Memoirs of the first trip of a lifetime

It has been 3 months since we got back from our sailing trip to the keys.  It feels like a lifetime ago.  It feels painfully long ago.  We have not used the boat since.  For the first month it was ok that we hadn't been back to the boat. In fact it was expected after spending so much time on her.  Now changes in work situations are preventing us from sneaking down and spending one or two glorious nights on her.  Day sailing just won't cut it.  We are both dying to get back out on the water, relax, unwind, and get that different perspective on life that you can only achieve by being taken out of the day to day grind and being placed on a sailboat.

The bad part is we've gotten a really good taste for "the life."  Living free on the water. Exploring and moving on whims and at will.  On the sailboat 90% of the things you do during the day are for your own survival. By this I mean making sure you have food, water, and shelter.  We take all this for granted on land.

Food: Do we have food? Is it spoiled or wet? How can it be cooked? How long will what we have last before all the dry ice or regular ice melts and there is no way to keep it cold. What order should stuff be eaten in. Etc.

Water: Do we have water. How much? Is mold growing in that container?  If we get stranded how long will the water last before things get desperate?

Shelter: Where are we? What condition is the boat in? Where do we need to go? How do we get there? Whats tide condition, wind direction, depth? What happens if we run aground? Capsize? Get a large leak? Sail rips? Motor breaks? Etc.

Normal life on land is cushy and relatively safe.  Only probably 10% of your regular life thoughts and activity go towards making sure you have food, water, and shelter.

I miss the meaning and purpose I got from regular activities during a typical day aboard a sailboat.

The big trip 2016 (part 17)

I'm lying in bed now finishing this last post. Unfortunately I mean my the real bed at home, not the boat. This is a very comfortable bed but it's bitter sweet being back home.  Neither Amber or myself were looking forward to getting off the boat. Matter of fact we spent an entire extra day, after docking at Skeleton Key marina, just hanging out at the boat and the nearby bar.  Who would have thought 29 days on our 26ft boat still would not be enough.

We really enjoyed the 150 miles of the gulf intracoastal waterway even though it was completely by motor and handsteering.  I love being offshore and having sails up but you can't do that in the channels.  we got to see a part of Florida that we usually never see.

It wasn't all perfect. We hit some terrible weather attempting to go to Egmont Key when crossing the mouth of Tampa Bay.  Waves beat us at anchor to the point that we had ditch bags out and ready even though we were 200ft from shore.

This has definitely been an experience that none of us will ever forget.  And the best part is Amber and I survived 29 days on a small trailerable sailboat, didn't kill each other, and she still wants to marry me.  It's gotta be meant to be!

The big trip 2016 (part 16)

The tab that i grouped these posts in is laughably called "sailing the keys."  I should change that because the amount of actual sailing we did was pitiful. First it was poor wind direction, then ripped jib. We did a ton of motor/sailing in the beginning but not "real" sailing. I guess im feeling guilty about it. I call myself a sailor but i barely sailed at all.

Self loathing aside we are having an awesome time on the icw. Winding through the beautiful back channels of Florida's coastline we reached Sarasota bay and tossed the hook.  There is something magical about being anchored out with a brilliantly lit city scape as your nightlight.

Hailing and passing under bascule bridges, by the way, never gets old.

The big trip 2016 (part 15)

Im not sure if it's the medicine but the past couple days run together into a blur.  The same sickness that plagued Amber off the coast of the everglades now has me. (and the kids at home apparently)

I didn't sleep all day yesterday like i did the day before so i must be improving.

Pelican bay in Charlotte harbor was a great spot two nights ago. Quiet and protected. If we had a dinghy or kayak we  would have went to the state park area but there was no way in hell i was swimming. We fed the fish some bread off the back of the boat and that pretty much killed any chance of that.

Following our motorboating mantra we cut across the mouth of Charlotte harbor and entered what feels to me like the real intracoastal. I had to hold us in position for 10 minutes while waiting on Boca Grande bridge to open. Now we are deep in the channels with every fishing boat in existence crisscrossing our path.

It is really beautiful back here though. A totally different experience than taking the outside route. 

Happy Day seems to be not as leaky when she's just cruising the intracoastal. Maybe she gets scared when she's getting the crap beat out of her in waves and she pees a little.

For now we take it slow and wind our way back to Hudson. If this is all a dream I'm not ready to wake up yet.

The big trip 2016 (part 14)

Snook bight marina in Fort Myers has been our favorite marina of the trip so far. We made it there in good time once leaving from Rookery bay early in the morning. 

We sailed some with the main but the jib is toast. I may try sail tape for the hell of it because it will be a while before we drop 800+ dollars on a new jib from doyle in st. Pete.

We swam at the marina and then showed Austin and Aaliah around Fort Myers beach by trolley hopping.

