Monday, January 31, 2011
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Sunday check-ins
At 8:45 am Eastern time they reported by text message that they were approaching the west wall of the gulf stream with seas of 2-4 feet (before entering the gulf stream) and north winds of 12-15. Marginal conditions.
at 4 pm Eastern time, they reported their position as north and east of North Cat Cay as marked by the red dot:
http://www.findmespot.com/mylocation/?id=4AXb5/25.74213/-79.10318
at 4 pm Eastern time, they reported their position as north and east of North Cat Cay as marked by the red dot:
http://www.findmespot.com/mylocation/?id=4AXb5/25.74213/-79.10318
Finally on the move again
After a month in southern Florida, Patina is finally leaving the US.
Over the past month, the boat has seen substantial upgrades and/or repairs. In addition to the regular maintenence and repair to things like joker valves, Patina has an additional house battery, a new 120 amp alternator, a new three-stage regulator, rewired DC connections and a battery monitor that will, at a glance, allow us to determine our power reserves. On the trip from Fort Lauderdale to Miami, the windlass went out and Ken and Will tracked down a broken relay to get that functional again.
In Fort Lauderdale, John and Barbara were a big help to Ken as he worked on all the electrical changes. Will Flannery rejoined Ken about one week ago.
Saturday night, Ken posted: We ( Bamboushay and Patina) plan to leave Miami tomorrow at 0700 through Government Cut and take a course of about 80 degrees magnetic to North Rock near Bimini in the Bahamas. It is about 45 nm so should take about 7 to 8 hours under ideal conditions. If the slight northerly wind component makes the passage too dangerous, we will return to Miami and try again in a day or two. If it is tolerable we will spend the night in the vicinity of North Rock. In that event we will likely head East for the Berry Islands or Northwest Shoal (55 nm) to anchor out on Monday night. We would then head Southeast forNassau (45 nm) to check in with the Bahamian authorities. Once in Nassau, we will be able to update the itinerary. We will likely head further Southeast for the Exumas and Staniel Cay.
Over the past month, the boat has seen substantial upgrades and/or repairs. In addition to the regular maintenence and repair to things like joker valves, Patina has an additional house battery, a new 120 amp alternator, a new three-stage regulator, rewired DC connections and a battery monitor that will, at a glance, allow us to determine our power reserves. On the trip from Fort Lauderdale to Miami, the windlass went out and Ken and Will tracked down a broken relay to get that functional again.
In Fort Lauderdale, John and Barbara were a big help to Ken as he worked on all the electrical changes. Will Flannery rejoined Ken about one week ago.
Saturday night, Ken posted: We ( Bamboushay and Patina) plan to leave Miami tomorrow at 0700 through Government Cut and take a course of about 80 degrees magnetic to North Rock near Bimini in the Bahamas. It is about 45 nm so should take about 7 to 8 hours under ideal conditions. If the slight northerly wind component makes the passage too dangerous, we will return to Miami and try again in a day or two. If it is tolerable we will spend the night in the vicinity of North Rock. In that event we will likely head East for the Berry Islands or Northwest Shoal (55 nm) to anchor out on Monday night. We would then head Southeast forNassau (45 nm) to check in with the Bahamian authorities. Once in Nassau, we will be able to update the itinerary. We will likely head further Southeast for the Exumas and Staniel Cay.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Ken finally gets to post!
Lessons learned while cruising: 1) conserve electrical power like a miser, 2) use the diesel's sweet-spot rpm's as long as possible, 3) avoid refueling from jerry cans while at sea and 3) always keep running fixes.
We weighed anchor at 0707 on December 17 and refueled everything since we anticipated some offshore mileage and expected the main tank to be at 1/4 level by the time we reached Port Canaveral. On the way south after leaving the St. Augustine Inlet at 1230, we were able to motorsail for most of the passage while the weather held. It was scheduled to kick up somewhat overnight and we wanted to get as many early miles under our belts as would be feasible. As the weather turned sour, we ran nearly all of the electrical systems while underway (including the reefer and the inverter for a ceramic heater providing cockpit heat). We kept running fixes every hour or so just in case we had trouble with the electronics in the middle of the night. As it turned out, that was a prudent decision. At about 0100 on the 18th, while motoring to avoid the shoals off of Cape Canaveral, the auto pilot quit, the radar quit and the GPS went blank. We knew that we were free of conflicting traffic at the time, so, to minimize the drain on the electrical system and encourage the voltage to return to normal, we turned off the reefer, the inverter, the main VHF, the ship's lights, the auto pilot, the GPS and the radar. We broke out the portable spotlights in case we needed them, hand steered to our compass with a generous course to the southeast for safety and ran the diesel at higher than normal revs to keep the alternator operating at max output. We used the handheld VHF to maintain communications with other vessels. We kicked on the GPS every now and then to verify a fix and backed it up with a handheld GPS. We ran very close to hull speed (8 knots) to compensate for the longer course we were steering. Naturally, the higher speed burned much more fuel than normal. At about 0330 on the 18th, we decided to refuel since the diesel tank was getting quite low. (We had cleared the shoals and had altered course to the southwest to get closer to shore and calmer water.) We were then hailed by a Navy warship approaching us from the south. We could see his lights on the horizon. We explained that we had lost our instruments, were refueling at sea and were limited in our maneuverability. The captain understood and altered course to provide us with additional searoom for the refueling operation. Crew put in about 10 gallons of diesel on the fly and we motored in to Port Canaveral for our second fill up in 24 hours. The electronics returned to normal about one hour before sunrise. Next item on the list from West Marine is a pump/siphon for diesel. I am also considering boosting the battery capacity and alternator output.
