Float Plan: Part II

Found a float plan form at United States Power Squadron. Unfortunately, filling out and submitting the form does not produce a page which is easy to copy and paste. When I have more time, I'll maybe make a form which produces a more useful page.

Anyway, below is a copy of the float plan I filed with Amy last night (minus some personal information). I promise to file something like this with her every time I go out into the ocean.

FLOAT PLAN for Split Decision

Complete this form before boating and leave it with a reliable person who can be depended upon to notify the Coast Guard or other rescue organization in case you do not return as scheduled. Do not try to file this form with the Coast Guard, they do not accept float plans. A word of caution: In case you are delayed, and it is not an emergency, inform those with your float plan, the police and/or Coast Guard of your delay in order to avoid an unnecessary search!

Person filing this plan
Name: Scott
Telephone:(Including area code) xxx-xxx-xxxx

Description of boat
Type: Catamaran Sailboat
Hull Color: White
Trim Color: Black and Red
State/Registration Number: MD xxxx xx
Length in feet: 30
Name: Split Decision
Make/Model/Year: Performance Cruising/Gemini/1983

Persons Onboard
Name Age Address Telephone
Scott xx 111 S. Any Street Baltimore, MD xxx-xxx-xxxx

Engines
Type: Outboard
Horse Power: 40
Number of engines: 1
Fuel Capacity in gals: 25

Survival Equipment (Check as Appropriate):
PFDs X Flares X Signal Mirror X Horn X Smoke Signals Flashlight X
Raft or Dinghy X EPIRB * Paddles X Food X Water X Anchor(s) X
* Frequency's: VHF-FM 15/16 121.5 MHZ 406 MHZ

Radio:
Type (Check as Appropriate) Marine VHF: X SSB: CB: Cell Phone: X
Frequencies/Channels used: 16,
Call sign/number: Split Decision

Trip expectations
Leaving from: St Augustine, FL
Going To: Cumberland Island, GA
Leaving(Date) 4/6/08
Leaving(Time) 10 AM
Return by(Date) 4/7/08
Return by(Time) 4 PM
But no later than(Date) 4/8/08
But no later than(Time) 12 PM

Other Pertinent Information:

Automobile
Make/Model/Year:
Color(s):
State/License Number:
Trailer State/License Number:
Where Parked:

If not returned by
Date 4/9/09
Time 12 PM
CALL
Coast Guard Tel # 305-415-6670
or Tel #
Created: Sat Apr 5, 2008 14:6:59 EDT
Courtesy, United States Power Squadrons®, Inc.

All Things Bright and Beautiful

The memories of my first extended passage are becoming dim. Must be time to get back out there and create some new ones. I'll attempt a short account of the passage, but I'm sorry it will lack the immediacy that it would have had if I had written about it earlier.

Although winds were forecast to be southerly, they were westerly. While making progress north, I was also getting pushed farther out into the ocean.

During the trip, I found that I needed some sleep between the hours of nine and midnight. I'm more of a morning guy and fade during those hours in social situations anyway. I owned midnight to four am and enjoyed the star filled sky and watching the moon rise. As far out as I was, I could still see light pollution from land. I needed an hour or two of sleep towards dawn.

Sleep was not very restful. It seemed every time I awoke, the light of another boat was visible on the horizon. There is a surprising amount of traffic twenty miles out. If I stay closer in, I don't see nearly as many boats.

I saw a manta ray, a sea turtle and a right whale! The right whale was the coolest because it broached the surface close to the boat a couple times.

I had the fishing pole out the entire time. At first I had the lure trailing some 50 yards off the stern. But then I saw little fish swimming behind my rudders, and then a big fish appeared behind them. I reeled in the line so that the lure was closer to the boat like the little fish.

I think the big fish was a cobia. I've been told that they hang out around manta rays. My boat might look something like a manta ray to the fish. And it is a movable feast for the fish, with all the algae attached to the hull. Something bit off the back half of one of my lures, but not the hook. I also got a hard hit on another lure, but instead of picking up the pole and setting the hook, I just sat there watching it like a dummy. The fish must have spit it out.

The water was clear and a beautiful aquamarine color. According to NOAA, I was not out in the gulf stream, but the water was still very different from the stuff you see closer in.

The first three days and two nights were an almost perfect cruise. Certainly a new and wonderful experience for me. I listened to the weather radio, and predictions to continue were for winds 10-15 mph. Up until then predictions had been 5-10 mph. I thought 5-10, 10-15, what's the difference? I'll continue on.

I think the rest of the trip has been hashed out enough. I certainly don't want to talk about it any more. Let's just say that as I entered the St. Augustine inlet, the computerized voice on the weather radio was describing current conditions as sustained winds 20-25 knots with occasional gale force gusts.

