Boatyard Post 3

There are a couple of sayings that come to mind today:  Two steps forward, one step back and that boat means bring out another thousand.  I am not complaining, I chose this fate and in a month or so it will all be forgotten as we enjoy the fruits of our labor and money well-spent.  Yeah, yeah, I've said that before.  Anyway, the last couple of days have been pretty good.

 

I put the new Rocna anchor on today and found that I needed to move the roller for the secondary anchor so they would stow on the bow pulpit without the Rocna seriously pinning the Bruce.  When I assembled the anchor roller I put the bolt head on the inside which means to move the roller I had to completely remove the roller assembly from the bow pulpit so I could pull the roller bolt out.  All in all it took about three hours instead of 30 minutes.   The Bruce anchor chips the gel coat on its way in so I need to make a gel coat guard.  Add it to the job list.   It probably will not be an issue because we seldom use two anchors, maybe once per season still my baby needs protection.

 

I added the gas spring to the frig, now it stays open without a stick.  Yay, plus it gives a little assistance for opening.   I th.ought about a stronger spring but the force pushing against the hinge already push it up a little.   I am calling this one done.

 

I ordered the canvas today.   Matt from Top Stitch came out this morning,  I had a quote from his wife, Amy, by 3PM.  Now, we are on there schedule and he will be out in a week or so to take the existing bimini, dodger and sundry pieces in for repair and replacement plus they will build side curtains so my honey will stay warm and dry in our little "Florida room". 

 

Yesterday, I put up the hatch screens and they look great though I need to get some foam insulation strips to fill some gaps between the arch of the cabin ceiling and frame of the screen assembly.  The Skyshade is from Oceanair.

 

An easy job today was to install the replacement voltage regulator.  I will wait to test it until the boat is in the water.

 

The rails around the boat got their first coat of varnish over the last couple of days.  Ken is really going to town.  I need to pick up a little stain to color the epoxy of his fix for the ding from last year, the color is way too gray right now, otherwise it looks pretty good.

 

I was looking at the engine today and noticed that some water has been leaking so tomorrow I will diagnose that while planning out the fuel system improvements and motor mount replacement.  Tom is going to bring over the frame, bungee and chain that Chuck Shoemaker on Kairos (another IP38) used to lift his engine.

 

With all this going on,  my tool boxes decorate the cabin,  there are manuals and all matter of stuff not put away but the kitchen is clean and functional. 

 

The weather has been good for the last couple of days but clouds are moving in, we might get some rain and colder weather.   Anyway,  so long from the yard.

Boatyard 11/8/2011

I arrived in the boatyard November 7th after spending a 6 days in Boston with Ann visiting our eldest daughter Rachel plus our very good friends and former neighbors Sue and Bob Welna. Ann will join me November 15th after spending time in Michigan with family and friends.

First impressions upon seeing Windswept Dreams for the first time since May are good. The dehumidifier we used (first time) kept the insides mold free.

The rental car is now full of stuff that was shipped here including boxes from home. And the work has begun...

The first chore was to determine why when using shore power the onshore GFI usually tripped. This happens when unequal currents flow in the hot and neutral lines. The answer was simple, Island Packet used to tie them together at the breaker panel. That is a no-no because the current then leaks from the boat thru the engine and any other metal tied into boat ground. Also, stray current flows because the onshore ground voltage may be slightly different than in the water around the boat causing stray current. On the other hand, when using the generator or inverter then the reference ground for the neutral side must be the onboard ground. All is good now.

I called people about canvas work, one was too busy, another did not call back and the third did not show up. I'll try again tomorrow.

I took the tarp off the boat and installed one of the new hatch sunscreen/flyscreens, the big one in the main cabin. I will have to put some foam around the edges, the arch of the cabin top leaves a gap but these Oceanair SKYSCREENS look very good. The job entails taking of the old trim ring, assembling the Skyscreen and screwing it into the ceiling. The first took three hours but I think I can cut it to about an hour apiece.

