The last day Saying good bye to your new best friends

Friday, July 24

The last day.

If you ever get a chance to come to the school here, take it! This has to be one of the coolest things in the world to do. It is just too much fun. The school is very well run. Rich and Kim do an excellent job. It is amazing that they are able to get the quality of instructors that they do here at the school. I get amused at Rich; he appears be the guy who fell of the turnip truck yesterday. He rides, anytime he gets a chance, around on an old tractor here. He is mostly dressed in jeans and tee shirts. But when you really look at what he is doing there is a different person. He is at the school everyday. There are no holidays when school is in session. He knows everything that is going on and knows everyone’s name in the classes. When you look at the numbers, it is large operation and they do an excellent job.

My instructor Geoff Kerr, the Maine boat builder, who lives in Vermont is a great instructor. This is the 2nd time I have taken a class under him. Each one has been a great learning experience. There is so much to learn about building boats, it is hard to get it in just one course. I would highly recommend taking one of Geoff’s courses. Not only is it a great learning experience but you just have “fun” with Geoff.

Of course the last night is lobster night. Because of the miserable weather, they actually said it was a summer “Nor’easter”, we had the dinner in the shop. None of the instructors remember ever having to move the dinner inside. We consumed great quantities of food and beer. Great fun was had by all. We had to say good bye to our new best friends and pack bags for the trip home.

Miss Babe of the Day

Thursday, July 23

Today we worked on parts. My task was to build one of the spars. Most spars are tapered. You take a square piece of wood and cut it to shape on two sides and plane those sides smooth. Then you cut the shape on the other two sides and plane them. That gives you a square tapered stick. From there you start and you plane off the four corners and make it eight sides. Then you cut off the corners and make it 16 sides. You continue the process until you get 1024 sides and you call it round. Actually about 16 sides you can start sanding and get it rounded out. I must admit that I love to plane boards. With a very sharp plane and some nice wood, you get this curl of paper thin wood that shoots out of the top of the plane. It is a very “Zen” thing to do. After about 5 hours, I had this really cool pile of shavings about ankle deep and an aching back. We are starting to add the parts to the boat. The centerboard trunk is installed. The inside rails are installed and we are starting to make bulkheads. The centerboard and rudder are finished but it takes some special hardware to install them so I doubt they will get installed. Today if the weather will permit, we will pour the lead in the centerboard and rudder. This is the first boat I have ever seen with lead in the rudder.

We had the big drawing yesterday to see who gets to take the boat home. I was the only one who did not participate. Delta just doesn’t like to check thru a boat as baggage. The process is that any member of the class can enter the drawing. There are two requirements if you win. First of all, you have to pay for the materials used to build the boat. For this boat, that is about $2,000. The second requirement is you have to get the boat out of here. They have a lot of boats here that are used in classes. There are about twelve to fifteen in storage buildings. If every class left a boat here to pick up for a couple of weeks the place would be total overrun with boats. Will was the big winner. He is in the process of moving to Baltimore and starting his first job. He has visions of lazy summer afternoons in the inter harbor with “Miss Babe of the Day” sailing around.

Whiskey Plank

Wednesday, July 22

We got the final plank on today and flipped the boat over. It was fun. Geoff got all the other classes to come watch as we popped it off the molds, lifted it up and carried it out of the shop. Everyone had their camers taking photos. It was like walking down the red carpet to the Wooden Boat Oscars. We took it over to a grassy place set it down and rolled it over. Then we picked it back up and marched it back into the shop for fitting out. There has been a guy from the New York Times here doing an article about the school and our class. He took a bunch of photos. We might show up on the front page in the next couple of days.

The last plank is traditionally known as the whiskey plank so we all had a toast with a drink of scotch after the last plank went on the boat. I am pretty sure this is completely against school rules. We quit early today and joined Geoff on his boat for a sail around the harbor. The coast here is so different from our Gulf coast. It is just beautiful.

Stepping back in time

Tuesday, July 21

We put on 2 more boards today with one left to go. We took the rest of the day to add other parts to the boat. One of the best things about taking a course here is learning how to correct mistakes. We had a true learning experience today. Geoff came thru and show us how to correct a board already glued on the boat. I am sure after you do all of this for a while it becomes second nature but it far from that now.

Last night I went and got some culture. I went to the local Library for a lecture. They had a standing room only crowd. Of course, you need to remember that the building is about half the size of the one in Pell City. You live here without television, cell phones and internet. The library has a lecture series and the ladies clubs gather for meetings several times a week. It is not uncommon to see a tractor parked outside of one of the buildings. The locals meet at the store for coffee in the morning and in the Pub at night. Most of the people walk to the store and pub, so there is a lot of pedestrian traffic. No one locks their cars or houses. It is like stepping back in time 70 or 80 years. Maybe that that is the thing that keeps so many people coming back to the school.

I will try to get more photos of the boat posted. It is really looking like a boat now that the mistake was corrected.

Boat for sale not cheap

Monday, July 20

More planks today. We put three more planks on each side of the boat today. We have the keel, centerboard, outer stem and skeg ready to go on as soon as the planks are finished. There are 11 planks on each side and we have 9 of them on so tomorrow should be last day of planking. The planks are looking good there is one that has a little bit of a strange shape on one plank but it the same on both sides of the boat so I assume it is the way it supposed to be. It is amazing how much of the shape of the plank is done strictly by eye. Geoff calls them the money edge. It is what you see when you see the boat and makes you want to spend the big money to buy one. In case you are interested in purchasing one, the boat we are building sells for $25,000. It has about $4,000 in materials and the rest is labor.

After dinner Will, Tim and I went harbor touring. We went to Center Harbor home of Brooklin Boat Yard and Benjamin River home of Doug Hylan. There are so many pretty boats it is just hard to take all of them in. There are a lot of very large, very expensive boats and a lot of small expensive boats. Doug has a very nice office on piles over the water. Just enough space for him and his stuff. He wins the award for the coolest office on the planet.

The great rescue

Sunday, July 19

Today I did nothing, and I didn’t start that until 10:00. Doing nothing is quite unusual for me. I guess once a year is about enough. There is very little to report about nothing.

Well maybe I could write about the great boat rescue. Tim and I had walked down to the dock and were admiring the boats on their moorings. There was a visiting sailboat at anchor, a very nice S&S yawl. It was well worth some admiration. I noticed that it didn’t seem to be in the same place as it was a few minutes earlier. It is not unusual for boats to swing at anchor, so I didn’t think much of it. I looked back a few minutes later and holly crap that boat is dragging anchor headed for the school’s boats and the rocks. Rich, the school’s head master, is getting ready to take his is boat out and I yell that there is a boat dragging. We spring into action! Rich’s son, another guy and I get into the school launch and the mission begins. By the time we get there the rig of the big boat is tangled in the rigging of one of the school boats. The other guy and I get on the big boat and Rich’s son gets in the school boat. Luckily, the big boat has keys in the switch. Rich’s son and I get the rigging free and the other guy figures out how to crank the engine. I head to the bow and think oh great an electric windless (a motor to pull the anchor up with) because there is a big ole chain on this boat. I push the button and nothing. Well crap I have to pull it up by hand this is not going to be fun to pull in a 100 foot of chain. So I get to work dragging chain on to the foredeck. About 3 or 4 good pulls Rich’s son yells and said the anchor is free. What, I don’t have but 20 feet of chain on the deck. I look and the anchor is dangling just above water line. The SOB’s have put out 20 feet of chain to anchor in 20 feet of water! No wonder they are dragging. What kind of idiot is this, obviously someone with a lot of money and absolutely no sense about how to sail and anchor. We motor to a mooring and secure the boat. And so, the great rescue ends.

The remainder of the day was spent watching grass grow from a comfortable chair on the porch.

They only sound good after 8 beers

Saturday, July 18, 2009

FOG! Fog is what Maine is famous for and we had plenty of it all day. We started the day off with rain and fog and ended up with just fog.

There were no classes today. This is a pretty quite place so other than Carol cleaning the buildings and the shop assistances cleaning the shops there wasn’t much happening. Generally, Saturday it is a good day to use one of the boats and go sailing but there was this thing call FOG. The school has about 12 or 15 different boats for your use. If you were wanting to figure out what type of boat you wanted this would be a cool place to come and sail the whole fleet. As a mater of fact, there is a course that allows you to do that for a week.

I made the trip to Ellsworth about 30 miles away to get into cell phone range. Carole and I rarely have time away from each other. We probably have many more days when we spend all day together. I have a new favorite song, the main point of the song is about being in love with your best friend, which sums up our relationship. After talking long enough to make my ear tired, it was 30 miles back to Brooklin.

Most of the day was spent working on some drawings that need revision the week I get back. I found a quite corner which was an easy thing to do, plugged in my Ipod and started work. Nothing like getting a few billable hours when you get a chance.

