The first day of this holiday weekend John and I got underway at 7:15 after I water taxied Lene and the felines in their carrier to Johns car and we raised and secured the dink. And we docked at 8 pm. But we were not actually underway the whole time. We detoured into Annapolis after passing about eighty boat flying spinnakers, racing the other way, headed from Annapolis to St. Michaels. We stopped in Back Bay to fill the fuel tanks, which took an estimated 90 minutes of in and out and waiting on line for the fuel dock with only about 15 of those minutes for the actual fueling. Our second stop of the day was when we run into the mud trying to enter the harbor on the south side of the C and D Canal, where I had stayed in 2006 on ILENE and last fall on sister ship Pandora. We backed right off the mud and tried to call the marina by phone and VHF. Finally, the person said, "I dont know if you can make it in now, near low tide, but hug the seawall on the left side of the entrance." This was not very reassuring. We had noticed a long high fixed dock with two or three small power boats tied up to it and a busy restaurant on the other side of the canal, less than a quarter of a mile back- Scheafers. Not seeing any sailboats there, I called to ask about depth and they said they had 20 feet minimum at the dock, which our depth meter later confirmed. But they "had to charge us their holiday rate", $2.50 per foot. The restaurant and bar were large and jammed with revelers. We had dinner there and the food was OK. It seems the place burned down about ten years ago and has recently reopened. It is so easy to get in and out that this will be a place Ill return to, even though they do not have water, electricity or wifi. Why did it take so long, you might ask. Well the tides were against us all day. We went down the Miles River from St. Michaels against the flood which turned to ebb when we rounded Bloody Point to go north up the Bay. Six hours later this should have changed but then we were confronted by water flowing toward us from the Delaware. Well we have had all-day good tides too, but not today. John was great help all day, a knowledgeable cautious seaman.
His 28 S2 sloop, "Hearts Content" passed its survey the day before with flying colors. "The best maintained 35 year old S2 I have ever surveyed" said the surveyor. She was Johns friend for the last 25 years, but he also has a 22 foot power boat, "Dixie," and he was not using the sloop and has found her a good home. Second happiest bittersweet day in a mans life: when he sells his boat. Next morning we continued in the canal starting at 7:15 and found favorable tide. Belt and suspenders, do you think:
No, just an optical illusion with the arch further away and the pretty suspension bridge that Lene drove over the day before in the foreground. Once in Delaware Bay, the tide was an even bigger help and we made over nine knots until noon. Delaware Bay is a wide boring passage except when freighters pass you by. See bow wake.
As the day wore on, the wind came up strongly, with about 35 knots and gusts to 45 showing on our meter, (though I sense that it reads about five knots too fast). So we had only the small jib and were beating down the Bay. The tricky part was rounding Cape May. The outer passage is a long way around some shoals, which would have added about the miles to our trip in rough weather toward the end of the day. The inner passage saves those miles but put ILENEs port side only about .2 miles from the beach with those big winds and the big waves they created trying to push her onto the beach. We had furled the small jib to gain control over safety for this part of the passage. John wanted the more cautious longer passage, as had part of my crew in 2006 when we did this in calmer weather. We have pictures of the beach with its lighthouse taken from this in close route on this blog in June 2012, on a rather calm day and had done the trip in the opposite direction last fall. Today we were too busy for pictures. it was a two person operation. John steered or to be more precise, controlled the autopilot and watched the waves. One of them sent a spray of water up over the boat soaking him completely. My job wasq operate the InavX on Lenes Ipad, while crouched in the companionway, to protect it from the spray and shade it from the sun. I directed, for example: "Turn right ten degrees." It was like instrument flight rules or sailing in thick fog. I directed our course from the electronic chart, around shoals charted as little as nine feet deep, keeping us in water at least 13 feet deep, without looking up to see where we actually were or where we were going. It was scary but we made it. Once around the Cape, we turned more north toward the two stone seawalls that mark and protect the channel entrance into Cape May Harbor from the Atlantic. It seemed that we would be surfing down waves barreling directly into the harbor so I turned toward the beach for a practice run in that direction and ILENE seemed to handle it well. In the reality, however, the waves were at about a twenty degree angle from the channel and our passage between the seawalls was relatively easy. We anchored near the Coast Guard Station in about ten feet of water off the green side of the channel with sixty feet of snubbed chain. We were one of about six boats there, each far enough from the others and protected from the SW winds by the land mass of the Cape. John was a bit nauseous, though more from nerves than motion sickness, I think. We were in by 5:30 and after a breather it was time for dinner. I have tried to get John to try foods that, while within his vegetarian practice, were different from his routine. Tonight we shared his food. I sauteed and steamed some veggies, fake chicken strips and onions, mixed them with whole wheat pasta and dressed it with soy sauce and grated cheese. Pretty good, and it better be because the leftovers is tomorrows dinner too.
This will be my first keel up boat build.Well,unless you count the single person knock together boats I have built.I have rebuilt and restored a number of boats by myself and with friends.I even held a job doing interiors and upholstery in boats.
