The rumbling of her belly was painfully present just over our shoulders. Her fingers pawed at our backs as spears of fire flew from her finger tips.

Never before have I run so hard and so fast - completely exhausted, but ever so painfully aware of the awful place inside her loins. Finally, the Monster tired of our cat and mouse and went away. Bruised and battered, but alas alive, we limped our way into safe harbor.

Look into my eyes as I tell you this story and you will have no doubt that it is the truth. In that ocean there lives a Sea Monster, the likes of which I hope never to see again.

Down Island - Mon!

2008-06-12T06:51:00.000-07:00

We made it to the Abacos! Yeah! The crossing was as smooth as a magic carpet ride and the water here really is the color you see in the post cards. Right now we are anchored in Green Turtle Cay. The internet connection here is not great - but hey, who needs internet when you are in paradise? More details and pictures to follow.

Round and Round She Goes...

2008-05-30T09:43:00.000-07:00

The chores are done, the time for departure is at hand, and now there is yet one more hurdle that stands between me and my destination.

Even though I am powerless to provide any influence one way or the other, I pace the floor and watch the weather with deep consternation.

You see in order to get to the islands, we must cross a mighty stream running swiftly in a northly direction;

That river can be kind and gentle, but be warned sailor, for now is the time for reflection.

You see, that river is akin to a sleeping giant and she can be a tempest when awakened by an opposing wind from the north.

So my destiny lies in the palms of mother nature, who has taunted me for weeks by shifting her winds back and forth.

Memorial Weekend Cruise to Sebastian Inlet

2008-05-28T05:13:00.000-07:00

There are some days that move you. Some times when all the pieces just seem to fit together right. Some events that you will always remember in fine detail. This year's ECSA Memorial Day Weekend cruise was one that fits into each of the afore-mentioned catagories.
When we departed from Harbor Town on Saturday morning we would never have guessed that it would end up being a trip we'd fondly remember. It started out plain awful. We awoke early in order to make the 7:30 am opening of the bridge. We figured it would be an eight hour sail down to Sebastian, so we wanted to get an early start. All was well until half way down the barge canal when we throttled back to look at an alligator and the engine died. Turned the key - nothing. Turned it again, again, again - nothing. We dropped anchor (but were too close to the bank to really help) and Chris messed with the manual fuel pump while I held the boat off the bank with a boat pole. An hour later, we figured it out and, after a breif grounding, we were on our way. La Le Lu and her crew brought up the rear of an orderly progression of ECSA sailboats headed down the Indian River. The wind was out of the south west, a bit light and fluky at times, but was quite sail-able for most of the day. Just to keep us on our toes, we were treated to an angry thunder cell that passed right over the anchorage, as everyone was setting their hooks. Other than that, the Saturday evening cocktail hour was a relatively boring spectator’s event. No boats ran aground, no boats drug anchor, and we all were rocked gently to sleep. In fact, with the exception of the sound of some howling wolves (courtesy of the Conrads calling for the Windsors) and the hum of a dingy motor circling the anchorage, Saturday night was calm and peaceful with a lovely light breeze. It was so nice to have an extra day to play – every weekend should be three days long. On Sunday some folks fished, some went to the beach and tide pools, and other chatted in the pavilion with those arriving via land yacht. The weather was pleasant as was the company of fellow sailors. In total, by Sunday I think we had about 22 boats in the anchorage. A club BBQ/Potluck was followed by another good night at anchor, and Monday morning arrived with a brisk east wind. Before my eyes were even opened I heard the wind outside, smiled to myself and thought BEAM REACH! The wind was blowing almost directly out of the east and fairly steady at 14-17 knots. We all had an exhilarating sail up the river. I saw boats with their rails buried, and their captains at the helm wearing Cheshire grins. We flew up the river making 6.5 knots most of the way and even hit 7.1 for a few minutes. Chris enjoyed the sail so much that he said it more than made up for all the times in the past we have had to motor into a headwind. At one point when we were really healing, Chris went to check on Park down in the cabin to see if she was scared. Quite to the contrary, she and the cats had found a comfy spot on the leeward side and had settled in for a little cat nap.

Cosmic Bus Ride

2008-05-15T07:57:00.000-07:00

This picture was taken in the early morning, on the way to the Miami boat show, prior to consumption of even a drop of rum!

Good Friends and Fried Fish

2008-05-15T06:42:00.000-07:00

At this year's fish fry the weather was delightful and the food was delicious. However, everything else pales in comparison to the commaraderie of the sailors who attend our events. Like my favorite sneakers or old pair of levi 501s - my fellow sailors in ECSA just fit right. There is something unspeakably comfortable about being around people who share your passions.

Two more things off the list

2008-04-27T12:17:00.000-07:00

Today it is official - We are over the top of the apex on our pre-departure (Bahamas) boat projects list - it's downhill from here on out! I've heard it said that the real joy of anything worth doing is in the planning and preparation. If that's true - we rightly should be ecstatic. This past weekend we tackled the two remaining big projects on our list: new battery and door installs. Chris some how managed to muscle off our old, very large, very heavy batteries and put on four new very large, very heavy batteries - all without injury or incident. When I arrived on the boat Friday night, the new batteries were in, the old batteries were out, and all appeared to be working appropriately. We even had an opportunity to put the batteries to the test when the marina power went out Saturday night. All systems go.

Next order of business - install our new custom companionway doors (made by www.zorcor.com ). We got off to a rocky start on this project. First, we noticed that the instruction video, which was the only form of instructions that came with the doors, was for the wrong boat - totally differant installation. Then Chris ran into a guy that had the same doors built for his boat. The guy told Chris his installation took three days. Not ones to back away from a challange, we started our door install. For a couple of hacks, they look pretty good. Trouble must have had the day off, because miraculously, it did not show its face. In the 24 hours that we have had doors, we are very much enjoying them and don't know how we went so long without them.
The pre-departure list now is pathetically short and easy - Yippee!

Why do anchors only come up after midnight?

2008-04-07T07:09:00.000-07:00

You see that big red power boat in the photo above? I must say it is much scarrier looking at midnight when it is dragging anchor and coming at you. I'll back up a bit. Chris, Park, Coco and I headed out Saturday morning to meet up with the Windsors who were bringing their new boat home from Fort Pierce. The plan was to meet at Marker 21. The wind blew from the south at about 30 knots most of the day, so we motored all the way. We have a good dodger/canvas, so really, it was not a bad day at all. Me and Chris listened to tunes in the cockpit and Park/Coco watched movies in our cabin. We got to Marker 21 just before 5pm, and saw Imagine tucked in behind the island. She looked even prettier in person that in the pictures.
We got LaLeLu anchored, situated, and headed over to say hi to the Windsors. The island gave us good protection from the wind, and we had a very enjoyable evening complete with lightening displays passing by on either side of us. It was very entertaining watching the magnificent lightening in the distance, while chatting with our buddies and drinking a rum/coke. When we went to bed, it was completely calm and still. Of course, as all sailors know, the wind is mischevious and enjoys playing a good trick whenever the opportunity presents. At about midnight, we were awakened by the unmistakable low howl of a thunder cell. The dodger was shaking and the bow was bouncing and slapping. Chris went up into the cockpit and I heard him yell "Kenny!" Next thing I knew, he was zipping off in the dingy and I saw Imagine slipping sideways over towards the Island. I watched from our cockpit as Imagine got resituated, while the big red power boat made several unsuccessful attempts to do the same. It never could get reset and finally ended up motoring and waiting it out in the channel. By morning, the big red boat was back in the anchorage. It was a rough night - but no damage done and by morning, we had all earned a new badge. The trip back home was suprisingly calm. We tried a few times to sail and hoisted the headsail. The wind was pitifully light, so it was a day of motoring again. Our cat Coco took it all in stride - here's a picture of her taken during one of her many cat naps.

An Afternoon Cockpit Gathering

2008-03-24T05:11:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we were finally able to answer that nagging question, "Just how many people can you fit comfortably in your cockpit." The answer is 8. Kenny and Pam stopped by the marina last Saturday to fill us in on the details of their new boat acquision / survey results. While we were chatting, Paul and Carla stopped by to hear the details. Brandon rode his bike over and joined us. It turned into a very entertaining impromptu' cockpit party.

Also in these photos you should take notice of my latest efforts. LaLeLu is now sporting new weather cloths and fresh varnish. The fun never ends with boat maintenance.

Coco the Wonder Kittie

2008-03-03T04:50:00.000-08:00

Meet Coco - our new boat cat. We have dubbed her "Coco the Wonder Kittie" - not because she is wonderful, although she is - rather because we are always wondering where she is. You wouldn't think a cat would be so successful finding hiding spots on a 40' boat. She has her regular hiding places that we are familiar with - such as the "cat cave" (under a shelf and behind the pillows of the forward berth). She also has some mystery hiding spots.
We thought we lost her one time. We searched the entire boat - or so we thought. Not able to find her on the boat, we began searching the marina grounds and even drove the frontage road calling for her. Very sadly, we returned to the boat without our Coco. Then Park's friend heard a faint "meow." Turned out the wonder cat was in a food cupboard, perched in a basket full of microwave popcorn.

Tooting My Own Horn

2008-01-28T09:00:00.000-08:00

At the ECSA (East Coast Sailing Association www.ecsasail.com) banquet this year, I was very pleased and surprised to receive The Dot Hardenstein Award. This award is presented to the female member who has helped the club meet its original purpose, which in part states… “its members shall actively encourage the highest standards of yachting safety, integrity, courtesy and camaraderie.” Wow! What an honor. It chokes me up just thinking about it.

I am also duly honored to be serving as ECSA's Vice Commodore for 2008. This picture shows the 2008 elected officers and governors. I think we have an awesome group this year and am very excited for the challenge.

Things that Make You Go Ahhhhh!

2008-01-28T04:50:00.000-08:00

On Saturday we made a run down the river to Ballard Park for an ECSA weekend cruise. Didn't matter that it was cold. Didn't matter that the wind was too light. Didn't matter that we had to run the motor the whole way there. It just felt good to be on the water.

This was the first time we arrived at the Ballard Park cruise by boat. It is a really neat little cove that surrounds a state park. The boats nestle in the mud right along the banks and tie to shore onto trees. Joe C was such a gentleman to go around in his dingy and set everyone's stern anchor. We had 12 boats in the anchorage and another on the outside.

