We made it to Florida on speaking terms and without sinking!

Busy, busy, busy!

I dropped Cynthia off at the Melbourne airport this morning and miss her terribly. Our shakedown cruise was quite successful on just about all counts:

Getting dinghy? Check.

Getting good advice and tools from friends? Check! (Thanks, Nate! WaterwayGuide.com is GREAT!)

Getting out of marina? Check! (Although we had to wait nearly a week to be ready and to have the right conditions.... and had to pull out in rain and wind and cold. We were SO grateful to have an enclosed cockpit!)

Sailing to ICW (Intracoastal Waterway... some say Intercoastal) and anchoring for the night? Check. (We had some nasty weather when sailing out and really harsh winds during the night, but the anchor held and, even with the wind removing 2' of water in the night, still has a few inches of water under our keel in the morning)

Sailing and motoring down the ICW? Check.

Stop in at an unfamiliar marina and get advice, fuel, and a replacement inverter? Check.

Continue south and into the open ocean before sunset? YES!

Sail and motor south in the open ocean, 30 to 50 miles from shore for five days? Yep... and saw wonderful porpoises, phosphorescence, shooting stars, sunrises, and sunsets. 

Handle minor and major issues well? Yes, we did. The rather major rivulets of salt water running into the bilges were tracked down and handled pro tem, with further repairs to be done in the next week. The inverter I turned into a smoking piece of garbage was replaced. Before departing on our voyage, Cynthia talked me into pulling the handrails from the top of the cabin, stripping and refinishing them, and bolting them down in a really nice bed of good caulking that should stop those leaks for a decade....I hope.

Dawdle offshore in FL overnight while waiting for morning light to make harbor entry safe? Yes, although listening to the coast guard warnings about small craft warnings and notices about an overturned catamaran made it a long night. 

Enter the ICW at Fort Pierce and ride the current up the ICW to Vero Beach? Call the bridge operator to raise a drawbridge for us? Did that! Even ate tasty omelette Cynthia cooked as we motored along.

Note: there are two entrances we can use to get to Vero Beach and next time we will use the one that allows us to SAIL most of the way on the ICW: so much nicer than motoring!

We did NOT catch any fish on hook and line. Our only catch was accidental: we found this stiff flying fish on deck one morning.

And we have already made new friends in the marina (Vero Beach City Marina) and seen my friends Georgia and David from St John (the reason we came here) and met lots of their delightful friends who live around here. Great folks!

Current plan is to keep the boat here, rafted up with Bob and Robin's boat (the marina tells you you WILL raft up if they have limited space), until January. 

I'll stay aboard for a few weeks and make repairs and do some sailing, then visit Cynthia in MI, then take the boat south-east to the Virgin Islands, meeting Cynthia there about January 22. (Yes, I could use company sailing the boat down, but CAN do it alone.). My mom will probably visit for a week and go watch the Geminid meteor shower on a night sail.... and be the second family member to see this boat.

And last night a crane landed on our mooring buoy...

IT'S ALIVE!!! (the boat rises from the slab and goes sailing)

Courage, I've heard, is not the lack of fear, but acting despite fear. If true, today I displayed courage. After ten months pouring time, money, and heart into the boat, today  (with my neighbor Paul) I took it out for a sail.

So, what did I fear?
1) Hitting other boats in the narrow marina: this boat does NOT turn easily. This is good in the open, bad in tight spaces.

2) running aground (this place is SO shallow that I can not get out most of the time... I think. This really scares me.)
3) problems with the boat... sails, masts, booms, etc, Etc, ETC! Nothing showed up this time.
4) unexpected issues. Two turned up: the steering locks in an unexpected way (so I was stuck heading toward a shoal, but figured it out in time) and the modifications done by prior owners cause the main sheet to ALWAYS wrap (tangle) on the winch. Both are easily solvable... I think.

So, my neighbor, Paul, volunteered to help out and we had a great shakedown sail in rather heavy wind (30 mph plus gusts)!

