Bridges

 Part II

 The choice, upon leaving Lake Worth (aka Palm Beach) was to sail to Ft. Lauderdale outside in the Atlantic, or motor south via the ICW.  Inside, the prospect was more bridges.  Outside, the wind was still blowing 15-20, right on the nose and a 2.5 knot gulf stream current would have made it a long day.

We went with the inside route, and found the day to be quite fun. 

First there's the power you get to exercise over meer motorists, stopping them dead in their tracks to let you pass through a drawbridge.

Then there's the freedom from worry that you didn't measure the mast or figure the tide correctly...

The sky is the limit.

And finally there's all the great stuff to look at, like mansions with million dollar yachts tied out front.  Really amazing and the further south you go, the more ostentatious they get.

As we were almost down to Ft. Lauderdale, Deb looked over to see our yacht broker Jeff Erdmann and his family smiling back from the boat in this picture.   

I think Jeff's was the only boat out there missing a bunch of girls in bikinis on the bow.  All in all, a bloody great day out on the boat!

Snug Harbors

After that beautiful sail from Cape Canaveral, we dropped the anchor just a few feet from Moonshadow's last time here at Ft. Pierce Inlet when George and Merima brought her from Ft. Lauderdale to Jacksonville.  With 60 feet of chain out in ten feet of water, we held all night but the strange thing was Moonshadow rode with the strong ebb current, not the 17 knots of wind, so the breeze came down the companionway while anchored.

The next morning we left on another ebb tide, which proved to be less than ideal.  The stong ebb current clashed with the seas left over from all night winds in the high teens and the morning breeze of about 15 knots.  This made navigating the channel at the inlet like running rapids with several standing waves of 5-6 feet.  Moonshadow handled things just fine, but we learned a big lesson as Deb dashed below to close the hatch in the stateroom and forward head: always close all the hatches when getting underway.  Of course we already knew this, but Southern California sailing can make you a little complacent.  

I watched wave after wave board Moonshadow's foredeck, washing back to the mast before pouring over the gunwales wondering how Deb was fairing below.  Poor Deb finally emerged from below drenched from head to toe and practically in tears!  She secured the hatch over the stateroom before the first wave, but couldn't reach the hatch in the forward head and was tossed all around trying to push up on the hatch with one hand and remove the plastic bottle, used to prop the hatch open, with the other hand, all while standing on the toilet in the pitching forward end of the boat.  Definitely in need of some serious hugs!  What a great crew I have.  

The rest of the day seemed to be a payback for the glorious sail we'd had the previous day.  We had a good breeze, but it had clocked too far south to really sail, so again we motorsailed, this time rail down, the whole way to LakeWorth Inlet.

The day had a bit of everything, from beautiful "sun dogs"...

... to a drenching rain squall with raindrops the size of grapes, then 25 knots of wind, gusting higher.

Fortunately, we learn quick and got everything put below, threw a reef in the main and rolled up the jib before the weather hit.  Soon after the squall passed, we made the sea buoy to Lake Worth Inlet, and found a nice spot to drop the hook and review the day.

But first, Friday the 13th still had some games in store for Moonshadow's hearty crew: it took us four attempts to get the anchor to hold.  I think the bottom here is a hard, sandy clay, from what we saw on the anchor as it came up each time.  The trick that seemed to finally work was to just drop the anchor on the bottom, let out the chain and wait 5 minutes before backing down.  This seemed to let the anchor slowly bury itself.  After waiting, we backed down and held firm.  Anyway we woke up this morning right where we were last night despite 20 knots whistling in the rig all night.  Not long after dawn, a pretty Swan 51 named Concerto pulled in with crew in full foulies, dropped their anchor, dragged, pulled, dropped, dragged, etc. four times.  I feel better.

The wind isn't letting up today so we've decided to have a day on the hook and do as little as possible.  Ft. Lauderdale can wait!

Size Matters

The Kennedy Space Center is a very cool place and the best thing they have is a full size Saturn Moon Rocket.  This thing is gyyyyyynormous!  I mean you stand there and look at it and you think... No way. Nothing this big could ever lift itself off the ground. And when you see the launch film you realize what looks like slow motion is actually shown in real time.  That thing just inches off the launch pad hanging there as it slowly picks up speed.  It's nothing like the space shuttle.  Anyway it was really cool to stand there beneath this beast and realize these were in use before I even met Deb... and that was a looonnnng time ago.  

Speaking of moon rockets....

