S/V 'Faith'

[CapnK]

Bon voyage, Faith and Crew! :)

[CharlieJ]

Bon voyage and have a safe crossing.  With ANY luck, we'll get to do the same within the next year.

Or Laura may get tired of waiting and go by herself :o

[Captain Smollett]

Best of luck, Craig, Rose, Peter and Faith.  Have a good crossing.   :)

[Frank]

GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Have a SUPER crossing ! I'll say a prayer for fair winds tonight ;-)

[Lynx]

Good luck and have fun. I had thought about that crussing but went with Port of Everglads as I am comming up from the Keys.

[AdriftAtSea]

Fair winds, and I look forward to seeing your next post. :D Don't sacrifice any laptops to the sea gods if you can avoid it. : D

[BobW]

Have a safe crossing!  Looking forward to your next post.   :)

[s/v Faith]

18 October 07

   ;D

Ahoy from West End, Bahamas!

  IT is a very tired crew of 'Faith' sitting in West End, Old Bahama Bay marina.

I have probably been through the Gulf Stream over 100 times, but somehow it never looked as beautiful as it did today.  Thank you all for your good wishes and prayers, we had 'Fair Winds' all the way across.

  The alarm went off at 2:15, but I don't remember sleeping last night.  The inlet at Lake Worth was pretty streight forward, but I was glad to have done a dry run the day before if for no other reason to be able to navigate through the boats all over the channel.

  It was bumpy all the way across, but the wind was steady from the SE and then S.  The boat handled it well, as did all Crew.

(i will upload picture here)

  We made it across fine, but had an engeneering casualty as we motored into the marina basin.  It was 30 minutes before coustoms closed, and I fear my trusty yamaha 6 hp 2 stroke has breathed it's last.  We dropped our lunch hook right in the middle of the channel as the bewildered dock hands watched.

  The marina is too well protected, our attempts to short tack up to the fuel dock did not work.... so I dropped the dingy motor into the well and STILL made it to coustoms before they went home... although they let me know they were on their way out.... (maybe more on that later, like after I am out of the country)  :P

  We are all tired, so I will log out now.  Maybe I can get back on before check out in the AM... this place is $90 a night WITHOUT POWER!  so we will find an anchoarge in the AM... It is a SAIL boat after all.    ;)

[Frank]

Congrats.Sleep well. 

[Captain Smollett]

Glad to hear you made it.  Rest easy tonight.

[maxiSwede]

 ;D ;)

[s/v Faith]

Ok, maybe the 'bottomless shower' and a good night's rest were worth the price.  ;D

 Today we plan to go out to anchor while I rip the outboard motor apart to see if the problem can be fixed.  I kinda doubt it can be, so I guess our first adventure in the Bahamas will be finding a replacement.

 THe good weather is supposed to hold till at least Sunday, so we should be ok.  The Indian Cay Channel looks pretty narrow, and we can no longer count on a sandy bottom any more so we will have to be very careful.  Our next stop (right now) looks like it will be Mangrove Cay, about 30 miles away.

 Got a couple pictures uploaded.  A few Posts back I talked about Jones Fruit Dock, just north of Vero Beach.  Here is a picture of it;



The DR plot showed West end should be 10 miles away, and we were not saying anything but getting a little nervous as we continued to scan the horizon seeing nothing.  As you can see, there is not much to show up on the horizon in West End....



 We could finally start to pick out the water tower about 8 miles out.. . most of my experience looking for land is from the bridge of a warship... height of eye being 55' makes a BIG difference!

Peter had a 'Ruff' time on the crossing... oh the burden of command.  



 We are going to fill the tanks and head out now.  Don't know when we will find internet next.  Will post when we do.

 

[C. Worthy Shipp]

Hi, Pal.......

Glad you made it safely across......knew you would......worried anyway......not now, tho'.

You mean we got the prop only to have the motor poop out in the Bahamas. Let me know if you want to go the online purchase.

Called your Mother.....she already knew you got there from your posting......she told D.J.

Take lots of digitals.....I might want to paint one (or more).

Remember, Craig...........

Tho' our decks be swept,
and masts and timbers crack'd........
We can make good all loss,
except the loss of turning back.

Love,
Dad

[s/v Faith]

 ;D

  I am very relieved, and thankful that everyone knows we are ok.  The Batelco rates are notorious, SailFar saves the day!    The generator is running, and I am still able to receive the signal from the marina.  We  are anchored right where the gulf stream meets the island and sweeps past the tip... quite a bit of current.  I took Peter ashore, and ran out of gas in the dingy coming back!  I thought about what might have happened if I have not been able to 'catch' the boat... Thankfully I had a handheld VHF so I might not have drifted too long!  Will make sure to continue to be cautious. 

  Yes, the motor is done.  I am not sure what to do with it, I can not sell it here without getting in hot water with coustoms... and I sure am not going to tote it around the Bahamas.  I would try to get some trade in from the dealer (as parts) but then I would have to carry it on the bus with me tomorrow  :-\

We will see.

Hi, Pal.......

Glad you made it safely across......knew you would......worried anyway......not now, tho'.

You mean we got the prop only to have the motor poop out in the Bahamas. Let me know if you want to go the online purchase.

Called your Mother.....she already knew you got there from your posting......she told D.J.

Take lots of digitals.....I might want to paint one (or more).

Remember, Craig...........

Tho' our decks be swept,
and masts and timbers crack'd........
We can make good all loss,
except the loss of turning back.

Love,
Dad

[s/v Faith]

Today was a good day.