At some point during the night the wind picked up and a few boats were playing bumper boats. There was a flury of dingies just before dawn, as boats came unhooked from eachother and resituated. The wind continued to build and everyone was a bit uneasy at departure time. Once out of the protected cove, the river was a tempest. The wind was blowing steady at 25 knots out of the north (on the nose of course)and we saw gusts up to 30 knots. There were actual waves on the river. The water was so choppy that our depth sounder went wacky. A few of the smaller boats were not able to make any headway and had to tuck in for the night. LaLeLu pushed along at a respectable 6 knots. Chris and I were cozy under the canvas with jackets, coffee and blankets.

To top it all off, we had a dolphin escort us all the way down the barge canal on our way home. Park and I hung our feet over the side and ohhh/ahhh'd.

Out for a Quickie

2008-01-23T09:06:00.000-08:00

LaLeLu is no stranger to the sling. She's been hauled out five times in the two years that we have owned her. Watching your 22k pound boat suspended from nylon straps is not for the faint of heart. No worries - everything went well.

This time we hauled her in order to permanently fix the shaft seal (that started giving us trouble in November). Mark of Marine Pro, who probably knows LaLeLu's running gear/engine better than anyone else on this planet, installed a new shaft seal. Chris took the opportunity with the boat out of the water to scrape the barnacles off and install a new sacrificial zinc to the shaft. She's back in the water and ready to go!

End of the Year Reflections

2007-12-14T10:11:00.000-08:00

As the end of another year nears, I find myself being pulled every which direction. `Tis the season I guess. The boat stuff takes a momentary back seat on my priority list as the holiday routine moves center stage. 2007 went by in the blink of an eye – 2008 is lurking just around the corner. Seems an appropriate topic for a blog entry.

The Florida Conrads continue to enjoy the warm weather that Orlando graces us with. The close proximity to the ocean isn’t a bad thing either. It’s hard to believe that we have been here for more than four years now.
As much as we miss our families and friends in Idaho, California, Texas, Arizona and Utah, the glue that keeps us here has a strong bond. Today, as I type this entry, our high temp is supposed to reach 80. Chris commented that he was bored with the warm weather. I’ll bet three days in Idaho right now would cure him of his boredom. I am not as bashful at admitting that I do like 80 degree days in December. Admittedly, snow is pretty, but I prefer to enjoy it on TV or inside a snow globe. I distinctly recall that it is not so pretty when it is on my driveway and needs to be shoveled.

As I sit here trying to recall the highlights of the year, friends and family come to the forefront of my mind. Looking through photos helps me put the year into chronological order. This past spring, Debbie met up with her daughter Alison following a pre-wedding cruise, and our guest room was again at max capacity. Rod and Lisa had reservations for a few weeks following Debbie and Alison's departure and Sharon and Ed rounded out the year of visitors. Living in paradise does help encourage visitors – I doubt we would get near as many if we lived in Fargo, ND.

After school let out for summer break, we set out on our planned Bahamas trip. Jace and Amber joined. Unfortunately the weather did not permit our crossing to the Bahamas, but we made the best of it and hung out in Ft. Lauderdale, Miami and the Keys instead. There are several blog entries below detailing the trip. Hopefully, 2008 will be a better year for getting to the Bahamas.

This summer, Rod and Lisa ended their 2-year boat adventure and moved back to Boise. Bitter sweet for them - I am sure. For a few weeks, their boat was in a slip one down from ours. It was fun having them and their boat so close. Now their boat is in the yard at Harbor Town (our marina) so we still go visit her every now and then.

In July the Florida Conrads went to Boise for Alison’s wedding. It was the first time I had been back to Boise since we left for Florida. Amber wasn’t able to join us because it conflicted with her departure date for USCG bootcamp in Cape May, NJ. The wedding was beautiful and made for a good opportunity to visit with family. While in Boise, Chris and I stopped in at our old jobs and visited with former employers and co-workers. We got to see and spend some time with Robin Labrie, Paul Grisham, and Marce Barrera. We drove around our old neighborhood (The Boson’s weren’t home but I could tell they still lived there because of the flower color-combo out front - it was signature Leslie.) We got to tour Robin Labrie’s new subdivision (what talent that girl has!) It was great to see everyone that we did see – but sad that we did not get to see everyone we wanted to.

The fall brought a sad event for us – Park’s cat Taffy had to be put to sleep. She had been with us in Boise, and made the long drive to Florida in the backseat of Chris’ truck. One of my most vivid memories of that drive is Taffy screaming Meeeoooooow, Meeeeoooow for 2700 miles - Park read her stories and, occasionally, the cries would subside. Taffy had been sick for a long time – she had been diagnosed with diabetes shortly after we arrived in Orlando. Even still, it was very hard to say goodbye to her.

Fall also brought another big event – Amber left for Port Huron where she was stationed for active coast guard duty. It was sad to see her leave, but she makes us all so proud. She plans to start Airman’s school (in Detroit) in January or March, 2008 and then go on to AST training in North Carolina. Her goal is to become a rescue swimmer. Lofty goal indeed – currently there are only 2 women AST’s in the USCG. If anyone can do it – I have faith that Amber can.

Brandon landed an internship at a company that makes computer programs for retailers. He finally got to say adios to Walmart. No more working on Christmas Eve – yeah. He is still living with us, and has one more semester at UCF.

Park is in her first year of middle school. It was a bit of an adjustment for her at first – but now she is doing great. All of her classes are advanced placement and she gets almost all A’s. Smart kid – wonder where she gets that?

As always, this year was packed with ECSA and other boating adventures. Some of the highlights are featured in the entries below. The majority of our weekends and vacation days were spent either sailing or working on the boat. We love LaLeLu, but she is very demanding.

More than any year previously, this year I felt myself frequently in a tug of war with time - the current of life. I guess time moves as fast as you let it. My goals for 2008 will be to enjoy more sunsets, sleep in longer on Sundays, and spend more time floating on the raft in the pool. I am looking forward to the challenge.

Pinedaville 2007

2007-11-20T10:25:00.001-08:00

Another Pinedaville has come and gone. Sharon and Ed flew in Thursday and we were supposed to head down the river to join the party on Friday. This is the second time we have started a voyage on a Friday, and the second time that we have been sorry that we did. The morning was uneventful. Everyone took showers and did their last minute boat preparations. By noon LaLeLu was packed and running. As soon as Chris put her in gear it was obvious that something was wrong – the engine squealed and I could feel the boat “squat.” We cleared the dock and I frantically pulled open the lazerrette to have a look at the beast. Big trouble was apparent – water was coming in through the shaft and the shaft seal intake hose was wrapped around the shaft. At this point we had no way to get back in the slip and were drifting forward into the alley. I took the helm and Chris tried to stop the water by wrapping his shirt around the shaft log. Fortunately people on the dock saw the epic unfolding and Sharon and Ed threw lines. They pulled us to the T-head and before we even got all the way to the dock, I jumped onto the dock and ran to find the Yanmar mechanics that I saw there earlier that morning. We narrowly avoided haulout - the Yanmar guys were able to pull the shaft and replace the seal with the boat in the water. Phew! Bad news was that by the time we got her put back together, we were too late to make the last opening on the State Road 3 Bridge. We weren’t going anywhere that Friday – Score was Murphy - 1, Conrads and Guests - 0.

We drove over to the Pineda causeway to join our comrades for pizza. As usual, Jim and Donna exceeded expectations with their 10th annual version of Pinedaville. At first we were bummed that our boat was not among those in the anchorage, but as the sun started setting and the temps dropped, we started thinking that reverse cycle heat might be a nice thing. We stayed and chatted a bit, ate some pizza, and stayed until our butts were frozen and then headed back to the boat. Sharon made a cute little wind breaker out of a garbage sack – nice job McGyvor.

Saturday morning at about O’dark thirty we unplugged, untied and headed LaLeLu down the river so she could join her friends. The wind was behind us and very light. Spinnaker weather. We raised the chute and motor-sailed all the way under just Spinnaker. You get so much attention with that pretty sail up. People that passed on the river radio’d to tell us how pretty she looked. We flew it all they way to the anchorage and only doused it when we turned to anchor. Quite an impressive way to arrive into the anchorage. We got anchored at about 10:30 am and went into costume mode. The 2007 theme was cartoon characters. Our entry was Cat in the Hat. We loaded up into the dingy to make our grand entrance. Chris sat in the front ‘steering’ his fake cartoon steering wheel, Park shook her morroccas, Sharon honked the air horn, and Ed’s whirly hat spun madly in the breeze. We won the Best Costume award. Quite an honor.

Solar Stik Brian and his gorgeous wife Stephanie were there in their boat Empty Pockets. The weather was beautiful, and we had a fun day playing games and visiting with everyone. When the sun went down the campfires popped up and the music kept going and going. I tried to do my part in burning up the dance floor. Chris didn’t feel well so he hung out on the boat – bummer.

On Sunday we packed up and headed up the river with a group of others, including Brian and Stephanie. Fortunately for us, Brian is a maniac with the camera and he took gobs of pictures of us underway. In fact, I think that if we printed out all of his pictures and put them in a flip book, we could make them into a moving picture. We had a great time and, as I sit here typing this, I am already thinking about next year.

How do you come back?

2007-10-25T08:06:00.001-07:00

The photos in this post are of our good friends Rod and Lisa (see their link in the side bar). They are photos that will accompany the soon-to-be listing on their boat. The photo titles read “Reaching off Vieques” and “Running wing and wing off Viesques.” When I saw them I thought, How cool to have such photos documenting that experience. My next thought was, how sad for them that it is over.

How do you re-direct at the end of the journey? Two years ago, Rod and Lisa quit their professional jobs, sold their beautiful house that overlooked a canyon/river, sold all their belongings, said goodbye to their friends/family, bought a boat and headed south. They confided in us that there were times along their journey where they hit their peak emotional lowest lows, and other times they experienced the highest highs. Almost in unison, they summed up their experience as being life changing – but didn’t elaborate on what that meant. There’s a blog entry that they posted on returning to their boat (on anchor in Luperon) after a visit to the states that I think explains it:

Julio drove with one arm atop the red Samsonite to keep it from landsliding onto him. And we were off on a typical Dominican taxi ride - fast and chaotic, but with a very friendly driver who seemed at ease with the other loco drivers.
It was a relief to be back to the boat and see that all was well. Instead of experiencing the anticipated culture shock upon returning to the D.R. after being back in the States, we found a comfortable familiarity. On our way back to Luperon I smiled as we passed a boy riding a burro down the side of the road. Smiled again at the sight of the typical game of dominoes taking place on a sidewalk table with players slapping their dominoes down with furrowed brows. Smiled at the sight of a beautiful young Dominican woman strolling confidently along with gigantic pink and blue rollers in her hair. Then I noticed I was just simply smiling. As much as we enjoyed our visit "home", it was good to be home. Oh sure, I miss running water and toilet paper in public restrooms but all in all it's good to be back.
When they first got back to civilization they thought they would just keep the boat dry docked – ready to go should the opportunity present itself. They recently decided that having that option available was too much of a distraction to their re-integration and have decided to sell her. Seeing the listing is hard for me to stomach. I don’t know, maybe I just think too much.

