Trip to Naked Pizza in South Beach, December 29

The 29th was beautifully sunny and warm and finally, was the perfect day to try some sailing, but Gay had to be at the South Beach Naked Pizza store for an afternoon conference call.  It was Ken's first chance to see a Naked Pizza store and to try the pizza.  He enjoyed the trip and served as camera man for a video to capture the operation.  Vince, the main man in Miami, was a gracious and helpful guide as we used skype to hold a conference call with the Fresca Foods guys in Louisville, Colorado. 

After the meeting, Gay and Ken drove back from SoBe to Fort Lauderdale along the coast (instead of the Interstate) and got to see the areas from land that they usually only see from the boat.  Having both devoured a Naked Pizza (Gay gluten free and Ken regular crust) mid-afternoon they skipped dinner and just relaxed and watched tv.  Ken liked the pizza and was pleasantly surprised to find that such a great tasting fast food could actually have health benefits!

We did bring back a Naked Pizza and froze it so Will can try it when he returns.  For those of you still eating unnaked pizza, Naked Pizzas are all natural with no freaky chemicals.  The crust is made up of 10 grains (called the Ancestral Blend) and fortified with probiotics and prebiotics to make it simply, the world's healthiest pizza.  But you would never know it because it tastes so good!

December 20 - 28 Fort Pierce to Ft Lauderdale, Christmas

On the 20th, Patina stayed in the ICW because of the small craft advisory.  In the afternoon, they saw manatees in the ICW, with one in particular coming close to the port bow.  Patina by-passed the North Palm Beach Marina where we spent a couple of the weeks in the spring. The total lunar eclipse was visible that evening.  On the 21st at about 4:30 Patina went under her 15th bridge for the day and docked in Fort Lauderdale at Bahia Mar Marina late in the afternoon on the 21st.

Ken decided to end the trip there for the holidays.  Will and Charlie headed for home on the 23rd and Gay arrived on the 23rd.  After a fabulous dinner on the porch of Coconuts (walking distance from the marina), the Burkes turned in.  The 24th involved lots of provisioning (Whole Foods and Publix and West Marine and the French Bakery) and cleaning to get the boat ready for the late evening arrival of Tynan.  Tynan had never seen the boat and had some adjusting to get his 6'4" frame accustomed to the forward berth and head.  Tynan's head took more than one hit as he adjusted.

On the 25th, Gay's sister, Bobette, and her husband Ken joined us for a late day Christmas dinner of barbequed pork chops, asparagus, tomato-basil mozzarella salad and chocolate dipped strawberries.  Not our traditional Christmas meal but it seem appropriate for the setting.  This was Gay's first chance to use the grill and it worked very well.  We ate dinner in the cockpit and had a great evening.  Christmas day turned out to be Tynan's only nice weather day.   The weather turned cold and very windy at the same time that the freezer seemed to break.  A trip for dry ice and coolers allowed us to save most of the expensive food (and caused us to need to jettison the less expensive things like condiments and frozen waffles).  On the 26th, Bobette and Ken came back over and we went to a very chilly dinner at Coconuts (not as pleasant as the prior one).  The 27th was cold and windy as well.  Beth and Scott, friends from Melbourne came over and brought their Argentinian exchange student, Vicky.  The weather put a damper on the day but we did walk along the beach and head into town for a nice late lunch at Timpano.  It was great to catch up with them again and to meet Vicky.

There was gigantic blizzard from the mid-Atlantic up through New England.  Thousands of flights were cancelled and travelers stranded.

Tynan flew out of Fort Lauderdale on the 28th and naturally, the good weather returned.  His flight was delayed about 1.5 hours because of the snafus associated with the blizzard, but luckily, he got on his way.  Miraculously the freezer started working again so we were able to get back to "normal" or as normal as you can get in a slip that is not your home port.  Tynan did not get a chance to get out on the water, so we are hoping that his next trip will be better!

Locks at Caanaveral Barge Canal and Update December 19, 2010

After heading out to the ocean at St. Augustine, Patina stayed in the ocean passing Daytona Beach and then re-entered the ICW by transiting the locks at Caanaveral Barge Canal.  It was raining hard at 9:43 am on the 18th and by  2:30 pm they tied up in Melbourne because the fog made the ICW too dangerous to continue.  On the 19th, by around 11 am, the fog had reduced enough for them to get back underway to go the 30 miles to Fort Pierce.  Tied up and reprovisioned at Fort Pierce as of 5:30 pm on the 19th.

Out the Saint Augustine inlet

Patina is once again outside the ICW and in the ocean!  They just headed out the St. Augustine Fl inlet and are hoping to stay out as long as weather allows.  Right now they think maybe a 24 hour weather window.  At least the temps have moderated and the sailing should be much more pleasant.

60 Degrees!!

Patina is anchored this evening (Thursday December 16) in the ICW outside Jacksonville Florida.  They spent last night in a slip on Jekyll Island.  Gave them a chance to have the heat on all night!  They can run the heat pumps off the generators when they are on the hook, but they only run for 4 hours without refueling, so plugging in for the night game them a full night of warmth.  And today, the temp hit 60 degrees.  What a change.

Cold! Cold! Cold!

Around 2 pm on the 14th they passed the infamous Kilkenny Creek (Ken and Gay spent a night there on their way up the ditch last spring--there is a blog post detailing the scary place).  Don't know if the guys heard the dueling banjos on this trip since it was so cold and during the day!

They anchored for the night on Tuesday December 14 near Sapolo Sound in Georgia.  I bet they are hoping to make Fernandina but likely won't get quite there with the short days.  Still predicting low 20's overnight.  This leg of the trip requires them to cross over two large sounds that, in the past, were pretty challenging when the wind was blowing.

Leaving Thunderbolt on Tuesday the 14th

Still on the ICW.  Still too cold for words.  Isn't this supposed to be fun?  Gale conditions on the ICW at least for the morning.