The one main factor is the cost of building the hull and cabin.I will layout the cost to build the 27 foot trailerable Spira International boats.I am using the bill of materials(BOM) off of the study plans that are available on the Spira International website.Its good to be able to get an idea of what costs are involved before building.Most other designers require you to purchase a study plan to get an idea of whats involved to build their design.You may still be required to buy the full plan set to get the BOM.This is a bad business practice in my mind.With the BOMs in hand,I started getting the numbers together and adding up cost.I will layout the cost break down and then give some ideas on how to cut some costs.I will start laying out things and end with the boat I have chosen as the design I plan to build.
The Elements of Boat Strength
Suppliers for pricing are as follow. Lowes Wood supplies. Home Depot Wood supplies. Raka Epoxy and fiberglass. Fastenal Screws and bolts. McMaster Carr Screws and bolts. DuckworksBBS Duckworks carries some of the odd size screws called for in the plans.
Avoid treated woods as much as possible.Treated wood usually contains traces of copper which corrodes fasteners and any other metals that come in contact with it.Even painted it can still leech copper.Also,copper is bad for the marine environment and is illegal to use in bottom coatings in some areas.
I prefer A/B fir plywood but will accept A/C fir,if its good quality.Avoid plywood with voids and footballs if possible.
I only use stainless steel fasteners for the extra corrosion resistance.Most of them will be sealed in with epoxy.I only use Raka epoxy kits with non blush hardener.
50 inch width is considered standard width for fiberglass boat cloth.Try to purchase all of your fiberglass cloth at one time.It saves a lot of money.
Bahaman Hull only No BOM for cabin. $105=240 ft. 2x4 $40= 38 ft. 2x8 $60=2x stock for transom splash well $78=180 ft. 1x4 $75=170 ft 1x4 decking-You can use decking or epoxy coated and painted 1x4 choice is yours. $50=1x stock for rail cap-A good hardwood works well but is costs more. $297=9 sheets 1/2 in. plywood $195=5 sheets 3/4 in. plywood $219=500 #10x3 in. screws $196=2000 #8x2 in. screws $338=5 gallons epoxy $259=50 yards 6oz fiberglass cloth _________________________ $1912=total
You can look at the cost of other models to gain and idea of the cost to build a cabin.I estimate between $300 and $500 depending on length of the cabin.
Chubasco Hull Only $264=8 sheets 1/2 in. plywood $142=10 sheets 3/8 in. plywood $103=240 ft. 1x4 $79=180 ft. 2x4 $341=1000 #10x2 1/2 in. screws $30=250 #8x2 in. screws $76=5/16x4 in. machine screws $26=5/16 in. nuts $9=5/16 in. washers $60=12 ft. 5/16 in. threaded rod-washers and nuts included above price $5=four 1/4 in.x 4 in. lag screws $338=5 gallon epoxy $25=3 in. glass tape 50 yards $311=60 yards 6oz fiberglass cloth _____________________________ $1809=total
Decking $36=80 ft. 1x4 $99 =3 sheets 1/2 plywood $25=250 #8x1 1/2 in. screws $30=deck finish _____________________________ $190=total
Cabin $29=62 ft. 1x4 $58=2 sheets 5/8 in. plywood $165=5 sheets 1/2 in. plywood $25=250 #8x1 1/2 in. screws $55=2 quarts epoxy $46=8 yards 6oz fiberglass cloth ____________________________ $378 total
$2377 total hull,deck,and cabin
Cane River Hull only-The cost for Chubascos cabin would be close. $284=20 sheets 3/8 in. plywood $462=14 sheets 1/2 in. plywood $131=300 ft. 2x4 $47=240 ft. 1x3 $50=55 ft. 2x8 $341=1000 #10x2 1/2 in. screws $188=100 5/16x4 in. screws $26=100 5/16 in. nuts $9=100 5/16 in. washers $245=2500 #8x2 in. screws $608=10 gallon epoxy $622=120 yards 6oz fiberglass cloth _______________________________ $3013 total
San Miguel Hull only-The cost for Chubascos cabin would be close. $142=10 sheets 3/8 in. plywood $330=10 sheets 1/2 in. plywood $172=6 sheets 5/8 in. plywood $105=240 ft. 2x4 $55=280 ft. 1x3 $16=32 ft. 1x4 $171=500 #10x2 1/2 in. screws $196=2000 #8x2 in. screws $798=15 gallons epoxy $518=100 yards 6oz fiberglass cloth ________________________________ $2503 total
Sitka This is the boat I am planning to build.I will stretch it to 30 feet and build the V entry bow per the plans. This total will be to build Sitka at 27 feet.Add approximately $200 to $300 to build to 30 feet with the V bow. Hull Only $105=240 ft. 2x4 $85=125 ft. 2x6 $30=32 ft. 2x8 $50=100 ft. 1x4 $199=14 sheets 3/8 in. plywood $396=12 sheets 1/2 in. plwood $113=6 sheets 5/8 in. plywood $451=60 yards 6oz fiberglass cloth $498=8 gallons epoxy $97=300 #10x3 in. screws $98=1200 #8x1 1/2 in. screws $176=60 ft. 1x8 _______________________________ $2298 total
Cabin $31=64 ft. 1x4 $141=48 ft. 1x8 $462=14 sheets 1/2 in. plywood $XXX=12 yards 6oz fiberglass cloth-price included in bulk order above $182=2 gallon epoxy $25=200 #8x1 1/4 in. screws ______________________________ $841
$3139 total for hull and cabin
Newfie.Some may notice that I didnt include Newfie.I really like that boat, but it has a very small interior and there was no BOM on the study plans.
