tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69555212024-03-07T01:21:42.068-08:00Alizéeramblings, stories, photos, rants and ravings from James and Penelope, the skipper and first mate of <i><strong>Alizée</strong></i>, a 2001 Cabo Rico 36, who sail, are dragon boaters and otherwise mess about on boats, read, write, volunteer, travel occasionally and otherwise enjoy life to the fullest, and whose skipper plays jazz piano in his quintet <i><strong>All That Jazz</strong></i>.james and penelopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07450752698208270965noreply@blogger.comBlogger311125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6955521.post-39870036824843637552022-01-05T10:37:00.005-08:002022-01-05T10:37:59.938-08:00<p> After almost two years in her slip, getting out a couple of times for overnight and once for a survey, we said goodbye to <i>Alizee. </i>We put her on the market just a little while before the outbreak of COVID 19, and she languished there. Finally, after getting a couple of really lowball offers, I decided to donate her to a charity and get the tax benefit, which was well above the offers. Penelope and I spent a couple of days clearing off 12 years of things from the boat, cleaning her the last time, and shedding a few tears of farewell. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjTH14PRQFolcbp6X8RgyYGwW1RD7pyiVMSedqYBjWUPt9DtOJEcoloeFSURltJ8t3zT44jTYCsm964DvIaztpeeFPuaFANw2tDL4sDUMM7UbYlnqBOuxoz7lvwGqFwtW9a0bjJEjWgXYHTunDkTnk_DzWIBFBkvqHWQkrYbpwTzhCNBwV_6Q4=s960" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhYokrPrpUZ8jJyJU8UYoQhBMsqKTd9bQoHfmQwfozF-VxA60TzlBtqJOE8KR7TCWskVKDQ0Cn9-ikLTXI1a14BlrhyKuxFYERCxhAHjaNqFDcBEpbmKZeDU97M0ECv2QH2tOYZMlJd2s_Dvce_9k_weBPOBSKU_-sjlyhbEGJK3YMZdjwxlgo=s960" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhYokrPrpUZ8jJyJU8UYoQhBMsqKTd9bQoHfmQwfozF-VxA60TzlBtqJOE8KR7TCWskVKDQ0Cn9-ikLTXI1a14BlrhyKuxFYERCxhAHjaNqFDcBEpbmKZeDU97M0ECv2QH2tOYZMlJd2s_Dvce_9k_weBPOBSKU_-sjlyhbEGJK3YMZdjwxlgo=s320" width="320" /> <img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjTH14PRQFolcbp6X8RgyYGwW1RD7pyiVMSedqYBjWUPt9DtOJEcoloeFSURltJ8t3zT44jTYCsm964DvIaztpeeFPuaFANw2tDL4sDUMM7UbYlnqBOuxoz7lvwGqFwtW9a0bjJEjWgXYHTunDkTnk_DzWIBFBkvqHWQkrYbpwTzhCNBwV_6Q4=s320" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p></p></blockquote><p></p><p></p><p>Charities that take boats and cars, of course, turn them around quickly and with really low prices. <i>Alizee </i>was sold to Adam Schantz, a Navy guy in Jacksonville, Florida, within a couple of weeks. A nice fellow, he trucked <i>Alizee </i>up to Jacksonville and put her in a yard for some six months for refurbishing. Once he got her back in the water, he changed her name to <i>Orion</i>, an unfortunate choice compared to <i>Alizee </i>in our view. </p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p></p></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjC0tpo_plk8ubWls77pjTmnP6_KIzLuan7cn8qE4dtq0dV315cH8_70ryJm4Jgc81IjTUUmrYgHxkjrFY4Jp_-O6F5W_vFtXmCRJwxQqUnHq1HO-n3ivUM6jduAHnvx-bZ-1SWp000avW18cv-57Sy0MjbcKAAV7UmDRRhj7IewVqNyv6ad7w=s4032" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjC0tpo_plk8ubWls77pjTmnP6_KIzLuan7cn8qE4dtq0dV315cH8_70ryJm4Jgc81IjTUUmrYgHxkjrFY4Jp_-O6F5W_vFtXmCRJwxQqUnHq1HO-n3ivUM6jduAHnvx-bZ-1SWp000avW18cv-57Sy0MjbcKAAV7UmDRRhj7IewVqNyv6ad7w=s320" width="240" /></a></div></blockquote><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEghtMpGPes-iRHG3CFyvzfHvsecUgS6rgT_8EWZyZl8Ap_3f7eBbccT2wB_9XRn9LFBhBx27lwcybrbNdWtB-vwuFeWT7PnmSnK1Db8wFWmiKJWPTWCWli-0Rwu8nqx06RBcAqrxHN3fIfOMMjsuIhLA5s90EHaPpskvEg_RXdUMozUlD1hbHg=s4032" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEghtMpGPes-iRHG3CFyvzfHvsecUgS6rgT_8EWZyZl8Ap_3f7eBbccT2wB_9XRn9LFBhBx27lwcybrbNdWtB-vwuFeWT7PnmSnK1Db8wFWmiKJWPTWCWli-0Rwu8nqx06RBcAqrxHN3fIfOMMjsuIhLA5s90EHaPpskvEg_RXdUMozUlD1hbHg=s320" width="240" /></a></p><br />I think his plan was to cruise, but he got transferred to Colorado, so he put her on the market again, becoming one of the few boaters I know who made a profit on the resale.<div><br /><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiRAk7ITqJQpeBgUBE0Zg1K3hco6k-I9ryr_eNd99UbNckfKth2loMFTrnyBbfdLLTuAsZ76WrwLBoVB2QM8EDwakstE2F5PgHTZ4xtj4AtZ1issQPxhALmn2yIZNya-7PS1IHIkR5-64aBWmiTV8D2p-w910A1YL_lm5-wpV4np2bu-EdKxI0=s4032" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiRAk7ITqJQpeBgUBE0Zg1K3hco6k-I9ryr_eNd99UbNckfKth2loMFTrnyBbfdLLTuAsZ76WrwLBoVB2QM8EDwakstE2F5PgHTZ4xtj4AtZ1issQPxhALmn2yIZNya-7PS1IHIkR5-64aBWmiTV8D2p-w910A1YL_lm5-wpV4np2bu-EdKxI0=s320" width="240" /></a></div><br /></div><div>At any rate, the new owner Steve Sears got my number from Adam. I spoke to him today, and he said he'd read this blog and the accompanying maintenance log. So after he's done replumbing the head, he and his wife will keep the dream alive and I know <i>Alizee </i>a.k.a. <i>Orion</i> will be as good to them as she was to us.<br /></div></div>james and penelopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07450752698208270965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6955521.post-18528752543513417532017-02-15T08:49:00.000-08:002017-02-15T08:49:08.652-08:00From invigorating to relaxing ...We finally just took the time to go sailing last week. <i>Alizee</i> was happy to get out of the slip, and we found ourselves facing 20-25 knot NW winds with gusts even higher. For our bodies, which have been land-locked for a month or so, it was invigorating to exhausting. Our initial plan was to head north to Punta Gorda, but we were really a bit to tight into the wind, so we altered course, ran south a bit, and headed west to Pelican Bay, our favorite nearby anchorage. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYGAYpX9N70g3DcpBUnkCIppadLm9deDDnMqebl4k5zfJEOuRe1tUK1pWvoGtyZP_HGu76dHFi3pey0RY9WoeCTIgDBGQtwzce8PyV-VD9Z6YHoE0dWfcJY2pNNUmix7hqlq8AhQ/s1600/IMG_1768+sunset.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYGAYpX9N70g3DcpBUnkCIppadLm9deDDnMqebl4k5zfJEOuRe1tUK1pWvoGtyZP_HGu76dHFi3pey0RY9WoeCTIgDBGQtwzce8PyV-VD9Z6YHoE0dWfcJY2pNNUmix7hqlq8AhQ/s320/IMG_1768+sunset.JPG" width="320" /></a>We did some nice tacking on the way, and we arrived at our anchorage in four hours. It felt like eight hours or more, and we were ready for sundowners long before sundown. While we hoped the wind would let up in the evening, it didn't and we had 25 knots blowing all night and into the morning. This made sleeping a bit awkward ... we're too used to our nice stable, king-size bed at home ... and we were not just exhausted but sleep deprived in the morning. <br />
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Although we'd only planned an overnight sail, we were able to get our cat-sitter Alan to check in on our furry buddies that evening so we could spend another night on the hook. We stretched our food supply a bit to do the extra night, but it was really worth it. The winds moderated nicely on Saturday, shifted from north to southeast, and we had a lovely calm sail back to our marina that afternoon.<br />
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Got to get out more! We really enjoyed it!james and penelopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07450752698208270965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6955521.post-23974471332502139892016-12-10T11:29:00.002-08:002016-12-10T11:29:55.650-08:00A hiatus from the water ...We took a hiatus from the water around June, putting <i>Alizee</i> in "summer storage" (the opposite of what folks do up north). It's just too hot for us to sail, the winds are usually not much more than an occasional zephyr, and when it is windy it's because of afternoon thunder and lightning storms. So we spent the summer biking, swimming at home, etc. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCYGSC4Z7gLJQY8_yJ09UE_4IAXAfHI3tej7kH4fFyb23dqKaaPSz2h2FfwftV7pCMGWEG-qT2KD0pRFlN3CSkt1anWyMqBlHLBToeHJAl7kTu9uH28QeIRv83bIbWbnyY3ws8BA/s1600/018.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCYGSC4Z7gLJQY8_yJ09UE_4IAXAfHI3tej7kH4fFyb23dqKaaPSz2h2FfwftV7pCMGWEG-qT2KD0pRFlN3CSkt1anWyMqBlHLBToeHJAl7kTu9uH28QeIRv83bIbWbnyY3ws8BA/s200/018.JPG" width="150" /></a>We took a trip to Porto, Portugal for ten days, and had a great time there sampling wines, exploring the city and its environs. We planned the trip to tag on to the last couple of days of the annual history of technology meeting that James used to attend regularly, which meant we got to see some old friends and participate in the traditional jazz night that comes at the end of the conference.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuTKdAYa8NKZdcv66tX-d-WFBpdvG3EqDMzwsBtukLIrvuZiBOYbT0eyaAAB9zH8ok1FHipb27kpmBVXwfPa0s-mbQk37kXIyRI6Q38L_OnmcGficKfaJboZ1jYsl5B0BgtxrjCA/s1600/033.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuTKdAYa8NKZdcv66tX-d-WFBpdvG3EqDMzwsBtukLIrvuZiBOYbT0eyaAAB9zH8ok1FHipb27kpmBVXwfPa0s-mbQk37kXIyRI6Q38L_OnmcGficKfaJboZ1jYsl5B0BgtxrjCA/s200/033.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfV2n8gxke3WHl7BpNS-PWtsuBUmldu4jfvAE59YDiYxWSnO4Ah0wlEa88WtyWi-sBzNT4jJHXgimpztac6Azeefb0vGHoErGh8AebeaJPMfL7GBhksH8Ffq112J_HmiyKtoV7XA/s1600/048.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfV2n8gxke3WHl7BpNS-PWtsuBUmldu4jfvAE59YDiYxWSnO4Ah0wlEa88WtyWi-sBzNT4jJHXgimpztac6Azeefb0vGHoErGh8AebeaJPMfL7GBhksH8Ffq112J_HmiyKtoV7XA/s200/048.JPG" width="200" /></a><br />
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<span style="text-align: center;">Meantime, James's has been playing as always with his jazz quintet, </span><i style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://all-that-jazz.us/">All That Jazz</a></i><span style="text-align: center;">, every Sunday night at Cassariano Italian Eatery in Venice, about 45 minutes north of Punta Gorda. </span><br />
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But, our hiatus from the water ended with four days on the boat over Thanksgiving, joined by Penelope's sister Patricia. We just stayed in Charlotte Harbor (it really is a large bay, the second largest in Florida), sailing up to Gilchrist Park in Punta Gorda for the first night, and then back to Pelican Bay near the entrance to Charlotte Harbor from the Gulf of Mexico. We spent two days there, visited Cabbage Key the day after Thanksgiving (a big mistake because of the crowds of boaters that Friday), and sailed home to Burnt Store on Saturday (managing to go aground twice, proving we've not been sailing enough lately). We also tried out our replacement dinghy, a less expensive Walker Bay replacing the expensive Walker Bay Genesis. It worked fine.<br />
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Of course, once <i>Alizee</i> was out of summer storage, that meant we found deferred maintenance to do, so I direct readers of this to <a href="http://alizeemaintenance.blogspot.com/"><i>Alizee's </i>maintenance log</a> for December 2016.<br />
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james and penelopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07450752698208270965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6955521.post-26387576258525901222016-04-25T14:10:00.002-07:002016-04-27T09:44:26.039-07:00Sailing for a week ...<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlNo9GHZmBIdNwYkeS0uFdoHAUyFvFvvOiDzhcWnQroURdwTXHJKyqQQfhTzwT_wjnOryr7tE8G5WnhGuQbvJhb2wVUON1lqtDRcAb3XLtXv6rxUyOaojS3SbOst_2nI6svX1UEw/s1600/015.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlNo9GHZmBIdNwYkeS0uFdoHAUyFvFvvOiDzhcWnQroURdwTXHJKyqQQfhTzwT_wjnOryr7tE8G5WnhGuQbvJhb2wVUON1lqtDRcAb3XLtXv6rxUyOaojS3SbOst_2nI6svX1UEw/s320/015.JPG" width="240" /></a>It is said that Charlotte Harbor in Southwest Florida offers some of the best sailing anywhere. With 120 square miles of cruising waters in the harbor (in my mind a bay), and access to the Gulf as well as inland passages south to Fort Myers and north to Tampa Bay, one can find lots of adventures on these waters. And for this past week, that's what we did on <i>Alizee.</i><br />
