Scott & Sue Sail Away

What the. . . ?

2011-07-18T18:33:00.006-05:00

(Since posting this many a nice comment. If you'd like to visit the site where Enee is for sale click here.)

So what's going on. It's been a few days. . .

Our reinsertion into the cruising life after nearly 2 years in Chicago has not been a smooth one. So many repairs and upgrades as has been reported here. Then there's this. . .

When we began this adventure I was D O N E teaching. We were D O N E living in Des Plaines, IL. We sold everything and from there everything was an adventure. Daughter was in college anyway and we were up for the huge change in lifestyle and LOVED it. We were somewhere else every few days. Then after just under 2 years being back in Chicago, Sue teaching again, both of us being grandparents to a wonderful little girl the return to the boat seemed. . .

isolating.

We were working our butts off trying to get north as planned and the hurricane clock was ticking while the whole time discovering that underneath it all we were simply homesick.

It happens.

The cruising life with limited funds is a hard, solitary life. There are great moments and I love the early morning with that first cup of coffee. I love the actual sailing and passage making. There are friends and fellow cruisers but all the family stuff is so far away. Communication is not what you've gotten used to. Video chat doesn't work and there are no real hugs involved anyway.

In short. . . I think we are done and in fact we're in Chicago right now.

We did push the boat to Bequia and we like it there ok. We had a nice weather window to go north to St. Johns but had lost the will to do so. Can't stay in Bequia for hurricane season so . . . back to Grenada! And a great sail that was! We left Bequia at 5 pm, set sail, no motor, and sailed through the night on a nice beam reach with gentle quartering seas making 5-6 knots under a nearly full moon. If that's the last sail, it was maybe the best one ever on Enee Marie.

We have many interesting plans to move on for our next Chicago life involving education, little kids, and writing projects. LOTS to explore in Chicago. We were sad to leave Enee but she is in good hands in the water in Grenada. We're a little sad at either end of our spectrum. This end is better for us.

We're proud to have pushed a boat from Chicago to Grenada and so many points in between. We'll always have that. Thanks to all our readers. We truly loved the random comments that came in on occasion. I may return to Enee to move her to St. Martin at the end of hurricane season to be nearer a broker we may work with. Crew positions may be available!

THE END

Grendad - Carricou - Bequia

2011-07-11T08:57:00.007-05:00

Finally found internet again so this is a long one. Sit back, get a coffee (or beer) and enjoy.

Back to Passage Making

Yes. . . finally got out of Dodge (Prickly Bay, Grenada). In the morning we listened to the Caribbean weather Center (Chris Parker) and heard of yet another tropical wave entering the Caribbean over the weekend. Perhaps arriving late on Friday. Now, once upon a time we thought we had a day to work with and waited to sail to Luperon, DR and got the crap beat out of us because the nasty business arrived a day early. From then on we want a day buffer.

So, Plan A was to take care of boat stuff on Thursday, anchor out in the outer part of the bay and then sail before first light making for Bequia - about 70 miles. We no longer think that Friday is a day to mess around with. Rats! So, Plan B: We still do our boat things and then take off for Carriacou which is half way to Bequia. We can weather the coming wave there and then press on on Sunday or Monday. Jobs to be done are to purge our water tanks and buy fresh. Our water has been just a little cloudy. Probably didn’t do a good job on that when we were in the yard. Other job is to calibrate auto-pilot (here after referred to as Otto) which we can do in a calm place while underway.

We tied up at Prickly Bay Marina and started purging tanks. Do you know how long it takes to pump more than 100 gallons of water out? Well it takes a while. You know what else? It take awhile to put it all back in again too! I was filling the second tank listening for the tell tale rise in pitch as the water comes up the fill pipe when Sue came back to the boat with ice, beer and other goodies. She goes below. . . ‘STOP, STOP, STOP! THERE’S WATER SHOOTING OUT OF THE TANK! I never received the increase in pitch message so water, being water, was finding another way out of that tank - through some tiny holes in the top making it a little water fountain! Good thing Sue got back when she did or some idiot would still be sitting there until his whole boat was full of water!

Once around the south west corner of Grenada we head in a little toward St. Georges to find calmer water to calibrate Otto. This requires us to drive in a slow circle a couple of times while Otto teaches himself directions. Should take 2 turns. After 4 laps (and we’re burning daylight) we give up and raise the sails. Otto is a problem for another day. Rats. Really looking forward to using Otto as this sail to the north east is sure to be a motoring day.

So full sail and we are on it! Our new sail is awesome. We’re making 5.5 - 6 knots in a little wind on the beam and Enee is much more manageable. Money well spent. . this time. Once we get to the high hills of Grenada we lose that breeze and are back to motor and main. As we make this little trip we discuss what might be wrong with Otto. Then it hits me. I mounted the compass under the port settee just aft of the most aft drawer. Lots of room there and nothing electrical around. No, nothing electrical but then there’s the emergency tiller pipes laying under the drawers which are made of STEEL! And not stainless either. While off watch Sue removes all the drawers and those pipes. Some one should marry her, I swear!

When we reach Carricou after an uneventful motor & main trip we try the circle trick again and after 2 laps, OTTO PASSES HIS TEST! We now have auto pilot but we’ve already arrived! Well, we’ll certainly use this a lot soon. Time to anchor.

The sea bottom in Carriacou is a mix of grass and big sandy patches. The idea is to drop your hook into a sandy patch. The water is nice and clear and you can see the bottom easily. I dropped in an area where I figured as we drug back it would go into some sandy patches. I let out more and more chain. It would grab and then I could feel the chain vibrate indicating that it was dragging. At some point you have to give up, haul chain and anchor back up and try again. Some of you may remember our trials and tribulations with our old electric windlass which I replaced with a snazzy mechanical one. That was a couple of years ago though. The way this gizmo is supposed to work is ‘double action’ meaning as I lever back and forth I haul on both strokes. It’s time consuming but not too hard actually.

However . . .

This thing has not been operated for a couple of years and, no, I did not test it or do anything to it before we took off and now there’s a problem. It will haul on one stroke and then lay the chain right back where I started on the other stroke! But not always! I find by trial and error if I push forward and then accelerate rapidly backwards it will catch.

Sometimes.

Add to this that after a few pulls the chain peeler broke off. This is a rod that forces the chain off of the gypsy at the back end so that is goes down the hole. Without that the chain will go forward under the gypsy and jam. So there’s that. Finally our solution to the castling problem was to cut a hole in the anchor locker so that I could reach the chain and pull it back, knocking over the castle. That works! But I need to make a short stick with a hook on the end (or sacrifice my right hand and get a hook installed, YARRRRR)because as is I have to lay on the deck to reach through the hole. So here’s me working the lever like a mad man with the accelerated aft motion who then suddenly lays on the deck for not apparent reason to an outside observer and these two events are separated by severe swearing when the chain jams under the gypsy.

I finally get the anchor up and we move to a different and shallower spot. I find a nice big hunk of sand and drop the anchor. But the boat peeled off a little sideways in the wind and drug the anchor into the grass instead of the sand. After dragging way back hoping it would catch I am again the crazy man on the foredeck trying to get the anchor back up. With about 20 feet of chain to go the windlass stops working in both directions. Now it is just a machine that you would use to make your anchor bob up and down about 6 inches. There is nothing for it now but to brace my feet and start hauling chain by hand. My light little work out has turned into the strongest 60 year old string bean man contest. I do get the anchor on deck and I. Am. Gassed. I’m done. Luckily Sue spots a mooring buoy dead ahead and we make for it and hook on. I don’t care whose this is because it’s MINE for tonight. I could not have laid and hauled the anchor one more time. Good timing because the sun is just going down.

We find out from the sailor next to us that the mooring is owned by the boat yard and we can pay them tomorrow. Now it’s time for arrival rum and sit on the foredeck and watch the stars come out. It is a LOT darker here in Carriacou than it is in Grenada. We love this bay and enjoy some snack, our rum, and left overs from yesterday. A good day all in all and the windlass will have to come off the deck and be a project for tomorrow.

Friday - The Windlass

First thing we rig the dinghy motor and put up our anchor shade. Now I’m at getting the windlass off the foredeck. This turns out to be easier than I would have imagined. Once out I turn it over and remove the plate at the bottom revealing a crumbling gasket and a bunch of gears. It’s a greasy mess in there.

Carriacou has this amazing platform boat that is actually a metal shop. I’ve spoken of this before but never used their services. Now I’m on it. The frenchman who owns the place and I discuss the workings of the windlass and the problem with the peeler. He speaks a little english and I speak my english really loudly and slowly and wave my arms which to the french sounds just like Marcel Marceau. He seems to be washing his hands of the fact that it isn’t working correctly but will try to fashion a new peeler if I can make the thing work. He’d like me to disassemble the whole thing and just bring him the empty casting.

Back to Enee. I attack the windlass with my available tools. I’m reminded of the time I took the family manual typewriter apart but couldn’t get it back together again before my dad got home. So I work slowly. With the windlass up-side-down I begin to understand how the double action works. A small gear has springs on it and is connected to a partner just like it. So on one stroke one gear is in operation but on the other the spring pulls the other gear into operation and thus the output always goes the same way. It is so gunked up inside that the little back and forth motion (probably less than a quarter inch) is not always happening. I clean up what I can and squirt WD-40 where that action happens and keep cranking back and forth. IT’S WORKING!

The bad news is that I can’t get this thing apart and don’t know that I really want to now that it is working. I take it back to the frenchman and ask him to see if he and devise something as is for the peeler problem.

Now it’s raining (and has been off and on all day). I’ll check with the frenchman later today. We think leaving Sunday is now a good plan and have to figure out how to check out with customs on Saturday.

Back at the metal shop the frenchman has indeed devised a new peeler and is just about done. He used a piece of rigging rod so this shouldn’t break. He also gave me a piece of gasket material to replace the old. He probably worked on this for a couple of hours. Total price? 150 EC or about $60 US. Not bad. Most yards charge 50 - 100 an hour for labor.

We cut the gasket and put it all back together on onto the foredeck. I’m hoping that the double action will still work with the anchor hanging on it. We lower the anchor a little and crank it back up. . . IT WORKS! This is good but now I’ve solved two problems after I needed them solved! Otto and the windlass. I’ll need them again though. We’re going to the main town of HIllsborough tomorrow to check out with customs and immigration and then on to Bequia tomorrow.

Saturday-

We’re re-upped with Chris Parker so we can call in on the SSB radio for info on a particular passage we plan to make. I still don’t understand radio. This guy is in Lakeland Florida, on a boat, and we hear each other loud and clear. Weather looks good for the next several days as is often the case in July in the Caribbean. Later in the morning I take the bus to HIllsborough to clear customs and immigration for our Sunday departure. No problems there but a bit of a wait for the customs lady to show up for work. Island time. . . We did little the rest of the day except to buy some eggs and limes from the nice vegetable lady and to prepare the boat for Sunday morning departure.

Sunday-

This sail to Bequia (~35 miles) is to be a test drive to see if I can do everything by myself. This is planning for after Sue goes back to Chicago in August (hey, that’s next month!) and I am sailing single. First thing...get going! I think order of events is a big part of solo sailing. With two of us we typically get going and then raise the main. Easier for one person to take care of the main while still hooked to the mooring ball. Engine on, ease main sheet, raise main. Looks good. I wait for the wind to come to the starboard side of the boat as I want to turn left when I release the line to the mooring ball. Wait for it. . . I let go. Enee backs down to port. I walk to the helm, trim the main, put her in gear and we are off!

While in the lee of Carriacou I roll out the genny, and let me say, EVERYTHING is so much easier with Otto at the helm. Even with two people we can hit the Auto button and now we can both tend lines or do whatever. But even more valuable for the solo sailor. Otto performed great during the whole trip to Bequia.

You have to round Union Island and then head up a little to make Bequia. Great sail to Union with Otto at the helm we are close reaching right on course. Otto is a WAY better driver than I am and only slightly better than Sue. Once out of the Lee of Union our close reach is taking us a tad west of our desired course but we’re making 6.5 - 7 knots in about 15 knot breeze so we take the speed and will make up the angle later. Bad idea that!

The waters between Union and Bequia are a little rougher but not really bad at all. On the other hand we haven’t been cruising for 2 years so we still have an adjustment period. When we are about 1 mile off course I decide to see if I can tack the boat alone (with Otto of course!). It has a tack function but I’ve not set that up so I just hit the right turn 10 degrees button 9 times. Otto makes a smooth turn, I release the jib, and haul in for the port tack. Now I can adjust the heading by hand and set course for this tack.

Oh this isn’t good. I’ve had to tack more than 120 degrees and my speed is down to 2-3 knots. What the hell? Think about it. . . current. Yep, there is a 2-3 knot west setting current here. I should have planned for this and motored some angle into the angle bank back by Union island. This port tack is no good. It’s taking be backwards, I’m slow and crashing into the chop. I tack back to starboard, reel in the jib and decide to motor across my original line until I can lay Bequia.

This isn’t going to work either! As close to the wind as I can motor/main I can aim the boat at an angle of 60 degrees. My original course was about 38 degrees so this should allow me to cross my line and wait until I can lay Bequia. But, notice I said I could AIM the boat at 60 degrees. With that my actual course is . . . about 40 degrees. This means that I am basically paralleling my course and will never be able to lay Bequia for a sail.

Damn. I am pretty tired of motor and main with the little arrow on the mast pointing me to where I am going. But there is nothing for it in this current. You’d tack for days trying to make Bequia.

Otto does pretty good in the chop but of course he can’t anticipate a larger wave. I take the helm for awhile to round off some of the bigger waves. On the energy side, Otto is great. He only draws 3-4 amps and with the wind generator on I actually have to be careful to not over charge the batteries. Otto was not cheap but he has quickly become the best boat improvement ever.

When you get to Bequia you’re not there yet. There is a long spit of land and some off shore rocks sticking out to the west that you have to get around before you can turn right and go directly into the east wind to the anchorage in Admiralty Bay. This is usually about another hour. Now can I anchor by myself.

To get the main down I slowed engine, drove into the wind, eased the main sheet, and activated Otto. No problem. I took my time and tried to do a good job flaking the sail. While chugging slowly like this I also pull dinghy up close to the stern in anticipation of backing down to anchor. Don’t want any lines in the prop!

As I got close to the anchorage I again engaged Otto and went to the foredeck pushed the anchor over the forepeak in preparation for dropping. We’ve been to this anchorage before and it is easy to hook. Nice and sandy. I watch the depth and pick my spot. Engine in neutral I then go to the fore deck and wait for the boat to stop. While waiting I hear, “HEY, Enee Marie!” I look up and see our good friends John and Nancy on Silver Seas anchored just ahead of us. Great! We saw NO old friends in Grenada.

When Enee is nearly stopped I drop the anchor and start paying out chain. There is little wind and a screwy current here so Enee doesn’t back straight down. I wait and let out some more chain. At this point I just want to set the hook so I have Sue back us down a little. Feels good but what does it look like? I don mask and fins and go take a look. Sweet. Anchor and shank are buried with one fin sticking up as is usual.

One passage and I did it all myself! I can DO it!

We each get a finger of rum and before we can finish that two more friends have driven over in their dinghys! Val and Lloyd on Puddle Jumper and Bob on Persephenie. John and Nancy come over too and pretty soon we’re all toasting to good friends.

It WORKS!

2011-07-05T08:40:00.002-05:00

Yes, auto pilot is working. The book that comes with doesn't exactly match what the various screens are doing but I worked that out with the Raymarine man telephonically. Still need to do the sea trials to calibrate compass and we need some calm conditions and flat water for that. So. . .

Plan 147: We'll wait for the Wednesday/Thursday tropical wave to swing through and head out Friday. Hopefully it will be calm sometime or later on Thursday for sea trials for auto pilot. OR, we can perform that calibration on our way on Friday. We'll make Bequia Friday. Stay there Saturday and then make St. Lucia on Sunday. Now we'll take a hard look at the weather and see if we can make the long run to St. Somewhere (Croix, Thomas, John, or even Puerto Rico). Or if something very nasty is coming across the Atlantic we can make a 2 day run back to Grenada.

Not much left to do on the boat until Thursday. . .

Good News - Bad News

2011-07-04T17:24:00.004-05:00

Good News: Auto-pilot parts came in

Bad News: Doesn't work. :(

Yeah, they have a series of things you go through to set the system up and it started fine and then when it was supposed to go to the mode where you set it up at rest it just went to STANBY. So, tomorrow I'll call Raymarine and they'll probably tell me to send the whole freaking thing in for diagnostics or that I'm SOL because I installed it myself instead if hiring a guy with a high school education (maybe) at $50 an hour to connect wires according to a diagram for me.

I swear to Jupiter, this boat is sailing on Wednesday and if I have a $5000 hurricane anchor down below well then so be it!

Good news: I got new handles on the dodger installed today to replace the ones that were stolen (so neener. . .I win!). We like those. They're right where you really want something to grab on to if you're coming aft from the foredeck.

More Good News: Got the new lettering on the transom today. Sue did all the tough work standing in a rocking dinghy trying to make things straight.

Looks great, eh? (excuse my Canadian, eh?)

Kudos to Sue for making it perfect! I love having a boat in Grenada with a hailing port of CHICAGO!

Yeah, it's freaking cold in the winter, eh, BRING A JACKET!

WE SAIL!

Finally, a sad note. . .Shirley, the very nice lady that worked in the tool room at Spice Island Marine where I worked for a time was killed last week being hit by a car. She was a nice lady and always happy to talk to Sue and I when we were in the yard. As Kurt Vonnegut would say:

"So it goes".

:(

This Could Be the Week!

2011-07-04T05:30:00.004-05:00

Found out Saturday that the last parts that we need for the auto pilot are on the island and will be picked up on Monday. I should be able to finish the install Monday-Tuesday with a calibration run on Tuesday as well. That means Wednesday could be get away day and that would be good as we see a shift in wind to the ESE Wednesday - Thursday. That's excellent for going north!

Check out the wind forecast here!

Three other projects remain: New jib halyard has been purchased but needs to be reeved. We have new lettering for the transom that needs to be put on (that should lead to some swearing!). I have to connect up the rudder sensor for the auto-pilot.

Sue is going to the store today to get a few items to add to our stores and that should do it! We are SOOOO ready to get moving. Now all hurricanes: PLEASE STAND DOWN!

Where are we Now?

2011-06-29T17:30:00.001-05:00

Actually. . .

We're still in Grenada. The black hole of sailboats.

Let's see. . .we were ready to sail to Carriacou on Tuesday but we awoke to thunder and lightning. We decided to put it off a day when about 1-2 hours later it was fine. So Tuesday was a non-day of laying around, napping, and wishing we had pulled the trigger.

Tuesday had the added bonus of Sue going over to Prickly Bay Marina (motto: We hate you and the boat you rode in on!) to get ice and 4 jerry cans of water. Why not? When she returns the dinghy is freaking flat! What happened? Prickly Bay Marina dock is made of concrete with shards of glass, shark's teeth, rebar, sewing needles, razor wire, and other things embedded in the concrete. "Sure come on in and buy some water".

Bastards.

Well we had planned to tow the dinghy but we don't want to tow a flat one so we take off the motor and haul dinghy on deck. This is a process that is not pretty and does not lead to wedded bliss. OK?

PULL THE F***ING THING.

I'M PULLING!

Like that.

So we plan to sail to Carriacou with dinghy on board and spend the day there and maybe the next doing more dinghy repair. Maybe paint the bottom too because since I neglected the bottom for maybe 3 days and there are now 4 inch green beards around the water line. FINE!

We're up at 5. I check the engine, tighten the belt, we lash some final things to the deck and we are ready.

BOOM!

Thunder.

We re-check the weather. OK, there are various huge blobs coming toward Grenada. Nothing we couldn't handle if it came on us at sea but why leave in that?

So we stay. Again. And what a day it turned into...

We spent most of the morning looking for the dinghy leak while scrubbing and shaving green growth off the bottom. Oh but it would be good to have the wash down pump going now to clean off deck and dinghy. We turn on the breaker (it has it's own as it used to be married to the electric anchor windlass).

Nothing.

OK, I switch to my electrician's hat. I figure it must be the tiny switch in the anchor locker. This has been basically outdoors for 2 years. So, I cut it out and wire direct to the pump. It works! Well, it spins but no water comes out but, hey, that's progress, right?

Probably needs to be primed. Switch to plumber's hat. Now let me explain that the pump is under our bed in the V-berth so that bed and all the charts under the mattress have to be blown apart while I work, once again, standing on my head. I swear I'm just going to get up in the morning and put on my head lamp!

I disconnected the outflow line and put in a short hunk of hose. Then, well, I suck. Mightily! Who didn't know that!? Once I get water out the other side of the pump Sue turns on the breaker and Whooo HOOOOO, we got water squirting all over our bedroom! But, that means the pump works and we can use the hose topsides. This is just another example of working on something that was on NO list when I got up.

Now for the dinghy. Strangely while all this was going on the dinghy has not lost an atom of air! What the hell? Well, it ain't leaking now so we put it down to a mysterious leakage. We don't want to leave our sparkling clean dinghy in the water and we hate our dinghy davitts as they are too short and cause the dinghy to be drug up the transom which we just had repaired for a few thousand dollars. Well we have some ideas so let's get her in the water. OK.

The launching of the dinghy off the deck is similar to getting it on deck.

"What's wrong"
"It's stuck".
"Raise it or lower it"
[cricket noise]
"RAISE IT OR NOT?"
"WHAT"
"Oh for Christ's sake would you just pull the THING!
"Wait"
"Wait. . .What was that?"
"Oh good sweet baby Jesus. . ."

We had somehow hooked the rub rail from the dingy under the stainless rub rail on the boat and BOING shot about 30 wood screws into the sea while the stainless is sticking out like crazy bamboo shoots.

Do you see? Now I have another project that was on NO list when all I intended to do was go freaking SAILING!

We take out the remaining screws and stow the stainless on board. I then mix a batch of epoxy with some filler stuff and patch all the screw holes (well only missed three). Tomorrow we'll move the stainless 1 inch forward and drill and screw anew (!). (That's about 45 anew's!).

We've pulled dinghy out of the water and protected the transom with seat cushions. Could be the start of a bigger solution. A swim. A rum. Some backgammon and it's sunset. Weather dictates that we might as well hold tight, wait for our auto pilot parts (Friday or Monday. . . yeah, right!) and keep working on Enee. All plans chipped in Jell-O.

Where are we Now?

2011-06-29T17:29:00.000-05:00

Actually. . .

We're still in Grenada. The black hole of sailboats.