As if I don't have enough jobs, I remembered that I also need to extend the chain tube in the chain locker so that it will feed the chain correctly to the wide part of the locker, last year it sometimes jammed. It is made of 3" PVC so it should be pretty easy.

That is it for today, tomorrow I plan to get started on the refrigerator lift spring. I will also install another Skyscreen.

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Great Guana Cay to St. Marys

We are at our home port again so this will be the last post for winter 2011. We may add some photos later but no promises. We have always found it difficult for some reason. For our friends in Oregon, we will be back May 14th.

We left Great Guana the day after Easter headed west with southeast winds blowing 15 to 20 knots. So, once again we quickly did the 40 miles to Allans-Pensecola Cay. The weather was ok for snorkeling but great for sailing and with the wind expected to go north early Friday we made the decision to leave the next day for Florida. But we did meet the folks on all but one boat in the harbor, took a beach walk and retired early.

Around 3PM, Tuesday April 26th, we decided we may as well keep going past Great Sale Cay (the last decent anchoring spot heading west) and run all the way to Fernandina, over 300 miles away. We passed Mantilla Shoal at the western edge of the Bahama Bank at 11PM and bounced our way west to the gulf stream. The ride was pretty rough with following seas and swell but we were averaging over 7 knots and were not in the gulf stream yet.

Once we entered the gulf stream we put down the main and headed nort with following winds and confused seas. With only the jib and 3 knots of current our speed over ground (SOG) was 8.5 knots, which was okay given the wind direction. We sailed like this all the next day and night and then made the turn west towards St. Marys Inlet. The wind stopped for about an hour around 8AM so we motored but then it came back strong and we finished the ocean voyage by motoring on a close reach against the current in the inlet.

One other point about the sail, which Ann thinks is important. Once again, Ed fed the fish, this time three times during the three days but he came around quickly once the seas settled.

The inlet brings you into Cumberland Sound. Going west you enter the St. Marys, south you enter the Amelia, north is Cumberland. We went to Fernandina for the Isle of Eight Flags Festival or as everyone else calls it "the shrimp festival". After cleaning up the boat, refueling which we had not done since Sampson Cay, Exumas, we took a mooring ball for 3 nights to enjoy the festival which ran for the weekend.

This was our third straight time for the festival and again it did not dissapoint. Thursday night we caught a little of the opening parade before hitting our favorite restaurant, Espagne, which features Portuguese and Spanish foods. Friday, our friends from St. Marys began arriving on their boats.

Different bands this year but we enjoyed them, shrimp and artwork galor. Ann got some new jewelry to wear at our daughter Rachel's wedding in July. Actually, it was my idea but some how there are more pieces than expected, hmmm.

Tuesday, May 3rd we headed over to the boat yard and now the boat is onshore, we have rented a car, and we are closing the boat for the summer. We leave for Myrtle Beach to see Ann's folks at a condo for a week and then it's back to Oregon.

Hope you have enjoyed our travelog.

Ann and Ed

Meeks Patch,Harbor Island, Lynard Cay, Tiloo Cay, Man O War, Great Guana Cay

We were on the move this week with the goal of Great Guana Cay for the Easter Brunch celebration.
April 18th- We left Hatchett Bay for Meeks Patch sailing thru Current Cut on the ebb with spinnaker. It was enjoyable with just two boats in the anchorage. We enjoyed taking our Happy Hour to the beach sitting on the rocks watching the sunset and collecting a few shells.

April 19th we went through Devils Backbone with no pilot to Harbor Island. Ann was nervous being at the helm
but we had a GPS track from the last time we went through with a pilot and Never Bored led
the way with their catamaran having a 4 ft draft. We were successful; no hitting reefs. We left at 10AM so that we were traveling east bound through the backbone with the sun overhead. The trip took about 3 hours, the last hour was a beautiful sail between Harbor Island and Eleuthera Island to the anchorage off Harbor Island. This left plenty of time for the afternoon activities. We enjoyed the afternoon
walking around the town, walking the beach and going into the resorts which are beautiful.
In the Bahamas it is no problem to walk with beers in hand; the liquor store had a container of ice, a picnic
table and a vendor nearby sold conch fritters so we had a nice happy hour.