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After getting getting some running rigging work done the beginning of April, the first mate and I provisioned for a week on the 16th and 17th, and set sail on Monday the 18th to rendezvous with friends in the Dolphins Sailing Club at Pelican Bay at the western mouth of Charlotte Harbor. This little pod of Dolphins had come down from Tampa Bay, some on their way just as far as Fort Myers, some going on to the 10,000 Islands, and a couple of boats headed off for two months in the Bahamas. Because most of the Dolphins' cruises are in the Tampa Bay area or northward (only one or two a year getting down to Charlotte Harbor), this was a real treat for us.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMutY6GKnMPI6kc-INd9etii82mnzTm_uWBRMawqG2Hd9Zp6rloOYXehQ3A_c4pILRyNU9F6bEwYNwDhFBE0w90cTj8vmloyNjE8j3t9g4CuMpFy0h8qg41xNwAZnAzJ6LGw95IQ/s1600/010.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMutY6GKnMPI6kc-INd9etii82mnzTm_uWBRMawqG2Hd9Zp6rloOYXehQ3A_c4pILRyNU9F6bEwYNwDhFBE0w90cTj8vmloyNjE8j3t9g4CuMpFy0h8qg41xNwAZnAzJ6LGw95IQ/s320/010.JPG" width="320" /></a>We arrived in Pelican Bay at 14:30, anchored. Pelican Bay has become one of our favorite spots (as it has for many other local boaters). It offers a calm and safe anchorage, is protected from truly heavy winds, has wonderful shorelines to explore, is the gateway to Cayo Costa State Park, and more. Of course to explore the area one needs there dinghy in the water, so once anchored, I lowered ours, I pumped her up good, washed and let her dry, and applied a good coating of 303 Aerospace. Truth is, the hypalon tubes are almost worn out, there are lots of tiny leaks that I can barely keep up with, so we may have to replace her this summer.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWb3X0bX20sXM8ZA5xuBE9JhLgH5BuQFyfdECzzpO1EjK7nmUdkiUfgHxyqZjzXsQdOIxBFtjLiiXFD4n5YEvWD9BFakqvqfv_LWkj8ajGNbhpusWveeyHBl0yPrOV2qXrrUkhqg/s1600/011.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWb3X0bX20sXM8ZA5xuBE9JhLgH5BuQFyfdECzzpO1EjK7nmUdkiUfgHxyqZjzXsQdOIxBFtjLiiXFD4n5YEvWD9BFakqvqfv_LWkj8ajGNbhpusWveeyHBl0yPrOV2qXrrUkhqg/s320/011.JPG" width="240" /></a>I dinghied over to <i>Mikani Koa</i>, an Island Packet 31 belonging to Mike Palaez, a Dolphin anchored close by whom we had not met. We had a nice conversation, which ended only because the Dolphin pod leaders for this trip, Bob and Sandy MacNeill, dinghied over and introduced themselves. Apparently, happy hour was to be held at 17:00 on <i>Celestial</i>, a trawler captained by an old Dolphin friend, Steve Cardiff. When the time came, we renewed acquaintances with Joe and Kathy Mansir, of the Island Packet 37 <i>Halcyon</i>, and met new Dolphin members Mike and Jane Kyot sailing <i>Alors</i> and bound with the MacNeills for the Bahamas.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8VqPpA3cK-UTZJBCbWBDcuHtXg7PjWpdSeh9qUehmg-rSCTl43mPDkzsFNeNyDIxLZzFoLdMUDZkm1yUahDCYjRysIMLcoFwscCpKFt-gJHRvzetYGI4EduuJVNINO5cfp1M6uQ/s1600/024.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8VqPpA3cK-UTZJBCbWBDcuHtXg7PjWpdSeh9qUehmg-rSCTl43mPDkzsFNeNyDIxLZzFoLdMUDZkm1yUahDCYjRysIMLcoFwscCpKFt-gJHRvzetYGI4EduuJVNINO5cfp1M6uQ/s320/024.JPG" width="240" /></a>Tuesday morning found the pod heading southward down the inland passage (the ICW). The plan was to anchor off St. James City and dinghy into Woody's (a well-know bar/restaurant on a local canal) for lunch. We had a nice sail for half the trip southward, until the channel changed and the wind came head on. Along the way, we caught 5 Spanish Mackerel on our hand line, throwing two of them back as too small and keeping and filleting the others. Meanwhile, before we got to St. James City, the pod's plans changed and everyone moved on to Fort Myers Beach, which has a large protected mooring field. We elected to anchor out in San Carlos Bay, and we didn't go in to the mooring field for the evening happy hour with the group. So rather than being surrounded by other boats and a shoreline, we were rewarded with a beautiful sunset (going down over the bridge from Fort Myers to Sanibel Island).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0ZLxWb5904qxCNV-pltKogGP7zfoYi4sMR1PAt_qtYkL6wwtT5sEwKeHx0A_dBKi0XAWNGIoaDPhcd4ezoZikF5-HL7ofKEHQ2eRw2xpY1PwKCWJa9mmdIBqbew7Le6Jc24uoww/s1600/030.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0ZLxWb5904qxCNV-pltKogGP7zfoYi4sMR1PAt_qtYkL6wwtT5sEwKeHx0A_dBKi0XAWNGIoaDPhcd4ezoZikF5-HL7ofKEHQ2eRw2xpY1PwKCWJa9mmdIBqbew7Le6Jc24uoww/s320/030.JPG" width="240" /></a>At 07:00 Wednesday, we were up. The bay was roily, which we did not remember from two previous stays, so after coffee, we weighed anchor and motored south about a mile to anchor just outside the Fort Myers Beach channel and entry. The rest of the morning we relaxed with coffee, I cut off the worn end and then whipped our snubber line, and at 11:30 we dinghied into the dinghy dock under the Mantanza's Pass Bridge, which connects Estero Island (Fort Myers Beach) with San Carlos Island and the mainland, to meet up with the pod for lunch. Lunch at the Salty Crab was fairly pedestrian, but it was nice to get together with everyone, and Mike Palaez and I spotted a good photo op just away from the dinghy dock. When we left, we told Mike <span style="text-align: center;">that we were leaving early in the morning to sail north in the Gulf to Boca Grande Pass, thence into Charlotte Harbor. We weren't sure we'd make it into Pelican Bay, as the tides were high at about noon, but if not we'd anchor at Useppa Island nearby on the ICW.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip9_NSrITFAPpC6os2NLZNNPkVQHeVvLUYZZ0wvAsPMobST-1YGRqVUGzixqHRaMEH3I0m476Ddza8MF-OAH-vLT8rJLgGmHUQwDSbfZ1xMZdup_wIiedl18gge9rToyckEmASmg/s1600/020.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip9_NSrITFAPpC6os2NLZNNPkVQHeVvLUYZZ0wvAsPMobST-1YGRqVUGzixqHRaMEH3I0m476Ddza8MF-OAH-vLT8rJLgGmHUQwDSbfZ1xMZdup_wIiedl18gge9rToyckEmASmg/s320/020.JPG" width="240" /></a>On Thursday, 21 April, we were awake at 03:30. The roily waters were a bit much for us, but we'd gone to bed at 21:00 so were pretty rested. Since it was a full moon with cloudless skies, we decided to weigh anchor, and departed the anchorage at about 04:30. With a east wind of 12-14 knots we were under sail heading south to go around the shoal that juts out a couple of miles from Sanibel Island. When we turned west, of course, that put the breeze right on our stern, and the roily seas made it impossible to keep on a good course wing-on-wing. So, we dropped sails, fired up the "iron jenny" and moved ahead at 6 knots over ground to get into position to turn northward and capture the wind again. It took about two hours, during which we saw the moon set and sun rise within 20 minutes of eachother, and during which I fought off a bit of <i>mal de mer</i>. But once we turned north, we got a lovely sail all the way into Charlotte Harbor, thence after a tack into Pelican Bay almost all the way to the spot we anchored. Mike, who left two hours after we did and came up the ICW, appeared 10 minutes behind us. (We had a bit of a problem with our radio transmitter in the cockpit, which we discovered while trying to keep in contact with Mike. Have to get that sorted out in the next weeks. Also see that the Sunbrella cover on our Genoa sail needs replacing.) Turns out the trip was fairly fast (we probably averaged 5.5 knots), and we arrived at Pelican Bay at high tide: noon. We progged about in the afternoon, read (which we do all the time when on the water), and had Mike over for happy hour at 17:00. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7UHKHJK1rvLi0Q5ALzDWj-TLGhn3qNAsHcUcJYd-iH6NxE0ylyBm_lNNM-Zr4RxcF6UTPNI3TfDy4986wSzPhCQAC5Sg6dsIZzmy5LTM4laGnpimlRzXbrR0B28-74gIjuJ4-ZA/s1600/035.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7UHKHJK1rvLi0Q5ALzDWj-TLGhn3qNAsHcUcJYd-iH6NxE0ylyBm_lNNM-Zr4RxcF6UTPNI3TfDy4986wSzPhCQAC5Sg6dsIZzmy5LTM4laGnpimlRzXbrR0B28-74gIjuJ4-ZA/s320/035.JPG" width="320" /></a>We decided to spend all day Thrusday at anchor, and the day was another one of reading, napping, progging about. Around 16:00, we took our fishing poles and tried our luck in the shallow grassy waters along the mangrove shoreline; lots of sea trout and other fish, but we had no luck. So, we went into the so-called Manatee hole nearby and after sitting quietly for a half-hour were rewarded by Manatee come to investigate us and appearing here and there all over the area. When we returned to our boat, Mike hailed us to come over, where we met another old Dolphin acquaintance, Chris McDonell and his sailing buddy Dennis. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6ySglt8dqCO6rrYx4KfV8dwz4lGoJCt61lOB707Zx3DNYkCyYEAod-a9tLwpdzixhOcKTvW5ZJe-R9sQ1sQKYK0DNLDt0lefciN5i5kAuXt_Xv_xFvsBv6-T6_lxu-JJswVe_DA/s1600/036.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6ySglt8dqCO6rrYx4KfV8dwz4lGoJCt61lOB707Zx3DNYkCyYEAod-a9tLwpdzixhOcKTvW5ZJe-R9sQ1sQKYK0DNLDt0lefciN5i5kAuXt_Xv_xFvsBv6-T6_lxu-JJswVe_DA/s320/036.JPG" width="240" /></a>One of the things we do especially well when were cruising is to eat and eat well. Our menu for this trip included filet mignon with potatoes and green beans (Monday dinner), "mom's" spaghetti (Tuesday dinner), fresh fried mackerel for breakfasts (twice -- once with scrambled eggs and peppers and mushrooms), Empress Chile dogs for one lunch and then again for a dinner (because we'd snacked too much at happy hour), and a wonderful Belgian-style rabbit stew with potatoes, peas and mushrooms. When we can we prepare meals at home and freeze them for the trip, and we've gotten pretty good at it all. <br />
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Friday, we weighed anchor and departed for home at 10:30. We had a great sail back to Burnt Store, and put the boat away (washed, canvased, cleaned, and packed up) by 15:00. We have a bit more rigging work to be done in the next two weeks, after which it may be too damned hot to enjoy sailing, but this week was perfect!!<br />
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<br />james and penelopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07450752698208270965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6955521.post-50766079338280412852016-04-09T11:35:00.000-07:002016-04-09T11:35:21.038-07:00Another night on the hook ...We managed to slip away from the house and sail over to Pelican Bay on Monday, March 22nd. The wind was light, and we only rolled out the Genoa as we got out of the marina at 12:10. Half way across, I wished we had brought the spinnaker on deck, but we were both too relaxed to do it at that point. So, at 16:00 about a mile out from Pelican Bay, we turned on the "iron genny" and motored in to anchor. We had to push our way through 5' of water in the entrance channel, as it was not high tide. But we managed and anchored at 16:45 in 9' feet of water east of the bulk of the other boats there ... and there were quite a few.<br />
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A bit of reading led to cocktail hour. We talked about doing a U.S. Virgin Islands charter trip, sailing from St. Thomas to the Spanish Virgins, then to St. Croix, St. John and back. About two weeks. Called sister Patricia, and she said she'd be up for it, so next year about this time is when we'll try to do it. <i>Now, I have to remember to schedule it!</i><br />
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A nice simple dinner of filets, baked potatoes and asparagus, along with a bottle of good red wine, and we were ready for a good night's sleep. In the morning we arose, read, had gruel for breakfast, and at 10:00 raised the main, sailed off anchor, rolled out the Genoa and beat our way out of Pelican Bay. We had a nice 12-14 knot wind from the SSE and managed a good sail back to Burnt Store Marina, arriving at 15:15. After washing <i>Alizee</i> down, we were home by 16:30. A nice brief escape.james and penelopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07450752698208270965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6955521.post-69352077298733504042016-03-10T07:42:00.001-08:002016-03-10T07:42:54.419-08:00Two days with great winds and flat seas ...<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglKc3DwBiUmOzea6ql7OHfS8MBRYGtdYW428m660tlZltBzGqgvING3ENOrIDb8TERGHvVlgaLACYUinAmP5PC7K2Hw-cYnHDEN0S62YKT_eJqXdqsHkTHDzbrJ5_TPQqaibqUJw/s1600/017.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglKc3DwBiUmOzea6ql7OHfS8MBRYGtdYW428m660tlZltBzGqgvING3ENOrIDb8TERGHvVlgaLACYUinAmP5PC7K2Hw-cYnHDEN0S62YKT_eJqXdqsHkTHDzbrJ5_TPQqaibqUJw/s400/017.JPG" width="300" /></a>Monday, March 7th, we awakened to a beautiful spring morning and by 11:00 hours we had loaded a couple of meals aboard <i>Alizee</i> and were ready to leave the slip. Even with winds gusting 14 knots out of the east (to our stern), we easily let the lines go and motored out of Burnt Store Marina. Just past the outer channel marker, we turned into the wind, raised the main and put out the genoa (with one reef). <br />
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What a gorgeous breeze ... we headed north on a broad reach, often reaching 6.5 knots over ground. Along the way, we threw out a hand line with a #10 planer and gold spoon. Although we hadn't caught anything our last couple of times out, I thought perhaps the water was warming and we might catch something this trip. And, indeed, we pulled in a lovely 14-15" Spanish Mackerel, which Penelope filleted and put on ice. <br />
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By 13:00, we were in the Myaka River and dropped anchor amidst a sea of crab pots to have lunch. We didn't stay much longer than 45 minutes, and set sail on a close reach in a southerly direction back into Charlotte Harbor. We sailed about three miles south, then tacked back across the harbor toward Punta Gorda. Although the winds were to much on our head to get directly to our anchorage for the night just north of Gilchrist Park and Fisherman's Village, we got within about a half-mile before dropping sails and motoring in to drop anchor at 15:45.<br />
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We love sitting at anchor. We read, watch the birds, other boats, solve world problems (though nobody cares), manage to toast the setting sun (and Monday night's sunset was truly lovely), and always fix a comfort meal of some sort. As with our last couple of sailing trips, we brought a prepared meal, "Mom's Spaghetti and Meatballs", which is one of Penelope's best recipes. Truly a yummy treat for day's end. Indeed, by 21:00 we were tucked in our bunk and gently rocked to sleep.<br />
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Tuesday at 07:30 saw the boat boy (me) up and making coffee (which I made a little too strong this day), and soon we were both nestled in the cockpit in the morning sun busy reading our books. Penelope prepared some gruel (oats with raisins and nuts) for breakfast, which is always a good way to start a sailing day. Can't quite remember as I write this, but I think we raised the main, weighed anchor at around 10:30, and sailed off the anchor on a broad reach. <br />
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The winds were unexpected. Predictions had been for gusts of 14-16 knots, but we had gusts from 25-30+ knots and a steady 20-22 knot breeze. Fortunately, we'd put a reef in the main as well as in the genoa, and Alizee handled the weather beautifully, even when we turn south and from a broad to a beam and finally a close reach. There were three or four other sail boats going in the same direction from the Isles Yacht Club in Punta Gorda, but they ran only reefed genoas, and one only its double-reefed main (it had to be motoring). Indeed, they rolled up their genoas for most of the trip south, and I had to rest mightily the urge to go on the radio and ask why anyone would motor their perfectly good sailboat on a day with such great wind! For the life of me, I'll never understand it!<br />
