On the hard in Titusville

We arrived in Titusville, Florida on Sunday, October 18th. The wind was blowing about 20 knots, which made anchoring rather tricky.

Sunshine was bucking like a bronco and the wind was blowing us backward at about 4 knots as we let out the anchor. Phil was trying to balance on the bow as he monitored the chain coming out. I was at the helm, trying without much success to keep our backward motion to a minimum. The anchor caught suddenly and the boat jerked to a stop, nearly flipping Phil overboard.

We were glad when we got back inside the cabin and were able to settle in for the night.

By Monday morning, the wind had calmed and we dinghied ashore to Westland Marina, where we planned to have Sunshine hauled out of the water for a couple of weeks.

We checked in at the office and arranged the haul-out for Wednesday morning. Then, we took a short tour of Titusville in the car that our good friend Rich Tanner had kindly left for us to use. Rich, owner of a PDQ 36 named Feral Cat, had spent the summer at Titusville but headed south before we arrived.

In it's heyday, Titusville was home to most of the people who worked at nearby Cape Canaveral. NASA's diminished role in the last few years has taken a toll on this once flourishing town, but it still has the basic cruising necessities: a WalMart, a West Marine, and a boatyard with a lift to haul out our catamaran, and that allows you to remain on your boat and, most important, allows you to do your own work.

Marinas can make more money using their own employees to work on boats. As a result, do-it-yourself boatyards are becoming rare, and Westland Marina is one of the few remaining.

We were up early on Wednesday, getting ready for our haul-out. We motored Sunshine into the marina and tied up at the designated dock. When the traveling lift was in place, the dock workers pulled Sunshine into place. Slings were placed under the boat in front and back of her keel and she was hoisted up out of the water.

The travel lift carried Sunshine to an empty spot in the boatyard and lowered her so that she was resting on her keels, with two jacks in back to balance her 8,000 pounds.

We are able to live on board with most of the comforts of home, except for the head (bathroom). The bathhouse is a short walk away, so we are not suffering much.

We have been "on the hard," as they say, for a week and a half. Phil has completed sanding, priming and painting the bottom and I am working on buffing and waxing the hulls above the newly painted bottom.

We'll be out of the water for a few more days before we get "splashed," then plan to remain at anchor here at Titusville while we provision for our trip south, eventually winding up at West Palm Beach for Thanksgiving with family.

We are pleased with the results of our first major do-it-yourself project on Sunshine.

Margaret

SUNSHINE IS ON THE MOVE!

Wednesday morning, October 15, 9:30 a.m., we untied the dock lines and backed Sunshine, our 36' catamaran, out of her slip at Brunswick Landing Marina and headed south.

After a month and a half docked at Brunswick, just north of the Georgia-Florida line, we had grown soft and lazy. We had indulged in hot showers, letting the water run and run, free laundry, cable television, nightly cocktail parties on Dock 10, and our car only a few yards away, ready for a quick trip to WalMart or West Marine.

Mid-October was bringing a chill to the night air and we had promised ourselves to always be where the butter melted, so it was definitely time to begin our trek south, first to Florida and then to the Bahamas, where we planned to spend the winter.

We had spent the summer back home in Greenwood, Indiana. While in Indiana, we visited the Sailrite sewing machine factory in Churubusco, near Ft. Wayne, and purchased a sewing machine designed to make and repair sails and do canvas work.

All serious cruisers have Sailrites. With this marvelous machine, you can sew up to eight layers of canvas! It's definitely not a sewing machine for wusses.

My first project on the Sailrite was to make dinghy chaps (see photo). Inflatable dinghy's are like a car for cruisers. The dinghy is how you get from the boat to shore when you are anchored out. UV rays damage rubber dinghy's, so wise cruisers put coats on their dinghys, called "chaps." Chaps also prevent passengers from getting the dreaded "dinghy butt."

My friend Val, from La Buena Vida, encouraged me to make the chaps. She had made a set for her own dinghy. She got the fabric for me (Sunbrella) at a great price and gave me advice on how to make a pattern and fit the chaps to the dinghy. It was a week-long project, but when I was finished, the dinghy had a new coat.

A neighboring cruiser saw our dinghy chaps and said he had thought about buying some, but the price was $600. If our dinghy chaps are worth $600, we've nearly paid for our Sailrite already!

The second project was a screen for our companionway (another photo), which is the main door to our cabin, That project took only one day to complete and keeps the bugs out.

