Ric and I had a busy morning of returning the rental car, loading the bicycles and filling up with water. Then Scott arrived with the sails. We were already sweating buckets in the hot Florida sun, but the beautiful new mainsail went up flawlessly with Scott's experienced guidance. We also replaced the furling line with one smaller in diameter, as the rigger found that the wrong sized line had been used and may have been the source of some of our prior frustrations. The restitiched genoa and staysail were installed without a hitch, as well.

After thanking Scott for his excellent work and saying farewell to our marina neighbors, we shoved off from Vero Beach at around 11:00 AM. The plan was to try to get to Miami before the predicted 6 -9 foot seas set in and then duck into Hawk's Channel on down to Key West. The channel cuts between land and the reef, providing protection from the high seas. The best case scenario was that this could be a straight-through trip of 48 hours, but if we needed to rest there would be plenty of mooring balls at various locations along the reef.

The first part of the trip was a relatively uneventful motoring down the ICW to Ft. Pierce inlet. The only excitement came when the bascule bridge didn't open as soon as expected and Capt'n Ric had to do some fancy maneuvering to keep us on a straight course in the current while waiting for the spans to rise.

At around 1:00 PM Amplexus was out of the Ft. Pierce Channel and into the Atlantic. The seas were a little higher than predicted and as usual the wind wasn't coming from the direction we would have liked, but we were still able to use the main and sail close-hauled. Disappointingly, there were strong northerly currents and the best we could do was around 5 knots, even with the help of the iron genoa. Ric was also a little concerned about a high-pitched engine noise that he had not heard before, so we kept a close eye on the engine temps. They stayed in the normal range and we had no reason to believe anything was amiss. Throughout the day, we took turns on watch, allowing the other person to rest or read.

During the late afternoon, I went down below briefly on my watch to grab some munchies. When I started to come back up, I caught a whiff of something that smelled like wood burning for a barbeque, but dismissed it, thinking it must be a combination of engine smell and a faulty sniffer on my part. I also didn't want to disturb Ric during the last chapter of his Tom Clancy book. Next time I will.

After finishing his book, Ric went below to check the weather reports and see if there was any possibility we could still make Hawk's Channel without getting abused by heavy seas. Immediately, I heard him hail me, "Catherine, come down here! Do you smell that?" By this time there was a very strong smell of wood smoking. "Yes, I smelled it before, but it was so faint I didn't bother you with it." With that he started opening the engine compartments and discovered the source of the smell--the turbo charger elbow valve had overheated and the bed-board of the aft cabin which rested upon it was smoldering--yikes! Fire on a boat is one of the worst things that can happen. Luckily for us, the board had not yet burst into flames, because the mattress on top of it would have been an easy source of fuel. Although we were prepared with the fire extinguisher, I'm very happy we didn't have to use it.

After killing the engine, we tossed all of the mattresses and bedding into the salon and took the board off the top of the turbo charger. Through a series of trials, Ric determined that we could safely run the engine at 2,500 rpms., as long as we left the turbocharger uncovered. Of course that made the engine noise very loud, but at least we could continue without a call to TowBoat US.

The afternoon wore on and nightfall came. As per our own rules, we put on lifejackets and clipped in. The new moon gave little help in illuminating the dark sea. The winds were now gusting up to 25 knots and the waves were 4-6 ft. with a very short period between them. Amplexus was doing fine, but it was becoming an increasingly uncomfortable voyage for her crew.

We took turns being on watch and trying to nap up on deck. The constant pounding and sea-spray made it difficult to sleep and neither of us got more than a few winks. I couldn't wait for my last watch to end at sunrise. My hands and arms were aching from trying to stabilize myself on the backstays and keep from sliding off the captain's seat. Ric went down to check the weather again. Meanwhile I began to seriously doubt that I could stand this much longer and began to think about how nice a marina would be just about now. (I'm so spoiled.)

That being said, I was thrilled when Ric came back up, said that the weather conditions were going to get worse and that I should start looking for a marina in Ft. Lauderdale. At this point he was hand steering to minimize the wave action on the boat. After a few more torturous hours, and a traverse under the busiest bascule bride on the ICW, the 17th St. Bridge, we were safely docked at the Lauderdale Marina. Aaaaah!