Randy and I went to the Brooklin Pub for dinner. It is in the same old house as the Brookin Inn restaurant and Brooking Inn B&B. You have to know the Pub is there to find it. The entrance is thru the woodshed in the back of the building. The door is about 5’ tall and the hallway is about 6’ tall. Then it down some non-code steps ducking to miss low beams into the basement. There is a bar with about 10 stools and 4 tables so one might say it is cozy. Of course, others may describe it in less kind ways. While we were eating our burgers three local guys show up with instruments and set up to play for the night. They were playing some fun music with a little blue grass, protest music and other stuff mixed in. I think if we had stayed for about 8 more beers they would have sounded really good.

It followed me home Carole

Friday, July 17, 2009

It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. Wait someone has already used that line. Today was a good day and for a lot of people at the school it is a sad day. Most people are finishing their courses today. They are saying good-bye to there new best friends. I have always been a student of group dynamics. It fun to watch how people come together here. You see someone who arrives at the school totally lost, not knowing a soul and at the end of the week, they are friends with everyone here. It is an amazing thing to watch. I have even seen a few tears shed as people say good bye.

Of course, my class has another week to go so we aren’t crying about anything yet. We got a lot done today. We got six boards fitted and glued on the boat. Our project is beginning to look like a boat. You can see the shape of the bottom and begin to get a feel for the way the finished boat will look. I think this is going to be a beautiful boat. I have strict instructions to not let it follow me home. Boats do that you know. You just drive by one and it just falls in love with you. The next thing you know you look up in the rear view mirror and it is behind your car.

I am actually quite tired we worked hard all day without much rest. I was ready to quit about 3:00 but Geoff set a goal and we had to go until we met that goal or is was no beer. It is not a good day unless you work hard enough to enjoy a beer. We finished just in time for the 5:00 bell to ring.

Friday night is also lobster night. With a large lobster, clams, corn on the cob, salad, etc. for dinner. It is a BYOB with plenty of the second “B” around. They actually do a very good job with the lobster dinners. Of course it is very hard to mess up a Main lobster. When Carole comes with me, it her favorite part of the week. On previous trips to Maine, she has had lobster for every meal.

Repeat Offenders

Thursday, July 16

Today was just more boards. We used a different method of determining the side of the boards. That way we get exposed to several different methods. Geoff (the teacher) has a set of patterns for the boat and we will just start using his patterns tomorrow for the rest of the planks on each side. That will speed things up quite a bit.

Since we didn’t do a lot that I haven’t talked about before, I am going to ramble on about other things.

I think all of the sailing schooners visit the school each week. Normally around mid-day a bunch of people will show up. There are signs up about not disturbing the classes but most of them will ask you a question if you are close to the door and don’t appear to be busy. Of course, since we after a few days are all experts in the joys of boat building we are more than willing to impart great knowledge upon them. I had to leave the shop today for a couple of minutes to get a tool I left laying on the picnic table where I had lunch. As I was leaving, a group asked me about the class and I expounded with great knowledge. They then ask where I was from. I replied I was from Jersey. For some reason they didn’t believe me. They were all from North Carolina and where here escaping the heat.

One of the things I like about the school is the friendliness of the staff and teacher. There are great group of people who work here. And the community of Brooklin is a great little place. The students are a strange mix of people. Everyone in my class has either a graduate or a professional degree. There seems to be a bunch of highly educated people looking to learn how to use their hands and not their minds. Or, it could be that they are just looking to take a break from the stressful mental strain of today’s work environment. Every now and again you will find some soul who is tormented and wants to become a professional boat builder but this seams to be a rare occurrence. You see a lot of father and son, grandfather and grandson and husband and wife teams. While the former normally take classes together the husband and wife rarely take the same classes. In this group there are three women taking boat building classes while there husbands are learning to sail. Also about half of the people here are repeat offenders. It just seem to be a place you just can’t go once.

I know it isn't perfect

Wednesday, July 15

Today was a good day, we are starting to make a boat. Bruce, Rajan and I were assigned the task of getting the transom on the boat and getting it ready for planks. When you say it fast, it sounds like an easy task but it took most of the day. First of all, it is a three dimensional problem with none of the surfaces vertical and it floats out in space and has to be supported. We had it perfectly in place and one of the clamps went flying across the floor. After a few dirty words, we started over. You can always do something faster the second time. After a lot of measuring, sliding, bumping, nudging we got it “close enough” and screw it in place. Then we pulled the screws out removed it added a bunch of epoxy and repositioned it. Once you have the screw holes to go back into, it is an easy task to reposition it back on the boat.

After the transom is in place, it has to be beveled to match the plane of the surface of the boat. The transom is initially cut with square edges, which would leave big gaps when the planks hit the side of the transom. The angle of the bevel varires from top to bottom and it must symmetrical about the centerline. That is a bunch a picky, time consuming hand work but it is really neat to see the end result especially knowing what you had to do to get it to have a flush and tight joint.

Then we were on to planking the boat. Since we have two people in the class that have never built a wooden boat before Geoff took some time to teach how to figure out what a plank in the boat should look like. It is one of those things I read about, studied about and couldn’t quite comprehend. Then I came to the school the first time and watched Harry do one and the light bulb went off. It is so simple it just using basic plane geometry that you learn in high school and we use it almost every time we lay out a building on paper. I just never thought of applying it that way. You are basically just finding the intersection of a circle using the arcs off the arc of another circle. You can take the method and construct any irregular surface once you know the procedure.

We have the first plank ready to go on the boat. Since Geoff has built this boat, several times, he has a complete set of patterns for the boat and we can simply trace them. But, he took the time to teach Will and Rajan how to do it if you don’t have the patterns. Tomorrow we are going to be using the patterns and tracing the shapes from the patterns. The shapes of the boards are quite unusual. Many of the boards are almost “S” shaped. It is a three dimensional projection of surfaces that causes the shape. At one time, I knew how to sit down with drawings and figure all of that out. But, that was back from a freshman drawing class many years ago, for a skill I have not used since. Anyway, it wouldn’t make sense to try to pre develop the shapes because the forms are more than likely not perfect. I know for a fact the transom isn’t perfect.

The adjacent class was doing steam bending of frames today. They were having a blast doing it. I think everyone got a chance to do the bending and judging from the smiles on their faces, they were having a great day.

One of my former instructors John Brooks came thru the shop today. He told us he was “gainfully unemployed”. He works at the Brooklin Boat Yard and has been working a 90-foot boat for the past year. Apparently, the boat is finished and there isn’t another one behind it so they have laid off most of the workers.

The Blood Mobile

July 13, The blood mobile

Today was the 1st day of classes. We started the day talking about the history of the boat which is pretty interesting. The boat we are building was Nat Hershoff’s personal boat. For the non boaters he was a famous boat designer in the late 1800’s who designed all the boats for the America’s Cup races and the yachts for the rich people in New York, Boston and Newport. He used the boat for many years and it was destroyed in a hurricane in the 30’s. It was and interesting prospective on the man and the boat. He did no drawings for the boat. Just made a few notes and gave it to his craftsman to build. Geoff took the notes and spent several months trying to figure out what they meant and how to draw the boat.

There was a boat like the one we are building in the harbor this morning. We had to take a field trip to see it. We used school launch and got up close and personal. It really is a beautiful boat. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera with me and when I went back at lunchtime is was gone. The boat resides in a harbor close by and I will sneak off later in the week for some Kodak moments.

There was a boatload of kids from the Outward Bound School here this morning. My instructor participated in the program when he was a kid. He said he was the only person in the boat that the court hadn’t sent there. He said he heard about it being a high adventure program and talked his parents into sending him. None of them had a clue what he was getting into. It must have made an impact because later in life he worked with the program after college.

The rest of the day was on lofting which is basically drawing the boat to full scale. It was called lofting because was normally done in the lofts of the building where they built the boat on the floor below. It is interesting but it is basic drafting, projecting views, intersecting lines, etc. I am sure it was Greek to some of the people but for someone who has spent a lifetime doing it was just another day at the office.

We got to glue up some boards this afternoon to make a curved section of the boat, which is fun. You get to slop some epoxy on boards and it gooses out as you add more clamps. At the end, you have a big mess that hardens overnight. Tomorrow we will turn it into a useable board.

I am lucky to get things posted on the blog. It is a dangerous trip to the building where the Wi-Fi is located. As soon as you sit down and start, using the computer misquotes start attacking. I think I lost more blood than I did the last time the Blood Mobile was in Pell City. They actually have a net you get under to keep from being carried away. It gets a little cozy if you have several people trying to get on line.

Potters Need Not Apply

July 12, 2009, Potters need not apply

Since the official school doesn’t start until about 5:00 in the afternoon, I went cruising this morning. Actually, I was on a mission to go to Badaduce for lunch. It one of the top 10 places in Maine to eat. It is just a shack on the side of the road that has been in existence since the 1940’s. If you are ever in the area it is adjacent to the reversing falls at Brooksville. I did find one location that my cell phone works on the top of Caterpillar Hill. I might have to go back there and check in with Carole later in the week. It is about 20 miles away but the closest thing to cell phone coverage around here.