Boat Building Manual
There are some ways to cutting material costs.I added a few above.
Lumber.Find a local saw mill and have the lumber cut to full boat length.You could also use trees from your property.Make a deal to get your lumber ordered filled and let the mill have the rest to sell as payment.This can be tricky as some saw mills are mobile while others require you to haul your wood to the mill.This option takes longer and requires a place to store the wood while it finishes drying out.The best option for most people will be finding a local builders supply.They get huge loads of lumber with a volume discount.If you buy enough,they sometimes will negotiate for lower price.Also,there wood tends to be better quality than most places like Lowes and Home Depot.
Fasteners.I recommend finding a local supplier and purchasing everything at once plus 10% to build the hull and/or cabin.Later when you need fasteners and hardware to finish out the boat,you can possibly negotiate for a slight discount on pricing.Hey,every little bit helps.
Epoxy.Some epoxy manufactures set a shelf life for their products some do not.I have had epoxy either, go bad, or it was a bad batch.Which,I am not sure.Epoxy is heavy and can get expensive.Try to buy in bulk to save on cost and shipping.Its best if you can find a dealer or supplier.Be careful tho.Their mark up may be a lot higher than ordering a kit.Shop around.I like Raka because they have an easy mixing system.
PL glues.I have had bad experiences with these, so I stay away from them.My main gripe is the ability for PL and epoxy to stick together.I built a knock together plywood boat and when I sheathed it in fiberglass and epoxy,the area around the PL let go.I wont knock PL glues, but theyre not for me when boat building.
My next installment will include more ways to cut cost during fit out and finishing.
Hull panel offsets for the Mistral can be found here.
In the ongoing coverage of John Zs Classic Moth build, last week I stopped over at his shop to gauge his progress and have a beer. The Classic Moth modified Mistral design is now upside down awaiting gunwhales and a layer of 4 oz. glass over the bottom.
This photo, though perhaps a tad distorted, shows how deeply Veed the Mistral design sections are around the midships.
Transom view with a pretty swirly pattern from the okoume plywood.
John, with the about-to-be-opened bottle of stout peeking up above the keel-line of his Moth.
A man and his workbench. John graciously took down a Marblehead RC sailboat he built many years ago so I could take a closer look.
A man and his workbench - take 2.
From the previous photo, you can see that John has some interesting stuff hanging from his walls. This is the box containing his F1 rubber-band indoor airplanes. These are extremely finicky to make, with a minimum weight of one gram. John has all the various tools to test balsa density and strength; tools to strip balsa into extremely narrow widths; tools to check rubber band elasticity; molds to make the tricky propellers, and the various techniques to apply the ultra-thin microfilm covering. To make a F1 takes a methodical, painstaking craftsman.
John also has two half models of the Americas Cup, IACC keelboats, the class that precedes the current foiling catamarans. Surprisingly, it was through his wifes connections and not his Naval Architect circle of friends that these two half-models now grace his shop.
My brothers and I have slowed our building of the Optimist down to a crawl. However, my brother Darren has taken the lead and wants the first boat to launch on July 4th.
He has purchased sail, tiller and extension, blades (rudder, centerboard), gudgeons from APS - Annapolis Performance Sailing.
To protect the chine he has laid down a 2 inch strip of fiberglass cloth in simple-clear polyester resin. It should provide a bit of resistance to any "hard blows" on rocks that make up the shore of our part of Lake Ontario.
Polyester resin is quick to harden and very easy to sand. It costs about half the price of shipping epoxy to us. Its just a short drive to the auto parts to pick up a quart.
Another day of motoring in the ditch with no wind. Passing Johns Island, near Vero, to port, we were impressed by the wealth invested in real estate there recently, lets say within the last decade, in large single family homes. The John Island stretch of the ICW was nice and deep, about 16 - 18 feet, compared with 10 - 14 feet most of the rest of the days passage. possibly the influence of money. Dragon and Vero are very similar geographically. Both are on the eastern, barrier island side of the ICW, just north of a high, 65 foot bridge linking that island to the mainland. In both cases you continue south until you are almost at the bridge and then hook a sharp left around a green buoy into a small sheltered space.
