We Finally Untied the Docklines!!!

"Were do I begin to tell the story of how great a love can be?  The sweet love story that is older than the sea?"

Strange to think it has been so very long since we last posted to this blog.  Why the long span?  We didn't want to bore you with the mundane, stinky, sweaty, frustrating "joys" of refitting a S.O.B.  (Smelly Old Boat).  Oh, how I wish we had kept a list of everything we have done, but oh, how glad I am that we DIDN'T keep track of how much money we've spent!

After spending 20 months (was it REALLY that long?) at the dock living aboard and checking off project after project, we finally set a date to GO!  Well, setting a date doesn't actually mean that you DO go (broken fridge and another month in the slip), but it did give us a hard date to shoot for.

Joan in the fridge adding insulation and Starboard lining.  Lucky my butt isn't any bigger

 No, not everything is done.  And yes, we are still (and always will be) working on the boat.  But the best part is WE FINALLY UNTIED THE DOCKLINES AND SHOVED OFF!!

Leaving Kemah

Into the Bay.  The first time.  Thanks for a great pictures Cindy

After delaying for the fridge rebuild and rescheduling crew flights and vacations,

we departed Legend Point Marina (aka, Ghetto Docks) in Clear Lake Shores, Texas on Monday, July 24th, 2017 at 9:07 am.  At 11:55 am, we pulled back into our old slip for repairs.  Shit!  Not an auspicious beginning, to say the least.  Low oil pressure and high engine temp forced a quick return. Fortunately, we have some of the greatest friends on the face of the earth and within a few hours, generous friend and sailor, Ed Lowrie had us fixed up then we were off again!

Going across Galveston Bay we encountered another minor snag: water in the bilge from a leaking water heater fitting. Having no idea how much of our fresh water we lost, we pulled into Galveston Yacht Basin and topped off the tank and also shut off the water pressure to the faucets.  Not going to run out of water half way across the Gulf if we can help it!

We left the Galveston jetties at 7:30 that same evening.  We were all in our places with bright shining faces - except for Pat.  He had the look of constant worry and fear of the unknown engine gremlins just waiting for him to relax to do their evil worst.

Our crew consisted of Tom Goldsbury, our treasured dock neighbor and owner of the only boat to leave Legend Point on a regular basis, and Richard Eberhardt, our longtime dear friend and sailor extraordinaire from Perry Yacht Club in Kansas.  We knew these guys would hit it off!

Richard and Tom (new bffs)

Then there was our worrisome, but quite capable captain, Patrick and finally me.  Me being first mate, provisioner (But NOT galley slave, damnit) and calmer-downer of previously mentioned captain.  I was completely confident in the boat, the crew, the navigation equipment, the weather, but NOT my ability to keep watch for fear of being seasick.  I was REALLY worried about that.  Turns out, no biggie due to Bonine for the first (sightly drowsy) day and a half and pretty smooth seas.  Richard used the scopolamine patch for seasickness prevention and was able to get food and drink for us all down inside the hot, rocky boat until I was able.  (I'll love you forever for that Richard!)

One of the few smiles we saw Pat wear the whole trip

The responsibility of getting this old boat and all her crew safely across the Gulf of Mexico weighed heavily on Pat but he wants everyone to know that he DID have a good time!

We had planned on a route to Pensacola, Florida out of Galveston Bay heading southeast from the jetties to just below the mouth of the Mississippi River then northeast into Pensacola.  Friends had told us that this route across "the oil patch" contained LOTS of rigs but you could see them because they were all lighted.  No worries.  It's more direct and shorter.  Let's do that.  Then just as we shoved off, Ed (fixer of the previous motor issues) said to stay in the safety fairway which has more ships but NO rigs.  It only adds another 50 nm or so and we would be within quick radio contact with passing ships should "ship happen".  Quick crew vote.  Safety fairway it is!

Only trouble was that the wind was coming straight off the nose which made for a rocky rolley ride.  Why is it that the wind is always coming from directly where you want to go?  Anyhow, we saw LOTS and LOTS of oil rigs.  Big ones, fat ones, short ones, skinny ones, lighted ones but no unlighted ones.  Well, you wouldn't actually SEE an unlighted one, would you?  Kinda the point, isn't it?  And apparently they ARE out there.  We've heard since being here in Florida, that some are just capped off well heads sticking out a few feet above water.  Hit that and it quickly ruins your day so it was a smart decision to stay in the safety fairway.  Thank you Ed!