Speaking of Carole. Carol was in this morning to clean up the building. She has been working here for years. It was good to see and talk to her. Her accent is about as Maine as mine is Alabama. (I know all of you who live in the south don’t think you have an accent but believe me you do.) I love to listen to her. We got caught up on her kids, grand kids, her new husband, (the previous one died of cancer a few years ago), her sisters husband passing with cancer a few weeks ago, etc. I told her about our garden. She has never seen or tasted okra. You would have to wonder what she would think if we set her down in front a big plate of boiled okra.

There are a lot of places for sell here. Carol said that many are in foreclosure. If you want to buy, a house in Maine now is the time to do it. If you do, don’t think you are going to come up and do hand thrown pottery for a living. If a house doesn’t have a “For Sale” sign in the yard, there is a sign for hand made pottery. I guess all the hippies from the 60’s have retired to Maine and think they are going to make a good living selling pottery. I have actually heard this is a good place to buy art “stuff” because some many people have moved here to do their art. Because of the quantity of stuff available, everything is cheap.

The small boat regatta was canceled this morning because of rain and fog. About the time they all hooked up and headed out the sun broke thru and it has been a beautiful day ever since although it is a little warm. Must be about 70 in the sun. One thing I observed on my drive is how people put their lawn chairs out in the sun here. Now, no self respecting person in Alabama would put out a lawn chair that wasn’t under a good shade tree.

5:00 is the time for dinner and orientation. I have been orienteated again. I think Rich (the school director) had one new joke this year. The instructor for the course is Geoff Kerr. This is the 2nd time I have taken a course taught by Geoff. He is a great instructor and a lot of fun. With only 6 of us including him I am not sure how far we will get. This boat has a lot of planks to put on. I think it will be a great learning experience.

I will try to start posting some photos as soon as I get a chance.

Damn it is cold

July 11, Birmingham to Brooklin

I tried to blog the trip to the Virgin Islands and that just didn’t work. The days were full and we were having too much fun to stop and write. Besides some of it, you couldn't write about anyway. What happens in the islands stays in the island. Anyway, I am off to the Wooden Boat School again. It is my vacation from reality. There are no TV’s and cell phones. Internet is available but you have to sit on a bench outside in the cold without any lights to access it.

This was supposed to be an easy day with a 9:30 flight from BHM and a drive up the coast of Maine. Well Mr. Delta screwed with me again. They changed the flight to 6:00, so the alarm went off at 3:30 to make it to the airport on time. My luggage is full of planes, saws, and other tools. I am sure I will get one of those tags inserted saying that TSA need to look inside my bags. I will probably get some kind of star by name saying we need to watch this guy he is weird.

One casual observation. I was following two “older” women thru the line in Birmingham to get some coffee. You have never seen such disorder. They couldn’t figure out how to get a tray (just pick it up), how to work the coffee machine (just put the cup under it and push the lever), were the cream was (with all the other condiments), etc. Yet with all of this, they had no problem in telling the guy serving the food where to put the eggs. Don’t touch the eggs and gravy. That isn’t enough gravy. And, the poor girl at the counter got a lesson in why cream should be beside the coffee. Why can’t some people just accept the way things are and not try to boss everyone around.

At Portland, I picked up a rental car for the drive to Brooklin. I was trying to find the “best” place on the coast for clams but when Katherine (our GPS) told me I was there, I didn’t see anything that looked like a place to eat. If I had seen it, I am not sure I could have got back in traffic. Highway 1 can be busy this time of year. Someone told me that they were having a jazz concert in Rockland and had the streets closed for the party and I need to avoid that area. There is a cut off road around town but it misses the Maine Prison Store and I wanted to stop by to see what they had. For those of you who haven’t been, it is a real treat. It is full of woodworking “things” made by prisoners in shop. It resembles the stuff that came out of shop class when I was in high school. Although some of it reminds me of things that Bro. Owens would have the boys in Vacation Bible School do when I was a kid in Sycamore.

I “had” to stop at the Lincolnville Lobster Pound. Carole you could get two 1 ½ pound lobsters for $30.00. There were a couple of kids swimming in the water at the beach near the restaurant. I don’t know how they could even wade into the water as cold as it is.

I stopped at the grocery store on the way in to Brookin. It is about 20 miles from the school to the main grocery store for the area. There is a local “Shields” type market at the intersection but that is it. While I was waiting in line, the people in front of me bought some yellow squash. It was a $1.00 for each squash. I took Julie and Larry 20 of those things yesterday out of the garden. If anyone wants, $10 or $15 worth of squash, I am sure Carole will be more than happy to share crop with you. She is going to have her hand full with the garden over the next couple of weeks. We are getting about 2 grocery sacks full every day of it now and the okra is just starting to come in.

There are few people at the school who are staying over to take the 2nd part of a class or who are taking back-to-back classes. The farmhouse is about half full. Kim was nice to me and I am staying in the room normally reserved for instructors. Apparently, the attendance at the school is way off this year. The course I am taking only has 6 people in lieu of the normal 12. The fundamental course under Greg is about 3 short of a full class.

There is a small boat regatta going on this weekend at the school and there were about 40 boats signed up to participate. Maybe I can get some good photos as they leave out tomorrow morning. Most of those people are camping out in tents. It looks like a tent city over the top of the hill toward the waterfront. Which brings up the discussion of weather.

My body had acclimated itself to the 90 degree temperatures. When I left the house this morning and pulled out of the garage the temperature on the car was 76 degrees. On the way to the interstate, it cooled down to show 70 degrees. Right now, it must be in the upper 50’s with about a 20-knot wind blowing. It didn’t take long to unpack the jacket. I may have to head up to the Bean Outlet tomorrow and get be a sock boggin for my head.

I will probably go exploring for part of the day tomorrow. I have to explore far enough to get something to eat. The local breakfast and lunch place is closed, I heard the waitress was sick and they didn’t have anyone to take her place.

A New Adventure! Off to the BVI

And so the next adventure begins. We are off tomorrow to the BVI with friends Tony, “K”, Don, Peg, Lynn & Marsha for several days of sailing and relaxing. Carole and I are excited about our friends being on the trip. None of them have sailed it the BVI before. We have been scrambling to get everything ready to go. Grass cut, garden hoed, garbage taken to the dumpster, finding all our “island stuff” and packing our bags. We are turning in early for a 3:00 am wake up. Our flight leaves the airport at 5:30 in the morning.

Epilog

According to the FYC book, we did about 1300 miles. I actually think it was closer to a 1000 miles. FYC has a strange method of calculating distances. We burned about 150 gal of diesel fuel. We have very few days of good sailing, most days we spent motoring. We hit the bottom almost everyday we were in south Florida. We never had to get towed off by TowBoat US.

The yacht clubs were definitely the highlight of the trip. They were unique, very nice, with great facilities and most had very good food; the rest just had good food. Of all of the clubs Tampa Yacht and Country Club is the one I would love to go back to some day. I hope my buddy Buck is still there.

The boat did great. At times during the sea crossing, we were tired and fatigued but we could trust the boat to get us there. Of course, the equipment on the boat makes all of this almost easy. I can’t imagine doing what we did without the on board electronics so you always know exactly where you are and where you are going. The Autohelm steers a straight course between points regardless of the sea state. It would be hard to picture standing at the wheel for hours at a time steering a straight course. The Sirius radio or the Ipod were on the whole time providing music. It isn’t required but it makes the trip better.

The ability to connect back to home thru cell phones and email is wonderful. Most of the clubs had WiFi so attachment to the internet was easy. My computer has a Sprint Card that gave me broadband access everywhere we stopped. With access to the internet and the onboard satellite weather system, we sometimes had too much weather information. With all of this information, we were able to make informed decision.

One of the things I have enjoyed is doing the Blog. It has been fun sharing adventures and thoughts each day with close friends.

The key to making a trip like this is to have compatible crew. After almost 41 years, Carole and I can still spend extended time together and enjoy each other’s company. Michael making the sea crossing with us was a big plus. We could have probably done it without him but it would have been much more tiring and not as much fun.

Will we do it again? Will the next trip be to the Keys? The Virgin Islands are nice this time of year. How about a trip to Maine? You will just have to check in every now and again to see.

Carole’s Comment

I agree with what Bob has said. I found it hard to be gone from family, especially on Easter. However, at the same time, I am finding it hard to imagine going back to real life. I know you out there have no sympathy for me, I don’t blame you. Final note. I went back to Starr Booty for one last trip. Get prepared, Pell city. I have my “Florida Do” and it is different!

I doesn't get any better than this

Thursday, April 23, 2009, Pensacola, Florida (Home Port)

Yesterday was a near perfect sailing day. Winds 110 to 90 degrees off the port blowing about 10 knots most of the day. Skies were cloudless, temperature in the mid 70’s, a gentle 4’ swell in the Gulf; it just doesn’t get any better than that. I guess if had been like that the whole time we had been gone we might still be gone. It was Paul’s first time for a long sea passage. Of course, by now Michael is an old salt.

