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April 3, 2009
We’re gonna try to get current on my blogs but not tonight. We’re tired. We left Shark River at about 8:00 A.M. I know that’s late but we sleep really well and we don’t get up till about seven. We swung on anchor in Shark River. When we anchored, our boat faced out toward the Gulf. I woke to check it in the middle of the night and we had swung 180 degrees to face into the river. The next morning, we were facing back toward the Gulf. The ebb and flow of the current controlled the direction of our boat, as opposed to wind when we are anchored in a bay.
As we headed out, we could hear the surf. That was a pretty clear indication to us that we needed to reef the main. As we were leaving, a man in a trawler visited with us. They were headed the same direction we were but a trawler doesn’t do well in beam seas. He assured me that a sailboat would. We headed out. I put one reef in the main and off we went, main only and motor running. The seas were choppy near shore and more rolling offshore. We never felt in danger. We spent the day sailing downwind, down current and with winds between 16 and 23 knots and seas of 3 to 4.5 feet with absolutely no problem. It was a tiring sail but the boat was very comfortable.
In order to plan safely, we decided to just go a short distance to Everglades City but the boat did so well we continued on to Marco Island which meant we went about 55 miles. That’s a long way in those seas but with wind and current in our favor we were making about 8 knots over ground.
When we got to the Marco Island inlet, we started rolling in the jib. The roller furling was tangled. So, I went to the bow to untangle it. I felt a little like Captain Dan in Forest Gump. I’m referring to the scene where he rode on the mast in a storm, except I was on the bow. Maybe it is a blend of Captain Dan and Titanic. Anyway, I got up there and straddled my legs on either side of the bow as the boat sailed in four foot seas. I couldn’t get it untangled. I went back to the cockpit and tried to force it a little but that did not work either so, back to the bow Captain Dan style. I realized I needed to furl the sail as far as I could then lock the drum with the roller furling line slack until I could untangle the line. So, back to the cockpit for a screwdriver (phillips, not vodka) and back to the bow where I succeeded in untangling the line. The sail rolled in nicely.
We docked at a really nice marina and took a shower on shore. That was nice. The rest of the night was pretty boring so I’ll stop for tonight.
Everyone is interested in how Linda is handling all this. She’s a trooper. She kinda gets fed up every once in a while but she sailed the boat while I was on the bow and didn’t drown me so I know she is okay.
Post again tomorrow
Royal Crescent.
PS. I posted some new pictures.
We’re gonna try to get current on my blogs but not tonight. We’re tired. We left Shark River at about 8:00 A.M. I know that’s late but we sleep really well and we don’t get up till about seven. We swung on anchor in Shark River. When we anchored, our boat faced out toward the Gulf. I woke to check it in the middle of the night and we had swung 180 degrees to face into the river. The next morning, we were facing back toward the Gulf. The ebb and flow of the current controlled the direction of our boat, as opposed to wind when we are anchored in a bay.
As we headed out, we could hear the surf. That was a pretty clear indication to us that we needed to reef the main. As we were leaving, a man in a trawler visited with us. They were headed the same direction we were but a trawler doesn’t do well in beam seas. He assured me that a sailboat would. We headed out. I put one reef in the main and off we went, main only and motor running. The seas were choppy near shore and more rolling offshore. We never felt in danger. We spent the day sailing downwind, down current and with winds between 16 and 23 knots and seas of 3 to 4.5 feet with absolutely no problem. It was a tiring sail but the boat was very comfortable.
In order to plan safely, we decided to just go a short distance to Everglades City but the boat did so well we continued on to Marco Island which meant we went about 55 miles. That’s a long way in those seas but with wind and current in our favor we were making about 8 knots over ground.
When we got to the Marco Island inlet, we started rolling in the jib. The roller furling was tangled. So, I went to the bow to untangle it. I felt a little like Captain Dan in Forest Gump. I’m referring to the scene where he rode on the mast in a storm, except I was on the bow. Maybe it is a blend of Captain Dan and Titanic. Anyway, I got up there and straddled my legs on either side of the bow as the boat sailed in four foot seas. I couldn’t get it untangled. I went back to the cockpit and tried to force it a little but that did not work either so, back to the bow Captain Dan style. I realized I needed to furl the sail as far as I could then lock the drum with the roller furling line slack until I could untangle the line. So, back to the cockpit for a screwdriver (phillips, not vodka) and back to the bow where I succeeded in untangling the line. The sail rolled in nicely.
We docked at a really nice marina and took a shower on shore. That was nice. The rest of the night was pretty boring so I’ll stop for tonight.
Everyone is interested in how Linda is handling all this. She’s a trooper. She kinda gets fed up every once in a while but she sailed the boat while I was on the bow and didn’t drown me so I know she is okay.
Post again tomorrow
Royal Crescent.
PS. I posted some new pictures.
Thanks for the post. It makes it fun to have people read our blog.
ReplyDeleteRodney