Let's see. . .we were ready to sail to Carriacou on Tuesday but we awoke to thunder and lightning. We decided to put it off a day when about 1-2 hours later it was fine. So Tuesday was a non-day of laying around, napping, and wishing we had pulled the trigger.

Tuesday had the added bonus of Sue going over to Prickly Bay Marina (motto: We hate you and the boat you rode in on!) to get ice and 4 jerry cans of water. Why not? When she returns the dinghy is freaking flat! What happened? Prickly Bay Marina dock is made of concrete with shards of glass, shark's teeth, rebar, sewing needles, razor wire, and other things embedded in the concrete. "Sure come on in and buy some water".

Bastards.

Well we had planned to tow the dinghy but we don't want to tow a flat one so we take off the motor and haul dinghy on deck. This is a process that is not pretty and does not lead to wedded bliss. OK?

PULL THE F***ING THING.

I'M PULLING!

Like that.

So we plan to sail to Carriacou with dinghy on board and spend the day there and maybe the next doing more dinghy repair. Maybe paint the bottom too because since I neglected the bottom for maybe 3 days and there are now 4 inch green beards around the water line. FINE!

We're up at 5. I check the engine, tighten the belt, we lash some final things to the deck and we are ready.

BOOM!

Thunder.

We re-check the weather. OK, there are various huge blobs coming toward Grenada. Nothing we couldn't handle if it came on us at sea but why leave in that?

So we stay. Again. And what a day it turned into...

We spent most of the morning looking for the dinghy leak while scrubbing and shaving green growth off the bottom. Oh but it would be good to have the wash down pump going now to clean off deck and dinghy. We turn on the breaker (it has it's own as it used to be married to the electric anchor windlass).

Nothing.

OK, I switch to my electrician's hat. I figure it must be the tiny switch in the anchor locker. This has been basically outdoors for 2 years. So, I cut it out and wire direct to the pump. It works! Well, it spins but no water comes out but, hey, that's progress, right?

Probably needs to be primed. Switch to plumber's hat. Now let me explain that the pump is under our bed in the V-berth so that bed and all the charts under the mattress have to be blown apart while I work, once again, standing on my head. I swear I'm just going to get up in the morning and put on my head lamp!

I disconnected the outflow line and put in a short hunk of hose. Then, well, I suck. Mightily! Who didn't know that!? Once I get water out the other side of the pump Sue turns on the breaker and Whooo HOOOOO, we got water squirting all over our bedroom! But, that means the pump works and we can use the hose topsides. This is just another example of working on something that was on NO list when I got up.

Now for the dinghy. Strangely while all this was going on the dinghy has not lost an atom of air! What the hell? Well, it ain't leaking now so we put it down to a mysterious leakage. We don't want to leave our sparkling clean dinghy in the water and we hate our dinghy davitts as they are too short and cause the dinghy to be drug up the transom which we just had repaired for a few thousand dollars. Well we have some ideas so let's get her in the water. OK.

The launching of the dinghy off the deck is similar to getting it on deck.

"What's wrong"
"It's stuck".
"Raise it or lower it"
""
"RAISE IT OR NOT?"
"WHAT"
"Oh for Christ's sake would you just pull the THING!
"Wait"
"Wait. . .What was that?"
"Oh good sweet baby Jesus. . ."

We had somehow hooked the rub rail from the dingy under the stainless rub rail on the boat and BOING shot about 30 wood screws into the sea while the stainless is sticking out like crazy bamboo shoots.

Do you see? Now I have another project that was on NO list when all I intended to do was go freaking SAILING!

We take out the remaining screws and stow the stainless on board. I then mix a batch of epoxy with some filler stuff and patch all the screw holes (well only missed three). Tomorrow we'll move the stainless 1 inch forward and drill and screw anew (!). (That's about 45 anew's!).

We've pulled dinghy out of the water and protected the transom with seat cushions. Could be the start of a bigger solution. A swim. A rum. Some backgammon and it's sunset. Weather dictates that we might as well hold tight, wait for our auto pilot parts (Friday or Monday. . . yeah, right!) and keep working on Enee. All plans chipped in Jell-O.

Let's Go to Carriacou!

2011-06-27T16:06:00.005-05:00

Why not!
The auto pilot isn't quite working yet. Scott found out that there is a part or two still missing and those are now on order. They say they'll be here in a week. We figure probably two.
So why sit still when you can sail? That's what we say.
All other systems are good - finally - so we decided to head up the road about 30 miles to the next island north. It's still part of the Grenada government so we don't need to check out and in. And we're ready for a little sailing. Weather should be good and hopefully the wind will stay east and not turn north too soon.

It's been 3 weeks since we landed back in Grenada. It's been quite a transition from the Chicago way of life. First of all, there is no Lucy here and she and her parents are sorely missed by us. We had gotten into a groove in Chicago and really liked it. Well - Scott was ready to re-retire from teaching high school, but besides that Chicago is a great place to live.

Now we're back in the Caribbean and indeed it takes a little while to get used to island time and island weather again - not to mention getting used to living on the boat. You're always in motion and in fact I felt myself swaying back and forth while standing at the bar at da big Fish today waiting for our groceries to be delivered. After all our work (mostly Scott's) putting the auto helm together and fixing the fuel tank among other things, the boat is actually looking like ours again.

We needed to get more food on board. So today I went to the Food Land for cans of chicken and ham then to CK's for cases of juice, then to IGA for fresh fruit and produce. Our lockers are now full of goodies that should last a month. Well -- maybe not the rum but the rest should last.

We're still not sure what the future holds. Depending on when these auto pilot parts arrive we may or may not be heading north to Puerto Rican waters. Time will tell.
In the meantime we plan to have a lovely sail to Carriacou and try to remember how to make the pointy end go forward!

More later--------

We SAIL!

2011-06-25T13:34:00.002-05:00

We spent all morning re-rigging Enee for sailing. Sue has patched the sail cover as best she can and we put that up. We got two prices for repairing it that were both more than we originally paid for it. Keep patching! We made a yoke for dinghy towing. Scott experimented with hauling the 85 pound outboard on deck by himself in preparation for some sailing alone that will happen once Sue returns to Chicago in August. That went. . .not so well. The brute force method (usually my favorite) is not so good. Have to think about a better, safer way. Re-riggin the lazy jacks and reefing lines was truly a test of our memories. We passed (with C's) So everything lashed down as best we remember we're ready to go. The BIG question of course is would the engine drink fuel from the actual fuel tank? It would and it did. Engine is running fine.

Out we go!

We raised the main within Prickly Bay and the jib a little later. Our new jib looks great! It's probably about 110% and the clew comes to just a little past the mast. Our old sail was huge with the clew coming nearly back to the cockpit. This sail is much easier to tack, better shape, easier to roll up, and we expect not much loss in speed due to it's better shape. We'll see. We didn't try to trim sails very hard today. We just tacked a couple of times, looked around and made sure everything was working as we remembered. See, it's bee nearly 2 years since we sailed this boat!

Today was a mild day in the Caribbean with winds probably around 15 knots and seas 4 - 5 feet. And yet, THAT will take some getting used to again when those conditions and more are the norm for a day or two to make a passage.

I'm working with my good friend Kerry on Bellagio as to the wiring for the auto helm. I can't believe that Raymarine is making it as complicated as it seems. All of their instructions are for a boat with multiple Raymarine gadgets that need to 'talk to each other'. I just want their stinking auto pilot to steer the damn boat! We'll see.

So, we're back on our mooring and taking it easy. Our bodies are still getting used to the crawling, climbing, crab-walking that one does on a boat instead of plain old walking. If we're willing to leave without the autopilot, Tuesday could be the day.

Stay tuned!

Pictures!

2011-06-22T16:55:00.006-05:00

Well, just another day in paradise! If paradise had horizontal rain and 40 knot winds! But, our mooring held and only one boat drug in Prickly bay and no big deal. A good day for indoor projects, napping, and reading.

But yesterday it was sunny and Sailor Sue re-bedded that leaky deck prism. Deck prisms are really old school. Old sailing ships used them to bring some light down below in the days before electricity. As stingy as I am about electricity. . .I LOVE deck prisms!

Hey! Who's that? That's capt. me with new sail rolled up on the forestay. Can't wait to try it out. It's got shiny new jib sheets in case you didn't notice! Enee is looking more and more like a sailboat ready to go cruising.

And . .NO, I DO NOT look like my father!

But here's a nice shot of our new cushions and they're not Vinyl! AND their good for napping - the entire crew agrees.

OK, It takes about 15 minutes per picture so I'm quitting now.

Everything on the island is closed tomorrow for some crazy-ass holiday so looks like we'll stay aboard and do some of the many little projects that await. BUT we could be sailing by the end of the weekend.

Really!

Real Progress

2011-06-22T07:16:00.004-05:00

Good News: The fuel tank is sealed! Tested it this morning and no bubbles. Wheeeeeee HOOO!

The autohelm is totally in but not the final wiring which I am having trouble deciphering from Raymarine.

We were going to hoist our new jib this morning but Grenada has a big tropical wave sitting on it with lots of wind and storms. We'll wait a day on that one.

Got the SSB radio up and running and listened to the off shore report today from the National Weather Service. I like starting my day that way and I keep a log of the weather report day by day. Helps in planning.

Speaking of planning: We will take Enee out for a day sail just to try the new jib and see if we remember how to sail. We'll probably anchor then and not take the mooring ball back to practice anchoring again. We've had a hole cut in the bottom of the anchor locker so in theory I can get at the chain from topsides when it castles up. We'll see. If all goes well with that trial run we'll pick a good sailing day to make a 60 mile run to Bequia. From there about the same length run to St. Lucia. Now we have a great angle to St. John/St Thomas or we can even fall off more and sail to Puerto Rico. OR, if a hurricane is coming we are only 2 days away from running to hide back in Grenada. The run to those northern waters is about 300 miles or 2.5 - 3 days. I think I'd like the auto helm for that.

Other small jobs keep getting done. Sue re-bedded one of the deck prisms over the aft cabin as it was leaking during heavy rain. We're about to put the mattress back in the aft cabin so we won't be working around that any longer. Hurray.

Looks like something heavy broke the knob on the forward head so, ugh, we've been flushing with a bucket. Can't find that part here either of course. But, I have the same toilet in the aft head so I'm hope to rob from that one to fix the forward head.

I'd put up pictures but the coconut wifi is not up to that this morning.

Out and Over!

Breaking Faster than we can Work?

2011-06-20T16:08:00.006-05:00

We've completed the mechanical installation of the auto pilot. You know, we really just cut some 2x4's and bolted them together but upside down by the rudder post using a mirror in one hand and a cordless drill in the other, well, it just takes a little longer.

Today we had to take the compute in for repair. Still, it's not right and it probably needs a new battery and that's a quest for tomorrow.

We tested the fuel tank for leaks after our excellent re-bedding and patching. . .there were several.

:(

So, today I took out all 12 screws and re-bedded the rubber gasket with some gasket goo. We'll see tomorrow if this makes a difference.

We bought new sheets for our new foresail (no, Andrea, these kind of sheets don't go on a bed). Tomorrow morning when the wind is down we'll hoist our new jib and see if we like the cut of it!

I keep talking to more and more sailors that have had things stolen off of their yachts at Spice Island Marine. Means nothing to Spice Island Marine because they put a line in their contract that says, "We're not responsible". I'd say! Truth in advertising there. I wonder if some sharp lawyer could make a case that a joint with a fence and security guard at the entrance is somehow giving a false sense of security for those who don't read the fine print. Suffice it to say that there are a number of us who will not be back when it's time to haul out. Any cruisers out there, read your Doyle book. There are a LOT of yards in the Caribbean.

On the upside: This is our view from on deck.

On the downside. . .this has been my view lately!

LET'S GO SAILING!

Another Day, another $2.67 EC

2011-06-17T15:30:00.002-05:00

More good progress today. It may seem to you that I'm working slowly. Well, I am. Crammed upside down on a rolling boat in a stinky engine room tends to slow me down. But. . .

I did finally screw down the inspection plate. Yesterday only 9 of 12 screws would go in so today I took all the screws back out and had to re-tap two of the holes. The other was just being shy about being screwed. All went down very nicely then. We'll see how well it seals!

I did find a right angle drill to borrow on the morning VHF cruisers net. There's no other way to drill and tap the holes necessary for the fuel gauge. Had to walk over to the next bay, Mt. Hartman, to pick it up and, yes, I got miserably lost in the heat of the day. I turned a 10 minute walk into a 45 minute Bataan death march. But I found it and I got the drill and I sold my refrigeration gauges in the bargain.

Back on board I decided to put the drilling and tapping in the engine room off to tomorrow morning when it's a little cooler and busied myself with fishing the wires from the hydraulic ram down by the steering quadrant up to the galley where I've mounted the brain box for the auto pilot. No big challenges there and it sure is nice to have a fish tape on board. I wonder where I got it?

Sue, being the wonderful 1st (or 2nd) mate trudged to a lumber yard and brought back a 6' piece of 2x4. Yay! I'm going to marry (sue?) that board to a cross member down by the rudder post and bolt the hydraulic ram to those 2x4's. that should be solid and that should WORK.

I wrote to Raymarine today as it seemed none of the wires that came with my auto pilot system actually connect the control head to the brain box. Well, no, they don't because there are about 6 other items I'm supposed to have for that! Really? I wrote back and told them I don't have any other Raymarine products, no chart plotter, no radar, no gps, etc. I just want the damn thing to steer the boat on a set compass course! Now we'll see how long it takes to get THESE parts if in fact they are essential (of course they will be and they'll be damn expensive I'm guessing).

Our new jib is done and on board. Tomorrow we're going to buy new jib halyard and probably new sheets as well. Anxious to see what this new sail looks like unfurled!

Looks like we might just get Enee back together before we run out of money. Could we sail away from here in a week? We'll see. . . Stay tuned!

Progress

2011-06-15T14:07:00.006-05:00

Oh boy. . .Sue and I spent the morning and some afternoon with our heads stuck into the engine room with and open diesel tank, other solvents and a rolling boat.

Pass the bucket!

Sue had gone to the Ace and got a rag mop and she used that to absorb the last of the bad fuel. Less than a gallon so we've done well to get old liquids out. There are still some deposits and chunky type stuff in there but no good way to get to it. The bottom of the tank is about 4 feet down.

I then laid down a layer of Marine Tex to level the area around the inspection plate and around where the fuel gauge goes. I plan to sand this tomorrow to make nice and level. I found through some internet research that the ONLY thing to use to make a seal on a diesel tank is Buna-N rubber. So, that's where our quest begins tomorrow. I have neoprene and used that before and it has turned into a rotten sponge. That's not a gasket! 3M 5200 is NOT compatible with diesel so it's the Buna-N or nothing I guess. We're both very anxious to get that tank capped to start to exhaust the diesel smell from the boat.

So if we find a source for the rubber, Sue will head out to buy that and I'll drill and tap new holes for the plate and fuel gauge. (Sue prefers to be away from the boat when Scott is drilling and tapping new holes. Sue is then less likely to be blamed for a mistake.)

And yes. . .we ARE in the Caribbean so as lousy as all this work is, it still ends with a swim and a cocktail and enjoying the gentle rocking of Enee Marie. Hope to finish the diesel tank tomorrow and then. . . ON TO THE AUTO PILOT!

Finally a sad picture! See our GPS? See our Radar? No? See the cut wires? 'Nuff said!

Bastards!

Tanks a LOT!

2011-06-14T14:23:00.002-05:00

We took Enee back to Spice Island Marine today. She actually runs great out of a 5 gallon jerry can. (I wonder how far we could travel with a few of those on board. . .) Anyway, we tied to their pier and their most clever mechanic, Desmond, a helper, and myself proceeded to remove the inspection plate from the fuel tank and pump out ALL the nastiness inside into 55 gallon drums. The inspection plate came off without too much trouble and the fuel/water mix was right to the top. After a lot of sucking and hollering to prime the pump we pumped nearly all of the gunk out of the tank. The first several gallons were pure water.

The tank itself is more interesting than I would have thought. It's 75 gallons but not just one big 75 gallon box. Inside there are 3 or 4 baffles dividing up the space. This to keep the 75 gallons from violently sloshing fore and aft. This is an ugly and nasty job and it's far from done. We're now back on our mooring ball and tomorrow we face sponging up the remaining fuel/gunk that the pump didn't get, cleaning off the top of the tank, making it FLAT where the fuel gauge goes and where the inspection plate goes, and plugging some holes that are there for god knows why. Speaking of the inspection plate, it was held down with about 12 screws - some machine screws, some sheet metal screws. some long some short. So, I plan to drill out all the holes and go up one size in machine screw and re-tap them all.

I'm researching now as to the best way to re-bed those things to the tank. I like 5200 because it is for ever and I can build that up some to make the seal a little dam-like. There are a number of things out there called gasket ________ (fill in the blank). Anyone with a point of view on this feel free to jump in.

By the way . . .when you're sweating your butt off and you have your head stuck in an engine room reeking of diesel do you really want to hear that the water pump to the faucets isn't working?

You don't. But that got fixed later.

To work backwards we started our day by putting on the main sail. She looks more like a sailboat now. We are waiting to put on the Mack Pack sail cover as after inspection, it is in need of serious repair.

Our day ended with Sue retrieving some beers while I fixed the water system (for the 457th time). That led to a swim with our noodles and all is good for a bit before we get back after it tomorrow.

(I have pictures to upload but not with the coconut telegraph wifi system we are on. Maybe tomorrow or if I get up at 3 AM.

Sunday in the Islands

2011-06-12T17:48:00.003-05:00

Truly Sunday is a day off in the islands. Nobody works. Stores are closed. Bars and restuarants are closed. Kind of nice. We're waiting to solve our fuel tank problems but nothing can happen with that until Tuesday as Monday is a holiday making it just like Sunday. So . . .

What did we do today? I worked on the installation of the auto pilot. I have questions for Raymarine and Edson before I can proceed. Wiring could be done but I have to buy wire. But I have an idea of how it might be installed. I cleaned up my workbench and worked on making the drawers not slide out when on a starboard tack. No perfect solution yet. We have a tiny oozing at the fitting for the depth sounder. Sue has tried packing that goo around it that comes in a tube and then you slice off a hunk and mix the outer layer with the inner layer. Like trying to seal your basement from the inside (I've tried this as well) it didn't work so hot. But, I thought I read that this same stuff would work under the water line. So I dove on the boat and packed that goo around the fitting underwater. Seemed to work at first but then oozed a little later. I'm not worried about this because. . .

I'm an idiot!

No really, the fitting is secure but apparently the packing has become a little brittle. I'm sure we won't sink.

Soon.

I found the door to the under the sink locker and the slats that had been made for it. I got those in to fix the hole there and sanded the whole thing down. Now it's ready for some varnish to match the rest of the boat which, by the way, is looking pretty spiffy with new cushions. Pictures later.

Sue was busy cleaning our very dirty hatches and soaking our equally dirty lines in a soapy bucket. Clothes were put away and little by little we're figuring out how to live aboard again. We both think it's important to not feel stuck just because we have a BIG UGLY job ahead of us that is the fuel tank but still try to make Enee pretty and more comfortable for living.

We also took time or naps and a couple of swims.

Oh, and the weather has be splendid with a nice breeze 24 hours a day. So the boat needs more money poured into it but life could be a lot worse.

Fuel Tank

2011-06-11T05:30:00.002-05:00

After making measurements of other places to put a fuel tank I find that there is no place to get more than maybe 50 gallons. We bought this boat based on the 75 gallons of fuel for the range that would give us. So my current plan is to get the existing tank cleaned out. The yard can do that for me on Tuesday probably. Then I'm going to remove all the connections on the top, clean the whole top, seal up any tiny holes and then re-bed all of the connections and re-bed the inspection plate. Hey! I might even put in a working fuel gauge! 20th century here I come! Right there the tank would be WAY better than it is now. With 75 gallons of fresh fuel in then (ka ching!) we wold have to be ahead of where we were. I think that's the best I can do at this point. Any comments as to details I'm overlooking with this plan are more than welcome as long as you agree with me!

So, not much can happen in the very near future. Monday is some sort of holiday here so we'll use the intervening time to continue to put things away and clean this old tub, and buy some groceries.

News: Some bad but some good too!

2011-06-10T11:20:00.003-05:00

Enee was successfully launched yesterday. Amazing maneourving in tight quarters in the yard but the guys who work the big machinery are really good. Engine started as it did back in March as we waited for the guys from Budget Marine (right next door) to bring my 3 shiny new Trojan batteries. While waiting the engine slowed and stopped and was not to start again.

make sad face here. ..

With Diesel engines you wonder what is wrong but not for long. It almost has to be the fuel and it was. The fuel tank in the Endeavour is actually lower than the bilge or if you like it IS the bilge. If water were to come up too high because bilge pump is not operating on the hard. So on one hand, big deal. Certainly the tank is sealed on top. Unfortunately no. There are voids and small holes etc. So what has happened is that while we were away and not able to monitor the bilge rain water gets in, water and oil and what not eased its way in to the tank. Add to that what was able to grow in there while we were away and the bottom line is that the diesel fuel in the tank looked like dark brown s***.

The guys at Spice Island were very helpful. Frankie sent Desmond to our boat after lunch and he worked for 3 hours cleaning out the Racor and jury rigging the fuel system to work out of the 5 gal jerry can just to get us the hell out of the yard.

While waiting for this operation to be completed we contacted the lady who took care of Enee the last couple of months as we knew that she had a mooring ball available in the bay. While we are adept at anchoring we didn't need any more adventures for the day.

Meanwhile Desmond is bleeding the injectors during which time you just crank the engine and wait for fuel to appear at each injector. It's a crummy job. I've done it and I hate it. So while the engine was cranking suddenly Desmond starts screaming, "SHUT IT DOWN, SHUT IT DOWN, SHUT IT DOWN. . . He had become entangled in the belt/alternator business. Sue sprung into action and tried to shut the engine down by turning off the key (Diesels don't work that way). Finally she got to the shut off plunger and shut her down. Luckily, Desmond only got his shirt in the alternator and the blades of that scraped his arm a little. But no blood so no foul.

So, with our 5 gallons of diesel we motor out to the mooring ball, pick it up (only took 2 passes) and got attached. We're in. Boat is rocking nicely and for the time being we can not worry about fuel systems. Tomorrow is the other big question: Can we find more holes in the dinghy (it's still leaking) and will the outboard start? But today we're up for a swim and some rum punch (we think of everything if it doesn't have to do with engine maintenance). Holy crap. . .the caribbean water was even more wonderful than I remembered. We bobbed around for a bit and rinsed off on deck. Sleep was pretty good too with Enee gently rocking back and forth.