Our first day of travel took us outside into the Atlantic. Our traveling companions, Harold and Val on La Buena Vida, could not use the Intracoastal Waterway because their mast is too tall (66') to fit under some of the bridges and their draft (6') is too deep for the shallow ICW. Sunshine's mast is only 58' and our draft is less than 3'.

We had a fine wind and made good time with our sails up and the motor running, but the motion of the large waves and swells made both Phil and me a little green around the gills, so to speak, for most of the afternoon. Sometimes it takes a day or two to get used to the sea again after you've been away.

We anchored for the night in the shelter of Cumberland Island. The next morning, we decided to take the ICW and parted company with our friends on La Buena Vida.

The next two days on the ICW were calm and quiet. We motored seven or eight hours each day and found nice, quiet anchorages each night. Last night, we anchored in sight of the remains of Ft. Matansas, built by the Spanish in 1740 to try to keep the English from advancing down into Spanish-held Florida.

The ICW is not as fast as going "outside," but the scenery is incredible and the ride is fairly smooth. Some have described the ICW as how America looked before it was developed. There are no fast food restaurants, no filling stations, or malls, or subdivisions. In some places, especially in Georgia, you can travel for miles without seeing a house.

Now that we are in Florida, we see more homes, lots of other boats, and many people fishing. Wildlife is everywhere, including Great Egrets, Great Blue Herons, brown pelicans, white pelicans, gulls, terns, and ospreys by the dozens. Yesterday, I even saw a huge wood stork fishing along the water's edge. Dolphins play around the boat.

As I write this post, it's Saturday morning, October 18th. We are beginning our fourth day on the water. The weather has been beautiful and all the systems on the boat are working well. We should be in Titusville, by tomorrow afternoon.

Margaret

Ready for an ADVENTURE!

Our catamaran, Sunshine, is docked at Brunswick Landing Marina, just across the Florida border in Georgia.

We're within a few miles of Jekyll, St. Simon's and Cumberland Islands, all "out islands" of Georgia's Atlantic coast, each with lots of history and beautiful beaches.

This is the land of plantations, shrimp and grits and low country boil.

There are about 150 boats docked at Brunswick Landing. About a quarter of them are occupied and more owners are returning every week.

Many people leave their boats here for the summer, then return in the fall and head to the Bahamas, South America, the Virgin Islands, Turks and Caicos, Dominican Republic, etc., etc.

It's a very social place. Every evening at 6:00 p.m., people from all over our marina gather on Dock 10 for cocktails.

Don't ask me why the party is always on Dock 10, instead of Dock 2 or 4 or 7. The people whose boats are on Dock 10 will tell you it's because they are the cool people. That might be. Those Dock 10 folks are definitely very cool. But there are cool people on the other docks, too.

Sunshine is on Dock 2. Val and Harold on La Buena Vida are on Dock 8. Doug and Marlene on Cop Out are on Dock 3. Our friend Dave Robbins is on Dock 7. We are all pretty cool, but we still gather at 6:00 o'clock on Dock 10 because that's where the party is.

The other evening at Dock 10's nightly gathering, Dave Robbins mentioned that he had been hired to captain a big, beautiful sail boat from this marina to the Virgin Islands in December. He asked if any of us knew someone who might be interested in going along as cook for the crew.

I immediately thought of a close friend of mine from Greenwood. I knew her job would allow her to take a few weeks off and I thought she might be interested in an adventure. I sent her an e-mail and she answered immediately: "You're really serious, aren't you? YES, I'M INTERESTED!"

I put her in touch with Dave and the two of them have had several phone conversations. I also invited her to come visit us for a few days so she could get acquainted with Dave and the boat. (The boat is a 56-foot Oyster sailboat, reputed to be worth more than $2-million.) My friend will be arriving in Brunswick next Thursday for a long weekend with us. We are looking forward to her visit.

If all goes well and she and Dave think they can work together, she'll be looking forward to a great paid vacation for the month of December, on a beautiful boat sailing to an exotic location.

Georgia is beginning to cool off. We've had a few beautiful days with high's in the mid-80's, dropping into the 60's at night. Perfect weather for boat projects.

Phil has changed the oil in both engines and replaced the fuel filters. He removed the motor from our 9-foot dinghy (no small feat), then hoisted the dinghy onto the dock so I can fashion some "chaps" for our dinghy, using my new Sailrite sewing machine. The Sunbrella material has been delivered and I'm working on a pattern. The chaps will cover the dinghy, protecting it from the destructive UV rays and also protecting the passengers from the dreaded "dingy butt."

