The terrible, horrible, no good, very bad ICW trip

November 16, 2023November 16, 2023 / FloatsOurBoat / 10 Comments

After all of our hard work and successful boat projects, Capt. Mike and I were feeling pretty proud of ourselves, and happy to have untied the lines a few days ahead of our 1 Nov goal. Our trip from Brunswick to Stuart, FL started out great with a peaceful anchorage at Cumberland Island and a celebratory glass of tawny port, thanks to our friends Ann and Frank 🥂

We arrived in St Augustine in time on a Friday afternoon to pick up our sails from the Irish Sail Lady’s loft before she closed for the weekend. A sailing couple we’d never met before offered to pick us up with the sails and drive us back to the marina – how nice is that? But then things went downhill… Capt. Mike got sick in St Augustine and spent a few days laid up on the boat. We had to cancel our plans to meet friends over the weekend and it was days before he felt well enough to put the sails back up. We extended our stay on a ball in St Augustine Municipal Marina until he felt better and finally continued south – then things really got dicey!

Anchored in Rockhouse Creek, I guess we got a bit too complacent about our beast of an anchor. We had motored down the ICW from sunrise to sunset, dropped anchor, and I quickly wrangled up a pasta dinner. Just as we started to relax and eat, the anchor alarm blared. Sometimes it’s a false alarm, but not this time – the track of our boat on the little display map was showing a long straight line outside the circle and off to the edge of the screen. Yikes! We were dragging! We rushed back out to the cockpit, started the motor and had to figure out how to re-anchor in the dark without running around on all the shoals and sandbars around us. The anchor had somehow fouled the shaft in its own anchor chain, all wrapped around itself as tidal current fought against wind direction, creating a real mess to put to rights in the dark.

After an uneasy night of sleeping with one ear open for the alarm to go off again, we continued south, finally in a wide enough section of the ICW that we could put out some sail. Winds were about 25 kts from the north and it was a bit rough, even inside the ICW. At one point I heard Capt. Mike say “Huh.” and when I gave him a questioning look, he said “look near the top of the mainsail and tell me what you see.” I said, “I see daylight coming through. That’s not good.” Remember I mentioned picking up our newly repaired sails in St Augustine? Well just a couple of days later and on our first time using them, we’d ripped our main.

We also had a tough time with the bridges on the Daytona Beach section of the ICW. Fixed bridges are supposed to be 65 feet high to accommodate most masts. But with king tides and winds from the north, water was stacking up in this long section with little access to inlets to the sea. We saw bridge boards reading as low as 61 to 62 feet. We aren’t completely comfortable yet with exactly how high our mast is, especially once you factor in the wind instruments and VHF radio antenna. Other sailboats hailed us on the radio and told us they planned to anchor north of the Seabreeze bridges until high tide. We anchored too, to look at the tide tables and to estimate our mast height. With low tide not until 11:30 at night, we decided to go for it anyway, putting out sails to heel us over as much as possible to get a little extra room. We made it, but it made for a nerve wracking day, and we later learned that one of the two anchored boats at Seabreeze damaged their forestay on one of the bridges and had to haul out for repairs.

I “celebrated” my birthday on this section of the ICW when we anchored near the Ft Pierce inlet. The Captain surprised me with a margarita after we anchored and I sipped it while reading a book as Capt. Mike got ready to test the new watermaker for the first time. He started the generator, started the water maker, and cheered “It’s working! It’s working!” Then as he came up to the cockpit to celebrate, he changed his tune to “Wait. What’s that horrible burning smell? Shut it all down!” After some investigation, he found a seriously melted part on our nearly new generator. He spent the rest of my birthday evening in the cockpit lazarette grumbling about how he was just going to stay there and cry 😭

We limped the rest of the way to Stuart, FL the next day, attempting to troubleshoot our autopilot. It worked pretty well to turn it on, set a course heading, and to let the autopilot take the helm. But every time we tried to go back to standby and take control away from the autopilot, it wouldn’t give up control easily. Whoever was at the helm would have no control of the wheel for some time between two seconds and fifteen seconds until the clutch would finally release and give us control. That might not sound like a lot of time but if there’s a fast boat coming toward you, or if you are heading outside the dredged channel toward a shoal, it feels like forever. Add that to the list of things we’ll have to repair before leaving Florida for The Bahamas.