So, Friday starts with a bit of good news. The re-build I did on the propane system all works so that means COFFEE and that's important. Now to the dingy. We discover that Sue is the better finder of leaks. She finds 3 more! We patch those and it looks like we're finally holding our air! While doing this we discuss how we might best turn the dinghy right side up on deck and get her into the water. This is eventually accomplished with almost no swearing! Now for the outboard.

Our 18 horse Tohatsu 2 stroke has been hanging on the stern rail of the boat outdoors for about 18 months. I looked inside of it when I was here in March and declared it startable. Now for the test. Of course all things moveable are not corroded and immoveable but are easily loosed with some elbo grease and corrosion block. We have to sort of re-train ourselves as to the procedure for getting the engine from deck to dingy but we manage.

Fuel is ready, hose connected, oh yeah, squeeze the bulb to bring fuel in to the motor. The bulb was about as flexible as a major league baseball! I managed to squeeze it a little using both hands and squeezing has hard as I could.

One pull, two , three. . . VROOOOOOM! Holy crap! It started! Amazing. After all that time. Now both boats can move and projects can begin in earnest. AND, it's not even noon yet!

Now as you can see we've arranged internet. Timely updates and pics while we do our work.

We had hoped to come down get a couple of jobs done and sail north. Now it looks like we're going to be in boat repair/upgrade mode for a while. So be it. If you need to work on your boat there is just about no better place than Grenada. It's all here.

Thanks

2011-06-08T10:57:00.000-05:00

Thanks for kind thoughts from commenters. We've spent a productive half day on the boat. We've hopefully found the LAST leak in the dinghy but time will tell. Bottom job is done and looks good. Replaced the zinc and scraped and sanded the propeller. I plugged the old feed hole in the forward water tank. We filled the aft tank. We'll fill the forward tank before leaving the boat today. Bought a hand held GPS from a fellow cruiser today. I only use lat long from any gps anyway so we're good for now. I may still try to replace the nice little Furuno unit we had at the helm though as it is handy and doesn't use batteries. The one I bought today can be back-up then.

I'll not replace the radar unit. I never really used it. Thought it was too bright at the helm at night anyway. With charts and gps you KNOW where you are. Other ships should be well lit at night and if they are running dark you have other problems!

Our new cushions will arrive tomorrow and should be a big improvement from the green vinyl. Right, vinyl was not so good in the tropics. Checked in with the french sail maker and shockingly the fore sail that we ordered at the end of March is not quite done. Waiting for UV cover and that should happen before the end of next week. Seems stupid but I don't really care. I'll have enough to keep me busy until then anyway.

Our three new Trojan batteries will be delivered to the boat later today. I need to make up pig tails to connect them together and get another battery strap to tie the thrid one down.

That's about it for now. We're back at the apartment for a cool down and lunch and will return to Enee soon.

A Dark Day in Grenada

2011-06-07T08:08:00.000-05:00

Just was on board Enee Marie and noticed something looked different at the helm. Oh yeah, The GPS and the radar unit are both gone. Wires cut. Units gone. This is bad. Those are very expensive units and we've sunk our money into a new sail, bottom paint, new batteries, and $5000 for auto pilot yet to be installed. Of course the yard can do nothing and it clearly states that in the agreement. I've had the boat in the yard for 16 months at $450 a month plus have hired them to do various work on the boat. I know they can't be responsible or THEY'D go broke but it sure pisses me off. I can sail without radar but not GPS. Maybe just buy a hand held and go with that.

Anybody want to buy a boat?

Cheap!

PASS THE RUM!

Wrapping up Chicago

2011-06-03T09:06:00.003-05:00

What a great 1.75 years it has been. During this extended stay in Chicago we have helped to raise little Lucy our grand daughter which is absolutely the best job ever! She is action packed and learning stuff at a very scary pace and, yes, being forced into the dark side of baseball - The Cubs.

Sue has been teaching full time at Columbia College and that will actually continue in the fall

I also taught a class or two at Columbia and most recently taught full time high school again (gasp) at North Shore Country Day School. All together we enjoyed both teaching and playing with Lucy AND got to feed the sailing kitty.

Just talked to Spice Island Marine in Grenada and Enee is getting her bottom painted as we speak and our launch is scheduled for the 9th. Hey. . .That's next week!

We hope to sail north to Puerto Rico/St. Johns waters this summer. Sue will head back to Chicago to continue teaching while I stay with the boat, make frequent trips back to Chicago, and dodge hurricanes.

So, stay tuned for regular updates as we figure out how to sail again. . .GRAB THE THING!

Done -

2011-03-31T13:54:00.006-05:00

and good morning to you, Mr. Lizard!

Did a few more little things today. Put up the anchor shade. Wow! Did it ever shrink! That edge used to go to the mast! What the hell? How does that happen? Cleaned up a little. Put tools in zip lock with corrosion block sprayed inside! So there!

Reserved the paint that the yard will need to paint the bottom before we arrive.

This is the space where the linear drive will go to steer the boat. That old nasty air conditioner took about 30 seconds to rip out. I still have some copper piping to rip out. I probably could have paid for all the upgrades on copper I've ripped out of this boat! Sue and I agree. . . trying to keep a box at, say, 50 degrees when all around you is 85 degrees. . .well, expect problems! We're not going to try.

I met with Lesley one more time. She'll open up the boat once a week to keep the mold down. She's also chasing down the lady that is going go to make new seat cushions for us. I'm very excited to not be peeling myself off the vinyl any longer. The sample she sent over looks very nice. Lesley will send pics and estimate before proceeding.

Bought a 45 lb CQR anchor off a catamaran sailor. . .only $200!! Now we have two CQRs (this one looks to be a little bigger than our other one) and another smaller anchor. One more ought to do it for staying up north in Hurricane season. That and plenty of heavy line. I'll buy 50' of chain and maybe 200 feet of rope for this anchor when we return.

Sue and I return on June 6 and I've scheduled our launch for June 9. That gives us two full days to mess about on the hard before we splash. I've made arrangements for us to stay here at Cool Running as that also was a great find.

All in all a productive (if expensive!) couple of weeks. I'm so glad that things look like they will work as before. . .being a sailboat the systems are pretty simple and it's important to keep it that way. Fancy auto pilot is a big deal for us but completely necessary for long passages and especially for any solo sailing I do when Sue is in Chicago. Can't wait to feel the boat move under my feet again.

So any potential or current cruisers out there who have not been to Grenada it is an excellent place to outfit your boat. Lots of help and expertise here.

Looking forward to getting back to Chicago as well. Dying to see my family and for that good old Chicago pizza. Tomorrow night!

PIeces Falling into Place

2011-03-30T15:03:00.002-05:00

Cleared up another old problem today - that of the forward head sink not draining. Now's the time to take this apart when the sea doesn't come in! Good Christ! I hate working with that real stiff black hose - connects the sink drain to the sea cock. Finally got it off after much sweating and the standard swearing. Sure enough there was a fitting of some sort down there that was just the right size to completely plug the hole into the sea cock. So one more OLD problem gone away.

Mike from Enza Marine came back out with the rebuilt KISS generator. He put in new bearings and a seal that should have been there but wasn't. He said the bearings will take a few days to loosen up. We'll see if its a better generator now. It was already spinning nicely when I left the boat today.

Now, the big news is the linear drive for the auto-pilot. It did arrive and I messed around a lot with where it might go. First of all where it HAS to go is where an old air conditioning unit was. I ripped that out (easy enough) and began measuring and planning. It comes down to this: Not going to happen before I leave now. I definitely need to get a tiller arm from Edson to have the push pull rod from the linear drive work on . No good way to attach it directly to the quadrant. I talked with Frankie, the most clever builder/designer of fixtures, and we agreed on a plan. Working with him, Raymarine, and Edson while I'm back in the states I think we can get this baby put together. I'll do all the electrical connections when I return.

Found another leak on the dinghy and maybe this is the last one? We'll see tomorrow if dinghy is limp and sad or perky and happy.

Tomorrow I'm just going to clean and organize and not get into any major building/modifying projects. I'm hoping that when Sue and I return on June 6 the boat will be bottom painted and ready to launch on the 7th or 8th. We'll probably stay right here at Cool Running which has been perfect for this project.

Thanks for reading! Two months and we're sailing again!

Almost Done. . .

2011-03-29T15:45:00.006-05:00

Good day today. Number one goal was to get the engine to pump water. Couldn’t find any obstructions so I thought I’d just narrow it down. I took off the boot to the heat exchanger. Now the pump only has to pump water from the bucket I’ve put in the engine room to the top of the pump! If it can do that then the problem is down range from there.

Let ‘er rip. Wow! Lots of water spewing around the engine room. That’s a good thing. I put the boot back on hoping that this has somehow ‘primed’ the pump. Go again. Wheeeee. . . water is going all the way through the system and out the stern. Good deal. Unfortunately it is also spewing out around the pump plate at all four screw locations.

Hmmmm….

I realize I’ve changed out this plate for another I had on board. Certainly they are identical. The one that was on there had some of the paper gasket welded to it so I spent some quality time with a sharp knife scraping off the old gasket and trying not to deeply score the plate. I put this plate back on and try once again and now I only have a tiny drip from the top screw. I’ll work on this at some other time as I only like to complete 95% of any project anyway.

I talked to the people at Enza Marine who service KISS wind generators. They gave me some good information as to how to take the unit off the mast it is on and bring it to them. Unfortunately this process involves standing on a ladder on deck and said deck is already about 14 feet off the ground. I am so bad with heights.

The plan is to unscrew the hub that holds the 3 blades first. Then remove the unit itself. The hub is a left handed screw. Fine. I hold the axle with a wrench and try to unscrew the hub. No way. I try taking the whole unit off with the blades attached. I can’t turn that collar either. I’ve had it.

I call Enza back and tell them I’ll pay for THEM to take the thing off and get it to their shop. I nice guy, Mike, shows up later and working together we the the unit off. While sorting out the paper work for payment he looks at me and says, ‘So you’re Scott Welty”. I am. Turn out he recognized the name from the astronomy articles I’ve been writing for the Cribbean Compass. Oh the problems of fame! He remembered I wrote a column telling where and when to look to see the space station go by . . . and it worked! Who knew?!

So Enza has the KISS unit at the shop and will be in touch to get more money. Fine.

I have the dingy suspended up in the air and have been cleaning the deck down where she has been laying for these several months. Not too bad. Maybe now’s the chance to find that leak that has been driving me nuts in the dinghy. Actually suspended about 3 feet off the deck is a great way to work on it and clean it. I can blast dirt out from between the tubes and the hull which is hard to do when it is right side up. I spread soapy water as I work looking for tell tale bubbles. And there they are! right on the nose a significant leak. I buy some glue as the stuff that came with the dinghy repair kit has dried up and patch said leak. I’m happy about this but upon later inspection I see that this tube is still down so there is another leak (or more) to find.

I put up the dodger. I was afraid how this might look but it looks great. Plastic needs some tlc but overall it is fine. Now she’s starting to look like a sailboat again!

No good news on the remaining part for the auto pilot which was my main reason for coming down here. I was given the run around by the boys at Budget Marine today: "It’s on the truck, the truck is coming, any time now, Nick is getting it now". The day ended with me saying, I’m glad that Nick is picking it up now. If it’s not here in the morning I’m bringing the other parts back and expecting a refund. I can only be dicked around so long. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.

The Mystery of the Non-Starting Engine. . . SOLVED!

2011-03-28T15:33:00.002-05:00

Actually, this is a whole chapter in my book! I never really felt comfortable with the solution presented there but so it goes. The problem I'm referring to is the 1 out of 100 times when we'd push the button to start the engine and NOTHING would happen. No click no pop no whirrrrrrr. Nada.

So trying to get Enee started after 18 months on the hard I figured on having problems one of which was the same nada when I pushed the button. Well, I've always suspected the bargain solenoid I bought in Ft. Myers Beach (always go with marine grade!) so I bought a new shiny one at the Napa store. Looks just like the old one with two small posts for the low current side. . . that's the side with the push button and two larger posts for the starter current. These things are stupid simple. When a current goes through the small posts it energizes a coil (magnet) which pulls a plate down to connect the starter current. Simple. This way the 60 or 70 amps that go through the starter aren't' going through you tiny key switch!

I installed it and pushed the button. Nada. Ok, I'm probably dealing with a dead battery here but so dead it can't even turn on this little coil? NO, the battery runs the bilge pump etc so it might not be up to cranking the engine but it should make the coil click.

Well, I'm going to need new batteries anyway so I buy one and put in an order for 3 more for when we return. Trojan batteries. . .leave your joke in the comments. Now I will know that what ever is going on it is NOT the battery.

Connect the battery, push the button . . . nada. What the hell?

I talk to Frankie the yard guy and ask if solenoids are as simple as I think they are (meaning are they as simple as me!). Well, yes and no. Sometimes the case is the ground. . . remember the little dog in front of the speaker in the RCA logo. That was me. Ok something new to try!

I un-wire the solenoid and play with it with alligator wires (I'd have figured this out sooner with a LOT less swearing if I'd not left the battery in my multimeter!). Ah HA! the frame of the damn thing and the left terminal are what activate the coil. The right terminal is apparently there to torment physics teachers who think they know about electricity!

Back in she goes. I connect one wire to the left side, one wire to the case (the ground) and the output wires to the starter. Gotta work now!

nada

I hope no one was walking past my boat just then to hear the language that was coming out of the engine room. Now I am completely stumped. . . again! I know the damn thing worked when it was in my hands but now it's not working. . . what's different? I take wires off (and just so you know, taking the wires off involves me craming myself into a corner of the engine room with that stupid light on my head) one at a time and just bring a positive lead from the battery over to that left terminal. Nothing. Then I take off the ground wire (which is attached to the engine block) and just connect the thing to the + and - of the battery. CLICK!

? (RCA dog again)

crickets . . . .

The ground wire?

So now I put a wire on the case and touch it to various places on the engine for ground and listen for the click. This is hard as the engine is painted so not a whole lot of bare metal to use. It turns out to not work where the ground wire has been connected since we had the major overhaul in Ft. Lauderdale in 05. This is a connection to a bolt that attaches the water pump to the engine block. It used to work, then it worked 99/100 times and now its not working at all. What the hell changes about a bolt in an engine? Well that's it though and I have to find a different connection which I do and I test before putting all back together.

All right now. All back together. Got a new battery. Got a bucket of water for the pump to suck from. . .I'm ready. Key on. . .BZZZZZZZZZ, hit the switch. . .

And. . . .

It was like we'd never left. The old Perkins turned over about a dozen time and fired right up! Imagine me doing the dance of joy!

The bad news is (and there's always some bad news, right?) is that the pump is not sucking water. I know the impeller is good as I inspected it yesterday so maybe some clogging (not the funny dance thing) on down the line. BUT that's for tomorrow. I am DONE!

In other projects, I raised the dingy up off the deck using the jib halyard and while ugly under there it was mostly just dust and came up with a squirt from the hose. The tougher stuff will probably come up with some scrubbing and detergent. I've decided to leaver her on deck for launch. I patched a couple of dings in the hull with epoxy.

I opened up the outboard and it looks like new in there. This has got to run so I'm not going to try to muscle this off the boat to test.

I ordered our new, smaller genny from the sailmaker so that should be ready for us when we return in June. Fun to have a new sail and I'll probably have lots to say about that once we get under way.

And finally back in the bad news column, I turned on the switch for the KISS wind generator and she just won't turn. I can turn it with a stick but in a breeze that should have had it spinning nicely . . .nothing. So, there's a question for tomorrow to see who works on these things.

Nobody Works on Sunday

2011-03-27T11:07:00.006-05:00

And it's pretty true in the islands. Like just about everywhere when I was a kid, nothing is open on Sunday with some exceptions. I decided I needed a day off as well. I also decided I needed a real cup of coffee after a week of Folgers instant. I walked to the New York Deli not knowing exactly when they opened but I had been there last week so . . .I get there and see the closed sign. Darn. I walk up to check their hours and when I get to the door a hand flips the sign to open! Perfect! I have a cup of joe and a bagle while reading my book, Room which damn well better have a happy ending!

From there I decided to walk along the beach. Beautiful morning. light breeze, partly cloudy probably about 80. I walked all the way to the other end of Grand Anse Beach to a joint we know about called Jenny's Place (Jenny was Miss Universe in about 1879 or something). Looks like Jenny's place (not unlike Jenny herself) is undergoing renovations. I stopped here and there to read and/or take pictures.

Stopped at the grocery store and walked home. Whew.. . . .that's a lot of walking actually but I've done a lot of that in Chicago anyway. Now it's lunch, laundry, read, write, and basketball. I'll get on boat stuff tomorrow big time! Only 4 working days left and I've not started either engine!

Yesterday I cleaned up the helm station. You know, you cover what you can on your boat to protect it from the elements but by doing so you just create a mildew hotel! Cleans up easily enough though with detergent and a sponge.

The competed replacement regulator and solenoid for the propane locker. From know on there will be NO metal in this locker. Going with a 20 lb and a 10 lb fiber tank.

That's it from Grenada.

Go CUBS!

Another Day Another Puzzle

2011-03-26T12:47:00.003-05:00

Today was to be engine day. Time to see if the iron genny will run again. I put the cover back on the pump. Did not change the impeller since it looked fine and besides, I can't figure out how to take it out anyway. Checked the fuel filter and changed it. If she runs I'll want to look at this filter right away and see what sort of crap is coming up out of the fuel tank. I checked the coolant and that is right at the top. I put a bucket of water for the pump to suck from and we're just about good to go. Give a little throttle as we usually do, turn the key. . . buzzer comes on. That's good. Press the button and . . .

nothing.

Well here we go then. This is something I'm used to (doesn't mean I like it). We have this problem on occasion and it's a whole chapter in my book (buy the book!). We suspect the starter relay and it certainly looks rusty and nasty like so many other components to the boat. So I trot on down to the NAPA at the Ace hardware. I show the guy the bad relay. He clearly had never seen one before and was sure they had nothing like that. OK. . . then he said wait a minute and went back to the shelves and came back with just the thing! I nice one too as it is in-cased in plastic instead of rust-able metal.

Back to the boat. Install the new relay. . . turn key. .. .press start. . .

nothing.

So. . . If I had another set of ears on board I would have that set listen for a clicking noise coming from the relay. If the relay is clicking but nothing is happening then you know the problem is on the secondary (starter) side. If it's not even clicking then the problem is on the primary (push button) side. I don't think it's due to a low battery. A low battery would at least give a groan and turn the engine a half a turn or so but that is certainly another concern.

Monday I'm going to borrow somebody with ears and listen for the click. I'm also going to try to borrow a fully charged battery and see if that makes a difference. I'm really sick of this problem and hope I can FINALLY solve it before I leave.

I also took off the helm cover and cleaned up all the mildew on that and our cockpit table. I think before I leave I'll put up the dodger and the big anchor shade we have to better protect the boat for the last two months of her stay in the yard.

I'm taking the rest of the day off - went to the store and scored some White Castle hamburgers! Wheee Hooo. I'm taking tomorrow off as well and working on school stuff so there is not so much to do on the weekend when I return.

Comments and suggestions certainly welcome as usual.

One Week In

2011-03-25T16:24:00.003-05:00

It's Friday! I wonder if I'll get a day off tomorrow. . .doubt it.

More hard work today but coupled with some successes.

Just for the hell of it I turned on the relay for the propane. I should hear a characteristic click when this happens. Nothing. OK. Open the locker and what do I see. . . RUST. The whole solenoid/regulator assembly is just a pile of rust. So I take the ugly business off and put it in a bag and off to Island Water World. Once there I pull it out of the bag and Johnathon, the Brit who runs the place and knows simply everything about boats says, "God God"! I say, "I need a new one of these", and he says, "Well we don't have one just like that!
"No I don't want it just like this I want it like this but working"! He is a smart ass.

So I bought new regulator and relay. The relay is so that propane cannot come into the boat unless you switch it on. Safety device and an important one since propane is more dense than air. (See how I slip in some science when you're not expecting it? That's what I do.) Now it's fun with pipes, elbows and various parts that have to fit in the locker AND leave room for 2 - 20 pound propane tanks. This has always been a tight fit so instead of worrying about how to make it just barely fit I decide to just change our cruising motif to 1 20 lb tank and 1 10lb tank as the reserve. We'll use the 20 pound tank and then switch to the reserve knowing that it's time to buy propane and top off both tanks. I also want this 10 pound tank to be the new fiber kind like our 20lb tank. Our deck lockers are not dry. Not by a long shot and although they have drains there are two problems with that. One is that they drain forward and we are not always in trim for forward draining due to dingy and outboard on the stern. Two, the drain is raised up so that unless you tip the boat forward about 30 degrees not all the water is ever going to drain. This is killer for steel tanks with that steel rim at the bottom. That's dust on our steel tank. Dust. So maybe someone wants to buy that tank and paint her up but I'm done with steel propane tanks on this boat. OH, and this job? 100% done! Wired her up and heard the nice click!

Water tank job is 98% done. All hoses are connected and ready to go. have to still epoxy the elbow to the plate I made and I need a better plug for the old feed hole in the tank. Then I'll put the numerous screws back on the access plate. Much swearing there usually so new rule, Lucy the grand daughter can never come aboard when grandpa is working on the boat!

Speaking of screws. . . I've been all over looking for that 1/4" thread, 1/2", flat head, tapered, brass screw for the engine pump. No luck. I did find on board a replacement impeller with the proper paper gaskets so I'm ready to go if only I had one screw (don't go there!). Then, I'm finishing up with the water tank and looking through my machine screws for one more to hold down the plate with the elbow and what does my pointer finger find? Not one but TWO of the exact screws I've been shopping for! Wheeeeeeeee!!!! Life is so exciting. Lottery? Kids Play!

Tomorrow I'll try to extract the impeller...not sure how to get it out of there but have tools and a short fuse so that ought to do it! This means I could probably try to start the engine tomorrow too. I'd like to go back to Chicago having heard the diesel bang.

Now I will digress. . .

Recently I've been teaching high school physics at a private school. It's been a good gig but pretty different for a guy coming from 20+ years in the public school system. So lets go back to where I had no idea what to do because my water tank was leaking. I was stumped and I had to drop the tools and just think about it. That little experience made me think about a test one of my students turned in and on a problem he wrote, "We've never had a problem like this!". He had no work and no idea how to do it. He was upset. Now I'm thinking, the whole idea of problem solving is to exercise those brain muscles so that you CAN solve a problem you've never seen before otherwise what's the freaking point? Sure you've never seen it but it is ABOUT the stuff you've allegedly been learning. I mean, that's how we got to the moon, right. Or. . .

