Sweetpea #5Friday, 24 Oct: After resting on Thursday, we began listening to the weather radio for winds and seas off-shore. The news was not good. Winds from the south at 25 knots and seas to match. What we need is a wind from the north to push us to Ft. Lauderdale or Miami so we can then head for the Bahamas (on the way to Southwest Florida?) or Key West (definitely on the way). What is predicted will push us North faster than we can sail South (backwards). Any headway we could make would be tough going. No matter. We began preparations for departure -- just in case the forecast changed. Some repairs needed to be done. For example, the auto pilot ram which had slipped where it connected with the hull. We tried some new fasteners (hex head bolts) that could be torqued down harder than the Phillips head bolts we had used previously. Where we noticed some chafing where the other end of the ram connected with the rudder post, we inserted a plastic washer (made out of a peanut butter jar cap). As I lay on my belly in the bilge underneath the aft lockers working on the auto pilot, listening to and singing Jimmy Buffet songs, I remember thinking, "I could really get into this cruising sailor life.... It's me!" We added some oil and sprayed some belt dressing on the alternator belt which was squeaking. Then we went to the grocery store and reprovisioned the food supply. When we returned and listened to the weather report, we discussed our options: (1) stick around St. Augustine waiting probably three days or so for the weather to change and then making the 2 day passage to Miami or (2) leave early the next morning and continue inside whittling away at the 200 mile distance making 5 miles an hour until the weather changes and we can reach a suitable outlet to complete the voyage outside. We both ready to be moving again so we decided to leave in the morning. At this point, one of the pressures acting on us is my need to depart from Tampa for Alaska on the 1st of Nov to work with a client and then to spend the second week of November in Maryland. So we only have one more week to make a lot of distance. Saturday, 25 Oct: We departed St. Augustine's Municipal Marina at 7:45 AM against a heavy current which made it very difficult to back out of our slip. The current was moving from starboard (right side of the boat) to port (the left side) and perpendicular to the direction we needed to move to back the boat out of the slip. Any attempt by us to move backwards only made things worse and resulted in the boat rotating in the slip rather than backing cleanly out. After thinking about it, we realized what was happening..... Any rudder needs the fast water flowing over it to have any affect on the heading of the boat. Some water speed can be provided by the forward movement of the boat (which we did not have) or by the propeller pushing water over the rudder when the engine is operating at a high RPM. In our case, the acceleration of the propeller as it begins to spin caused the stern of the boat to 'walk' to the port (as the right hand prop pushed the still water it was sitting in). As a result, the propeller joined forces with the current to rotate the boat as we tried to move rearward out of the slip. With some help of others walking the dock, we were able to push the boat straight out of the slip and get enough forward acceleration to control the boat against the current. Since 'prop walk' only occurs when backing, we concluded we would have been smarter to have turned the boat around the day before during the slack tide (the brief time between incoming and outgoing tide when there is little current). Our travels were very routine -- moving from one marker to the next -- except for one confusing intersection of rivers and inlets. The water was moving very swiftly and the markers we saw were not on the chart (so we were not sure they applied to us) and seemed to be pushing us toward the beach. We slowed way down and hunted for deep water. I turned out the markers were right and intended to push us to within 10 feet of the beach, but into a very deep, fast moving channel. This is where things get intense on the ICW. The information is not always complete and sometimes counter intuitive. You just have to do some problem solving and try to stay off the bank. Just about the time we had obviously hit bottom, we looked to the shore in disbelief and noticed a sign advertising the services of a company called 'Seatow' and their telephone number. Obviously others had experienced the same confusion and someone was making a living from it. Since we were moving slowly when we ran aground, we were able to back off and move to deeper water and then on down the ICW. About 7 PM, we passed Port Orange (just south of Daytona Beach) and as we read about the tricky waters ahead, we decided not to go on, but to stop and enjoy ourselves and begin again in the morning. We found a marina that advertised cheap rates and close to the beach so we pulled in and tied up. There were few restaurants on the beach, but since Ed had never been to a Japanese Steakhouse, I decided to treat him to a new experience. He was surprised that people sat in groups and I taught him how to use chopsticks. He was game for it all and enjoyed the new experience and the conversation of others at the table. We had a couple of drinks at a tike bar near the boat and retired for the evening. Sunday, 26 Oct: We rose at 6:30AM for breakfast at the cafe next to the marina. Our hope was to depart by 7:30 AM. Turns out we had forgotten about the change of time and had to wait 30 minutes for the cafe to p[en. The breakfast was great and inexpensive. I settled with the marina (since we had arrived after they closed the day before). I hoped to get connected to a telephone jack to collect e-mail, but became frustrated when no phones, faxes, or even interest was to be had. Then I remembered: this was a marina owned by cruising sailors and designed for cruising sailors. That explained the response I got when I asked about a fax .... "Don't need to do anything that fast...". These are people who live on twelve volts, sail great distances when the wind blows and don't really keep schedules. They are the ones who have probably sold everything they own and are just cruising. Ed calmed me down and we departed about 2 hours later than planned (and I reminded myself I was living in a world that doesn't plan and assured myself that was OK). I guess I hadn't quite made the transition to this lifestyle yet. We left Port Orange about 9:30 AM and headed down the ICW. Hundreds of markers, many bridges and nice scenery as we moved past the Kennedy Space Center just inside of Cape Canaveral. We arrived at Coco Beach Sunday about 8PM and begin looking at options. There is a cut through to the ocean here that the cruise ships use. The next inlet is well down the waterway. With the right weather, this would be a good spot to go outside and make some distance toward Miami. We'll see what the weather will allow.
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