So in about a week we went from thinking we were done with all our boat projects and just needed to wait for a weather window to cross to the Bahamas, to having a long list of expensive repairs that all felt like must-dos before leaving the States. Sigh. I know. “That’s boat life.” But somehow it felt pretty depressing. At least we are more in a safe place with lots of marine services and the ability to order parts. I’m sure it’ll all look better soon.

Safe on a mooring ball at Sunset Bay Marina

The full boat project list – summer 2023

November 11, 2023November 11, 2023 / FloatsOurBoat / 11 Comments

I haven’t been posting many “Keeping it real – life in the boat yard” blog posts recently. Let’s face it, they are kind of a downer. Plus, you don’t really want to see my sweaty, shiny face beaming at you, covered in yard dirt and anti-foul paint, do you? 🥵 But that doesn’t mean we haven’t been hard at work getting SV Happy ready to hit the high seas this winter! Her previous owners took excellent care of her, but she wasn’t outfitted for life on the hook so we had lots to do there, and just to turn her into a comfortable floating home 🏡

Capt. Mike kicked butt in the spring and got a ton of projects finished between when we moved aboard Happy in late March to when we left Stuart, FL in late April:

Installed 600 watts of solar panels
New 85 pound Mantus anchor
New dinghy davits
Antifoul paint on the hull and prop, with new zincs
Rebuilt the propane system: lines, regulator, solenoid
Applied mast boot tape to address a water leak
Fixed water leak in propane locker
Waterproofed the Bimini and dodger
New led light in the galley
New filters for the drinking water filtration system
Troubleshooting the wind instruments
Fixed drawer latches
New shower head
Started fixing the portlight leaks… More to follow!

We were feeling pretty good about our progress when we left Happy at Brunswick Landing Marina for a couple months this summer. But after our mountain and cycling summer vacation, we had to go back to work – and in crazy Georgia heat and humidity 🔥 We definitely didn’t feel like we were having as much fun as other residents of the marina.

One of our biggest projects was removing all of the portlights (aka boat windows), scraping and cleaning them, and rebedding. In Florida spring thunderstorms, we had water running down the inside of the salon “walls” and collecting inches of water in our drip cups. We decided to repair all the portlights, even the ones without visible leaks, after Capt. Mike installed a light in the galley and water streamed out of the screw holes, implying that some of the leaks were occurring between the hull and the lining. Each portlight took about 8 hours to address – removing with razor blades and pry bars, scraping old caulk and silicon off the stainless, cleaning, rebedding with new caulk, and cleaning the excess that squirted out during the process.

Then the biggest boat project we’ve ever taken on ourselves – installing a high volume water maker / desalinator. A bigger boat means more room for systems and having a virtually unlimited supply of fresh water will be a game changer for our cruising life. But first – we’ve got to get the thing to work! We ordered a Seawater Pro 40 gallons-per-hour system, and it was delivered as a big heavy box of parts and a link to a bunch of You Tube videos. Gulp.

Capt Mike had to figure out where to locate the components of the system (long membranes, water filters, high pressure pump, boost pump, and control panel), and how to connect to the plumbing and electrical systems. At one point, he got frustrated and told me to watch the videos and help him figure out the electrical. I watched each video three times, took pages of notes, and finally announced my findings “They don’t tell you how to connect to the generator and to the boost pump!” Capt. Mike confirmed “That’s exactly my point” 🤦‍♀️ Luckily, they have excellent customer service and tech support and a couple of phone calls gave us enough info to move forward. It took about a month in total to complete this install, with Capt. Mike contorting his body into every tight hold on the boat. We think he’s got it done! Now to anchor in a place with clean ocean water to test it all out!