Just a couple of the MANY rigs in the Gulf.  One night I counted 20 plus the glow of MANY more over the horizon.

We had to power up the engine to avoid having to pass behind this shrimper trolling nets behind.

We divided up our night watches into a team of two crew in the cockpit on 4 hour watches.  Since I was new at this and Tom has the same navigation equipment we have, he and I were a watch and Pat and Richard were on the opposite one.  I LOVED the night watches!  The Milky Way lit up the sky like you can't imagine and for a short time, we saw bioluminescence in our wake that made it look like there was a sparkling Milky Way in the water as well.  So beautiful!  We had a small pod of dolphins swim under our boat one day and saw lots of flying fish scurry across the top of the water for a surprisingly long distance.

Sunrise

Sunset

One afternoon we saw a medium sized boat coming off our starboard quarter.  It was coming pretty fast.  What was most notable though was the size of the wake spreading out behind it.  Holy cow!  You could see it rolling on the horizon!  There we were all in the cockpit just sitting there watching the growing V of rolling water getting closer and closer to our boat.  Yup, w'ed better turn into it at an angle so it doesn't wake our boat too much.  Watching, watching, here it comes!  Turn.  Hang on! Then someone remembers that ALL the hatches are WIDE OPEN... too late.  Oh.  My.  Gosh!  Pat and Richard mopped up the mess as best they could.  I didn't want to go below to see the damage.  Oh, well.  We learned a good lesson.  Funny thing after that, we had several "Quick!  Close the hatches! Drills" after that.

Hot, disheveled salon.  Note the lifejackets on one side and the empty Corona box on the other. Hey, I said it was hot!

The highlight of the trip though came after trailing different lures for two days fishing for that elusive tuna, Tom finally caught a fish!  Funny we had just been discussing what we wanted to have for dinner.  Nothing sounded too appealing then whizzzzzzzz went the line!  It took Tom 30-40 minutes to bring it in but he provided us with a feast from the sea that night!  True to my word, I was going to have NOTHING to do with catching or cleaning a fish.  Pat bought the pole, Tom caught and cleaned the fish,  Richard grilled it and I got to eat it!!  Sounds like my kind of deal!

Working hard fishing.  Tom says Cuba next!  Gotta get more cigars.

"Took me two days but I GOTCHA!"

Cheap rum down the gills is an instant stun then off with its head!

Richard at the grill working his magic.  Note the flat seas.

In our zeal to get off the dock, we never actually did a proper, full length shakedown cruise where you learn important things like the fuel burn rate for your particular engine.  Did I mention that we had to run mostly under engine power?  No?  Well, things like burn rates are important to know when you are in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico with only 100 gallons of diesel on your little boat.  Once we checked the fuel levels after running the engine for 30 hours, we learned that our burn rate was 50% higher than anticipated.  Normally, it wouldn't have been a factor; we are a SAILboat, after all.  However, with no to very light winds, we ended up motoring 80 out of the 90 hours it took us to cross the Gulf.  Fuel is important.  Fortunately, Port Eads at the mouth of the Mississippi had diesel, albeit at an ungodly price, and we were good to go on to Pensacola.

Port Eads tucked up in the marsh in the middle of nowhere sees only about 4 sailboats a year at their dock.

After overnighting from Port Eads, crossing the ship channel at the mouth of the Mississippi where we were squeezed between two container ships, we arrived in Pensacola on Friday morning.  

Holy ship!  We made it!!!

We treated ourselves to 3 nights at the Palafox Marina right in the heart of old downtown Pensacola with lots of nightlife, restaurants, shopping, baseball field and beautiful people to watch including some of the cute young Navy pilot trainees.  (I liked that a lot!)

Last night in Palafox at Jaco's Restaurant.  And amazingly, after 6 days on a little boat, WE'RE ALL STILL FRIENDS!!!

We saw Richard and Tom off to the airport on Sunday.  That was so, so sad.  Richard left first.  Then right after Tom left, Pat and I looked at each other, suddenly donning on us that it was just the two of us now.  We both literally cried. 

Our crew got really tired of us thanking them for helping us get across the Gulf and literally launching us into what we hope will be "the fun phase of our adventure" after all the toil of the refit on our S.O.B.  But we're gonna do it again...  THANK YOU!!!   We couldn't have done it without you!  We have many others to thank as well. Johnny and Carol of Atlantis Marine Canvas (the greatest canvas shop in all of Texas) are not only generous friends but also great supporters and encouragers of all things that can be sewn on a boat as well as electronic gremlin chasers.  Thank you both so much!  And of course Ed and Cindy Lowrie for literally pushing us off the dock - twice!