We finally got some wind today and a chance to really sail Moonshadow. Sailing from Cape Canaveral down about 65 miles to a place called Ft. Pierce, the wind piped up and Moonshadow took off like a moon rocket, steaming along at 9-10 knots for hours!

It was a BLAST!

Enough with bridges, get me to the ocean!

(click photos to enlarge)

After a harrowing day of dueling with bridge clearances, we opted to get into the Atlantic and sail, which was much more relaxing.  This meant exiting the Inter Coastal Waterway through the St. Augustine Inlet.  The cruising guide cautions that the inlet has shifting sand bars with breakers on both sides of a serpentine pass.  We went anyway, and the conditions were quite mild.  The seas were flat and we had following wind, but not enough to sail so we motorsailed 55 miles south to Ponce de Leon.  Ponce de Leon Inlet is described in the cruising guide as one that is "best left to those with local knowledge" and "subject to continual shoaling, swift currents and strong winds".  We went in anyway.  The conditions were just fine for us and we entered on a rising tide so we'd (hopefully) float off the bottom if we found it.  We found our way to a cozy place to anchor and slept like babies.

The really like their lighthouses here!

 The next day, it was a bit longer (68 nautical miles) down to a berth at the Cape Marina in Port Canaveral where we plan to visit the Kennedy Space Center.

Red Sky at Morning, Sailor Take Warning

Since our last post, we got to see first hand that whole “red sky at morning, sailor take warning” thing in action.  After a beautiful sunrise, the wind built from the Northeast until we had whistling in the rigging and a wicked chop slapping the stern.  “Slapping” may be a bit kind, as some of the impacts sounded like  car wrecks.  The weather built all day, and bounced Moonshadow a bit at the dock, but that was nothing compared to the ginormous wake set up by an eighty foot USCG cutter that came screaming into Jacksonville past Moonshadow.  The wake hit our marina like a title wave, heaving boats against the piers and breaking some docklines.  Across the river at another marina, there was damage also.  Moonshadow rolled 30 degrees and lunged around but seemed to shrug the whole thing off.  What a boat!

It blew all that day, into the night and the next morning.  That next day, we finished all of our errands ashore with the truck, returned to Moonshadow to stow away all the provisions and then drove to Carmax and sold the good ole F-150.  Now we’re really vagabonds, with no car.  I think we’re already pretty good at bumming rides though… we made the Carmax salesman drive us back to Moonshadow.

But here’s the best part of this blog….  

Moonshadow’s grand voyage has begun!

At 1330 (that’s 1:30 PM), we cast off from the Ft. George Island Marina in Jacksonville, motored up the St. John River and turned south along the inter-coastal waterway (ICW), officially beginning our cruise.  The ICW is a set of bays and water passages that allow one to navigate from Florida to Virginia without ever entering the Atlantic Ocean.  If, that is, your boat doesn’t draw too much water and your boat’s mast will clear under the bridges with 65’ clearance at Mean High Water.  We bought a 100’ measuring tape and hoisted it up the mast taped to a boat hook so the end of the tape was above the masthead, even with the antennas, lights and instruments.  We figured we’d be OK with 67 feet of clearance, and at 66 feet, only the whip antenna for the VHF radio would touch the bridges, but at 65.5 feet, we might hit the anchor light and wind instruments.  The tide after 1300 was forecast to be low enough to give us some extra clearance, so we took off.  The first bridge showed a tad over 67’ on the waterline scale so we inched closer.  

(click photos to enlarge)

What if our measurements were screwed up somehow?  I don’t think I’ve been so nervous on a boat since I don’t know when.  

As we held our breath and passed under the first bridge, there were no loud sounds one might imagine being associated with a dismasting, so we continued on and finally exhaled on the other side.    

Hi Fives all around.

The next bridge was different.  When we pulled up to this bridge the 67 foot mark was under water and 66 was just above the water.  On top of that, the current under the bridge was 4-5 knots against our direction of travel.  As we were almost under the bridge, Deb said GO!, but I chickened out, circled for 15 minutes to let the tide drop some more, and tried again.  

This time, we had a solid 66.5 feet on the gauge and went for it, but as we proceeded, the VHF antenna hit each steel girder with louder and louder contact.  Passing the gauge on the upstream side there was a foot less clearance at 65.5 feet, just inches above the anchor light and wind instruments.  We had been climbing a 1 foot waterfall as we passed under this bridge.  Two bridges down and three to go.  The rest of the bridges all brought on the same anxiety, but we had 67 to 69 feet for all the rest so we could relax. 