I'm satisfied and elated and exhausted.... and looking forward to sailing south with Cynthia in a few days or so.

Starfish!

One of the coolest things I found this September on Cape Cod this summer were loads of the largest starfish I've ever seen there. As I walked the beach in the gray dawn one morning I found one,

then a few more....

and ten paces farther found many many more.

A couple hours later I went down to take better pictures and  found nothing but gull footprints: they had EATEN them ALL!

So... largest starfish I've ever seen in this area. Behavior I've never seen (crawling en-mass to the intertidal zone) in a single hundred feet of beach. Gulls eating them!

And this repeated several days in a row and I have no idea how many days before or after that..

Life is full of wonderful mysteries!

Still not ready to set sail, but nearly there. Life HAS been busy!

Can it really be three months, a quarter of a year, since my last post? Good grief!

Well... things got dramatic in MI, so, after a week at the Brule River Camp in June (our first visit there, black locust trees in bloom everywhere, Cynthia's first fly fishing, loads of fun),

 I spent a couple weeks (I had planned to spend on the NC boat) helping Cynthia move.... although I felt rather underutilized.

Then off to Cape Cod. Our family had managed to buy a replacement boat from another cousin's family, so had a boat in the water for me, my two brothers, and all the assorted friends, family, etc. Not all went smoothly: at one point we anchored and everyone went ashore while I tried to replace the kinked hoses of the self-bailing cockpit.. Well, there was a “snap!” and I held the hose in my hand, along with the old bit of plywood that had reinforced the hull, watching a little cheerful fountain of water enter the boat. I stuck my finger in the hole (a temporary measure, obviously) and thought of solutions, none of which seemed especially viable. After a bit, my brother Paul returned and we discussed it and he suggested inserting some sponge. I immediately ripped a piece free with my teeth, rolled it as tight as possible, and shoved it in. This worked very well until I did proper repairs a few days later with brother Peter and Angela. Mostly things worked pretty well and Cynthia enjoyed her eventual visit...and so did Lucy, although L was not so happy about the whole flying thing.

And, of course, there were walks on the beach in darkness through phosphorescent water while the deep exhalations on curious seals broke the silence, sailing adventures into the open ocean where we saw my first ocean sunfish,

loads of sunrises

(especially good with company!),

and so much more.

I took another trip (a long weekend) to MI, stopping for a few hours to visit my friend Tom and his house full of dogs, including this little foster fellow, Sancho:

Cynthia and I packed as much into the time as possible, even getting in a great final sail on the hobie and harvesting wild pawpaws and improving the house.

Back on Cape Cod, we saw huge numbers of baby alewives stranded upon the beach in their efforts to avoid being eaten by mackerel.

I've never seen this before: we could even see the schools of mackerel glinting in the crashing waves, sometimes watching them flopping briefly on the shore.

Kent, “Our boat guy”, suggested we get a trailer hitch on the car so we can move the boat ourselves. THIS turned out to be a comedy of frustrations worthy of a Carol Burnett sketch: I ordered a hitch, then decided to have Uhaul do it, then they called to say they had to cancel as they did not have the hitch... but they agreed they could install mine. Then they found they could not drill the hard steel bumper frame and I had to have Ziggy's install it. Then the receiver(?) was wrong, so I ordered one... and that got back ordered. When it arrived it would not quite fit and I had to grind out some steel. Same for the trailer we bought with the boat: I went through a LOT to get it working, to diagnose the problem, remove the old bearings and races, and install new bearings.

Very satisfying to arrive at the far end with the jobs accomplished and more knowledge under my belt, however. And when we pulled the boat out of the water without a single issue? Wonderful!

The boat in NC came through Florence just fine, although a little more wind might have spelled disaster: some marinas were destroyed, but this one is well sheltered. The hurricane came through almost exactly a year after I lost Dorado to Irma: when I saw Florence home in on my current boat I wondered if it was a message to quit owning boats.

