August 5, 2014

Well, how was your summer? We have been very busy, traveling all over the country for various activities. Donna helped out with the Air Race Classic, tried to get on a federal jury, and met her siblings for a weekend together. Part of the weekend included a white water rafting trip down the Arkansas River in Colorado!

Scott kept busy traveling back and forth between Colorado and Arizona, getting a rental house ready to sell and leasing two commercial buildings. A lot of miles were put on our vehicles this summer! And, a very nice ending came through a text from a friend, two days before Lake Havasu weather was to hit 118. The text gave us a very nice and welcome opportunity to escape the heat. Thank you, Justine!!

I am in the process of transferring the old blog into a new one. The new one should allow you to "subscribe" to the blog, allowing the updates to come to your email account. That way, you don't have to remember to check our blog everyday or the link won't get lost! Or you can keep the link on a favorites tab and check it every ten minutes looking to see if SPOT is moving! :) Anyway, this should give us all more options. The new link is: http://svmakarios.blogspot.com/

We are hoping, planning, talking about heading to the boat the second week in September. Rather than spoil the surprise, I'll let you check in again around the first of September to see what updates I've posted.

Be safe. Be well. All is well.

Well, we made it safe and sound to the dock in Georgia. We will be here a few more weeks getting the boat prepared for the hurricane season, before heading west, north and other directions our travels will take us. At this time, subject to change, we expect to have the boat here through August. It is in the plans, hopes, dreams, thinking, to take the boat to the Chesapeake this fall in the anticipation of leaving Virginia the beginning of November with the Salty Dawg Rally (saltydawgrally.org) and heading to the British Virgin Islands.For now, though, an update from the navigator on our last passage.

The trip from Marathon, FL to Brunswick, GA, was a total of 449 nautical miles, broken into four legs. Our average boat speed (speed over ground) was 6.15 kts, with a high speed of 9.3 kts and a low speed of 0.5 kts. The lowest wind we saw was "light and variable" and the highest wind gusts were 27 kts.

The first leg, from Marathon to Rodriguez Key was 50 miles and took 9.5 hours. The wind speed was 8-10 kts out of the east. Our heading was northeast, which meant we had to motorsail 100% of the time. Our average boat speed for this leg was 5.26 kts. This is about what we plan for; anything more is smooth sailing, no pun intended.

The second leg was from Rodriguez Key to Key Biscayne (Miami). The 52-mile trip took 7.5 hours, for an average boat speed of 6.93 kts. Our heading was generally northeast and, yes, the wind was out of the north east, which meant motorsailing 100% of the time. The first two legs were done on the Hawk Channel in the Keys and in about 15-20 feet of beautiful emerald green water.

The next leg took us to Fort Pierce, FL, a 122-mile run up the coast. Here we had to say goodby to our crew, Richard and Justine, as they had to return to civilization and reality. The winds were out of the east southeast at speeds of 6-8 the first half and increasing to 10-12 kts at the end. We were heading north, so it was a beautiful run! We only had to motor 37% of the time. The trip took us 19.25 hours for an average speed of 6.34 kts. We were helped along by the Gulf Stream with a push of 2-3 kts. We saw many flying fish skimming the tops of the waves.

The final leg was originally routed to skirt the coastline around Cape Canaveral, staying within about 3 miles of land. However, when we left Fort Pierce, the wind was so perfect that we deleted many of the waypoints and headed straight for the outer banks off Canaveral. Once we cleared the shoals there, we deleted the remaining waypoints and headed straight for Brunswick. This took about 35 miles off the route and ended up saving us about 11 hours on the water, based on the original calculated speed of 5 kts. The winds were out of the south-southeast at 12-15 kts, which was not quite perfect for our northerly-northwesterly heading. The two- to three-foot swells were on our stern, as was the wind, which resulted in motorsailing 78% of the leg. That's okay, though, as dawn and dusk brought pods of dolphin to surf our bow wake. This was also the leg we had a guest navigator join us for about half an hour (see picture).