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We had to overshoot the Burnt Store Marina channel by a couple of miles to lay a course to it, but nevertheless, we were in the slip by 15:00 hours, and in 45 minutes washed <i>Alizee</i> down, put everything away, packed up and were headed to the parking lot. <br />
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It was a great two days, and it lingered. On Wednesday, Penelope had an early-morning appointment, so we postponed our final treat of the sailing trip to this morning: a fresh fried Spanish Mackerel breakfast!<br />
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<br />james and penelopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07450752698208270965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6955521.post-36766753989779340522016-03-04T10:37:00.002-08:002016-03-04T10:38:14.924-08:00Snatching a bit of wind here and there ...We're making a concerted effort to get on the water this winter. We sailed over to Pelican Bay for a night a week ago, celebrating the end of February, and this coming Monday and Tuesday we're going out for a night to celebrate the beginning of March. If the weather and we don't allow our land life to interfere, we're planning 3-4 days staring March 16th and then the 21st through the 25th. So, we've been slipping down to the <i>Alizee </i>whenever convenient to do some cleaning and a few little maintenance chores, such as patching a couple of leaks in the dinghy, sealing the cap-rail teak, etc. james and penelopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07450752698208270965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6955521.post-65756370793202628312016-01-31T10:58:00.001-08:002016-01-31T10:59:52.434-08:00Three days of sailing, two days of sitting ...<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT4aViJPgniNkWaq28L5WIZcHgEl7b61G30u3GEgUIMb5pz0G7fdmBQvbA3SZmMZ_fIBKeHOmkJVsjH1ziHlqRsLpoBQpS71Q_EXW19Fbpclp0f3VOX1Sz30Gr0jMcQ445CFvHlA/s1600/020.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT4aViJPgniNkWaq28L5WIZcHgEl7b61G30u3GEgUIMb5pz0G7fdmBQvbA3SZmMZ_fIBKeHOmkJVsjH1ziHlqRsLpoBQpS71Q_EXW19Fbpclp0f3VOX1Sz30Gr0jMcQ445CFvHlA/s320/020.JPG" width="240" /></a>Back on the water at last! We took the five days starting Monday, January 25th to get back on <i>Alizee</i> and enjoy some time away from land life. We left the slip at Burnt Store Marina at 12:50 and were under sail in twenty minutes. A light NW breeze got us on course to Pelican Bay at about 3.5 knots, but by 1400 the wind had fallen off. Soon we were motoring into our anchorage and by 1615 we were securely snugged in for the evening. But in the process of anchoring, we discovered that mice had been attempting to nest in the rope locker at the bow. James cleaned it out, and we'll put mouse traps in the locker once we're back.<br />
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Our first evening on the hook ... seems like it's been forever, and in fact it has!! This is testified to by the fact that James could not blow the conch horn effectively at sunset ... nor could Penelope ... only one decent little "toot" was managed after numerous attempts at puckering and blowing. Cocktails followed by a dinner of Empress chili and Mazza salad and a nice conversation on the phone with Tony and Lin Kay, who James always wants to call when we get on the boat and he has an after-dinner drink of Ricard.<br />
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Tuesday were arose at 0800, and relaxed with books while awaiting the tide to rise and permit a passage through Pelican Bay's entrance. James decided to straighten up the rope lockers in the cockpit, and we discovered that mice had been nesting in each one, so the task became one of cleaning out as well as straightening. We are going to have to put copper wool in the drain holes of each locker. Mice, birds!! What a pain in the rear. <br />
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We weighed anchor at 1100 and had a foot to spare while going through the bay entrance. Got a nice SE wind of 10-12 knots and got 3/4's of the way back toward Burnt Store Marina before we had to tack. Then on our second tack back to the north, the wind died and we motored north to the Myaka River to spend our second night. James through out a trolling line for the trip, but got no bites -- the water's a bit cold so the fish are likely headed into the shallower shore waters -- so we just had to suffer with a lamb chop dinner.<br />
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Motoring is not our favorite way of moving across the water, but it does have the benefit of letting us charge all our electronic toys by using the inverter as well as the 12-volt charging outlet, so when we anchored in the Myaka at 1600, everything was charged up. The weather predictions pointed to a front coming through with possible lightning, so that night we put all our electrical devices in the range oven, so if <i>Alizee</i> were struck with a bolt, they might survive, the oven acting as a Faraday cage. <br />
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We got no lightning, but we did wake up to roily conditions. We love the Myaka River and our evening was incredibly nice as we floated on milky waters, but we always forget that the combination of the river current, tides and winds often leads to a rocky ride. Up at 0730, and knowing that weather was headed our way by noon, we decided to weigh anchor and motor over to the anchorage just north of Gilchrist Park in Punta Gorda. We arrived and anchored by 1000, and the rain started almost immediately. James made a bacon/egg/pancake "brunch" and we settled in for a rainy and windy day, which by the end of it we each had finished books and were starting new ones. Dinner was spaghetti and meatballs, and James managed to log on to Amazon and download the book <i>Dead Wake</i> to his Kindle. We continued reading!<br />
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We had hoped Thursday would bring a break in the rain, but alas, the front continued storming through all day and into the evening. The waters got a bit roily because the wind was out of the northwest and blowing across Charlotte Harbor, but by now we had our sea legs. It reminded us fondly of waiting through storms in the Bahamas at places like Sail Cay and Eleuthra. Penelope put it perfectly: "This is really like cruising." But despite the rain and wind, we were very comfortable, and Penelope cooked a great dinner: Filet Mignon (from d'Artagnan), baked potato, brussel sprouts, mushrooms -- a real feast!!<br />
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At the start of the evening, I inflated the dinghy, which when soft and hanging on the davits is able to swing side to side when it's windy. Clearly there was a leak I had not found and patched earlier, in December. Around 0400, enough air had leaked out again to cause the dinghy to swing, and the first thing I did on Friday morning was to inflate it again. But I found the leak this time and will fix it once back at the marina.<br />
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Alas, Friday was our return trip day. We left anchor at 0930, and motor-sailed with just the Genoa out of the anchorage with a nice NNE 10-knot breeze. Although the breeze softened, we were able to sail from outside the anchorage to about one-mile north of Burnt Store Marina, at which point the wind died completely. We docked at 1330, put on the canvas, fenders, turned on shore power and inflated and raised a new bird-control balloon called the "Evil Eye" up to just below the top of the mast. We'll see if it keeps the birds from landing on the mast and covering the deck with poop. We were home by 1500, and so ended our first short sail week of the new year. james and penelopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07450752698208270965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6955521.post-21448883993369504812015-12-29T11:26:00.003-08:002016-01-01T12:47:37.374-08:00An Aborted Christmas Cruise ...As fate would have it, our days and weeks got overloaded from August through early November with planning for, executing and mopping up after the <i>War on the Peace Dragon Boat Festival -- </i>James was the festival director and Penelope the assistant festival director and volunteer coordinator. And, James's band <i>All That Jazz</i> continues to play Sundays in Venice as well as occasional other gigs.<br />
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So, we didn't get any sailing in. But we promised ourselves that we would go out for Christmas week and let the wind take us wherever, so we spent a couple of weeks readying <i>Alizee</i> for the voyage, prepared provisions for the week and, on Monday Dec 21st, set off for Pelican Bay for our first overnight anchorage. We had a beautiful sail under an east wind of 10-15 knots, sailing up Charlotte Harbor (northward from Burnt Store Marina) for about two hours, thence sailing south to a spot a mile east of BSM, where we turned west and had a nice downwind sail to the entrance of Pelican Bay. We were anchored in eight to nine feet of water by 16:30, and settled in for a little reading, cocktails and finally a spaghetti and meatball dinner prepared by Penelope.<br />
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We had a great evening kibitzing and finishing off a bottle of wine, followed by a really nice night's sleep. Next morning I arose to make our morning coffee, and (damn/spit!) discovered mouse droppings on the galley counters. Then when we climbed into the cockpit I found even more. Oh no! Shades of our rat infestation a couple of years back. Well, we decided to put out a trap that night, but couldn't do much more at the moment. <br />
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We agreed we should sail all the way up Charlotte Harbor to a favorite anchorage of ours on the Myakka River. We hoisted the mainsail, weighed anchor and motor-sailed our of Pelican Bay. The batteries had gone from full charge to 3/4 charge over night, so following normal routine, I checked to see that the engine alternator was charging them. Oh, oh! No charge. In fact the electronics we were using and the refrigerator were still drawing 4-5 amps from them. Obviously, we had a problem. I telephoned our mechanic, Smitty, and low and behold, he agreed to meet us at BSM around noon, so we cut our cruise short. At least the sail from Pelican Bay to BSM was a gorgeous sail close hauled under 10-15 knots of southeast wind.<br />
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The rest of the story is one of maintenance, although we did stay on the boat one more night hoping a new alternator would be available for installation the next morning. Alas, that didn't happen. But, the mouse chewed his we off the boat (we think), exiting through the screened hatch covers we use to keep out mosquitoes and no-seeums. So, we looking forward to trying again in January, particularly since we have a new alternator!james and penelopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07450752698208270965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6955521.post-20911013773328310622015-05-24T09:30:00.000-07:002015-05-24T09:31:15.575-07:00Move to a new marina ...Poor <i>Alizee</i> has been
virtually at a stand still for the past six months. We had a great sail
bringing her down from St. Pete in November, but low tides combined
with the captain's music gig schedule eliminated virtually every
opportunity we had to go sailing during the winter season (sad, indeed,
because that is the best sailing season in Florida). Then, when we
finally got ready to set out for a sail, we discovered the heat
exchanger had cracked, leaking coolant over the starter, and stray
voltage fried the starter as well as voltage regulator. Thus, lots of
engine work, which also revealed fried wiring in the engine harness and
problems with the raw-water-intake pump -- both replaced, along with the
starter, voltage regulator and heat exchanger.<br />
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At last, on Monday, 18 May, we boarded <i>Alizee</i>, and prepared to
take her out, away from our long-term dock at the Charlotte Harbor Yacht
Club, and to a new berth at Burnt Store Marina (just 5 minutes from our
home and having a regular year-round depth of 6 feet plus). Friends
Hermann and Jeri Schaller joined us for the voyage, which took about
five hours. Very light winds, perhaps get us up to 5 knots at one
point, and we ended up motoring the last couple of nautical miles. And,
<i>HOT! </i>It's not quite summer, but temps in the low 90s and a little humidity make it really miserable at times.<br />
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We took our time tying up <i>Alizee</i>, and went into the berth bow
first after I failed a couple of times to back her in. That's always a
tough thing to do, and the little breeze we had kept sliding her away
from the berth. Too hot to put her to bed properly, so the next day, I
went back down in the morning to straighten out the sails, put on the
covers, make sure the lines were all adjusted correctly, and pick up
some stuff we'd left aboard.<br />
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The first heat break we get, I want to go out for a night on the hook. Hope it's soon, but it may not be for a while.
