I think it was on June 9th 2012 when Tahnin, Dwight, and I headed out of Tera Cia bay heading for Marathon. I have been trying to sail to the keys for 20 years without success. This time had all of the fixins for success. I had extra crew, plenty of food, and water along with plenty of gadgetry.

After clearing Longboat pass we headed off to a waypoint to the south. Dwight and I figured from times past that going any farther off than necessary was wasting time. So, with a nice breeze we sat back and chilled out for the ride. At first I felt cool air on my back, and when I looked back to the northwest I saw a rain storm approaching. I mentioned to Tahnin and Dwight that we have about three minutes, but no more than four minutes before it hits us, and that, like me, they should get everything secure and out of the cockpit that doesn’t need to get wet.

I do not think Tahnin believed me because he just sat there with a bemused look on his face. No sooner then I got the hatch boards started in their groove and the first gust hit us rolling us to the rail. I was immediately excited from the rush of it all. I’m not a person that fears anything. It may be said that my life has been made up of thrill seeking events. I have intentionally done stupid things throughout my lifetime that normal people do not usually gravitate to. Sailing in two hurricanes would be an example among others.

We sailed in that storm for a bit before we made our mind up that it may behoove us to sail into Venice inlet and stay for the night. As we headed into Venice inlet we were fighting eight foot seas. I’ve never seen seas that rough in there in the ten years I have been around there. What a rush that was. I had to kick the Yanmar up to 3200 RPM’s to pull us through. The port jetty wall was getting too close. Without the extra RPM’s we would have been close enough to shake hands with the fishermen standing out there.

The Crow’s Nest marina restaurant is a common stop for me when heading south. They have good food, and in this case a good dock to tie up to. We stayed the night while the storm raged.

The next morning we headed out to continue our trek south. By the time we got to Boca Grande I noticed that I had quite a bit of weather helm. The reason I bought the Aloha was because it had a skeg rudder, which in turn has little to no weather helm even in the worst conditions. I also noticed a vibration in the rudder which has not been evident at any other time. So, we decided to go into Boca Grande pass to anchor and look things over.

I turned the tiller over to Dwight because I did not have the strength to take us in. On our way in we watch tarpon jumping up in the air, and probably thirty boats out in the nasty weather trying to catch them.

We anchored in past the old trestle a bit. The view was as beautiful as it always was, and the best thing was that it was much calmer. When we peered over the back of the transom it was apparent that one of my last two gudgeons was not only coming loose from the transom, but it was worn badly. With that in mind, going any further would be fruitless. So, the next day we limped back home via the Intracoastal nursing the rudder all the way.

Jan 31, 2011 Sailing South

Pic is of a friendly old snook looking for a handout by the dock.

Well, Dwight and I along with Lynda have been getting Free Willy ready for another trip south. I have been trying to sail to the keys for 20 years, but due to the No-Name hurricane, a host of tropical storms, and poor health, it appears that I will have another opportunity Monday afternoon to try it.

Dwight and I have been friends for a long time, and have had many boating ventures. Considerable sums of these adventures were memorable. Hoping to avoid any memory making parts of this trip, I would like to have an uneventful sail to Marathon and back.

We plan to leave this Sunday after Dwight gets back from the airport. My tide calculations make 1:40pm high tide at my marina. If we make good time, we should be able to get to the Longboat Key Bridge by 5pm. My hopes are to have a nice sail all night that should render our waypoint south of Boca Grand and hopefully just west of Marco Island near 2-3 o'clock PM on the 1st. A 15 knot wind is projected to kick up around then, so if the seas get to rough we can hang out in the Ten Thousand Islands for a couple of days.

I'll try to keep a log going, and post the events of the trip. To that one of two people that may have read this blog, and for some reason may again read my ramblings, I'll try to keep it interesting.

As a writer, one would think this would be no chore, but it is to me. If I am writing fiction, poetry, or any other kind of prose, I seem to get along just fine. Trying to keep up with my personal ramblings of everyday life is a private thing to me. I read blogs on FaceBook that give a daily blow by blow of each segment of that persons interactions with everyone they either know, think they know, hope to know, or never want to know. I cannot see value in revealing that much information into a society that has been overburden with an absolute barrage of too much information on an hourly basis. But, I will make an effort to post regardless.

I read many sailing blogs. Some that are as boring as mine, but nonetheless I read on. So, not to be selfish about my sailing experiences, I will log on.