When I arrived there a few weeks ago I installed an air conditioner in the companionway, climbing over it awkwardly....but it sure made a difference: I tend to run hot and could not work past 8 or 9 until things started to cool off this last week after hurricane Michael. Every day I make good progress, every day my list seems to grow longer, every day I find myself kicking myself for buying this boat. *sigh*. I DO have all three sails installed and am nearly ready to sail. I've replaced the sole (floor) in a couple places and have rewired some lights with much better wire. On the other hand I find things like minor decay in the cockpit sole (floor), a battery died in Hurricane Florence, the hatch covers are decaying, and some blocks for the mizzen sheets need replacing.

Now I'm off to visit Cynthia! And, of course, she is sick... Who was it that described life as “one damn thing after another.” I concur.

Still, I try to get out for yoga with the guys five days a week, go sailing with my friend Lee whenever he wants a crewman, have a social drink with the fellows at the 4pm end-of-day chat... and always try to walk out with a cup of coffee and watch the sunrise at the marina entrance,

Enjoy the moments as they pass.

And I bet this boat will be a lot of fun to sail... I look forward to lots of sunrises and sunsets.

Great trip to Cape Cod, but now we need a new sailboat.

(written Saturday, July 21)

Here I sit in MI, again, after driving back from the Cape. The trip itself worked pretty darned well and I really enjoyed my sunrise walks and one delightful sunrise coffee with cousin Lisa, even though one must get walking before 5am to see the sunrise. As it was, I overslept and she had to call me and most of the days were foggy or cloudy, but 50% is OK.

I got to sail almost every day. For the first couple days I had no rowboat, so simply swam to and from the boat (five minutes each way), but swimming out into a surprisingly strong current, having to fight to get to the boat before being swept past, hanging on to the mooring line to regain my breath, then laying on deck and gasping for a few minutes inspired me to put the dinghy in the water.... although I found I missed the tingly aliveness I always feel after that cold, scary (sharks?), long, aerobic swim.

I took out so many friends in such a short time! My mom, brother Peter, and Bailey the dog..

The St George family...

Cousin Deb on her Beetle Cat..

And more..

On Wednesday ( July 18) I took Bob, Jo, Clint, and Sherrie(sp?) out, fearing we might barely move in the light breeze. Within ten minutes the wind had risen to something decent and in a half hour blew very nicely. Wonderful sail! 

And on Thursday, before I needed to depart at noonish, my parents and a couple friends joined me for a final sail (we had no idea just HOW final) in absolutely perfect conditions: wonderful cool wind, on clear water, under brilliant blue sky. I unloaded everyone at the beach, sailed to the mooring, carefully put everything away neatly, rowed to shore, and drove back to MI.

Cynthia and I immediately went to Home Depot for various projects, but before we entered my mom called to tell me the boat caught fire and was totaled.

Very very sad.... but we still have the good memories and I do not believe anyone was injured or significant environmental damage.

So... what in heck happened? Well, I can't imagine this being caused by anything but an electrical fire and the only electrical was a battery and bilge pump I installed. Could the pump have frozen over the winter or the float valve stuck in the ON position? Either could easily have caused a fire.... and, in hindsight, could have been prevented with appropriate fuses and/or testing. I feel pretty bad about this... but all I can do it apologize and make sure to do a better job in the future... and really pay attention to electrical fire possibilities in my boat in NC: fuses, protection, etc.

We have a number of boats (same model) we are looking at as replacements. With luck we will have a nice boat for everyone this summer.

Isn't life interesting? Let's appreciate the heck out of what we have while it lasts.

Back on Cape Cod! Sand bars keep moving....

6:15 am Thursday.

I've been here for nearly two days after driving overnight from MI and just came back from my first sunrise beach walk in FAR too long.

Walking from the Chatham Lighthouse south along the beach, the first thing I noticed is that the beach is smaller. As I walked past Occupy Chatham (something Cynthia and I unknowingly started as a shelter from the frigid north winter winds years ago), the beach loss stares one in the face, with a good deal of the front yard gone entirely.

And as I walked around toward Outermost Harbor, the southern tail of the beach has swung far west, pushed back from the ocean by currents and waves.