james and penelopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07450752698208270965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6955521.post-15668538620997486902014-09-11T09:30:00.000-07:002014-09-11T09:19:36.368-07:00Hot summer, little sailing, lots of music ...<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRNSZe4IKbudxNYqt3EPDLnf6VYPXYqjBYvhZAZd-kQR5QAB-OcoBVcZ6pU206Gqatp5U0_cE83SKv9jjmCv4MQgqxmpof9_MvkTmY2-pl3XjiFIrVGObDKaYb9cyhnIurMG1-yA/s1600/Cassarino%2527s+%2528cropped%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRNSZe4IKbudxNYqt3EPDLnf6VYPXYqjBYvhZAZd-kQR5QAB-OcoBVcZ6pU206Gqatp5U0_cE83SKv9jjmCv4MQgqxmpof9_MvkTmY2-pl3XjiFIrVGObDKaYb9cyhnIurMG1-yA/s1600/Cassarino%2527s+%2528cropped%2529.jpg" height="196" width="400" /></a><i>Alizee </i>has been in safe harbor for the summer in St. Petersburg. We've spent a couple of nights aboard her as a way station from our home in Punta Gorda and the Tampa airport, which makes leaving and arriving on trips much easier. But, while others may not agree, we find it simply too hot to do much sailing. So the summer is a time for other pursuits ... primarily being retired! But also <i>MUSIC!!!</i><br />
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My <i><a href="http://charlotteharborjazz.blogspot.com/">All That Jazz Quartet</a> </i>has had a great summer gig, every Wednesday evening through September 24th, 6:00-9:00 p.m., at <a href="http://cassariano.com/">Cassariano's Italian Eatery</a> in Venice, about 50 minutes north of Punta Gorda.<br />
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In October we switch to every other Sunday, beginning October 5th and lasting (we hope) through March 22nd. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg6I_QiOuvocsvYl_TCpXys3p15k88gM_IdTir8T3j6eYLgAggGdvoYPMMN3QUgSxeFoC0uTaZXr5vSjommtoo8g_EN9tZsomCDZh6t45NoNOmLA3a_VyTrBTlBKF1jVQHTXRz2A/s1600/James+and+John+at+Cassariano.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg6I_QiOuvocsvYl_TCpXys3p15k88gM_IdTir8T3j6eYLgAggGdvoYPMMN3QUgSxeFoC0uTaZXr5vSjommtoo8g_EN9tZsomCDZh6t45NoNOmLA3a_VyTrBTlBKF1jVQHTXRz2A/s1600/James+and+John+at+Cassariano.jpg" height="212" width="320" /></a>We've also picked up some other gigs at Howard's Restaurant in Englewood (November 11th and 26th and December 16th) as well as ten other dates at the Charlotte Harbor Yacht Club. We're looking forward to a busy season and lots of music! Drop by one of our gigs, if you're in town.james and penelopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07450752698208270965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6955521.post-28026882644697346742014-05-31T14:02:00.000-07:002014-06-01T08:46:56.726-07:00Alizee goes back to St. Pete for the summerMost everyone knows that it's hurricane season in Florida between the beginning of June and end of October. While we love having <i>Alizee</i> with us on Charlotte Harbor, our tie up at the yacht club is not a very safe one in the face of potential tropical storms, much less a dreaded hurricane. Therefore, we decided to sail <i>Alizee</i> back up to St. Petersburg and put her in her summer berth at the Harborage Marina. This is anywhere from a three to five-day trip, and it takes a bit of planning. Additionally, it's pretty hot down here now, so Penelope urged me to find somebody else to help me take the boat north.<br />
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A few weeks ago, I mentioned the trip north to Al Hedstrom - Captain Al, as he's known - who sings lead and plays guitar in the <a href="http://goodjazz.blogspot.com/2014/01/coast-connection-band.html">Coast Connection</a> blues/rock/bluegrass/country band that I played with during the winter months. He spends most of his time on the water as a <a href="http://snookonecharters.com/">fishing guide</a> out of Ft. Myers, but that didn't stop him from saying he'd love to go with me on a little sailing trip and the last week of May would be perfect before he packs up to head for the Minnesota boundary waters and his summer work chasing wall eyes, etc.<br />
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Starting in late April, I started getting some <a href="http://alizeemaintenance.blogspot.com/">maintenance work</a> done on <i>Alizee</i>, in order to have it all done by the trip: fixing the head and replacing clogged sanitation hoses; trouble-shooting the dinghy engine; putting a couple of coats of varnish on the cockpit coaming and hatch covers, and doing a service on the auxiliary Yanmar engine. Then, for three days before, I did a basic cleaning job on <i>Alizee</i> and then, with a lot of help from Penelope, got her provisioned for the trip. We also had Al over for dinner and what one optimistically might call a bit of a captain's meeting.<br />
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On 26 May, Al drove to our house and picked me up. By 0900 we were pretty much loaded aboard <i>Alizee</i>, and we left the dock at 0915, motored out onto Charlotte Harbor and got the spinnaker up and flying by about 1000. We had a slow, very light-wind sail down the harbor (well at times we seemed to be losing ground), and then at about 1400 the southerly wind shifted and a west wind of about 14 knots appeared. We put up the mainsail and had a nice ride at about 5 knots speed over ground (SOG) down to an anchorage north of Matlacha. The anchor was dropped at 1700, and we settled in for our first night. Al brought home-made enchiladas for dinner, and then he got out his guitar and me my little Yamaha keyboard, and we played music until 2300 or so.<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Down Charlotte Harbor to Matalacha.</span><br />
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Next morning we weighed anchor at 0710, put the spinnaker up and were underway in a light 5-6 knot morning east breeze at 2.5 knots SOG. Al had what would become his typical breakfast of oatmeal with bananas, strawberries and dried fruits, while I made up a scrambled egg stir fry of peppers and onions. (I forgot the mushrooms, damn it!) The wind pretty much died by 1030, and we motor-sailed out the swash channel (a narrow channel through which the tide flows), just at Boca Grande inlet on to the Gulf of Mexico. Once out, we continued motor sailing in order to make the 30 miles to the Venice inlet. Al had his typical lunch, a salad, and I had a chicken sandwich, we caught a Spanish Mackeral each and released them because Al had brought a bunch of Mangrove Snapper filets - we didn't need more fish, but the entertainment was just fine. <br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small; text-align: center;">Captain Al on the Gulf.</span><br />
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Unfortunately, we snagged the spinnaker on the forestay while trying to tack it and what was initially a very small tear in one panel ripped all the way across the sail. So we took it down and bagged it (we dropped it off at the sail loft in St. Pete for repairs after we arrived). A nice wind came up thanks to thunder storms moving up inland along the coast to our east, and we got some good sailing up to the Venice jetty. There we dropped sails, motored into the Venice Yacht Club to spend the night, took showers and headed to the bar for a couple of drinks (very small pours, indeed). We met an older couple from the Bradenton YC at the bar, then returned to have real drinks on <i>Alizee</i> and to cook dinner. <br />
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As we were just sitting down in the cockpit, Al noticed a family in a jet-ski boat who appeared to be sinking. They were just 25 meters from us, and the father was bailing frantically while two little girls got into life-vests and a young boy perhaps 17 or 18 tried to help his dad. Finally, the boy got in the water with a line and swam to the ladder at the end of the dock beside our stern tie. I helped him up the ladder, they pulled the sinking craft over, got the girls on the dock and dad kept bailing.<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small; text-align: center;">L-R: SeaTwo guy checking bottom of boat, Miguel with </span><span style="font-size: xx-small; text-align: center;">boat hook in boat, Antonio with pump, and Izzy looking on.</span><br />
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Antonio Cassariano, the father, assumed that drain plugs had not be put back in from the day before, so Miguel (the boy) tried to dive the stern of the craft to see. I loaned him my snorkeling mask, but he still couldn't see it. Eventually, they reached SeaTow, and their representative brought a couple of pumps to get the water out faster than it was coming in. The probably was that the exhaust pipe had come lose, and water was pouring in through the whole. At long last, the SeaTow fellow got a towel stuffed in sufficiently to stem the incoming flow and they finally pulled the boat around to a ramp and saved it.<br />
<span style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"> </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="text-align: center;">Front-back: Antonio & Miguel</span><span style="text-align: center;"> Vanilla and Izzy with their Dad.</span></span><br />
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The girls, Isadora (Izzy) and Antonella (Vanilla), got over their initial fears and had a good time with the adventure in the end. Meantime, Miguel and Antonio dropped my diving mask while trying to hand it from one to the other, and splash ... it went to the bottom. Antonio, it turned out, is chef-owner of <a href="http://cassariano.com/">Cassariano's Italian Restaurant</a> in Venice (very upscale), and said we had to come to dinner, which we said we'd be happy to do, perhaps on our way back down after dropping off <i>Alizee</i> in St. Pete.<br />
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(The next day, after letting Penelope know about this, we called Antonio on his personal cell, and told him we could come for dinner Friday right after they opened at 1630. He readily agreed, and we assumed this would be payback for the lost mask. And, indeed, it was. Antonio is an amazing chef, and we had a truly wonderful dinner - not inexpensive, but he gave us a nice gift certificate that easily covered for the lost diving mask. And, at Penelope's suggestion I gave Antonio one of my <a href="http://charlotteharborjazz.blogspot.com/">"All that Jazz Quartet"</a> cards, and he said he and Luca were thinking about starting a jazz evening. In fact, a couple of days after we got home, he sent me an email asking if we'd be available in July, August, September and for more information on our group. Maybe we'll get a gig or two, which would be lovely!)<br />
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... All in all, it was an exciting late afternoon and early evening and after everyone had gone, we had a snapper dinner (also by Al) and again played music in the cockpit until 2330.<br />
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The sun arose at 0630 on 27 May, we made coffee<br />
and left the dock by 0730. I was a bit queasy for half the trip, from all the alcohol that Al had forced down my gullet, but it passed in time. Actually, we had a following sea, and I always get queasy with those. We had a light breeze from the east as we motored out the Venice inlet, and then with our main up and Genoa out, we motor-sailed up to Egmont Key, at the mouth of south Tampa Bay. Despite the light winds we managed to make 4 knots SOG for the 31 miles, and anchored around 1830 at Egmont. Lamb meatballs that Penelope and I had made ahead provided dinner, along with vegetable skewers that Al put together and I barbecued. No music this night, but conversation still kept us up until 2330.<br />
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Thursday the 28th found us up and underway be 0700, on a starboard close reach to the Sunshine Skyway Bridge under 10-14 knots of SE wind. We sailed up to and under the bridge in one tack, turned to a beam reach once under the bridge and picked up to 6 knots SOG all the way to slightly northeast of our destination in St. Pete. Then, after we tacked to lay in a course to the marina, at 1130 hours, the winds simply died. We were becalmed for almost two hours, and then got a couple of knots speed to drift us over to the marina channel. Engine on, sails down, docking lines and fenders rigged - we were met at the dock by my friend Jeff Grant.<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small; text-align: center;"> On the way to the Sunshine Skyway Bridge.</span><br />
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We relaxed through the afternoon heat, ate spaghetti and meatballs (by Penelope) for dinner, played a little music and deferred boat work until the morning. On Friday, we washed the boat down (Al doing most of it, which he said he liked doing and anyway felt like he was finally contributing to the trip), got the interior cleaned, packed up our stuff, took the spinnaker in the dinghy over to Advanced Sails and then dropped Bertha (the dinghy) off at the Harborage Marina Hi-and-Dry storage facility. We stopped at Fish Tails for a cold beer, walked back, showered, finished packing the coolers, and Penelope picked us up at 1500. We drove to Venice for our "thank-you" dinner at Cassariano's ... it was truly wonderful food ... and then headed back to pick-up Al's truck at our yacht club and get home. It was a very fun trip home and a great week of sailing! Can hardly wait to do it again ... well, the last week of October, we'll bring <i>Alizee</i> back down to Charlotte Harbor.<br />
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<br />james and penelopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07450752698208270965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6955521.post-55514735101248177242014-05-12T07:22:00.002-07:002014-05-12T07:23:24.700-07:00An almost perfect sail ...It's starting to warm up here in Florida. The snowbirds have almost all flown north. Soon those of us who stay for the summers will be spending most of our time in the AC cooled indoors. But the past three or four days have been lovely, short of 90 degrees with low humidity and, most important for sailors, with a nice 8-12 knot breeze. We would have left the dock on Thursday morning, but we had already bought tickets for a Charlotte Stone Crabs (Class A Advanced) baseball game that night to join a couple of friends from the yacht club, so we didn't cast off until Friday morning. (The game was great fun, with the best Philly Cheesesteaks and dollar beer, but the Bradenton Marauders trounced the Stone Crabs 8-2.)<br />