Hello Mr. Beige. I've read your resume and I see that you are very good at the odd numbered problems and have even had a go at the occasional even one. Good show! We have just the job for you. You'll get a nice tidy cubicle and in there you'll solve problems that are just like the ones you've already solved. We can't pay you much for this obviously but it should be enough for you to spend beyond you means, produce some nasty children who you will resent and they will return the favor, pay your mortgage, and die happy! Let's get started shall we!

Sailing is such a microcosm of what is right and wrong with the world. I know it's not a big deal that I used a part for what it was not intended to solve a problem but somehow that's everything too.

That's it from Grenada. All comments appreciated as usual.

Zen and the Art of Water Tanks

2011-03-24T16:22:00.002-05:00

To any who have read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance you'll recognize this rap. To those who have not read it. . .

WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WAITING FOR? :) This book should be required reading for all teachers, sailors, and humans.

Anyway I had several goals today one of which was to check out the water system. We topped off both tanks (65 and 85 gallons) before we left. This to keep green type things from growing in there. Tried the pump to see if water would come out at the sink but nada. Pump is running but no water. This is not unusual and if you search the archives for 'pump' or 'drinking water' or 'suicide' you'll see what I mean.

So what seems to be the problem? Well, I tried various things to narrow it down all the way to a bucket of water with a hose to the pump and nothing on the output side. . .what's a bilge for anyway? OK, pump can pump water about 2 feet horizontally. Now we're getting some where. Watching the semi-see through (or do you see it as semi-opaque?) lines I notice air bubbles on the input side of the pump when trying to draw water from either tank. Hmmm....Well, maybe all the water went away. So I squirt several gallons of water into each tank. NO. I open kitchen and head faucets. NO.

Now I sit and stare at the forward tank. There is about 3 inches between it and the aft tank and in between I see water and a steady drip from the forward tank where the fitting is for water to head to the pump. OK, so this is where the pump is sucking air, right? This is bad then. I cannot get my hand between the two tanks and if I could what would I do? No way to tighten anything. My hand would be a hand sandwich!

Mommy! Shit! This tank is molded into the the boat and leaking where I have no hope of getting to.

Breathe. . .

Wait. . .I got it. What if I plug that pipe from the inside of the tank and then suck water from the top of the tank (like a straw) via a new line to the pump. The fact that the water has to go up to get out means nothing in the world of conservation of energy! YES! That's then how I spent the rest of my day (nearly). We now have a new access to this forward tank. In true sailor fashion I used what I had and modified it for my needs. This tank had a capacity meter on top that has never worked. So I drilled a hole in it for a two ended barb. Now a short piece of hose goes into the tank and a longer piece is fed to the pump. I've not sealed it all up yet because I don't have a good plug in the old feed. I need a nice rubber stopper for that. I think I'll leave this 90% completed (my favorite!) and bring rubber stoppers back with me in June.

On another note, our water tank once again has white rocky deposits in it. Sue cleaned all of this out some time ago but now it's back. I suspect some chemistry is happening due to water + bleach + aluminum tank. I've collected some deposits and plan to take them to the school chemist when I get back to Chicago. This is one of those annoying problems where you look in your water tank and go , "GOOD GOD! What's going on in there"? Then you realize that you have been living, drinking and cooking out of said tank for several years. So, I think the main annoyance of this distillate is that it gets caught in the screen up stream from the pump and has to be cleaned out occasionally. Nobody died yet!

So, what about Zen etc. There is a wonderful part in the book where the author is going to do some maintenance to his bike. Something major like grinding pistons or what ever. But to do so he has to take some trivial cover off and the last screw has stymied him. So his day is spent on that one screw instead of all the fancy maintenance he was going to do. So. . . can't get too mad. This is the hand you were dealt today. Got to just follow it and maybe you'll end up learning some screw removal skills that will be useful later.

I have pictures of plumbing supplies but they are WAY too cool to share here!

Screwed

2011-03-23T14:20:00.005-05:00

Today's mission was to try to remove the cover plate from the engine's fresh water pump to get at the impeller. I haven't had a look at that for a long time as the screws were very stubborn. So. . . I got a can of thread loosener and sprayed liberally. It seems where the screws go on the pump there are tiny holes behind so you can squirt stuff in there perhaps right into the threads. Now its cram myself into the engine room, clamp the vice grips onto the jumbo screwdriver, take a deep breath and PRESS (and turn). I try very hard to NOT let the screw driver slip out of the slot as that just ruins any chance later. Nothing.

Squirt
Pound
Sweat
SWEAR LOUD

nothing. I rested and just tried again. Amazing! Got two right away. 10 minutes later the third came out.

1.5 hours later and much more swearing. . . YES! I had tried to use one of those screw extractors but it just kept making a nice smooth cone shape in the screw. Now there was NO slot left at all. Duh . . .I finally realized that with 3 screws out I could rotate the whole plate and loosen the screw that way. The impellar looks fine with no missing blades. One less worry.

That was my afternoon. I'm done. Can you tell which screw was the problem? Of course now I can't put the plate back on without finding a replacement screw. I checked at Budget Marine but no such screw in brass. I'll have to check at Island Water World and I'll also get on the net tomorrow and check with other cruisers. There's a pretty good bet that someone has it.

I did meet with Lesley the very nice lady who has been opening Enee up once a week for an hour and keeping her looking and smelling nice. I think Lesley smelled nice too but after the engine room, well that sets the bar pretty low! She is going to keep at it for April and May and make Enee ready to go for June 6 or 7. Before we arrive she'll wash down the decks as well. She's also going to try to track down some people who she thinks can make new seat covers for us. It's been pretty fun to peel ourselves off the vinyl down here in the tropics but that's enough fun.

For deck washing to happen the dinghy is going to have to move. We correctly lashed dinghy to the deck to keep it save and secure for hurricane seasons. But now it's in the way and I'm crammed in with other boats so getting the dinghy off the deck presents a problem.

For another day!

Question for all the experts out there. I think the batteries are charging ok. When I disconnect the charger they sit at 12.6 volts as they should but WOW are they HOT. Should batteries be that hot, almost too hot to touch from charging? I don't think so but I'm going to read up.

More Progress

2011-03-22T16:29:00.008-05:00

Lots of rain here which slows me down just a little but plenty to do below. Here's today's accomplishments/questions/plans

1. The yard guy ripped out the old anchor windlass. He had a grinder to saw off the bolts in the anchor locker (clearly a Sue job!). Then with crow bar (crows? . . .really?) and muscle he got it out of there. Hammer and chisel and the wood pad is gone too. Now they will fill the holes (I am no longer allowed near epoxy) and cut new hole for chain access. This looked like real work so I busied myself with playing with prime numbers. You never know when that will be important.

2. I went on a quest for new batteries and got a price at Budget Marine and Island Water World. I was thinking of pulling the trigger today but then in the bus on my way to Island Water World I thought, why do I want to buy new batteries, charge them up and then abandon them for 2 months. I've decided to wait on batteries until our return.

3. But then. . . on the bus back another epiphany (which actually is the 3rd Sunday after the last quarter of the 3rd full moon of a month with no R). . .anyway, it occurred to me that I may have left the battery selector switch to OFF. If the charger delivers its juice via the selector switch then my conclusion to the deadness of the batteries is wrong since no electrons (or other fundamental particles probably ) were directed their way! I changed this when I got back to the boat and we'll see where we stand tomorrow.

4. I cannot remove the plate that gives access to the impeller so I'm going to walk to Enza Marine tomorrow and talk to them about getting a whole new pump. Then I can put the other one on the bench and work on those screws AND have a back up pump. I may ask them about doing a general engine maintenance update as well. They are good people and do good work.

5. So, no engine work really for me so I turned to the auto pilot stuff. I mounted the brain box in the galley. This puts it in easy reach to the helm and for leading wires from the flux gate compass and if you can work 'flux gate compass' into a sentence you really got something going there. Mounted said compass under the starboard settee and fished wires through the below decks nastiness and up to the brain box. Also fished wire from brain box to the distribution panel for power. Unclear at this point what size breaker I need for this so I just let the wires hang. ,

Once again the boat EXPLODES due to any projects but I kind of love it because I know how cool it is when it all comes back together.

The tool bench.

My nav station

Where we live. . .who wants to visit?

Do not be frightened children. . . I come in peace.

Hey. . .that looks like a day's work so off to De Big Fish. Had a beer with Jack the solo sailor. We shared a bowl of fries and talked sailing routes.

More crawling around on hands and knees (wait, this is not with Jack, ok?) today but that's all good stuff. Looking forward to tomorrow. . . who isn't?!

It's raining again. Lots of rain here and this is unusual as it's the 'dry' season . . . mon!

Thanks for reading and commenting!

A Productive Day

2011-03-21T15:21:00.004-05:00

Just so you know, a productive day in boat language means you spent a few thousand dollars. Good thing we love our boat!

Yes, this was the day that work began in earnest.

1. Got power and water to the boat. Looks like the batteries are taking a charge but I'm going to let them cook for 24 hours and see if they can turn the engine tomorrow.

2. I cut a deal with the yard to remove the old windlass and make a 6" by 8" hole in the anchor locker so that I can get at the chain when we are weighing anchor. They'll make a lid too and then I'll probably fashion some sort of dam around it to keep water out of the chain locker below.

3. Talked with the sail maker. We're good to go just about on the new genoa. Tomorrow they're going to haul over the existing genoa to compare to what is being planned. I don't want to end up buying the same sail.

4. Receive 2 of three parts for the auto pilot although at first when I opened one of the boxes there was a very nice VHF radio inside. Guess I should have checked while in the store! Easy swap and now I have the control head and another piece. I'll look at instructions tomorow and see if this is do-able or if I'm going to farm the whole thing out.

5. Got our cell phone back. We loaned it to friends (Thanks Merenge!) who then left and left it for us at the boat yard. Still works!

6. I cleaned out the anchor locker so we could plan that job with the yard. Also cleaned out the starboard deck locker. . .YUCK! These things have a drain that is in the forward corner of the locker but the boat is blocked a little aft. Lots of water got in and stayed. What a mess. this is where we keep bottles of oil, gas additives, cleaning supplies, etc. Some of said bottles had lost their integrity (like me but long ago). But, like lots of boat things it looks way worse than it is. Some detergent and sponges and all good again. I'm not storing anything in there any more. Well, maybe Mismo when she's bad (always!).

7. Made an initial clean of the engine room. Looked like at some point the rain water came up to the oil pan and distributed oil to various points. Again, looked worse than it was. It's clean enough now for me to work in and see if the old girl will start (tomorrow).

8. Walked to the ACE and bought about $200 worth of new hand tools. I'll keep these shiny. . .really!

So a good day of good honest labor. It's funny but I was very happy to have my head stuck in some uncomfortable places again and working like a rented mule!

And yes, the pretty teak that we worked so hard on is back to this. Oh well. . .

So here's the end of the day at De Big Fish. A cold one, the sea, and my journal. I'm good.

Tomorrow I've designated as engine day. I'm going to take apart as much of the diesel as I can to inspect and clean and then see if I can start her up. Same with the outboard. Stay tuned.

First Evaluation

2011-03-20T11:18:00.005-05:00

Good News! Things are not as bad as I might have imagined. Our BIG paint job below still looks great. Topsides paint is dirty but not coming off. Whew! Cetol on the topsides wood. . . forget it. GONE. That's it for that project. From now on all our topside teak is going natural. I'm a busy writer you know and I can't spend all my time directing Sue on where to scrape and paint!

Bad News - There is still a LOT of work to do!

I used my brief visit today to just get a sense of what I need in tools and materials and to prioritize the coming projects. I had asked the yard to plug in the boat but that didn't happen so without power it was hard to inspect engine room and, ok, I'm afraid to go in there. But, engine and engine room clean up is number one starting tomorrow after I get power. I'm not sure what an engine that's been standing for 18 months needs but I'll make sure it has oil, hook up the hoses that I took off and see if she'll start! Why not? Let's cut to the chase. I then need to remove the cover on the impellar. It's been stuck for awhile and I need to see what's going on in there. Here's the rest but this list will mutate

2. Buy tools. Oh my god. My tool drawers are just piles of interestingly shaped chunks of rust. I guess these were hand tools in the mesolithic era. christ. I should have put all the tools in bags with oil sprayed in. Well, it is fun buying new tools and, honestly, some of these tools have been with me from the 50's. Really!

3. Rip out the old windlass. I couldn't get the bolts off of this thing before we left so I doubt I'll get them now. I think I'll just cut around the whole thing (it's down in the locker for the anchor chain etc. I needed to open up that space anyway to get at the chain itself to prevent the castling problem. Time to not be fine tuned with this and just get a saw, cut around it and rip it out of there. Then I can make a lid and make nice with the hole.

4. Batteries - When I get power we'll see if they charge up ok. I'll check the water in them first. They were dead today (~10.2 volts). If they come back I'll have to decide if I can mix them with a pair of new, similar batteries. I know this is frowned upon but so is buying 4 new batteries. I want to upgrade from 2 to 4 because...

5. Install autohelm. This would be higher up the list but I know all the parts are not in yet. Looking at 1-4 I may have to hire out this job to be completed before we return June 6.

6. Dinghy and outboard - Dinghy has a leak that I CANNOT find so I may give this project to the sail maker who does dinghy repair. The outboard has been sitting outside (the cover I taped on is gone with the wind) for 18 months. But it's a good Tohatsu and I expect it to start.

Finally (for today) it's good to know that our boat wasn't completely abandoned. Looks like a sparrow made a nest in the boom. I saw her fly out while I was walking around the deck. Maybe a friend for Mismo!

My Digs

2011-03-20T07:00:00.007-05:00

Here's some pictures from Cool Running . . .

Kitchen

Bedroom

Living room

Nt much in the fridge yet!

View from my window. One of those mast is Enee Marie!

This is a great location! It's 8 am on Sunday and I can hear power saws and hammers from the boat yard. I guess I'll not be the only one re-commissioning!

But first I'm off on a quest for coffee and then to the store which opens at 10. I'll get supplies for my stay and then go visit Enee and begin to form a plan.

Then a nap I think!

I'm BACK

2011-03-19T21:12:00.002-05:00

For a bit. Just got into Grenada. Long layover in San Juan but saw some basketball (too bad Huggins and Calipari couldn't both lose!). All flights on time with no excitement. . . except the waitress in the San Juan airport finding me 20 minutes after I left. I had left my debit card! That would have made the trip extra exciting!

I'm staying at Cool Running. Apparently this place has always been here but we would have never noticed. VERY handy for what I want to do. I can see the boats in the yard from the balcony here. I've seen Enee Marie from afar but will get on board tomorrow and begin to make lists.

And then take a break!

Holy crap. . .the Caribbean air is wonderful. 80 degrees. Sure a little humid but feels great after a long winter in the Windy City.

Ran into some old friends at De Big Fish and got some updates on other people we both knew.

Look for pictures tomorrow. I tried tonight but I think I'm taking HUGE pictures with my new camera and I want to sort that out.

Cheers!

Heading for Grenada

2011-03-18T10:46:00.003-05:00

Finally! Tomorrow I fly to Grenada for 2 weeks to begin the job of re-commissioning Enee Marie. Some People in Grenada have done some of the clean up already. My main concern is getting auto pilot installed, modify the anchor locker, start the engine, repair the dinghy, start the outboard, and 1,000,000 other things that I've not discovered yet.! Stay tuned starting this weekend for daily updates and pictures as the work progresses.

Laying Plans

2011-01-04T07:31:00.003-06:00

Happy new year!

And with that I have to get my butt in gear to re-commission Enee Marie. I've bought my plane ticket to Grenada - March 19 - April 1. In that time I hope to install auto pilot that is being ordered and delivered via Budget Marine right there in Grenada. I hope the 2 weeks is enough time to get this installed. If not, I'll have to have the yard finish up.

We've already had a service come in and clean up all the mildew that's collected inside. I knew this was going to happen when you leave a boat closed up in the tropics for over a year! They've done a good job according to the yard and they will continue to air Enee out in the months to come before I arrive.

I also have a new 120% fore-sail to order. Got to press that button soon. Our current genney is badly shaped and way too big for sailing in the trades. As the sail maker in Grenada says, with around 15 knots of wind our big heavy boat is only going to go so fast anyway so not much point in over-canvasing her. I agree and hope that a new, smaller sail will allow us to point a little higher.

All of this is in preparation for returning to Enee in early June, put her in the water and do a shake down cruise north to Antigua or St. Martin. One of those will then be the jumping off point for a sail to Bermuda. That's about a week. That's also scary but we feel it is the next level for us and something we want to do. That will also require the purchase of a new life raft. We have one on board but it is so old that no one services them any longer. I don't want to go to sea with an unknown entity in the life raft container!

We also plan to purchase SPOT satellite position locater. We used this when I crewed on the crossing from Key West to Kemah TX. You register it and then just push the button and it will send up to 10 e-mails with your current position and put it on a map. Good for the folks back home. It also has an "I am in trouble" button that you can press. Hopefully we won't need that feature.

We'll re-sign up with Chris Parker and his weather service for daily updates on weather along our route and routing advise. Once we head north towards Bermuda I won't be stubborn about that goal. If conditions dictate that we head more west toward the states so be it. Picking up the gulf stream and riding it north is another option.

A good question to work on now is fuel and range. I sure as hell don't intend or think I'm able to motor all the way to Bermuda. The typical winds in June are south east. I hope I can put that wind on Enee's quarter and sail all the way to Bermuda and points north. Needing to motor some is inevitable and will have to run some perhaps if the wind generator can't keep up with the electrical needs of the auto pilot. But just days of motoring isn't possible I don't think. We carry 75 gallons of diesel and I can strap maybe 6, 5 gallon gerry can's to the rail. We use about 2/3 of a gallon an hour at around 1500 rpm. So, boys and girls, what's my range? Assume that Enee can average 4.5 knots. Let's see. . .

~100 gallons x 2/3 hour/gallon x 4.5 nm/hour = 300 miles

That's not even half way to Bermuda so this is when our diesel is TRULY an auxiliary engine. I'd have to double (at least) our fuel capacity by adding some kind of tank. I don't think that's going to happen.

I think I'm going to stay at Cool Runnings right across from the boat yard in Grenada. I could stay on the boat for nearly free but I hate staying in boat yards. This place is very reasonable and has AC and a kitchenette. I think after crawling around in a hot boat all day I'll need nice shower and AC to keep at it.

So, all comments appreciated as usual. I need to start writing here more often now that things are actually happening. . . sort of.

Life Changes

2010-10-18T10:06:00.002-05:00

Most recently Sue and I had decided on a plan whereby we get Enee Marie going again by spring and sail her to the north east US. Sounds like one of our plans. I had planned to go to Grenada to work on her for about a month over Christmas - January. The extended version of this plan has us living and working in Chicago during the school year and then sailing Enee Marie in the summer where ever she is. That's a good plan we think but it's an even better plan if grandpa could earn some more stinking money.

Then the phone rang. . .

A private school north of Chicago suddenly needs a full time physics teacher! They want me.

I'll take it!

At the same time as is happened a spot just turned up at the very nice day care center in the neighborhood and Lucy is ready for that we all think. So. . . I could start as early as next week!!

HOLY CRAP! Teenagers! I'm sure I can still hack it but there is soooooooo much work to do to figure out where the kids are at, what text books they use, what's in the lab?

So, I'm back to being Mr. Welty (and I like that guy ok) for the rest of this school year at least. I'll not have the time I thought I'd have to work on Enee but I'll have the money to hire it out even though that's and expensive way to go. Maybe I can do it in 2 hunks - Christmas and spring break but once you factor in air fare I might be better off just hiring out the work and keeping close tabs on it as best I can.

Life just keeps happening to me!

We Begin!

2010-09-24T09:35:00.002-05:00

I just authorized Spice Island Marine to begin some work on Enee Marie. They're going to do some fiberglass repair to the transom especially where it meets the hull, sand and fair the rudder, fill in the through hulls that were for the now defunct air conditioning, open the boat in November and clean her up, and, of course, paint the bottom. I still plan on returning to her in December/January to modify the anchor locker and to install the wind vane steering.

From there, plans split into a number of possibilities. If things go smoothly and fast I may have time to sail the boat to Antigua or even St. Martin. We'd like to stage from around there for the longer journey north in the spring/summer. Or, I could leave the boat at Spice Island and we sail from there. That only adds 2-3 days to a northley trip and would allow shake down cruise for Sue and I to learn the wind vane steering. Or, I could launch the boat and leave her on anchor with a company hired to keep an eye on her and to keep the bottom clean. This should be quite a bit less than storage in the yard but then she's in the water and basically unattended.

The installation of the wind vane steering means our dinghy davits are for sale. I'm also thinking of getting rid of the inflatable and 18 hp outboard (heavy!) and going with a rowing dinghy. Nothing to repair there! Anyone in Grenada or heading that way interested in either, let me know.

June Passages

2010-08-27T05:48:00.003-05:00

Our plan right now is to do what it takes to get Enee Marie ready for a passage from Antigua to Bermuda first week in June. I know. . . June is the official start of the hurricane season. Look at the data from the national hurricane center though. . . Be sure to scroll down at this site. They have tons of data displayed in a variety of ways. Below is just one of their graphs.

As you can see there are very, very few storms in June or even July. Add to this the lead time you tend to get for big storms coming across from Africa and I feel that it is ok with proper planning to make a passage to Bermuda in June. I'm open to other thoughts from the wide, wide world of " the internet" though!

HSM Bounty

2010-08-25T17:03:00.007-05:00

What a treat! Due to a crewman who happened to read The Why Book of Sailing (buy my book!) on the tall ship HMS Bounty, which is in Chicago right now, we got an extra special tour from the Captain!

Bounty was built in 1960 or so for the film Mutiny on same staring Marlon Brando. The plan was to burn the boat at the end of the film. Brando said if they burned this beautiful wooden boat he'd not finish the movie.

At some point Ted Turner bought all the MGM movie rights. To his surprise he also got a mooring bill from a yard in Florida for the Bounty which came with the movies as a prop!

She's been used in the Johnny Depp Pirate movies and other sailing movies. The wheel has been in every Mutiny on the Bounty film. Every time hollywood needed a wooden sailing helm they picked the same one so many famous actors have stood watch at that very wheel.

We got to see the galley and the work room. MANY spare parts as you might imagine. Capt. Robin is taking her to Milwaukee next and then to Erie Pennsylvania (Enee Marie was there in '05). Sometime after that they are sailing her to Europe. Interestingly, Capt. Robin has bent to some modern conveniencies for safety but when they are underway on a longish passage gps, radar, etc are off and they use celestial navigation and ded reckoning. Why not? The ship can only be sailed via brute effort by the crew of 20. No electric winches or similar.