April 20th we traveled from Harbor Island to Lynyard Cay. We had a 6:30 am start; a nice morning till
we hit a narrow channel and 5 ft sand on the way out of the harbor. Fortunately, after putting the dinghy down to push the boat off, the current and the wind helped push us into deeper water and we were off in 20 min. Ann doesn't like
being called run-aground Annie but she wrote this not Ed. No damage done. As Ed was bringing in a nice mahi mahi for dinner in the afternoon, our rough start was remedied. The winds tapered off and the sail was beautiful as we entered Little Harbor Cut at 16:30 (that is 4:30PM for most of us) and anchored by 17:15. We shared dinner (catch of the day) with Never Bored. We had another great evening.

April 21 Snorkeling was the first order of the day. Sandy Cay coral gardens provided the perfect place.
We were out for several hours although it was a bit rough. We enjoyed seeing schools of fish and even
a manta ray along with brain coral and elkhorn coral.

April 22 We traveled from Lynard Cay to Tiloo Cay (all of 10 miles). We visited Lubbers Quarters and Cracker P's for
lunch; outdoors eating which was nice. They had a nice resort there also.

April 23 Left Tiloo Cay with some very shallow areas but a beautiful sail; very little use of the engine.
Stopped at Man O War Cay and saw some beautiful wood ship models. Another six miles followed by ten miles to Fisher Bay on Great Guana Cay. Happy Easter, today we shall enjoy drinks and food on the island.

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Pineapple Cays to Governor's Harbour and Hatchet Bay

The sailing has been slow but beautiful the last few days but because we are making short hops it does not matter. So what if we average 4 knots, it beats motoring any day. And the places are quite beautiful, we are relaxed and having fun.

On Friday we sailed wing on wing which we can only do with calm seas because we have to sail with the main to wind and the jib to the lee because we do not have a whisker pole for flying the jib to wind. We averaged about 4.5 knots over the six miles to Governors Harbour (note the Bahamian spelling).

Governors Harbour was the first capital of the Bahamas, prior to Nassau. It has good protection except from the west and is beautiful to see with its nice seawall, semi-circle of sand, government buildings and prettily painted houses climbing the hillsides.

Friday night we went to the fish fry that happens every week. The menu options were pork chops, fish or chicken with sides of mac'n'cheese, cole slaw and included peas and rice. Afterwards we enjoyed street dancing to the recorded sounds of rake'n'scrape and reggae. Ann and Sheila spent several hrs. checking out grocery stores and walking around while Ed and Chris spent the afternoon hanging out at a local pub, chatting with the owner, playing pool and we all chatted with a local musician, Dr. Seabreeze. The ladies meet a local woman who requested any items that we didn't want on our boat; clothes, household items, etc. so we were able to help her. It is nice to meet the local people. We have been taking turns with Never Bored sharing rides in the dinghy so we both don't put down our dinghy and we went into town at low tide and at night, Ed waded out, hiking up his shorts because the tide had come in. Always interesting times with the dinghy. Sometimes
we stay dry and other times not so much.

Saturday, we walked up the hill, about a 175 foot climb, and down to the Atlantic beach which has pink sand, private homes and one small resort. The large resort was cleared away by Hurricane Andrew. Naturally, we stopped and enjoyed shopping and libations on the way back. We visited the Beach House Bar and the Bucenneer Pub; we try to support the local hangouts.

Fisherman had brought their catch back to the harbour for cleaning and sale. Mostly snapper and grouper they caught with lines 500 feet down using 1/4 pound weights.

Sunday we went on to Hatchet Bay but the wind was very light between 2 and 8 knots. So it was a slow sail of 16 miles. We used the spinnaker but we did not finish until 3:15 after starting at 10:30. At the end the wind direction changed so we had a close reach the last 1.4 miles.