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The next morning, Penelope fried up the Mackerel with a couple of over-easy eggs for breakfast, and we finally weighed anchor around 10:00 and sailed north with a southeast wind pushing us along nicely to the Myaka River, a little over 16 miles. We anchored at 14:30, arriving earlier than we expected. This anchorage was not as good a choice. We probably should have gone another two miles up the river to an anchorage called Cattle Dock, where we'd stayed before, but that was closer to the mangroves and we wanted to be sure we weren't eaten by no-see-ums -- one of the reasons not to spend nights on the water during Florida's summers. So, we tolerated the tidal changes and river currents that worked against a nice 14 knot wind to create a roily anchorage for the night.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKtyUrBS70ru96BhoJnMaevlDdbpI0DetmEdehotISOj9wr4kSfsR549ucORa8zFxOJ43R8q6NhW9TMC9GqAdhAlrAnps3eH4ApdL5409Inz-WjbhqgRlC8jLycPbaiVbCwH8UjA/s1600/IMG_0681.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKtyUrBS70ru96BhoJnMaevlDdbpI0DetmEdehotISOj9wr4kSfsR549ucORa8zFxOJ43R8q6NhW9TMC9GqAdhAlrAnps3eH4ApdL5409Inz-WjbhqgRlC8jLycPbaiVbCwH8UjA/s1600/IMG_0681.JPG" height="200" width="165" /></a>Although we didn't get quite enough sleep, we finally awakened to a nice morning with a steady 10 knot breeze. After a breakfast of apple sausage, mushrooms, red peppers and scrambled eggs -- one of our best! -- we set sail and headed back to our marina, about 10 miles. We were at the dock just before noon, and spent a little over an hour packing up, cleaning up, and washing <em>Alizee</em> down. First, however, Penelope caught a little chameleon and returned her to shore. The little guy had hitched a ride for all three days, apparently getting on board via a dock line. S/he had clung to mainsheet rigging and other lines for the bulk of the time we were out, and s/he drank some water Penelope left out and devoured a fly we trapped. <br />
<br />james and penelopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07450752698208270965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6955521.post-8569048446319570812014-04-27T14:34:00.000-07:002014-04-27T14:34:28.271-07:00A day sail with friends ...We went out on Easter Sunday with Bob and Harolyn Lester and their son Jon, daughter-in-law Jennifer, and their two children Sidney and Avery. Every one had a lovely time, even though the winds were very light. We sailed over to the Myaka River and anchored for lunch. Then returned to the club around 16:30.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Avery, James, Penelope, Jonathan, Bob, Sidney, Harolyn (Jennifer taking the photo)</span></div>
<br />james and penelopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07450752698208270965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6955521.post-36382111179604197982014-04-27T14:32:00.002-07:002014-04-27T14:33:36.477-07:00Sailing the Dyer Dinghy ...<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6pAhzFcRB1xI_ccRykhPqfYwNtlWdiKoR751ML2SRriyXMAC0s8oNWbS2PNfypQRRm9ugGKfuODhHmQ3vM2oyu2SbvpCGTm1oolKxYr4DJiw5j5PO_ETUo5z0Rz6IJOp0j0gxgA/s1600/DSCN2522.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6pAhzFcRB1xI_ccRykhPqfYwNtlWdiKoR751ML2SRriyXMAC0s8oNWbS2PNfypQRRm9ugGKfuODhHmQ3vM2oyu2SbvpCGTm1oolKxYr4DJiw5j5PO_ETUo5z0Rz6IJOp0j0gxgA/s1600/DSCN2522.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a>Monday, April 6th is a red-letter day for us, because we actually launched our Dyer Sailing Dinghy <i>Zephyr</i> on the little lake behind our house. First, we both went out in her and sailed around the lake. Not much wind, which was good, and we got a feel for her. Second, I went out alone, but only after capsizing right close to the shore. Alas, Penelope got no photo of it. But, we got her emptied out, drained, shipshape, and I climbed aboard to circumnavigate the lake alone.<br />
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Penelope followed with a solo sail about the lake, and she got some pretty good winds. It was, all and all, a lovely day.<br />
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<br />james and penelopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07450752698208270965noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6955521.post-3493187454690805892014-04-27T14:13:00.002-07:002014-04-27T14:13:36.444-07:00Dragon Boat race in Bradenton ... The Charlotte Harbor Yacht Club Dragon Boat team at work!<br />
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On March 29th, we participated in our first actual Dragon Boat competition in Bradenton, Florida, on the Manatee River. They put us in the fasted category, Class A, because we're a club-run boat, but we clearly weren't Class A. In our first race, 350 meters, we were almost cut off by the winning boat at the start , and we came in fourth out of four boats. (I submit primarily because we were swamped by the winning boat's wake when they cut us off, but protests don't seem to be proffered. It's not like sailboat racing.) <br />
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Then the organizers cut the race length to 150 meters because of increasing wind and chop. Still in Class A, we paddled a good race, coming in third. With our combined race times, we were just .12 seconds off of getting into the trophy race. But, alas, that .12 seconds still put us out of contention. All in all it was a great time!james and penelopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07450752698208270965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6955521.post-75134869050406462012014-04-27T13:31:00.001-07:002014-04-27T13:31:29.928-07:00Finally, a little sailing ...It seems this winter the tides have been extreme and when they have been good the weather has been lousy, with fronts coming through. Additionally, we've both been busy, me playing music every Monday until the 1st of April with the "Coast Connection" rock/blues/country band, holding Wednesday afternoon jazz rehearsals, and going to yacht club membership committee meetings; both of us going to <a href="http://wishinandfishin.blogspot.com/">fishing club</a> meetings on Thursday afternoons and Dragon Boat paddling practices on Wednesday mornings and Saturday mornings. So, we haven't gotten in much sailing. <br />
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But the weather was so nice and the tides cooperative in late February, that we adjusted our schedule to get out on the water. The first day, a Thursday, after filling up on diesel, we took <i>Alizee</i> out on a high tide and anchored around 15:00 just outside the entrance to the club. We lowered the dinghy and motored back into the club at 16:00 for the fishing club meeting, then returned to the boat and fixed ourselves dinner and watched the sunset. <br />
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The next morning we went for a good sail, and along the way through out our trolling line and caught four Spanish mackerel (<a href="http://wishinandfishin.blogspot.com/2014/03/catching-some-mackerel.html">a story we told on the new fishing blog</a> that Penelope created for our fishing club). Because we were scheduled for Dragon Boat practice Saturday morning, we just sailed back and anchored again outside the club on Friday evening. We were too tired to cook up the mackerel, but enjoyed cocktails, the sunset and a dinner that we'd prepared ahead for our little trip. Next morning, we dinghied into the club for paddling practice. The engine on the dinghy started missing and was hard to start, a problem which I attribute to old gasoline ... that gas has now been burnt up in my car, but I've not yet given the once over to the dinghy motor.<br />
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After paddling, we got back out to the boat, and we set sail for the Myaka River, due west of the club, where we found a nice, quiet anchorage for the night. Very peaceful, and we awakened the next morning enveloped in fog, two sleepy pelicans floating just off our beam and taking absolutely no notice of us. Gradually, we heard early morning fishing skiffs feeling their way through the foggy mist, and when it finally lifted, we hoisted sail, weighed anchor and slowly (because there was very little wind) made our way back to our berth at the yacht club. <br />
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This is, of course, being written a while after the fact, and we are sad to report that we've not been out for more than a day sail since. james and penelopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07450752698208270965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6955521.post-66741248720158638022014-03-01T10:05:00.000-08:002014-03-08T13:19:45.555-08:00Adding to the fleet ...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Ever since I sold my Islander Bahama 28 <i>Dog Days</i>, a sale that included <i>Pup</i>, the tiny wood/fiberglass pram that my friend John Tuma built for me, I have missed having a little hard-sided</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> tender. Well, I've also missed having <i>Dog Days</i>, as well, but one can't be too selfish with boats, and so for the past five years I've had to be satisfied with <i>Alizee</i> and her Walker Bay Genesis RIB <i>Bertha. </i>But the idea of a sailing dinghy just keeps popping up every time I see an advertisement for some classic small boat: a sharpie, Bug, Beetlecat, Melonseed, Fatty Knees</span> and so forth. My mind has been working overtime lately, perhaps because I have just finished an article on the history of recreational sailing in which I reviewed the history of several of these small boats and their evolution since the nineteenth century (a bow to the late Howard Chapelle for his pioneering work <i>American Small Sailing Craft</i>, 1951).<br />
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So, I was primed and ready when Fred and Eleanor Jacobs from our sailing group "The Dolphins Cruising Club of Tampa Bay" sent out an email saying they were selling their Dyer Midget sailing dinghy. I immediately asked for first right of refusal, then emailed Penelope, who was in DeLand visiting her sister, to get her opinion.<br />
<br />
"This is what Bill buggered up," she replied almost immediately. "It
was sweet before he did that." So the offer was made for the asking
price, and two minutes later Penelope added: "Wonderful! I hope we get
it!" <br />
<br />
It turns out that in Penelope's life before me, she and Bill had
owned a Dyer dinghy, which they had a great time sailing on Lake
Winnemissett in DeLand. Who would have believed I would be wanting to
buy the same type of sailing dinghy. It seemed like it almost was meant
to be, if you believe in that sort of stuff.<br />
<br />
But the deal was not quite done yet, because some other Dolphins club
member had gotten first right of refusal three minutes before me. Fred
contacted me and after observing that "you both must have been sitting
on your computers," he said if the other fellow didn't take her, she'd
be mine. And 24 hours later he called and gave us the good news. So,
say hello to our newest fleet member, <i>Merrily</i> (name soon to be changed), a 1974 Dyer Midget sailing dinghy.<br />
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style="cursor: move;" width="192" /></a>She is the third in a line of sailing dinghies built by Bill Dyer, who founded The Anchorage in Warren, Rhode Island, in 1934 and produced the Philip Rhodes' designed 10-foot Dyer Dink, a hard chined wooden boat. Around 1940, Rhodes also designed the most famous of the Dyer dinghies, the 9-foot Dyer Dhow. It was designed and built out of the then revolutionary new material, marine-grade plywood, at the request of the War Department, who approached Dyer and asked him to produce, according to his granddaughter Anna Jones, "a boat that would fit in nine-feet of space and hold nine men." During World War II, they were used on PT boats in the Pacific as well as rescue units when ships were attacked -- according to one report "stacks of Dyer Dhows were dropped into the water over shipwrecks to allow survivors safety until they could be rescued." In 1949, Anchorage started constructing Dyer Dhows with fiberglass, which makes it the the oldest continuously-built fiberglass boat in production today, and the Dyer Midget was introduced in 1952.<br />
<br />
<i>Merrily</i> is hull 6575, laid up in May 1974, and she was sold and shipped by the company in January 1975 to a customer in Sun City Center, Florida, a Del Webb retirement community on the east side of Tampa Bay that was opened in 1962. As you can see, she's a centerboard dinghy with a Gunter rig, 7' 11" in length (LOA), with a 4-foot beam. Her draft is 3 feet with the centerboard down and 5 inches with it up, and she displaces 90 lbs. <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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As you can probably guess, we're excited to get out in here and will possibly be employing her as a full-time tender on <i>Alizee. </i>But first, I'll be doing a little polishing and varnishing to make her debut on Charlotte Harbor a good one.
<!-- Blogger automated replacement: "https://images-blogger-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2F4.bp.blogspot.com%2F-j9S09Ovszkk%2FUxIT6b4WAOI%2FAAAAAAAADGg%2FZSQ2AtS0zBM%2Fs1600%2FDyer%2Bsailing%2Bdinghy.jpg&container=blogger&gadget=a&rewriteMime=image%2F*" with "https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUvQiKH_37IamejFAV7EEKeSFGAj5HIX3ViibG-SomlJiT9OyAtYBjGlchJn2uQ3UyIryMzqKfr-XX5KpkVfUJS85Cuk0fQQMypiicPP4g5MgEmWttGRNek52UEUHBjohDbOLnTg/s1600/Dyer+sailing+dinghy.jpg" -->james and penelopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07450752698208270965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6955521.post-3854007526428308182014-01-24T14:41:00.001-08:002014-01-24T14:44:01.627-08:00The Lynx in Tampa Bay ...Seems like almost every year, the <i>Lynx</i>, a recreated privateer
from the days of yore in America, comes to the Harborage Marina in St.