Here’s the rest of the project list completed between August and November 2023:

Rebed 14 portlights
Install watermaker
New batteries (house battery bank, starter battery, and bow thruster battery)
Rebuilt aft head (toilet) pump, replace aft head sink hose
Added a macerator pump to the aft holding tank
New running rigging, with new eye splices
New dock lines, anchor snubber, anchor bridle, and splices
Install Victron Bluetooth battery monitor
Brought all three sails to a sail loft for inspection and repairs
Recaulked both heads and the galley
Caulked a leak in the forward head fan
Installed lights in the anchor locker, main cabin closet, and fixed existing light switches

We’re exhausted and our bank accounts are a bit lighter, but we’re ready to get out there and start cruising!

I hereby name you…

October 23, 2023October 23, 2023 / FloatsOurBoat / 8 Comments

It can take a lot of money and effort to rename a boat. You need to re-register her with the Coast Guard under the new name, reprogram the AIS and VFH, buy and install new name decals. It’s enough to make me swear I’ll never rename a boat again! But, having a floating home with a name that feels right to us and feels like part of the family? Priceless!

Legend has it that when you do decide to rename a seafaring vessel, you need to hold a formal ceremony to protect the vessel and her crew from bad luck. You must make offerings to Poseidon and beg for his favor and protection. We held this ceremony and celebrated with several dozen of our friends and fellow sailors at Brunswick Landing Marina! We even had friends Shawn and Chantal from SV Camino drive down from Savannah to join us for the celebration!

In preparation, we stocked up on red wine, bubbly, beer, and snacks. We cleaned from bow to stern both above decks and below so we’d be free to offer tours. And we dug out our stash of courtesy flags and strung them up on a halyard to make her look colorful and festive. We removed all traces of the original name from our boat (on documents, decorative items, safety equipment and books) and prepared a metal ingot with the original name. With our friends gathered on the dock, beverages for toasting in hand, Capt. Mike and I walked forward to the bow and began the purging ceremony of the original name….

“Oh Poseidon, mighty and great ruler of the seas and oceans, to whom all ships and we who venture upon your vast domain are required to pay homage, I implore you in your graciousness to expunge for all time from your records and recollection the name “Hallelujah” which has ceased to be an entity in your kingdom. As proof thereof, we submit this ingot bearing her name, to be corrupted through your powers and forever be purged from the sea.”

I flung the metal tag over the bow into the water, then recited,

“In grateful acknowledgement of your munificence and dispensation, we offer these libations to your majesty and your court.”

I poured at least half a glass of champagne into the water, from east to west, then took a sip myself. This concluded the Purging Ceremony.

Now for the naming ceremony itself….

“Oh Poseidon, mighty and great ruler of the seas and oceans, to whom all ships and we who venture upon your vast domain are required to pay homage, I implore you in your graciousness to take unto your records and recollection this worthy vessel hereafter and for all time known as “Happy” guarding her with your mighty arm and trident and ensuring her of safe and rapid passage throughout her journeys within your realm. In appreciation of your munificence, dispensation, and in honor of your greatness, we offer these libations to your majesty and your court.”

I poured another glass of champagne into the water, this time from west to east.

Next, I attempted to appease the four wind gods, Boreas, Zephyrus, Eurus, Notus.

“Oh mighty rulers of the winds, through whose power our frail vessels traverse the wild and faceless deep, we implore you to grant this worthy vessel “Happy” the benefits and pleasures of your bounty, ensuring us of your gentle ministration according to our needs.”

Facing north, I tossed some champagne from my flute to the north as I said:

“Great Boreas, exalted ruler of the North Wind, grant us permission to use your mighty powers in the pursuit of our lawful endeavors, ever sparing us the overwhelming scourge of your frigid breath.”

Facing West, I repeated the champagne pour and toss while saying:

“Great Zephyrus, exalted ruler of the West Wind, grant us permission to use your mighty powers in the pursuit of our lawful endeavors, ever sparing us the overwhelming scourge of your wild breath.”

Facing East, I repeated the champagne pour and toss while saying:

“Great Eurus, exalted ruler of the East Wind, grant us permission to use your mighty powers in the pursuit of our lawful endeavors, ever sparing us the overwhelming scourge of your mighty breath.”