There are standard navigational buoys marking the St. Augustine channel, but there is also a large cross on land. To navigate the channel, you basically steer towards the cross and pray. At least that's what I did on my way in with that weather and without an engine.

Let There Be Light

The power company finally turned the electricity back on. Unfortunately, the electricity is provided by a new generator which I bought at Home Depot today. Not by the old generator which I tried to fix yesterday.

I replaced the head gasket on the old generator, said a prayer, and started pulling the starter rope. On the third pull the rope broke. I tried to fix it, but the recoil spring unwound on me and I was having a tough time getting it back together. I decided to just hand wind the rope. Trying to start the engine this way was a tedious process. Every time I pulled the rope, I had to unbolt the pulley from the engine and rewind the rope.

The engine still wouldn't start. I removed the spark plug and sprayed starter fluid into the cylinder. Still wouldn't start. Removed the spark plug, and saw there was no spark.

I know this was not the original problem. I ran the engine fine for twenty minutes the other day with a homemade head gasket, before that gasket blew. Anyway, I think the engine was telling me that it was finished. Kind of like a car that six months out of warranty everything starts breaking.

Fortunately, Kim and Leon had a car today. Among other places, we went to Big Lots. I'd seen an off brand generator at the store in Melbourne for $150. But the Big Lots in St. Augustine didn't have one stocked. I knew I was going to have to bite the bullet and spend some serious cash for one at Home Depot.

The smallest, cheapest one at HD was $400. But then I spotted one of the generators out of the box. It was reconditioned and priced at $200. The service tag stated that a broken fuel valve had been fixed. High Fives all around! A big thanks to Kim and Leon for helping me get it back to my boat in their dinghy, and to their friend Katie who lent us her car.

It's a really nice generator with an engine by Subaru. The manufacturer is Coleman. Coleman is taking over the boat. My fridge is Coleman brand too. I'm going to turn on all the lights tonight, watch tv and play golf on the playstation.

No more reading books by flashlight for me.

Far Out Dude!

At long last I'll start on the account of the passage. I left Port Canaveral around noon on Wednesday. The wind and waves were from the east as I motored out past the Cape Canaveral Shoals. It was a slow motor into the wind with some bridge slap onto the waves. Once past, I turned NE and set sail.

One of the things I learned on the trip was that my boat will pretty much sail itself. Until the last day, I seldom touched the helm. The boat likes a beam reach, wind pretty much perpendicular to the boat (60-100 degrees off the wind).

The boat will sail itself for hours at a time. It will wander 10-20 degrees around a compass heading, especially if the wind shifts. But it won't go into irons or tack. And I can adjust the point of sail with the rudders and sail trim.

I was never able to do this with my old boat. Of course, time aboard could be part of the reason. The old Pearson monohull I day sailed and did weekend trips. After six months aboard Split Decision, I should have some more familiarity with its performance. But I also think there is a difference between monohulls and catamarans.

I've been trying to think of some sort of physics explanation for this. I think a monohull wants to be in irons (pointed directly into the wind). That is its most stable position. To take it out of irons, some force has to act on it. A back winded jib, motor or wave. Under sail, there is a balance of forces which keep it moving forward through the wind. The wind pushes the sails, the keel keeps the boat relatively level and the rudder keeps the boat pointed.

My catamaran seems to want to sail. Its most stable position seems to be perpendicular to the wind. I think that this is because there is no keel and it doesn't heel. The force on the sails is dissipated throughout the boat in contact with the water. It's a simpler physics system than a monohull.

Anyway, my plan had been to get far enough out so that I could hove to (stick the bow into the wind and stop forward progress) to get some sleep. This turned out to be unnecessary. Unfortunately, when I awoke around midnight, the boat had decided to sail not only north, but quite far east and out into the ocean.

Cheeseburger in Paradise

Enjoyed happy hour at the Oyster Creek Marina with Kim and Leon and Bob and Ovida (I'm not sure who the guy on the rope in back of us is, or the chick sitting on my head). A lot of the conversation was spent bemoaning our engine problems. Kim and Leon were stuck in Charleston earlier in their trip with engine problems. Bob and Ovida have just fixed theirs, but will be remaining in St A for another month. I feel fortunate that my engine was so quick and easy to fix. But those guys have monohulls with big diesel engines.

I found out that Kim has a sewing machine aboard and has been picking up work making sail covers, biminis, etc. My bimini is again in tatters. Hopefully I can work out some sort of bargain with Kim to get it mended a bit. Bob and Ovida have a blog too: hakunamatatayellowboat.blogspot.com. Try saying that three times fast. Lots of pics of St. A on their blog.

Cross your fingers that my generator head gaskets arrive today.