This leg was also where we had our extreme high (27kts) and low (0kts) winds. It was also the leg, just before we rounded Cape Canaveral, that the engine started running a little rough, missing occasionally. Scott changed the fuel filter and the engine ran fine for about ten hours, then started doing it again. We had been motorsailing, so, we turned off the engine and continued under sail while Scott went in search of the problem. My instructions were to hold us on course. No problem, the autopilot was working great, no ships were around and we were about 25 miles off shore. Until. The. Wind. Died. Call us Bob. Scott quickly found the problem which was metal shavings blocking the fuel line. Once he cleared the blockage, engine on, and an hour later, the winds kicked up to 16-19 kts. A squall blew through as this First Officer was asleep and the Captain was on watch.

As we neared Jacksonville, mid afternoon, squalls were building again over the coast, heading our direction. Squalls in front of us, squalls behind us, and we passed safely between them without getting a single drop of rain. As we passed the outer bell buoy at Brunswick, heading for home, we heard a cargo ship on the radio ahead of us. He was outbound and was making sure all the little boats were out of his way. We pulled over and let him pass. We arrived on the dock about 11:00 p.m., tied up and went to sleep.

We have been tidying up, stowing away, inventorying provisions, and making repairs, getting the boat ready for while we will be gone. This will probably be the last post of the season as well. I'll probably start posting again in August or September, so keep an eye out for the start of our next adventure. We had fun with our numerous visitors and guest crew and look forward to who will be with us next season. Will it be you? We hope so! We hope each of you are well. Here, all is well.

Can you believe it? We can't, but, we are hopeful! Yes, there is a high degree of possibility/probability that we are actually going to be leaving Marathon and heading north back to Brunswick, GA.

We've had some friends, Justine and Richard, visiting for the last week and were going to start looking for a weather window to head north after they left. The weather is supposed to be great this weekend and Justine and Richard have decided to go along with us! Built in crew.

Speaking of weather windows, as of right now, and subject to change, the weather is looking good, if not a little light, through at least next Wednesday. We could conceivably get all the way to Brunswick in 5 days, without stopping, especially if we get a nice ride on the Gulf Stream. We could also stop in Fort Pierce or St. Augustine as weather or interest ebbs or flows. SPOT will be on, so follow along!

Looking forward to moving. All is well.

Yes, we are still in Florida. We won't be going to the Bahamas this year. Boat projects, wind, and business keep us here. But, that's okay, because we are getting a lot done. This werk, we've started the varnishing of the teak. While I made a quick trip to Nashville, Scott moved the boat to the dock and, using a heat gun, removed all the varnish that has been applied over the last few years. He took it down to bare wood. When I returned, we sanded the cap rails and have, so far, put on three coats of varnish. We'll put one more one, then we'll put on four coats of gloss. It is looking great!

We have friends coming to visit for a few days, then, we'll start looking for a weather window north. We may stop at the same places we did coming south or, if we can get a really good weather window, with a week of southerly winds, we can ride the gulf stream all the way backto Georgia. At this time, we'll keep the boat in Brunswick for a couple of months, maybe until August. We would like to take it to the Chesapeake Bay for the fall, but, we are just taking it one month at a time.

We hope everyone is well.

Twas the night before Thursday and all through the boat,
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mote.
The crew was nestled all snug in their bunk,
Glad that the project list had finally shrunk.
The water outside was as calm as could be;
The clock on the wall said a quarter to three.
Suddenly, the still of the night was no more,
By sounds that came not quite as a roar.
The first mate was up in less than a flash,
And up to the cockpit quickly she dashed.
Off to the starboard,you say the right,
There appeared to me a beautiful sight.
Flipper and baby on a midnight swim,
Leaping and playing by moonlight so dim.
They breached and broached with loud exhales,
And greeted a dog with a slap of their tails.
Thirty minutes or more, then came a sigh,
The dolphins were gone with hardly a "bye".

There is not much going on here, while we wait for information that will determine when and where we go next. Yesterday (St. Patrick's Day) was a free day on the bus, so, we rode it down to Key West to have lunch with friends who used to be on the mooring ball next to us. We celebrated their 41st wedding anniversary and my ## birthday with lunch out. The bus ride took fours hours, round trip. But, we made it home slightly before dark in time to prepare for some high winds that were expected. We did have winds last night and a little bit of rain this morning. Scott's latest project is annual maintenance on the dinghy outboard. He picked up the parts today and will meet with another boater in the harbor to do the work. Not much else going on. Alll is well.