Petersburg, Florida. Saw her their last year, and here's a nice look at
her:<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/LNWdRGAAjfM" width="480"></iframe>james and penelopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07450752698208270965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6955521.post-78995517148922576372014-01-10T14:07:00.000-08:002014-01-10T14:07:29.604-08:002013 Sailing Recap IV: short cruise to St. James City ...About three weeks after <i>Alizee's </i>arrival to Charlotte Harbor, we set off on a short cruise to St. James City at the south end of Pine Island. We had planned this a bit ahead, so that we could join up with some of the <a href="http://www.dolphinscruising.com/DolphinClub/DCStartFrame.htm">Dolphins Cruising Club</a>, which we'd joined when we were sailing out of St. Petersburg. The highlight of the trip was a book signing for <a href="http://www.robertmacomber.com/">Robert MacComber's new book, <i>Honors Rendered</i></a>. MacComber is a local author who has written quite a good series of naval maritime novels that locate the home of its main character on <a href="http://www.satelliteviews.net/cgi-bin/g.cgi?fid=288571&state=FL&ftype=island">Patricio Island</a> at the north end of Pine Island Sound, bordering the south edge of Charlotte Harbor. It is a sister to Useppa Island, right on the ICW and very near Pelican Bay to the west. <br />
<br />
On 20 November, a Wednesday, we arrived at the boat in the late afternoon, stowed all our provisions with plans laid to have dinner at the CHYC that evening. At a little after 17:00, we walked up to the club and ... oops, the doors were locked. Nobody home! So much for the club's calendar, which announced happy hour and dinner. Oh well, we had cocktails on the boat and my hero, Penelope, prepared salad and our own spaghetti and meatball dinner. I was pretty peeved about the club being closed, and the next day I called and talked to the GM, noting that, if there was a chance the club would be closed on a Wednesday night, then that should be published in the calendar. He agreed, and subsequently it was.<br />
<br />
The next morning we backed off the dock, using a spring line to pull our stern around the pier's end, went out the channel and by 0830 had raised the Spinnaker in light air. By 09:30, we'd sailed down even with Burnt Store Marina (which is a mile south of our house on Burnt Store Road), making good speed at 6 to 6.5 knots SOG in 10 knots of wind on the beam. The Spinnaker makes all the difference in the world on a downwind to beam reach. At the bottom of Charlotte Harbor, however, when we changed our course from south to west, toward Pelican Bay where we would meet up with the Dolphins group, the wind dropped to 8 knots and our speed to 3.3 knots SOG. We dropped the main, which was now blocking the Spinnaker, but by 10:30 there was virtually no wind. We were ghosting slowly toward our destination, with a Crealock 37 ghosting along behind us. After two hours, the Crealock's captain fired up his engine and as he caught up and finally passed us (just a couple of meters off our port side), said with a grand smile: "I give up. You win." <br />
<br />
We actually arrived at Pelican Bay the same time three or four of the Dolphins group arrived, and shortly after we'd dropped anchor, Gene Weatherup dinghied over for a chat. Then I put the dinghy down and went
over to chat the Crealock captain, who was anchored just in front of us. Nick said said he keeps his boat permanently in
Burnt Store Marina and often sails single hand, and we agreed to keep in touch. I returned to <i>Alizee</i> to make up some crab-avocado-cucumber sushi rolls for the Dolphins' potluck, to be held on Mark and Jill Bridge's catamaran. It was a great gathering, and my sushi was a real hit. Mark and Jill squeezed 22 people aboard for the potluck and we had a great time renewing acquaintances with folks like Joe and Kathy Mansir, and I was flattered that Chris McDonnell complimented this very blog -- we hadn't seen him in almost two years. Alas, it started to rain at 19:00, just as we finished eating, so we made an escape early to close the hatches on <i>Alizee</i>, finishing off the night by watching the original "Flight of the Phoenix" film on our laptop.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheeH7HRNZ8m4fpiB58zzExdvTdtqxf9h6XeAAa4GbzQ5rURUkUxIgbFF-W3h4_EKErAWRBfctZUgKY2d8jRaf2oEaouY7kAcd0LkPFNWglnr5_b-uTa6_P0rsn_N3kY6BqjO8w4A/s1600/DSCN2434.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheeH7HRNZ8m4fpiB58zzExdvTdtqxf9h6XeAAa4GbzQ5rURUkUxIgbFF-W3h4_EKErAWRBfctZUgKY2d8jRaf2oEaouY7kAcd0LkPFNWglnr5_b-uTa6_P0rsn_N3kY6BqjO8w4A/s1600/DSCN2434.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a>22 November found us up by 08:30. We fixed breakfast, Penelope cleaned the head and repacked our foul weather gear/life vest storage back, and, by 11:30, we'd hoisted the dinghy and were ready to weigh anchor. Once outside Pelican Bay and turned south down the ICW and Pine Island Sound, we hoisted the Spinnaker, which initially provided a really nice sail. But, after passing Useppa Island and Cabbage Key, the winds picked up and we decided to douse the Spinnaker. In doing so, I foolishly let one of the sheets slip through my hand, getting a pretty bad rope burn -- I felt the effects of it for a good week. Once the sail was down and stowed, we rolled out the Genoa and had a good sail the rest of the way down Pine Island Sound. At marker #18, we turned eastward, into the wind, and took the sails down, motoring into the anchorage off St. James City. We dropped anchor between the Mansir's Island Packet 37, <i>Halcyon</i>, and a ketch named <i>Bridgette O'Toole</i>, whose captain climbed out at 17:00 and serenaded the anchorage for a half-hour with the bag pipes -- she was pretty good, too. <br />
<br />
Bill Cullen, who had hosted our first cruise with the Dophins back in 2011 (I think), came by in his dinghy and joined us aboard <i>Alizee </i>for a beer and some reminiscing. Later, after our bag-pipe serenade and as the sun set, our commodore, Mark Bridges, sounded his conch horn. It had been a long time since I'd blown my own; so, although I got one good blow, I was not very successful overall, which left Penelope in stitches. Perhaps my sundowner had a greater effect on me than I would have imagined. Oh well, steak and potatoes for dinner.<br />
<br />
On the 23rd, we relaxed in the morning with coffee. We'd initially planned to anchor over near Sanibel Island and dinghy in to meet some new friends we'd made because of my searching for musicians on Craig's List. Edgar-Joachim Beyn, a trombone player whose advertisement I'd answered and talked to several times on the telephone and who is also a long-time sailor, and his wife Kate have winter home on Sanibel. The timing wasn't quite right, however, so they said they'd motor over to our St. James City anchorage in their small power boat. Initially they were coming over around 13:00, but they called ahead and arrived at 11:00. Once they rafted up to <i>Alizee</i>, we sat and chatted for a half-hour or so, and agreed to get together after Thanksgiving (indeed, we drove down for an afternoon a couple of weeks later, and Edgar and I played dixieland, while Kate and Penelope got to know each other a bit better).<br />
<br />
This was the day of the book signing, so at noon, we dinghied in to <a href="http://www.woodyswaterside.com/old/index.htm">Woody's Waterside</a> restaurant and bar. We tied up next to Gene and Jo's ketch, <i>Shenandoah</i>, which has only a 3 foot draft and easily could navigate up the channel. We were hungry, so we got a round table in the bar and ordered lunch. Soon we were joined by the Mansirs, they Mark Bridges, Bill and Penny Schlenker and new Dolphin members, Eileen and Pete. Lots of good conversation, but we had already decided to leave early so we could sail back up to Useppa Island, thereby shortening what would be a very long trip all the way back to the CHYC the next day. We got back to the dock to find that our dinghy, <i>Bertha </i>(for "Bertha's Mussels", the best place in Baltimore to get mussels), had been pushed by later arriving dinghies under the dock. The tide had gone up, and she was stuck. As we puzzled about this problem, Dolphin member Steve Cardiff reminded me that we could deflate her, because her hard bottom would keep her afloat. So, I crawled under the dock, removed <i>Bertha's</i> seat and deflated the tubes sufficiently to muscle her out. After re-inflating the tubes, we were off and back to <i>Alizee </i>by 15:00. I predicted an 18:15 arrival at Useppa, about the tail end of sunset. Our motor-sail northward went well, until the primary shackle on the traveler came lose. It was bent and could not be re-attached, but I found a spare and replaced it. Fortunately, this didn't slow us down, and with our running lights on in the fading twilight, we anchored at 18:10.<br />
<br />
The next day, we arose at 08:00, made coffee and got underway quickly. We sailed, with an occasional assist from the motor, up the ICW to Charlotte Harbor, turned east and made it across the southern part of the harbor toward Burnt Store Marina in two tacks. We turned north and made it to the CHYC channel entrance in two more tacks. On our way up, we saw an enormous number of dead fish, discovering later that this was the result of a severe "red tide" over the previous week. We hadn't seen them coming south, so it must have just effected the fish. Unfortunately, our arrival time at the CHYC was near to low tide, so we elected to anchor out for the night, and go closer to high tide at 07:30 on the 25th. We made it, but scraped the bottom going down the channel, which is dredged to five-feet mean-low water. We've had some really major lunar tides here during late fall and winter, and this couple with a NE wind that blows the water out of Charlotte Harbor, means we are always at the mercy of the tides. Anyway, we got in, washed down the boat, flaked and covered the sail and had breakfast. I was meeting an electrician to try and solve <i>Alizee's</i> electrical mysteries at 09:00, and he arrived on time (see <a href="http://alizeemaintenance.blogspot.com/"><i>Alizee's </i>maintenance log for the results</a>, posted under 25 November 2013)<br />
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james and penelopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07450752698208270965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6955521.post-17678951924089566862014-01-10T12:46:00.000-08:002014-01-10T12:48:12.468-08:002013 Sailing Recap III: bringing Alizee south ...At last, moved into our new house and having found a reliable cat sitter, we drove up to St. Petersburg to bring <i>Alizee</i> south to her new berth at the Charlotte Harbor Yacht Club (CHYC) in Port Charlotte. We dropped off my car at the yacht club and drove north on 30 October. We spent an afternoon getting <i>Alizee</i> cleaned inside, retrieving the dinghy from "Hi & Dry" storage and doing the necessary grocery shopping. We were exhausted by 17:00 and just had enough energy to fix a sundowner and dinner.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWIX7NL6aSXxsFUjyQg1SZEKhnDNh5AxePO31PDScTrhdq7N-49XOLOFIevuoGbn9Xx8sjg1XFCXLFstwy-7E3olJGuUVcrRAxJTb_k3-lXIKz_79luHbd3ioJzkklCrQL0CpEHw/s1600/DSCN2427.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWIX7NL6aSXxsFUjyQg1SZEKhnDNh5AxePO31PDScTrhdq7N-49XOLOFIevuoGbn9Xx8sjg1XFCXLFstwy-7E3olJGuUVcrRAxJTb_k3-lXIKz_79luHbd3ioJzkklCrQL0CpEHw/s1600/DSCN2427.JPG" height="212" width="320" /></a>In the morning, I made a quick run to the market and to a marine supply store (for water tank treatment), filled the water tanks, changed out the Genoa sheets with new Sampson sheets and turned in the gate keys to the harbor master. We<br />
cast off at 11:30, and within ten minutes were sailing southward on a close reach in 11 knots of wind. Between 13:00 and 13:30 we watched coast guard helicopters working with rescue divers. They would throw a market out, lower the diver to retrieve the marker, sometimes having the divers swim to it for<br />
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recovery, sometimes not. We were easily within a <br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeuvul6N9aXI1lToqXJbDHpEtm_WPXvdt0QkpFE3RZiZfci2hzXBZ4wlOQLHT6j2ajzBz93f0yeMuQqEuAd1AcG4WJWDg7icx8s4X5wthw-BWI2AVOe2V5BXxsC6kl_tHtJPoJBg/s1600/DSCN2357.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeuvul6N9aXI1lToqXJbDHpEtm_WPXvdt0QkpFE3RZiZfci2hzXBZ4wlOQLHT6j2ajzBz93f0yeMuQqEuAd1AcG4WJWDg7icx8s4X5wthw-BWI2AVOe2V5BXxsC6kl_tHtJPoJBg/s1600/DSCN2357.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a> 1,000 meters of the training which was being done with two or three helicopters and several divers.<br />
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By 16:00 hours, we had passed under the Sunshine Skyway Bridge and on course to the Manatee River channel. Winds had died out for a while in the mid afternoon, but now picked again to 10 knots for another hours or so. We were anchored by 17:30 on the west end of the Manatee River anchorage, a location which for the past two years had been made most unpleasant by a transient sailboat that had a heavy-duty and extremely loud, un-muffled generator which its captain ran twice a day. As a result, we'd studiously avoided the west end of the this very large anchorage, but we were happy to be the only boat there this day. So, we settled in to watch a beautiful (and very red) sunset and have a nice egg plant Parmesan dinner.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCBlyX-xfiJMngIbxqRnL0u6csYoqoiHZRoDj9ECPFgpK_hDsm8FYmcoyyQHJOhmcBS1JYxceMOM3ql9V8ufWLBmshwbh-JuMxl5VOHJdz7zqMvv8qEgCeqAD3xVBdoTmt7esBiA/s1600/DSCN2431.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCBlyX-xfiJMngIbxqRnL0u6csYoqoiHZRoDj9ECPFgpK_hDsm8FYmcoyyQHJOhmcBS1JYxceMOM3ql9V8ufWLBmshwbh-JuMxl5VOHJdz7zqMvv8qEgCeqAD3xVBdoTmt7esBiA/s1600/DSCN2431.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a>The night sky plainly told us that the next day would be a "sailor's delight," but we also knew we'd be sailing directly into the wind all day, so we elected to spend the day on the hook, reading, napping, munching, whipping the ends of our new Genoa sheets and, eventually, supping on lamb chops, baked potatoes and Napa cabbage salad. The next morning brought a red sky sunrise -- "sailor's take warning" -- and a front out of the northeast passed over us somewhere around 0900. Some boats from our Dolphin Sailing Club had been anchored across the river on the south side, and just before the squall, one of them weighted anchor and came across to our north-side anchorage -- I don't think they saw us, but we recognized Gene and Jo Weatherup's ketch. After the front passed, we saw two or three of them sail out toward St. Petersburg, while the Weatherups went up river, we think to the Twin Dolphin marina. We could imagine that the boats headed out had a rough time of it across south Tampa Bay, sailing a close reach in 20 knot winds in waters that certainly were roily as could be. But, we sat tight, enjoyed being on the hook, reading and relaxing. And, we had to run the engine for a couple of hours to charge the batteries. Despite a functioning wind generator, we still had the electrical problem.<br />