Hatchet Bay has a very narrow entrance with rock walls on either side. We went ashore and it was hot, about 88 degrees with little breeze. We walked around Alice Town which was not too different from a lot of communities with many churches, homes in various degrees of repair but the people well dressed, polite and friendly. We talked to a local man about his water purification plant and watched the fast ferry come in from Nassau unloading people and vehicles before loading the same for the trip back. We then adjourned for dinner back to Windswept Dreams.

We continue to sail with Never Bored, at least for one or two more days. We met a couple from California in the harbour and talked to them about Panama and other places. It is interesting to learn about the places to go from people who have gone before.

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Big Majors to Eleuthera Pineapple Cays

Leaving the Exumas for Eleuthera represents the turning point for us of heading northwards. Still, we will enjoy the last several weeks of our time. We definitely feel as if we would like to keep cruising in May. Anyway, we left Sampsons Cay out the unnamed cut just south of Over Yonder Cut after spending two nights at Sampsons Cay where we fueled up with diesel (26 gallons), did laundry and topped off the water tanks. We enjoyed snorkeling in Pipe Creek with our friends from Lena Bea. We left with light ENE winds motor sailing then just sailing then had to motor the rest of the way arriving in Rock Sound about six-thirty. Our friends on Never Bored were able to sail 2/3 of the way using their Code Zero sail as a huge jib.

We stayed two nights in Rock Sound enjoying walks, dinghying to the airport so that Never Bored could extend their Visas before heading northward to Tarpum Bay, a nice little community with a nice beach and houses. It was 15 miles to Tarpum Bay which we were able to sail entirely, having just enough wind to get out of the harbor and north. We will be accepting children books for their library next year as per the request of the librarian. We had grouper fingers at a restaurant across from the beach and talking to the fisherman as they cleaned their catch.

We then moved on to the Pineapple Cays off of the twin Palmetto cities. It was 10 miles which we did motoring in sprinkles and heavy rain arriving early enough to walk across Eleuthera and to both cities. The houses were well taken care of and prettily colored. Today we are moving on, six miles north to Governors Harbor and their Friday Night Fish Fry. We anticipate going to the Abacos Monday or Tuesday but are enjoying our short hops up Eleuthera's coast.

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March 18th to April 10th

We took this picture from Big Darby Island on the veranda of an old abandoned house that has since been purchased with the island for $38M.

We met up with our friends from Never Bored at the Darby Islands on the 19th and have been sailing with them ever since. That day "Run Aground Annie" got her nickname after we got stuck in the approach to an anchorage at low tide. We waited two hours for the tide to come up, pulled off with an anchor, got stuck again, and again before getting free and into the anchorage. She lost confidence for a few days but is learning to read the water much better and has her confidence back.

We enjoyed the Darbys, spending time with boaters from two other boats and snorkeling nearly every day, appetizers and cocktails at night. One night we all played instruments and made some real noise. Bob and Carol from Time Enough II played violin, guitar and flute, Ann played keyboards and I played guitar (as quietly as possible).

We then went on to Georgetown for four days of fun on the beaches. Also, I began varnishing the cockpit rails, a job that completed a week later but only because I am low on varnish. We then started north going to little places like Rollville, Barataria, Square Rock and Lee Stocking Island where we climbed Perry Peak, at 137 feet the highest in the Exumas. This picture is of Stocking Island from the stone navigation marker high on the hill looking towards Elizabeth Harbor.

We have yet to catch fish but not for lack of effort. One day, rather than heading along the inside we went out to the sound for the deep water fishing. The wind was light with 5 foot seas plus we went out through Rudder Cut which had large standing waves. All to no avail, the wind was crappy, waves large and we caught only one tiny barracuda. Oh, well we will have another chance Monday when we head to Eleuthera.

We've been at Big Majors Spot feeding the feral pigs, going to Staniel Cay and meeting with other boaters. Today we went three miles to Sampson Cay to get diesel, top off the water tank, do internet and wash clothes. Monday we start north. Tomorrow we will head back to Big Major Spot and join back up with our traveling companions on Never Bored.

Of course we've also been snorkeling at Thunderball Cave, so named because of it was featured in the James Bond movie "Thunderball". It is protected from fishing so the fish are plentiful and tame.

Next stop: Eleuthera