20 Oct 07... Still on the hook at West End.

  We went ashore this morning where I had hoped to catch the bus to Freeport to look for an outboard.  Talked to a local mechanic who gave me a couple of tips on different outboard dealers in Freeport.  Basically there are OMC products, and Yahama.  The Nissan/Tomatsu/Mercury I wanted was not available.  I also learned that none of the shops are open on the weekend, so we would not get a motor today.

  Rose, Peter, & I decided that we were in the Bahamas, so we needed some conch fritters.  The restaurant in the marina is kinda pricey, but the fritters were wonderful! 

  We walked around and lounged on the beach listening to a band.  It was a nice break from what had been becoming a building tide of stress over the motor issue.  The next trip we plan to make is to Mangrove Cay, and the passage is narrow and we will be going against the SE wind that is expected to blow for the next couple days.  We also had a grounding incident moving the boat around the anchorage and the dingy motor proved to be no match for the wind / currents.  The need for the motor was (for us) a safety issue.  We had to have a running motor to go the next step.

  When we came back to the boat, I set about tearing the motor apart yet again.  The issue seems to be excessive backpressure, or a leak from the exhaust to the cooling jacket.  Backpressure issues are not uncommon on 2 stroke outboards, and I had done most of the things I needed to do to fix that.  The leaking exhaust jacket would not be practical to repair, even in the states.  The new motor seemed to be the only fix. 

  I worked for about 6 hours, and got it running again.  We motored around the anchor, and started and stopped the motor several times.  We plan to motor to the fuel dock at the marina tomorrow (gas is $4.50 a gallon here) and if all goes well we will either spend one more (expensive) night there, or we will head out.

  I just got my sun shower, and had a nice swim before that.  While swimming I cleaned the boat.  I am always surprised to see how much grows on the boot stripe.  Wish I had raised the water line a couple more inches.  Rose tended a line tied around my waist to keep me at the boat.  I tried to swim against the current, and was not able to maintain my position for more then a moment. 

  Peter got a bath too, he had a good time on the beach today and a salty wet dog below on a small boat is not such a great thing so he took a shower with dad. 

  I am thankful the motor is running again, and pray it will contune to work.  I know we will not enjoy internet access this good the whole trip, it is nice to have it now.  Thanks again for all the thoughts and prayers.

_______________________________________________________

-- A  note on the crossing

Oh yea, I almost forgot.  Prior to the crossing my friend Dennis encouraged me to go a bit farther south, and leave from Ft. Lauderdale.  His reasoning was that with the light winds, we would have a much nicer ride going more with the stream then across it.  He was also concerned that if we did not make enough headways, we might miss West End, and that would have left only Memory rock (very small and hard to see) between us and Bermuda... or the Azores  :o


  He was right.  I knew he was, but we decided to go anyway. The ICW guide lists nearly 30 bridges between Lake Worth, and Ft Lauderdale.  The wind was not going to work to go outside and sail into the edge of the gulf stream so we took the good weather window we had.   The approximate course across from Lake Worth to West End is 96 deg.  We steered 115 to get some southing early on, and only started to trend back to 96 after I knew we had a few miles of set to the south (about 4).  If at any point we started to lose the southing to the current I would have had to turn back.  I used the GPS to monitor the cross track error, but kept a DR plot because I wanted to see it, and generally do not trust electronics all that much. The Gulf stream is nothing to play with, and I was being careful, but wanted to make clear that I would not recommend someone in a 'SailFar' sized boat leave Lake Worth for West end and steer a bearing or even a GPS track.  By the time you are set north, it might not be correctable by taking against the stream.  I wanted to mention this in case anyone else is planning the same crossing. 

[Fac Man]

S/V Faith: I stumbled upon your posts, maybe I can help with the motor, maybe not. 

If you have exhaust gas in the cooling water, it is possible that the water pump on the gearbox has a crack, or bad gasket, that is allowing exhaust gas to be pulled in by the suction of the water pump. This may exhibit itself by a reduction of water flow from the 'tell tale', and tell tale water may be aerated; most certainly will put "air" into the cooling water.

I have a spare Merc motor here on the Cay that has not been run for several years, may have carburetor 'gunk', but is in good condition. It's probably too short for your vessel.

We are located near North Abaco, offshore of Coopers Town.

Otherwise, there is a Mercury dealer in Marsh Harbor, National Marine. Ask for Ross Albury.


Good luck.

[CapnK]

Tho' our decks be swept,
and masts and timbers crack'd........
We can make good all loss,
except the loss of turning back.

Awesome, Dad! :D

Grog for you, and also for Fac Man for the help! :)

[CapnK]

PS - Don't sell the motor, since that's against the law. Barter it.

Maybe you could trade it to someone, swapping it for some currency... :D

[psyche]

Rose, Craig and Peter,
Cogratulations on the smooth crossing. There is a lot to say about the line "A good boat and a star to steer her by." Sorry to hear about the motor. If you replaced it with the same motor you would not have to purchase a new prop or would have a spare. Often the motor does not come with the best prop for sailboats even if you purchase the yacht long shaft.  I appreciated the information/reasons why you crossed where you did and would appreciate other information about "local Knowledge" relating to Cays, entrances, anchorages and  other information the rest of us will find useful when we cross from dreams to reality. Dan

[Ariel Spirit]

Ahoy former commodore,

This is a message from all of us at ragged point:

Yall are constantly the topic of discussion around the docks and definately at every cook out, everyone at the marina is always asking about how yall are doing?

We are all very curious as to how yall have rode out the storm, and where you are now??  Hope everything is going well...update us when you can...

Capt Jack Sparrow