Then there is the cast of friends in the vicinity and dock neighbors we left at Legend Point Marina.  They were always ready to lend a hand or words of advice.  Thank you all.  May your docks remain intact and your pilings erect.  (Yeah, good luck with that.  Seriously.)  

We had a grand time and consider our crossing a huge success!  We are pooped but good.  We have lots to learn, see and do ahead of us.

I'll end with my favorite quote from Mark Twain:

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did.  So throw off the bow lines.  Sail away from the safe harbor.  Catch the trade winds in your sails.  Explore!  Dream!  Discover!"

A Little cruise a lota learning

  The short Version.

  We often get asked what sailing we have done.  We feel that we have done a lot of sailing.  OK it was lake sailing but none-the-less days and days on the water with changing conditions.  One thing about lake sailing is if you don't like the conditions wait a short while and they will change.  And since it was a lake we were experts on tacking.  So between day sails, racing and teaching yes we know how to sail.  What we did not have a lot of experience with was cruising.  Yes we had chartered a boat and sailed from Fort Lauderdale to Bimini and had a great 10 days sailing the west coast of Florida.  But no we had not done any real passage making.

  Our dock neighbor was planning to leave in early 2016 for a passage to Alaska via Florida, the Bahamas, Panama Canal, Galapagos, Tahiti, Bora Bora, and Hawaii.  The first couple of legs from Galveston to Key West and then into the Bahamas was scheduled to take 3 weeks to a month.  After several conversations with Captain Larry Joan decided that I should see if I could go along   Captain Larry was more than happy to have a 4th person on board for the journey.  So it was all set that I would join the crew for some passage making.  Just before departure one of the other crew member had to drop out so now we are down to 3.  

  The purpose of the trip for me was to get some experience and to help Captain Larry make his trip.  Oh and did I learn.  Rick, another crew member, was sure after that I was headed back to buy a farm in Kansas.  

   From the very start it was a series of first.

Leaving Kemah

As soon as we left the fuel dock the fog rolled in and we had to anchor for 2 hours outside the ship channel .

Tanker in the Houston Ship Channel

It was very unnerving to hear the huge ships passing and not knowing where they were.  Finally the fog lifted and we headed for Galveston.

Tied up in the travel Lift

 That evening we were able to tie up in a travel lift slip with a shrimp boat partially suspended a few feet from the bow and a shovel of a backhoe as our cleat.

Backhoe Cleat

   The next morning was cold and we set off in the brown water of Galveston Bay for Key West.  On the way out we went along the jetties, the longest in the world, dodging a variety of ships, sport fishers and ferries.

Hard to miss these guys.

One very cool thing was seeing the dolphin leaping and swimming in the bow wave of an oil tanker.  

    So started our passage to Key West, cold air and brown water.  Day one following the ship channel east and hand steering as the wind vane self steering would not engage.  Seas built through the day and into the night.  Rick and I shared the first couple of nights of watches.  Still cold but the water was green now.   Captain Larry decided I could do my own watches now which means we all could get more sleep.  We got the wind vane working and the wind has swung around to the south so we are closed hulled.  The ship traffic is still tremendous.  Mostly oil tankers and at night cruise ships.  You always knew when the cruise ships were coming as it looked like the alien mothership coming.  And the oil wells!

Big Rig 300 miles offshore

There was one about every 5 miles.  Easy to spot but reduced your maneuvering room.  By day 3 the water was that beautiful deep blue you only see in the middle of the ocean.  The other thing of note was the stars!  Seeing the Milky Way stretch from horizon to horizon.  

  The days and nights were pretty much the same, watches, eat, sleep and make sail changes to keep the boat going.  Sail changes always seemed to happen at the end of my shift.   Until midnight on day six.  At shift change I was at the helm as the wind began to really build.  Just as I was calling for some assistance to reduce sail a wave came on board and filled the cockpit with water.  Now I am sitting in sea water but still on the boat as I was tethered in.  The other two made it on deck and we got the sails reefed.  The wind was very strong now, gusting over 30 knots, as soon as the other two made it back to the cockpit the whole back of the boat was shaking violently.  At first we could not tell why but then quickly saw that the wind generator had lost a blade.  We were able to get it under control and things settled down. 