Vero has a nice municipal marina with docks (at left in photo above) for those who want them and moorings that rent for less than $15 per night, including taxes, cheaper on a weekly, monthly or annual basis.
ILENE is third from right. Sailors on a budget joke that the place is called "Velcro Beach" -- people come here and seem to stick here -- living aboard for about $300 per month. The marina reserves the right to raft you up, as many as three boats on a mooring, but so far we (and all the other moored boats) have been alone. We told the marina to raft up only people who are not allergic or phobic about felines. They have no launch service but a very short dink ride in sheltered water to an ample and secure dinghy dock in a canal just off the harbor.
Good showers and laundry but the wifi is terribly weak: we retreated to ILENE where Lene finished Breaking Bad using most of our remaining monthly allotment of fifteen gigabytes on the last day of the subscription month. Our neighbors:
The town has a free public transit system of fifteen mapped and scheduled routes. The marina is a stop on Bus Route 1 which runs both to and along the Atlantic coast, about a mile east, leaving at 10 minutes after the hour and west to the airport on the mainland side at 45 minutes after the hour. At the airport, or before, you can connect to most of the other routes but some destinations require three buses. So it is free and extensive but service is limited to once an hour, ending on weekdays at six, Saturdays at three and there is no service on Sundays. We walked to the beach and back on our first evening (about two miles round trip) and had a mediocre Italian dinner. We took the bus to the mainland market and to the beach for a long walk on it the next day. We had some nice talks with some of the local people. Many jellyfish, about a foot in diameter when flattened, lay dead or dying on the beach, to be cleaned up by the authorities. The Beach is steeper than those at Daytona and Cumberland Island. This beachside town is the opposite of Daytona Beach. No honky tonk. No cars on the sand. Banks and brokerage houses(insurance, real estate and securities) instead of head shops and tattoo parlors. And no or very few high rises. Moderately large suburban ranch style homes that I guess were built in the 60s.Modest compared to the Johns island megamansions. More older people. Development has been managed here. There are poor people in Vero but not in the beachfront side of this town. We saw a sign advertising a diver, Peter, who lives on his boat here. He came to do our bottom, said it was rather clean, and replaced our zincs. I was surprised that he charged only $40.00. I topped up the water levels in the seven batteries, which were down very little, except for the group 27 starting battery where the level was too high, above the "fill to this line" mark, so I used an eye dropper (used to test the battery) to draw out the excess fluid from it. I wonder how that happened and what harm the excess acid-water may have done to the battery. Its charge seems better now. We had planned to stay two days but some forecast rain and strong winds from the south may extend our stay until Christmas. It is a pleasant place to be detained and we plan to visit the Art Museum, which is an easy walk, on Sunday, and the Botanical Gardens and a movie at the mall using bus connections after that. We have also been contacting present and former members of the Harlem YC who live in south Florida at least part of the year, and though some are going north to be with family for the holidays, we expect to rendezvous with at least some of them during the next few weeks.
Avid readers of this blog (are there any?) knew that this post was coming. It is based almost entirely on information contained in the 91 posts that described our activities during the period October 7, 2014 to May 26, 2015, compiled for statistical purposes.
We devoted about 1.5 months transiting from City Island, NY to the northern border of FL and the same amount for the return trip, with the remaining 4.5 months in Florida, almost two thirds of the 7.5 months total.
We made 85 passages. These took 89 days because a few were multi-day passages. This means 141 lay days. So on 61% of the days we just stayed where we were. The longest stay in one place was in Ft. Lauderdale, 17 days between five on our southbound and 12 on our northbound stops there. Though given the number of places we stayed in Miami (Miami Beach, Coconut Grove, and on Key Biscayne, all in Greater Miami, we spent 24 days there. And we stayed in many places only overnight, with the longest number of consecutive passage days being five, from Portsmouth VA south through the Dismal Swamp to Whitaker Creek, Oriental, NC.
The furthest ILENE got from City Island was Marquesa Keys, an uninhabited atoll about 25 miles west of Key West. This was 1063 miles (all miles are nautical miles unless otherwise indicated) from City Island, as the crow flies, for a crows round trip of 2126 miles. But we cant sail as the crow flies -- over land -- and we made several side trips up rivers such as to Jacksonville and Washington DC. So our total mileage for the round trip was 3561.5 (equal to about 4095.7 land miles). Average mileage per passage was 41.9 miles, ranging from 268 miles for the first passage, from City Is. to Annapolis MD, to only 1.5 miles from an anchorage at the south east corner of Coconut Grove to the Coral Reef YC, in the NW corner. And the median mileage per passage was only 34. Of the 89 passage days, only 22 were outside, in the Atlantic, though another twelve were in Chesapeake (11) and Delaware (1) Bays, where, with a little luck, one can sail. All the other 55 passage days were in the ICW or on rivers, where sailing is an iffy proposition at best. In fact, the lack of opportunity to sail is the biggest drawback to Florida as a cruising destination as compared with Maine, the Bahamas or the Caribbean. And we were underway for 577 hours, thus averaging 6.1 knots of speed overall.