It is about 85 miles sea buoy to sea buoy. We left the marina in Panama City about 7:00 and cleared the sea buoy about 7:45. The winds were light and out of the north and as the day progressed; they swung around behind us and moved forward. The majority of the day the conditions were about perfect. Late in the afternoon they winds moved to the southwest and built up to about 15 for about an hour, before shifting back south. We came in the pass at Pensacola just before sunset and arrived (in the dark again) at the marina about 8:30. We slid into the slip with all our dock lines in the correct place tied to the perfect length, all we have to do is loop them on and we are secure. After we attached the power cables, we head to the “Oar House” for the “Forklift” and cold beer. If you are ever this way it is highly recommended. We actually got there a few minutes after they closed the kitchen. We must have looked rough and hungry because they opened the kitchen back up to cook our supper. Thanks Oar House.

Today has been cleaning and getting ready go home. There was a lot of salt on the boat that had to get cleaned off or you get little rust spots on everything.

Tonight we had dinner at Sam’s. The Po-Boy would put the stuff in south Florida to shame. If they only knew how good we have it here. I guess home is always the best place.

Light and variable winds, gusting to 25 knots

Tuesday, April 21, 2009, Panama City Marina

We like Panama City Marina. It is operated by the city and they do a good job. Michael has observed however, the marina is not quite up to the standards of the Yacht Clubs. Itis clean, the people are friendly and we can understand them. They sound like us, not like some guy from New York. It is one of our favorite marinas to visit. Since I am cheap, one of the better features is it is actually less expensive than the yacht clubs. Since the yacht clubs are significantly cheaper than the other marinas in south Florida, it is quite a bargain.

The marina is right at the end of the street in downtown. It is an easy walk into downtown with lots of neat little shops and good restaurants. Michael and I did our best to keep Carole from spending her monthly allowance from the retirement system. We failed! Most people head to Panama City Beach and never see the downtown area. It is quite a shame. Then again, maybe it is a blessing that the beach crowd doesn’t make it to downtown.

Norma came for a visit and lunch. Norma and I worked together for 25 years or more. It is always great to see her and catch up on families and happenings. After she retired, she left Pell City and became a beach bum at Panama City Beach.

We are checking with NOAA to see what they are thinking about heading back. Yesterday they were saying 30 knot winds on Wednesday, this morning they are saying winds out of the east early and shifting to southwest later building to about 15. I guess we will just go out there and see what happens. To quote Cap’t Ron “If is going to happen, it is going to happen out there”. You have to remember; these are same people who gave the forecast last week of “light and variable winds, gusting to 25 knots”. I am still trying to figure out what that meant.

Paul is coming to join Michael and me for the trip to Pensacola. Carole will driving Paul’s car. She is planning to spend part of the day with Norma and the rest of the day at the Outlet Mall. There goes the rest of the retirement allowance. We should be out at daybreak tomorrow for a late night arrival. Either wish us luck or say a short prayer for southeast winds at 8 to 10 and 2 foot seas. I know that is a precise request. Well if you are going to say prayer, you might as well ask for exactly what you want.

Michael this cockpit isn’t big enough for the both of us

Monday, April 20, 2009, Panama City Marina

Sea buoy to sea buoy in 31 hours. I forget what I write so it is easier to repeat myself that to go back and look things up. It must be an age thing. We were not able to stay in Clearwater on Friday night because of a big fishing tournament, so we camped out at Treasure Island Yacht Club.

After a thorough checking of the weather early Saturday morning, we make the “go” decision. We are out of the yacht club around 7:30 and headed up the ditch to Clearwater. Five bascule bridges later, we pull thru the pass at Clearwater at 10:00 for a course of 309 degrees and 175 miles to Cape San Blas. The wind is right on our stern and we veer off about 10 degrees north to make the sails fill. Being off by that amount doesn’t concern us since the winds are supposed to clock to the south. As the day goes on, we will be able to correct back to our course. What was I thinking! I know better than to trust NOAA (National Weather)! The winds move around to the northeast and then north, dying the whole time. Actually, they are doing exactly what Sailflow.com said they would do. We roll in the jib and pull the main in tight to stop any roll. That was pretty much the tack until mid morning on Sunday. Because of the wind and the sea, we get a nice drone of the engine and a comfortable trip. Around mid morning, the winds shift back to the southeast and start to pick up force slowly. All of the models showed the winds out of the south by this point and blowing 10 to 15. Because of the direction, we still aren’t able to use the sails to help us any. We turn the corner at Cape San Blas around 12:00 for the next 45-mile leg. Then a miracle occurs as we turn to get a little more wind angle the wind shifts a little more south and we still have it on our stern. Oh yes, did I mention the waves. Five footers by this time. Because they are on our stern, it is sill a semi-comfortable ride. Looks like about the same waves we were pounding into going south. We say a little prayer of thanks for the semi-comfortable ride. We are watching the front develop to the west on the satellite weather system and we can be either go to Port St Joe or Panama City based on the weather system. I check again about the point we would have to make the turn to Port St Joe and based on what we are seeing looks like the storms won’t get to Panama City until we are snug in the harbor. Actually, we never had any of the storms here.

You remember my docking experience in Florida where I did the perfect maneuvers and impressed everyone. You should never brag, it will come back and haunt you later. The docking maneuver here took 3 of us on the boat and 4 people on the dock plus hanging the anchor on about 3 different piles with a lot of screaming, yelling. I was damn glad for those 4 people on the dock.

Michael was a tremendous help with the trip. We alternated 3 hour watches. He would be in control of the boat for 3 hours while I napped and then we would swap. During the night, both of us were on deck sleeping (if you can call it that) in the cockpit. Carole was chief cook and alternate watch stander so at least two people were on deck all of the time. When Carole was available, Michael or I would go below to get our nap. It looked like Michael and I weren’t on speaking terms, since as soon as one of us would come on deck the other one would get up and leave. It was like the old western movies “Michael this cockpit isn’t big enough for the both of us”.

Good hot showers and cold beer (not in that order) made us a feel better. I got a good 10 hours of sleep in lieu of my normal 7 and now we have to start looking for the weather window for the next leg. It ain’t going to be today.

Carole’s Comments

Compared to the trip down back at the first of March, this one was much easier. But I can’t say it is the most fun of anything to do. It is very much like any long car trip on the interstate. The monotony of this trip comes from the lack of a change of scenery. I get very interested when a plastic jug floats by and we have conversation of what it could be, trash? A fish jug gone missing? Of course, the occasional dolphins visit is truly fun. The real highlight of the first day was the little bird that joined us. It was a little brown finch in need of a tree. The winds had been howling back in Clearwater from the east so we figured it had been blown off shore. It was so happy to have something to land on that it was quite friendly. I should have gotten a picture of it hopping around on Bob. It settled down tucked in beside me. Bob said it knew who the mom was. Bob told us by the next day it would be gone or dead and unfortunately, it was the latter. At least it had some rest. When night came that is when it really gets different. It was dark, no moon but the stars were out and fun to see. All you could see in front of you was the anchor. I told Michael the night is disconcerting to me because I couldn’t see anything. He made the astute observation that well there wasn’t anything to see after all but it is comforting to see it. Imagine driving down the interstate at night and you can’t see. Of course, we have radar and we know if anything is out there for 24 miles. We did encounter a boat in the middle of nothing that necessitated we actually had to change course. I will let Michael tell that story. Well, we made it just fine but I will say that passages are not my favorite part of sailing. It just has to be done to go anywhere. We are heading home. We have been gone a while, we have seen many sights and had some good times. Bob and I are still talking to each other but it sure is good to have Michael here to give us somebody else!

Log Supplemental, Crewman Michael:

Apparently, I have a bizarre propensity to find the one other boat in the middle of Gulf of Mexico and run directly for her. On my last western passage of the gulf aboard the Sea Cloud in the middle of the night the captain, Tony, and I spotted a distant light on the horizon. As we approached the light, we had no radar contact and assumed it a weather buoy. The closer we got we questioned our assumption and once within visual range we were able to see that we were about to pass within 50 ft of a commercial fishing vessel. At that point, the radar finally made contact in time to sound collision. A quick change of course averted disaster. While on this crossing, we avoided a collision alarm but shadiness abounded.

Shortly before sunset, we spotted the boat on the horizon directly ahead. Dad went below as the sun lowered into the western horizon leaving me at the helm with Mom as my most excellent deck companion. Radar made contact and I began tracking the boat. It appeared to be a commercial shrimp boat circling in a very small area at about 2.0 knots. As we approached, the boat stopped and I decided to pass in front of her to avoid her nets. The captain of the Padre hailed us to say hello as we crossed about 50 ft of her bow. A friendly sort of fellow wishing us a good evening, he was quickly called away by the hail of the Carole Anne. It was the later events that got shady. I pointed out to Mom that it was odd that the Padre would be that far out at sundown without her nets out just circling around. Mom pointed out that the captain appeared to be alone on the vessel. Then it all clicked for me and I decided that it had to be a drug runner waiting for a delivery from the mysterious Carole Anne that was apparently far more important than we were as we passed the Padre. About thirty minutes later, we heard the hail from the US Coast Guard. “Fishing vessel at 28d 11m, this is the US Coast Guard Cutter one mile off your port.” There was no reply. The hail was repeated and again no reply. Apparently, the Coast Guard thought it was a little suspicious as well and was probably out there anticipating something was going to happen.