At 1915, we tied up at the Conch House Marina in St. Augustine to find a gallery of 6 or 7 marina tenants who’d never seen anything like Moonshadow and had lots of questions about her.  After visiting with them, we finally poured an anchor-down Rum drink and sagged.  

We’ve covered 35 miles!  25000 to go! 

More changes aboard Moonshadow

click photo to enlarge

You may not immediately appreciate this, but to us the fact you can see the cabin sole is huge! We've been working all week just to see carpet again and tonight, we toast the gods of boat lockers for yielding just enough cubic millimeters to accommodate the contents of our Uhaul trailer.  Also we toast the gods of dumpsters for allowing just enough cubic yards to accommodate the bulk of the contents of our U-haul trailer!

The other thing you may not have noticed immediately

This beautiful ships chronometer has been keeping time aboard boats that figure significantly in my life for about 75 years; starting with Joanne when my Dad was 15; Mystere in the 60's when I first experienced the magic of sailing; Sundowner, aboard which Deb and I spent a week in Catalina when just starting to date; and now proudly hangs in a position of honor aboard Moonshadow; where she'll announce the change of watches around the world.  She's just beautiful and when she chimes, the sound... oh the sound takes me back... Thanks Dad!  The real toast tonight is to you.

Starting to feel like home!

Click photo to enlarge

Since Moonshadow's previous owners left, it's been a marathon of moving aboard, running errands (while we still have our truck), figuring out how to always have wifi, dispatching emergency text messages to George and Merima about all things Moonshadow, and a thousand other things.  

Today, we agreed to commit to observe an "official" cocktail hour at cocktail hour rather than 9:45 PM, as things have been working out up till now.  And that was one of our better calls.  Tonight we'll watch a seminar online about cruising to Florida's keys, in preparation for next week's adventure inauguration.

As you can see, we've hung the picture from our bar at home in the salon, which really helped transformed Moonshadow into our new home.  What you can't see (because I cropped it out of the picture!) is all the junk we still have to put away.  Helpful tip:  if you know anybody in Jacksonville, Florida,  let them know there'll be some really good stuff at the Goodwill next week!

Moonshadow

After our new dear friends George and Merima had a tearful farewell with this magnificent boat, we drove them to the airport and had our own set of good-byes.  Then we returned to Moonshadow, raised her new "battle flag" (thanks again Ryan and Scott!!), and enjoyed a delicious bottle of Chandon left behind by George and Merima.  

The events of the last few days have caused Deb and I to realize the unspoken responsibility that falls on us to take care of this boat that was George's home for 18 years, and Merima's for five years. Moonshadow is the centerpiece of some of the most significant experiences and memories of their lives so far.  It just won't do to let Moonshadow sit idle, or fall into disrepair.   It's also finally sinking in that all of our work has actually come to this:  The boat of our dreams is ours and she'll take us wherever we want her to.  WOW!!

There still a few days chores getting all of our things stowed away, familiarizing ourselves with Moonshadow, and tending to a few items discovered during the survey, but hey what's a few days now?  Soon we'll cast off and let Moonshadow take us south for some clear water anchorages, swimming, snorkeling, and long slow days in the sun.  

   

One Picture says it all

There's a saying that the day you buy a boat and the day you sell a boat are the happiest days in your life.  Tonight there's four quite happy sailors in Florida...

First (and last) sail aboard Moonshadow

(click photo to enlarge)

After the cold front that chased us from San Diego all the way to Florida finally passed to the east of us, we were greeted yesterday morning with a cloudless sky and warm fresh westerly breeze for our sea trial aboard Moonshadow. With 18 knots of wind, Moonshadow romped around the Atlantic, delighted to be back out doing what she does.

We are getting to know Moonshadow after two days of poking our heads into all the bilges and lockers, operating her equipment and learning about how things work from George and Merima.  Part of the discovery we're experiencing is just how really fantastic this boat is, and what terrific owners she'd had. 

As exciting as this day was for us, we could see that George and Merima are realizing this could be their last sail aboard Moonshadow... at least until they join us along our way someday.  For all of us it was an exhilarating day!

A little Magic before the real magic begins...

Timing for Moonshadow's sea trials and surveys allowed us to take some time out from our travels to camp out and visit with Niece Patricia and her husband Dave Duff, their beautiful kids and awesome black labs, in Orlando, Florida. Sensing an immediate need to stand in long lines and hang out with the spring break crowd, we hurried over to Walt Disney World and had some fun.

But the real story was about George who's selling his boat to John at the Ft. George Marina on the St. John River.