This obvious change became even more obvious when I saw a patch of marsh growing on the exposed face of the beach.

This bit of green must have been dormant while the spit of sand got pushed back across it during the winter, falling asleep in the fall in a sheltered marsh and awakening this spring to strong currents and ocean waves. Amazing to think the beach traveled that far just this winter.

Well, that's all for now. I'm here for another week, then back to MI briefly.

Visiting Brule, WI: river, trout, pines...

Written June 17

Friday morning we left my cousin Heather's family camp (their side of the family, not mine, alas!) on the Brule River. I've heard about this place for years and seen pics, but only my father and youngest brother have actually visited. This year she invited Cynthia and me and a bunch of her other friends to spend a week there and I leaped at the chance.

 There were, of course, some issues. 

1) The place is about ten hours drive from home, just at the point where the drive is really tiring, but close enough that flying would not save us much time. Still, driving allowed us to bring LOTS of good food and gear.

2) the beautiful pines were in bloom, emitting golden clouds of pollen that shone in the sun and coated everything from cars to hardwood floors with a heavy layer of dust. Allergies anyone?

3) The river by the cabin is a primo trout stream, with no stocked trout and only artificial lures allowed.... and Cynthia is a bait fisherman from childhood. Solution: she bought a flyfishing starter kit on Amazon, watched loads of videos, and hired a guide for a day of fishing/learning.

By the end of the week she cast pretty darned well and was bringing in a few fish... as well as spending lots of time wading in the river and finding that fly fishing does not hurt her shoulders!

Only one fish swallowed the dry fly rather than being lightly hooked on the lip, but it was a legal brook trout and tasted delicious fried with butter/salt/pepper this morning. All the rest of the fish she brought in still swim free, gobbling up shrimp and bugs.... although she would have kept more if only they had been large enough (minimum legal rainbow trout is 26"!)

4) a large black bear ripped down the bird feeder and enjoyed all the seed... and we missed it!

On the other hand we had sweet, delicious well water and a cold, clear river pool at the dock to leap into (ok, only a meter deep: we had to leap carefully.. or just wade),

loads of canoes in the boathouse to paddle or pole, lovely trout, nice category 1 rapids, towering pines, deer eating water weed on early morning paddles, quiet twilight mornings with good fresh coffee and steam rising off the river,

noisy and boisterous dinners,

extremely silly ping-pong (I saw at least one series of four shots that stayed entirely under the table), and fun and interesting company.

The camp lodge is an enormous log structure, generations old, scented by smoke and pine and time.

When we arrived, Heather showed us our beautiful clean bedrooms (with good mattresses, something we appreciate more and more and the years pass).

Folks would gather for coffee in the morning in the big kitchen or would enjoy wine in the evening on the wide screened porches around three sides of the building. On chilly evenings (and one cloudy morning) we would build a fire in the huge fireplace in the high-ceilinged central room. A large wood closet held the long, dry birch logs and, delightfully, one fills this closet through an outside door rather than carrying firewood through the house. The outdoor storage held loads and loads of the logs...

Cynthia and I drove out to a trout hatchery and saw a snowshoe hare, paws still white from winter. We stopped to look at it better... and it headed for the car and hid beneath it! Very funny.

A bunch of folks decided to take a day trip to the city and, no surprise, Cynthia and I stayed behind. Among the things they brought back was a package of granola they had to purchase for the laughs. And no, it tasted good.

Heather did whole lot of great cooking: I think others cooked two dinners. Thanks for dinners and all your other efforts, Heather!

Cynthia and I headed for home Friday morning, aching and tired and relaxed and happy.... and looking forward to doing it again if opportunity presents itself.


"So," you ask, "what next?"
Cynthia needs to move to a different house as the hospital needs this one for another new doctor, so I'm doing what I can to help move. This will keep me here longer than planned, perhaps until the end of June. Then off to NC to sweat and get my boat ready: I figure I can sail out after a week of work... but we shall see.