The pier was packed with people to view and get aboard these fine old ships. Sailboats have been and looks like always will be quite a draw to people. Why not? The whole damn planet was explored via wooden sailboats!

Sailing Routes

2010-08-25T09:20:00.004-05:00

Playing with Google Earth. Here's what the two voyages we have in mind look like from way up high! (click on pic to embigify)

Run from Antigua to Bermuda is about 930 nm and from Bermuda to Hailifax is about 730 nm. Let's see. . . .

930 nm/5 knots = 186 hours or 7.75 days.
730 nm/5 knots = 146 hours or 6 days.

Can we maintain or average 5 knots? How much motoring will there be. Fuel? We can't lollygag out there forever as there is the occasional hurricane. (Don't say hurricane!)

PIlot Charts

2010-08-25T06:37:00.005-05:00

Pilot charts are very interesting and useful tools for planning a long passage. Below is a piece of the one for June around Bermuda. You can get a whole book of these (they're big) and there's a page for each month. The chart represents averages of data taken over many, many seasons.

The blue circles are the most interesting. Each one show for that location for that month the average wind direction and strength. For example, the one above with the 5 in the middle: The longest arrow shows wind from the south east. The length of the arrow shaft is proportional to the percentage of time the wind blows from that direction. The number of feathers on the arrows show the wind speed on the Beaufort scale. So for the one above the most persistant wind for that location for June is SE force 3. The 5 in the middle indicates 5% of the time calms.

The green lines indicate ocean currents and the direction and velocity in knots is given. When you look at the bigger picture from Antigua to Bermuda for June you see a general picture of fair winds for a northerly passage.

You'll note that if the percentage for a particular wind direction gets too high (above 29%) they don't make the arrow longer but just put the percentage withing the shaft.

Anyway, looks like E and SE winds most of the way and then switching to S - SW as we approach Bermuda. In between there are surely going to be some doldrums. Take more fuel! Another thing to notice is that when the wind switches to the north there's plenty of it. Those probably represent norther's coming down.

There's lots more info on the charts regarding temperatures, wave heights and general description of the persistent weather for that month. You can buy these charts at the usual chandleries or download them! Here's the link.

I'm visiting the captain of the Bounty today as the Tall Ships are in Chicago. Apparently my book, The Why Book of Sailing has been a popular volume on board. Who knew! A full report and pictures tomorrow.

Sail Away Again?

2010-08-24T09:57:00.003-05:00

Sort of. I guess it's time to re-charge the old blog. After a year in Chicago enjoying the monumental duties (and low pay!) of being grandparents we have hit upon a new plan for the upcoming year and perhaps years.

1. We can't NOT have a boat (forgive the double negative!). Our boat is our ultimate security blanket. Right now we are enjoying living and working in Chicago (we're both teaching at Columbia College) but if that were to go south we'd be living in a cardboard box on lower Wacker Drive!

2. We want a bigger adventure than yo-yoing up and down the Caribbean. . . as nice as that is!

3. So we have a multi-part plan:

a. Scott returns to Grenada Dec 14 or so and begins to whip Enee back in to shape. The biggest (and most expensive project) will be the installation of Hydrovane self steering. We like this one as it has it's own rudder, has great reviews and that rudder can also serve as an emergency rudder if we lose the big one. It's been installed on our very boat before with fine results. Other jobs include modifying the anchor locker so that I can undo the castling chain from the bow, purchasing a new foresail, general clean up, selling the dingy davits, bottom paint, etc. More on modifications as we proceed.

b. If I finish the jobs in time (I have to be back in Chicago Jan 23) I'll try to move the boat north to Antigua either by myself or with crew. If not Enee will just have to stay in the yard at SIMS in Grenada a little longer...

c. Sue and I return to Enee when school gets out June 1. At that time Enee HAS to be ready to go as we plan to then sail her to Bermuda (1 week +) and then after a rest on to NE United States or maybe even Nova Scotia. We'll put the boat up for the winter where ever we land and return to Chicago in August for teaching and grand parenting.

Now we can live and work in Chicago, be close to family and friends, and still visit Enee on the East coast in the summers. Could work!

Here's Lucy the grand daughter

See why we're tending toward staying?

We look forward to any and all comments for advice, good boat yards, etc. Sue and I are VERY excited about the upcoming year. The planning and preparation are half the fun!

From the Captain's Perspective

2010-06-29T07:41:00.002-05:00

Hey All,

Scott is writing his version of the Key West to Kemah trip in his new blog: Sailing Science.

Click on the link and check it out!

over and out

Day 6 Arrival!

2010-06-26T08:11:00.002-05:00

They made it! Nothing broke and nobody died. Bloody Mary's were awaiting, thanks to Jen, as they tied up to the dock.

Final Lat/Long:
Latitude:29.54557
Longitude:-95.02865
GPS location Date/Time:06/26/2010 07:24:29 EDT

By my google map total distance is 769.591 nautical miles.

Can't wait to hear the stories.

Day 5 and Counting

2010-06-25T05:21:00.003-05:00

Well they're getting close. The ETA is Saturday now. The opposing current and lack of wind have added a day to their trip.

Here's an email from Scott recieved yesterday:
Morning! Much excitement (and it doesn't take much) this morning. Another pod of dolphins was prancing about the bow and I went and sat there and watched them. Jay was down below downloading emails and Roger was asleep (auto-helm). When Jay came up he started hollering as nearly all the fishing line was racing out to sea. FISH ON!Took forever to reel in 1000 yards of line but worth it as there was a very large fish on the hook. We're having Mahi for lunch AND dinner today. Little wind - motor and main. Should hit the ship channel around 4:00 AM Saturday - Kemah later that morning. See you soon!

For those of you keeping track of the nautical miles I'm listing the lat/long reports from the beginning:

Date Time LAT LONG
6-21-10 08:10:27 24.56284 81.80609
6-21-10 16:17:17 24.47658 82.60577
6-21-10 20:03:06 24.44973 82.95004
6-21-10 22:57:57 24.50378 83.20925
6-22-10 05:07:51 24.82509 83.79071
6-22-10 07:57:00 24.95769 83.9726
6-22-10 17:05:42 25.44269 85.04053
6-22-10 18:35:42 25.53443 85.20159
6-22-10 23:44:41 25.78006 85.65888
6-23-10 08:17:30 26.14867 86.5168
6-23-10 09:45:29 26.19002 86.64132
6-24-10 02:39:41 26.9324 88.35954
6-24-10 06:07:00 27.10781 88.76423
6-24-10 08:57:58 27.23868 89.11275
6-24-10 14:05:00 27.48349 89.75311
6-25-10 02:05:06 28.04003 91.28268

According to my Google Map this is a total distance of 561.855 nautical miles.

Last night as I was just getting to my apartment when my cell phone rang. I look to see that Scott is calling me from his cell. What the What? He tells me that they are sailing through some oil rigs (not through the oil slick) and surprisingly discovered a strong signal of 4 bars. He just got off his watch (helm duty -- don't say duty) and was setting his alarm on his phone before he hit the hay (fell asleep). So that was a wonderful surprise.

'One more day, my johnny, one more day!'

Day 4

2010-06-24T04:09:00.002-05:00

This is Day 4 for the Rum Runner crew but this email I'm sharing with you was written by Scott late in the evening on Day 3. How's that for confusing!

Hey - Just got off watch and about to hit the rack. I'm back on at 2AM. LOts of motor today trying to get out of the opposing current. I think we'll be clear in a few more hours. A pod of about 12 dolphins entertained us today for several minutes including a baby about 2 feet long.

LOoks more and more like a saturday arrival.

Getting very weird to be out of sight of land for this long. Seems like we're not moving since we're always in the middle of the big blue bowl.

love you miss you. Share email with Leah. . . I just can't remember addresses!
s

Current (as in Day 4) Lat/Long:
Latitude:26.9324
Longitude:-88.35954
GPS location Date/Time:06/24/2010 02:39:41 EDT

Day 3

2010-06-23T19:41:00.002-05:00

So I didn't get a lat/long until well after 8 am today. Got a little worried but for no good reason.
Have received several emails from Captain Snappy today -- all for someone else. Well I guess I did have one in there just for me too, contents being: Did you forward my emails? Give a Cub update. So I do serve a purpose.

If you're missing the captain's 'voice' here's part of an email about his trip:
Day three of our passage from KEy West to KEmah, Tx which is in Galveston Bay. We sailed a lot the first day out of KEy West going just south of the dry tortugas before turning and heading wnw to KEmah. Much motoring since then as the wind has been dead on the stern. We've also found a 2-3 knot current against at our present position (26 14 N, 86 47 W)We should pop out of it by day's end. Total trip is around 800 miles. Hoping to make Kemah on Saturday. In the meantime, good crew, good fun, good food and HOT!

So that's today's update. Hope you're keeping safe and dry from the midwest storms.

Sailor Sue

Key West to Kemah Texas

2010-06-22T20:11:00.006-05:00

Just when you thought it was safe to sail ----
Captain Grandpa Scott is on the seas again!!!!!

Our Caribbean cruising friends Jay and Jen from Rum Runner were looking for crew to sail their boat from Key West, FL to their new home in Kemah, TX. We're so glad that we were on their list of possibilities!

Scott was most available since I'm working Full Time (actually I mostly have the summer off but a conference is happening this week so I wasn't available). And we contacted our buddy Roger from Texas who helped Scott and I sail Enee Marie from Long Island to Norfolk way back when. Great news -- Roger was also available for the trip.

After a few tough days* in Key West getting Rum Runner rigged for the trip, the crew was ready to set sail on Monday, June 21st. Jen pre-prepared all meals for the guys so they would eat healthy during their 900 mile 5 day trip. She then acquired crew of her own to help drive Kona the wonder dog from Key West to Kemah where they will await the arrival of Rum Runner. Will there be bagpipes and fireworks?

*Tough Days = closing most of the bars on Duval Street!!!

So here is my attempt to share the route of Rum Runner's journey homeward bound. Roger brought along a device that emails lat/long at the push of a button. So we are getting Rum Runner's position several times a day. Today I also got a phone call from Scott. How great to hear his voice! He said they had rough seas last night (their first night) with little wind but things have calmed down and they have some wind so were sailing 7 knots this afternoon.

Click on the link below and see what happens. What I would like to happen is that you will be directed to a google map that shows Rum Runners' traveled route so far.

http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=27.027403,-87.749066&z=6&t=h&hl=en

If this link doesn't work for you and you'd like to do your own tracking, here are the lat/long as sent via the "findmespot.com" device:

Date Time LAT LONG
6-21-10 08:10:27 24.56284 81.80609
6-21-10 16:17:17 24.47658 82.60577
6-21-10 20:03:06 24.44973 82.95004
6-21-10 22:57:57 24.50378 83.20925
6-22-10 05:07:51 24.82509 83.79071
6-22-10 07:57:00 24.95769 83.9726
6-22-10 17:05:42 25.44269 85.04053
6-22-10 18:35:42 25.53443 85.20159

I'll update daily so you'll be able to follow along.
Cheers!
Sailor Sue

THIS JUST IN FROM THE GULF OF MEXICO ---

6-22-10 23:44:41 25.78006 85.65888

New Site

2010-02-25T06:19:00.003-06:00

Just in case anyone stumbles by here I'm working on a new site to collect sailing and science things. Some from the book and some new ones as they come up. So, give it a look and let's hear from you if you do!

We're still here!

2009-12-12T10:02:00.003-06:00

Well, strangely, I posted a link to Lucy the grand daughter (is that two words or one) so that my dad could easily see the pictures and I got some response from other readers even though I haven't updated this sailing blog since we decided to live in Chicago for a year.

So, just in case there ARE some readers still out there . . .

Yes, we are having a great time living in our favorite city - Chicago. Yes it was a whopping 2 degrees the other day and my face hurt walking into the 20 knot wind! Yes, I do dream of waking up on Enee Marie and having that first cup of coffee on deck and watching the sun come up.

But, also yes, I dream of taking Lucy to a ball game! Taking her for a walk. Rolling a ball to her. Playing math games with her. Seeing the dinosaurs at the Field Museum. . .

You get the idea!

So, we have busied ourselves with helping get the baby's room ready. She comes home in a couple of hours and the room is TOTALLY ready. I turned the heat up too. Sue is working at Columbia College in a fascinating program. She and her partner have 20 Head Start teachers under there collective wings. They visit their Head Start classroom while they teach and offer observations and encouragement. They meet for formal class twice a week at Columbia. In 2 years these teachers will earn a Masters degree and have kept their jobs the whole time. Neat program mostly funded by the City of Chicago - Thanks Mayor Daley!

I too have been working at Columbia teaching one section of Physics for Filmmakers. A really fun course. As much as possible we used Hollywood films as a platform for pointing out good and bad physics. It is fun teaching physics to art students! An interesting bunch.

In January I'll be doing a seminar based on my book, The Why Book of Sailing (you bought one, right?) at the Strictly Sail Show. I'm hoping to do some live demonstrations and audience participation. I just found out yesterday that I'm scheduled for 5 shows! Yikes. 1 Thursday, 1 Friday, 2 on Saturday, and 1 on Sunday. I also plan to do heavy time in the Author's Corner selling and signing books. So if you're in town Jan 28 - 31 stop in!

One of our many plans is for me to return to Enee in January of 2011 and recommissioning her. I'm saving up for a new foresail, wind vane steering, bottom paint and some other smaller items. Sue will join me in late spring and then we'll sail her (Enee not Sue!) west to the ABC's or north to Puerto Rico. Like all plans these are carved in jell-o.

Well, like my daughter's marathon running blog turned into the Lucy/pregnancy blog maybe this one mutates into the watching Lucy/dreaming of sailing blog. I do miss writing. So if you're still out there, let's have a comment!

Cheers and fair winds!

We're Grandparents

2009-12-10T16:56:00.001-06:00

Hey Dad and anyone else. . .

Here's a link to pictures of our new grand daughter - Lucy Jean. . . all 10 lbs 6 oz of her!!

http://leahc.smugmug.com/gallery/10599658_jBkyS#736841884_ohDPJ

Enjoy

Last Blog Entry

2009-06-04T18:18:00.007-05:00

And here’s why. . .

Today is our fourth anniversary of cruising. And what a long strange trip it’s been! From Chicago to Grenada we’ve covered thousands of miles (plus several hundred with tacking and Scott's steering). From the Great Lakes to the Erie Canal to the Hudson River down the ICW, on the Atlantic Ocean across to the Bahamas eventually to the Dominican Republic then onward to Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and finally to the Caribbean Islands - indeed what a long-strange-wonderful trip it’s been.

What have we discovered as a result? Living the cruising life is a very freeing experience. Probably more than we may have realized early on. We rarely look at a calendar. We lose track of the days. We get up when we want. We eat when we’re hungry. We have TIME to think about things. Time to read. Time to watch Gracie and then Mismo chatter at the gulls. Time to look at the stars. Time to plan what our next trip might be. Time to be in the moment and relish where we are and what we’ve done so far.

After some reflection we’ve realized that the freedom that we feel doesn’t have anything to do with sailing per se. It’s more like the sailing and living aboard has flipped a switch in our heads. Real freedom is more than just physically being able to go where you want when you want. Real freedom is a state of mind where you can think anything is possible. We think anything is possible (although Scott’s chances of playing in the NBA are dwindling).

Many times in our past lives we may have put ourselves in a box or a situation thinking that that was the only way things could be. This trip has brought to the forefront the idea that, as Sue is fond of saying, ‘Lots of things are possible’. Indeed. This trip should have been impossible. Little money. Little sailing experience. Lots of curiosity. Lots of time spent thinking of the ‘other’ solution.

Now on this fourth anniversary of being ‘cruisers’ we don’t feel like we necessarily are cruisers. We feel that the freedom we’ve learned via cruising allows us to think ANYTHING. . . And then maybe try it!

Here’s what we’ve thought most recently.

We are going to become grandparents in November and we had already planned to be home September - December and be around for that happy arrival. Then we thought, why not stay for the child’s first year? We both know all about various versions of child care. Sue is a professional in that field and Scott went through a lot of driving around and making deadlines with day cares etc. It’s stressful. More importantly, the best child care in the business is a few notches below family. So we think we can arrange our schedules at Columbia College where we will be teaching so that at least one of us can be with the little tyke while the kids save money and pursue their careers. We are very excited about this next adventure. We love sailing. We love the kids! We want to do everything. We’ll try!

As to the picture above, it's ultrasound of course which makes Scott wonder if bats can see fetuses?

We are scheduled to leave Grenada on August 6th. So for the coming two months we are cleaning out Enee and re-varnishing all the bright work below. Big job but we’ve broken it up into one day projects and we’re always done in time for happy hour! This is actually kind of fun too. We’re afraid that redoing all the varnish is going to make the rather worn teak and holly decking look tired but that’s a worry for another day. Enee will be strapped down in the Spice Island Marine yard for the 16 months we’ll be in Chicago. Good people there and she’ll be well looked after. We hope to return in January of 2011 and if we can get wind vane steering rigged by then maybe head west to Bonaire. We’ll see. Plans are always etched in jello. Many things are possible!

Since we won’t be cruising for a year and a half we won’t have any new boat stories or sailing adventures to report. There might be a grand-baby blog or even a Chicago Marathon blog since Scott and Leah and Jason will be training for and running in that race in October 2010. Talk about an adventure! And Hey - how come these dates sound so big?

To our regular readers: Thanks for reading. We hope you enjoyed our travels. We sure enjoyed writing about them. We know that some of you are reading and planning your own escape from the grid in the future. Feel free to e-mail us anytime (posted in the side bar) if you have questions and we’ll make something up! The blog will stay up and there’s a search box at the top so you can search for things like 'Erie Canal'. Stuff like that.

Special thanks to my daughter, Leah and her husband Jason for visiting, for taking our mail, making calls for us, putting us up when we visit, writing Chris Parker when we are late arriving at a port, buying us a new iPod. . . I could go on and on. Leaving family was hard. Getting that kind of support was awesome.

So as we often toast - Life is good! . . . . GOOD AND SHORT!

And Enee Marie is clear.

Back in Grenada

2009-05-30T05:55:00.007-05:00

Yes, another great sailing day! We left Tyrell Bay hoping to be able to sail to the east of the little islands to the north of Grenada (Ronde Is, Diamond Rock, Les Tantes) and then sail right by the natural rock bridge, London Bridge, on our way to Grenada's western shore. Well a fair wind indeed and we had no problem sailing 195 degrees and getting to the east of the islands. At that point Sailor Sue said, "You know if we can sail this we can probably sail down the east coast of Grenada AND it's about 7 miles closer"! Brilliant! AND we can sail and not have to motor in the lee of Grenada.

Another fine sailing day ensued. Usually this side of Grenada can be rough and windy but we had rather light conditions. We ended up by sailing the last 5 miles or so wing and wing which is always fun. So, we're back in Prickly Bay and NOT in the unmarked Coast Guard channel (shockingly they did not get the buoys in yet!). We've broken up the varnish below decks into what we consider to be one day jobs. There's about 50 of them! While Sue tackles that I'm going to finally get around to removing all the crap on this boat that no longer works or is needed: air conditioners, pumps, refrigeration from the old engine driven unit, various gauges and wires, wires, wires. Should be fun. And, of course, daily swimming and scraping of the hull.

We celebrated our arrival back to Prickly Bay by going to the Friday night 2 hour happy hour, having pizza and dancing to the steel pan music of 'It's a Wonderful World.' (A slow dance so no broken bones). Life is good --- good and short!

And finally, a Mismo picture.
Mismo says: 'There are only 2 life jackets on board and when things go to hell, I'm gettin' one!'

Sailing South

2009-05-27T10:06:00.009-05:00

St. Lucia was as far as we intended to go north so on back south! We cleared out in Rodney Bay and then went to Wallilabou St. Vincent. The big draw here is that the bay was the location where they shot much of Pirates of the Caribbean. OK. As you enter the bay you will be approached by ‘boat boys’ who will help you get a mooring (it’s very deep) and take a line to shore to point you into the swell. Fine. But they tend to be a little annoying and you don’t know who is working together or if you pay one guy does he pay the rest of the crew or what. So, I did my usual and just gave everyone some money. I don’t have much but I’m betting that they have less.
(Photo above of taken from restaurant with Enee in background)

So it goes. They also have no problem putting boats about 8 feet apart. There is nothing here and once you look at the old sets you’re done looking at stuff. You can get your money back (20 EC) for the mooring ball if you eat at the restaurant but all the dinners are like 100 EC! Each! So after a couple beers, we just went back to the boat. This is a stop that can be skipped. (Well, ok..... it is beautiful there as this picture shows. So maybe must cruise in for a few photo opts then be on your way)

On to Bequia! We like Bequia and it was fine to be back for a few days. We had one of those sporty sails across the channel between St. Lucia and St. Vincent and flogged the headsail* pretty badly and then noticed some stitching coming out of the UV cover. This happened before and was repaired way back in Key West! We took it to Grenadines Canvas who made our wonderful sun/rain awning and they managed repairs the same day.

(Photo of Princess Margaret beach from the caves - Bequia)

Our plan now is to sail around the southwest tip of Bequia and then east to Friendship Bay on the south coast of Bequia. We had walked there on a previous visit and we think it will be a pretty anchorage even if it is a little rolly as advertised. What a great little 5 mile sail! Down wind and wing and wing to the tip of Bequia and then east and upwind to Friendship. We accidently unrolled the foresail to a new position and holy crap. . . Maybe we CAN tack this boat 90 degrees! We had more sail out than usual but not all of the sail. Close hauled the clue of the sail was just even with the upper shroud. I think in this configuration we get a decent sail shape without being overpowered. We’ve typically had more than this rolled up and I think the big ugly cylinder of unused sail along the luff makes for too much turbulence and a rotten sail shape. Nice! Of course at one point we got a sheet tangled on one of our mast steps and then I was sure that we had no engine power again and pulses went up and then back down as all was actually well.

It is a little rolly in Friendship bay but we have a pretty high tolerance for a gentle roll and that’s what this was. We rigged dinghy and found a nice piece of shallow for snorking too. Later we went ashore where there is a very high line resort. Swings at the bar instead of stools. Fun! We had a couple of rum drinks and then back to Enee.

The other reason for coming to Friendship Bay was to get some east in to get a good point of sail to Union Island the next day. Only 25 miles but we’d really like to sail it comfortably . By coming to Friendship we add 10 degrees to our course and you can feel that! So early Monday morning we head out of Friendship. The wind is on or just abaft the beam. Yes! We set the sail and off the engine. Beautiful! We are on course and sailing easily at 6 to 7 knots the whole way. One of the finest sails we’ve ever had! Almost four years of living aboard and sailing and we still get totally jazzed with this kind of day.