Working Patina's way down the ICW. Sunday Dec 12 - Monday Dec 13

With the weather prohibiting another off-shore leg, Patina started working her way down the ICW south of Charleston.  Sunday the 12th, they made their way 68 miles down the ditch to Beaufort SC and anchored near Lady's Island bridge.  They are trying out the generators to run the heat pump with winds predicted to be between 20 and 30 knots for the night.  Will was able to get the outboard motor (dinghy) running.

Monday, December 13 was cold and very windy.  Winds were 30 knots on their nose crossing Port Royal Sound.  Hoping to hit Savannah by dark, but the bridge timing will be the arbiter.

Satellite Check-In from Charleston Harbor

Just a few minutes ago, the satellite check-in showed the boat in Charleston Harbor.  They made good time!

Moving right along!!!!

Latest check in from the satellite shows them off the coast between Carolina Beach and Bald Head Island!
Latitude:33.93148


Longitude:-77.49841

GPS location Date/Time:12/09/2010 17:29:30 EST

Into the ocean!

Patina spent the night on the hook in Beaufort.  One of the few systems not tested thoroughly before departure was the outboard on the dinghy.  And guess what?  It would not start.  So the guys had to row in, get a cab and find all the necessary supplies to get her shipshape.  They are back underway this morning and as of 9:30 Eastern time heading into the ocean (directly off Atlantic Beach).

Ken's major comment was that it was very cold.

Finally, Patina is on her way!

After numerous weather delays, Patina is finally out on the ocean and heading south.   Message from the boat around 2:30 Eastern Time was:


Sailor: SPOT Check OK. We are sailing along well and all is fine. No Worries


34.7026 latitude, -76.67868 longitude

Thanks to Jenn, for the map:

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=111005914988519291926.000496e9d19ea37e401e5&t=h&z=10

Bon Voyage!  May you have fair winds and following seas!

Time to Head South (again).

I don't want to jinx the trip, but it is time for Patina to head south again.  After the return from Florida last April, Patina has been in Oriental, North Carolina, mostly just in her slip.  We had some needed repairs (remember that bow thruster?), and had some help from friends to take down the canvas in anticipation of Hurricane Earl. 

With Gay's new business venture (Naked Pizza) requiring her presence in Denver, Ken stayed close to home over the summer.  We missed our North Carolina friends, but remembered our love for Colorado in the summer.  Still not quite as excited about the cold winter weather (thankfully, in Denver proper, with over 300 days of sunshine, we have fairly temperate winters overall, but that makes the cold days all the more annoying).. 

Ken had planned to head back in early November, but with Tynan's plan to come to Colorado for Thanksgiving (and family ski trip to Beaver Creek (near Vail for you out-of-staters)), Ken decided to wait until tomorrow, Monday the 29th, to head back to North Carolina.  He has been working for weeks on getting things done so that he can quickly provision the boat and head out before the holidays. 

Will Flannery and Ken have been working on the details for some time now.  Here's hoping its a great trip for them. 

A little bit of a strange start--Ken had a diver check on the zinc and the condition of the bottom of the boat and he called to report that all was well, except.......the bow thruster prop was broken (again).  For those of you following the saga, we had the boat built to be single handed, which included installing an expensive bow thruster.  So far, the bow thruster has run properly for a total combined running time of maybe 15 minutes.  Its loss last year was the final straw that prevented Patina from continuing on from Florida over to the Bahamas.  So......Patina is back on the hard (again) to fix (again) the bow thruster that has not been used at all since it was fixed in April.  Not exactly doing the happy dance about that. 

We will keep you posted.

Recap and photos from first leg of Trip

On a chilly Saturday morning, February 20, 2010, Patina left River Dunes around 1 pm and exited the Beaufort Inlet before dark.  She spent the next two days at sea, arriving at Charleston on Tuesday, February 22, 2010 around 9 am, covering an estimated 246 miles.  The crew had to slow down early Tuesday morning to avoid entering Charleston Harbor in the dark.  They docked at the Charleston Martimine Marina.  They used a combination of sailing and motor sailing to cover the distance.  On board, Ken Burke, Mark Lucas and Sarah Rilinger took two hour shifts through each night.  I am hopeful that each of them will add comments to this blogpost detailing some of their thoughts about this leg of the trip.  The one I know for certain is COLD.

From Snow in Oriental to Sun in Palm Beach!

From Snow in Oriental to Sun in Palm Beach

Over 1600 miles!

Patina covered over 1600 miles in the round trip that started at River Dunes on February 20 and ended on April 5.    The boat stayed tied up at docks for 19 of the days she was away and otherwise covered at least 40 miles per day.  Over half of the miles were covered in the ICW.  The weather was unusally cold for the first half of the trip.  Then, in about two days, the weather changed and we were able to put the long johns away.  By the time we hit Kilkenny Creek, we needed bug spray!  Our favorite stops were Fernandina Beach and St. Augustine.

Arrived back at River Dunes on Monday April 5!

We left Georgetown on Friday and stopped in North Myrtle Beach on Friday night (April 2).   The game of the day was "is that a crab pot, a bird or a submerged tree?"  With flood stage water levels at high tide, there was a lot of debris in the channel.  Waiting for the Barefoot Swing Bridge tender to decide we were close enough for her to open "upon request" we ran hard aground against the slate and rock that lines the channel there.  Another bridge tender that could care less about the boats and probably wants to prove that she does not open the bridge one second too soon so as to cause auto traffic the least inconvenience.  The Waterways manual said that the bridge was often left in the open position for long periods of time.  Not.  Ken was able to back out right away and we made it through the bridge and into the marina around the corner, Harborgate. 