Karen and Steve have never camped out on a sailboat before. They hail from Ohio, and come to Florida once in awhile to visit my sister-in-law. Our plan was to leave at high tide, which was going to be around 2:30 pm. We went down to load the boat at around 2:00 to find that the storm we had the day before must have kept the river filled enough for us to leave earlier. We had no trouble getting out of Cut's Edge into Tera Cia bay. After getting past marker 4 we set the main and power sailed out to Tampa Bay.

The plan was to sail down to Bradenton beach public dock to anchor overnight, and go out Longboat Pass in the morning for a day of fishing. Dwight, a friend was supposed to sail with me down to Bradenton, but he could not make it at the last moment. Karen and Steve decided they would tag along instead.

The wind was around 5-10 knots after we got out into the bay. We pulled out the Genoa and headed toward marker 68 before we all decided to forego the Longboat Pass option, and instead headed out to Egmont Key to anchor.

Karen turned out to have sailing blood in her woodpile somewhere. One quick lesson on sail luff, compass, and GPS reading, and she was set. No better helmsman could you find! Auto is having temper tantrums, so it was necessary for us to hand steer. Not really a problem for a day sail, but much more problematic when I go out by myself. I find when sailing alone that using the autopilot makes my sailing much easier.

Steve was trolling with a large blue plug on the way out. He went down below for something when Karen and I saw the pole bend and release. When Steve got back up, he pulled in an empty line. Whatever hit it bit through the braided steel leader, and removed his new lure.

We anchored in 15 feet of water with 200 feet of rode out. I generally do not like keeping extra anchor line on deck when I can just as easily toss it over to increase my scope. And, if I have someone else pulling in the line, it doesn't give me any more effort than if I only let out 50 feet!

Karen got tired and went down below to go to sleep around 7:05 pm. She was surprised that it was that early, but after the sun went down there was nothing more that could be done. Steve stayed up in the cockpit until about 9 pm before retiring to his ¼ birth.

After the sun went down the seas kicked up a bit, but nothing much to write home about. But, the wind made a bit of a commotion. Before I went down below to chill in the V-birth, I asked the Lord to give me enough wind to keep the wind generator charging. We were running the refrigerator, computer, phone charger, and salon lights most of the night. And, for a few days before, the solar panel were of little use in the cloudy skies. So, my request was not unreasonable. The battery pack was obviously down because we were set with a 20-30 knot wind for most of the night. Needless to say, the batteries got charged. We got bounced around some, but my company seemed to be sleeping well from the sounds I heard over the slapping halyards, waves against the hull, and howling wind. I woke every hour or so to check on things, and once or twice woke the company, but over all we survived.

The next morning Steve thought it best to forego sailing out to go fishing, and to just go back in. We figured since they were going to be here for a few weeks we could go out fishing some other time. We were not heavily stocked on food, at least the kind that would satisfy the ships crew, so the thought of eating on shore became an enticement for returning to the dock.

Steve did a fine job as anchor windlass. Karen manned the tiller to make easy work of the anchor hauling. I feel it is easier to just lift the rode aboard instead of lift and pull. I am too old and feeble to do the manly pulling anymore. After the anchor was safely stored, Karen turned us toward the barn. We set the Genoa only, and had a nice quite sail at 3.5 knots all the way to the white flashing marker at the beginning of the Tera Cia bay channel.

I took over the helm while Steve and Karen took cushions and sat forward against the mast for a reflective sail in. After I got us to the white marker I saw that it looked like we might have enough water to get back to the dock, so I doused the Genoa and fired up the iron genny. I was surprised to see that I was tracking 5.2 knots at 2500 RPM's. With the small reef, that is hanging off the bottom of the boat, I would have expected to not get over 3 knots!

I pulled a number 4.5 on the Captain Ron scale for docking. I could use the excuse that the wind was to blame, but I have been doing this too long to use excuses anymore. As a rule, I can hit a 9 or 10 almost every time. So, the adventure closed with Sue picking us up for the trip back to the house. Steve and Karen are pumped for the next trip, so it must have not been bad for their first time.

December 5-7 2010

The day was going to be a sunny day with 20-knot winds and 30-knot gusts. A great day to go sailing! Up the ICW to Tampa bay was not that bad. I was heading right into the wind, so I had to depend on my little Yanmar to push us against the wind and current. I was happy when we would hit over 2 knots.

I can see how a full keel would come in handy in storm conditions that present strong winds and 4-8' seas. As I was coming back from a three-day outing, I was caught across the flats of Tampa Bay. My Aloha 28 is a beastly character with lots of guts. I rolled out a couple Tee shirts of my genoa in these 20-knot winds and 30-knot gusts to see if it would help my little Yanmar. Needless to say, any sailor knows what that will do to the boat when those gusts come along. But, with my heart condition I was not able to safely raise a reefed main.

