February 4 to 10: Miami area, Palm Beach area & side trip to Howey-in-the-Hills
I really, really wanted this week’s post to be rather mundane and until Friday, it was on track to be this way. Today’s post covers some of the issues we experienced this week, as well as an overview of our upcoming plans, so it is a little longer than I would normally like a post to be.
This Week's Summary
Since our last post, Jimmy messed about on the boat until I returned to Miami, then we explored the area and prepared for the passage to our current location in North Lake Worth.
The plan was to depart Dinner Key Marina by 3 p.m. Friday, use the Cape Florida Channel to reach the Atlantic and head north until turning into the Lake Worth Inlet after sunrise, with a flood tide. We did pull it off, but there were a few story worthy moments, like,
Finding a dislodged pin where the boom attaches to the mast 3 hours before our departure time
Leaving a slip with a 12-knot beam breeze
Lack of cooling water discharge when the engine was turned on at the end of the passage
Having a cargo ship honk at you while in a confined channel
Now let me point out that the sail between Dinner Key and the Lake Worth Inlet was excellent. Needing to wait for the tide to rise a bit in the Cape Florida Channel, we simply sailed around Biscayne Bay for an hour before entering the channel. Once out of the channel we turned north. Miami was so pretty as we sailed up the coast the hour before sunset. My night shift, from midnight to 4 a.m. was uneventful, other than small sail tweaks to slow down Utopia so that we did not arrive at the inlet before sunrise.
I am also happy that I did not get seasick on this overnight sail. With the sea conditions as big as they were, and a new moon, I kind of expected to get sick. Although knowing this, I became extra vigilant with watching the horizon. It helped that we stayed about five nautical miles from the shore, and buildings lit up the coastline for nearly all of the passage.
As for the eventful moments…
Wayward Gooseneck Pin
Just after we hung up our radar reflector, Jimmy looked over at the mast and noticed the pin that holds the boom to the gooseneck (and therefore to the mast) was coming dislodged. The boom has a slot that the gooseneck enters, and the two pieces are connected with a pin. However, the pin had backed out a third of the way, causing the boom to be slightly cock-eyed. We worked on this for about an hour trying to figure out how to straighten the boom enough to slide the pin back through. With the expensive cost of staying at the marina, we really needed to figure out how to fix it before being charged another night or decide to motor all the way up the coast. To keep this long story short, I will just jump to the fact that after several other attempts we finally used the boom vang to pull the boom down and over enough to get the holes aligned enough for the pin to come through. I was pretty ecstatic when I saw the entire end of the pin! A temporary cotter pin and sail tape was used to allow us to continue our trip under sail.
Departing the Slip
This is the part of this whole passage that I was most nervous about as often, leaving a dock is stressful. The 12-knot breeze was across the beam (crosswise to the slip and Utopia), so we were concerned about it pushing the boat before getting out of the slip, then catching the bow once in the fairway to point us in the wrong direction. These were both valid concerns and came to fruition. At least this time, we thought through these possibilities a good bit before leaving. Jimmy did a fine job at fending us off the piles as Utopia managed to get pinned onto both of the starboard piles as I attempted to back out. Once out in the fairway, the prop walk helped the wind turn the bow towards the shore end of the fairway, instead of towards the exit, where I wanted to go. Thank goodness I am getting back-and-fill down pat and was able to turn the bow back into the wind and towards the exit of the fairway. It helped that the fairways at this marina are very wide, and we had plenty of room to drift towards shore. After we were pointing in the correct direction, my stress level dropped nearly 90%.
No Cooling Water Again?!
After a great night of fast sailing, it was time to prepare for our entry into the Lake Worth Inlet. When the engine was turned on there no cooling water discharge observed, and we both had flashbacks of our arrival in Key West. Shutting off and turning the engine back on only resulted in a trickle of water. Lucky for us we had sea space and time on our side, so Jimmy was able to investigate the situation without panicking. After finding the impeller intact, we suspected it was a priming issue caused by 14 hours of bumpy, rolling sea conditions. With a high revolution burst of the engine in neutral, the pump primed, and we were on the way.
Close Proximity Cargo Ship
Once the engine was operating as desired, the sails were dropped, and we headed to the channel. There was a large cargo ship sitting near the channel inlet, waiting for its pilot. Just as we reached the entrance of the channel, I saw a pilot boat zip past us heading back to port, indicating that the ship will be moving in soon. At first glance it looked like the cargo ship was still sitting in place. It was only after we were inside of the channel that I noticed a wake in front of the cargo ship, and shortly after that, it looked to be gaining on us. I hailed him on the radio twice, but neither call was answered. Jimmy said there was no room for us to turn around, so we kept moving forward, thinking the ship would slow down to our max engine speed of six knots. Eventually it got very close and blew a horn, presumably at us. Shortly after this, the pilot boat had turned around and came along side us, yelling for us to move to the north side of the channel. However up ahead there were a few fishing boats hanging out inside of the channel, just where we were being told to move. Because of our draft, we cannot leave the limits of the channel, so Jimmy blew the airhorn to get them to scatter, making room for us to get out of the way of the cargo ship. The ship never completely passed us, and we wonder why didn’t they call out a securite, or answer our call, or even try to directly hail us (we have AIS, so it is easy to call us by name….). Anyway, it was a bit stressful seeing that hulking giant on our stern after an overnight sail. Eventually we turned north onto the ICW and were no longer being chased by Tropic Hope.
Current Plans
I have updated the home page of our website with our northbound plans and wanted to include them here. By the way, for some reason I needed to refresh my web-browser to see updates made to the page. I find this a little irritating, but I suppose that is the way of a low budget website, and you may need to do the same from time to time.
Leaving Miami marked our first time sailing in the Atlantic Ocean (that is if you do not count the Gulf of Mexico and Hawk Channel part of the Atlantic). It also marks the northward part of our passage from St. Petersburg, Florida to Brunswick, Georgia. The goal is to reach Brunswick in time for a haul-out on March 25.
Sailing North
Step one of the northbound route is the just completed long hop up the Atlantic to the Lake Worth Inlet, north of West Palm Beach, skipping this portion of the ICW. From here, we will continue to travel north, most likely up the ICW. Hopefully, we will get to see a rocket launch when near Canaveral. Ideally, we would like to reach Brunswick by March 20 to give us some time to prepare Utopia for her haul-out.
Haul-Out, Road Trip & Hike
Once she is out of the water, we have a few days to finish preparing the boat for long-term storage before heading to Orlando for the Florida Water Resources Conference. I need to arrive on April 1, and we will leave Orlando April 5. I’m still working on an Orlando area cat sitter for Baxter that week.
After the conference, the three of us will head to Tallahassee for doctors’ appointments and to visit family and friends, followed by a trip to Mississippi. Baxter will stay with family in Mississippi as Jimmy and I head on to see family in Alabama and North Carolina, and then on to West Virginia by April 19. This is where we will begin our Flip-Flop Thru-Hike of the Appalachian Trail, which will take about six months to complete.
Thank you to those that have let us know that they are enjoying these blog posts. We will continue to create blog posts while on the trail although I realize that not all readers will be interested in the hike. Our plan is to return to Utopia in October or November, so the sailing posts will resume then. In the meantime, we hope that the hiking portion of our year will be as entertaining.
24-6
Comments