Destinations: by State: New York. 1 (City Island) New Jersey. 2. On the way back Maryland. 9 DC. 1 Virginia. 8 N. Carolina. 11 S. Carolina. 6 Georgia. 4 Florida. 31 This adds up to only 73 ports, rather than 85, and the difference represents arrivals in the same port for a second or third time. And significantly, 57 of the ports we visited were "new" ports to us, with the other 16 being places ILENE had visited on prior cruises. In my opinion a new port is many times more challenging than a return visit.
How did we attach to land? Five nights were at sea - overnights, with no attachment. Of the rest, 38 were on moorings, 89 were on our anchor, and 98 were at docks. Unlike the kitties who see docks as roaming opportunities, we prefer less docks and we could have had a few less dock nights except for rough weather in some places and the desire for electricity to get heat in others. Our stops were as different and varied as a few hundred yards off the back side of Miami Beach in the middle of a bustling harbor, to quaint towns like Swansboro NC, and anchorages in tidal creeks where we saw no one and beside islands in the Atlantic such as Rodrigues Key. So it never gets boring.
Dining? 230 days makes for 690 meals. Altogether, 140 of them, about 20%, were taken off ILENE, some on other boats, some in friends homes, but off ILENE. But we had the most dinners off - 88, and only 31 lunches and 21 breakfasts. Our grocery bills exceeded our restaurant tabs
Our ashore activities, in addition to cleaning, shopping, cooking, laundry, haircuts and the usual activities of life maintenance were many and varied:
The Annapolis Boat Show Sightseeing by auto on Islands in the Chesapeake off the Eastern Shore Stand up paddleboarding Car tour of a proposed bike tour Fast Ferry to the Dry Tortugas and visit to Fort Jefferson there Evening lectures on Dorothy Parker and on the history of Miami Beach Snorkeling from a catamaran on a reef off Key West Concert by band led by Cab Calloways son Power boat ride through Miami Beach harbor Sabbath prayers at synagogue near Fort Lauderdale Hospital visit to Lenes cousin Naomi with broken pelvis H.S. Class Reunion (Lene only) Radio controlled model sailboat racing College graduation at St. Marys College, MD, because we were there Tour of monuments on the national mall in DC Tour of the Capital building and the Library of Congress One science museum Twenty seven history museums Six art museums Six art gallery tours Four maritime museums Three hospital, doctor or vet visits The Kennedy Space Center Universal Studios Two wildlife preserves Three botanical gardens Five beaches Twelve movies One ballet Four live plays in theaters
Lene read 30 books and I read ten,
And the best thing about Florida is the number of friends who we met along the way. I counted 28 persons or couples who we had the pleasure to meet on our travels, several more than once, such as going south and coming back. Some we met both in Florida and at their summer homes in Maryland. Connections included family, grade school, college, the navy, work and of course, boating. Nine of the 29 are current or former members of the Harlem Yacht Club. None of our other sailing trips came close in providing access to people from home who you know.
R2AK, the Race to Alaska, a 750 mile jumbo version of the Everglades Challenge, started the 2nd and final leg yesterday. The first leg, raced last Thursday, was a 40 mile sprint from Port Townshend, Washington to Victoria. The rules are simple; no engines, no outside assistance.
Unlike the Everglades Challenge, the R2AK racetrack is open water, very cold and some of the entries are sensible, full out cruising craft. I expect once the dust has settled, the racier catamarans and trimarans will fill the top spots. I dont envy those hardy kayakers in their kayak-trimaran hybrids who will spend the entire race ensconced in their dry suits.
For those who like to get their online jollies by watching the R2AK unfold, the organizers have got that covered - just click here for the race tracker.
There is at least one large open dinghy racing (editors correction: There are two - a Mirror 16 is also competing).Team Barefoot is the product of Barefoot Wooden Boats and is a Tad Roberts design, a 5.8 meter (19 foot) plywood dinghy playing in the same design space for long distance small boats as the i550 mini-sportboat. In looking at the video, the Barefoot dinghy appears to be more in the realm of a high freeboard Classic International 14 from the 1980s. Team Barefoot put this interesting video up on their dinghy and the thoughts behind designing for this race.
Team Barefoot Wooden Boats | Race to Alaska 2015 from Vancouver Maritime Museum on Vimeo.
Designer Tad Roberts has the sideview and sailplan of the Barefoot Dinghy over here.
Some photos of the Barefoot Dinghy I pulled from the InterWebs.
It turns out that Classic Mothist, Jeff Linton, is pursuing the same direction for the next Everglades Challenge. He has scrapped his modified Flying Scot (which won the monohull class in 2014) and is home-building a new 6.7 meter, O.H. Rogers designed, large dinghy for next years Challenge. Boatbuilding details with lots of photos are over at Amy Lintons blog.