About 2 miles from Chatham Bay we heard a SPROING. Sue and I simultaneously scream: “FISH ON”. Yep we caught another one. First thing we did was to hove to. Haven’t done this lately and maybe never on this boat but like most boats she sits nicely hove to. For those of you who don’t do this it’s easy. You tack but just backwind the foresail. Once through the wind you let the boom out all the way and then turn the wheel to windward and lock it. That’s it. The boat will gently drift downwind and allow you to take care of what ever like reeling in your fish!
MISMO! Kiss my FISH!

Another nice little tuna (5-8 pounds maybe) or horse eye jack as they are also called. We got him aboard and put the nasty french rum in the gills and that did it. Killed him. Does the same to me! We covered him with a wet towel and once we anchored in Chatham we let him dangle in the water since we are without ice or refrigeration. I decided to cut the fillets just before we cook them.

Went ashore and had a couple of beers at Jerry’s Bar on the beach. Jerry is a great guy but so low key I’m afraid he doesn’t get much business. Back to Enee for backgammon and snacks then time to eat the fish! An excellent dinner ensued. Nothing like a great sail followed by eating the fish you caught along the way. A bottle of wine and all is well on Enee Marie.

Except. . .

Yes, we are sharing the anchorage with another party catamaran. 3 couples from Tennessee (state motto: Go Hogs!). None of them sail or know anything about it but they have a hired captain. I talked to one of the guys who snorked over by our boat. (The captain in the meantime was trying unsuccessfully to anchor their boat.) It seems one guy just graduated grad school and one other just turned 30. So, I’m thinking well, that’s pretty grown up. Wrong! Unless you call dressing up in little pirate outfits (including small plastic swords) and driving around the anchorage in the dinghy going ARGGGGG and WoOOOO WOOOO. Please head, don’t explode! They also have a women with really high pitched and annoyingly drunken horse laugh on board. This is a requirement for party boats I’ve found. Maybe they are supplied by the charter company. At one point this crew was loudly singing along with some patriotic song about being proud to be an American. I wasn’t so proud at the time. Maybe they should look up irony in the dictionary. Dictionary? I guess there is no place left on the planet to hide from rudeness. The party went on to about midnight. Perhaps the Caribbean is becoming the next Daytona, Ft. Lauderdale, CanCun. I wish the charter companies would have their captains explain about how sound travels on the water and how if they just stop and listen for a moment they would find that they are the only boat making a ruckus. Perhaps take a look at the stars? A little common courtesy perhaps? I know, that went out with 8 track tapes.
(Above photo of a 'crabby' bird which we were two of because of these bozos!)

Tomorrow I’ll walk to Clifton again. I know the way now and clear customs. We can sail the next day then the 12 miles back to Carriacou which is part of Grenada and clear back in. If the Tennessee boys are still here though we’ll head out later today.

GO HOGS! (crap. . . )

*Yes, you can go blind if you do this too much.

A Day in the Cruising Life

2009-05-12T10:49:00.009-05:00

BEQUIA TO ST. LUCIA

One of those longish posts so settle in with a cup of joe. You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. You’ll want to read it again!

We are sooooo ready. On Friday the 8th we got the boat ready for a 50 mile run from Bequia to Soufriere in the south west corner of St. Lucia. We decided that with the good day we were likely to get we might as well do the whole shot and skip stopping at Wallilabou in St. Vincent. So we cleared customs, took down the new awning, hauled up dinghy and motor, went through our checklist (yes we have a pre-passage making checklist. Don’t you?) and went to bed even earlier than usual. We plan to get up at 3 to make coffee and then out by 4. We don’t know how rough the passages between Bequia and St. Vincent nor the one between St. Vincent and St. Lucia might be and we’d like to arrive in daylight. It’s about a 50 mile trip and we usually hope to average at least 5 knots. Do the math.

Very light breeze so I can haul anchor without any help from the helm and Sue can stay below and stow chain as it comes in. Anchor up. . .LET’S GO! Then Sue says, “You’re not going to want to hear this but we’re not going anywhere”. It was true. I looked around. Engine is going but we’re almost dead in the water. Almost. We were drifting a little toward the little blue hulled boat behind us. Oh crap! It’s too late to raise sail. We’ll only accelerate. I got on the very tip of the bow to fend off. We may clear them. Wait. Wait. . . Yes! We clear their stern by inches. They never even woke up!

We drop the anchor and breath. What the hell is going on? I go below and look at the coupling to the prop shaft. Sue puts the boat in gear and sure enough the engine is turning but the shaft NOT. I feel around the coupling. No set screws! I feel around in the bilge and find one set screw AND the key that connects the collar to the shaft! Holy crap! Anyone who knows us from Chicago sailing days knows that this was common on Catalina Enee, our 30 footer that we left town in. In fact part of THAT boat’s checklist was for me to ‘check my nuts’ every morning to make sure they were there.

(Pause for laughter to settle down. . . )

Of course when you get a new boat you assume all the old problems were left on the old boat. Stupid. OK, This HAS to be fixed pronto. We are engine-less until then. The anchor is down but not really set. No wind now but if it comes up and we start to drift again it could mean trouble. Not to mention we’ve already cleared customs so we have to leave or check back in and pay again!

This area of the engine is fairly accessible as things go in boat repair but I do have to disconnect the exhaust hose from the engine to really get at it. That done I can see what I’m dealing with much better. The collar completely covers the key slot so the collar will have to be un-bolted from the transmission and then slid aft down the shaft until it reveals the groove for the key. Sliding the collar aft wasn’t too bad except every time I flexed the shaft in any direction sea water gushed in because we have a dripless gland (say nothing). Bilge pump seems to be able to easily keep up with this so I continue to twist the collar aft back and forth. Of course with about ⅛ inch to go it stalls and I have to use all muscle and griping tools available to get it to move any more. Finally I get the key to drop in.

Uh oh...now this has to slide forward but there will be no twisting it back and forth as now the key is engaged in both the shaft and the collar. I can see the sun is up. I’m sweating like a pig and dirty as one too. I fear that now I’ll need some sort of special device (like maybe a trained technician!) to properly slide this collar over the key and back into position. Or, perhaps a hammer and screwdriver? Yeah! That’s the ticket! Collar re-bolted to the transmission and set screws in (I had found the other one) AND wired together (they weren’t before) we’re ready to go. “Sue! Start her up”! Before she can test forward gear she shuts it down and says, “She’s not pumping water”! Oh yeah, I DID remove the exhaust hose didn’t I! NOW we’re ready. Prop shaft is turning and checklist has been amended accordingly!

It’s 0600 We’ve lost 2 hours but if we have to pick up a mooring in the dark that’s not so bad. (Soufriere ONLY has mooring balls. No anchoring).

As is our custom we raise the main to one reef and see what conditions are like in the Bequia channel between Bequia and St. Vincent. Nice wind and seas not too bad. Lets haul genny out to the uppers. Hey we can SAIL! Engine off and even with this little bit of sail out Enee is making 7+ knots and crushing the seas before her! Wheeeeee! A little more of this and we’ll be back on schedule!

Along the lee of St. Vincent of course there is no wind so we motor and main those 10-15 miles or so. We try to hug the coast and even get a little easting in before heading across the gap to St. Lucia. Of course we’re dragging our fishing lure but no bites. But wait! Dolphins off the port beam! LOTS of them and they are jumping out of the water! We think they’re happy that we’re under way. We are too! We did NOT catch one on our lure thankfully and I guess they are too smart to fall for an artificial bait.

This northern tip of St. Vincent has a reputation for high winds as the wind wraps around the volcano at the northern end. As promised, PLENTY of wind and seas are probably 6-8 feet which really isn’t too bad. AND, looks like we might be able to sail this as well. We haul out little genny again and off we go. Another sporty sail at 6-7 knots with even a brief period of 8 knots! What a ride!

We’re heeled over pretty good and some things come apart down below. The worst was the shelf of three ring binders and catalogs that have a bungy cord keeping them in place. Apparently the bungy is no longer very springy and after hearing the crash I find a pile of papers, books, charts and whatever on the deck of the companionway. Well, that’s going to be cleaned up later. No way is either of us crawling around on the deck down below in heaving seas. Onward!

We approach the south west coast of St. Lucia which is dominated by two giant pointy hills or ‘pitons’. Grosse Piton and Petite Piton respectfully. Many junior high level comments ensue about pitons and breasts as you might imagine. Sue can be soooooo immature! (All I said is, ‘Piton is French for perky.’)

The guide book shows where the mooring fields are and as we slowly come in I see no vacant mooring balls. Hmmmmm…..Then a boat boy comes out. Many places have these - some good. Some annoying. He says he’ll help me pick up a ball. I say I don’t need help and is there even a ball to get. He says yes there are two left and yes we can use him to take a line to shore to point us into the swell. All for 10 EC. OK. We drop the main and head for the mooring ball where he is waiting. A Benneteau ahead of us got one but that still leaves one. UH OH! A Moorings boat comes flying around the corner from the south and beats me to the last ball. BASTARD! We motor up to the other field but it is full as well. Oh crap. When you’ve already had a long day and even when it has mostly been a good day, you are ready to get hooked up and relax. Now its sails up and north to the next place.

The next place seems to be Marigot Bay. About 6 miles. We put up full sail AND keep the engine on. Don’t know what to expect here and it’s already late afternoon. If this doesn’t work out it’s probably on to Rodney Bay and maybe anchor in the dark. On the way 3 boats pass us into Marigot Bay. Uh oh. . . As we approach the entrance we see two of them exit the bay. I try to hail them on the radio to see if they left because it was too crowded but instead the marina at Marigot Bay answers my hail and yes they have mooring balls available. Wheee…..

Alledgedly, the British hid their entire fleet from the French (They are SO hard to trick!) back in the lagoon back in the day.

Boat boys are ready to help but I say no, I can pick up a mooring by myself. They are insistent but I decline. Marigot bay has a narrow outer part (supposedly where you can anchor but it is nearly all mooring balls) and then a lagoon of sorts for an inner part. That’s where we’re headed. We motor up to a ball and I’m ready with my boat hook. I grab the ring on top and pull. Nothing happens. Typically this ring should come up on deck so I can put a line through it. We try another one. Same thing. The boat boys are just waiting. I wave them over and they take my line and put it through the ring. OK. I give them a small tip and send them away.

What a great day! We’re tired but it’s mostly a good tired. This little lagoon is sort of pretty but dominated by a busy water taxi taking tourists back and forth to a little restaurant (which looks to be pretty high line) and the buzz of boat boys zipping about. Customs is closed so we’ll try them tomorrow. We don’t launch dinghy nor do we put up the new awning.

A guy comes over from the marina to collect the fee for the mooring. 80 EC!!!!!! Wow! (About $30 US) You’d think for that THEY’D come out and help you with your line. You’d also think that the guy coming out would have a pen or clipboard or change. No, no, and no! We provided all of that! We don’t care at this point. Interestingly, Sue asks the guy what other services we might get for our 80 EC? Oh he says. . . I could sell you some music I have! Not really what we had in mind. Perhaps a shower? Oh sure we have showers you can use.

There is one fairly loud boat of French people but they leave before we hit the rack. Ah….I’ve been up since 3 and I am going to sleep like the dead.

No, I’m not because somewhere up in the hills someone had Kareoke from hell. I mean it sounded like Yoko Ono before voice lessons . . . Which she failed! Luckily they stopped around 2AM! THEN I went to sleep. What a day.

This is our brave ship's cat NOT facing the music during a sporty sail!

--------------

It is now Tuesday the 12th. We’ve moved on north to Rodney Bay which is a huge bay and developed to look a little too much like Florida or Nasau for our tastes. On Sunday we anchored at the north end by Pigeon Island where they were having their 18th Jazz Festival featuring Patty LaBell and Chicago. Jazz? Oh well. We were anchored in a huge nest of chartered catamarans (Uh oh. . . ) but it was a festive atmosphere and lots of boat and people watching to do. We just stayed on board as we could hear the bad music easily from the boat. The exception, of course, being Chicago! Jeezus. . .how old are these guys? Anyway we could hear all the favorites, Saturday in the Park, 24 or 624, etc from the boat. I fell asleep during their set and was awoken by gun fire! What the hell! Sue gives me cheese and settles me down and explains that it’s fireworks! Nice. And being launched right from shore near the boat. Fun although Mismo did NOT approve. This was her first experience with fireworks and she liked it even less than sailing I’d guess.

We plan to stay maybe through the weekend here in Rodney Bay and then head south once again. We’ll probably move our anchorage to be nearer town on Wednesday or Thursday as we have already scoped out our restaurant for our 21st anniversary on Thursday and it’s about a half mile dinghy ride to where we are now.

Thanks for reading and all comments appreciated as usual!

Anchoring Drill

2009-05-07T11:53:00.006-05:00

We’ve been anchored in Bequia for almost 2 weeks. It’s been gusty and rainy off and on. Mostly it’s been sunny and beautiful. We’re anchored near Princess Margaret Beach and enjoy watching all the charter boats (mostly catamarans) come and go.

Yesterday we were very excited to get our new awning. Scott went in early to pick it up. The awning maker, Avell, offered to come to the boat to help install it but Scott said not necessary. He wanted to give it a try on his own.

So we managed to strap the new material down over the boom. This awning is much bigger than our original bimini that zips onto the dodger. But wait…...the new awning isn’t covering the cockpit! That won’t work. So back to the canvas shop goes Scott to bring Avell out to help us figure this out. He showed us how to tighten the batten and stretch the lines forward to give us the shape we wanted but agreed that it wouldn’t keep rain out. We decided to add side panels that would roll up when not needed. Back to the shop to make adjustments. It will be ready later on in the day.

Well that was a little disappointing but we think it will turn out much better. So we relax for a bit, have some lunch, get ready to go back into town to do some internetting when suddenly I notice that the boat behind us is almost upon us! What the……
‘Scott, I think we’re dragging!’ He jumps up, starts the engine, and we prepare to haul anchor. How did this happen? It was a bit gusty when we tried installing the awning but we don’t think that caused us to sail off the anchor. In any event there was no doubt that we had moved and were only 6 feet or so from the other boat.

By 'other boat' I mean the nasty, rusty French boat behind us with the guy who just cannot keep his pants on! I mean plenty of Europeans will swim in the nude descretely off their stern. This guy just prances about the deck stark naked and WAVING to passers by. These two idiots are just standing on deck not saying anything. Waiting for the collision? OK, you're french and you don't speak English. . . how about HEY! or something similar. Idiots.

Ok….assume your positions. Scott begins to haul chain with the manual windlass and I stick my head and hand into the anchor locker to guide the chain down so it doesn’t castle up and get stuck. After about 200 strokes of the lever on the windlass the anchor is finally up and I run to the helm to drive. Where should we put the anchor down now? We still can’t believe that we drug after sitting there so long with no problem.

We tried setting the anchor 5 times before it held. Now when I say ‘tried’ this means Scott drops the anchor on a sandy patch. I back up the boat. Scott lets out more chain. I back up the boat. Scott yells ‘back up straight’, I yell, ‘the winds not letting me’, Scott signals to put the boat in neutral, I do. Scott dons snorkel and mask and swims over the anchor. We’re dragging here too. Back in the boat. Scott hauls chain by using the double-action ratchet lever about 200 times and I go back below to organize chain. Whew! What a drag! Finally got set near where we started but farther from shore. (Click the play button to see Scott in 'action')

The next morning we got the new and improved awning and it is awesome. We used to have to move around in the cockpit in a crouch like living in a pup tent. Now we have lots of head room, better viewing and more shade. Now we’re hoping for rain to try the whole thing with the flaps down.

We think we’re finally leaving tomorrow for Wallilabou in St. Vincent. This is where they filmed Pirates of the Caribbean and Johnny Dep is still there. Any other appearances by him since making that movie are holograms.

Finally, the required Mismo photo. She is a little miffed that her hammock (old bimini) is gone. In the meantime she is hanging out on top of the dodger pondering how to torture us in the middle of the night.

HAPPY BIRTHDAYS!

2009-05-03T09:39:00.005-05:00

Happy Birthday to --

Stephanie today - May 3rd

and

Lisa on May 9th.

Last evening a catamaran came in with a bunch of younger people on it and by younger I mean drunk college kids. For the rest of the night we heard WOOOOOOOOOOO WOOOOOOOOOO. DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUDE! F----- AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.

Wow, and we wonder why people hate Americans! I mean this party could just have well been in a hotel room in Cleveland. More disturbing is this is a captained and crewed charter aboard a catamaran named "Joy". If you see this boat coming, RUN. They anchored by us about a week ago and their anchor drug. Some captain. I noticed that the 'Y' in Joy is missing from the port side and looks like they've collided with something. As the captain of a charter boat I would think you would somewhat dig the idea of 'respect'? You just don't behave like you're in Ft. Lauderdale when you're in the West Indies. Not cool. I was embarrassed for them. They weren't up all that late (no kidding. They were pretty bombed when they arrived at sundown) it was just so upsetting to hear that kind of bad American behavior. Good news is that this is the first time we've been around really bad behavior anywhere in the Caribbean.

I stopped by the boat this morning and asked the captain if they were staying another night (I had plans to move our anchorage) and he said no. I just left it at that. Re-education of these idiots would take a high voltage device!

Today is Good Shepard Sunday. How do I know? I went to church! Yes, heathen that I am I just thought I'd see what was happening in a small, little West Indian, Catholic church. St Mary's church was built in 1829! Typical West Indian construction. Simple. Stone walls with wooden beam and trusses holding up a tin roof. White and light blue pews and white walls and beams. About 25 members on the hard wooden pews. I was hoping someone would be playing the piano but no.

Service itself was pretty standard as I understand these things but I do enjoy the lilt and rhythm in the West Indian accent. The sermon was delivered by a priest with a great big baritone too! I paid attention even! But the hymns were really LONG and sloooooooow. So, while people got up for the communion I slipped out the side door. Unfortunately this was just after the collection plate went around. Catholics always get their money!

A friendly place though (a gentleman in back kept coming to me and helping me to find the right page in the Common Book of Prayers) with old ladies all dressed up in colorful dresses and HATS! My grandma always wore a hat to church.

Perhaps we will take in a Cricket game later and then some boat projects, swim and daily scraping of the bottom. It's fun to keep up with the bottom growth. Bottom paint doesn't keep all the stuff off but does make it easy to flick it off. If you let it go the underworld will win! We have little white dots where barnacles have sucked off the bottom paint and now near the bow where there is more light we get little 'beards' of green grass growing there. But my breath holding ability continues to increase and it's one of those lessons, like a lot of them for me, that was learned the hard way. Yes, pay a lot for your bottom paint. You have to. But then keep up with the little guys that will take root anyway. Paint will last longer as long as YOU don't scrape it off!

Walk to Friendship Beach

2009-05-02T09:56:00.008-05:00

Friendship Beach, Bequia (pronounced bek' way)

Today is May 1 which is Labor Day down here. Not too much is open so we thought we go for another walk (hike). This time we headed to the south side of the island where there is a very pretty beach called Friendship Beach. As usual, steep climb about half way and then down hill the rest. We happened upon what looks to be a pretty high end resort. Very nice bar/restaurant right down by the water. The bar ‘stools’ were little swings. Fun.

We stopped for a cold drink at a little snack shop and chatted with a very friendly lady there. Actually, just about everyone in Bequia is pretty darn friendly. Some islands you can feel a bit of a bad vibe from the locals. I think mostly those are the islands that have been totally invaded by the giant cruise ships and when they disgorge their passengers it is like an invasion. Hell, I don’t care for tbeing around that many tourists either! (No offense to any family or friends who go on giant cruise ships!) I guess some of the small cruise ships do stop here on occasion and ferry people in but not many and not often.

One of the fun things about the Caribbean is all the crazy kind of boats you see. Oh sure there is a regular progression of Beneteaus and a flock of Lagoon catamarans but there are also some real crazy rigs as well as some top of the line luxury sail boats. We went out to get some pictures of this one, Rebecca, but there’s no where to be to actually photograph it! It must be about 120 feet long, ketch rigged. This must be a 2-3 million dollar boat. The topsides as you can see are real shiny wood. Separate cockpit for helmsman away from crew and guests. The other one, Amazon, is the crazy one. I don’t think that big smokestack is still in operation but who knows? Looks like there is a solo sailor on board who always wears a kilt. I’ve seen him ashore as well but don’t know his or the boat’s story and not sure I want to!

We’ve commissioned our new awning and it should be done Monday or Tuesday. It will go from the mast to the back stay and nearly to the lifelines. It will have a loop on top to haul it up with the main halyard to give it a tent shape and a batten in the back edge to give it some shape. Can’t wait. We had a pretty hard rainstorm today and had to go hide out down below. It gets stuffy in a hurry down there! Sue went out to put the buckets in position to collect some rain water. Picture (if you click on it) shows the water going nicely into the bucket (and dripping elsewhere too!). While scurrying around to arrange buckets in the rain (I was busy!) Sue noticed the dingy. Earlier, we had pulled it up about amidships to clear the boarding ladder for our swim. Now it was right under the scupper and water was pouring off the deck and filling the dinghy! Well, that will have to be bailed or maybe do a wash right in the dinghy! Wait if I mounted the outboard the other way round with the propeller INSIDE the dinghy. . .THIS IS GOING TO BE GREAT!

More later. . .

Hi daddy! Do you like the large print?

Sunday in the Islands,

2009-04-28T11:34:00.005-05:00

On Sunday, Sue and I decided to go for a long walk on the island. Bequia is not very big so you can walk nearly the whole island over the course of a few days. Well, it’s not very big but it is damn high! We don't know if it's the time of year or this island but there were TONS of pretty flowers. Here's some yellow ones.

But first, Sunday in the islands is my favorite day. Just like when I was a kid, EVERYTHING is closed on Sunday. Streets are quiet. People are not around or they’re just lounging on the beach. Maybe taking a kid for a walk. What a concept - a day off for everyone! I don’t think it’s possible to have a real day off in America any longer. Maybe Christmas day but even then the 7-11, etc are open. Can’t miss a day with no buying nor selling I guess. Here, nobody has much anyway so when everyone takes a day off not much changes.

