So after being stuck in Cedar key for about a week, due to weather that included tornado and waterspout watches, we were able to leave.
Friday NOAA had it at seas of 3-5 ft. I'm not comfortable with that, but thought perhaps it wasn't that bad. It IS a large area they predict for and Passageweather.com said it wasn't so. Motoring out of the channel I got a but confused by the markers. it's a Y where two channels meet and there a a lot of markers. I ended up motoring into the soils, an area where the sand gets pushed when the channels get dredged out. fortunately this time it was an incoming tide so I just had to wait. After about three hours and hanging a full five-gallon bucket of the port side to tilt Patience over a bit, I was able to power through and get back into the channel.
We went ahead an motored out to the number one channel marker, the waves growing in intensity as we pushed on. at the end they were indeed the waves NOAA had warned about. Killian Jack had a blast and was excited to sail in the heaving seas, but I had not one iota of desire to sail in that for the next 20-some-odd miles. I turned us around, defeated. shortly after I reversed course,and after the motor came up out of the water a few times, it quit. I had my working jib hanked on so I raise it up and argued with the winds and seas to get us further into the channel. we went as far as marker number eight, which is on the side of an island, which calmed the waves quite a bit. We stayed there for the night.
I'll post the trip to Crystal River later. i don't want to risk this post getting lost! again...

So, twelve days ago Killian Jack and I untied Patience and headed south.
Since then, we've been towed twice- once because the motor didn't work and I was exhausted, and once because I got us grounded at high tide- we've stopped at one marina, Sea Hag in Steintchee, and we will be back to that one! We've anchored outside of three different rivers and spent nine nights on the hook
We've only made port twice, for a total of four days. We've lost a boat hook, my yuloh, and Killian Jack's big blow-up shark he won at a fair two years ago. I think it was blown to shore a couple of nights ago.
Killian Jack has help me by manning the tiller on various occasions and has taught himself how to hoist himself up using the halyards. The other day he got himself up the mast about seven feet!
We've finally gotten everything stowed so nothing falls over on a 20 degree heel, and we've learned to sleep in seas that might heel us over 20 degrees!
I have noticed that my ankles don't swell anymore, my knees, feet, and hips don't hurt anymore, I have had not one single hive, and I've lost some weight. I am already stronger than I've been in ages!
I have also learned our inverter doesn't charge our laptop, and I have to update this blog on my phone!

Low tide so I'm making breakfast. and listening to the weather. (Started this at 0630) Ugh! Here it's not bad, 2-4ft waves. But it sounds like where I'm going has 3-5ft waves with winds at. 20kts with rough protected waters. I don't feel ready to tackle anchoring while being blown up an unfamiliar channel in those conditions. Not yet.
We'll go out here and get more comfortable in the 2-4 ft. Of course the river here is smooth, but I know it's a different story on regular.
New date is Thursday.

Low tide so I'm making breakfast. and listening to the weather. (Started this at 0630) Ugh! Here it's not bad, 2-4ft waves. But it sounds like where I'm going has 3-5ft waves with winds at. 20kts with rough protected waters. I don't feel ready to tackle anchoring while being blown up an unfamiliar channel in those conditions. Not yet.
We'll go out here and get more comfortable in the 2-4 ft. Of course the river here is smooth, but I know it's a different story on regular.
New date is Thursday.

Well, it's here. We're untying Patience tomorrow morning and heading off on our Big Adventure, a/k/a the Great American Loop....or at least part of it.
This first leg of our trip will take us to Steinhatchee, FL.
I have worked towards this trip about four years now, and perhaps I'll write up notes on some of the things I've done to prepare our boat while we're out and about.
Myself and Killian-Jack, my five-year-old son are sailing Patience, our 1972 26' Grampian in exploration of our coastline. This trip will be (hopefully) funded by balloon twisting/face painting along the way.
I aim to keep this as updated as possible to let you all know how our grand experiment is coming along.