So next it was off to finally meet George Backhus, who sailed Moonshadow around the world, and his fiancee Merima, who sailed with George for the last half of his adventures.  We're feeling pretty fortunate to find not just a really great boat, but one that comes with knowledgable owners who've got years (17+) with the boat, and a willingness to share their experiences with us.

On the way to the boat, cop cars and motorcycles with lights and sirens had us convinced we were receiving a welcoming police escort, somehow arranged by Ryan from 3000 miles away!  But when we were forced off the road so a motorcade of about 250 Harley Davidsons could motor by for 5 minutes, we figured it isn't all about us...

Deb and I had to laugh as our plan to try to appear blase while inspecting the boat evaporated the moment we stepped aboard Moonshadow.  Instead, we spent the day, Deb with Merima; and John with George, learning about the boat, and what great people we're adopting her from.

On The Road

In addition to towing a U-haul, we've stayed just in front of this front with thunderstorms and even a tornado just behind us all the way from San Diego.  As a result we've had Southeast headwinds the whole way so we're getting about 10 mpg.   

Whattayagonnado?

Hang out on Bourbon Street...

  ...and shop for new foulies.

Leaving San Diego

Leaving San Diego was so hard.

First:  You have no idea how much stuff you have.  I think it multiplies when you're not looking.  The movers worked all day packing our "essentials" into wooden crates and carted all that off for storage.   One day we'll probably laugh at what we thought was important to keep.  The rest of our stuff either went to garage sale treasure hunders, goodwill, the landfill or a uHaul trailer bound for a life afloat.  The process of segregating all of this is a killer.

Lessons learned!

Second:  In the middle of running all day every day trying to leave town, you find yourself suddenly saying good-bye to friends and family and thinking "when will I see them again?".  At least 3 times I had to ask Deb:  Are we doing the right thing?

The day finally came.  Saturday, March 17th, after staying overnight with my brother Steve and his wife Wendy, and saying good-bye for the second time to our sweet yellow lab Casey, we met our dear friends Greg and Barb for breakfast, said good-bye and started east on I-8.  It didn't take long for those sad feelings to materialize again mixed with the realization that we're really doing this and on our way.

But wait!  There's red and blue lights in the rear view mirror and we're getting pulled over by the cops!

Turns out, Ryan had planned a special send-off for us!  So we had  another tearful roadside good-bye then we got back onto the freeway to really get on our way... But wait.  Eight more La Mesa police cruisers were waiting on the on-ramp to escort us through La Mesa and El Cajon with lights and all.

What a special and unforgettable day.

We had a wonderful send-off today, March 10, at San Diego Yacht Club with about 150 good friends and family.  In addition to marking the beginning of our big adventure, yesterday was our 38th wedding anniversary, which is fitting as we've been dreaming of cruising aboard our own yacht since the day we were engaged (see November 1 post).  

Between the beautiful San Diego day and the many dear friends and beloved family who came to see us off, we realized just how much we are leaving behind as we begin our adventure.  We'll make new friends along our way, but our roots are here in San Diego.  Life's opportunities always seem to have some cost, and today was a reminder that it won't be possible to pick up the phone and arrange a lunch or dinner, plan an afternoon sail or a round of golf whenever we want.  To make all of this easier for Deb and me, I asked the Yacht Club staff help me bar the doors and nobody was allowed to leave without a promise to join us aboard Moonshadow for a portion of our cruise.

Another anticipated trade-off for pursuing our dream was the impact of cruising for our sweet 12 year old yellow lab Casey.

She's a water dog and has always loved being aboard Legacy, but Moonshadow would have presented big obstacles for Casey with her high freeboard and steep ladders.

But I speak in past tense because today my brother Steve and his wife Wendy offered to keep Casey at their Escondido Ranch.  Casey absolutely loves their "boys" (golden retrievers) Spencer and Andy and running with them through the acres of tangerines in the orchard.  It will be very hard to say goodbye, but we are just delighted that Casey will be in dog-heaven-on-earth.  And, of course, there's always Skype so we can talk to Casey!

Since our return from Florida. where we found Moonshadow, life has been a blur of racing to meet the March 14 deadline, when the movers come to lock away our life's possessions until we return years from now.  What to keep, what to sell, what to toss; packing (this would have been impossible without Deb's sisters, Jill and Robyn - angles sent from heaven!!); getting our lives as paperless as possible; finding a mail forwarding agent; notifying our life's business contacts of our change of address; scheduling to do our taxes; dealing with Realtors, termite repairs, fixing dozens of house inspector issues... whew!  I think driving to Florida will be a vacation compared to the last two weeks.  But WAIT! I just paid $93 to fill the truck's gas tank...