When these gusts hit I had to push up my RPMS to keep my course; otherwise, the gusts would nearly run away with the bow of the boat. With the steady winds, I noticed I was heeling nearly to the rail. I was confused to why this was happening. Aloha sailboats have plenty of freeboard, which can cause windage in itself. To compound my efforts my point of sail caused somewhat of a hindrance with a beam wind and seas that roll over the top of the windward side when the boat is on the rail. It also didn't help that we were having Canadian weather that was around 53 degrees in the middle of the day. I wore my waterproof winter jacket, which helped protect me from a couple of those boarding seas. I was also irritated that I wasn't getting more than 5.4 knots out of her in those conditions.

I realized much later that part of the reason for the wind keeping heeled over was my Bimini. When presented with a decent wind and some heeling action the Bimini takes on an extra use as a mizzen.

Every now and then three seas would march right up behind my back, which was perched on the port side cockpit, and pounce on me. I suppose that I escaped some of the drenching because of my nearly standing position. The boat was heeled to the rail, so when these three malevolents would sneak up on me they would push us over enough so that I was nearly standing straight up with my feet firmly grasping the edge of the starboard cockpit locker.

Nonetheless, once I got myself back in Tera Cia Bay the winds kept up but the island protected me from the pounding waves. Overall, I had a good time. When those malevolent seas pounded me, I laughed like a madman. I was having a good time. I knew my boat could take that and more. As for me, I was surprised my heart held out with the beating I was taking. It waited until the next day after I was tied up at the dock to act up and eventually give me another heart attack. The only regret is that no one was out there on my boat enjoying the fun with me! I have heard said that I am crazy; maybe they are right!

As a rule I do not keep logs on the boat, I mean paper logs. Although I have a nice looking one, it seems archaic to me to use it instead of my computer. My handwriting has become illegible. I try to have all the niceties of home aboard, so my life can easily transition from my recliner at home to the cockpit on the boat. I have a complete arsenal of electrical devices from a simple chart plotter to a waffle iron. My electric refrigerator works just like mine at the house, but on a smaller scale, as does the microwave. I have been considering switching to an electric skillet or a hot plate to replace the need to use my never been used two burner gas stove.

I enjoy sitting on the boom leaning back against the mainsail chilling out as Auto drives the boat across the water. It is quite enjoyable and relaxing. The view is great, the wind on your face in soothing, and you can let your thoughts float away with the wind. The disadvantage of single-handing is that there is no one to get you another beverage when you run out.

If my wife chooses not to go with me because of work, or because she doesn't want to go with me I enjoy sailing by myself. Single-handing gives time for testing your survival skills; sailing techniques necessary to maintain the boat, and the gratification of a successful cruise. Although I am a people person, I do understand why some choose willingly to continue to be single-handed sailors. With my health issues, I tend to need company more often. It is hard to get used to others on the boat, but my desire to go sailing with other has met with compromise.

As a writer one might think I would enjoy detailing every sailing experience like so many others that I read about, but I find it hard to do. I implore you'all to keep doing so because I like to read other people's sailing blogs.

My A28 seems to be able to handle keel to solid surfaces quite well. In fact I call it my sandbar magnet. If there is a sand bar within a hundred miles my boat can find it without looking!

Last weekend "Free Willy," my A28, decided I needed to practicing kegging off without a dinghy. After nestling upon yet another sandbar I jumped over the side with my Delta on my shoulder. I went out as far as I could without drowning myself, and set the Delta down in some solid sand. The water was nice, so while I was stuck out there I looked around a bit at all of the shells and critters messing about on the bar until a 6' Bull shark came a little too close. It appeared that the shark was looking around like I was, and had no intentions of coming any closer.

I entertained the thought of grabbing it if it swam close enough, but the chance never came. Lynda was waiting for me to get back on the boat, and winch us off the sandbar. She may have not been too happy watching me try and grab that critter. He may have put up a bit more of a fight than the one I caught in the keys. That shark I caught in Long Key was less that half the size of this one.

After climbing back on the boat I used the waves and winch to keg us off. We bounced and moved about 100 feet before we got free. The keel on the A28 must be able to take a good bit of abuse because I have tested it many times. It can also be used for dredging canals that have shoaled in.

Nonetheless, we had a real nice sail this weekend.