 The morning of day 7 we woke to 80 degree weather, calm seas and that blue green water of the tropics.  And only 40 miles to go!   At 4 on the afternoon of the 7th day we motored into a very busy Key West harbor.

Coming into Key West, Blue Water!

There was so many kayakers, para-sailors, and jet skis that it looked like some crazy amusement park.  The unfortunate part was we arrived right at the start of J-Worlds race week and there were no slips or moorings to be had.  So we ended up in the worst anchorage, in terms of holding, in all of Key West.  If Active Captain and locals tell you an anchorage is crap believe them!

  We knew a front was heading in so we got as set as we could.  But when the 50 knots wind gusts hit that night we dragged anchor.  We spent the next 4 hours driving into the wind to hold our position.  I did not do much but was a least awake to help.  Finally the anchor caught and we were able to get to sleep.  Unlike the day before there was almost no activity on the water.  But it was still rough so we could not get to the dock.  But that did not matter to us much.  We were safely anchored, had all the food and water we needed and a great view.
  Next step was to start heading for Nassau in the Bahamas.  We headed east for Marathon Key. We left at dawn on the outgoing tide.  Beautiful turquoise water but cold!.  We headed up the Hawks

Sunrise Key West

channel inside the reef passing several places we had enjoyed from the land side.  We sailed up the

Condos we enjoyed in Key West going up the Hawk Channel

channel in a good breeze but almost no waves.  It was a great sail and I really enjoyed sailing under

7 Mile Bridge on US1

the 7 Mile bridge.  Arriving in Marathon we again found there was no room at the inn.  There were no slips at various marinas and there was a 57 boat wait list for a mooring ball in Boot Key Harbor.  We ended up on the Gulf side in a new marina called Faro Blanco.  Great facility, real "Yacht Club" type of place.  But then again we were paying for it.  Why no place to find a slip?  Seems all the boaters were hunkered down waiting for a weather window.
  We spent 5 days in Marathon getting another taste of being a cruiser.  In 5 days I bet I walked 10 miles.  While we there we needed to affect some repairs to the boat.  We were not quite sure the

Getting a new deck joint

marina would put up with that.  We needed to repair the hull to deck joint on the boat.  Not long after we started that chore the marina staff was running around finding us tools and supplies we needed.  While doing laundry on the 4th day, in preparation for our departure, Capt Larry and Rick walked into the laundry room and asked me how I was doing.  I figured they were about to ask me to head home but quite to the contrary Rick was having to head back to Texas and they were asking me if I would agree to go on to Nassau with just Capt Larry and I.  I can tell you I was apprehensive but also did not see any other options.
  Sunday Rick left and we moved the boat over to an anchorage right outside Boot Key harbor to be ready to take off.  Beautiful anchorage, set anchor and seeing both the sunset and moon rise.
  At dawn we weighed anchor and headed out into the Gulf Stream trying to make it across the steam and just north of Bimini.  Well current and winds would not let us do that and while we made good time going north we were set to the west just being able to stay off the reef.  Finally about mid night we were almost inside Miami harbor when the winds came up and the cruise ships were coming out.  While working on a sail change our speed over ground reached just over 10 knots.  Smokin!  We had to tack back to the southeast but our track was to the northeast.  You have to love the Gulf Stream.  We were doing 4 on and 4 off and by the time I was on watch again we had just turned east north of Bimini.  Still cold but now the water was a completely different shade of blue.  We motored sailed, hand steering again,  east all day waiting for the winds to shift the southeast and then south.  Guess what?  That never happened.  We finally ran out of room over by the Abacos islands and had to turn west again,  and then had to tack again when we ran out of room because someone had put the Barry islands in the way.  4 on 4 off.  On the third night right as I came on watch we did a sail change.  To do that we hove to.  A great maneuver for all sailors to know.  Once the that was done Capt. Larry said  "do what it takes to keep the boat speed over 4 knots."  I had a great time trimming and getting the boat working without to much heel.  Now it was time to check the AIS, which was down below on a laptop.  A quick check showed we were gong to get pinched between two cruise ships.  I choose to come closer to the wind.  Now we were only going 3 knots.  And the darn Disney boat was going slower than were were!?  We finally made it past him and suddenly the wind died and then came from the northwest.  What the heck?  Got the head sail in, main sheeted in, engine started and my coat on and the rain squall just dumped on us.  Since we had no bimini I got a great fresh water rinse and all Capt. Larry did was put the hatch boards in and say "good night."  Next up on the AIS was a fast moving motor cruiser.  I kept slowing the boat but he kept coming right at us.  Finally I turned the boat 90 degrees to parallel his course.  Once he passed I started to turn back and noticed he was towing a pretty good sized tender.  Nice lights buddy!!  Back on course and we were at least headed in the right direction.  
  In the morning the water was blue and it was finally warm and we were 25 miles from Nassau.  At 10:55 I was watching a large tanker to starboard and we I looked left there was something on the