Gay and I went to the beach on the 30th and took a dinghy ride between the Las Olas and 17th Street bridges. Lots of boat traffic. I can report that crewmember Will Flannery did a splendid job last week of diagnosing the problem with the outboard and seeing to its effective repair. Gay and I were able to get the dink up on plane and really haul. Thanks, Will! Gay and I just saw an 8-foot Manatee feeding on the leaves off our dock. We were close enough to touch him. He remained feeding off the dock for about ten minutes. The plan now after Gay leaves is to attend to some minor maintenance items that need to be addressed before Patina will attempt the gulf stream and the Bahamas. I believe that I have crew lined up for at least the hop to the Bahamas, and will keep the log current on our progress as the saga unfolds.
We weighed anchor at 0707 on December 17 and refueled everything since we anticipated some offshore mileage and expected the main tank to be at 1/4 level by the time we reached Port Canaveral. On the way south after leaving the St. Augustine Inlet at 1230, we were able to motorsail for most of the passage while the weather held. It was scheduled to kick up somewhat overnight and we wanted to get as many early miles under our belts as would be feasible. As the weather turned sour, we ran nearly all of the electrical systems while underway (including the reefer and the inverter for a ceramic heater providing cockpit heat). We kept running fixes every hour or so just in case we had trouble with the electronics in the middle of the night. As it turned out, that was a prudent decision. At about 0100 on the 18th, while motoring to avoid the shoals off of Cape Canaveral, the auto pilot quit, the radar quit and the GPS went blank. We knew that we were free of conflicting traffic at the time, so, to minimize the drain on the electrical system and encourage the voltage to return to normal, we turned off the reefer, the inverter, the main VHF, the ship's lights, the auto pilot, the GPS and the radar. We broke out the portable spotlights in case we needed them, hand steered to our compass with a generous course to the southeast for safety and ran the diesel at higher than normal revs to keep the alternator operating at max output. We used the handheld VHF to maintain communications with other vessels. We kicked on the GPS every now and then to verify a fix and backed it up with a handheld GPS. We ran very close to hull speed (8 knots) to compensate for the longer course we were steering. Naturally, the higher speed burned much more fuel than normal. At about 0330 on the 18th, we decided to refuel since the diesel tank was getting quite low. (We had cleared the shoals and had altered course to the southwest to get closer to shore and calmer water.) We were then hailed by a Navy warship approaching us from the south. We could see his lights on the horizon. We explained that we had lost our instruments, were refueling at sea and were limited in our maneuverability. The captain understood and altered course to provide us with additional searoom for the refueling operation. Crew put in about 10 gallons of diesel on the fly and we motored in to Port Canaveral for our second fill up in 24 hours. The electronics returned to normal about one hour before sunrise. Next item on the list from West Marine is a pump/siphon for diesel. I am also considering boosting the battery capacity and alternator output.
Gay and I went to the beach on the 30th and took a dinghy ride between the Las Olas and 17th Street bridges. Lots of boat traffic. I can report that crewmember Will Flannery did a splendid job last week of diagnosing the problem with the outboard and seeing to its effective repair. Gay and I were able to get the dink up on plane and really haul. Thanks, Will! Gay and I just saw an 8-foot Manatee feeding on the leaves off our dock. We were close enough to touch him. He remained feeding off the dock for about ten minutes. The plan now after Gay leaves is to attend to some minor maintenance items that need to be addressed before Patina will attempt the gulf stream and the Bahamas. I believe that I have crew lined up for at least the hop to the Bahamas, and will keep the log current on our progress as the saga unfolds.
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