This morning, I used my Sailrite and screening material called Phifertex to fashion a screen door for our companionway, allowing the breeze to pass through but keeping the bugs out.

We are in the middle of "love bug" season here in Southern Georgia. In the heat of the afternoon, thousands of bugs that look like small lightening bugs appear in the air looking for mates. They hook up and fly around, connected, driving people into fits of love-bug-swatting. We are hoping our new screen door will keep the love bugs out of the boat.

Life is good here at Brunswick Landing Marina. We are completing projects and getting organized for a winter adventure in the Bahamas.

We hope to have time for some exploration north of here in the Carolinas during October and early November. During that time, we'll have the boat hauled out for a bottom-painting. Then we'll head south to celebrate Thanksgiving with my brother Allen and his wife Dorie in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

Then...we'll cross the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas.

Margaret

A Hot Time in Georgia

Don't let anybody tell you that Georgia starts to cool down in September. It's HOT here.

Today, we took a road trip with our friends Val and Harold from La Buena Vida. They are having engine problems that seem to defy diagnosis, so they need to find a marina that will "haul" their boat and let them work on it themselves.

Cruisers are a self-sufficient bunch and we like to do as much work for ourselves as possible. In the case of Val and Harold, this means finding a marina that will 1) haul their boat out of the water using a huge crane with straps, 2) let them do the work themselves (or have their favorite mechanic do the work), and 3) allow them to continue living on their boat while it is "on the hard" as they say. All of this must be at a reasonable price.

Most port towns have marinas, but services and charges range from reasonable to astronomical. Our road trip today took us to Fernandina Beach and Green Cove Springs, Florida. Harold and Val wanted to see the marinas and talk to the dock masters. Green Cove Springs, just south of Jacksonville, turned out to be what they were looking for.

We all enjoyed the trip and it was cool in the air conditioned car. We stopped for lunch at a local place in Green Cove Springs and Phil and I split the Tuesday lunch special...20 wings for the price of ten. I washed my wings down with an ice cold beer.

We returned to the boat around 4:30 p.m. The thermometer in the salon read 98 degrees. We got it down to 85 after opening all the hatches (windows) and turning on all the fans.

Around 6:00 p.m., we met with a young man named Trey, who the locals say is very good at teaching folks like us the finer points of sailing. We arranged for him to come aboard for a couple of days and help us hone our skills.

We are still waiting for the refrigerator part to be delivered. In the meantime, we make daily runs for ice to keep our perishables cool. I am looking forward to having a real working fridge on the boat.

Tomorrow, I will begin my first project using the Sailrite sewing machine that Phil and I purchased this summer at the Sailrite factory in Churubusko (Indiana). A Sailrite is a special heavy-duty sewing machine that can sew through eight layers of canvas. You can repair your sails and do many other boat projects with a Sailrite.

My first project will be to make a canvas "coat" for our dingy. It will protect the dinghy from the UV rays, giving it a longer life, but most important it will save me from the dreaded "dinghy butt."

Life on board is good...warm, but good. We have been spared the ravages of the recent hurricanes and tropical storms. We are keeping our fingers crossed until hurricane season ends in November.

I hope we'll still be here the third week in September. Brunswick is having a Shrimp and Grits Festival. It doesn't get any better than that.

WE'RE BACK!

Our last post was in late May, as we were leaving Sunshine, our PDQ 36 catamaran, at Brunswick, Georgia and heading back to Greenwood, Indiana for the summer.

After cruising for five months on Sunshine earlier this year, the transition to dry land was not easy for me. It took at least a month after getting home for me to be comfortable with the change. We had loved our simple cruising life, and I found it difficult to return to our old life, and for me, to return to work.

But we persevered, and the summer turned out to be a wonderful time of getting reacquainted with friends and family. We accomplished many projects, hosted some great pool parties and get-togethers, attended four weddings, and spent precious time with our grandkids, ages four and seven. The best grandkid times were when they came for sleep-overs (or "awake-overs" as our 7-year-old granddaughter calls them).

With the approach of fall, Sunshine was calling for us to return. We left Greenwood Wednesday morning (September 3rd) in a car packed to the gills with "boat stuff." We stayed overnight just south of Atlanta and arrived at Brunswick Landing Marina Thursday afternoon.

Sunshine was just as we left her three months ago. She had been through a "blow" with Tropical Storm Faye a couple of weeks ago, but showed no signs of any damage. Several friends are here at this marina with their boats, waiting out hurricane season.