Paradise Island Nassau, Bahamas

horizon.  "Land Ho!"  boy it felt good to say that!  It was the towers of Paradise island on Nassau.
  Now not only was it warm but the waters were that Caribbean blue we had been looking for.  Since

In the Harbor

Capt. Larry is a bit hard of hearing he asked to handle the radios.  This meant asking Nassau Harbor control for permission to enter the harbor but also get hold of our marina for docking information.  We entered the harbor nose to nose with 6 cruise ships.  Not liking those guys at this point.  Got tied up, checked in with Customs and Immigrations and we had arrived!

Cheers

Two Kalic Beers to celebrate.
  We spent 2 days being a cruiser, grabbing hot showers, getting internet access and provisioning the boat for the next leg.  After 1100 miles of sailing in 3 weeks I was headed home.
  I had told Capt. Larry that I was glad that all of it had not been a milk run as that would not have given the lessons I needed.  I saw a lot and a little of everything.  If any of you plan to go cruising then find a way to spend 5 or more days out of site of land.
 

Captain Larry and s/v Liberty

I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Capt. Larry Toenjes, Rick Bonsey and the fair ship S/V Liberty.  A longer version this will be posted on the site under its own tab.
  Up next our own cruise after the boat is ready.

  

Life on the Boat

7 Jan 2016

 Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Merry Christmas from Kemah

The longest day of the year has passed.  Do you know what that means?  That means everyday from here to the 21st of June the day light hours get longer.  Now don't you feel better?!

We were pleased when we found that our dock neighbors decorated their boats for Christmas.  It was fun to see how they did that so we decided that we would join in.
Our first Christmas!

Christmas Boat

The decorating crew
Taken by Jon Duffendack

  We spent Christmas back in Kansas with the kids and other parts of our family.  It was great to see them all and I have to admit it was nice to get away from the boat for awhile.   Being away from the boat was good as we had hit the ground running when we got here so it was nice to catch our breath.

  While it may be thought that we sit around the boat enjoying the floating lifestyle there are a few dues to pay before we get there.  I read on another site that "It isn't all cocktails and sunsets."  We ran out of little umbrellas for our fruity drinks so we suffered for a few days.

  We have been working hard fixing, adding improvements and cleaning. This is the part you have to do to earn those umbrella drinks.  And man do we feel like we earn them.  It always seems like it takes a lot longer to get something done than it would on a house.  We spent 3 days scrubbing all the spaces to get rid of 30 years of dirt and mildew.

Yes we are having fun.

We had to rebuild several pumps, yes it is important that your pumps work as the water needs to stay on the outside of the boat.  Again something we have never done and yes it was a huge relief when the bilge pump worked!

Rebuilding the bilge pump.

And then I decided to put in a new impeller for the man engine cooling water.  I thought I knew how to do this but it still took 5 1/2 hours and many trips down the dock to ask the old salt how the heck you do that. And this was something we should have been able to do.

In the end it was a spot of LockTite and a socket as a tool to set the pump.  Again a huge sign of relief when it did work and we have cooling water to the engine.  1/2 hour next time.

Taking the pump apart.

But we are also adding things to the boat that will make it a little nicer.  The first was some materials to help keep the mattresses dry and surrounded by air.

New Dry Deck for the aft bunk

The next one taken on by the great carpenter Joan was adding shelves in our bunk area.  She did this by creating a pattern and then cutting the wood to fit.  You have to do this as the boat is curved in two directions.  Just have to love it when you increase the storage place by 6 fold.

The before with the pattern

The building

The Almost done

And yes we do get off the boat once in awhile, not including the trips to the marine store.

We went on the League City Historic homes tour.  This place has quite the history and was on the main train line between Galveston and Houston.  I can tell you there is no love lost between the Islanders (Galveston) and Houstonians!

Historic Homes League City.

We have neighbor who only comes out at night.  "Uncle Fester"

Night Heron

And yes there are cocktails, sunsets and rainbows at the end of the day

Toasty fire to sip your grog by

Who is at the end of your rainbow?

Day's End