Just a Few Miles West of Crazy...

2007-10-19T09:16:00.000-07:00

And I'm Driving As Fast As I Can.

It’s Friday at last (deep breath in, exhale). As a full-fledged, card-carrying member of the Monday through Friday rat race, weekends are my solace. The car trunk is packed with the necessary items to accomplish this weekend’s boat projects, and I just need to get through the day. The focus I was able to manage in the morning gave way to excuses in the afternoon. I convince myself that “nothing’s so important it can wait until next week.” Transported back to third grade – I watch as the time painfully, s l o w l y passes, click by click, on the imaginary big round clock above the chalkboard. I know I won’t make it all the way to 5:00 pm today. The big hand surely will be south of the 12 as I am driving out the parking lot and heading east. I will battle with the other rats for pole position, while detoxifying my soul with the help of Civil Servants, Jimmy Buffett or Lyle Lovett. Thoughts of deadlines and commitments fading into mindless thoughts of nothing with each mile I drive. The weight accumulated during the week will gradually lift from my shoulders – a vague memory as I pull into the marina entrance. I firmly observe the rules of D Dock: Rule Number 1 - Leave your baggage at the end of the dock. Someone pour me a rum and coke.

The Story of Me

2007-10-15T05:24:00.001-07:00

Once there was a girl born to a family with a good pedigree. She grew up under the warm southern California sun and lived a predictable life. Somehow or another, the sea seeped into her veins without her knowledge or permission. I suppose it just happens that way when you are raised at sea level.

Her family owned a trawler and she spent many weekends crossing from Marina Del Ray to Catalina Island. When the sea was kind, you could find her belly-down on the foredeck – head resting on the teak toe rail, searching the bottomless green gray waters of the Pacific for jelly fish. When the sea was fierce, you could find her belly-down over the engine room floorboards - the hum and vibration of the engines, and the smell of diesel always kept her from getting sick.

Ironically, sailing never entered her mind until she had moved far from the ocean. What a silly notion that a girl in landlocked Idaho would be interested in sailing. As predictable as Pandora opening the box, the girl’s first sailboat awakened a sleeping passion. I am told that this passion can lie dormant in the soul for years, only to be re-awakened by the smell of marsh and salt air. Sailing was the catalyst that brought her back home to sea level. To the blue waters of the Atlantic - the opposite side - but home nevertheless.

The girl, now a woman, bears a tattoo of waves on her back and she submits that the ocean is her equilibrium. She lives in Florida but dreams of a day that she will have no home port. Most close to her don’t understand her passion - hobbies should not consume people, they reason. She supposes that those not born at sea level can never understand. Some passions run deep and flow through the veins, like heroin to the addict.

No Particular Place to Go

2007-08-07T09:50:00.000-07:00

Sunday, Aug 5, 2007 LaLeLu leaves her slip for the first time since returning from our epic two-week journey to nowhere and back. Even at 9:00 am it was clearly going to be a hot day. Almost too hot to move, but we didn't let that stop us. We ventured out Port Canaveral and bobbed like a cork under barely a whisper of wind. We weren't the only ones out there. Shamelessly flaunting the addiction that afflicts every sailor, there were others in search of a little wind with which to fill their sails. The wind Gods finally took pity on us. Gradually, almost imperceptibly at first, a nice breeze began filling our sails. It built to 14 knots and LaLeLu skipped along on a nice beam reach. Enjoying absolutely everything and doing absolutely nothing I rested my head on the cushion of the port settee and hung my legs over the cockpit coaming. I listened with one ear to the rush of water against the hull, and with the other ear to Jimmy Buffet. I picked up on some lyrics. I've heard them many times but never paid them much attention until this day - the day when I proclaimed them to be profound. Seems Jimmy bought a watch with no numbers and no hands. This watch simply says "now." Some might think perhaps the watch is broken, but Jimmy thinks the watch works just fine. I understood he was telling me to find a blessing in every day and don't take time for granted. In times when things are going wrong, his advice is simple: "Breathe in, breathe out, and then move on." I am thinking how paradoxical - we master the keeping of time, only to become its slave. "Brrmmppp, Brrrmmmppppppppp" - I am jolted out of deep thought by the cruise ship horns. I know instinctively that it is 4:00 pm - regretfully, time is still my master and it is telling me it was time to go home. Like obedient children, back through the locks, down the barge canal and into our slip we go. I am resolved – and only just a bit sad, for I know that new adventures are just around the corner - of that, I am certain. Life is good. Drink it up.

Headed Home

2007-08-07T06:01:00.000-07:00

We left Lake Worth headed North on the intracoastal – it was Tuesday morning and gone were the throngs of party animals that had overtaken Peanut Island just one week earlier. In fact, the scenery looked completely different than it had on our way South. A few ski boats zoomed around, most evidentially being driven by the out-of-school-for-the-summer children of the boats’ owners. We only had one close encounter - one opportunity to use our air horn - a really long blast aimed at some punk-kid skiers that crossed their tow line directly in front of our boat. In fact, had the skier not fallen off, we would have hit him. I yelled at them until the veins in my face nearly popped out. I don’t know if they fully appreciated their near death experience, but I assure you that they will never forget the crazy screaming lady with the air horn.

The voyage up the river was lovely – if you have never experienced the color of the water around Jupiter Inlet, you haven’t lived. It looks like it is died with food coloring because no river could possibly be naturally colored that turquoise blue. We hustled and made it through the bridges one-by-one, barely catching each openings on their half-hour schedule. Arrival in Peck Lake was early afternoon.

After anchoring we unloaded into the dingy, pulled up to shore and crossed the dune to check out the Atlantic side. Tropical Storm Barry had completely re-landscaped the beachside. There were so many shells that you could barely see the sand. The air was still and the ocean was lying down - flashing us with all variations of the color turquoise under a lazy late afternoon sun. Absolutely breathtaking.

We hung out a few days, did some snorkeling, did some exploring, did some shelling. Park enjoyed checking out the sea turtle nests, surveying them closely for evidence of hatchlings. Except for a few occasional visitors, we had a private beach. Park proclaimed it Kaleidoscope beach – aptly so I thought, considering how it had changed so drastically over the time between our visits. Three days later, we reluctantly packed up, pulled anchor and headed for home.

Friday evening we found ourselves in familiar waters and anchored at Sebastian just south of the inlet. We were treated to a rocket launch as we sat in the cockpit. You got to love a place that provides this type of entertainment for its weary travelers. The setting sun caused a strange illumination of the rocket’s left over smoke plume. We thought it looked like the Northern Lights.

Saturday afternoon and we were at Harbor Town – Just in time for D Dock Happy Hour. The journey was over and we were in the familiar comfort of our D Dock comrades. Bitter sweet indeed.

Perfect Day

2007-06-29T09:17:00.000-07:00

Tropical Storm Barry was well north of us and we could have left Bayside a day earlier. We opted to stay put for one more day. The Velcro of Miamarina had a firm hold on us. In the wake of the tropical storm the weather took a turn for beautiful, and the allure of sitting in our sport-seats, listening to the live music playing across the way at Bayside, was too great to resist. The morning of departure day came in gently. We left the marina early, determined to pass through the inlet on something other than full ebb. When we got to the Government Cut inlet we thought, “What’s this? No raging 10’ rapids?” What a difference leaving at the right time, in the right conditions can make. LaLeLu drifted effortlessly out into the Atlantic, which was equally as docile. We headed out in search of the Gulf Stream – hoping for a nice push northward.

We may not have realized we were in the stream had it not been for the fact that we were traveling at an amazing 9.4 knots and our depth finder was simply reading “deep.” The mighty stream was lying down as flat as a lake – a beautiful, calm, indescribably indigo blue, lake. It took just about all of our will power not to hang a sharp right and head for the Bahamas. Bummer! These were the conditions you dream of in anticipation of a crossing. Heavy sigh! Hard to be depressed for too long, though, as we were flying along at speeds unfamiliar to our hull and soaking in every second of it.

We put out two fishing lines: one set up with a Mackerel lure, the other rigged for Dorado. Whizzzzzzzz! The Mackerel line got a hit first. “FISH ON.” Chris started reeling in, but our 50 lb test line snapped like it was old dental floss. Don’t know what it was, but it must have been big. Not more than fifteen minutes later, the reel on the Dorado pole was spinning. This pole is rigged for big fish, with much heavier line. We were so excited that we forgot to slow the boat down. Chris was fighting the reel while the boat steamed full speed ahead. (We were motor-sailing as there was only 5-7 knots of wind). I let him sweat it out a bit before it occurred to me put the boat in neutral. Twenty or so yards off our stern we saw the green and blue flash of scales jumping from the water, confirming that we did indeed have a Dorado on line. After fumbling around in our inexperience, trying to get a good spot for the poke, we gaffed her, pulled her onboard, and gave her a long, stiff shot of Vodka. Apparently the Vodka drowns the fish quick and lessons its suffering.
Neither Chris nor I possess good hunter/killer skills, and I apologized profusely to the beautiful fish. It was a small female – about 3’ in length. (That’s small for a Dorado). The Vodka took longer than I hoped, and she looked up at me with huge, yellow, marble-like eyes, and flared her gills a few last times before becoming still. I almost suggested putting her back and trying to pretend it never happened. I bit my lip, tried not to cry and mustered up a bit of macho from somewhere deep. Chris had obviously paid close attention to the pre-departure instructions given by our D-Dock neighbors - He quickly filleted the fish by making two long slices, starting behind each gill and exiting at the tail. No guts, no skinning – just two perfect filets. Before I knew it, the fish carcass was slipping back into the blue water. As I released the carcass overboard I thought about how happy we just made the predator fish who would stumble upon such an easy snack. I imagined it would likely be a shark.
The filets went into the fridge and we took our lines out of the water. No more fishing today – the two good-sized filets would feed us for a few meals. Time for a new diversion – Ahhh, yes, the Spinnaker.

Our spinnaker has lived under the forward pullman berth since we purchased the boat more than a year ago. Conditions must be just right to fly it. The wind must be less than 10 knots and no more than fifteen degrees port or starboard of dead down wind. On this day we had a l m o s t just-right conditions and, with just a minor adjustment to our heading, we thought we could fly it.

