Sun 15 Apr 2012
Anchored in New Smyrna Beach, FL

After a very restful night where the wind blew only moderately, we cast off the lines at 0650 and proceeded north. The winds were near 10 knots, but coming from directly astern so there was not enough to help. It was a somewhat boring ride for a few hours, and then the wind picked up a little and we could motor-sail a bit. That gives Duane something to do as he can then tweak the sheet (control line) to get the optimal sail shape and speed.

As a commentary about how cruising on a simple boat challenges you to manage resources wisely, Diane correctly noted that since we would have abundant sunshine, and failing that, abundant energy from the engine’s alternator, she would defrost our tiny freezer during the early portion of the run. Once that was done, it would make the refrigerator compressor run harder until everything was nice and cold again, which consumes more energy. So, it makes sense to do that only when you are sure to have ample energy to recover. What a gal!

At one point, the ICW makes a sharp turn to the NE, and then the wind direction was what we call close-hauled for the sail had to be made as tight and close to the boat as possible. We were idling the engine, but still moving at 6.6 knots from wind power, which is pretty fast for our boat, especially using only the headsail. That very exhilarating run came to an end when we reached the “haulover” bridge across the haulover canal that NASA uses for the space center just to the east of us.

After the canal, we turned northerly again and for a long stretch we were in a fairly narrow section with numerous fish camps and mobile home parks on the E side and lots of small islands on the W. We passed many hundreds of people over a dozen miles and 90% were fishing. It certainly was an interesting bit of Americana. Unfortunately, we did not take any photos.

Once we got to New Smyrna Beach, the waterway was teeming with activity and the “free” town docks we planned to use were in a state of construction that meant we were not going to even attempt docking there. We chose a tight, but very pleasant anchoring location just off the channel with great protection from the SE winds that were blowing. I should mention here that the winds continued to build, as forecast, and we had our headsail pulling strong for much of the last half of the trip. That, plus a favorable current got us to our day’s destination in 8 hours instead of 10.

After ensuring the anchor was well set, we got the dinghy off the davits and loaded in the bicycles. We got permission from the nice dock master at the city marina to land the dinghy and then took off to explore the town. The downtown area is just a few blocks from the marina and it is interesting. It definitely has that 1950s feel to it, and some establishments (like the soda fountain) go out of their way to replicate that look and feel. Even though it was only 1600 (4 pm), ALL the stores were closed, even the few eating establishments. It may be a city or county prohibition, or just economic sense.

With our 10 minute ride through the downtown complete, we headed south along the river against the wind until we decided we had seen enough. There were many homes on that road that were very nice and/or interesting in their architecture. We reversed the procedure with the bikes and dinghy ride and were soon eating the meal we prepared yesterday.

There was a lot of time spent with options for the next few days and finally concluded that we do need to make some miles again tomorrow to get to St. Augustine the day after.