The next morning the kids and I trollied into Fort Myers to rent a car to take them back home. I asked for a fuel efficient compact. The only car sitting in the parking lot was a convertible Ford mustang. 

Some of you may be thinking 'oh nice! Upgrade!'  But let me assure you i was not thrilled. From my street racing days the Ford mustang is the sworn enemy of of import tuners. They are notorious for being driven by people who want a "super awesome bad-ass car" and then they wreck into car show crowds trying to show off.

I'll admit it was a more fun ride than a Nissan Versa would have been, playing cat and mouse through traffic with various opponents, but it still felt wrong driving it. 

So after an 8 hour hiatus i was back at the boat.

Now it's the next day and Amber and I are motoring through the beautiful gulf intracoastal waterway behind Sanibel and Captiva.  

Low and slow we go with no good way to sail anyway and a few alarming leaks popping up in the bilge and from around the ballast tank. We are monitoring this closely to make sure it doesn't get worse.  We took a good beating in those storms and i know the centerboard trunk had damage in it i had attempted to bondo before. Still, not cool brah.

The big trip 2016 (part 13)

Two grueling days of putting miles under Happy Day have us resting peacefully in a backwater channel between Marco Island and Naples.  The journey here was not peaceful or uneventful however.

Day 1 started well enough except for a very unfortunate case of pink eye and illness Amber picked up and struggled with all day.  She struggled through but was essentially bedridden.

We had made it out of the keys, raised sails, and motor/sailed north.  The evening brought about an inevitable Florida storm. We prepped early and entered the storm with a double reefed main and a (perhaps not quite enough) double reefed jib. Austin and I had life jacketed and harnessed ourselves.

In the ensuing chaos we lost a batton in the main and our aging jib sang it's last song, splitting horizontally.

Luckily the storm passed relatively quickly and we only had wind to deal with.

Now the race was on to reach our only option for safe harbor, little shark river, before sunset. We pushed hard calculating an arrival of 5 to 10 minutes after sunset. We made it but didn't anticipate three other boats seeking shelter in the same harbor.

Quickly losing light i chose a spot the furthest in and Austin dropped anchor. Not before nearly being carried away by an everglades native, the mosquito.  In the span of two minutes, just enough time to drop anchor and set not nearly enough scope, we were bitten 20 to 30 times each.

We had anticipated bugs and already had mosquito netting in place so we dove inside the cabin and slapped each other around a bit.

Once we purged the interior of the boat off all living things, except the 5 of us, we enjoyed a relaxing rest of the night bug free.

Except for Amber who had a raging fever and did not even remember conversation or anything the next morning. Thankfully her fever broke in the middle of the night because the next day was no pleasure cruise either.

I exited the cabin at 6:30 only to be greeted instantly by more flying bloodsucking fiends. I wasted no time, fired up the motor, and we bounced out.

Out of the harbor we were greated with strong 10 to 15 mph winds and 1 to 2 foot waves coming at our broadside. This may have been ok but without a jib and even with a double reefed main the boat was horribly unbalanced. It was not long before the tiller pilot was no longer an option and it was handsteering only.

Handsteering is ok in calm conditions or in bad conditions for short bursts but we didn't arrive in Goodland until 3:30 that afternoon. I was a grumpy guy. It's aggravating to me when the tiller needs so much attention that i can't do anything else. Like pee, or brush my teeth, or check navionics. Amber (who thankfully felt better today) took over steering a couple times but she agreed it was a nightmare trying to keep Happy on course.

Aaliah was not a fan of the waves when the boat would come crashing down or veer off course from a big gust but overall she did very well. After finally getting the nerve to put on her life jacket come into the cockpit she got to enjoy watching out and calling out the big wave set. 

Austin spent a good portion laying in the cabin and actully sleeping some too. Lucky...

Finally we arrived in Goodland and everything was right as rain. We pushed through to our current anchorage in rookery bay and tossed the hook.  We were all thrilled to have two 13 hour days of solid movement behind us.  Tomorrow is a relativly short hop to Fort Myers.

The big trip 2016 (part 12)

The blur is over. I think. Or maybe its just beginning. The entire week has been a blur.

We have been going non-stop and we are thoroughly exhausted. The cherry on top is that Austin and Aaliah were suppose to have returned home via automobile but due to a "miscommunication" they are now having to sail with us from Plantation key to Fort Myers. This is no easy trip and there is not a ton of space.

This will be the first long distance test for them. Hopefully weather work with us and hopefully we won't kill each other on our floating world in 26ft.

Our time in the keys was great though! We did the standard Duval crawl in Key West. We boated off Islamoada. (I can't call it fishing because there were no fish out there. We did some awesome snorkeling. Lots of drinking. All and all a great time.

Now we have spent all day today (Saturday) provisioning and we are starting the retun trip 1st thing in the am.