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At 06:30 on 3 November, we awakened to try and see the lunar eclipse that was predicted, but it was too far east and probably below the horizon, not to mention being right in the path of the rising sun. Since we were up early and the conditions were great, we sailed out to Egmont Key, thence south along the Gulf coast to Venice. Crossing south Tampa Bay we got more wind than anticipated, and we had to stop and reef the main and Genoa -- the new electric winches made the task so much easier. Worth their weight in gold, as far as I'm concerned. Once we were south of Tampa Bay on the coast, the chop disappeared, the winds moderated and we let the reefs out. I called ahead to the Venice Yacht Club and reserved a slip, which would be free for the night, thanks to our now being members of the CHYC and to reciprocal privileges between yacht clubs in the Florida Yacht Club Council. All in all, it was a good sail: 42 nautical miles in 8 hours averaging about 5.3 knots speed over ground, but mostly 6 knots when we were sailing along the Gulf coast. At 15:30, we slid into slip C-8, headed for the showers and then for drinks and an early dinner at the club's Tiki Bar.<br />
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Lately it seems that electrical bugaboos have visited us. Trying to hook up shore power we discovered that the 30 amp breaker seemed not to be functioning. Very odd, as the shore power was charging to batteries, but the internal A.C. power was inoperable. Then we discovered that by flipping on the 50 amp breaker, the outlets worked. A real head scratcher! <br />
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The next morning, we fixed breakfast and then borrowed a couple of bicycles to fetch more bread. Alas, the mini-mart had just sold out of bread, so we returned empty handed. We decided to go down the ICW rather than spend another day along the coast ... the winds were building and we want to relax. So we finally left at 10:30, went out the yacht club channel to the ICW, turned south and I almost instantly went aground. Unbelievable! I'd mixed up the channel markers somehow. But, because the wind was building (already 17 knots out of the east), I raised the mainsail, heeled us over, and we slipped off the bar and back into the ICW channel. We had five bridges to go through, the last three opening on-demand, so we waited only about ten minutes at the other two for openings. A nice motor south and, with our stay sail out, occasionally helped by the 22 knot wind from the east. After five hours we anchored off the ICW at red marker #24, just north of the Boca Grande Causeway Bridge; a very peaceful spot.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxwAjhUFHjx9DLgr6e4AJjemtJmpynFE23lKwQJc1oNkNhl8cTaFYxcTe8tLgcYb0el1VKKPSJVSbOp71iTRPcGMf2k5Zrlq4S2vnAktYkBJLb2NiLDKdcVpgDPvaETu28DkYPaQ/s1600/IMG_0610.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxwAjhUFHjx9DLgr6e4AJjemtJmpynFE23lKwQJc1oNkNhl8cTaFYxcTe8tLgcYb0el1VKKPSJVSbOp71iTRPcGMf2k5Zrlq4S2vnAktYkBJLb2NiLDKdcVpgDPvaETu28DkYPaQ/s1600/IMG_0610.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a>On 5 November, we awakened at low tide, and we had to wait on a rising tide until 1330 before we could leave the anchorage. So, we spend a quiet morning watching hawks, blue herons, pelicans, osprey and flights of ducks, while occasionally reading and fixing a nice veggie omelet. Once under way, we just made the 14:00 opening of the causeway bridge, and thence sailed south to Useppa Island, where we anchored again at 16:15. This was the last night out on the hook, and we enjoyed a steak and potato dinner. At 08:30 the next morning, we weighed anchor and sailed virtually all the way up Charlotte Harbor to the Peace River, motoring only the last five nautical miles. We arrived at our new permanent berth at the CHYC at 16:15, where Joe Malat, the dockmaster helped us into our new slip. After washing down the boat, we sat in the cockpit and had a cocktail while observing the club's monthly "sundowner" ceremony, this one particularly honoring vets. At 18:15, we packed up and got in my car and drove home. A day later, the boat transfer complete, we drove back up to St. Pete, picked up Penelope's car and drove home. james and penelopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07450752698208270965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6955521.post-8564798725775796172013-12-31T12:23:00.001-08:002014-01-07T14:16:52.969-08:002013 Sailing Recap II: a new house, so what sailing?Let's see now, we got back from our cruise to the Keys in May, and I took <i>Alizee</i> into Sailor's Wharf Yacht Yard to finish up some work that they'd started before we took our cruise south. Now, here it was the 3rd of July, and I finally got <i>Alizee </i>back to her slip and got her prepared for hurricane season. Suffice it to say that the delays were a pain in the rear!<br />
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I arranged with Lippincott Canvas to make a new bimini and dodger to be made (exactly as the one we had), which was finally completed until 7 September. While they took their time, it was fine with us, since it's too damned hot to sail in Florida in the summer, and there is generally not sufficient wind. <br />
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Meanwhile, Penelope and I had been looking at the possibility of buying a house on the Gulf Coast. Using Penelope's daughter Erin's <a href="http://www.getmoreoffers.com/">"GetMoreOffers.com"</a> on-line real estate site (nationwide, we cannot recommend any site more highly), we looked hundreds of properties, and we drove over a couple of times to actually see places in Clearwater and Duniden (north of St. Petersburg), as well as in St. Pete. We'd agreed that we'd only consider a place seriously if it was clearly better than our house in Deland, which, although built in the 1920s, had really nice features (not the least of which were heart-pine floors). It didn't look promising.<br />
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Our search had been going on for over a year, and in May we decided to look at places an hour to two hours south of Tampa Bay around Charlotte Harbor, an area we'd both loved when we first sailed <i>Alizee</i> to the Gulf Coast and which we fell in love with again on our cruise back from the Keys. We found a house in Rotunda Heights, between Northport and the ICW and Port Charlotte, just above Charlotte Harbor, saw it, loved it (compared to all others), and made an offer on it. The offer was accepted, and then we discovered through the home inspection that we'd have to demolish the kitchen (which was very small) to get what we wanted, there was no floor plug in the middle of the great room (stupid, stupid), and the pool deck had problems.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK714GRvvDWe3AfJVUMLEV9K5p1XYHR_KiG7_fpAF8zINeyB1K8XRbTQVpuh4W2nPEHQr5mgaQoU9j698ND3KnjIKJRcGTJKFkP9S_UTMGckVrLXNYUprmk1XufFYGOdYejSN09w/s1600/D5791658-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK714GRvvDWe3AfJVUMLEV9K5p1XYHR_KiG7_fpAF8zINeyB1K8XRbTQVpuh4W2nPEHQr5mgaQoU9j698ND3KnjIKJRcGTJKFkP9S_UTMGckVrLXNYUprmk1XufFYGOdYejSN09w/s320/D5791658-1.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a>Knowing this wasn't what we wanted but that we really did want something, Penelope went back to the seb sites and discovered a house just south of Punta Gorda and north of Burnt Store Marina (on Charlotte Harbor), which was in a small well-wooded development called Woodland Estates. We got our realtor Keith (Erin's business partner and the company's broker) to arrange a showing. OMG, it was !@$#*$ wonderful! So we made an offer, it was rejected, we countered and finally settled on a price. We signed the contract and cancelled the one on the first place. Then, the appraisal came in low ... really lower than the price we'd agreed. So, we went back to our original offer (still above the appraisal), and the sellers agreed to that price.<br />
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By the end of July we had closed on our new house on Harborside in Woodland Estates, including getting a nice agreement to purchase some of the furniture. But, we wouldn't move in until mid-September because our calendar had so filled up with travel and we really needed time to prepare for our move with a garage sale to unload what seemed to be tons of stuff and get the Deland house ready to rent (we decided Penelope should keep it for a while, since values are still pretty far down).<br />
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Of course what this all meant? No sailing until Fall. james and penelopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07450752698208270965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6955521.post-4773571324574022962013-12-31T10:29:00.003-08:002014-01-10T14:17:55.011-08:002013 Sailing Recap I: passage to the Keys, electrical mysteries, sailing into a gale, homeward bound ...Where did all the time go? Anyone following <i>Aliz</i>ee<i> </i>no doubt thinks we sailed off the edge of the earth. The weeks and months have simply zipped by us, and while we've kept up with our written log, nothing has been sufficiently distilled for these on-line pages.<br />
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<b><i>Cruising to the Keys</i></b><br />
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Back on 23 April, after <i>Alizee</i> came out of Sailor's Wharf Yacht Yard and the rat problem appeared solved, Captain and crew (sister Patricia was joining us) provisioned her at Harborage Marina in St. Pete for a trip south to the Keys, supped cocktails as the sun slipped over the yardarm, seared some scallops for dinner and collapsed into our bunks. The next morning, we did a final dash to the grocery for things forgotten, Penelope talked to Chris Parker about weather on the telephone and we slipped away from the dock at 11:00 hours and sailed (mostly) southward through the Sunshine Skyway Bridge to one of our favorite anchorages on the Manatee River. The Captain cooked a lamb stir-fry dinner, we consumed a little wine - all in all a lovely first evening out.<br />
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On 25 April, we prepared the boat for our off-shore passage the next day, stringing jack lines, getting our preventer lines ready, plotting our route on the chart plotter and doing other small chores. We calculated 198 nautical miles to Key West, which, at an average of five knots, we would cover in 40 hours (44 hours at 4 1/2 knots; 33 hours at 6 knots). Departing at 22:00 hours (ten that evening for any land lubbers reading this), would put our estimated arrival times based on average speed at 08:00, 14:00 or 18:00 on the 27th, but we shortened all those possible arrival times by sailing out that afternoon to Egmont Key on the southwest edge of Tampa Bay.<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Night passage south to the Keys</span><br />
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The crossing was fine, despite shifting winds and having to motor for 18.8 hours of our trip, and at 10:45 on the 27th, we anchored amid a plethora of boats behind Wisteria Island in Key West. Before we were able to get into a marina the next day, the coasties came along side for a safety inspection, which we passed with flying colors! On the 28th, we got a slip for two nights at the Key West Bight Marina and for two days we explored Key West: oysters at the Raw Bar, a breakfast at Pepe's, the tourist trolley around the key, a Margarita at the most southern spot of the U.S. (90 miles from Cuba) and, for the best treat of all, an hour or more in the bird and butterfly conservatory on Duvall Street (we still have three "butterflies" on our mast, the wings of which open and close with the humidity).<br />
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From 30 April 2 May, we sailed out toward the Dry Tortugas, and, after catching a couple of nice Blue Runners and a Mutton Snapper, which, alas, we were too tired to turn into sushi, we anchored for a night at the Marquesas Keys. (Too tired, for sushi???) The next day we watched the weather: an enormous low pressure area 150 miles west was moving ENE, precluded our sailing to the Dry Tortugas. It rained and blew form most of the day, and we stowed portable electronics in the oven in the event of a lightning strike. After the rain passed, we dried out the cockpit, made sushi rice and prepared Blue Runner sushi and sashimi and considered that we might be able to make the 40 miles to the Dry Tortugas the next day.<br />
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<b><i>Electrical mysteries</i></b><br />
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At about this time in our cruise, I decided to really document what appeared to be a consistent battery problem. On our crossing south, we'd had to turn on the engine an motor sail because the auto pilot showed a low battery warning. At the Key West marina we got a full charge on shore power before we headed out for the Marquesas Key. Although we motored for 2.2 hours and the wind generator operated steadily for 12 hours, after 30 hours the 2 house batteries (bank #1) showed a -5.2 amp hours, but the 1 start battery (bank #2) showed it was down -49.8 amp hours. Something was clearly amiss.<br />
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Over the next few days I logged the batteries, keeping track of how long the engine ran (which charged both batteries) and the wind generator operated (which, I discovered, seemed only to charge the house bank). On our final two days of sailing north from Egmont Key to Fantasy Island in north Tampa Bay, thence to our home port at St. Pete, we motored an hour and had 14 knot winds turning the wind generator for 5 hours, but the auto pilot was flashing "low battery" and, when we finally arrived at our marina berth, bank #1 (the house batteries) was charging and showing 109.3 amp hours, while bank #2 was showing -91.7 amp hours and not charging. The boat yard had said the batteries were good (I'd asked them to load test them all), but when we got <i>Alizee</i> back into the yard to finish installing new primary winches and to repair yet some other rat-chewed lines and wires, a new load test showed one of the batteries was completely gone. So, all three were replaced.<br />
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(A footnote to this story is that there still seemed to be a problem, with bank #1 not seeming to work as hard as bank #2 (the start battery). I couldn't figure it out and kept thinking that the battery connections had been changed when the new batteries were put in. Finally, in November, when I brought in an electrician to replace a couple
failing panel circuits, did I discover that the yard had never
recalibrated the Link-20 battery monitor after replacing the batteries; thus, it
had been bank #2 reading incorrectly.)<br />
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<i><b>Sailing into a gale</b></i><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Prepared for foul weather</span></td></tr>
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On 2 May we awakened to find that a low pressure ridge, which Chris Parker had warned us about the day <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXHwTBPXMqD3kSyi4xoBIPItouYLnJURrDF47R99Zmj1EoYVlbQb4gOeKIOhOnyCHJ41x-t7n56_QSPYECQ0SDwNJo5ZGSe3FErP1XHJixhIHYCpzIJppineGbxhoLYcw5ZHa_EQ/s1600/DSCN2193.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a>we left St. Pete, was moving across the Gulf from the NW to the SE, expected to arrive by Friday night, 36 hours away. We calculated that we could make the 112 nautical miles to San Carlos Bay at Ft Myers in about 22 hours, arriving early Friday morning, getting us in ahead of the front. Thus, Penelope made up some food for the coming hours and straightened up the refrigerator to make reaching nourishment handy, while Patricia and I got life vests, tethers and other gear out and ready for us. We put a reef in the main, weighed anchor at 0930 and sailed NNE in a 20 knot SE wind at 6 knots. Meanwhile, the stormy weather to the W of us, which had kept us pinned at the Marquesas instead of proceeding on to Fort Jefferson and the Dry Torgugas, was moving NE much faster than the Captain had anticipated. By 11:00 the wind began shifting to ESE, speed dropped to 5 knots and by noon it was raining. Penelope and Patricia wisely went below to stay dry and probably more comfortable.<br />