On Saturday we made it from North Myrtle Beach to Wrightsville Beach in one of our longest stretches yet (72 miles).  We went out at Little River Inlet and re-entered at Cape Fear and continued up the ICW.  As we made it past the US's largest ammunition depot, there were signs marking a restricted area (saying that there were mines in the water).  Stayed away from there!  As we called to find a marina in Wrightsville, they were all booked up due to the Easter weekend.  We finally found an overnight tie-up with power and fuel at the dock in front of the Dockside Restaurant.  The stretch of ICW from Carolina Beach to Wrightsville was the most congested strip we have seen with numerous power boats coming at us from all directions and leaving huge wakes that often rocked us from the front, back and both sides all at once.  In spite of the pretty strict enforcement of no-wake zones elsewhere, they were obviously a joke here.  It reminded me of the old time Daytona Beach spring break with lots of bikinis (only add big power boats to the testosterone and beer)!

On Sunday, we left before dawn and backtracked a few miles to the Masonboro Inlet and made the outside run to Beaufort Inlet.  We hit fog just as we entered the narrowest point in the inlet (and it was very narrow--not an inlet to use unless very good conditions).  With our radar and depth meter we poked around to find out way out to the ocean, blasting our air horm periodically in case other boats were coming through ( it was hard to distinguish boats/rocks/waves on the radar read).  About one mile outside the inlet, the fog lifted and we had a beautiful day for most of the trip.  We stayed out of the restricted zone where Camp LeJeune practices shelling but did cut across the danger zone next to it!  About 3 hours from Beaufort, winds picked up and the water became progressively rougher with bigger waves, whitecaps and swells.  In the actual channel of the Inlet, the water was almost boiling with the ebb tide and the opposing wind.  We stayed at the Morehead City Yacht Basin Marina. Fabulous dinner at Chef 105--definitely a place to eat at in the future.  The marina was easy to get into, good help to dock--much easier than the infamous Beaufort Docks!   This was the most miles we covered in one day-over 80 miles.

Monday, we made the rather easy trip from Morehead City to River Dunes.  It was so good to put Patina back in her slip.  Had to make a rushed trip to Bayboro (by truck) to get the truck inspected and new stickers for the license plates as they had expired while we were gone.  Back at River Dunes, Hank and Christa were on their boat and we had a drink to celebrate our safe arrival. 

There will be details, anedotes, photos and more in future blog posts.

Wrote this on April 2 but did not get uploaded!

Made it to Georgetown, SC on Thursday


Another 70 statute miles covered in mostly great conditions. Chose the breeze (rolling away the bug screens) and insect repellent. Passed two operating dredges--great to see them! The currents were against us at between 2 and 3 kts almost all afternoon. Tidal ranges still over 5 feet. Maybe not the wisest idea to cover the most difficult parts of the ICW at full moon? Stayed at Georgetown Landing Marina (mile 402). Good help. Secure wifi. Facilities clean. Had to make two approaches before we could successfully dock as we had over 2 kts of current pushing us into the dock. Ken has become quite adept without the bow thruster. After Kilkenny, everything looks good. There was a very small cable ferry near here. Not much more than a metal platform that could hold a single car. Wonder who uses it.? The docks here no longer have signs about manatees (they have been very prominent up to here). Instead they warn about feeding or approaching alligators! Oh well, the signs in the parks across from our house in Denver warn about the very prominent coyotes.



We will fill up all fuel and water tanks and pump out then push for our last 225 miles.

Charleston

We arrived in Charleston Wednesday around 5 pm after spending last night in Port Royal Landing Marina near Beaufort SC.  The Marina was great with excellent help and local knowledge.  Fabulous hamberger and fries!  Met the folks in the Kia Orana, a PDQ 36, that is traveling on roughly our same schedule.  Will definitely stay there if we are this way again.   They have made several trips and had a lot of good insight to share.  Staying in the St John's Yacht Harbor tonight.  Nice facility with a beautiful swimming pool.  No restaurant nearby was the biggest drawback.  But good price for Boat US members.

First day (in several) without any threat of grounding.  Beautiful weather today.  Sunny, winds 5-10.   Our brand new electronic chart dropped it's magenta line as we entered the Edisto River, so Ken is trying to reload the old chart for the remainder of our trip.  It was interesting to navigate using depth chart and compass headings and referring to paper charts.  We made good use of "Otto" (auto pilto) today because there were long stretches between markers.

Some games you can play on this part of the trip:
1.  Breezes or Bugs?  (would you rather have nice breezes in the cockpit or insects (they have been with us every since Kilkenny--our insect screens really saved us there)). 

2.  Bird or crabpot?  Is that item floating in the channel along the magenta line a crab pot marker or a bird?

It is interesting to read the complaints of how little money lower South Carolina and Georgia get for dredging.  It has become a self fullfilling prophecy.  They have crappy bridge schedules and do nothing to keep obstructions (including dozens of crab pots) out of the ICW.  They let markers fall down and/or get dragged out of place.  So, traffic goes outside.  So they get no moeny for dredging.  If they want commercial traffic, they need to keep the waterways clear of crab pots, not close their bridges for 3 hours at a time and keep markers where they belong.  Providing good tide/current information would be helpful as well (these areas have been having up to 10 feet tidal swings).

Some stats:  Since leaving North Palm Beach, we have covered 540 statute miles, with approximately 300 more to go.  Since leaving St. Augustine, we have averaged 61 statute miles per day.

Tidbits from St. Augustine

Bridge of Liars:  In an earlier blog, we mentioned getting caught unaware that the Bridge of Lions at St. Augustine would be closed from 8 pm Monday to S am on Saturday.  As we were docked in St. Augustine waiting to go north, we saw the bridge open at least once or twice every day to let their buddies through.  On Saturday morning, without notice, one sailboat hailed it and it opened at 7:30 for them.  Who knew.  But the funniest was the freudian slip by one sailboat that shall remain nameless, calling them the Bridge of Liars.  I suspect that several days of watching the bridge open for insiders was a little too much for that guy.  Keep in mind, never once was this bridge closing announced by the Coast Guard in their daily notices.  The bridge was to be open from last Saturday at 8 am until Monday at 8 pm, when it would again close for the week.  So the bridge likely had a lot of traffic with nearly two weeks of normal traffic jammed into three days.  About noon on Sunday, the Coast Guard announced that the bridge would be unexpectedly closed from noonish until 3 for the "Blessing of the Boats."  Still never mentioned that it closed for the week on Monday! Guess they don't really like boat traffic.