Facing South, I poured the champagne and tossed it one last time while reciting:

“Great Notus, exalted ruler of the South Wind, grant us permission to use your mighty powers in the pursuit of our lawful endeavors, ever sparing us the overwhelming scourge of your scalding breath”

Our marina friends gave three cheers to the newly christened “Happy” as Mike and I donned t-shirts with the name Happy on them, and tore off the brown paper to reveal Happy’s new name on the transom and the boom.

Everything after that was a bit of a celebratory blur 😀 We gave tours of our beautiful floating home, accepted good wishes from friends and neighbors, and eventually brought bottles of bubbly and snacks up to the yacht club to continue the celebrations into happy hour. It felt great not only to celebrate the new name, but also the accomplishment of all the hard work and many boat projects we’ve completed since we moved aboard in March. Happy is almost ready to untie the lines and start sailing! If you see us in an anchorage, come say hi – we just might have a bottle of bubbly left over to share 😉

Fun Times at Brunswick Landing Marina

October 15, 2023October 15, 2023 / FloatsOurBoat / 4 Comments

Have I mentioned how much we love staying at Brunswick Landing Marina in Georgia? Free laundry, frequent happy hours, friendly staff – what’s not to like? This Saturday we took a day off from neverending boat projects and really had a blast participating in the first annual Cruisers’ Challenge – an Amazing Race style scavenger hunt on land and water around the marina.

Capt. Mike and I joined our dock neighbors Ann and Frank as team Happy Dreamers 😁 We donned our matching team bandanas and hopped into our dinghy at 10am to tackle our first challenge. We’ve been in one place for so long, it felt strange to be getting splashed in the dinghy once again! We drove to the gps coordinates of our first clue and got really excited when we saw a huge airboat tied up to the dock at our destination. Yep! It was waiting for us! We hopped in, and zoomed off into the bay, traveling much faster (and much louder) than we had in our dinghy! The airboat captain dropped us off at a nearby island where we were given our challenge – each team member had to chip a golf ball into a target. We crushed it! Two minutes and 30 seconds and we were done and back in the boat.

Other teams were lining up on the dock waiting their turn for the airboat as we scanned a QR code for our next clue. Back in the dinghy and back to the marina! Challenge #2 required us to throw a life ring around a floating buoy, again all 4 of us had to successfully ring it, and we were timed as we tried. This is not easy!

And so our scavenger hunt continued. Each time we completed a challenge successfully, we’d get a colorful wristband to prove we’d finished that station. Then we’d scan a QR code to get the coordinates of our next stop, and off we’d go! Or challenges included:

Using a dock line like a lasso to tie a cleat hitch from a distance
Building wine cork sailboats and racing them across a “pond”
Making state fair style lemonade
Learning to cast a fly fishing rod
Singing a round of Row Your Boat
Solving puzzles and riddles
And even throwing an axe at zombies!

We didn’t win the race, but we sure had a great time! And the fun just kept on going! The marina held a customer appreciation oyster roast yesterday evening with three massive coolers full of oysters, a potluck of side dishes, and free wine and beer. I don’t think I’ve ever shucked an oyster before, so it was fun to learn! Mike says he doesn’t like oysters, but he sure ate a lot of them 🤣 Were very grateful to Brunswick Landing Marina for hosting such a fantastic event.

Our First Hurricane

September 2, 2023September 2, 2023 / FloatsOurBoat / 2 Comments

Capt. Mike and I returned to Brunswick, Georgia after a delightful summer vacation in Colorado. Less than two weeks back into boat life and boat projects, the National Hurricane Center forecast projected that Hurricane Idalia could pass right over us. Yikes! Time to test the claim that Brunswick Landing Marina is a safe hurricane hole!

Hurricane season in the Atlantic officially runs from 1 June to 30 November every year and historically the risk of dangerously strong storms is the highest in September and October. But because “you never know” we prepped our floating home for hurricanes when we left her back at the end of May. We removed her jib and staysail, replaced the running rigging with thinner messenger lines, covered the portlights with plastic, and secured the dinghy very tightly in the davits on the stern. We’re glad we did all that, because the marina experienced some very strong storms while we were gone – even to the point of bending the stainless tubing that supports our solar panels. And doing all that work in May meant we had a head start on prepping for Idalia.