So even in the wide expanse of the Gulf, excitement happens and you can always run directly across another boat.

Making plans for home

Thursday, April 16, 2009, Pass-A-Grille

From Bird Key it is an easy trip across the bay and up the ditch to Pass-A-Grille. We are looking for a place to fuel up and starting to make our plans to cross the Gulf. Michael will be joining us tomorrow. He is getting good at renting cars and driving all day back and forth to Tampa. If all goes according to plan, we will pull out at daylight on Saturday morning and hope to be in Panama City by dark on Sunday. The national weather service is showing good winds from the Southeast and two to four foot seas. Let’s hope they are accurate.

Mother that isn't me in the photo

Tax Day, April 15, 2009, Bird Key Yacht Club

Happy Tax Day everyone. I got caught in the middle of a TEA protest but more on that later. Last night had to be one of the worst nights we have ever spent on the boat. We were docked in a terrible place for what we were having to deal with weather wise. The marina is just inside the pass at Venice. When the thunderstorms started, the waves increased and they started rolling around the breakwater up the channel. We were dealing with a swell, high winds, rain and a changing tide with strong currents. The boat was rolling and pitching. We had fenders between the piling and us but because of the changing conditions, they would work their way off the piles. When they did, the boat would give bone-jarring hits to the piles. I had to get up every couple of hours and readjust dock lines and fenders. As soon as we could we untie we were out of there.

It was a short trip from there up to Bird Key. Sonya had been nice enough to get all my tax stuff overnighted to the Club, including making out the checks, furnishing envelopes and stamps. All that was required on my part was a signature and putting it in the mailbox. The signature was easy but I missed the mail person at the club and had to make a trip to the post office downtown. That is where the adventure began. It is a couple of miles into town on the bicycle over the Ringling Bridge. Grabbing the lowest gear on the bicycle and pedaling hard I get to the top. Of course going down is a real fast trip. Reminds me of going down the hill at Grandma’s house in Sycamore. When I think of some of the things, I did when I was a kid it is a miracle I am alive today. At the bottom of the bridge, there is a major intersection. There are TEA protesters everywhere, waving signs and in general creating a very good disruption of traffic. They are all friendly and I work my way thru going to and from the post office. I think I probably got there about as quick on the bicycle as you could have in a car. There was a news photographer taking photos and I wound up in one of the photo. So mother I want you to know I was not taking part in a protest march. I was an innocent bystander just like the time at the University when they were having the antiwar protest march.

Carole says I am beginning to sound like the food critic in the paper so I have to tell you about dinner last night. It started with cold refreshing Budweiser (my favorite) chilled to the perfect temperature. That was followed by a garden salad with wonderfully fresh tomatoes, garnished with a few picked beets. The main course was a scrumptious clam linguini, perfectly cooked and seasoned. The desert was a chocolate and caramel brownie. It may have been the best meal all trip. It was cooked by Carole and we ate on the boat. That is my story and I am sticking to it, forever.

Sam would commit suicide

Tuesday, April 14, 2009, Venice Inlet

Venice is a nice town. The downtown area was close to the marina and we took the bikes to downtown. The downtown area reminds us a lot of Fairhope. There are many small shops with “nice” stuff. There doesn’t seem to be a shortage of tourist in any of the downtown area. We were walking thru the parking lot here for the restaurant and noticed that most of the cars are from out of state. Apparently, there was an old military base here and much of downtown is housed in former military buildings. It reminds you a lot of the buildings at Ft McClellan. The streets are wide with parks in between the lanes. It is a shame that more cities don’t have downtown pedestrian areas.

The tour of town was this morning. The afternoon has been watching rainstorms come thru. They got close to an inch of rain. We have been lucky so far. This is the first day we have been slowed down because of rain.

The marina here is convenient to the gulf but I would have a hard time recommending it. The current runs a couple of knots under the boat and today a swell has been rolling around the entrance and up the channel.

We had tried to get into the Yacht Club for dinner but they were having a buffet and bingo night. We told them we would stop in the next time we were this way. There is a restaurant at the marina that stays packed out. We went to eat there tonight and they had a 45 minute wait. I am going to sound like the food editor but I had the shrimp po-boy. All I can tell you is Sam in Pensacola would commit suicide before he would serve a sandwich like the one I had.

Tomorrow it is back to Bird Key Yacht Club near Sarasota. We are looking at the weather for the return trip. Right now, it looks like we have an opening to leave Saturday morning and get into Panama City late Sunday. I look at about five different sites to get my weather information. We compare the sites, average them out, and hope like heck that we make the right decision. The key elements are wind 90 degrees or more off your course, ideal 12 knots or less and waves at some reasonable level.

One Minute to Spare

Monday, April 13, 2009, Venice

The wind gods were good to us today. Well maybe it was the diesel engine gods were pretty good too. In any event, we had a 60 mile run. (As a point of reference that would be like driving your car 600 miles in one day.) With the wind behind our back, we put out the jib and were running the engine around 2,000 rpm. That combination gave us a good steady 7 knots thru Pine Island Sound. Our original intent was to anchor at Cabbage Key for the night but there is a front coming thru that was going to give us 20-knot winds out of the south. Cabbage Key is exposed to the south and it would not have been a good anchorage so we decided to keep heading north. We made the Boca Grand Causeway Bridge opening with 1 minute to spare; otherwise, we would have had to wait another 30 minutes. The other bridge we have to be concerned with is the Hatchet Creek Bridge, which shuts down during rush hour from 4:30 to 6:00. We make the bridge with 3 minutes to spare. We must have been living right.

There is a yacht club in Venice but we have not been able to get in either on the way down or the way back. I don’t know if they just don’t have much space or it is the most popular place on the ICW. We are staying at Crows Nest Marina and having to pay about twice as much as we are used to paying. The marina is right at the entrance, Venice Inlet, from the Gulf. There is one heck of current running under our keel. We have doubled all of our dock lines and have a gentle rocking due to the current. With the wind kicking up to 30-knots tomorrow, we may be taking seasick medications at the dock. Our plans are to stay here for a couple of days and see the town. It is supposed to have a great downtown area.

Easter Feast

Easter Sunday, April 12, 2009, Back to St Charles Yacht Club

Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Independence Day have always been very big holidays for both of us. They always involve too much to eat and having fun with extended family. This year was certainly different. For our traditional Easter dinner, we had turkey sandwiches, chips and ice “sweet” tea. About the time everyone was gathering at grandma’s house, we were about 5 miles off the coast with a bright sunny day and the wind pulling us along at about 6 knots. It was truly beautiful. We just can’t think about the ham, green beans, deviled eggs, macaroni and cheese, potato salad, layered salad, broccoli salad and pecan pie, pound cake, carrot cake, Italian cream cake, and caramel cake. We talked to everyone after we got into harbor and Uncle Monk said he ate my portion of the deserts.

The Naples Club has many nice boats in the harbor. There are probably over a 100 slips there and there are more Hinckley Picnic boats (http://www.hinckleyyachts.com/home.html) than you can imagine and the ones that aren’t Hinckley’s are Hinckley knockoffs. There was a Morris sailboat just a couple of slips down that was beautiful. Most of the boats were very well maintained. There was one old junker with a rebel flag on the side. There has to be a story there.

We had dinner at the Naples Yacht Club last night. It is a beautiful place; the interior finishes you just have to see to appreciate. Unfortunately that is where the beauty ended. The food was adequate and the service was marginal. Oh well you can’t have it all.

Tomorrow starts red on right. For those of you who are nautically challenged and don’t remember the early discussion of the ICW, red on right means we are starting our trip back tomorrow therefore; the channel markers will always, well almost always, be on the right going back toward Texas where the ICW starts. We plan to be in Clearwater by next weekend and then make the crossing back across the Gulf as soon as we get a good weather window. Paul is trying to get off to make the crossing. He has never been able to cross the Gulf. Michael will also be joining us but he has made the trip several times now and is getting to be an old hand at night crossings.

Carole asked me to write about the wild life we have seen. Well there were these two girls in these bikinis. She made me delete the rest of the paragraph and start over. We have seen birds and fish.

From Carole:
Oh yea, and the cute hunks on the beach in Naples but that is another kind of wildlife. It is always a real exciting moment when you catch the animals and mammals of the sea in their natural habitat. Wherever we go, I am always on the lookout. Flora and Fauna also really intrigue me. It is always so different from home. To see poinsettia trees and schefflera and bougainvillea hedges is just amazing when these are house-potted plants to us. We have seen beautiful flowers on perfectly landscaped lawns. But back to the wildlife, we have seen many dolphins, shore birds of all kinds, Ospreys on nests and babies, some big sea turtles and finally down in Naples flying fish. Today a large tarpon jumped up in front of us. And the very best was lots and many friendly lizards, John Patrick! So as we begin the trip home I will still be on the lookout for wildlife of all kinds and beautiful flowers. I must confess though, nothing was as beautiful as the entire wild dogwood in the woods the weekend we were home at the end of March.