We took a break from packing our household goods and had a bloody great day of sailing with great friends, maybe our last aboard Legacy.

What a difference a week makes!

We finally found a boat whose owner knows how to keep it from smelling like a boat!

MOONSHADOW has sailed around the world.  She's a safe, strong and fast boat we can manage without a crew, but has room for friends when they're aboard, and will make a comfortable home for the next few years.

    (click photo to enlarge)

She looks BIG, but her sailplan is a bit smaller than Legacy.  We think she'll be a lot easier to handle than the next three weeks in San Diego.  We have to be out of our house and back to Florida for sea trials and surveys in 21 days!!!

More to follow... (gotta go)

STOKED!!
***  our house is in escrow  ***


I just never get tired of watching these little guys come over like puppy dogs to investigate.  After Deb gave me a new GoPro HD sport camera, I used this footage to test out some slow-mo editing which I hope to utilize in future adventure posts to this blog.
(be sure to maximize the video with the little box [] in the viewer's lower right corner)

Ok, so now it's February, 2012, and we still haven't sold the house or the boat or any cars or any junk that's in the attic.  But, Legacy has a new deck and is back on the market!!!

Over a couple of rum drinks at the yacht club bar, Scott and I figured we spent about 500 man hours on this project.  It was a lot of work but I feel glad for Legacy to have a new deck for her 40th birthday!

Ok, so now it's January, 2012, and we haven't sold the house or the boat or any cars or any junk that's in the attic.  But we have bought some stuff, like these cool foulies!!!  

Now hopefully, we can stow them away in a duffle, and one day reflect on what a waste of money it was to buy foul weather gear since we never use them because the weather is always perfect.  We do believe in insurance!

Believe it or not, the Legacy deck project is still ongoing.  A few things have interfered, like the weather;  golf; holidays; a Thanksgiving trip to Oregon, with a sail on San Francisco Bay aboard Jeff and Annie's beautiful cutter "ANNIE", and a detour to Napa for 4 days of wine and relaxation...  But we are hopeful the project will be done by the end of January, so John can visit his Dad in Oregon to share their February birthdays (one will turn 90 and the other will accept having grey hair).

December's visit by John's Dad provided the perfect reason to go whale watching (always more fun than sanding and painting!), and WOW!, what a treat we had...

Deb has been enjoying her new retired life immensely, spending time doing whatever the hell she feels like for the first time in... a very long time.  She's happier than I've seen her in a long while and always wears a big smile.

Our house is getting more showings now that the holidays are behind us, so we're hopeful things will develop soon.  Of course we'd love to be on the east coast and Europe picking out our prefect cruising vessel, but that time will come soon enough.  In the meantime, we'll enjoy beautiful San Diego.  

Today, November 1st,  turns out to be a big day for John and Deb.

First, it marks the 38th anniversary of our engagement.  Our engagement resulted in part from a plan to sail around the world, that (it was agreed) wouldn't be too well received by certain parents if we were un-married... solution? easy: Let's get married!!!

It also marks the official beginning of our "third third", as Deb likes to call our retirement.  Deb gave her retirement notice to Pacific Life and after several weeks, a replacement was found to run the San Diego Region.  Deb's last day of working was to fall on November first, but Deb did a little tweaking and officially left on Friday, October 28th.

What do you do when waiting for your house and boat to sell so you can commence your dream cruise?

When we bought Legacy, her decks were a mess, with cracks everywhere.  Soon after our return from the 91 Day Yacht Club, we had them painted with Awlgrip, an expensive two part epoxy paint.  The result was fantastic for the first couple of years, but unfortunately the paint under this new coat was then around 30 years old, brittle, and not adhering well.  After a few years the cracks reappeared.  

Wondering about how extensive a DIY deck repaint might be, John decided to kill a few hours with a scraper and see what was under all that paint.  Thirty minutes later it looked like this would be a piece of cake...

Two hours later, John realized he'd bit off a rather big piece of work....

 Days of scraping, grinding, sanding, fiberglassing, sanding, filling, sanding, filling, sanding later the primer coat was applied and ready for non-skid

Non skid is silicone sand sprinkled through a jar with holes drilled in the screw on cap onto wet paint applied to the deck with a perimeter of masking tape.  Here, the non-skid is applied and the tape is removed.

When finished the entire deck will have three coats of paint over the non-skid and glossy perimeters, as in the photo below.  Here, you can also see our son Scott scraping 40 years of paint off the next section of deck on the bow.