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At 13:00 hours, we were in a squall. Wind speed built to gale-force, and I hove to and joined the crew below to let the storm pass. After 45 minutes or so, I decided to get back to the helm to steer away from the storm to smooth our ride, tethering myself into the cockpit as I climbed up the companion-way steps. As soon as I was up, I saw that the dinghy was swinging widely on the stern davits, on which we carry the dinghy with its engine. The line securing the engine had broken, and now six-foot plus seas were causing the engine to whip left-then-right-then-left-then right from its mount on the dinghy. This was putting enormous strain on the lines and harness securing the dinghy to the davits. I had to get a new line on the engine! Tethered to the back of the cockpit, I got a line from the stern locker and clambered up on to the deck. The dinghy was swinging wildly as I crawled back to the dinghy and tried to reach the engine. Waves were sweeping across the deck with such force that one swept me off my knees, throwing me against the port lifelines -- I was never so glad to be tethered.<br />
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But, I couldn't get the line to the engine without someone helping to support me, so Penelope came topside. We struggled together to secure the engine, but the dinghy was still swinging widely on the davits. We needed to get another line on it to stop the starboard-port-starboard swinging. As we tried to figure a solution, wouldn't you know, I was almost collapsing from exhaustion, and, so soaked through and through, I slipped below to dry off a bit and put on heavier foul-weather gear. Probably not the smartest thing to do, for the exhaustion, the heavy seas and the wet all combined to turn my stomach. When I climbed back into the cockpit, it was just in time to feed the fish over the lee rail. Meanwhile, between 15:30 and 15:50, Penelope had figured a way to put another line around the dinghy's pontoon (hanging to the port side), which she could secure to the starboard side of the stern pulpit, thus greatly lessening the dinghy's swinging on the davits. Although still a bit queasy, I helped her secure the line just as the squall passed over us and the sun came out.<br />
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Penelope was exemplary during the storm and all through our trip. Patricia put it very well in an entry to the log later when we were finally at anchor: "I've been so impressed with Penelope's
sailing -- she handles the boat like a seasoned sailor -- definitely
could aim for being Captain." <b><i> </i></b><br />
<br />
During the course of the storm, while hove to, <i>Alizee</i> had drifted about four nautical miles off course, and now we put her back on course. We fired up the engine and continued our passage to San Carlos Bay, aided nicely by the wind's shifting so it came out of the SE. We celebrated our survival with drinks in the cockpit under a slowly setting sun, Penelope prepared dinner under calm seas and salsa by Patricia was a big hit. Fifteen hours later, each of us tired from our watches, we anchored in San Carlos Bay, and spent the day reading, napping and going for a swim, the day capped off by a pan-fried steak dinner with Napa Cabbage slaw.<br />
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<b><i>Homeward on the ICW</i></b><br />
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4 May found us still at anchor in San Carlos Bay. Still all pretty tired, for the next two days we decided to stay put. The wind blew a steady fifteen knots all night and day, and our batteries were fully charged, allowing us to recharge our computers, Kindles and cell phones and that night watch a Netflix movie (oh, what the modern world has wrought). We read, ate fresh fish, turkey burgers, Empress Chili, and a Cuban rice dinner; we drank Bloody Mary's in the afternoon, found out that George Jones had died and celebrated his life by playing most of his music, also toasted the memory of Penelope's Billy, who had passed on seven years before, and planned our next week's itinerary, homeward up the ICW (with maybe a bit of coastal sailing).<br />
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Our next anchorage, on 6 May at St. James City on the southern end of Pine Island, was barely a two hour motor. There we went ashore to the Waterfront Restaurant and Marina for an A+ meal of sake/oyster shooters, clam chowder, Snow crab claws, Calamari, Grouper and Greek salad. Waddling back to the dinghy, we went up the Monroe Canal to a little bait shop next to Woodie's Restaurant (we would have a visit there later, in November), where we got a bag of ice and raced back to <i>Alizee</i> before it melted away.<br />
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We spent three days around Charlotte Harbor, catching some fish, seeing the sights from the water and spending a roily night at anchor near Cayo Costa. On 9 May, we raised sails and went out the Boca Grande inlet, passing a tarpon fishing tournament on the way out the channel as well as catching the first of a couple of nice Spanish Mackerels, which Penelope fileted beautifully. We'd called ahead to the Crows Nest Marina at Venice for a berth, and slipped in at 15:10. I fixed some sushi rolls with some of the Mackerel, after which we had dinner at the Crow's Nest. I mention this only because, unlike previous meals there, this was not particularly the best, and, worse, I got food poisoning from the mussel appetizer I had ordered and was miserably ill from 23:00 to 01:00.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fantasy Island</td></tr>
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Despite my previous night's discomfort, we sailed northward to Egmont Key the next day. Our penultimate day of the cruise was spent with a wonderful sail from Egmont to Fantasy Island in north Tampa Bay (very near the Port of Tampa), where we spent a nice night at anchor feasting on a pork marsala dinner by Penelope. By noon on our last day, we were home in our slip at the Harborage Marina in St. Pete, where Patricia and Penelope got ready to jump ship early the next day and leave me to clean up <i>Alizee</i> and prepare her to go back into Sailor's Wharf to finish installing the primary electric winches, water line repairs and fix the battery problem. On 14 May, my friend Jeff Grant helped me get <i>Alizee</i> into the yard, and I drove home. End of an interesting, challenging and often fun cruise.<br />
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<br />james and penelopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07450752698208270965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6955521.post-74505370822525840692013-04-20T11:44:00.001-07:002013-04-20T11:44:14.072-07:00Back in the water again...<i>Alizee</i> went into Sailor's Wharf on 14 March, where she was hauled for a bottom job, water line repairs, and some other work I wanted done in preparation for our trip to the Dry Tortugas the last two weeks of April. Unfortunately, the hunt for "the last rat on board" kept her in the yard at least a week longer than we'd hoped, so I didn't get to pick her up until 19 April (yesterday).<br />
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The bulk of the work (<a href="http://alizeemaintenance.blogspot.com/2013/02/maintenance-and-upgrades-2013.html">Maintenance Log</a>) was completed, but unfortunately not installation of the electric conversion kits on the two primary winches. The conversion kits wouldn't arrive from Lewmar until early May, so I'll be taking <i>Alizee </i>back into the yard for installation when we get back from our little cruise in about three weeks. This probably is just as well, because we are on a watch for any signs that "the last rat on board" somehow managed to survive the regime of traps and poisons of the past three weeks. <br />
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So far, so good. I can smell pretty distinct signs of decomposition in the bilge, when the floor hatches are lifted up, and that may be the critter. The odor does not come up into the cabin, which is very nice. And, he bilge pump - true sign the bugger is chewing water lines - has not gone off but once, which occurred only right after I pumped out water from the refrigerator drain. Perhaps that drain line was chewed and not noticed by the yard. Today and tomorrow I'm cleaning the interior of the boat thoroughly and will be checking everywhere for signs of the little bugger.<br />
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Lot's of work to do to get <i>Alizee</i> ready for our cruise and the Tuesday arrival of first mate Penelope and second mate Patricia. Better get to work!james and penelopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07450752698208270965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6955521.post-18239053624917210942013-03-21T16:27:00.002-07:002013-04-20T11:27:46.349-07:00Damn/spit! A rat on board ...Penelope and I got to the boat a week ago (Friday, 1 March) with plans sail up to Tampa to meet some friends in the Dolphins Sailing Club for the weekend and then head off on our own for three more days. Alas, when we arrived we discovered our fresh water system had a broken line. We looked first under the galley sink at the fresh water distribution lines. No leak. Still heard heard water gushing, and it sounded like it was coming from aft of the refrigerator. I went out to the cockpit locker, opened it up, and found it.<br />
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Damn/spit! We discovered we have a rat on board, and the little bugger had eaten up the fresh water lines to the cockpit shower, as well as lines to the water maker. Moreover, it had chewed through a soft bag and two floatation cushions at the bottom of the cockpit locker -- a mess, for which I emptied the locker, turned myself into a pretzel and climbed in to clean up. Since the day was not yet over, I went to a local chandlery, got plugs (and mouse/rat traps), cut the lines to the shower, plugged them, set the traps, through out the ruined stuff and put what we had to get out of the elements back into the locker.<br />
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We thought we were free, but when we tried the water again, galley water pressure was weak. More water seemed to be gushing. Where or where? I uncovered the hot water heater -- no leaking. I uncovered the holding tank, but the fresh water lines are routed outside and around it. Then, when I looked in the engine compartment (midship, under the settee and galley storage area), I finally found the leak in one of the water lines leading between the galley and the sink in the head (forward of the salon). Completely out of reach and under the sole, the only way to get to it will be to run an entirely new line (or maybe lines, since there are three lines there) from the head to the galley. <br />
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So much for the weekend trip. Instead we stayed aboard, listened to hear a trap go off and considered our options. We both had brought some writing work to do, so Saturday and Sunday we hunkered down to it. By Monday morning, I was pretty convinced that the leak under the sole was from the hose leading from the forward water tank to the main fresh water distribution system (under the galley). The bilge pump was cycling every 30 minutes or so, and the water level in the tank was steadily declining. Time for action: I went up to the marina manager's office and reported our stowaway. She immediately said she'd get an exterminator out: "We want no rats in our marina!" That afternoon, Robert appeared with some more traps and some high-powered bait. Meanwhile, I arranged to take <i>Alizee</i> into Sailor's Wharf Yacht Yard the following week. Assuming we get the rat off, I planned to have the water lines replaced, do a thorough check of wiring and do some other needed jobs (re-bed a couple of leaking port lights, paint the bottom and re-bed a rub rail on the starboard side). <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZXPCbBGHoGxpTtscvr5FGKsuWSBX_bC_kCuJbJUpaQF8I-ox7vOHJZF-gWKa9L8dGskFTQYjTh1tGoVBn4QbRMSEQh2Je27AhYKEueSPWPbzbBi8A60p8_aL2WXawlXYIlMMSRA/s1600/IMG_0320.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZXPCbBGHoGxpTtscvr5FGKsuWSBX_bC_kCuJbJUpaQF8I-ox7vOHJZF-gWKa9L8dGskFTQYjTh1tGoVBn4QbRMSEQh2Je27AhYKEueSPWPbzbBi8A60p8_aL2WXawlXYIlMMSRA/s320/IMG_0320.JPG" width="240" /></a>We spent one more night, by which time the forward water tank was about empty, and left for home early Tuesday. Saturday we were back in the car and off to the marina. Robert told us he found one rat in a trap on Thursday, but he saw another skitter away, so he re-baited the traps. We didn't arrive at the boat until late Saturday, but, alas, the other rat hadn't been trapped. On Sunday, we hunkered down again to await Monday, when Robert came over and set about flushing out the final rat with his own special smokey-chemical concoction. We stayed off the boat, visiting a friend and later going out to dinner. Then on Tuesday morning, Robert said he didn't see the rat jump off but was sure he'd gotten it. Two days later (14 March), our friend Jeff Grant delivered <i>Alizee</i> to Sailor's Wharf for us. <br />
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The damage was much greater than expected! Virtually all the fresh water
lines needed replacing. The little bastards were just starting on the
wiring: radar, miscellaneous electrical, etc. Since my boat insurance
has "pests" as an exclusion, I'll get no financial help from them. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghAWXEGpAdJoCp8ZFqbF3U49zHGVrBHqmQ4Y58HFu8bY314j5PAc7VqaV-tPkgTIa8TlHwB7_pusLDJaMkqcu0hXmFsXW9SYl_mmbQt3RHM3zLvUvE8IJoJ5ywvMxaa4EKMmPt_Q/s1600/RODENT+DAMAGE+003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghAWXEGpAdJoCp8ZFqbF3U49zHGVrBHqmQ4Y58HFu8bY314j5PAc7VqaV-tPkgTIa8TlHwB7_pusLDJaMkqcu0hXmFsXW9SYl_mmbQt3RHM3zLvUvE8IJoJ5ywvMxaa4EKMmPt_Q/s200/RODENT+DAMAGE+003.jpg" width="200" /></a> Did I say "damn/spit" already? Well, after a week in the yard, the bottom done, port lights fixed, all the water lines replaced, water tanks filled and the boat splashed, the yard discovered one of the new lines chewed through. Robert's smokey-chemical concoction apparently didn't work, and the second rat is still aboard. The yard set traps, called the exterminator and promised they'd get the bugger, but what a nightmare! Another week went by, and still no luck trapping the rat. Into the third week, with traps set everywhere, the little bastard is still loose, and the exterminator and the yard people are as frustrated as we are. We're moving ahead with some other work we want done on the boat, but the rat has to be eliminated. <br />
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Well, if I didn't say it: DAMN/SPIT! <br />
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<br />james and penelopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07450752698208270965noreply@blogger.com0