Yes, a long day -- underway at 6:15 and put anchor down at 3:45 -- 9.5 hours of motoring in the ICW. Today and yesterday we traveled on sections of the ICW that Ive never traversed before, having been outside at these latitudes on past trips. And I noticed how almost exclusively, and less so than in the spring of 2012, the ICW is in fact a one way street - southbound only - and seems devoid of commercial traffic. It is a road dedicated to snowbirds migrating south.
Our depth sounder is perhaps our most valuable piece of navigation equipment in the ditch and we watch it like hawks. When it starts to go from lets say 14 feet of water to 13.9. 13.8, etc, it means one of two things: either we have moved to a section of the ICW with shallower water, or we have started coming closer to one of the sides. We assume it is the later, try to guess which side we are too close to and go gently toward the other side, watching to see it the water deepens under us.
We noticed two potential mechanical problems that have to be thought through. One, the autopilot seems less responsive and more likely to roam a few degrees to either side instead of staying on the straight and narrow,Perhaps it is only a perceptual problem in that we notice the situation more when we are in a narrow path as compared to when there is nothing but horizon in front of us. Two, the voltage on the starting battery is getting low. Both batteries are charged together in the normal course of events, by the solar panel and by running the engine. The third method is by turning on the battery charger when we are attached to shore power. My current theory on this problem is that the battery charger is somehow decreasing rather than increasing the voltage of the starting battery. It seems to have done this last winter when I replaced the battery, and now again in Deatons, where again we had shore power. Yesterday I replaced the broken off lifting stem of the galley sink trap with a bolt and nut from ILENEs collection of them and cleaned out the filter leading to the fresh water pump, thereby restoring a healthy flow of hot and cold water.
Well today: The first thing occurred as we were getting underway in less than full light. About 30 small fishing boats, each with two warmly clad people were milling about. Lene had to pick our way through them while I secure the anchor.Then a siren sounded and they all took off at breakneck speed overtaking us on both sides, motors roaring and wakes a making.Wild! Some sort of race or fishing contest perhaps.
We saw dolphins again, the third day in a row; they seem to love to play in the inlets and finally Lene got a shot of one, albeit not the greatest.
Why did our passage take so much time? Blame part of it on the bridges. There were four low ones on todays route, for which one has to hurry to be there on time and then to wait with other boats for their appointed opening times. Waiting, keeping a boat stationary in close proximity to others, can be quite a challenging task if there is strong wind and or tidal current. But today there was no wind. Actually we did get a knot from the Genoa for about an hour but after that the wind Gods took a break. By dumb luck we made the first bridge on time. The second required us to push ILENEs Yanmar diesel harder than I have ever pushed her --3000 rpms. In addition, we made it because the kindly bridge tender asked the waiting motor boats whether they would mind a five minute delay in the opening so the three sailboats could catch up. They graciously agreed. But the third and fourth bridges could not be made by speeding up so we had to make the appointed times by slowing down.
Wrightsboro is a college town for nearby UNC Wilmington, which city is far by boat but near by car. The anchorage is easily reached by small boats who take a left turn almost immediately after passing under the last bridge. But this route is not recommended for boats with deeper drafts like ILENE. We had to continue down the ICW for another 1.5 miles, then take the left, leading to Masonboro Inlet with its protective seawalls extending arms out to sea (through which we plan to depart tomorrow for an overnight jaunt to Charleston SC),
and another left along the inside of the barrier island and another mile and a half
to the sheltered anchorage area.
We lowered (and later raised and secured) the dink for a ride in to town, checked out the beach
and brought a few groceries. It is not supposed to be as cold tonight, or tomorrow, as it was last night and today. No, it is not shorts and tee shirts weather yet. And have I mentioned how much I have enjoyed and depended on Lene; without her company and help this trip would be no fun and very difficult.
After anchoring we learned that our friends, Dean and Susan on "Autumn Borne" pulled in here after us, at the end of an ocean sail from Beaufort. They have been chasing us since they left Catskill New York, We had a headstart. But while we are going outside tomorrow for 162 miles, overnight to Charlestown SC, they are going inside and visiting friends for a few days. So for now, we are still just two boats whose wakes have crossed.
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The Optimist Inception: In 1947, the Clearwater Florida version of the “Soapbox Derby” called the "Orange Crate Derby" was sponsored by the Clearwater Optimist Club. There had been talk of creating a waterborne version of the Soapbox Derby racer. An Optimist Club member named Major Clifford McKay promoted the idea, and it finally made some headway with other members. He was in contact with boat builder Clark Mills about the idea and proposed a small sailboat that could be made for under $50.
Don Krippendorf, in 1952, sails Sharkey
From the USODA Manual: Mills started sketching and soon ran into a basic limitation. "Plywood was the problem. It comes in eight foot sheets. I could special order it ten feet long, but that cost a fortune, so I knew the boat had to be less than eight feet. Since it was hard to put a pointed bow in an eight foot boat, I made it a pram." So the size and shape of the worlds largest class was dictated by the dimensions of a sheet of plywood and by McKays $50 budget. Mills chose a sprit rig, to allow some shape in the poorly designed, often homesewn sails of the era. Mills vividly recalls the very first Optimist hull. "It wasnt pretty, because Major McKay wanted it fast, for the next Optimist Club meeting. I hammered it together in a day and a half with 10 penny galvanized nails, slapped on a coat of paint, and called her an Optimist Pram. We rigged her up in the hotel lobby where the Optimist Club met."