Mind you, this pretty sail has only seen the light of day one time previously on our watch, while we were firmly tied to the dock, just to see if we could figure out how to attach all the things that need to be attached. Taking it out for the second time, in the middle of the stream and actually trying to make the boat move with it, was an all together differant experience. After a bit of fumbling around, tying-untying-retying knots, and moving around blocks and shackles, we were sailing along under spinnaker. LaLeLu was proudly being carried along by our big, colorful and billowing sheet of nylon. I burned that moment into my permanent memory banks. Everything after that was gravy – but it didn’t stop there. The ocean continued to be beautiful and gentle, and our speed continued to be impressive. Entry into Lake Worth Inlet was as easy as our exit from Governor’s Cut and the fried Dorado we ate for dinner was tasty and went down well with a rum/coke, while watching the sun set from the cockpit. As close to a perfect day as I have ever experienced.

Laying Low at Miamarina

2007-06-29T05:06:00.000-07:00

The day after we arrived at Bayside, Miamarina, the weather started clearing. Barry was headed for parts north and taking his ugly clouds with him. The weather started breaking at about 9:00 am, and since Amber and Jace weren't heading off to the airport until 2:00 pm, we decided to head over to south beach. We cabbed it over to News Cafe and had a wonderful breakfast. After that we walked Ocean and Collins and showed the girls the sights. We took a photo on the steps on which Varsace was murdered, gawked at the high-priced items in the boutiques, stuck our feet in the sand on beach, and looked in the windows of Miami Ink. I think that about covers it for a day trip to South Beach - of course, a night trip to South Beach involves a completely differant itinarary. Next time. Back at Miamarina, the girls got their stuff and headed for the Miami Airport. Now there were three: Chris, Susan and Park. We were getting short on supplies, so after the girls left, we grabbed a backpack and headed to town.

Downtown Miami is just a quick walk from Bayside. The buildings are impressive, although it would appear to be a city in a state of flux and rapid growth. There is a crane atop almost every building - as real estate is being added to the tops. Very cool place though - thick with culture. We found a Walgreens and checked off the items on our list: Cereal, Soda, Beer, and nail polish. All very essential to our comfort level for the upcoming trip home.

BAYSIDE

2007-06-28T10:00:00.000-07:00

Life was good at Bayside, even though the weather wasn't. When we arrived, Trop Storm Barry was still causing trouble. That didn't stop us. Bayside has an array of open air (but covered with a roof) shopping/dining/entertainment establishments. The rain outside was only noticible when we had to run back to the boat for something. We all agreed on crab legs for dinner - but learned that the only place that served them was Hooters. I stood outside Hooters and peered around - everyone was fully clothed. That was good. Waitresses were wearing tight shirts and small shorts - so what, so was everyone else in Miami. Decision made - the family would be dining at Hooters. When the five orders of crab legs arrived at the table we concentrated on finessing every last bit out of each crab leg - we picked, peeled, snapped and broke the shells and slathered the salty, white meat in generous quantities of drawn butter. Yummm!

Then we spotted him - over by the bar. We had warned Amber and Jace that celeb citings were a regular thing in Miami. After all, this is where we saw P. Diddy (or would that be the artist formerly known as?) right across the street from where we were eating breakfast. "Look" Amber said in a hushed voice, muffled by her cupped hand, "it's uncle Vito." Sure enough it was and Amber jumped up to have a photo with him. That was a nice surprise to kick off our time in Bayside. We ended up staying for three days. The living was good here and life was easy. Even the marina bill was cheap ($75 night - much better than the $125 we paid at Pier 66 in Lauderdale).

TROP STORM BARRY

2007-06-28T09:53:00.001-07:00

Another first – caught in a storm with a name. The morning we departed from Elliott Key we could see on the XM Weather that we were surrounded by a big storm. At that time of our departure, the report was calling it a tropical depression. The clouds on the satellite covered most of the state of Florida – there was no getting around it or waiting it out. We knew we were in for a really wet ride. The morning started out cloudy and spitting rain. The wind was still coming at us at about 25k, but an interesting change was occurring. The east wind that had followed us for the last week was now turning south. Uh-oh, we thought, the south is where all the tropical disturbances comes from. The rain increased until it became a blinding downpour. We traveled under motor alone, taking turns at the helm. Waves crashed violently over the bow and slapped against the dodger. Rain was blowing at every conceivable angle and we were completely soaked through – even my toes were waterlogged. When we got to Riddenbacker bridge we couldn’t see which spans the channel went through and had to blindly rely on our chart plotter. The sight of Bayside Miamarina was very comforting, and we were glad to be safely tied to a dock while Barry passed overhead.

Elliott Key

2007-06-21T17:18:00.000-07:00

The water around Elliott Key was skinny, so we anchored quite a ways out in about 7' water. The afternoon of our arrival we dingied to shore - it was a long, wet ride. We picked around in the tidal pools and found some really cool hermit crabs. Jace, our resident hermit crab expert, proclaimed that the crabs were Caribbean crabs as evidenced by their big, bright purple claw. As the sun was setting, the mosquitoes started getting hungry, sending us into a slapping, yelling and jumping frenzy. Back at the boat, the girls took turns braiding each other's hair. Amber fashioned a really strange thing in my hair that resembled a hairy spider. Park got a Bahamas braid and bead hair-do.

The following day, we loaded in the dingy and headed over to the Atlantic side of the Key. Our guide books said that there were a lot of shells on the other side. We went through the cut between Sand Key and Elliott Key. We beach hopped down the Atlantic side in search of shells and other treasures. The beach was littered with shells of all sizes. It was also (sadly) littered with litter. There was broken glass bottles, plastic bottles, lawn chairs, shoes, fishing floats and nets, and plastic bags. The strangest thing I saw was an IV drip bag. This island is uninhabited. I guess the trash just floats around in the ocean until it washes up onto shore somewhere.

After several hours of beach combing we decided it was time to head back to the boat. One thing we did not factor into our calculations was the tide. When we came through the cut, it was high tide. Chris and I let out a collective "oops" as we realized that the tide was falling fast and the cut was nearly dry. We each grabbed a side of the dink and drug it by hand across the few remaining inches of water. To make matters worse, the tide was in full ebb and we had to fight a swift current in the shallow water that wrapped itself around our ankles and tried to push us in the opposite direction. We made it back into deep water and gratefully started our outboard engine. Back at LaLeLu we donned our snorkel gear to take a closer look at the bottom.

That evening the XM weather forcast was bleak. We were planning to forge on to Key Largo in the morning. The forecast of a potential tropical system brewing in the Yucatan caused us to change plans and run for cover in Miami. Part of our decision was based on the fact that Amber and Jace needed to leave in two days. We needed to be somewhere that we could arrange their departure. Hunkering down and waiting for a storm to pass would not give us an opportunity to orchestrate their get-away. Another monkey wrench - no problem, we were getting good at shifting gears.

Florida Keys

2007-06-21T05:28:00.001-07:00

Departure morning from Ft. Lauderdale was a bit scary. We were docked inbetween two mega yachts (one reportedly worth $50 million), in a slip that was twice the appropriate size for our boat. Our stern lines didn't even reach the aft pilings. We had visions of leaving a gel coat trail alongside the lovely 100’ motor yacht, Miss Breanne. Just in case, we snuck out of our slip very early so that there would be no witnesses. Phew! The wind was light and there was no contact made between LaLeLu and any other boats.

We headed out to the main channel in anticipation of the next bridge opening. While circling and conducting our other water ballet maneuvers, we spotted another ECSA boat, Soggy Paws. They were getting ready to make the opening with us. Very cool how many people we saw along the way that we knew or had some sort of connection to.

Under the bridge, another rodeo ride out the inlet, and we were off. We sailed fairly close to shore, at about 60’ depth. The ride was a bit rough, but not too bad. The girls were able to handle it fine – completely un-medicated. Soggy Paws, who was right behind us, hailed to see where we headed. Our initial plan was to go in at Biscayne Channel. Friends of ours told us that the cut was fairly well marked and had only a few spots you had to watch for coral. When we got down a bit past Government Cut, we decided that these were not the kind of conditions that one should be forging into unknown territory, and we turned around to follow Soggy Paws into Govt. Cut. We were glad that we were following because the route has changed since the last time we went through. You no longer have to go by the cruise ships.

It was really odd to see the buildings of Miami right up to the water’s edge. It felt like we were driving the boat along the streets of downtown. We zigged and we zagged through town, girls on the bow, and following Soggy Paws under the Rickenbacher bridge into Biscayne Bay. The sail from there was very nice; although the persistent 20 – 25 knot east wind got fluky at times so we decided to reduce sail for a flatter ride. We arrived at Elliott Key early afternoon. Yippeeee! We were in the Keys.

Land Ho! Ft. La-tee-dah!

2007-06-20T05:21:00.001-07:00

Our trip from Lake Worth to Ft. Lauderdale was the turning point for us. Time to face the music, address that monkey wrench in the plan, the fly in the ointment. Up until this point, we deluded ourselves into thinking that it was going to be possible to make our crossing to the Bahamas. Sunday night in Lake Worth came/went. We never got the quick weather window promised to us by the NOAA reporter of undistinguishable dialect (this will only make sense to you if you have ever listened to the NOAA weather guy). We had to start looking hard at our Plan B. On Monday morning, Chris absolutely refused to go one foot further down the ICW, so, despite the small craft warnings, we pulled anchor and headed out to sea. We would run down the coast and go in at Ft. Lauderdale. The seas were bigger than we would have preferred and they were hitting us on the beam resulting in a not-so-comfortable motion. Amber and Jace opted for a motion sickness pill, and spent the trip laid out in the cockpit with only one eye open. Park is apparently impervious to mal de mar - she alternated between sleeping and bouncing off the walls, just like she usually does when we are underway.

As we sailed along we saw quite a few flying fish. They look like hoards of little humming birds skimming along the water. We also saw a bunch of logger head turtles floating on the surface of the clear blue/green water. Their overly large, log-like heads poked out of the surf as their round, brown shells bobbed, magically holding in suspension, while the waves pounded right underneath them. My guess was that they were waiting offshore for nightfall to arrive, at which time they would go ashore to lay their eggs.

We arrived in Lauderdale later that afternoon and decided to dock at the Pier 66 marina. What a swanky place! Marina guests get the use of the Hyatt Hotel facilities. I have never before seen a marina bathroom with granite countertops.