As we were all motoring around waiting for the Bridge to open Saturday morning, one of the boaters quipped that it looked like a restart in Daytona. 

Restaurants we liked in St. Augustine:  Casa Maya--really good.  Bistro De Leon and Tasting Room

Kilkenny? Don't Tempt Me!

At 4:30 on Monday March 29, we pulled into the Kilkenny Marina on Kilkenny Creek at mile 614 of the ICW.  Trust me, this place should be a last resort.  Gay won't get off the boat.

To catch you up on our trip, we finally passed under the Bridge of Lions (actually hailed as Bridge of Liars by one of the boats--more on that later), at the 8 am opening on Saturday 3/27.  We traveled about 8.5 hours to get to Fernandina Beach covering 61.25 statute miles.  We had a great dinner at a little restaurant called Espana.  Fernandina is certainly on the list of places to stop when in the area again.  On this leg we ran into several sailboats in a convey, including Galina and Arden (we met Arden on our way into St. Augustine) and kept up chatter throughout the next few days as we were all on a march north.  We were the 3rd Beneteau 393 in that marina that night (pretty amazing considering there were less than 400 of them produced). 

On Sunday, we had a short day as the weather threatened and we did not want to continue through some very shallow spots at low tide.  We stopped at St. Simon's Island and stayed at Morningstar Marina.  What a great place.  When we woke up Monday morning, there were muffins and a newspaper in our cockpit.  We covered only 40.7 statute miles in about 5 hours that day.  Ken had his own experience kissing the bottom in Jekyll Creek, so now we are even.   Docked next to us was the catamarran Symmetry owned by Larry and Roberta Jones of Merrit, NC.  Larry recognized Gay from seeing her around Oriental this fall and Gay saw Roberta's Oriental shirt and we exchanged Oriental stories.  With the early stop, Gay made gluten free brownies. 

On Monday we went from St. Simon's to Kilkenny Creek and stopped in a marina out of some time warp.  Ken called it the Bates Marina.  We covered 62 statute miles in a little over 9 hours.  We had numerous instances of very shallow water, often times, 5 feet less than that shown as lowest low tide on the charts.  Ken ran hard aground at the spot where marker 131A was supposed to have been (it was missing) in Johnson Creek between miles 624 and 629.  It was a very low, low tide.  Gay went around the boat poking an extended boat hook to find the bottom and we were able to power off after much effort.  No speed gauge from that point on in the trip! 

Tomorrow Hell Gate.  After kissing the bottom last week, Gay has gotten fairly adept at sniffing out enough depth to squeak through in most areas (while she is at the helm in shallow depths, she watches only the depth meter and Ken has to tell her if she is going to run into anything--like a crab pot or marker).  But even she did not want to hit Hell Gate at the end of this day.  Hence Kilkenny.

Gay Explains the Cost of Boats

When a friend asked about how much boats like ours cost beyond inital acquisition, Gay explained it like this:

• Take the sticker price
• Pretty much double it because of everything you add to the boat (roughly computed as follows):
• Anything small that is not electronic or optical (think a fender, a rope, a chart, a guide book):  Average cost per item is $100
• Anything pretty substantial that is attached to the boat in some way (think davits, dinghy, bow thruster, generator set): Average cost per item is $10,000
• Pretty much anything else averages $1000 per item

The Magenta Line is no longer Gay's BFF

Okay, we knew that the shoaling that the Coast Guard had been announcing for days (to as little as 3 feet of depth at mean low tide) precluded following our charts so we sought local knowledge to navigate the Matanzas inlet area.  We researched tide tables and slowed way down to transit the area during a rising tide.  We talked to others who transited the area ahead of us.  And we came through without any issues, the shallowest area we found was 9.8 feet at statute miles 792-3 (and we draw 5'1").  We hugged the west side of the water, staying within 30-50 feet of the bank.  If we had followed the charts, the markers or the magenta line, we would have run hard aground.  Someone in front of us who had done just that is actually in the boat yard awaiting repairs.

In spite of that, after clearing the area that was supposed to be shoaling, Gay returned to the magenta line and markers to finish up the last seven miles into St. Augustine.  At statute mile 785 on the ICW (where all charts, books and everyone indicate a minimum 10 foot depth and we were there at high tide (+4.7)), with a crab pot in the middle of the water Gay followed the magenta line and noticed depths going from 12 to 10 to 9 to 8 feet.  (At that point she put the boat in idle and seriously screamed for Ken to come up to the cockpit).  Ken came running and threw the boat into reverse just as the depth meter showed 5 feet (remember we draw 5'1").  Of course we continued forward for a short time and the depth meter showed 4 feet by the time Ken was able to reverse the course.  We were sitting on top of the sandy bottom.  Ken was able to power us out of the situation and we never came to a stop or hard bump.  Nonetheless, for Gay anyway, it was the end of her love affair with the magenta line.  We have had much harder hits, but not with Gay at the helm.  Wonder how long it will take for her to get up to full speed at the helm again.

St. Augustine for several days!!