As we watch Tropical Storm Hanna work her way up the East Coast far north of us and listen to reports of Hurricane Ike ready to ravage the Bahamas and then possibly the Florida Keys, we are counting our weather blessings, so far.

We'll be here in Brunsick for at least a week or so. Phil is busy removing the old refrigerator and getting ready to install a new one. I'm still finding places to put away all the things we brought with us.

Brunswick is an old port city a few miles up a river from the coast. We can walk to the old downtown area, which has several nice restaurants and shops, and a great farmers market on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

I visited the farmers market this morning and brought back spiced pecans, Georgia peaches, some home-made pure cane syrup (which I read was necessary for authentic Bahamian rum punch), blueberries, delicious large round grapes that no one knew the name of, tomatoes, and Perky Pear Relish and Hot Pepper Jelly, made by a guy named Richard.

About a dozen shrimp boats are docked just up the river from the marina. A sky full of pelicans over the boats signals their return each day and you can walk over to the boats and buy fresh-caught shrimp. The cost of fuel and over-fishing have diminished the catch and raised prices, but $5.00 a pound still isn't bad.

I'll add some pictures to the blog in the next day or two and give you an update on the refrigerator install. When the new fridge is in place and working, we hope to head north and explore the coasts of North and South Carolina, and perhaps get as far as the Chesapeake before cold weather arrives. After that, we'll head south and maybe make it to the Bahamas for the winter season.

Margaret

Winding Down

We reached Brunswick Landing Marina this afternoon. This is where we will leave our boat for the summer. We are nearing the end of our first journey and we're not quite sure how to feel.

We are definitely looking forward to returning to Indiana and seeing our family and friends. But at the same time we have experienced a new way of life that we don't want to give up.

This trip began in January near Savannah, Georgia. With almost no boating experience but lots of enthusiasm, we sailed from Savannah south along the Atlantic Coast, down through the Florida Keys, up the west coast of Florida to Naples, back through the Keys and back up the Atlantic Coast to Georgia.

Along the way, we have learned to:

--find good, safe places to anchor

-- set the anchor on the boat so it doesn't drag (almost never)

--read a marine chart and understand markers and what they mean

--communicate with bridge tenders, the Coast Guard, and other boaters via the VHF radio

--maintain and repair most of the systems on the boat when they fail

--sail (although you never really stop learning how to sail)

--predict the weather (you automatically double NOAA's estimate of wind speed and wave height and learn that whatever direction you will be traveling, the wind will usually be coming towards you)

--live happily without television, a car, a washer and dryer, hair dryer, make-up, and a hot shower every day.

--catch fish, clean them and cook them

--live nearly "off the grid." In other words, we can produce almost enough electricity through solar panels and a wind generator to cover our power needs. Eventually, we hope to live totally "off the grid."

In addition to getting the best tans we've ever had and lots of exercise and fresh air, we have also met too many new friends to count. Cruisers are the most interesting, caring, adventurous folks you can imagine.

Getting to know other cruisers is almost effortless. Everyone wants to socialize and parties and pot lucks happen at the drop of a hat. We all have so much in common and so much to talk about.

Some of the people we've met have sailed around the world. Many spend their winters in the Bahamas or the Keys, some have traveled all of the Great Lakes, explored the Chesapeake, traversed the Panama Canal. Others have sailed to South America, Asia, the Phillipines, Fiji Islands, Australia, and New Zealand.

Many have raised their children aboard their boats. The children of cruisers we have met are amazingly social, interesting and very knowledgeable about the world.

Our cruising friends have also helped us "learn the ropes." They have shared their knowledge and encouraged us from the beginning when this project was just a dream.

I don't think we could have accomplished this journey without the help of our cruising friends....Rich on Feral Cat, Bonnie and Roger on Kokomo, Sam and Gina on Lady of the Lake, Harold and Val on La Buena Vida, Pam and Richard on Tisha Baby, Lloyd and Caroline on Amelia Rose, Brian and Lynn on Midori, Rana and Mike on Raven, Rick and Mary on Tranquillity, Don and Diane on Fitzcat, Chris and Bruce on Sojourn, and Russ on Bay Breeze.

We have learned so much from all of them and many others. Cruisers are a breed apart.

So here we are. We'll fly home next week and resume our previous life for the summer. Sunshine will stay here in Brunswick.

We'll give you a report on our adjustment to life on land as well as our future plans.

Thanks for listening.