After our rough trip outside to Ft. LaTeeDah we gave the girls two choices: 1) Try to make a crossing to Bahamas that night and prepare for the likely possibility of getting really beat up, or 2) hang out here a few days, then stroll our way down to the Keys instead. Amber wasn’t able to respond - she was preoccupied with leaping off the boat and shouting “dry land, dry land.” I took that as a vote for choice number 2.

We spent two nights / three days at Pier 66. We ran around on the water taxi, shopped, dined, beached and had a fabulous time playing in the land of the rich and famous. A wise choice we later learned when we heard the horror stories from a fellow ECSA member who tried to cross the stream that night.

On to Lake Worth (NTB Part #3)

2007-06-19T17:18:00.000-07:00

On the road again! "Girls, assume your positions (on the bow)." After a few hours of playing on the beach, we decided it was time to mosey on. We did a quick visit to the other ECSA boaters in the anchorage. Our buds Donna and Jim just had an engine explosion, another boat was hard around, and still others were bumming us out with dire predictions of bad weather that would prohibit us from making our gulfstream crossing. We feared that bad mojo would close in on us so we had to make a move. Once again, we were headed south down the ICW. This stretch of the river has about 7 draw bridges that we needed to get through. It was Sunday, and we were full on, smack dab in the middle of the holiday weekend. To us that meant only one thing - more boats, more idiots. The water continued to get bluer, and the power boaters continued to get stupider.

When we rounded the corner into the Lake Worth Basin, just after the last draw bridge, we were absolutely shocked and dumbfounded. It was like a scene out of Girls Gone Wild. No one warned us - but we wouldn't have believed it even if they did. Ski boats and express cruisers were rafted up all around Peanut Island - about 15 boats deep in some places. In fact, you couldn't even see where the channel was. We gingerly maneuvered our 22 thousand pound boat around the mayhem, among the throng of horny guys driving boats who were more focused on their mating calls than on our approaching bow. We heard one hailing girls on the VHF Ch 16 - yelling out on the emergency/hailing channel for them to show their tits. With a few near collisions, a lot of yelling, and several blasts from the airhorn, we made it through the Armageddon of power boats.
Just south of the inlet we found a nice, quiet anchorage. (Read: No power boats or jet skis). After that frightening experience, we found comfort and salice in the sight of the masts in the approaching anchorage. "Ahhhh, honey, look - I see our people."

Exploring Peck Lake (NTB Trip - Part 2)

2007-06-19T16:46:00.000-07:00

Who would have guessed that there was a beautiful beach just over a little sand dune ?

Peck Lake sits just west of the Atlantic Ocean, south of St. Lucie inlet. On the evening of our arrival we were too tired to even get off the boat. The next morning the scouting committee (Chris and girls) loaded up in the dingy and headed out to see what they could see.

I was surprised to see them back at the mother ship after only 5 minutes. They came back to get me because it was so cool. I had to agree - it was definately cool.

The water was a beautiful mixture of shades of blue. That nasty east wind was really churning up the waves and causing a frothy beard at the edge of each. We walked up the beach, and then down the beach. There was hardly another soul around.

We made some odd finds as we combed the beach. Mixed in with the sea shells, sea grass, crabs and other anticipated beach stuff, there was a disturbing amount of trash that had washed up on shore. Plastic is undoubtedly as big of a curse as it is a blessing to our modern society. Previously I might have thought "isn't it wonderful how long a product made out of plastic can last?" Strolling through the washed up flip flops, frisbies, water bottles, fishing lures, etc., I thought to myself "isn't it awful how long a product made out of plastic can last?"

Trip Report - Not the Bahamas - Part 1

2007-06-19T10:24:00.000-07:00

Saturday 5:30 am - May 26
HARBOR TOWN TO PECK LAKE.
Our departure out of Harbor Town was less than auspicious. 5:30 am rolled around. A quick head-poke out of the hatch confirmed my suspicians - it was dark and raining. Having already resolved that weather would not stop us, we prepared for departure. Oil checked-check, engine started-check, instruments on-check, dock lines untied-check, coffee in thermos-check. All systems appeared go. First hurdle – stop the blinding light that was shining in our eyes. Seems like a minor thing. I can attest that while you are underway at 0-dark-thirty, it’s not a minor thing. Having never used our chart plotter at night before, we did not realize that at night, it is lit up like a 7-11 in a bad neighborhood. In order to perserve our night vision, we opted to cover the offending chart plotter with a pillow and just peek at it every so often. Our adventure was underway as we headed down the barge canal. We made the 6:00 am opening on the SR 3 bridge and pointed LaLeLu down the river (that’s code for Intracoastal Waterway or ICW). The wind was steady on our beam at 20-25 knots and we were treated to a lovely, brisk, pelting rain (see, time does erase pain from the memory). We motor-sailed at about 6.5k. Not the sort of departure you dream of, but what the hell, we were underway on our big adventure.
The voyage was fairly uneventful until we got south of Melbourne. We had to re-assure Jace a few times that the boat would not tip over, although, I am not completely sure that she ever really believed us. A 25k wind on the beam can generate a weebles-wooble-but-they-won’t-fall-down effect. After Melbourne, the number of boats steadily increased, as did the number of idiots driving them. This was Memorial Day Weekend after all. For some reason that escapes me, anyone can buy and operate a boat – no license or training required. Bad manners seem to go hand-in-hand with bad boating skills. We bit our tongues and tried our best not to let the big wakes of the inconsiderate power-boaters bother us.

By mid day, the boat traffic was very heavy and the section of the ICW we were in started meandering. Maintaining a point of sail was becoming increasingly frustrating due to the strong, flukey east wind and constantly changing direction of the river. We put down the sails and continued pushing south courtesy of our faithful motor.
The girls preferred this as they were able to sit on the bow for a better vantage point from which to watch the waterworld show that was unfolding around us. The further south we went, the bluer the water turned. Just before we reached Ft. Pierce, the ECSA group that we were meeting advised us that, because of the exposure to the east wind in their Ft. Pierce anchorage, they were heading further south to anchor south of St. Lucie at Peck Lake as well. We decided to push on and get to Peck Lake. We lucked out on our inlet approaches at Sabastian, Ft. Pierce, and St. Lucie inlets and managed to pick up a few knots speed at each from a flooding tide. We arrived in Peck Lake at just about 7:00 pm. Amazingly, we made about 100 miles on the ICW that day.

Ebbing Tide - Lessons Learned/Earned

2007-06-18T09:23:00.000-07:00

One thing that we "mastered" on our "Not the Bahamas" trip was how to enter or exit almost every inlet on an ebbing tide with an opposing wind. We now completely understand the reason for the warning in our guide books about trying to traverse an inlet when you have a strong ebb combined with a strong opposing wind. We almost grew accustomed to crawling up and down big mountains of water in order to clear the inlet. Once clear of the effect of the ebbing tide, we still had fairly big seas to contend with and that nasty, persistant 20-25k East wind. On our departure day, as we left Ft. Lauderdale heading for Miami, we were treated to the ebbing tide/east wind effect both coming and going. The picture above was taken coming in to Governmwent Cut over Chris' shoulder. This is not a camera trick - the waves coming in to Govt Cut really were 8' - 10'. Yikes!

It's Not About the Destination

2007-05-29T05:52:00.000-07:00

1. BAHAMAS TRIP. As the entries below attest, we started planning for our Bahamas trip months in advance. We purchased and installed all the necessary equipment. We packed our little boat until she could take no more. We poured over charts and had many discussions planning our crossing and itinerary to follow. It seems that the only thing we could not control, was the one thing that stood in the way of us being able to reach our destination - the weather. Prior to our planned departure date, there had been a persistant and strong East wind, courtesy of a very strong high pressure system off the eastern Atlantic. The strong east wind had caused the eastern Florida coast to have small craft advisories for several weeks straight. No problem, our plan was to go down the ditch to Lake Worth. By the time we arrived, certainly the high will have weakened, the wind subsided and switched to south to accommodate a comfortable crossing. Our first day out we traveled from Harbor Town, Merritt Island, which is just east of Port Canaveral, to Peck Lake, south of St. Lucie Inlet. I am guessing that has to be about a 100 mile trip - a new one-day personal best for us on the ICW.

2. PLAN B. We met up with several other ECSA Bahamas bound boats at Peck Lake. We were all very discouraged because the new long range forecast revealed the east winds would not be subsiding any time soon. The beauty of this place helped soften the realization that we would not be able to cross the gulfstream in our time frame. I learned a hard lesson that you can not will the weather to cooperate - no matter badly you want it. Climate is something you can prepare for, but weather is something you get. The new plan was to head south to the Keys.

3. TRANSITION MODE. The next day we hung out at the beach that is just over the bank at Peck Lake. Our other ECSA boaters were readjusting their plans as well: some were heading home, a few were going to wait for a weather window, and we were going south. That morning was a real bummer in the anchorage: Our buddies Jim and Donna had their motor go boom/bang and ended up needing a tow back to Vero. Another boat was hard aground on the low tide. We headed out of the anchorage with heavy hearts for our friends and feeling quite sorry for ourselves as well. Our pity was soon overshadowed by the power boat rodeo that was unfolding down the river all around us. The scene that unfolded when we got to Peanut Island in Lake Worth was frightening and amazing. Apparently, Peanut Island is the place to be on Memorial Day weekend if you are a horny, drunk power boater. Hundreds of power boats were rafted up all along the banks of the channel and partially into the channel. In fact, you couldn't even see where the channel was. We gently manuvered our twenty two thousand pound boat around the throngs of "girls gone wild" fun seekers. At one point we were squeezed between a sunken barge and an oncoming boat driven by a group of guys that were looking the other way and aimed right at our bow. I screamed every profanity I could think of at the top of my lungs and we narrowly missed a collision. Scared the hell out of me! After the maylay we found a nice anchorage south of the inlet. The masts of the boats that were anchored there in advance of our arrival were music to my eyes. "Look honey, I see our people." We were treated to a beautiful sunset and the rum also helped to erase the memory of those awful creatures that inhabited the island just north of our peaceful anchorage.