Two days before the hurricane, we rented a car and drove to St Augustine to bring all three of our sails to a sail loft for inspection and repairs. On the way home, we stopped at Costco in Jacksonville to start provisioning non-perishables for the upcoming cruising season. Just our luck to do that on a day when all of Florida was buying bottled water, toilet paper, and canned goods. I was tempted to joke with the check-out clerk, “This is my first hurricane. Do you think I’ve got enough food?” 🤣

The day before the storm, everyone in the marina worked all day to prepare, helping each other out as needed. We doubled all our dock lines and applied new chafe gear, lashed down the bimini and solar panels, filled the water tanks, tested the radio and wind instruments, and packed go bags. We adjusted the lines on the abandoned boat in the slip next to ours and removed or secured anything in the marina that could fly around and cause damage in high winds. We checked on a few boats belonging to friends who were still out of town. And of course we checked every new storm forecast – studying the smallest details: What’s the latest storm track? Will Brunswick be under a Tropical Storm Warning, or a Hurricane Watch? How much storm surge should we expect? What’s the earliest time we can expect tropical storm force winds? What’s the probability we could see hurricane force winds? Finally, we collapsed into bed, fairly confident we’d done as much as we could possibly do to prepare.

I woke up the next morning around 5:30 to the sound of rain. Went back to sleep and woke again around 7:00 to the first howling winds. We nervously waited for the NHC to release their 8am products so we could evaluate what we were in for and what had changed overnight, and whether we should stay in the marina or catch an Uber to a hotel. Luckily, Idalia had tracked west overnight, now forecast to hit land in a lightly populated region of Florida’s Big Bend, and meaning we wouldn’t get hit with the full strength of the storm. So we decided to stay, knowing we might be uncomfortable, but we wouldn’t be unsafe.

I stuck it out on the boat until 11:30 am when we really started bouncing in the slip and when our wind instruments showed sustained winds of 25-35 and gusts of 52 knots 😲 I brought valuables, electronics, rain gear, and snacks up to the marina Yacht Club to wait it out. I’m not sure which was scarier – listening to the wind howl on the boat, or listening to TV News anchors trying to terrify us. The local news was filming from Dock 4 of our marina!

Capt. Mike joined me on land about 15 minutes before the power went out. No more scary tv broadcasts, but no more AC or phone chargers either. One transient visitor to the marina made me laugh because every time he walked into the yacht club he was wearing a bright red life vest and carrying a boat hook with a radio clipped to his belt – prepared for battle! We could keep an eye on Happy from the patio of the yacht club and kept track of how the rest of the marina was handling the winds by listening to the VHF radio. A water fixture broke on Dock 9, sending a geyser skyward until the water was shut off. Dock 4 lost some bolts and started to slowly break apart until the marina could hold it together temporarily with ratchet straps. But the worst effects of the storm were on Dock 0, the closest to the ocean, which experienced the brunt of the wind and the most fetch and waves. Three big motor yachts tied crosswise to the wind were repeatedly pushed onto the concrete dock, experiencing quite a bit of hull damage before the dock was evacuated, but not a single boat sank. A catamaran on that same dock hadn’t prepped for the storm and their jib was shredded by the high winds. Another improperly prepped boat on the hard in the boatyard had the wind unfurl their jib, giving it something for the wind to grab onto, eventually knocking the boat off its stands and knocking over the next two boats in the row. 😢

Finally, around 5:00, the winds shifted to the west indicating Idalia had passed north and the storm was fading. The yacht club filled with lots of relieved sailors, comparing stories and photos and breaking out a beer or a dram of rum to celebrate our good fortune. We all agreed we were very lucky in the westerly track the storm took, as well as the fact that it passed us at low tide. We’d been concerned that a tropical storm during full moon king tides could lead to crazy high tides and flooding but we lucked out. We appreciated the dramatic stripe of sunset beneath the heavy lingering clouds because “red sky at night means sailor’s delight” on our way to a secret candle-lit post-hurricane party in town. Happy lived to sail another day!