Laying out

Good Friday, April 10, 2009, Naples Yacht Club

We used to plant our garden every year on Good Friday. That was back when we had lots of time and no money. Strange but I think we are getting back to that point again. Let’s hope the stock market will come back and we will have the good times again. This is going to be a strange Easter. It will be the first Easter in our lifetime we haven’t spent it extended family. Paul and Michael are headed to Mother’s house to help her cook for the family gathering. Michael in the true Deal tradition showed up on the boat this week with a cooler full of food to take to Sycamore. Made his so mother proud!

All of Carole’s buddies need to be here to help her shop in downtown Naples. I think she and Michael enjoyed wandering thru the shops in downtown. I don’t know if she wasn’t in a buying mood or just didn’t find anything she liked but she came back with the $20 she had when she left. Thank goodness Miss Kaye wasn’t here. It would have been a different story!

The day has been beautiful. We have all “laid out”; if you are from the south you know what I mean. Carole and Michael when to the beach and worked on their tans. I laid out on the dock cleaning and waxing the boat. The docks here are floating docks, which lets you get to the side of the boat. After several weeks of banging thru waves and not being able to access the sides for a good scrubbing the hull was looking pretty scrummy. At least one side is looking good. Tomorrow we will turn the boat around in the slip and I can catch the other side.

Almost all of the locations we have visited, we have been “on the wall”. On the wall is an expression that means you are tied along side a pier or a wall. Since you can only tie to one side, you are depending on fenders to keep you from rubbing up and down on piles. Even with double and triple fenders we are getting scrapes and marks on the hull. I know Surprise will be glad to get back to its slip in Pensacola and not have to deal with piles anymore. By the way, I was going to title this section “dealing with piles” but I thought that might be a little too graphic.

Since this is Easter weekend there is one other item to report. It is actually a prayer concern. You know in Pell City we don’t gossip but we are certainly willing to share a prayer concern with anyone. After all, if you don’t know about someone’s trouble how can you pray for them. We got an email from our friends and former pastor Paul and Kitty Messer today. We have been very concerned about them for the past couple of years. Paul has struggled with what God wanted him to do with his life. From all indications, he has found new purpose in life and is looking forward to each new day. They are serving a missionary in Senegal. It is a very different and challenging assignment but I think Paul sees it as his way of helping people. I am sure they would appreciate your prayers. I am encouraging them to start a blog of their work there. Maybe they will and I can share the address with everyone.

Buddy Clark cussing school

Thursday, April 9, 2009, Naples Yacht Club

We left about 8:00 this morning. Kicked Michael off when I found that I had a major confusion with tides. I thought we were on a rising tide and found out that my data was not correct. We were on a falling tide at the club. We motored out reading 0.0 on the depth and feeling a little nudge on the bottom every now and again. Michael will meet us in Naples after doing the tourist thing in Sarasota, the Ringling Mansion and St. Armand Circle.

We continue slowly motoring our way down the channel and come very close to hitting a major hump in the bottom. It is a help for us to check each other on reading charts. Carole is a great sailing partner.

The wind is about 20 degrees off the nose. We pull the traveler all the way across to get the mainsail to pull a little. We have a couple of feet of swell that is 90 degrees off the wind, which causes the boat to roll. The sail isn’t doing any good for sailing but it sure stops the roll. As the trip progresses the wind goes thru to the opposite side and we actually pick up about a half a knot of speed. Approaching the Gordon Pass into Naples, that little wind and a little current shaved off 1 hour.

Coming up the river is an interesting trip. McMansions close to each other. It is narrow, shallow and full of boats going every direction. There is a 16 foot outboard boat with four old farts wondering all over the place right in front of us down the middle of the channel. We see a chance and power up to overtake them. There isn’t much room and we are running pretty close to them. We have the bow of the boat about 10 feet past their bow before they know we are there. One of the guys starts yelling and cussing about big boat think they own the water. Don’t you just love old Yankees? He was such an amateur curser; he needs to spend some time on a job site with Buddy Clark.

The club here is a classy place but more on that next time.

You have to be flexible

Thursday, April 9, 2009, Still at St Charles

We were all ready to pull out yesterday and I called Naples to see what the procedure was coming into the club. The dock master told me that if we came we would probably be sitting in the middle of the river all night grounded out. Apparently, the north winds that we were looking forward to because of finally being able to sail one leg had blown all the water out of the bay.

Then the scrambling for new plans started. We had to talk to the dock master here to see if we could stay another night. Michael was driving down to join us for a couple of days and we had to talk to him. After some reworking of schedules, we are squared away for another day at St Charles. Of course, for the bay to have water for us to get in means the wind direction has changed and we will be motoring into the wind. Sailing teaches you a lot of life’s lessons. I think I need to write a book about the lessons in life you learn from sailing. Chapter One is going to be “Be flexible and don’t plan past tomorrow”.

Since we were going to be at St Charles all day, I took a bike trip to the local hardware store. About 8 miles round trip. It was the best hardware store I have ever seen. I just wondered around looking for about 30 minutes with required purchases in hand. Paul the dock master told me that when he wins the lottery he is going to buy that store, lock the door so no one can get in and enjoy life.

We had a nice meal at the club. They have a tradition of putting visiting sailors with club members. The dinner conversation was interesting and lively at times. The club selects those you sit with at meals. If you and your friends make reservations, you probably won’t be sitting with them. That way everyone gets to know all the different club members. Since there are only 120 members, it is easy to get to know everyone.

Steve Colgate was sitting at the adjacent table. If you are a true sailor, you will recognize the name. If you are not, he is the guy who wrote the book on how to sail. Literally, he wrote the book everyone uses. Several times Olympic champion and ocean racer.

We are a cute couple

Wednesday, April 8, 2009, St Charles Yacht Club

On Tuesday, I had a CASE conference call to do in the morning so we were off to a fast start making sure everything was done before the call started. We watched the news, had several cups of coffee, read the paper, spent some time with Paul talking about favorite places in Maine and did a very thorough study of the weather on line. I know you think it is impossible to get that much done between 8:00 and 11:00 but if you work at it you can.

There is an Outlet Mall and Grocery Store about 1.463 miles from here. We needed a “few” things so we were off on the bikes to the store. Carole found a Cold Water Creek store and made some, what I am very sure about, necessary purchases. I put emphases “few” because have you ever tried to carry sacks of groceries on a bike. We have a basket for one of the bikes that will hold about a 6 pack of beer. The rest of the groceries go in boat bags over your shoulder and you have to be able to petal the bike and work the hand brake. It was very windy yesterday and we were pedaling back into a 20-knot head wind. We must be a very cute couple because everyone who we meet has a big grin on their face as they step quickly away from our path.

The local news had a story about some sailor who anchored off the beach Monday night. His anchor line broke and he was washed ashore. They had an interview with him and photos of the boat. He had sold all his processions, had bought this boat and was taking it to Key West to live on the boat there. It was about a 28 ft boat and the bottom of the boat had barnacles a couple of inches thick. There was a small craft warning out for the area on Monday and he anchored on a lee shore. This guy doesn’t swim in the deep end of the intelligence pool.

Our friends John and Helen have started a blog about their trip to the Keys. If you remember, they were the couple we were buddy boating with down here. You can check out their adventures at http://svzephyrina.blogspot.com/.

Keeping out the sailor trash

Tuesday April 7, 2009, St Charles Yacht Club

We felt discretion was the better point of valor and got the heck out of Captiva Island Yacht Club Monday morning. Now don’t get me wrong, it is a beautiful place with nice facilities, very peaceful and tranquil but the area is open from the north and east for several miles. With the weather front coming in, we thought it was prudent to move to a more protective place. Apparently, several other people shared our opinions. The club here is full of visiting boaters.

It was a short run as the crow flies it was only 12 miles. As we followed the channel, it was more like about 20 miles. The entrance is a long narrow channel into a small natural harbor. Type 15900 St Charles Harbour Blvd, Fort Myers, Fl 33908 (I know that isn’t the way to spell harbor but that is the way they spell it) into Google Map and you can get a good view of the harbor. From the satellite view, you can see we are snug as a bug in a rug and that is a good thing. We beat the front by a couple of hours. As the front approached, the winds pick up into the mid 20’s and the temperatures started to drop. We are expecting near 40-knot winds today and I have already seen over 30-knot winds.

I have the feeling this is one more expensive club. Most clubs try to build a large member base. Pensacola has around 600 and we are very envious of St Pete with its 3000 members. The club here limits the number of members to 120. Unfortunately, it will be closed the whole time we are here, so we will not get to try eating in the club. It must be good; Paul the dock master says it is hard to get a reservation for dinner.

Paul is an interesting person. He is probably a few years older than I am and has been dock master here for 11 years. He takes the months of June thru September off and goes to his home in Sedgwick, Maine. Sedgwick is just around the corner from the Wooden Boat School. I want his job! As we are talking an alarm started going off. They have an alarm that goes off when someone enters the channel. I guess it the best way to keep the sailor trash out of this place.

Carole is going thru shopping withdrawals, poor thing, because we haven’t been anywhere that she could do some serious shopping. Well today is the day. There is an outlet mall about a mile away and we are off to the shops. I hope the husband benches are comfortable.

