fetchinketch

After spending too much time in the heat humidity and bugs of Florida, we are ready to head north!  We have almost everything stowed and shipshape.  The boat’s new instrument suite is installed and working.  All systems are “go”.

Which means… now we have to wait for a weather window to open for the five or six day run north to New Jersey.  For the next few days there is a gale forming off the coast of Cape Hatteras.  The idea of sailing north in the Gulf Stream with winds of 30 to 45 knots on the nose is, to put it mildly, unappealing. So we are going to sit here for a few days.  Right now it looks like we might be underway Monday the 20th.

Hopefully, we get some local fishing in here in the meantime!

If you think of the mammals that live in the ocean you might think of the majestic whale, the playful dolphin, or maybe a fun-loving seal. The manatee is not likely to be high on your list. They aren’t going to make any tourism board’s top ten attraction list.

In this part of Florida, the Florida Manatee (a sub-species of the West Indian Manatee) is quite common.  They are common enough now that there are concerns that they are over grazing some of the sea grass beds.

One thing that was a bit surprising to me about manatees is their size.  They are bigger than I expected.  Maybe 1200 pounds. Large and round. And slow.  Very slow.  The other day there was a mother and her very young calf lounging in the marina.

A couple crew members from a nearby superyacht give you a size perspective.  This pose, with head under the dock out of the sun, was how they spent well over an hour.  I got bored and left before they did.

Here are some shots of Junior.  He was way more active than Mom.  What that means is you can notice him move… sometimes.

In the picture to the left, the large barnacle and slime covered lump in the foreground is Mom.  Not very high on the cuddly scale.  Baby obviously hasn’t been around long enough to grow his own garden.

Most of the inland waters here have stringent speed limits for boats to help reduce

the number of collisions between boats and these large, slow moving creatures.  In spite of that, they are all easily recognized as individuals based on the pattern of scars left by boat propellers on their backs.

What to say about Florida?  It’s hot and humid.  There are lots of bugs.  It is hot and humid.  There are thunderstorms most every afternoon.  It is hot and humid.

Did I Mention it is hot and humid?  And there are lots of bugs?

Poor Karen…  She reacts terribly to the bite of the ubiquitous no-see-um.  They don’t bother me much at all, but she gets awful itchy welts from every nibble those tiny little blood suckers take.  Slowly we are getting the problem under control.  Finding the right repellents, finding products that stop the itch, and staying away from places where they are most numerous.

Oh, and it is hot.  And humid. On the bright side, there are sea turtles in the marina.  And manatees, and dolphins, and numerous kinds of fish.

Our weekend project is to unload the moving container with all the “stuff” I moved off the boat in California.  We bring a half-dozen boxes down to the boat, bring them below (into the air conditioned cabin!) and then try to figure out logical places to put things. Then go and grab more boxes, etc. etc. It should take a few days to get everything on-board and then a few more to get the storage locations sorted out.

Weather forecast:  Hot and humid with numerous afternoon thunderstorms.

I have become intimately familiar with how much a boatload of stuff really is over the last few days.  You see, packing a boat isn’t the same as packing  house.

With a house, you fill boxes and pile them in the middle of the room.  The pile gets as big as it needs to be.  Then you move all the boxes at once.  You can’t do that on a boat. There isn’t enough room.  So, you load three or four boxes, and move them out. then repeat. and again.

I ended up over the course of about two days of work with about 50 boxes and a collection of un-boxed stuff.

Whenever you move and get to touch end examine ALL of your stuff you learn something about yourself.  I have learned almost all of my “stuff” falls into a very few categories.  Tools.  Fishing Gear.  Food.  and a distant fourth, clothes.

In a week or so, all my stuff will be meeting me in Florida.  Karen, Harmonie and I will all be in the same place at the same time for the first time in what seems like a very long time.

One boatload in a 6′ x 6′ x 8′ container.

While week I was whining about being wet and uncomfortable in the winds and waves, a more significant drama was going on not that far away…

http://www.latitude38.com/lectronic/lectronicday.lasso?date=2016-04-27#.VyzbWD-twYA

We arrived!  Safe and sound.  We hit the dock at about 3AM.

We were all the very cliche’ of sailors fresh on land.  As we walked down the dock we were weaving from side to side. I found out I had to learn to pick my feet up when I walked!  I was dragging my heels!  But it was a delight to have warm dry stable places to sit, stand and sleep!

The crew has diverted to their next adventures.  I can’t say enough about them.  Even when things were not going well, they never complained (or at least not so I could hear!)  Thanks Steve and Tom, you two make the trip not just easier, but possible.

I spent most of yesterday drying out the boat, and doing laundry, trying to get things put back in good order.

Thanks everybody for the comments.  I can’t read them while I am underway, but I went through them all after I landed.