Phil and Margaret

500 Miles to Brunswick, Georgia

It was finally time to begin our journey north to Brunswick, Georgia, just across the northern border of Florida. We have made plans to leave our boat there for the summer while we return to Greenwood.

We vacated our mooring ball in Boot Key Harbor on Sunday, May 4th, and headed up the Keys in the company of two other boats, La Buena Vida (Harold and Val) and Bay Breeze (Russ).

The first day we made it to Rodriguez Key, just south of Key Largo. The second day we got to No Name Harbor, at the bottom of Key Biscayne, where we stayed for a couple of days to rest and enjoy the beautiful state park there.

We left No Name Harbor on Wednesday, May 7th, and turned north in Biscayne Bay, exiting through Miami's Government Cut out into the Atlantic. All three boats decided to go out into deeper water to see if the fishing was better.

We headed out about three miles and were soon in 600 feet of water, on the edge of the Gulf Stream. The water was a beautiful indigo blue. We could see for miles and the influence of the Gulf Stream gave us a fast ride north.

As we scanned the horizon to the east, we saw an island with high rise buildings and a large water tower. A quick check on the chart plotter indicated we were looking at Bimini, in the Bahamas! It was 42 miles east of Miami and clearly visible.

We both decided that being able to see Bimini from Miami made it seem close enough that we might actually be able to make that crossing next winter.

It was a great day of motor-sailing, but we did not catch any fish. We anchored that night in a quiet Ft. Lauderdale residential area called Middle River.

The next day's sail, to West Palm Beach, was not one of our better days. The weather forecast had called for five to eight knot winds and two to four foot seas. The wind began picking up late in the morning and we were soon dealing with winds gusting to 25 knots and 5-8 foot seas. It was a most uncomfortable ride and at the end of the day, we were pleased to have it behind us.

We rested and resupplied for a couple of days at North Lake Worth, then prepared to resume our journey on Saturday, May 10th. Our plans changed quickly when we discovered that Sunshine's port engine would not start.

The three captains conferred, tested, and conferred some more, finally deciding that our starter motor was the problem. After several phone calls and more conferring, they found a mechanic who was working on the weekend (it was Saturday) and who agreed to rebuild the starter. Phil quickly removed it and he and Harold dinghied to shore. They took a taxi to the shop and were back within a few hours, with a rebuilt starter motor.

That night, everyone came to our boat to celebrate with a steak dinner and strawberry shortcake. As we were preparing dinner, someone noticed that a boat that had anchored next to us, a catamaran named "Suitsus," was dragging its anchor. There was no one aboard.

Our three captains decided that immediate action was needed to keep the boat from colliding with pilings behind it. Quickly, they launched two dinghies, each carrying an extra anchor and plenty of line. The two additional anchors were soon secured to the wandering catamaran and it came to a stop, averting near certain disaster.

The boat's owner, his wife and son returned to their boat as we were finishing our dinner. They realized immediately that their boat was not where they left it, noticed the two additional anchors, and let us know how grateful they were for our help.

Sunday morning, we headed north again. The destination was Jensen Beach. Again, the weather forecast was incorrect and light winds turned into 30 knot winds by early afternoon. Fortunately, we had decided to travel on the IntraCoastal Waterway (ICW), which is an interior route. Even in the protection of the ICW, the winds were very strong.

As we were about to cross under a high-rise bridge, about five miles from Jensen Beach, we noticed that Bay Breeze was having problems. He was without power and was forced to throw out his anchor.

We turned around and came back to lend moral support. The winds were too strong to attempt any repairs, so Russ had called SeaTow for assistance. (SeaTow is AAA for boats.) Within a few minutes, SeaTow arrived.

At about the same time, Phil and I noticed that two young boys had overturned a kayak about 500 yards away. We watched as a boy on a jet ski rescued one of the boys, but a second was still waving his arms in distress. We alerted the SeaTow captain, who immediately went to aid the second boy.

After he took the boy to safety, the SeaTow captain returned and towed Bay Breeze to the anchorage. We followed behind.

As we pulled into the Jensen Beach anchorage, Phil and I noticed that Suitsus, the wandering catamaran from the night before, was also already there. We anchored beside him, not behind him.

With all three boats safely anchored, we all went ashore and had a great Mother's Day dinner at a waterfront restaurant called Conchy Joe's.

Today, Russ, a mechanic before he became a cruiser, was able to fix his boat. We are all getting together for dinner tonight and will likely resume our journey tomorrow morning.

The wind is still howling.