Clark Mills in 2000
The Decline of the Pram: The Optimist was mainly a Florida phenomenon until 1958, when Axel Damgaard, the captain of a Danish tall ship, visited the United States and was inspired by the design. With Mills permission, he took an Optimist back to Europe, modified it, and renamed it the International Optimist Dinghy. The IOD had a battened sail and much simplified running rigging. The new design spread quickly, first through Europe then all around the world.
The IOD collided with a large, established fleet of Optimist Prams in the U.S. As more and more IODs landed on the shores of the U.S., regattas were scheduled for both Prams and IODs. As late as 1985, separate regattas were held for both boats. Many sailors from the 1970s and 1980s owned two boats, to sail in both types of regattas. In the early 1980s, the scales were tipping in favor of the IOD. The number of Prams steadily declined and, by the mid 1980s, Pram racing opportunities had dried up.Today, Prams are occasionally found in learn-to-sail and community sailing programs but they are no longer an organized class and are virtually never raced.
1948 Optimist Pram / International Optimist Dinghy
We actually sailed, genoa only, on a jibing course that took us first to the entrance to the Dinner Key Channel and then to the red buoy just south of the first high bridge, after which it was motoring again. A delay for about fifteen minutes just before the last bridge was caused by a huge cruise liner turning in her own length just north of that bridge in a turning basin; no way I want to get too close to her.
At Belle Island, we anchored even further out, far from anyone, still ten feet of water and 100 feet of snubbed chain. Our guests thought it best to stay in a hotel on their last night in Miami Beach so I took them and their luggage (appropriately very light) ashore to the Collins Canal where they called a cab. Two problems: The blocks holding the aft end of the dink were jammed against each other with a twist. No way to unsnarl that knot. And we had to lower the dink to disembark our guests. What to do? A stout line from a bowline through the dinks lifting strap, over the davit bar and forward to a winch. Then cut the snarled line right at the inside of the knot (I only lost six inches of its length) and lower the dink with the stout line. Second problem: on the way in, the outboard died. But while scary, I just squeezed the black bulb in the fuel line and she started right up again and has run fine ever since. Pray let this continue. Nothing fazes these guys; first a boxed set:
Back at ILENE, I picked up Lene, flashlight, picnic dinner and two folding chairs and we went to a free screening of the Oscar winning (for special effects) "Interstellar" projected on the outside wall of the New World Symphony where we met up with Jerry and Louise and others of their friends. It was much warmer than when we had viewed the Sinatra film during our southbound stay here. But the film was a mess of confusing plots and name brand actors who mumbled their lines -- and long. I had a nap during part of it; a good film is defined as one that keeps me awake.
We did laundry, shopped for replacement things for the new dink (strong coated wire with loops at both ends for locking it, nav lights, shammy, spare fuel tank, small mushroom anchor, hand powered bailing pump and trim tabs. And during the boat cleaning, we couldnt get the shop vac to turn on. Finally Lene called over our friend Nick (with the two huskies) and we kept thinking. The problem was that when we had disconnected from shore power at Coconut Grove, we had not turned on the "Ships Power" switch. Our lights, navigation equipment, engine, water pump etc. operated with this switch off, but for applications of 110 volts (the outlets that we use for some device charging and the vacuum cleaner) we needed to turn on the inverter and it wouldnt turn on until we turned "ships power" on. Nick asked where the toggle for the inverter was on the breaker panel, which caused me to realize that ships power had not been turned on yet. Nick came over the next morning for mango- peach-sweet potato pancakes. I whipped a lot of ends of lines: both the various pieces of "short stuff" the new, thinner diameter lifting strap lines of the dink and the new end of the line through the blocks at the aft end of the dink. And I assembled the oar locks onto the oars of the dink so it will be ready to be rowed if that is needed.
One evening Jerry and Louise picked us up and took us to the north Miami Beach amphitheater which had a fascinating lecture about the history of Miami Beach by its official historian on the occasion of the citys 100th anniversary, followed by a concert by the big band of Cab Calloways grandson. all free. Then dinner at a good Cuban restaurant next door. We were a party of seven with David, Ilana and Sam. Rain had threatened all night and there was a brief strong downpour for the five minutes that we were dinking home; but it was clean rain water and clothes do dry.
Another day it rained, pretty hard for long hours (lots of bailing from the dink in the evening) but we were high and dry at Jerry and Louses with Sam, whose daughter, Rachel also joined us for a while.
A good home cooked dinner to which everyone contributed to the making of one or more dishes.