4. ENJOYING THE RIDE. We pulled anchor at O-early-thirty. Chris said that we were either going offshore or he was going to shore and would catch a ride home. He was not going down the ditch any further. Seas were predicted to be big 6-8 feet. Worse yet, it was a beam sea, which meant an uncomfortable and hairy ride. When we headed out the inlet the tide was coming in. The rough sea combined with the incomimg tide treated us to a rodeo ride at the mouth of the inlet. We watched the exiting sailboat in front of us bucking like a bronco and knew we were in for the same. When we hit the current, the bow of the boat came straight up into the air and dove down deep under the green water. We did this about 10 times before we cleared the mouth and were in less confused waters. The seas lived up to their NOAA prediction and we heaved and rolled our way down the coast. After a couple of hours of getting beat up, we learned how to balance our boat in the heavy seas and wind under reefed main and jib. LaLeLu sailed gracefully and comfortably through the big, tight swells at speeds from 6 to 8.4 knots!! We never felt unsafe and we have a new found admiration for our boat. We arrived at Pier 66 Marina in Ft. Lauderdale yesterday afternoon. This marina services the Hyatt Hotel. We are docked next to a 50 million dollar mega yacht. We are definately the small fish in the fish bowl. Upon our arrival here, following the exhilarating run down the coast, it finally dawned on us that this trip is not about the destination, it is about the ride.

Going Somewhere?

2007-05-14T09:35:00.000-07:00

We have been working on LaLeLu for the last three months preparing her for our planned trip to the Bahamas. Some of the highlights of our Installations/projects include:

1. Install SolarStik on transom (to hold solar panels);

2. Install two 50 watt solar panels;

3. Install Blue Sky charge controller;

4. Add two 12v plugs in cockpit;

5. Mount forward cabin TV on bulkhead;

6. Mount ditch bag forward cabin bulkhead;

7. Hang port flag halyard for radar reflector;

8. Install door in aft cabin for access to storage;

9. Move antennas on SolarStik;

10. Make board for gerry cans;

11. Clean/lube all winches;

12. Install water filter;

13. Hang MOB pole;

14. Re-arrange all rail mount items and take off non-necessary things;

15. Clean out lockers/cupboards and repack with things for trip;

16. Provision with spares, food and water.

I am sure that there are a dozen additional things that we have done that I am forgetting about right now. We have been working every weekend and the lists are getting checked off at a feverish pace. Funny thing is that no one associated our flury of work with an impending trip, until we took out the gerry cans. The day that we added the cans to our deck, nearly everyone that passed by on the dock stopped to ask, "So, where are you going?" It didn't take long for us to figure out that gerry cans were the international symbol for getting out of dodge.

The He-Man Woman-Hater's Club

2007-05-10T09:49:00.000-07:00

Chris hung out with Jim and Tom in the Jones' pool, smoking cigars, drinking beer and I think they may have even showed Chris how to knit his own back sweater. This was a man-only event going on here - definately no girls allowed.

Keeping up with the Jones'

2007-05-10T06:43:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was the annual ECSA Jones' BBQ. Bill and Carla outdid themselves (again) with their hospitality. They open their house to about 50 or more sailors, entertain us, let us anchor in front of their house, take over their dingy dock and set up one mean potluck. The weather Gods were kind and we had a very nice night on anchor, with just enough breeze to keep the bugs away.

LUCKY PEEK ARRIVES AT D-DOCK

2007-05-07T05:13:00.000-07:00

Well lookie here, Rod and Lisa made it back to the states after two years of cruising. Ironically, their boat is in our old slip, two slips down from our current slip. We are so close that we can look out our respective cockpits, raise our respective glasses, and mouth the word "cheers" to each other.

Their entry into the US via Port Canaveral was a bit dramatic. Chris and I got to play the role of the ground crew. Once they got in cell phone range we were able to give them the local info they needed with regard to bridges/locks. Miraculously, they were able to make the last bridge and locks opening and ghosted into to Harbor Town under a full moon.

High on Rod and Lisa's list of things to do is a good cleaning and de-cluttering for Lucky Peek. She looks a little tired after her two year journey, but she performed admirably and kept our friends safe.

MARKER 21

2007-03-19T04:56:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, the weather forecast was for 20-25 knot winds out of the North. We imagined that we would scream down the river, wing on wing, at unheard of speeds. Reality set in after we turned the corner at the 528 bridge. The wind was flukey to say the least. The wind varied from 6 knots to 20 knots, and changed directions from West to North East. We set our sails to run down the river and ended up back winding the main a few times. A preventer was definitely in order. At Eau Gallie we ducked in to pick up a passenger. After that we didn’t even raise our mainsail – just motorsailed with the headsail. Most of the way I caught myself humming Eileen Quinn's song "wing and wing, is a tricky point of sail. I try to balance my boat, but I always fail."

We arrived at the anchorage at about 2:00. The weather had kept the boats away – there were only 8 ECSA boats total that showed up. We anchored in the lee of the second island, and onshore, you wouldn’t even have known it was a windy day. We pulled our chairs over to the sunny side of the island and enjoyed the company of the ECSA members that braved the conditions.

Sunday the wind was coming directly out of the north (of course it was – that’s the direction we were all headed). Wind was blowing consistently at 20 knots with gusts at 25. Thank goodness for the dodger and screens. We were perfectly comfortable tucked under our canvas. We needed to put the hours on the iron genny anyway, as the mechanic owes us a 50 hour inspection/maintenance. We motored at 6.5 knots most of the way – despite the head wind. A big motor is a good thing when you are beating into the wind.

A well deserved break

2007-03-12T05:04:00.000-07:00

We have been working on LaLeLu almost every weekend this year (2007) - getting things ready for our Bahamas trip in May/June. This past weekend it was time for a sanity break. We motored out to a nearby spoil island, just north of the power lines on the Banana River and anchored out for an overnight. The kids had fun playing on the beach, collecting shells - despite the surprise of finding many were home to crabs or snails. We had plenty of sun and the new solar panels were keeping the batteries at a full charge. Chris dove the prop on Sunday and was surprised to see that our zinc (a sacraficial piece of metal that protects the important metals) had somehow fallen off. Bummer - hope it hasn't been off too long. In the afternoon on Sunday we slowly motored back to harbortown. A boat full of coasties escorted us the entire way, and even went into the marina. We thought for sure they were going to board/inspect us, but surprisingly they didn't. Perhaps we were just lucky, but certainly slapping the correct/current registration sticker on while they weren't looking didn't hurt.

2007-03-07T08:19:00.000-08:00

LaLeLu is sporting a new accutrament. We installed a Solarstick (www.solarstik.com) with 2 panels. The panels are 50 watt each, and they are self pitching in order to give max output. Manufacturer says they will give us 100 amp hours per day on a good sunny day.

Winter Sailing - Florida Style

2007-03-07T08:15:00.000-08:00

We were sitting on the dock yesterday morning soaking up the sun and enjoying the nice breeze with our dock mates when someone says "man, what are we doing? - this is sailing whether!" The photos below were taken shortly thereafter. We headed out the Canaveral locks with another boat from our dock, boats loaded with everyone on the dock that was willing to skip their chores in exchange for a sail, and had a nice run south on the Atlantic. Winds were light - 10-13 knots from the east. Seas were 4-6, but with troughs spaced far enough apart to just give you that comfortable rolly-polly feel. We switched out our heading several times in search of speed but never got much more than 6.5 knots - felt good just the same. Took turns trying to pass eachother and flashing a ceremonious moon to the following boat. This day is why I love sailing.

Ever wonder what's under Castro's Uniform?

2006-11-21T10:16:00.000-08:00

This year's Pinedaville answered that nagging question.

South of the Border meets Pinedaville

2006-11-21T09:39:00.000-08:00

South of the Border was ECSA's annual Pinedaville theme this year. "Pinedaville" got its name because it is held in the N/E lee of the Pineda causeway. For us, the trip to Pinedaville was a 2.5 hour trip from our marina. The wind was very light and flukey so we opted to give the engine a workout. We arrived Friday morning and there were already 5 boats anchored. We picked a spot front and center, and as it turned out, right next to Nigel Calder's brother Chris Calder and his wife on their beautiful 40' Malo - brand new and fresh off the boat show tour in Annapolis. The official start of Pinedaville is Saturday at noon, but the early arrivals work together to erect the temporary city on the beach, compete with kitchen, outhouse, three fire pits and, of course, a band stand with DJ and Karaoke. By 3:00 pm, there were about 20 boats in the ancorage. Boats kept arriving all Friday afternoon and into Saturday morning. In all we had 53 boats crammed into the ancorage, and plenty more folks who arrived by car. When the conch shell blew at noon, all the dingys headed for shore driven by strangely clad sailors. (Some of the photographic evidence is below). The days events started with the costume parade, a conga line that snakes along the beach in front of last year's king and queen. After the new king and queen are announced and the costumes are judged, the rum punch ("Bahama Donna's" named after our commodore) is mixed and the party gets going. All day long we play crazy games on the beach, drink rum, dance, drink rum, eat, blow conch shells, drink rum, race dingys, drink rum, throw fish, drink rum...well you get the idea. By sundown the fires get going and the smores come out. Sailors started drifting back to their boats via dingy as the evening wore on. The die hards danced on the beach to Creedance tunes until the DJ made at least ten proclamations that "this is the very last song" and then finally had to beg the die hards to let him go to his boat. Finally, the beach was empty and all that was visable from the ancorage was the flicker of embers in the fire pits.

St. Pete Boat Show

2006-11-06T09:44:00.000-08:00

The St. Pete boat show did not disappoint. After breakfast at Buddy Freddy's with the ECSA gang, we headed to St. Pete. We spent the day Saturday at the show, looking at boats and boat stuff. It was fun seeing so many of our sailing buddies there. I think that there was a 95% attendance by Harbor Town's D Dock. We met Pam, Ron and kids at the show right as they opened and hung out with them. Park joined Christen and Lauren - they were the 3 musketeers. Saturday night was the L&A party. It was a little windy and chilly, but as always, we had a blast. I met a few folks from the L&A bb, ate free pizza, drank free beer, and listened to free live music courtesy of Eric Stone. We stayed overnight at the Hilton. Not a bad way to spend a weekend.

Sometimes, the best laid plans...

2006-10-26T05:00:00.000-07:00

Well..., you know the rest. So, we are on our way to Boy Scout Island to join ECSA for a weekend cruise. Feeling pretty smug because it is just a quick 2 hour sail from our marina, we slept in on Saturday and lounged around for a bit. Park had her friend Corina join us. With kids aboard we had all sorts of "fun" things tied to the boat to amuse the kids. On the foredeck was the inflatable kayak, the inflatable dingy was on that davits and the sailing dingy was in tow from the stern. We looked like a flee market special.