PS OMG have you seen the photo of my little brother on the followers panel. Our family doesn’t like to admit it but we are just one generation away from being the missing link in evolution.

It is a hard life

Sunday, April 5, 2009, Captiva Island Yacht Club

I woke up this morning with the boat heeled over about 15 degrees. We are hard aground in the marina. By 8:00 we are floating again and we head down the ditch to Captiva Island.

It was a nice easy trip with beautiful scenery on both sides. The club is on the bay and across the street from the ocean. We took a walk on the beach and watched the sunset. It is a hard life but someone has to do it. Sorry you can’t be here enjoying the trip with us.

We hope to get out early tomorrow and head to St Charles Yacht Club.

You can't be that lucky twice

Saturday April 4, 2009, Palm Island Marina

We did about 30 miles down the ditch dealing with a bunch of bridges. We have struggled to find out what the bridge names are and we thought well, what the hell, just ask the bridge tender what the next one is. Are we geniuses or what?

Everything was running smooth until we got to the “Circus” bridge. It is an open on demand bridge, we had talked to the bridge tender and she said to bring it on, she would have the bridge open. We saw her shut down the traffic. We were steaming along at 5 knots with the perfect bridge opening timing. The bridge tender calls on the radio and says, “Back it down cap’t there is a problem with the bridge”. Just like in the movies “Engines Full Reverse”. That is not a good thing to do! The boat does funny things. We get it straightened out and start backing away. The damn bridge is broke. We talk to the tender and something has broken. Oh Dirty word. We are a couple of hours south of the Venice Inlet and we have to go a couple of hours above the Charlotte Harbor entrance to where we have reservations. We can’t make that trip in daylight hours. The tender tell us a service man is on the way and we need to just hang back. Maintaining a boat on station is not an easy thing to do but after an hour of doing it, I was getting pretty good. The service guy must have known what to do because he had the bridge operational about 15 minutes after he got there and we were on our way again.

The trip was a nice run. There were lots of McMansions and some real old cement block Florida homes, like the ones that used to be in Orange Beach. There is one section that has bike and walking paths down both side of the ditch with lots of picnic tables. Looks like a great fishing area in the flats and around the mangrove covered islands.

We plow thru the entrance to the marina reading 0.0 on the depth sounder. We make the 1st stop at the fuel dock. We have sucked down 28 gals in the engine and generator since we filled up in Clearwater a month ago. We are shown our berth for the night on the wall and the dock guy goes to meet us. We have to yell to stop another boat from backing out of the other fuel dock in front of us and then a bunch of bubbas are cruising thru the marina sitting in the middle of the channel. You can’t really imagine how tight this place is. The channel is less than a boat length wide and there are several right angle turns. We get to the berth and the dock guy tells us to pull to the other end. I refuse! Well actually, I was OK with it but the boat was hard aground. He asks if we can back up and use the adjacent berth. Well we can but we can’t get off the boat there. The only thing we can do is the spin the boat 180 degrees. Did I tell you how tight this place is? There is a crowd of people in the marina and at the bar watching. Plus, there is a sailing club doing a rendezvous here and they are all watching. We back out a little ways, a forward maneuver, then back and turn with our anchor 8” away from the lifelines on a trawler and the stern 8” way from a concrete wall. A little forward again and back along side the wall, kick it forward so it slides against the piling on the wall. I walk forward and lasso the pile on the 1st try. There is nothing to this. We are professionals. The dock guy says “I have never seen anyone handle a boat that good before”. I reply, “Well the bow thruster help a little”. Carole acting cool and is restraining herself from jumping up and down on the deck. We both suck down a beer to calm our nerves. Sometimes you are good and sometimes you are lucky. I hope I never have to do that maneuver again as long as I live. You can’t be that lucky twice.

The marina had a “FREE” washing machine. It was the happiest I have seen Carole since St Pete where they had coin machines. We must be simple people. All we need is a washing machine and a tractor to be completely happy.

Sarasota Yacht and Tent Revival Club

Friday, April 3, 2009, Bird Key Yacht Club

This is the official NOAA weather forecast for today.
WEST WINDS AROUND 20 KNOTS AND GUSTY DIMINISHING TO 10 TO 15 KNOTS LATE. SEAS 6 TO 8 FEET. BAY AND INLAND WATERS CHOPPY. CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND SLIGHT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS MAINLY SOUTH OF LONGBOAT KEY
Is there any doubt why we are riding bikes in St Armands Circle? Actually this is the same front that went thru Alabama yesterday and last night. It wasn’t nearly as bad here as it was there.

Back when I was a kid, 4-eyes, Rocky, Cotton and I would play cow pasture football. Of course the object of the game was to take the football (generally a wad of newspaper, footballs were expensive) from one end of the field with out getting knocked down or stepping in something. Of course, the highlight of the day was to tackle someone so they fell in the cow patty. Today I have been playing Bird Sanctuary Dock. The object of the game was to get from one end of the dock to the other without stepping in something. These people need a good Remington 1100.

There are three yacht clubs here in Sarasota. We are at the Bird Key Club, which is on Bird Key. How about that. The Sarasota Yacht Club is just down the road a short distance. Carole and I have renamed it the Sarasota Yacht and Tent Revival Club. They have torn down all their facilities and have moved into a big tent. My partner in crime John sent me a link to a YouTube site that might just fit right in here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFNeE_W5VZU It looks like a typical construction site with dust, cranes, construction debris. I am glad we chose Bird Key.

We have some good friends who are making a motor home trip across the country to Oregon. Peg has started a blog of their trip. Her personality really comes out in what she is writing. This is the link if you would like to follow her adventures. http://www.pegsontheroad.blogspot.com

We will be out early tomorrow for 30 more miles and 7 bridges.

I am not a hard tail

Thursday, April 2, 2009, Bird Key Yacht Club

We left Bradenton as soon as we had enough water under us to clear the club. We have been on bottom for the last couple of nights at low tide. We were trying to get out in a hurry to get to Sarasota as early as possible. We wanted to get to the Ringling Bridge as soon as we could. The longer we waited the higher the tide we would have to deal with at the bridge. It seems no one has a clue how tall the bridge is. Some of the charts show 60’ the latest chart you can review on line shows 65’. One of the yacht clubs told us 63’ another told us 67’ and another told us not to attempt the bridge. Our mast is 63’-10” to the top and we have weather instruments, lights and antennas above that. If you are into ham radio, you know the VHF antenna is 19” so doing the math we are 65’-5”. The antenna is flexible and we can blink it on the bridges and clear a 65’ bridge. 64’-6” we start loosing equipment. Most bridges have boards that tell you what the height is above water level. The Ringling Bridge doesn’t have one. It is the only bridge, I have ever seen, that doesn’t have one. Our pucker factor is high, no it is extremely high, like trying to insert the straight pin with a 20 lb sledge hammer. Did I mention the wind is blowing over 20 knots. Carole gets on the bow and I am steering with my head hanging out trying to see. There is a guy on the top of the bridge who is yelling we are going to hit. There are two guys in powerboats who have stopped to watch. There is nothing like being able to tell your buddies about watching a boat hit a bridge and the mast falling in the water. We inch up and the wind blows us off the center, which is the highest point. Hard reverse and try again. Have you ever tried to inch up a 30,000 pound boat. It would be like trying to bring a semi tractor-trailer up to your front door without hitting the house. Oh yea your tractor-trailer doesn’t have breaks. We try again. The guy on the bridge still thinks we are going to hit. The mast goes past the edge and nothing hits. One of the guys in the boat give us hand motions and tell us we clear by about 2 ft. We have a huge sigh of relieve and can’t even remember what we are supposed to do when we clear.

So the question is why did we even attempt this maneuver? The 20-knot winds have kick up some pretty bad seas outside. Beating into 20-knot winds on your nose with 6 ft seas would be a pounding we are not willing to take. It would have also been a 50-mile run, which would have put us 10 to 12 hours in that environment. We are just relieved to know we can get under the bridge with the tide reading 1.75 ft. It will make the trip back easier.

There was an old Cuban guy who was the night dockmaster at the Tampa Club. He had the graveyard shift and I talked to him for a while early one morning. He was an interesting person. He had been a delivery captain, had captain large yachts for owners and had been a charter-fishing captain. He told me for the next couple of weeks we were going to be having “Easter Winds”. He says for a couple of weeks before Easter the winds blow strong from either the west or south and create high seas. He said that Easter Day was sometimes the worst day of all. We decided it was just God’s way of telling you that you should be in church on Easter and not out fishing. We probably won’t be in church on Easter but I will send my contribution in so maybe the preacher will help me ask for 8 to 10 knots out of the east.

Let me back up and talk about the Bradenton Club. It is a pretty relaxed club with shorts and jeans allowed in the dining area. The 1st night we were there they were having a two-for deal. Two meals for the price of one. The next night they had a “Build-A-Better-Burger” night. The burger was a 10 oz on a bun, with slaw and fries for $9.00 and every topping you could imagine to add to it. Did I mention it was also $1.00 beer night? BYC may be the most inexpensive club we have visited. They also get the prize for the warmest water in the pool.