I read "The Gun Ketch" by Dewey Lambdin, about a naval officer before the Napoleonic wars. It is like Hornblower and the OBrian books, but Lambdin is "R" rated and his characters curse like, well... sailors. No this is not another book review, though I write such for all the books I read. Ill only add that this one was particularly pleasurable because it was set in the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos, where we sailed in 2012 and had experience of the waters in question. I sent my review with thanks to Steve, a member of my Book Group who lent the book to me before our voyage. He sails a Hobie Cat style beach boat from Fire Island. His reply revealed that he and his wife, Belinda, who have sailed with us on our Tartan 34, were in South Beach. So we got together for dinner at Sardinia,
located a block from the dinghy dock. They invited us to join them for a ride on the power boat they had rented so we joined the dark side for two hours at speeds that ILENE cannot attain.
Another electrical problem was solved and fixed. I had turned off the Spectra Ventura water maker at its switch/breaker on the inside of the anchor locker following a series of alarms, and it would not turn back on.
The anchor locker is an uncomfortable place to work, made easier by Lene getting me the many tools and supplies needed for the job. Calls to Brian of Headsync, the vendor/ installer and to Dean of s/v Autumn Born confirmed that the problem was probably not in the water maker itself, but in the power leading to it. There is a switch and fuse above my left shoulder on the inside of the locker but they seemed OK. (Lene took this candid picture, not of me, but of my curious assistant, at my left elbow!) The problem was found at the junction box, mounted where my flashlight illuminated hands are.
An occasional drip from the deck port access through which the salt water anchor chain wash-down pumps hose is located was the cause. Though protected by a smear of Vaseline and a flimsy plastic cover, this salt water had turned the old block into a gooey green mass of corrosion. When that was cleaned off, I saw that one of the four wires had totally corroded away, and provided no electrical connection. I had to drill the old block out and the holes of the boxes I had as spares (lower right) were too small in diameter for the heavy gauge wire involved. A long dinghy ride to the marine store to get a new block but then I had to hack off the piece needed, and the remainder of the block, (the black rectangle in the upper right) is now a spare. The old block was installed in August 2010 so not many years had passed to turn it into junk, and the damp nature of the place cannot be eliminated. I mounted the block so the wires run into it horizontally, rather than vertically, and with a "U" shaped loop in the way the wire is wire-wrapped to the bulkhead from above. Thus water that drips from above, along the wire will hopefully drop off the bottom of that "U", rather than run to the terminals of the block itself. Also I attached a piece of heavy gauge Zip-lock bag material behind and over the top of the block to deflect water. It works for now, power being restored to the machine. Lets see how long this will last. I am not a handy or mechanically inclined person so I get a big thrill from being able to accomplish such a repair myself. Sailing presents a never ending series of such challenges your way, which will become more frequent as ILENE, now a sweet sixteen, ages further. On our last day here we returned the rented SUP and saw "Leviathan at the nearby cinema. A long thought provoking subtitled Russian film. Our plan is for an Atlantic passage to Fort Lauderdale on March 4, when good wind (10 to 20 from behind us) is predicted, and about two weeks there at Cooleys Landing Marina for visits with friends, etc. followed by another Atlantic passage to the Lake Worth Inlet for more friends.
His 28 S2 sloop, "Hearts Content" passed its survey the day before with flying colors. "The best maintained 35 year old S2 I have ever surveyed" said the surveyor. She was Johns friend for the last 25 years, but he also has a 22 foot power boat, "Dixie," and he was not using the sloop and has found her a good home. Second happiest bittersweet day in a mans life: when he sells his boat.
No, just an optical illusion with the arch further away and the pretty suspension bridge that Lene drove over the day before in the foreground.
As the day wore on, the wind came up strongly, with about 35 knots and gusts to 45 showing on our meter, (though I sense that it reads about five knots too fast). So we had only the small jib and were beating down the Bay. The tricky part was rounding Cape May. The outer passage is a long way around some shoals, which would have added about the miles to our trip in rough weather toward the end of the day. The inner passage saves those miles but put ILENEs port side only about .2 miles from the beach with those big winds and the big waves they created trying to push her onto the beach. We had furled the small jib to gain control over safety for this part of the passage. John wanted the more cautious longer passage, as had part of my crew in 2006 when we did this in calmer weather. We have pictures of the beach with its lighthouse taken from this in close route on this blog in June 2012, on a rather calm day and had done the trip in the opposite direction last fall. Today we were too busy for pictures. it was a two person operation. John steered or to be more precise, controlled the autopilot and watched the waves. One of them sent a spray of water up over the boat soaking him completely. My job wasq operate the InavX on Lenes Ipad, while crouched in the companionway, to protect it from the spray and shade it from the sun. I directed, for example: "Turn right ten degrees." It was like instrument flight rules or sailing in thick fog. I directed our course from the electronic chart, around shoals charted as little as nine feet deep, keeping us in water at least 13 feet deep, without looking up to see where we actually were or where we were going. It was scary but we made it.