We headed out around 10:00 am. Winds were a bit brisk and from the north. We made it to State Road 3 draw bridge in good time for a 10:30 opening. After passing through the bridge, things deteriorated rapidly. Outside of the protection of the barge canal the winds picked up to over 25 knots. The Indian River / ICW was confused and choppy. No big deal - LaLeLu didn't even flinch. We headed for the 528 causeway via the main channel. Getting closer we noticed that there was work being done on the causeway, and there were barges and tugs blocking the main channel. We hailed the tug and asked for instructions on getting through. He replied that we should go under the next span West of the main channel. We asked for the bridge height and the reply was somewhere around 55'. We needed 56+ feet. After much consternation and bitching, we decided that we liked our mast well enough that we did not feel the need to risk it. In defeat we headed back to State Road 3 draw bridge. On the way through, there were three other ECSA boats headed to the 528 causeway. We hailed them and explained the situation. Two of the boats had masts that would allow them to get through. The other boat had a 57' mast and retreated along with us, in defeat. All was not lost - we headed to an island North of the Banana River power lines and hung out with the folks from other tall-masted boat. They had ten people on their boat so it was a ready made party. We spent the day on the beach chatting with them as the kids hung out on the island, played in the sand, and floated on various acutraments. Our new friends pitched a tent for half of their gang, lit a big bon fire and shot off firecrackers. We had a great time after all, despite being trapped in the land of the tall masts.

Shrimp - broiled and live in a baggie

2006-09-25T05:34:00.000-07:00

We headed out Saturday at 9:00 am, North to Titusville for the Dixie Crossroads cruise. On board were Chris, Susan, Park, and her friend, Jamison. Winds were light and from the East at about 9 knots. We motor sailed all the way. Past the Addison Bridge we picked up a couple of dolphins and they played in our wake for about an hour. The girls hung their feet over the side and let the dolphins splash them as they went by. It was fun listening to them giggle. I think the dolphins enjoyed it too. They would turn over on their sides in order to eyeball the girls, then they would splash them with their tails. I am sure that there splashes were intentional.

We got to Titusville municipal at about 1:00 pm, tied up to C dock and plugged on the ac. Whew! It was hot, hot, hot. There were 7 other ECSA boats that were staying in the marina. We helped them tie up as they arrived, chatted a bit, then showered and headed to Dixie Cross roads for dinner. Chris and I both ordered the usual: two dozen rock shrimp, broiled. Yummm, just like baby lobsters. We walked back to the marina, stopping at a bait shop on the way. There we picked up 1/2 dozen live bait shrimp. The girls took turns holding the shrimp baggie. By the time we arrived at the marina the shrimp were nearly dead after being poked and prodded by tsquealinging ten year olds. We baited the girls' poles and after 1/2 hour of catching/releasing catfish they tired of fishing and we decided to go for a dingy ride. The water was lit up with fairy dust (bioluminescencense) and the girls hung their heads over and watched the sea life scatter underneath them. The trip back to Harbor Town on Sunday was uneventful. We gave the iron genny a workout by motoring the entire way. Our engine hours are now up to 11!

Trip to Eau Gallie

2006-09-18T06:54:00.000-07:00

This last w/e we took the lovely LaLeLu from Merritt Island down to the Eau Gallie Yacht Club. Our friends, Ron and Pam (and kids Kristen and Lauren) who are members, invited us to a shrimp feed thingie. We left Harbor Town at 9:15 am and made the 9:30 am opening of State Road 3 Bridge. This is the first bridge hailing we have made since Easter weekend when all of our boat woes started. It marked the official start of being 'back in the saddle' or make that, back in the helm seat. We are gun shy about breakdowns now - every noise we heard sounded ominous. We found ourselves quite on edge at the start of our trip. The winds were light on Saturday morning, out of the East, North East at about 8 knots. The wind changed a bit more North and we thought about flying the chute. However, just about then the wind picked up to over 10 knots and we decided against a spinnaker. (It's a very light chute - really more of a drifter sail). We did pick up some speed and were going about 6 - 6.5 knots the 2nd half of our trip. Not an edge-of-your-seat sail, but fun just the same. We were just glad to be back on the water. We got to the Yacht Club at about 1:15 and end tied to a really nice transient dock. Our boat was front and center on the most prominant dock. Our friends were on the dock for our arrival. The kids went swimming in the club's pool while the adults chatted in LaLeLu's cockpit. On Saturday night we enjoyed all you can eat/drink shrimp and beer and then danced until midnight to 70's disco. We regretfully left the dock at noon on Sunday, and headed back up the river. Winds started out right on the nose (from the North). After about half hour of motoring, we got a bit of East wind and were able to raise sail. We were sailing really close hauled and still making 5.5 knots. Not too bad considering we were sailing at about 25 degrees off the wind. We left Eau Galle at about noon and got back in our slip at about 4p. It was a great weekend!

Flying High

2006-09-11T08:05:00.000-07:00

Due to a little mishap that occurred while taking off the foresail in preparation for a hurricane, Susan had to go up the mast in the bosun's chair to retrieve the wayward jib halyard. She was the best choice for the job since she is lighter and not afraid of heights. Not to mention the fact that it takes quite a bit of muscle to haul dead weight 56' in the air using what is essentially a rope and pully.

Life is Good (again)

2006-09-08T09:59:00.000-07:00

LaLeLu was splashed (again) on September 1, 2006 - just in time for the ECSA cruise to Banana River spoil islands. Marine Pro had two guys present for the sea trial (what's this, service after you pay - what a foreign concept!) and everything worked great. The new engine gets us to 8k WOT with at 3000 rpm's. We were actually throwing a wake! After the sea trial, we packed up the boat and headed out to the islands Saturday morning. 24 ECSA boats anchored out for the event. We had a wild storm come through Saturday night, causing two of the boats to drag.

Things calmed down around 9:00 pm and we ran around in our dingy for a bit marveling at the amazing phosphorescene. The dogs enjoyed hanging over the side of the dingy and watching the outlines of the fish as they scurried away from us. The rest of the weekend was calm and beautiful. We had the Vandaveers staying with us on our boat, and the girls had a blast playing in the water and hanging out.

It is such a weight off of our shoulders to have the "break down from hell" behind us. We are looking forward to making up for lost time.

What a Long, Strange Trip it's Been

2006-08-09T07:07:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time since the last post. Depression does not make for good blog entries. The short version is: Joe Hall of Marine Medic, Cocoa Fl, improperly installed the raw water intake to our new Tides Shaft Seal (directly into the dry exhaust manifold instead of into the raw water system), which caused water to back fill into our cylindars and hydro-lock our engine. Joe Hall did not want to beleive that he had caused this problem, so the boat sat for 3 weeks with salt water in the engine, while we head butted him and finally found another mechanic. Marc Eiler of Marine Pro knew instantly when I explained the problem what Joe Hall/Marine Medic had done. The boat was hauled out again mid July and the engine was pulled shortly thereafter. The damage to the engine was extensive. Also, the running gear installed by Joe Hall was crooked and needed to be pulled/re-set. A battle against Joe Hall ensued, and it looks like we are now in agreement on a resolution with Joe Hall's insurance company. The big question now is whether to rebuild or put in a new engine. Both options have their pros and cons. With any luck, we will be back in the water in less than a month. (If you are listening, please, Gods! Take pity on us!)

Back in the Water - ahhhhh!

2006-06-27T10:05:00.000-07:00

As of Friday June 23 at 2:00 pm est, LaLeLu is back in her slip at Harbor Town. I brought my camera, but was so excited that I forgot to take pictures. With any luck, it will be 2 years until her next haul out. Yea for us!

Baby's got new shoes

2006-06-12T04:54:00.000-07:00

LaLeLu finally has her bottom paint. Drive train is scheduled to go in June 20th. It is almost time to start writing checks for our yard bills. (Since writing checks means LaLeLu's freedom from the yard, we are actually excited to do that). She looks so pretty. I painted the insides of the dorades 'Safety Red.' It matches our red halyards and looks really cool. Chris and I spent two days stripping/waxing & rewaxing her. Yesterday I crawled on my belly through the engine room and vacuumed and 'Spray-Nine'd' everything. There were a lot of metal shavings in there from when Chris sawed out that drive shaft. Looking at it now, you wouldn't even know we had a break down - Well, except the missing drive train might tip you off.

Some Assembly Required

2006-06-01T18:01:00.000-07:00

Well most of our parts have arrived. We are just waiting on the new prop and the flixible coupler. With the glass work done, we now have enough parts that the mechanic can begin putting it all back together. We are waiting for a bid before we give "Joe" the green light to start the reassembly process. Above is a picture that shows the finished glass work.

The new time line is to have the drive train installed within 10 days, then bottom paint. Hopefully she will be back in the water in 2 weeks????????

Repairs underway

2006-05-22T10:02:00.000-07:00

It is May 22 and the glass work is finally getting done. Our hopes of being in the water for Memorial Day Weekend are not realistic. Hopefully we can get the parts from Caliber and get everything done within a month - Just in time for hurricane season. Sometime life throws you a monkey wrench!

ECSA Boy Scout Island Cruise/Jones BBQ

2006-05-11T04:57:00.000-07:00

Still doing time on the hard

2006-05-05T05:05:00.000-07:00

The picture above is of Chris hack-sawing through our 1.5" solid stainless steel drive shaft. Unfortunately, we were unable to pull the shaft from the coupling, so ching, ching (that's a cash register), we get to add that our parts purchase list. Once we had the shaft, strut and other various/asunder parts of the drive train out, we loaded up for a trip to Clearwater, Florida. Caliber Yachts, the builder of LaLeLu, still builds our same boat in their factory in Clearwater. In fact, the very mold our hull was laid up in is still in use!! It was like getting to see our boat's womb - very cool. We met with George McCreary, the head honcho of Caliber, and had him look at our parts. He came up with the official theory #3 as to why our boat failed: He believes that the prop was too heavy for the strut/shaft length, which caused it to stress fracture and break. So now we have three theories: 1. Prop blade broke and then caused strut to fail; 2) electrolysis caused strut to fail and 3) weight of prop caused strut to fail. Sooooo, we may never know what really happened - I suppose it could even have been a combo of things. We decided the best thing to do was to go back to square one - return the drive train to its original design. We are going to go back to the original fixed blade prop. George said that the prop/shaft were tested and designed for the type and weight of the original prop. Changing the prop and or shortening the shaft is tampering with the unknown. We are now 3 weeks post breakdown and probably at least another month from being back in the water - maybe more. Arrggggg!