Just to update our itinerary, we left Titusville (still soggy) on Monday and made it to Daytona.  Docked in the same marina as on the way down.  (Do not bother with the pizza and/or greek salad from Stavros recommended by the dockmaster.)  Monday evening we learned that the bridge at St. Augustine closed at 8 pm Monday and will not re-open until 8 am on Saturday.  Ken learned a big lesson about reviewing the notices to mariners (and Gay learned there was such a thing) as we could have easily made it through the bridge by cutting the extra days we spent in Palm Beach and Ft. Pierce.   What was surprising is that ever since we left Palm Beach, the Coast Guard had been broadcasting many notices of severe shoaling at St. Augustine, but never once in their broadcasts did they mention the bridge closure.  The only bascule bridge manager that mentioned it was one mile from St. Augustine.  Of course, we only had ourselves to blame, but we soon discovered we were not the only ones in the dark.  As we approached the marina at St. Augustine, a furious j-boat captain came rushing at us in his dinghy ranting about the bridge closure (he was supposed to have his boat pulled on the other side of the bridge and he had a plane ticket home on Friday).  The bridge's location prevented not only prevented us from proceeding up the ICW, it also prevented us from getting out the inlet.  So, no where to go (unless we wanted to go back to Titusville or Fort Pierce and out to the ocean--and by the time we got there and back up here, it would have been Saturday anyway).

Once I saw St. Augustine, I got over my chagrin and decided to enjoy the town.  The municipal marina is awesome (although I feel a little like a zoo animal with all the people standing at the entrance to the docks and looking at the boats).  They put us in one of the gigantic luxury boat slips so we had no problems docking in spite of the current (and no bow thruster).  The marina facilities are superb (still not River Dunes) and the town itself is amazing.  If we had to get stuck someplace, this was the place.  Great restaurants, interesting people, great shopping, good climate.  Beaches.  Definitely Aspen by the sea.  On Yelp there were 40 4 star restaurants within three-tenths of a mile from the marina.  We at dinner last night at a tapas place, The Tasting Room.  Definitely better than anything close to a marina we have seen.

Today, Wednesday, we spent time doing all the things you do when you stay in a marina for a while--sleeping in, working on the boat, doing laundry, walking, and taking a dinghy ride out to the ocean.

Soggy in Titusville!

We left Fort Pierce at the crack of 10 on Saturday.  Although we had hoped to make it to Cocoa (and probably could have), we decided to stop again in Eau Gallie and stay at the same marina (Telemar) since we were familiar with everything.  Besides, it gave us a chance to have drinks on the boat with Beth and Scott (to catch the sunset) and then we went to the outdoor, waterfront restauant where they will be married in a few weeks. What a great place to hold a wedding.  The entire day was absolutely beautiful with plenty of sun.  According to our electronics, the current and the wind were directly opposite each other, but the only difficulties were in dodging all the small power boats that were enjoying one of their first warm days.

We left Eau Gallie Sunday morning headed for New Smyrna Beach.  The last few rays of sun shined as we pulled away from the dock.  The day progressed to clouds and then to rain.  The Indian River is a long flat stretch of water running north and south.  With winds mostly directly from the south, we had following seas with 4-5 foot swells and winds that started the day in the teens but quickly went into the mid-20's.  As we passed through the Titusville swing bridge, we had to choose between venturing on another 30 statute miles or taking safe shelter in the Titusville Municipal Marina.  Although we were hoping to see some different stops on our way north and cover at least 50 statute miles every day, with the deteriorating weather conditions, we pulled into the marina.  As before, the help was extremely competent and we were quickly secure in our slip.  Not a moment too soon, as the heavens opened up and sheets of rain came down.  No visibililty. Lightning is predicted. 

Not wanting to cook, Gay checked out dining options and rated them as shot, stabbed or poisoned and opted to cook on board.  (KFC, Burger King or Papa Johns).  Actually the restaurant a little over one mile away rates high on most peoples' lists, but with the rain, just not worth the soggy trip.

It is time to turn around!

Gay returned to West Palm on Tuesday.  After reviewing various options and Gay's availability, we have decided it is time to head back to River Dunes.  In Florida, there are few navigable inlets that allow easy access from the ocean to the ICW.  Lake Worth (West Palm) is one as is Fort Pierce.  Since we loved the 7 bridges that had to be opened on the ICW in that stretch and all the power boats darting around and leaving huge weeks in the narrow channel (not), we decided it would be much more pleasant to cover that leg in the ocean.  All in all, it was about 60 nm from dock to dock.   Gay's assessment of her choices were:

                     a.  long stretches of boredom interspersed with a little terror at the docks (Ken has managed fine without the bow thruster--it is just that Gay freaks out knowing it is not there as a backup);
                     b.  bridges, bridges, bridges, traffic, traffic, traffic but never a moment of boredom!
                     c.  fly home and abandon ship!

Eager to get underway, we chose "a" even though we knew there would be stiff winds and 5-7 foot seas (the forecast for Friday in that area was even worse and we would have had to wait a few more days to go outside or take the ICW on the weekend--neither of those choices was very appealing).  It was a rollicking ride with wind averaging in the 20's and gusts up to 30 and seas that often were over 7 feet.  Those conditions actually made the trip more boring as it was impossible to do anything but hang around in the cockpit and we met only two or three other boats on the water during the entire trip.  Frankly, we all handled the trip with ease.  We continue to be pleased with the choice of the Beneteau 393.  The Fort Pierce Inlet had to be the easiest inlet we have traveled since getting Patina.  Deep and wide, not heavily trafficked.  We spent the night in the Pelican Yacht Club and would highly recommend it.  The help at the dock was amazing, the yacht club was quite nice with good food, nice pool, great views.  There are numerous little shops within walking distance and the Atlantic beaches are only a one mile walk.  We decided to stay here an extra day to enjoy the area.  It is not yet "southern Florida-ized".  The highs today are supposed to be in the mid-seventies (compared to the snow in the Denver).

Patina was encrusted with salt from the top of the dodger to the smallest crevices as we had lots of water crashing on the boat.  The dodger, bimini and enclosure kept the cockpit very comfortable.  The winds and currents from the northwest tried to push us further offshore and we lost one whole knot of speed staying on course.

I love the magenta line!

When traveling the ICW in Florida, our chart plotter usually has a magenta line that clearly marks the deepest parts of the channel.  There are times it disappears!  According to the instructions, it disappears when the frequent shoaling makes it impossible to have a consistent channel.  At those times, we must use our depth finder to poke along and find our way through ICW.  Those are the times Gay makes sure Ken is at the helm--because remember, if you are not touching the wheel when the boat runs aground, it cannot be your fault (since we have not run aground, it appears that Ken does just fine without the magenta line).