I took a bike tour in Bradenton of the state park. I think I am going to become a tree hugger. It is a neat park that is just a long finger of Mangrove trees along the side of the road. The whole island isn’t more than a hundred feet wide. When you look out in the Mangrove, there are plastic bags, plastic drink bottles, plastic cups, plastic forks, and plastic oil containers. It is the crap that blows out the back of some redneck’s pickup truck and is washed by rain into our streams, rivers and oceans. How many life times will it take for that stuff to deteriorate back into the earth. As a society we have to start being more proactive about how we deal with trash. We have hit plastic bags twice off the coast and had them wrap around the prop. We had to have a diver get one of them off before we installed spurs on the prop to cut them up. OK I will get off my soapbox and tell you I really can never be a tree hugger. Carole and I have 600 acres of trees that are part of our retirement plan. They only add to your retirement money if you cut them down. Beside how would you ever build a beautiful wooden boat or piece of furniture if you never cut a tree?

Our major mode of land transportation is the bicycles we carry on board. When I was growing up in Sycamore, I rode my bike all over the place. Sycamore was a great place to ride a bike back then. There weren’t that many cars and all the streets had wide sidewalks. Many of the cities in this area of Florida have nice bike paths. Many are old railroad beds and go on for miles. I guess there is still enough kid in me that I really get a kick out of riding a bike. I have not overcome one issue yet. My butt is sore. Were bike seats better in the 50’s? I have found out I am not a hard tail.

Pig Liver Road

Wednesday, April 1, 2009, Bradenton

Happy April Fools Day! I started to do a good April Fools Blog and let my imagination run free with stories of huge waves, EPIRB’s, Pirate Ships, Coast Guard rescues, shark-infested waters. My sister has been sharing these blogs with my mother. Dink doesn’t always get the punch line on a joke and mother over reacts so, I just have to settle for wishing everyone Happy April Fools Day.

There are some events I have to catch everyone up on before we get back to sea stories. Johnathan’s wedding was very nice, the bride was beautiful, and the reception was a sit down dinner. The flower girls, one was Lee’s daughter, were too cute. All of Carole’s family was there, with the exception of brother-in-law Larry and Rebecca’s husband Patrick. Patrick had to work and Larry was sick. As a matter of fact, he was so sick that the doctor told him he was the sickest person he had seen all year out of the hospital. What a bedside manner! He was put to bed with “DRUGS” and is beginning to be among the living again. Y’all realize that being a child of the 60’s DRUGS is a good thing.

Lee’s son Nicholas is 16 months old and is quite a hand full. He is a big kid tall and solid muscle. He is fascinated with doors! Carole and I took him for a walk to give mom and dad a break. In our walking, we went thru the automatic doors at the hotel. That was the most marvelous invention in the world. He stayed there for 30 minutes running at the door making it open. He figured out that if he backed up it would close. He had total control of his world. He was laughing, clapping his hands and was the happiest child you have ever seen. Well he was happy until we had to go then he was kicking, screaming and making us look like child abusers as we pulled him away from the door.

Something everyone ate while we were at the wedding caused varying degrees of illness among the attendees. It varied from Carole having a case of the quick step to Jeremy doing projectile vomiting and Donya having to go to the doctor. I apparently didn’t eat what they had because I had no ill effects. It was probably because I don’t eat healthy foods except when my wife makes me. That healthy stuff will make you sick every time. It was probably some of those crunchy green beans. If they had cooked them all day with a little bacon grease like my mother does no one would have been sick. Last reports are everyone is back to normal again.

Just a couple of random thoughts. While we were traveling in Georgia to the wedding and back and forth to the boat, I came across two very different street names. One was “Pig Liver Road” and the other was “Whiskey Boulevard”. You have to ask yourself what kind of person lives on Pig Liver Road. Do you think there is a church named Whiskey Boulevard Baptist?

Monday was a long drive back. 9 hours thru the back country. We had one stretch of interstate between Auburn and Opelika. It is a pretty drive and fairly easy. Mostly 4 lanes and little traffic. Our car computer said we averaged 60 mph, which isn’t bad for that type of trip. And, no mother I wasn’t speeding. We get to the boat and after a couple of trips to the grocery (We are not going to discuss who did what and why our groceries are in the kitchen floor at home) and crash. I have to be up early to have the rental car back to Hertz before 8:00.

Tuesday, I say good-bye to Buck, Fred, Larry and the TYCC chapter of Phi Beta Kappa. We really enjoyed our stay at Tampa Yacht and Country Club. The people were very friendly and the facilities were a notch above all of the other places we have been so far. I am not going to put the story in print but remember to ask me about Buck, the “King” and the secret service.

OK class when you are trying to get from point “A” to point “B” which way does the wind blow? (a) It doesn’t blow. (b) There is a gale. (c) Directly from the direction you are going. If you answered all of the above, you would be correct. From Tampa to Bradenton, we saw no wind for a couple of hours then we had 15 to 20 dead on the nose for the rest of the trip.

We arrived at the Bradenton Yacht Club about 4:30, secure dock lines, hook up power and have a Budweiser. We will be here at least thru today while we figure out bridge heights and weather windows. Right now, there are 4 to 6 footers in the gulf for the next couple of days. And class what is the wind doing. Gusting to 25 out of the south.

Passing a sobriety test

Thursday, March 26, 2009, Home

Well we have been on dirt for several days. It took a few days for the dirt to quit moving. After you have been on a boat for a while everything on land moves. When you walk down a street, you have “issues” with trying to walk a straight line. I would hate to know had I would pass a sobriety test.

I was able to get a lot accomplished in a short time. Trimmed out columns at the 100 Acre Woods. Designed a bunch of tilt-up panels. Had IDB and St V meetings. I got my garden tilled and ordered seeds from the seed catalog. It has been a long time since we had a garden. Carole says that if the weeds don’t get me the deer will. Well only time will tell. When we come back in April I will get the seeds in the ground and I am either going to eat vegetables or deer meat.

Tomorrow we are off to the wedding. Oh Joy my favorite thing to do.

Leaving the Mule and Pool Club

Saturday, March 21, 2009, Tampa Yacht and Country Club

I just couldn’t pass up writing about this. The TYCC is a hundred years old. This seems to be a pretty common theme, Pensacola YC, St Pete YC have also just celebrated their hundredth birthday. The original club was formed as a riding club and still has riding stables. One of the big attractions, you know a hundred years ago everyone had a horse, was they also had a swimming pool. So the club became locally known as the “Mule and Pool Club”. Apparently, some of the old time locals still refer to it by that name.

Our bags are packed, the boat is buttoned up and we ready to head out tomorrow. Now it is just a mater of which path to take north. Google recommends I75 thru Atlanta but I am thinking of cutting off on 280 and going thru Columbus and Opelika.

Buck and the Phi Beta Kappa Chapter

Friday, March 20, 2009, Tampa Bay Yacht and Country Club

We have been hanging out at the Tampa Bay Yacht and Country Club. To say it was nice wouldn’t do it justice, it a great place to visit. Dale and Jeannie, our new best friends from Clearwater came over for dinner on Wednesday night. It was the best meals we have had on the trip. If you ever get a chance to eat here, it is highly recommended.

We are going to be able to leave the boat here while we head back to the wedding. They had a cancelation and the dockmaster told me we could leave the boat here while we are gone. That was a relief on two fronts; the first is it is a lot cheaper to stay in the clubs than the public facilities. The marina here is also very secure. There are people in the marina office all the time. We stayed in the Harborage Marina on our last trip down here. There is a lot of security there but you get the feeling they really need it there. There are a lot of liveaboards in the marina that are (let me see how to say this and remain politically correct) less than desirable neighbors. Or, maybe as Carole’s mother would say “they are just not our kind of people”.

I have really enjoyed hanging out at the round table on the porch of the marina office with Buck and the Phi Beta Kappa chapter. That is Buck’s name for them because he says they are the smartest son-of-a-bitches in the world on every subject in the world. Buck is 88, (he looks more like 70) he comes down every morning to enjoy a cigar and comes back again about 4:30 to enjoy another one. He is a retired dentist and quite a character. Everyone here has been very friendly and welcoming. I am going to take my charts up to table this afternoon when they gather and get local knowledge on anchorages and yacht clubs we can get into with our 65 ft mast and 6’-2” depth.

The boat is beginning to look good. We have spent a bunch of time cleaning, scrubbing and polishing stainless. I even disassembled some of the parts for a deep cleaning. A boat needs some TLC, which we haven’t been able to do for the past few years with the rebuild of the house. Before that, we had Alex to take care of things. He did a great job but apparently, drugs are better than working. What a shame, we had beautiful stainless when he maintained the boat.

We will pick up our rental car on Sunday for our trip back. The blog next week may be about gardening. I figure I need to plant some squash and cucumbers at the 100 Acre Woods. None of us want Paul to not have an excuse to make his pickles. So everyone start saving jars for him so you can get your share of pickles.