I motored about 25 miles down the ditch yesterday in a foul mood. I was still angry with myself for being a pussy and not being on the outside sailing. I don't make good decisions when I'm angry. Yesterday the motor was running rough. It was underpowered and drinking a lot of gas. I should have pulled over and given it a thorough check up, but I didn't. I did that this morning, and it turned out that there was simply a problem with the choke linkage. Would have saved myself some grief, and the engine some wear and tear if I had done that earlier.
This morning I did another mile or so to a better anchorage. I accidentally grounded the boat pretty hard. I jumped overboard to push us off and the bottom was pretty firm. Not the muck I'm used to. I decided to get my scraper and give the hull a good cleaning.
A couple hours later I felt a nice breeze coming through the hatches. I poked my head out and low and behold, the wind was in my favor. I looked down at the water, and the tide was also going my direction. I raised anchor and motor-sailed a few more miles to Daytona Beach.
I'm not at my intended anchorage yet. I have two bridge openings to go through, and thought it best to do that in the morning. The webcam should be pretty interesting tomorrow.
There's a constant roar of motorcycle engines in the background. In case you've forgotten, it's Bike Week in Daytona Beach. Also, I've researched the trip to Cocoa Beach for the Shuttle launch on the 11th. From Daytona, it's a 60 mile sail on the outside.
I'm very much looking forward to redeeming myself, and reclaiming my Salty Dawg title.
Saturday, March 1, 2008
The Wind's a blowin', the Tide a Flowin'
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6 comments:
GPS shows you offshore in the ocean.
I know that you hated missing out on some good distance-making outside sailing.
On the other hand, I applaud your wisdom in taking the safer course in light of the questionable conditions. Personally I’ve known and read of too many instances in which vessels have gone into crisis due to unexpectedly adverse conditions. Although I don’t know the particulars of your back-up equipment (i.e. – compliment of bilge pumps, liferaft, etc.) my impression is that these may be areas where you’ve had to skimp a bit.
I always figured that if I were further from shore than I could swim I’d best be prepared to at least plan on the ‘possibility’ that I’d need a layer or two of back-up.
Anyway, as you can probably tell, I’m just trying to help you feel a little better about ‘missing out’ on what might have been.
I really got a good laugh reading how you turned a grounding into a maintenance stop to scrape the bottom – very clever!
I sounds like regardless of which way you travel there won’t be any problem in reaching Cocoa Beach by the 11th – that’s great.
Grampa, that's wishful thinking on the part of my gps...
Actually, it's just me fiddling with the coordinates while doing some debugging to get the sailboat icon to move as we move along.
Ross, I appreciate your and Bill's concerns. No, the boat is not a blue water boat. I am not prepared to weather any storm, or float out in the sea for days on a life raft awaiting rescue.
What I do think the boat and I are prepared for, is a 60 mile passage along the coast. If the weather conditions weren't ideal, I should have waited for them to change. Not pussy out and motor on the inside.
Salty dog title goes to Sho-me!
That's funny. Would you mind writing up that little vignette about sho-me jumping overboard and you after him?
I don't really have anything to post today. Just cleaning up and getting ready for Fred's visit aboard.
Scott,
Fred is on his way, but no idea what marina. Call Rose ASAP please.
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