Record Rainfall in West Palm Beach

Gay left on Tuesday to attend the Natural Foods Expo (Expo West) in Anaheim California and was lucky enough to get through both the West Palm Beach airport and Atlanta in spite of all the air disruption caused by the severe storms in the southeast.  Ken, on the other hand, got to stay in Palm Beach for a record 24 hour rainfall.

Initial diver report is that the boat will need hauled in order to fix the bow thruster; as it appears that the prop was "broken" off in a way that cannot simply be fixed underwater (like it was the last time).  Ken will continue to evaluate the options, but is likely to wait to have the boat hauled until it is back in Oriental.  Big decision as we have become quite accustomed to the ease of having a bow thruster.  Without it, docking will certainly be a little more difficult.

Ken also had a mechanic do the 250 hour service on the engine and was very pleased with the outcome.  While Gay is gone Ken will get the boat stocked up and "plan" the next leg of the trip.

On a completely unrelated note:

Gay is having a problem at the Expo covering up the black eye she got one of her first nights on the boat (stumbling to the head in the dark).  Between that and a bunch of bruises on her right wrist from the shower seat in the foward head falling on her arm, it almost looks like she is training for triathlon again.  Oh wait, she is supposed to be doing that since she signed up for one in August!

Sunday, March 7 - Docked in North Palm Beach

Since our last post was from Titusville, I will pick up our route from there.  We left Titusville Friday morning and intended to travel about 50 miles.  Upon realizing one of Gay's friends, Beth Gitlin, now lived in the Eau Gallie/Melbourne area, we made plans to stop there, so pulled into the Telemar Marina in Eau Gallie in the early afternoon.  It was nice to stop midday and fuel up, pump out and shower before dark.  Beth and her fiance, Scott Hoffman, were extremely helpful in recommending the marina.  They lived a short distance away and walked over to pick us up and take us to their home for drinks before taking us to dinner.  What a treat to get to see Beth, meet Scott and spend time with them.  They were extremely gracious offering us a place to stay and help with anything we needed.  Ken and Scott had great times talking all things sailing (Scott was a Naval Academy Grad), military and science (as Beth and I caught up on them upcoming wedding and our lives since we last met).  We had a great seafood dinner at a nearby restaurant.  What a treat  for us to find that they were available on short notice.

The next day we made our way to Fort Pierce and opted to stay in the city marina.  At least with a sailboat our size, it was a mistake.  Even though we told them our size when we called to see if they had room, they hailed us on in and shoehorned us into a slip that was too short (which was not as much a problem as the fact that it was too narrow!). The slip was wedgeshaped and our side rails were jammed up against the pilings far ahead of the beamiest part of the boat.  The rear pilings allowed us just about 3 inches of space on each side of the boat.  There was a lovely restored Morgan next to us and both of us spent a great deal of time making sure we were tied very securely to prevent bumps in the night.  The marina (and their help) were obviously geared to power boaters.  We would definitely not stay there again.  The only bright spot was that the showers/restrooms were some of the cleanest/nicest we had seen on this trip.  Of course, nothing compares to our River Dunes!

After getting out of the shoehorn slip, we made our way the last fifty miles of our trip to the North Palm Beach Marina.  We passed under numerous bridges.  In just the last few miles we had to wait for 5 different bridge openings and spent a great deal of time trying to hang in the current.  The power boaters in this last 50 mile stretch were some of the rudest we have encountered--sending huge wakes our way, darting this way and that.  We were not surprised to hear that there was a collision in the Jupiter inlet area shortly after we passed through.   As we were waiting for the next to last bridge to open, our bow thruster failed.  Of course, we are lucky to have one as most boats our size do not, but we missed it when we docked.  Actually, docking was easier than Fort Pierce because we had a decently sized slip and the dock hand was a sailor.

We will stay here for a few days to rest up (4 straight days on the ICW was actually tiring), get the bow thruster fixed and plan the next leg of our trip.

Daytona Beach to Titusville, Florida (and rocket launch!)

We left Daytona Beach this morning, Thursday, March 4 around 9:45 am.  It was bike week (as in Harley) in Daytona--the news showed "coleslaw wrestling" by women in bathing suits. No internet at the Marina.  Time for us to leave!

Although bright and sunny, it was very cold.  Recond cold temps all along the ICW it seems.  We stayed in the ICW and saw many dolphins (but no manatees even though we passed through many miles of manatee habitat).  There was little traffic in this portion of the ICW.  ICW had mostly well marked channels over 10 feet in depth, however there were several areas that were shoaled in to under 8 feet.  The Indian River above Titusville was the most difficult navigation we faced today as the channel was shallow and not well marked.  We passed under several bridges that had to be opened in order for us to pass (as well as fixed bridges that were 65 feet).  We were lucky enough to get to our first bridge just as it was opening on schedule (every 20 minutes).  The next couple of bridges opened when hailed.  But the one bridge that, accordingly to charts, is almost never closed was the final bridge we had to pass under.  The NASA train bridge.  Just as we lined up in the Indian River after traversing the Haulover Canal, the bridge started to close.  No train.  People walking on the track.  As we "chilled"  (by slowing down and zigzaging--but also literally by getting colder and colder), we finally hailed the Coast Guard to find out what was going on.  Apparently some problems with the lights on the bridge, but it was opened promptly after we called.  We should have called sooner!  We were able to see a rocket in the tower at Cape Canaveral.

The municipal marina at Titusville was extremely helpful and professional in helping us get docked around 4:15.  After Coronas in the cockpit, Gay cooked dinner on the boat.  The tv that we installed before we left Oriental allowed us to see the evening news and to find out that that rocket was launching at about 6:45 and we were able to see the launch from the boat.  We felt very lucky as seeing a launch was something we had always wanted to do, but had never done.  The inital lift-off lit up the horizon and we were able to watch for about 5 minutes.  Gay commented that it was the single best firework she had ever seen!