We happened by a Cricket Match. A real one. Uniforms, nice equipment, stands and a scoreboard (it was 123 - 104 when we arrived). Now baseball is a slow paced game but this game looks like it is stuck in Jell-O! The bowler (pitcher) gets a pretty good workout like in baseball as he runs about 20 yards before unleashing the googlie (ball). Everyone else is standing around like right fielders in little league! When they hit the ball (googlie) it often goes by all the fielders and over the scrum for a wicket. . . Or something like that. I guess depending on the rules they start out with a game can go on for days. One GUY can bat for days as you are only out of you hit the ball, accidently let go of the bat (loggerdrop), trip over the wicket, and say something unkind about the umpire’s heritage. Yeah, an out is tough to come by. Oh, catching a fly ball works too.

After being told by a local that we were walking uphill to a dead end (we only realized the uphill part) we went another way and found ourselves on the road UP to Mount Pleasant. This is not a walk but rather a CLIMB. (about 700 feet which is over 100 fathoms!) Switch back road all the way to the top. What a great view though and well worth the climb. Going down, of course, much easier.

On Monday I had a canvas guy (well, he’s not made of canvas but rather, does canvas work.) come out to the boat to give an estimate for making a new sun/rain cover for the boat. As many of you know we like to sail with an open cockpit and so have no permanent bimini. Instead we have a small bimini that zips onto the dodger and is then brought back over the cockpit and fastened to the backstay. This is nearly 4 years old and was never properly designed. It doesn’t really cover all of the cockpit as it is too narrow allowing rain in. Now that it is old it is more of a rain catcher than a tent so we have to scurry below when it rains. Well, I scurry. If it rains when we are underway, well that’s why I sail in my bathing suit!

We’re looking for an over the boom shade that would be held up by a halyard and then lashed to mast, stays, and rail. We’ll see about the prices later today. I have another canvas guy coming out today so we’ll have to estimates/designs to compare.

While taking yesterday’s canvas guy back ashore I was describing our climb up to Mount Pleasant. He asked me who I thought designed the road. The English? No. French? No. He tells me that donkeys designed it! According to him a donkey will only walk uphill at a certain rate of climb and will keep that rate constant. He asked if I noticed that even though the road switched back and forth it is a constant incline to the top. Once the donkey’s had worn a path the road builders just followed this to build the permanent road. Nice
story but then later I started wondering what keeps the donkeys from just walking all the way around the hill in a spiral shape? What made them turn and do a switch-back? Well, there I go ruining a perfectly nice little fable. I do that a lot! Here's a donkey checking out the new road.

The Tobago Cays and Beyond

2009-04-25T09:24:00.010-05:00

Sometimes we’re slogging along making 2-3 knots. Engine is rumbling. Wind and spray in our face. Both tacks are uncomfortable. We’re not going to get there. And I wonder, “What the hell am I doing out here”? Other times we get somewhere, like today when we arrived in the Tobago Cays and I think, “This is why I came here”!

The top photo is from the top of our mast. Thanks Sue!

The Tobago Cays are part of the Grenadines and by the way if you’re looking for a place to charter and/or you’re tired of BVI, the Grenadines have that BVI property of allowing for short hops, gorgeous anchorages, and crazy blue water. We see lots of charter boats. Moorings is here of course out of Canouan, Horizon out of Grenada, and many others.

We had just spent a couple of days in Mayreau in Saline Bay. Pretty busy little anchorage. Not much here but a small town with a few bars and restaurants. We did find a few provisions - cheese, noodles, flour. Sue went farther up the hill than I did and got some great pictures looking north and south as well as a cute little church.

WARNING: MANY SAILING TERMS ENSUE. . .

We also took the main down here to make some repairs to the upper sail slides. Look! Sue sews! Actually I think these upper slides/connectors broke due to operator error. This is what happens when you sit too long and don't sail. I have been frustrated at how the luff of the main would slacken after being up a short while. I'd go out and tighten the halyard but it would seem to go slack again. Finally I figured out that we were not loosening the main sheet when we hoisted the main. This causes the leach of the sail to tighten before the luff so when I crank on the halyard I begin to pull the slides away from the mast. This failure to understand how to raise my own mainsail has since been fixed! Yes, appropriate punishments were meted out.

From Saline Bay to the Tobago Cays is about four miles. See? You come in between a couple of small islands (nothing on them) and anchor or take a mooring ball between there and the reef. You can then dinghy out to the reef proper and there are orange mooring balls to tie your dinghy to. What great snorking! The huge area is littered with coral heads and all kinds of fish. The whole area is about 5 feet deep but maybe 1 foot over the coral heads. It’s a special place and there is no picture that shows the panorama of where we are now. I want to bring my daughter here because she damn well would find a way to capture this photographically!

Oh look, this is Sue’s bread! Sue has been baking a loaf of bread ever other day or so. So yummy and makes the boat smell nice (for a change!). Look, if we’re taking pictures of bread just imagine us with a grandchild! Wheeeeee.

Friday morning the sky is full of small squalls. Weather says the some could bring some gusts in the 25 knot range. Also, they may be with us for 4 or 5 days. Great. We wait while some of these little buggers move through and then take off sensing an OK window. We’d like to make Bequia today but if it turns to crap we can always turn back and tuck into Canouan which is only about 5 miles north of here. In fact I plan to hug the Canouan coast to get some north and some east in before falling off and trying to lay Bequia. This sort of works. Of course after leaving the coast of Canouan we find just about no wind so back on the motor and main. By the way the off shore report was for 20 knots north east to north today. Right. But it could be that all these squalls are disturbing the gradient wind. Whatever, looks like we’ll make Bequia unscathed.

We arrive in Bequia around 1500. Tried to anchor on the north side where it is supposed to be less rolly but the anchor wouldn't stick. Uh oh. . .Now it's a little crowded so Sue cannot leave the helm. I had to do the crank some chain - run below to drag chain aft - crank some chain - . . . repeat. Took about 3 -4 trips to get it done. From there we moved to the south side of the bay where I know it is a more sandy bottom. No problem here. No wifi either though! Our internet service, HOTHOTHOTSPOT is supposed to work in this harbor but I think we're too far out. Well that's a project for another day.

Bequia is one of the more yachty anchorages in the Caribbean without being so busy like Grenada is. You can provision here pretty well. There is a service that will bring water and fuel right to your boat and also pick up laundry and garbage if you want. There's a bookstore here and there is just about nothing rarer than a good bookstore!

Finally, while walking on the beach in Chatham bay this giant monolith appeared. It seemed to be calling me. I carefully approached and lightly touched it's surface. Was it vibrating? Did I hear something? Hmmm.....

I walked on but the next day I got the idea to use a chicken bone to perform minor surgery. Coincidence?

The Union Island Death March

2009-04-21T14:21:00.008-05:00

The day before the March...Great sailing day just knocking off the 5+ miles from Carriacou to Union Island. We had a good plan for this. Instead of coming out of Tyrell Bay on the west end of Carriacou and just trying to lay Union Island (ain’t going to happen. Bearing is about 40 degrees and even in an east wind there is the 2 knot current flowing west. ) So we ducked east along the coast of Carriacou, motor and main, and got our easting in down there where you are somewhat protected from the current. Once we got to the northern tip of Carriacou we full sailed and tried to make our way to Clifton, the main town on the eastern end of Union Island. I’ll have a separate post on what happens when you are trying to tack into a current but for now let it be said that we sailed nicely but still couldn’t lay Clifton. So, we motor the last half mile.

If you look close at the picture you can see Mismo peeking out from under my shirt. That's where she likes to ride sometimes when we are underway!

Clifton is where the customs house is and this is Friday we want to get anchored there and check in before the weekend. The bay by Clifton is unusual. It is sort of horseshoe shape due to a reef right in the middle of the bay. We came in on the western leg and stopped at a marina to take on water. The popular anchorage here is just to the west of a large reef - so between two reefs. Nice and flat water. We tried to anchor twice and couldn’t get the thing to stick. Once that happens I am out of there because even if it does stick now I’m only gong to think about the two times it wouldn’t. All night.

By the way this trying and then re-trying is a bit of an adventure with some real wind and shoals and other boats. When we weighed anchor that morning it was great. With plenty of sea room and light air, Sue can stay down in the v-berth and organize chain into the chain locker as I crank it in with my new manual windlass. When the anchor is up she comes back to the helm and drives the boat. Here in Clifton though that wasn’t completely possible. After some cranking I’d either be blown too far off the anchor to be able to haul it or we’d be getting too close to other boats. In either case Sue would have to leave the v-berth and run to the helm. This was repeated about 6 times until we finally left. Sue was so happy with all of this!

On to Chatham Bay on the west coast of Union Island! Some of you may remember that I had the pleasure of stopping here when I crewed on Fleetwing a few weeks ago. Great place. Of course we dined at ‘Shark Attack’ the nice man that grills fish and lobster and a bunch of other great food. We probably had enough food for 4 or 6 people! Understand that in Chatham bay there are no roads and no electricity. Lanterns are set out and all the food is prepared on the charcoal grill. Only 3 or 4 boats in the whole bay and just us and a table of French people at ‘Shark Attack’. A perfect end to a great day. . .not counting the anchoring!

So we didn’t check in and are technically in St. Vincent (Union Island is the most southerly island of the Grenadines which are all part of St. Vincent.) waters illegally. This is no big deal and we’ve done this before. You go in the next day and say you arrived after they were closed. It’s all cool. But, the customs house is in Clifton and we’re in Chatham bay. Now a number of people have told me that you can walk from Chatham Bay to Clifton. Seems like a long walk but I’m game. Sue’s ankle is still not 100% so she stays back while I venture off.

Now a sane man would at least glance at a map before he took off. An intelligent man would take one with. But the man that once put a spinning top on his head only to lose a hunk of flesh and hair just marches off thinking …”How hard can it be”?

Actually I had asked one of the workers the night before where the path started and he told me behind the bar at the end of the beach. Right. Well there was a path there. A rock and cactus strewn path that went straight up a hill. Good thing I had a half a grape fruit for breakfast! Holy hell! If this is the path to Clifton I’m done now! But at the top it leveled off and there was a wide dirt road. Cool. Even better! The dirt road turned into a concrete road. Wheeee…..

I came to a fork in the road. Well, it seemed to me that I’m walking toward Clifton roughly and have Chatham bay on my right and want to keep it that way so I take the right fork. I’m hoping I don’t have to double back. After a few minutes I hear a bell and a bicycle rider is coming behind me. I ask him if I’m on the way to Clifton. He nods and just points his hand straight ahead. OK, got it.

I came to a fork in the road. On the left the road doubled back on itself and headed north and maybe even west. I want to go east. The other fork, well, was not a road. It was a trail. But it seemed well marked. I decided to trust my innate sense of direction and March off into the woods. (Remember that sentence.) That is the steep-and-rock strewn-with-sharp-things-grabbing-my shirt-and-hat woods.

Actually it was a pretty hike. I could tell I was still climbing, climbing. Finally I came to an open area. I guessed I was on top of one of the large hills around here. I searched for the continuation of the trail but it was hard to find. OK, there it is. I continue on. Hey I’m going down for a change. That’s cool. Hey, there’s some boats anchored down there. What anchorage is over on this side of the island? Hmmmm…..Hey there’s a fishing boat just like in Chatham Bay. And. . . Oh no. . There’s Enee Marie! I’d been hiking for an hour and a half and I’d gotten myself back to Chatham Bay. OH man…..I’m still no where NEAR Clifton!

I hike all the way back where I chose dirt instead of concrete. Brilliant. I follow the concrete into the town of Ashton which is good as that is on the way to Clifton. Unfortunately I march right past the road to Clifton. As I pass a couple of young boys the one is quick to tell me that his island is very beautiful and there are nice walks to be had. I tell him I know and that I’d just been on one. Hmmm...just to make sure I ask him if I am indeed on my way to Clifton. NO he says and points back the way I’d come. Yeah, I missed the road by a good mile. Back I go.

Now I’m on it. The road to Clifton! This is one of those walks now where you come to a turn hoping to see city around the corner and all you see is more road. And goats. Road. Goats. More road. I’m dying.

I finally make it into town and accomplish all my missions. Checked in with customs at the air field. Got money out of the money machine. Bought some groceries (but not much cause I might be carrying it all the way back too!)

Well, there’s no way I’m hiking back. I’m pretty sure I can’t retrace my steps and not sure I’d even want to! So, I talk to a taxi driver and ask him how much to get me as close as possible to Chatham Bay. 20 Ec. . . About 8 buck. OK!

At the top where I took the dirt instead of the concrete he even shows me and easier way down rather than the rock and cactus strewn path I took up. My knee is screaming and I’m cut from nettles. My shirt is sticking to me and I’ve torn my hat. It’s noon. I’m done.

Sue spots me walking along the shore and picks me up in dinghy (which is leaking air by the way). Oh man what a GREAT swim I had once I got back on Enee. I’m still not sure how I got so screwed up but I know I’m NOT walking back to Clifton any time soon.

It's a few days later now and we are in Mayreau about 5 miles north of Union. More adventures to come! Thanks for all the comments. Keep 'em coming!

Two seemingly unrelated topics. . .

2009-04-16T09:53:00.006-05:00

When cruising the Caribbean island chain you simply must have your charts (paper for us of course) and a cruising guide. Down here every one uses Chris Doyle’s guides. There good. Cruising guides tell you check in procedures, where to get repairs, restaurants, shopping, navigation tips, and more. It’s filled with ads as well for many of the fun establishments that you might want to visit. This is all good.

But, sometimes you just want to find something that isn’t in the guide. This is nearly impossible as these islands are now well travelled. Today we went for a walk out of town. We walked north and around the corner until we could see Sandy Island that we had sailed to the other day. From the road we could see an establishment down by the beach. I said to Sue, “That looks like the place we were looking at through our binoculars. Wanna go see”? Of course. We walked down a little dirt track to the beach and there sat Off the Hook Bar and Grill. A tidy little place with a great beach and view of the ocean.

It’s NOT in the guide!

The place is owned and operated by a damn friendly guy named Curtis. His family is originally from Carriacou and in fact his bar is on his mom’s land. He said he lived for twenty years in Brooklyn NY and feels like he has escaped. He misses nothing from the big city and is one happy guy. He will also run people out to Sandy Island for snorkeling or picnic in his boat and then pick them up later. We had a few beers and lunch which was one darn delicious pizza!

While we were there I started talking to a little boy as he was constructing a traditional Caribbean kite. Kites are very popular down here. They fly them at Easter to represent the resurrection but kids just fly them any old time as well. As I watched he stripped some sticks from a palm frond and made a star shape with them. Then he wrapped string from end to end of the sticks. Simple enough but then comes a bow shape that must give the kite its aerodynamics. Quite involved actually but he seemed to have the process down. I asked him who taught him how to make the kite. He smiled and said, “I did”! Turns out this is Curtis’ son. While we talked with Curtis later he pointed to his son and the several friends who had showed up and said, “Look at them. I couldn’t let them go out and play in Brooklyn. No way”. True.

The kids at this point were playing Cricket. They had set up two milk crates for wickets. They scrounged a variety of boards for their bats and they had a tennis ball. I’m starting to understand the game a little as that’s all there is down here and watching this pick up game was pretty choice.

Well, it was a great find and well worth the walk (maybe a mile). We hope Curtis does well and gets more business but at the same time would like to keep Off the Hook as our own secret place! We did promise Curtis that we would spread the word to cruisers. He shows outdoor movies on his own billboard screen and serves popcorn of course and on Thursday nights he plays jazz and has a bonfire. Cruisers will love this 'soon not to be a secret' place.

Now for the seeminly unrelated topic.

With the advent of GPS navigation more people are willing to do what we are doing than ever before. You can cry about the lost skills of coastal navigation but you’re going to have to sit in the corner with the people who bemoaned the advent of the pocket calculator. There’s no going back and I wouldn’t want to. So, since everyone has GPS on their boats the people who make the charts put in handy waypoints with the lat long in the corner so you can punch them into your GPS machine. What’s the result? Sometimes the open seas look like a highway with a string of boats strung from one way point to the next. Kind of funny actually. I try to take the waypoints as a general guide and know I usually have miles of room on either side of a line connecting them. I think once some sailors punch in the numbers and then set the auto helm the boats are automatically steered on the connecting line. AND if the wind doesn’t allow for that line exactly well then you take down your sails and motor to the detriment of honing your sailing skills. Once again, this is not really an annoyance. Trust me there’s PLENTY of room still in the freaking ocean. Just an observation.

Go CUBES!!

Written by Captain Snappy -- posted by Sailor Sue

Back to Tyrell Bay

2009-04-14T13:30:00.011-05:00

Well we are back in Tyrell Bay, Carriacou. It's Tuesday - the day after all the Easter festivities so our favorite place, the Lazy Turtle bar is open. We've planted ourselves here to internet and enjoy the view as well as a few cold Caribs.

The picture on the left is our view. This bay is amazingly clean - the water is so clear you can see the anchor hit bottom. Scott has been busy scraping the hull. He has progressed from scraping just below the water line (I never go any deeper than that!) to diving down to the keel. He actually scrapped the bottom of the keel the other day. Inconceivable! So while he's accomplishing deep sea diving I'm still thrilled to be able to breath with a snorkle. It just isn't normal to breath with your face in the water.

On Easter Sunday we sailed over to Sandy Island - a 3 mile jaunt around the corner from Tyrell Bay. We actually did sail most of the way and felt a difference in our speed after all the barnacles and fuzz got removed from Enee's bottom. We can tell we're a little rusty with our sailing though. As we tacked out of the bay the port jib sheet got caught up on the forward hatch fitting.
'Come on...why aren't we tacking? Oh darn - I'll get it....luff up luff up it's too tight!' We finally tacked and as we got near Sandy Island it was time to tack again. 'Now the starboard sheet is caught. We've got to do something about that hatch!'

Once we anchored Capn Snappy pounded in the bolts so they no longer stuck out and tied a small line in between them. That should fix the problem.

Here is a picture of Sandy Island. Yes it's sandy and that's about all. The island is only about 200 yards long and about 25 yards wide. It's barely there and very beautiful. We anchored between the reefs on either end and after setting the hook snorkeled off the boat. After being in Prickly Bay, Grenada where the water isn't very clear, this was quite a treat.

We spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening watching the birds (mostly gulls but some boobies and a pelican or two) fly over then dive for their dinner. Every so often there would be a fish boil in the water as the bigger fish chased the small fries.

Well you can imagine what happened when a gull landed on our bow. Mismo went wild! She started chattering like crazy. Of course the bird flew away but now she was on guard. There were so many birds flying around her boat we thought Mismo's jaw was going to fall off. What a crazy cat. She stayed on the bow until nightfall when the birds finally flew off and gave her some rest.

Usually Mismo sleeps all day but this day she was on duty.........

.....Don't even think about landing on my boat!

After the sun set she decided to perch on the dinghy (which is up in the davitts) where she had a full view of the boat and any possible predators. Of course there were none. But she was ready anyway.

The next morning we listened to the weather and learned that trade winds were on the increase with some squalls so we decided to leave Sandy Island (not a good anchorage in unsettled weather) and mosey on back to protected Tyrell Bay for a few days.

Sure enough on Monday morning some small rain squalls. Hey now we can test our new rain catchers. Hurry - get the buckets!

Ready for Rain - - - well only a few drops this time but at least we know it will work. This is trial 2 of installing through-hulls in the bimini. The first version didn't have rubber gaskets and Mismo managed to power her way through them. We'll see how long these last. The fabric of the bimini is already getting thin. It has been almost 4 years in the Caribbean sun and a 9 pound cat lounging on top doesn't help.

Well - what can I say. Sometimes things break and we have to fix them. Sometimes we fix (or clean) things before they break. For example today Scott cleaned the outboard before we launched it. It had barnacles growing in the cooling water intake! There's always something to take care of on the boat. No matter where you live - that's true.

Tyrell Bay - Carriacou

2009-04-09T10:27:00.005-05:00

We're staying a few days in Tyrell Bay. With Easter coming nothing will be open this weekend and to go on up to Union Island we need to check out of this one and for sure customs houses will not be open. The bigger holiday in the islands is the monday after Easter which as you probably know is the first sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox. Got that?

So, we thought we'd show you where this note comes from. Lazy Turtle! Places like this seem typical to us now but sometimes I have to remind myself how truly quaint and 'island like' places like this are.

Oh, here's a follow up on our fish dinner. We could only eat about half of this. Yummy!

On our way into shore today we went by this place. Yeah, it's a floating metal shop and sail loft. What the hell? Looks like boats can just pull up along side and get some metal repairs. Or sail repair. Neat idea. Maybe the worker dude even lives aboard this thing. Who knows?

I'm researching wind vane steering. There are only a few models out there and they all have great reputations and large price tags. When we return to Enee next January we want to prepare to sail west to Bonaire, Aruba, Curacao and on to Cartegena and maybe Panama. For that we need wind vane steering. Seems like the center cockpit presents a special problem but I've yet to understand why. Anybody out there with information please jump in. You can comment or email us directly. Email is in the sidebar.

I find the whole thing mechanically interesting. The wind vane moves in response to a change in heading. That force is too small to steer the boat directly so the vane's motion is transferred to a 'servo-pendulum' in the water. The force of the water on this pendulum is a huge force and can be used to steer the boat via ropes and pulleys. No electricity and we all know how much I like that idea!

Finally our April Birthday wishes to Gretchen Teyema who is somewhere between 6 and 18 this year. I lose track.

Grenada to Cariacou (Tyrell Bay)

2009-04-08T14:53:00.006-05:00

First of all, someone call the fashion police! My new dive outfit to protect me from the dreaded barnacles!

Finally. Underway again! I’m too excited. We’ve been in Grenada for 7 months. Admittedly most of that was for me to work which then petered out but still that’s a LONG time for Capt. Me to not move. AND, winds are supposed to be east not north east for a change and our course to Cariacou is about 40 degrees true. We can do that!

Of course there’s not much wind in the lee of Grenada and what there is is heading us pretty badly. Motor and main. What else is new. But when we get north of the island surely we’ll find the easterly trades.

Right. If you call wind out of 45 degrees easterly. I hate all weather guys. Every source had winds from the east today and they missed it by 45 freaking degrees. That coupled with the west set to the current made for a long slow motor boat ride. . . Again!

BUT, the big news is that while hugging the coast of Grenada we caught a fish. A BIG fish. Now remember, I’m from Indiana where a 2 lb bass is a giant. We were just dragging a cedar plug on a hand line. I had about 50 feet out. I tied off the line and then pulled down a piece and clipped it to the lifeline with a clothespin. When a fish hits, the line straightens out and jumps off the clothespin and you know you have FISH ON and boy did we ever get FISH ON!

(click on pic to see the fish be even BIGGER!)

I put on my gloves and pulled up the line hand over hand while Sue throttled down and helped with the line on deck. When I pulled him out of the water I was shocked! He’s a beast! I estimate about 12 pounds of Jack. Horse Eye Jack to be exact. I tried killing him with rum (works for me!) but had to finish him off with the ball peen hammer. Not pretty. But man did I cut some huge slabs of filet off of this guy! That’s dinner tonight. . . And FREE!