Float Plan

It's a good idea to file a sail plan before you head out on the ocean. This is just letting someone on land know where you are going and when you expect to arrive there. I admit that the comment I left on the blog to Ross that I was going out on the ocean for a night or two, was not the most detailed sail plan.

Amy got worried after she didn't here from me for a couple days on the ocean passage. She called the coast guard. Let me clue people into the fact that there are not a lot of cell phone towers out on the ocean. Amazingly, I occasionally had some cell phone service as far as 20 miles from land. Not enough for a phone conversation. But enough to send a text message.

I guess I have conditioned folks that there will be constant contact from the boat. I'll take the blame for putting up a webcam, hooking up my gps to the internet, and posting daily to the blog. But let me tell you now that there will almost certainly be periods of days on the trip north when I will be incommunicado. While there was daily internet on the ICW on the way down, there will not be on the ocean trip north.

And as distressing as it may be to loved ones on land, there isn't much you or the coast guard can do to help if I get myself in a jam. You may have some expectation that they are going to send out helicopters and boats to rescue me, but I think that is mostly the stuff of movies. I don't know what their protocol is, but when a sailboat is overdue, all I've heard is a pan-pan call that vessels should be on the lookout. Also if a boat is in distress, I've heard pan-pans that other vessels in the area should assist if possible.

Trust me that as long as I'm alive and the boat is afloat, I'm doing everything I can to get the boat safely into port. And I wouldn't really expect someone to come save my sorry ass anyway. I'm the one who made the choice to go out in the ocean. And if weather conditions deteriorate to where it's unsafe, I would feel really bad if someone came out to help me and ended up getting hurt. I don't care if they have trained for it and it is their job.

Anyway, Leon and Kim are anchored a couple hundred yards from me. We're going to happy hour. I'll talk to you tomorrow, as long as my head gaskets arrive and I have some electricity.

Purrs Like a Kitten

Outboard's Running! It was just corroded spark plug boots. Ordinarily, I would have replaced the spark plug wires as a matter of course during an electrical tune-up. But the spark plug wires seem to be integrated with the C.D. unit. From my research online, a replacement C.D. unit would cost a couple hundred dollars, at least. I ran over to autozone this morning and bought a couple spark plug wires. I bought a couple where the boots seemed to fit my spark plug (of course autozone does not carry the specified equipment for a Tohatsu outboard). I stripped the boots from the wires and clamped them onto my outboards wires. I said a prayer (the boat has been a prayerful place recently), and pulled the cord. Engine started after a few pulls.

You can see my repair, and the bubbling water from the prop in the pic. Of course this is one of my duct tape and baling twine repairs. Hopefully, I'll eventually fix it properly. I have some dielectric lubricant to put on the connections, and I need to figure out how to get the rubber boot over the connections for protection. I'll probably tape it up really well too.

I don't blame my outboard for quitting on me. The boat took quite a bath on the way into St. Augustine. A lot of water came over the bridge deck and the forward berth was soaked so that I couldn't sleep in it for a couple nights. We took water over the stern too, and I took a couple baths. I probably needed the baths. I haven't been keeping up with my sponge bath regimen. But I don't think the outboard appreciated the hosing down. I'm not sure what the generator's excuse is for choosing this time to quit on me. It was just along for the ride. New head gaskets should arrive tomorrow.

On a Jib and a Prayer

My Generator is dead. It blew its head gasket. I just picked up some gasket material at Autozone from which to fashion a new head gasket. The material is gasket material, but not specified as head gasket material, so we'll see. I'm also ordering a couple new head gaskets from the generator distributor.

So anyway, I now have next to no electricity on the boat. (I'm at the St. Augustine library charging my laptop.) And you thought conditions on the boat were basic before. When the sun goes down now, it's lights out. And I've been doing a lot of reading. I've been reading some food book Amy left behind, and a catamaran book that someone gave me at my marina in Baltimore.

Also, my outboard is dead. So I will be spending at least a few days in the lovely town of St. Augustine. I've diagnosed the problem as weak spark. Actually, no spark. Although, I have determined that some voltage is coming through to the plugs.

I've become quite good at reading electrical diagrams. I could give you a pretty good electrical tour of my outboard. But although I know the names of all the stuff, I'm not sure exactly what they do, or how they work. For example, there is some dohicky called a rectifier. And the manual refers to something called a C.D. unit. I think it's a distributor, but I'm not sure.

Coming into St. Augustine in rough weather, without an engine was an adventure. Anyone who has navigated the inlet will tell you that it's not easy under the best conditions. It's narrow and guarded by shoals. The boat and I entered the inlet on a jib and a prayer, and not much else. The one thing I had going for me was a rising tide to help carry me in. If the tide had been going against me, there's a good chance Split Decision would be grounded on one of those shoals, and I'd be writing you from a cheap motel room.

I'm working on an account of the passage from Port Canaveral. I promise it soon.