Our dock mates (on a Hunter named Southern Bell) said that they had been waiting in Titusville for three days to head further south because winds were over 30 knots.  They are from Atlanta and keep their boat in Savannah and are on the first leg of a several month trip to explore Florida and the Bahamas.

Updated Map

Saturday--Docked in Daytona Beach

Around 3 (eastern time) Ken reported that they were docked in Daytona Beach having cleared the Matanzas shoaling area without incident. 

At 11:30 yesterday morning Ken reported that it was around 50 degrees and sunny.  They went under the bridge with an opposing current of 5.6 knots at 15 degrees to their bow.  They reach St. Augustine and spent the night there Friday night.  Ken and Gay usually compare most "resort" type towns to places we are familiar with in Colorado, so the following is Ken's report of the last two ports:

Fernandina Beach is a lot like Boulder or Carbondale , CO . Very folksy and exuding tons of upscale charm. St. Augustine was more like Aspen – good restaurants, super high end shopping and art galleries, interspersed with the usual touristy places.   The municipal marina in St. Augustine is simply spectacular.

Mark and Sarah will head for the airport tomorrow to return to Oriental.  Ken will stay in Daytona Beach to work on the radar and wait for Gay to join him in a few days.

What a difference a week makes!

Just a week ago, we were on pins and needles waiting to hear how our good friend, fellow sailor and Captain, Will Flannery was doing. Although Will has a long and arduous recovery in front of him, he is home from the hospital.  Will's leg was badly injured in the dismasting of the Sally Lightfoot as she tried to pass under the Oriental bridge on Wednesday, February 17.  Will and Ken had planned to set sail on the 20th for the more southern climes.  Will underwent numerous surgeries because of his broken ankle (in three places), dislocated, torn ligaments, plates, screws and compartment syndrome.   Please keep Will in your thoughts and prayers.

Ken debated whether to proceed with his plans to leave on Saturday or whether to postpone and wait until after Will's recovery.  As it became increasingly clear that this was not the trip for Will, Ken recruited Mark and Sarah and they set sail.  Will has been monitoring the trip at least daily and offering his encouragement--always like Will to urge others to be their best (and to bring out the best in them).  We only hope we can return the favor and be there to encourage Will in his recovery.  We look forward to many happy sails with Will soon!

The first leg of the ocean trip (all detailed in the last week's posts, below), they covered 250 nautical miles and pulled into Charleston.  Except for the radar, Patina has performed admirably.  Staying a night in port, they set sail the next day and covered another 200 miles before being forced into Amelia Island, Florida because of brutally cold temperatures and gale force winds.

Today, Friday the 26th, because of the weather, instead of heading back out to ocean, they decided to head down the ditch (the ICW for non-boat talkers), and hope to make St. Augustine today.  A text message at 10:22 am indicated that they were crossing the St. John's River that leads to Jacksonville.  Patina made her first call for the opening of a bascule bridge. 

Ken reports that the radar is still not functioning properly.  He has it rigged to work for 30 seconds every three minutes.  But any more often than that and it shuts down all the electronics, including the chart plotter.  Trying to find the cause is illusive.  RayMarine claims they never heard of anything like that.  When he reaches Daytona Beach, he will try to get someone in to look at the entire system to see what is going on.  Just before leaving River Dunes, he had an additional piece added to the electrical system that was recommended to protect the electronics.  Instead, things are worse than before the installation.  If you have any ideas/recommendation, please comment below!

Warmer in Oriental!

Nearly 450 nautical miles into our trip southward and today, it is likely warmer in Oriental than it is here.  Gale force winds and temp of 28 degrees. We will probably not go outside today.  There was a flood tide coming into the Marina so we hit 8.8 SOG.

As we left Charleston Harbor we ran into a complete wall of fog--and guess what--after a new chip (as recommended by RayMarine) and a bit of work, we still have broken radar.  We can get it to work on an intermittent basis (once every 3 minutes) without shutting down all our systems (including our chart plotter).   Marginally okay, but certainly not the system we thought we installed. We have had problems with this system since it was installed.  Ken will be on the phone with Ray Marine again today.  Since leaving RD, we were lucky enough to post averages of around 6 knots (max 7.4 SOG under sail) and fuel consumption of 0.56 gallons per hour for the 54 hp Yanmar.

In Florida--Wednesday Feb 24, 4 pm

Cryptic Message From Ken:

In Florida!  I don’t know why they call this the ‘ Sunshine State ’. Weather was going to turn to gales, so we headed in to the municipal marina at Fernandina Beach Marina. The rain and wind started as soon as we pulled in to the slip. We will spend the night here and reassess in the morning.

Left Charleston Tuesday 11 am

Ken texted that they are leaving Charleston with the radar up and running.  Expecting to do hull speed on the way south.  Direct quote "Florida or bust."

About fourty minutes later he texted that they were passing historic Fort Sumter and the flag there was at half mast.

In a quick telephone call Ken said they were expecting stiff winds and would come back "inland" if they became too strong  I wondered what "too strong" was for "waves crashing over the bow Burke" but did not ask.  Some things are better left alone!

Ken's report (Oriental to Charleston)

Ken called in last night to report on the first leg of their trip.  The following is Gay's account of that phone call.  Please excuse translation errors caused by the Boat Talker-Non-Boat Talker interface (if you do not under this, please refer to the October 29 post (http://sailingpatina.blogspot.com/2009/10/boat-talkers-vs-non-boat-talkers.html)).

They went approximately 250 nautical miles on this leg of the trip, alternating mostly between motor sailing and sailing.  They had to slow down coming into the Charleston area as they did not want to come into the harbor under sail in complete darkness.  Overall, they averaged about 5.6 to 5.7 knots.  They used about 24 gallons of diesel for the trip.  Ken reported that it was a really great trip (not without its snags).  All onboard were tired.  Thunderstorms started just as they tied up in Charleston.  They spent Monday night in port (and because of fog, will probably not leave until later in the day).