We’re in Tyrell bay on the west side of Cariacou. Nice bay. We could see bottom to find a sand patch to drop anchor. Huge bay and only about 4 meters (400 centi-meters or 2.2 fathoms) deep for a large part of it. We’re not even launching dinghy tonight. Tomorrow we will and go explore shore a little. Fish dinner was to die for. Sue just baked Jack with some onion and spices on top. We could barely eat half of it.

Great to be moving! Even if it was with Mr. Perkins!

Finally, here comes another Cubs baseball season. Mismo already can't face it. Me either!

Little Things Can Mean A Lot

2009-04-03T07:12:00.009-05:00

The cruising life means your boat always needs something. Sometimes it is something its needed since you bought it and sometimes it’s repairs. Sometimes you just finally understand what it is she needs. I tend to suffer (on occasion) from the misconception that if I can’t get the most expensive thing she needs then I wont get her anything she needs. Bad.

Enee needs a new head sail. That’s not going to happen this year nor probably next. But in the mean time there are little things that can be done to make our life a little more comfortable.

Two examples:

Our electrical panel is in the companionway across from the nav station. It has a smoked plastic door in front of it. At night if you want to turn something on or check battery voltage we had to feel around above the nav station to turn on that light to see what we were doing. A small thing but annoying. So, I put in a push button, normally closed, switch (like your refrigerator) in series with a 12 volt LED light inside the panel so that when you open the door, THE LIGHT GOES ON! Simple and installed with minimal swearing (one screw into the bilge. Not bad.).

I like the chart table but of course it is slanted meaning the charts, if unattended will slide off the table and onto the deck. Annoying. So, I took a hack saw blade and cut about a 5 inch hunk from each end. The ends have handy holes in them. I bent the piece into a C shape and put some electrical tape on the non-hole end. Screw this into the table and I have two clips to hold the charts! Nice.

Other things like this have happened in the past. Lighting: We now have lights inside the fridge and inside our pantry which is the large area behind the starboard settee. Boats should come with lights inside all the compartments. You can’t see what’s in those compartments in daylight not to mention trying to find a can of corn at night.

In other news. . . .

The crews from Enee Marie, Bellagio, High States, and Puddle Jumper made a trip to Mi Hacienda high in the hills above Grand Anse beach. What a wonderful restaurant. Merle the lady who owns the place says she was tired of being alone so opened her huge house as a restuarante/hotel. It’s gorgeous with a spectacular view of the Caribbean Sea and Grand Anse Beach. We had cocktails and snacks as the sun set and then tasty dinner. We were the only patrons and had the run of the place. Merle encourages guests to wander about the house which she still lives in. A fun evening and a must see place if you’re staying in Grenada.

There's Val (above) exploring the elegant living room.

Nice view. What a sunset!

Sue and are are fairly busy preparing to set sail on this coming Tuesday. Winds may finally shift out of the north-east and come from the east. Monday, Mismo will get her yearly rabies (do cats ever get rabies?) shot making her legal for air travel. Only big job remaining is to finish the motor mount for the outboard. We plan to explore maybe as far north as St. Lucia which we missed altogether on the way down. Troubling news from two little islands called Petite St. Vincent and Petite Martinique. Sue had stopped there when she was cheffing on the charter. She said it was very nice and a restaurant on Petite Martinique will pick up guests in either anchorage and bring them ashore. Well, we’ve heard two reports of glass bottles being thrown into the cockpit of anchored vessels there. On one of these occasions the glass bottle was filled with gasoline. Luckily no fire ensued even though 2 crew members were smoking cigars. Well, I guess I may strike that anchorage off my list. Too bad. Similarly the news out of Trinidad continues to decline. More crime. More bad attitude and the low prices of the past years are now on par with other places in the Caribbean. Why can’t we all just get along?

Finally, really kids, don't play with barnacles. Play with dad's power tools. Play with electricity. Play with fire but do NOT play with barnacles.

Doc says this looks good. Doctors are weird. Actually it is much better. I can go swimming tomorrow for which I have brand new protective gloves.

Good News Bad News

2009-03-31T10:37:00.004-05:00

Well, it happened in Grenada! We had a huge whale beaching down at lovely Grand Anse beach. What a sight. Thousands of people, both locals and cruisers, went down to the beach to see the poor things. There's not much you can do without heavy equipment and by the time that is brought in it is usually too late.

As usual the cause is in question. Some say seismic activity which we had some of just south of here recently. Some blame submarine sonar. In any case they are beautiful animals come to a sorry end.

But in the spirit of waste not want not we had one hell of a feast later. Wow, taste just like chicken and we all got some oil for our lamps to take home with us!

HAPPY APRIL 1 EVERYONE!

What’s Happening In Prickly Bay?

2009-03-25T10:24:00.007-05:00

A few days ago the Grenada coast guard (motto: Welcome and Get Out!) came out and passed out fliers to all the boats on the west side of the bay. Here’s the note verbatim. . .

All yacht owners who utilize the prickly bay marina is hereby reminded that the area west of the channel providing access to the coast guard base is prohibited for anchorage. No vessel shall anchor in this area. The coast guard will be increasing its patrols to enforce the laws against those who may be in violation of this order.

First of all there is no channel. Not shown on any chart and there are no buoys. This has been going on since we arrived. Every once in awhile they’ll come out and tell various boats to move out of the channel. When you ask where the channel is they point back to shore about a half mile where there are 2 green buoys and 1 red. As far as I know a channel ends after the last seaward buoy.

One of the cruisers then contacted the coast guard about this flier and was told that it really only applied to new boats arriving and boats that were there could stay! So, if you got the flier telling you to leave you can stay but if you arrive with no flier telling you to leave you have to get out. Sounds like the military! Of course by this time about a dozen boats including Enee had already weighed anchor and moved over making the rest of the bay pretty cozy!

It's been a few days since this incident and, of course, new boats have arrived and anchored where there is room. IN THE CHANNEL!

Final comment is that if the coast guard as a beef with anyone it should be with their composition teachers!

In other news: How Many Cats Fit in a Kleenex Box?

Answer: MISMO!
I don't know what's with this cat. She thinks (right) that she's still a kitten I guess or hasn't noticed how big her ass is. Now this is her favorite toy. We walk through the cabin and she dives through the box and attacks our feet. One time she got her front legs through and stood up and was wearing the box like a tube top! Free entertainment that's for sure.

Barnacle hand follow up follow up to follow. . .

The antibiotics were not taking hold and when I got up Thursday my hand was bigger than ever with the skin stretched like a drum head. Back to the doc. This hand was sensitive to light it was so sore. What did he do? Stuck a needle in it (to 'numb' it). Then he cut it open and got lots of stuff out. Sorry no pics. He did this to two cuts on my had and to a collection of pus on my cheek. I went back today to have the dressing changed and he went after my face again. Christ that hurt! (I didn't even get a sucker either.) Hopefully now all the bad joo joo is gone and the antibiotics can win the day. Bottom line is don't even mess with a baranacle cut. Clean it, clean it, clean it and put anibiotic ointment on right away.

And Finally. . . Ready?

Dum dum dum. . .

I'M GOING TO BE A GRANDPA IN NOVEMBER! WHEEEEEEE!

barnacle follow up

2009-03-23T18:59:00.003-05:00

Sue and I went to a clinic today to see about her foot. She rolled it over a couple of weeks ago (dancing) and we thought the swelling should be down but it's not. This is a VERY nice clinic (St. Augustine). I went along to get a second opinion on what had been prescribed from this other doctor in town. Well, he looked at my puffiness and looked at the prescription and said that that is really not the right prescription for what I got. So he gave me a blood test and a different antibiotic and said I should see some results in a couple of days. I hope so. My hand is bigger than every and my face. . . I AM NOT AN ANIMAL!

Sue got an x-ray and looks like she did chip a tiny bone but since she's been walking on it gingerly for 2 weeks he didn't see what a cast would do now and just told her to take it easy and keep it up as much as she can. Telling Sue to take it easy is like telling my dad to vote Republican! Grocery store here I come!

So, both of us got a look see from the doc, blood test, x-ray AND 2 weeks of antibiotic for the total price of about $200 US. And we didn't have to wait for someone to read the x-ray or call for results or hope the doctor called us. I wonder how much all that would have cost in the US?

Here's an actual picture of my left hand! Ouch!

Beware of Barnacles

2009-03-22T06:57:00.002-05:00

Just a friendly note to all our sailing friends out there. A barnacle cut can be a bigger pain than you might imagine. I had a couple of cuts on my hands from barnacles that were two weeks old and just about healed over. Then the infection kicked in. Now I look like I'm wearing a catcher's mitt on my left had but, no, that's just my hand. My reading shows that this can be a nasty infection to shake. I've been to the doc and have some antibiotics to take. In the meantime the nastyness has spread to what is probably a lymph node in my jaw. Nice. This is what I look like now.

Click here and scroll down to see what Capt Art has to say.

Go Louisville!

The Fate of Caribbean Coral

2009-03-20T06:11:00.002-05:00

I start my day (when we have internet) with a letter to my daughter, check the Chicago Trib, check on my Cubs, and Scientific American. Today there is a disturbing news item about Caribbean fish and Coral. Some highlights from the article:

There has been 30 years of steady coral loss (80% of the coral is gone!) that is now showing up in the decline in the number of reef fish in the Caribbean. Fish numbers have declined at 5% a year for the last ten years.

Pollution and warming are the cause of the damage to the coral.

Stuff like this doesn't get fixed overnight if ever. It takes thousands of years to build up coral reefs. That they can be destroyed in 30 years is another shocking example of how delicate the balance is on mother Earth.

So, no, we can't repair the reefs that are already gone. All we can do is change our behavior to prevent more or total loss in the future.

In other news, I went for my daily afternoon swim/scrape the hull yesterday and discovered an 8 inch crack in the hull of the dinghy! We hauled it up on the davits to see if water would drain out. Today we'll haul it up on deck and see what repairs we can make. I have no idea how this happened. I guess that swimmer the other day had a harder head than I thought!

GO LOUISVILLE!

Crewing on Fleetwing

2009-03-18T14:03:00.007-05:00

I just spent two days helping out as crew on the sailing vessel Fleetwing. Owners Brian and Jane thought they'd like another crewman on board as they move their boat from Grenada north to Bequia in the Grenedines (about 75 miles)

I went to their boat Sunday night over at Clarke Court Bay Marina so we could get an early start on Monday. Jane and Brian have been cruising the Caribbean, east coast of the US, Cuba, and as far north as Nova Scotia for the past 17 years. Fleetwing is a 1983 Gulfstar that is wonderfully laid out (actually very similar to Enee!) and meticulously maintained by these two seasoned sailors. She's 45 feet over all with quarters and heads fore and aft. Center cockpit. Her most interesting feature is around the boom roller reefing for the main. I see this is far superior to in mast roller as you can see what is going on AND you have proper shape if you do reef the main AND you can have battens.

Our plan was to sail 50 miles on Monday to Union Island and then the last 25 miles to Bequia on Tuesday. Brian and Jane had graciously arranged to fly me home then from St. Vincent on Wednesday morning.

Sailing with these two was a real treat. There's Jane doing something wonderful in the galley. They have their routines down for passage making. Brian and Jane take turns being captain at a one week intervals. This was Brian's week and that makes him responsible for trip planning, navigation, and ordering sail compliments and trim. The day begins with them going over their well used checklist. They could probably do it in their sleep but to make sure they keep a written out 'before you leave' checklist and mark off the items with a dry erase marker as they accomplish them. Then the captain has a briefing with the crew to set up how we will leave the dock, who will do what and how the day will probably go in terms of course. Very good idea and very British and proper! (I've taken to saying 'rubbish', 'biscuits', and 'lovely'!)

So at 0600 Monday we set out. As per Brian's plan we hugged the weste coast of Grenada as we headed north. Taking what wind we could get but staying out of the slop we did better than we would have done venturing out to the west in search of wind only to find ourselves having to make some easting back against that wind AND against current once north of the island. Motorsailing with reefed main and jib we averaged 5 knots making our 50 miles in 10 hours.

Our Captain!

1600 we arrive at Chatham Bay on the western shore of Union Island. This is one of those bays that you were dreaming about when thinking of coming to the Caribbean. Long pretty beach, great snorking reef to the north and nothing on the beach itself except a few little BBQ huts. The boys running these modest establishments come out to greet you when you arrive and to tell you of the day's specials. Only one guy you really want to talk to though: Shark Attack! He used to be the one and only hut there and has been there for over 10 years. He came out and picked us up in his boat and we had lobster, red fish, salad, rice, and baked potatoes on a large picnic table with lanterns for light. He provides beer and rum punch but you are welcome to bring your own wine. What a great place. The three of us sat with another couple and shared cruising moments as cruisers will do. Jane won as she has way more such moments to share!

Tuesday was similar if perhaps somewhat rougher. This 20 -25 knot wind was supposed to lay down some and clock to the east but not really happening. But we were able to lay Admiralty bay on Bequia in one tack again motoring to keep up our speed into the chop. I went in to shore with Brian to clear in and to tell them that I was clearing out the next day. This is important so that they make a note that they arrived with 3 members on board but there will only be 2 when they leave. Sue and I were in Bequia on our way down in late August. It was nearly empty then as most boats had run north or south for hurricane season. VERY busy now with probably a hundred boats in the anchorage. Brian and I had a couple of beers and then back to Fleetwing for a swim and delicious lazagna by Jane.

This morning they took me ashore for the 0630 ferry to St. Vincent (takes about 45 minutes), cab to the airport, and 25 minute hop back to Grendada. I grabbed a cab to our dinghy dock and as we pulled up Sue was just getting out of our dinghy! Do we have great timing or what and without cell phone!

A great 2 days. It was so fun just to watch Brian and Jane go through their passage making routines. Also fun was discussing genetics and relativity with Brian - he was and is a professor of genetics at Oxford (that's in England) - and having Jane regale us with stories from the 17 years of cruising. Brian and Jane will soon be joined in Bequia by her dauhter and grand kids. I'm sure all will have a great time. We hope to meet them again as they head south later in the year and we head north.

windlass part deux?

2009-03-13T15:17:00.007-05:00

Our new chain arrived yesterday, YEE HAW! We took Enee to Spice Island Marine (where I almost worked) and tied up beside their haul out pit. I had arranged for the new chain to be delivered there. Now we just had to pull up all the old chain and put it on a tarp on deck. Spice Island didn't want it so. . . just wait.

At the bitter end of the chain there is about 6 feet of 3/4" three strand line spliced on that goes through a hole in a 2x4. I guess if for some reason chain just started paying out that 2x4 would get stuck against the underside of the deck and the 3 strand would give you some elasticity. Boooooiiiiinnnnnggggg!

While waiting for the chain to arrive Kerry and I laid out a ten meter length on the pier so we could mark the chain before feeding it below. The chain arrived and me, Kerry and Randy (from s/v High States) who had joined us laid it back and forth in our 10 meter marks and tied colored wire ties every 10 meters. Why meters? All the charts are in meters and so is my depth sounder and, hey, I'm a physicist and I LOVE meters! They're bigger than feet too so there!

That's Kerry showing you his good side

Kerry fed me the end of the chain and I spliced the rope to it. I'm not great at this but I think I did all right. As we started feeding the chain aboard we realized that we had marked it backwards or, if you prefer, handed me the wrong end to start with! No matter we just erased our crib sheet and changed the numbers.

We were moored right next to the travel lift which is very loud. Mismo did NOT approve!

Now we have 200 feet of old nasty rusted chain (this stuff was 5/16 as it turns out) on deck. So we motored out of the bay a quarter mile or so and I let it go off the other bow roller and gave it to the fishes.

Back into Prickly Bay. Boy do I love the new windlass for paying out chain. With an electric windlass you have one choice of speed and in laying chain you want to imagine that you are in fact 'laying' it out as the boat backs down wind. You don't need the electric force for this you can use, yes. . . .GRAVITY! The windlass has a cone type clutch and with just gentle movements of the lever I can control the speed at which chain lays out. Nice.

My new chain is nice and shiny and barnacles beware! I'll be brushing this $1000 piece of chain every freaking day! Now that all the nasty work is done I can finish the paint job too.

We do still have the problem of chain castling up and jamming requiring us to run down and 'knock down the pile' when raising anchor. I plan to cut a large hole in the bottom of the anchor locker so that I can reach in with a boat hook if necessary and pull the pile aft.

Windlass - good news bad news

2009-03-11T08:58:00.002-05:00

Today we tried hauling anchor with our new windlass. It works great. . .then it doesn't. We have discovered a few problems that weren't anticipated. Well, that's what trial runs are for. Here's what happened.

I started hauling chain and it works great. Easy back and forth motion and plenty of mechanical advantage. then about half way to the anchor the chain started jumping off the gypsy (!). What the. . . At first I thought it was because the chain was twisted. When I looked closer though I could see that the links don't really fit the gypsy! They are spaced too far for this gypsy. At this point I figured that I checked it by simply laying the chain in the gypsy but not pulling it tight. Certainly taking up the little space where the links meet would change the usable link length.

We were going to go to Clarke's Court bay but being unable to use the windlass as is we decided to stay. I let out chain (this part works great. Just a simple clutch so you can control the speed at which the chain pays out.) To ease back where we were. But when I got there the boat was not where it was. I guess I pulled in enough chain to dislodge the anchor. So now I HAVE to haul up the anchor to re-anchor!

I tried the windlass again. Hey, it's working great. Sue kept moving the boat forward so not much tension on the chain. I'm looking at the chain in the windlass and it fits perfect! What the hell? I keep hauling and again about half way to the anchor it starts jumping off and upon inspection I can see that the links don't fit at all. A puzzle.

Then I looked REAL close. The part of the chain that is nearer the anchor is more rusted and more worn than the stuff that spends some of its life in the anchor locker. Looking at these used-hard links I see that the wire itself has thinned. That makes the link length too long! That explains perfectly why it jumps off at that point in the hauling process. Now I HAVE to buy new chain.

Other discovered problems:

The chain still piles up in the locker forcing Sue to abandon the helm and run forward into the v-berth and knock over the pile. This is an old problem. Now though we also had an instance of the chain getting stuck in the bottom of the 2" pipe that I installed. That hole is going to have to be bigger. In face I may cut a large rectangular opening so that I can reach in with the boat hook and knock over the pile from on deck. This opening will have to have a rim of some kind though to keep rainwater and spray out of the below-decks chain locker.

After working the windlass now I think it should still be a litle higher off the deck to make a better angle for the incoming chain. To this end I'm going to add a 3/4" or maybe two, slabs between the windlass and the deck.

So, probably off to buy new chain today. What the hell it's only money. Wonder how my mutual funds are doing?

Progress Continues

2009-03-07T07:44:00.006-06:00

Just a quick update. I know you are all breathlessly awaiting every word on the windlass project. Here's a couple more pics showing the construction. You can see the standpipe and the angle iron. Then the same shot with the plywood on top. Waiting for the paint to dry then I can drill the angle iron and mount the windlass. LET'S GO SAILING!!!

Much fun at the tiki bar last night. Happy hour and good pizza. That's me and Kerry. Not sure who that lady is who pushed her way into the picture.

Thankfully there is no picture of Sue and I dancing which ended badly with Sue on the ground with a twisted ankle. I AM hard to follow with my syncopated high stepping!

Boat Jobs

2009-03-06T12:24:00.009-06:00

In response to one of our comments here’s some more detail about the topsides painting project . . .

Sue and I painted all the white areas with Petit EasyPoxy. We brushed it on. You have to make sure you smooth it out as you go with a good brush. Vertical surfaces are a little tricky as the paint will run down if you put on too much and leave waves in the finish. We have some of that and may go back and re-do some of those. It’s all Sue’s fault!

The non-skid was originally molded into the fiberglass so painting it was a process of painting one way and then at right angles to that to try to fill all the nooks and cranies. (Does a nook differ from a cranie by the way?) A cheap chip bristle brush is good for this. I used a decent brush to cut in around the white having painted the white first up into the cream colored non-skid. I had a bad experience with tape pulling off the white paint before. Free-handing looks pretty good from 6 feet away and goes a LOT faster than taping would have. Most of the boundaries aren’t straight anyway so taping would not really have been worth it I don’t think.

When you're painting you might as well repair all those little spider web type cracks. Those make a solid boat look really tired. I've come up with this method for patching those. First I open up the crack using a Dremel with a cone shaped bit on the end. You need to do this so that you can work in some filler. Then I clean it with a wipe with Acetone. I mix up a batch of West System epoxy with the 407 filler so that it is like ketchup. Now I use a small brush and brush the goo across the opened cracks. If I have a larger void on a vertical surface I lay on the goo and then slap a piece of wax paper on it so the stuff doesn't run out. After about 2 hours you can sand nice and smooth. Looks great when you paint it then. Pic shows some filled in and sanded cracks in the bow. Looks bad but it's actually very smooth and will paint up fine.

Pics of the paint job are tough as in a photograph the old white and new white look about the same even though they look VERY different in person.

Major progress in the windlass department. I decided to use the forward triangle of the anchor locker as a pattern to make a platform out of ¾” plywood. I coated that with two coats of epoxy and then two coats of the white paint we’ve been using. Now the tricky part is putting the angle iron across the anchor locker so that they match up with the holes for mounting the windlass. I came close and then had to slightly move some of the L-shaped slots I had cut to make the holes hit dead center in the 1-¼” angle iron I’m using. Oh that got coated too. You don’t want to see what sea water will do to exposed untreated steel!

We want the chain to go through the floor of the anchor locker and into the chain locker below decks as it always has. Now we need a new hole in the bottom of the anchor locker directly below the hole in the plywood. Hmmm...got to be careful what you mean by below! The chain will hand vertically but vertical is NOT perpendicular to the deck which slopes a little aft at the bow. So, I hung a washer on a string from the center of the hole and marked where this hit the bottom of the locker. That should work.

Mismo likes to help!

Of course all this work is even more fun on a rolling boat!

Now then, that hole is going to be a problem because water is allowed into this locker and then drains through a hole that is hosed to a fitting on the hull so no water gets below in the chain locker. Now I have a 2” hole in the bottom. So, I plan to put in a piece of hard exhaust type hose as a stand pipe. This will also have the added effect of making sure that the chain does indeed go all the way into the chain locker and not start piling up in the bottom of the anchor locker.

I priced chain today. ⅜” high test was 21 EC per foot. 2.6 EC/1 US Dollar. That's about $1600 for 200 feet!!!! