Sailing aboard s/v "Emerald Tide"

[s/v Faith]

I just got confirmation that I will be out from the 11th until some time around the 1st of the year.

I have a Pearson 424 to take from St. Pete to Marsh Harbour... the new owner has never sailed before.

She has a 50'+ stick, so I will be going the long way around.  :P  Probably go up to Lake Worth again to go back across.

So, I expect to be out of pocket for a bit.  Not bringing a computer, so I don't know if I will be online much.

[Tim]

Cool, Have fun!

I will be really cool the latter part of this week (going up to the mountains weather permitting) but will be back on Sunday (12th) and will be ruthless on the holiday spammers ;D

[s/v Faith]

I have been away on an adventure for the last few weeks sailing aboard a Pearson 424, Emerald Tide.

What a wonderful boat, albeit not exactly "SailFar"

She had a bit of trouble, but I think she is going to be a better boat on the other side of it.

My friend called me about a delivery, he had helped another friend find a boat and it needed to be moved from St. Petersburg to NC.  The plan was to make a Bahamas detour of an unspecified duration.

The 424 has a 56' mast, so going through the waterway was ruled out.  I drove down and worked on the boat for a few days and we got underway.  The boat had just been purchased, and there were a few (ahem).... "Oversights" by the surveyor..  ::) but she was sound and we had a nice sail down Florida Bay.

The owner had bought her as her first boat, a brave step of "cautious optimism".  ;D  Very cool, but there were some naysayers who were not too supportive.  The project really appealed to me since it was such an act of "living deliberately" to step out like that.  I really want to see this work out.

All went well until we reached the yacht channel in the keys.  The yacht channel passes under the 5 mile bridge (also called channel 5) and is a tough bit to navigate with nearly 6' draft.

Just as we hit the dog leg, the motor stopped and would not restart.  I had been motoring since it was a lee shore and very shallow.  I did not want sails up in case I hit the bottom for fear that a soft grounding might have become a real problem in the time it might take to drop the sails.  I was able to pop the jib and unfurl it to sail through the dogleg, but it was close.  My friend and I sailed her closer to the bridge but did not have the wind to go under it.  After checking out the motor for a little bit tow boat was called in for an assist.

Plans were made to anchor there, and take a tow into Marathon the next morning.  That evening after working on the motor for a bit I was able to get it going again.  We motored into marathon the next day with no issues.  Unfortunately, the Westerbeake had suffered from some deferred maintenance and was going to have to be re-built or replaced.

I stayed with her there for the last couple weeks to make her safe to stay on the mooring until something could be done.  Among the surveyors "oversights" was the fact that the house bank of 8D batteries was almost a decade old and completely shot.   ::)  New batteries were sourced and installed (great fun from the dingy on a mooring!) so the bilge pump could run, and a small solar panel was installed to keep them healthy.

I hope to get back aboard once we get this all sorted out.

[CapnK]

SWEET.

:D

* CapnK is that color... um, whaddya call it? Jealous? ;D

[Frank]

hope your delivery goes good and everyone has fun.
Judy had a flight in booked for the 3rd. There was no decent window coming up so I flew over to meet her. we opened the cottage...all was well...no surpises (water, rats, mould etc) but holy cow....the yard was 4ft high with aweful grass. There was this tall-thick stuff and lots of bur grass too. We worked all week getting the yard so you can walk around. If your going by...drop in for a peek. Don`t expect fancy...but the view from the deck is priceless.
we`re heading home tuesday for Christmas...back right after newyears.
Enjoy your tour   

[s/v Faith]

I am alive.

more later.  ;)

[Frank]

Glad to hear that !!  Hope ya had fun

[Captain Smollett]

Welcome back!  Cannot wait to hear more details of the trip.

Question:  HOW are you getting all these delivery jobs?  I "offer" and what-not and have no bites.  You know of the only close possible I have had, and that one would have been a nightmare had I taken it.

Just wonderin'.

[s/v Faith]

I dun now John. I have turned down several now, most of which I simply considered, prayed, and said no.

Keep in mind, whatever is broken when you climb aboard (even if that way for years) will become your fault once you drop the lines (forget the legal argument).  I am much more inclined to move boats when I know the players involved.

Insurance companies seem to like the Masters ticket too.

[s/v Faith]

The delivery (finally) continues.

The owner put $34,000 into a re-power.  :o

And then put 16,000 into rebuilding the genset, and replacing the AC and DC wireing...

It now has something like 740w of solar!

I will be offline for a couple weeks, starting next Wednesday....

... hope not to get caught in the gravitational pull of the keys this time!

[Tim]

And where is it going?

[s/v Faith]

And where is it going?

It will be in the same neighborhood as the Smollet 30... :)

Maybe we could run jumper cables over, and John could add that convection oven he has been wanting.  ;D

[Captain Smollett]

Do you have an ETA?

[s/v Faith]

Do you have an ETA?

Every once and a while a get one, but then I lay down and take a nap and it generally passes.  :P






;D



  No, I am going to pick up the rental car tomorrow morning, and drive down.  I hope to get underway on Thursday and we will see after that.

  I generally try to avoid schedules as much as I can, but I have your number and will call as I get closer.  Never really do know where I might turn up.  ;)

[s/v Faith]

Home is the Sailor.

[Tim]

 :)

[s/v Faith]

~~~~~+> This was originally posted, then removed from view. <~~~~~


The adventure continues.

The owner has taken a big step and invested in the boat in a big way.  She has been re powered with a new Yanmar.



We got back underway and had one of the nicest sailing experiences I have had.  It was a wonderful, dreamlike sail around the keys.  We anchored and swam right at sunset while the sky exploded with every shard of red yellow and orange imaginable.

The trip up the coast was relatively uneventful.  Made it to New Bern just in time to avoid the hurricane that was brewing down south....   Of course I just drove back to Florida and started a load of laundry before hurricane Irene made her intentions clear... New Bern was in her sights!

 Back on a plane after a quick trip into WestMarine for some extra dock lines, a great big Fortress and a storm sized hunk of 8-plait.  Arrived in Nc just in time to be too late for leaving the dock so we tied her down and watched the storm pass from the comfort of the third floor of the Sheraton.

 Been a great trip, very happy to be able to be a part of this.

[s/v Faith]

The journey continues.

After several short trips around NC and VA, Emerald Tide is headed South.

[s/v Faith]

I have a SPOT Messenger. I am sharing my location information with you. Click on the link to see where I am.

Just follow this link to see my location updates:
http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0k74N72e5suub7IY433h3m03C2KUPpGs4
If the link doesn't work, try copying and pasting it to your browser's address bar.


Thanks,
Craig

P.S. To learn more about the SPOT Satellite GPS Messenger, visit
http://www.findmespot.com

That's just the canned spot. Message, will update as I go.

[Captain Smollett]

I recognize that location.

Where ya goin'?