First night out  the seas were pretty rough (6-8 foot seas). Lots of crashing through the waves. The boat did very well. It was brutally cold, but the enclosure helped.  The second night out they had following seas.


Naturally, something didn't work.  In this case, the radar went out.  They were able to rig a workaround so that it worked intermittently, but it certainly increased the challenge of sailing in the dark.  They had one close call with a very small fishing boat that appeared out of nowhere (before they rigged up the intermittent radar).  It followed none of the rules of the road--it did not have appropriate lights on, it did not comply with navigation rules.  It forced a quickly planned jibe to just get away from the vessel. 

As they started into the Charleston Harbor under sail they were hailed by port pilot telling them that a half mile long tanker coming out and they would need to yield even though they were under sail.

Once in port, Ken worked with Raymarine and others to try to find/fix radar issues.  He found a new chip that he will install and program Tuesday morning to see if that fixes the problem.  Before leaving Oriental, he had made some additional changes to the battery system to deal with a radar issue that had presented on and off  (radar would shut down under certain circumstances related to starting the engine).  So, the issues with the radar are not completely new but he had always been able to get the system to come back up in the past.

In Charleston Harbor

After leaving Morehead City around 6pm on Saturday night (2.20.10), Ken reports that they entered the Charleston Harbor Thoroughfare at 6am Monday morning (2.22.10).  They had to slow down on the last leg of the trip so they would not have to navigate the harbor in the dark.  Shortly after tying up, the thunderstorm started.  They plan to stay the night in Charleston and take off to go back out to the ocean (avoiding the ICW at least through Georgia), and be in Fort Pierce FL by the weekend. 
Gay is charting the course on a map at the following link (you can click on and enlarge the map to see the touchpoints):
http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog/g.burke/1/tpod.html

In the Ocean

Ken, Mark and Sarah took off early Saturday afternoon and called around dark to report they were heading out into the ocean.  Ken reported that they had picked up a strong current and speed over ground was more than 8 knots for a good portion of the trip from Oriental to Morehead City.

Resume Countdown 6,5,4,3,2,

Okay, the plan is that Ken and Mark (and possibly a third) will leave Saturday morning and head out to the ocean.  Last minute supplies and provisioning today.  Weather window looks for for a few days, so they will strike while the iron is hot.

Making the trip without Will will be bittersweet--Will remains in the hospital (had surgery this morning).  Ken has been in contact with Jennifer and continues to monitor progress.  Our thoughts and prayers are with Will and his family.

Countdown, 10, 9, 8, 7 Abort Abort Abort

Ken and Will Flannery have been planning the trip south and were ready to head out to the ocean and make a run for it sometime later this week.  Jerry cans, heaters, strobe/spot lights, EPIRBS all on board.

BUT FATE INTERVENED.

The beautiful Sally Lightfoot (pictured in the 2/12/10 blog post) was dismasted today as she tried to sail under the Oriental bridge.  Photos of the boat are posted on the towndock website.  http://towndock.net/on-the-cover/dismated-ct-yawl.  Ken was not on the Sally Lightfoot for this trip.  Just Will and Don (the owner).

Unfortunately, Will Flannery was injured in the accident--he is now in the Greenville hospital and doing well.  Definitely an injured leg that will take some time to heal.  I do not know much more at this time.
After Will had EMT treatment (including something for pain), his last comment to Ken (before being whisked to Greenville) was "I will still be ready to leave tomorrow."  Despite his hopes, that is not likely to happen.

Ken is driving back to Oriental from Greenville right now and will take some time to evaluate whether to close up the boat or try to make the trip in another fashion.  Remember that post at the end of the year that said "Let's see what Murphy (of Murphy's Law) has to say about our plans!"?

Seriously, we are so glad that Will was not more seriously injured and wish him a speedy recovery.  Since Will's life is the water, a cast will not likely be much fun. 

The Sally Lightfoot--a gaff rigged yawl

Ken and Will went out today (in the very cold) on the Sally Lightfoot (owned by one of Will's friends that recently arrived in Oriental).  Ken said it gave him a much greater appreciation of what it took for sailors to go around the world on only sail power in all seasons.  This is a photo of Ken at the helm.

Dolphins, Dolphins, Dolphins

Two short videos of dolphins in the Neuse today.  (Videos from Will Flannery).  Absolutely amazing.


http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=301157428333

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=301094923333

Dolphins at Work!

Yesterday, 0n the way back to River Dunes, we encountered about 12 dolphins, including a couple of babies. They frolicked around the boat at the Broad Creek Entrance. Very Cool!


(It was 38 degrees, we were triple reefed and still managed about 7.5 knots on a beam reach.) We went out towards Adams Creek and then returned to the River Dunes Entrance where we noticed the dolphins. At their closest, the dolphins were about 10 feet from the helm along the starboard beam

Patina's First Sail of 2010

After installing the sails this week, Ken and Will took Patina out for a sail in the chilly Oriental Weather.http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=297042433333

November, December, January....

Okay, so we are behind schedule.  We had hoped to have the boat in the Southern climes by this time.  Ken was delayed in his return to Oriental and the weather is certainly not cooperating.  The boat is almost ready to go.  Ken is working on the details.  Looking for a weather window.  Gay is debating whether to join in on the migration or just meet him when he gets to the sun!  We will keep you posted (pun intended) on our progress.

Oriental--what happened to the weather?

Ken has returned to Oriental to get the boat ready to head south.  Someone forgot to enlist the cooperation of Mother Nature.

Because the mainsail needed some repairs (remember Ken, the waves crashing over the bow, Burke?), the sails had been taken down and sent to the manufacturer for repair.  As Will and Ken attempted to install the sails this week, they had to abandon the effort because the winds were too strong to allow them to get the job completed.