It will take me a week or two to get things settled here, and then it is back to Florida to the new boat.  Posting will resume when I get there and I’ll introduce you all our new home…

Time: 08:500 local
Lat: 37 49
Log: 124 21
Distance from Hawaii: 1995
Distance to Golden Gate: 89
24 hour distance made good: 130.1 nautical miles

Hopefully this will be my last morning report from sea. After 4 days of gale and near gale conditions, we are are tired, wet, and cold. I have to give it to Tom and Steve, they have been game for everything. I haven’t once heard a whine or complaint.

The exciting thing right now are the boarding waves. About every 15 minutes, a bigger, meaner wave comes along and smacks the side of the boat sending a column of water in to the air. The biggest of these left six inches of water in the cockpit in about 2 seconds. Since we are stuck hand steering, there is no getting out of the way, you have to sit there and take it. A good way to find every tiny leak in your foul weather gear!

As we come in to the coast, the reported conditions on the weather radio this morning are milder than we have seen for some time. Unfortunately, the forecast is for nearshore conditions to worsen over the day, so we might not get to enjoy them!

Our target continues to be the early morning flood tide, passing under the Golden Gate Bridge sometime in the hours just after midnight.

Time: 08:30 local
Lat: 37 44
Log: 127 06
Distance from Hawaii: 1872
Distance to Golden Gate: 219
24 hour distance made good: 137.3 nautical miles

The Northern California coast is living up to its reputation of being a rough and tumble place to sail. We are in the final weather pattern for our voyage, and it is not a fun one. Winds are between 30 and 40 knots, and the waves are large, and very wet on the frequent occasion when they break into the cockpit. The real annoyance is not the water, but that they slow our progress quite a bit. With these winds we should be doing 6.5 or even 7 knots, but the waves smack us down to just above 5. These conditions are forecast to last out through at least the weekend. In fact Saturday is supposed to be worse.

Right now from here I have three alternatives. Plan A is sail directly into San Francisco Bay. Obviously the most desired, and our current tactic. Plan B comes into play If we can’t make a flood tide. Then we have the option to detour to Drakes Bay and anchor there. That decision needs to happen by the end of the day today. Finally, if our course into SF becomes too rough in a beam sea, we can divert downwind to Santa Cruz.

Time: 08:10 local (We set the clocks ahead again yesterday, to San Francisco time!) Lat: 37 36
Log: 129 59
Distance from Hawaii: 1754
Distance to Golden Gate: 356
23 hour distance made good: 69.8 nautical miles

As you might see by the numbers above, yesterday was our slowest day of the trip. Most of the day was spent struggling to keep the boat moving in light and fickle winds.

That looks to be ending now, as the wind is picking up as the sun rises. The forecast is for it to continue to pick up as we approach the coast. The inshore waters are forecast to have winds of 25 to 35 knots and seas to 17 feet. The key for us is to catch the afternoon flood tide at the Golden Gate. It ends at about 4pm. If we are going to be later than that, my plan is to anchor in Drakes Bay for the night, and catch the next day’s tide.

For the last week or so we have been around and through the Northeast Pacific Gyre, better known recently in the popular press as the “Garbage Patch”. A great name, sure to invoke feeling of disgust and horror.

What does it look like? Well, ocean mostly. No huge rafts of trash floating out here. No Japanese towns washed out the sea by the tsunami. No great nets of plastic grocery bags straggling everything that swims. Nothing like the rabid descriptions I have read, and occasional, totally fake, picture. All you see is empty ocean. We do spot more bits of trash here than in other places on the ocean, but that is relative. While sailing I would estimate we notice one visible piece of trash about every 30 minutes or so. That’s a patch of ocean about 3 miles wide and 100 feet wide. A not entirely scientific sample, but should give you a feel for what’s actually here.

Interestingly, almost all of the trash is “new”. Very few pieces are encrusted with gooseneck barnacles and other critters and have obviously been in the water a long time, but they are the exception. Most things you see look fresh. Not sure what to make of this. Where does all the “old” trash go?

Time: 08:05 local
Lat: 37 04
Log: 131 17
Distance from Hawaii: 1674
Distance to Golden Gate: 421.7
24 hour distance made good: 115 nautical miles

As the end of our voyage is in sight (well, not literally) the wind gods have decided to be fickle with us. We had a good afternoon, but the over night sail was frustrating and hard work. Wind was highly variable in strength and direction requiring constant adjustment of sail trim and course.

Hopefully the winds will pick up during the day and get us moving quickly again.

On the annoying side, we did manage to suck our water tanks dry, so now we are on our back up jugs. Enough to get us home, unless we are becalmed for a week!

I have tried getting the watermaker going, but am frustrated by air being carried into the feed line while we are moving. If air is going into the pump, it can not generate the pressure needed to desalinate water. I have a short term solution in mind, but it’s not easy or pretty. Hmmm… Have to think about this one…