Strut/Prop Failure

2006-04-16T11:30:00.000-07:00

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4-27-06 Update: We still don't know the exact cause of our failure. It is Marine Pro's opinion that the strut broke first, due to electrolysis. We are taking all our parts, pieces and photos to the manufacturer of our boat, who still makes the same boat, to see if they can determine what happened.
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Today we were motoring down the ICW on the Indian River - no wind, but a beautiful sunny day just the same. We were in between two other boats from our sailing club, middle of the channel, headed to an island to anchor for an overnight. I was at the helm, thinking more about hanging the hammock upon arrival than anything going on in the cockpit at the time. I was jolted back to reality by the sound of metal on metal. We coasted off the channel and dropped anchor. With the engine still running in idle, following his inspection of the engine, Chris shouts "shut `er down, there's black oil all over down here." He then dove the bottom and saw that the strut was broken in half.

Fortunately, we were able to get towed and hauled - which was no easy thing on an Easter weekend. There was no impact involved in this failure. The rudder, keel and bottom are very, very clean. We were in the middle of the ICW with 12' water. Also, there doesn't appear to have been anything fouling the prop. We were motoring down at about 2200 rpm - 6.7 knots.

From our preliminary inspection, it appears that the prop blade failed first, and the lopsided, unbalanced, remaining two blades under load caused the strut to break. From the last photo you can see that the prop has two inches clearance between the top of the blade and bottom of the boat. We think that the gash in the boat must have occurred when the prop blade was lifting (as it was failing) and thus elongated enough to reach the underside of the boat. We have folks coming to inspect on Friday, so should know more after that.

Inside photos of LaLeLu

2006-04-15T15:34:00.000-07:00

1. Salon looking aft to Galley, Nav Station and companion way steps:

2. Park's cabin looking forward into "day" head:

3. Park's Cabin:

4. Main Cabin with dressing table/stool:

5. Taken from Galley looking into Salon with Main Cabin beyond:

Conrads in Ft. Lauderdale

2006-04-10T10:09:00.000-07:00

Taken during a trip to visit the Wolfes on Lucky Peek.

Stupid Pet Tricks

2006-04-10T09:42:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I know, they look cute and innocent in the photo, but looks can be deceiving. We have been taking Roxie and Neko with us on the weekends to the boat. They seem to enjoy going, but sometimes they do really wierd things. Neko is the worst offender. On our trip up the Indian River from Cocoa a few weeks back, Neko tried to escape. Or at least that's what we think he was trying to do. We were putting up our mainsail, and thus, pre-occupied at the front of the cockpit. The dogs had been lounging about on the cockpit seats as they usual do when we are underway. When we got the sail up, I heard a strange clicking noise behind me. Turning around I saw Neko standing in the dingy, which was hanging from our davits off the back of the boat. Ok, I will admit, this was kind of cute and silly, but what if he had fallen off the boat! He would have been fish food. Then, this past weekend, he tried a new trick: Jumping off the boat while it is at the dock. Somehow, he was able to make it onto the dock - but again - what if? Another wierd thing he has been doing is trying to roam in the middle of the night. We have been putting the pin boards in to stop him from getting out of the boat at night. This doesn't desuade him. He will climb up the companionway and sit up at the top step. Sometimes he falls down and we awaken to the sound of furry paws desparately trying to grab onto something. Sometimes he justs sits at the top step and makes a moaning sound. He is so strange.

Roxie does not try any death defying acts, as she is not quite as brave (ie, stupid). She is pretty content to just lounge around and does not have the overwhelming need to roam like her buddy does. Her worst habbit is running to the bow of the boat and barking at everyone that goes by.

Oh well, it's a good thing they are so cute.

"Quick" Trip down the ICW

2006-03-20T05:23:00.000-08:00

We finally had a chance to actually sail our new boat over the weekend. This is the first time we have raised the sails since we purchased her over a month ago. (On the trip from Halifax we had Gale-force winds, so it was too windy to raise sail.) We were prepared to crawl along under sail - after all, the boat is a 22k pound, sloop rig. When we first raised sail we had 10 knots dead astern coming from the North. We sailed wing-on-wing at a respectable 6 knots. She was surprisingly balanced going wing-on-wing, but we rigged a preventer just in case. (Nothing worse than getting a full sail slammed over the cabin top - or worse, into your head). After an hour or so the wind direction changed to give us a little bit of an East mixed in with the North wind. It was enough of a shift to allow us to move the sails to the same side. The wind speed climbed to a steady 14 with gusts to almost 20. Our speed jumped to over 7 knots, sometimes almost hitting 8. We flew down the river at the fastest speed we've ever sailed, all the while reminding each other - this is really cool! It was one of those days that will go down in permanent ink into the memory bank.

Miami Boat Show

2006-02-20T10:06:00.000-08:00

Chris, Park and I enjoyed a quick trip down to Miami to attend the Miami Boat show. ECSA folks were there courtesy of the fun bus. We didn't get tickets in time, so we had to drive down ourselves. We went in search of a new dingy, but had no luck in that regard. We did, however, get to tour a brand new version of our boat, a 2006 Caliber LRC 40 named Transylvania. On our way to look at it, we overheard a gentleman excitingly exclaim to his wife, "Now we are going to get to see the Hummer of boats" as he sprinted towards the Caliber. Chris and I looked at one another and giggled. Now of course ours is a 1990 - not a 2006, but as someone once told me, it is better to own a used rolex than a brand new timex.

Delivery - part 2: Titusville to Merritt Island

2006-02-15T08:43:00.000-08:00

We lounged around a bit in the marina in the morning, sipped our coffee and watched the morning weather forecasts. It was hard to bring ourselves to unplug the boat from its heat source. Outside it was windy (20 - 25k NW) and cold (40 degrees). Inside it was quite cozy with our hatchboards in and central heat cranking at 76 degrees. We leisurely prepared for a 9:30 cast off. We left the slip without incident and headed south down the river. We had 3 draw bridges to hail and the first two were on call, so there was no waiting for them. This is familiar water for us, so except for the bitter cold, it was smooth sailing (ummm, make that smooth motoring.) Even though the winds were no longer on the nose and we could have sailed - we didn't because it was so dang cold. I told Chris I was afraid my fingers would snap off if I had to handle sail lines. We cuddled together on the long captains seat (that we refer to as the love seat), dressed in 4 layers of clothes, and shivered. I made a hot water bag that I put in my pocket for extra warmth. When we arrived at the barge canal entrance to our marina, we were too late for the opening (it only opens on the 1/2 hour) and had to wait for the next opening. We tried to keep the boat in idle to wait out the 30 minutes, but the NW wind pushed us down the barge canal at 4.5 knots. By keeping the motor in reverse we were able to keep the boat at only 1-2 knots forward speed! It was a long 30 minutes, but finally we were through the State Road 3 bridge and on the home stretch to our marina. By the time we entered the marina, we had a 25 knot cross wind. Our attempt to back in the slip despite the significant cross wind was less than pretty. Fortunately, several of our dock neighbors were out and came over to lend a hand. The water in the marina was down about 1 foot due to the NW winds and we had to drag LaLeLu in across the silty bottom. Not the entrance we had envisioned - but none the less, we were very relieved and happy to have her in her new home.

Bringing LaLeLu Home to Merritt Island - Day 1

2006-02-13T09:40:00.000-08:00

Let me start by saying, this trip made me realize that I do not have a career as a delivery skipper in my future. I have never been so cold and miserable in my life. It all started very well. We got to Halifax Marina early Friday afternoon. It was a nice, calm sunny day. We uneventfully unloaded 10+ totes full of boat stuff onto LaLeLu, and she swallowed it up and had room to spare. The prior owner, Les, came over and showed us how to work various things, and gave us some extra canvas, sails, etc. that went with the boat. He and his wife were staying over on their new boat in another slip in the marina and he planned to come over and help untie us at our scheduled 8a departure. We were up at 6:00 am Saturday and after listening to dire NOAA weather predictions, decided to leave a little earlier in an attempt to make the 50 kmile journey to Titusville Municipal Marina before the squalls hit. We headed out of Halifax at about 7:30 am and Les was on his dock waiving good bye to us. (Later that evening he told Chris it was very hard for him to watch his boat sail away). The first half of the day we had mild weather with winds dead on the nose about 15-20 knots. We motored all the way. We had one soft grounding (ok, it was really two groundings, but since it was in the same spot we only think of it as one) inside the main channel of the ICW @ red mm 34 just past the Coronado Beach draw bridge. We were on a falling tide and concerned about being stuck there for several hours while the tide came back in. In a bit of a panic, we hailed SeaTow, who quoted us $680 to pull us loose. That quote gave us the incentive we needed to wiggle her off. From there on out the water was very skinny. We hand steered almost all the way to masquito lagoon with depths hovering around 7' (we draw 5'). It was such a relief to get to the lagoon where the depth averaged about 9'. We got to Haulover canal at about 3:00 pm. As we went through the canal, we saw a wall of squalls coming at us. The wind had steadily increased throughout the day and by this time we had 25 knots steady. When the squall line hit us we got gusts up to 38 knots and blinding rain. LaLeLu took it in stride and brought us safely to the marina by about 5:00 pm. We plugged into the power and enjoyed a nice, toasty evening aboard playing Yatzee and watching TV.

What's in a name?

2006-02-09T09:44:00.000-08:00

2/9/06: This has been a long and stressful week - tomorrow we close on the purchase of our beautiful new boat. She is a 1990 Caliber 38. I never thought that we would own such a magnificent vessel. Her name presently is Semper Fi. Her current owner, Les, is a marine (you probably guessed that) and was visibly relieved to hear that we were not keeping her current name since he already was using it for the new boat. In the past, we have always named our boats after songs: Jolly Mon, Cool Change. But this boat is different and we knew we had to come up with something very befitting of her. Her lines are refined and she is quite unassuming. A masculine name definitely would not do. Chris and I both really liked the name Lullaby, but after learning of the unfortunate sinking of a similarly named Gozzard, we decided to pass on that name. Too many other omens to worry about out there - didn't need to add another to the list. In keeping with the Lullaby theme, I Googled for "German Lullaby" seeing as how our German heritage runs strong in both of our lines. The Google search led me to "La Le Lu" - the title of a German lullaby about the man on the moon watching over baby. Seemed appropriate enough. We gave it the VHF hail test (ie "This is sailing vessel LaLeLu, sailing vessel LaLeLu, over"), to confirm that it would be acceptable in practical application, and agreed it would do just fine. Below are the lyrics to our boat's name sake:

La Le Lu
Only the man in the moon is looking
When the little babies sleep
So go to sleep, too.
La Le Lu
Two shoes are in front of the bed
And they are exactly as tired
Baby, as you.
Then comes the Sandman
He walks quietly in the house
Giving out his dreams
The most beautiful to you.
La Le Lu
Only the man in the moon is looking
When the little babies sleep
So go to sleep, too.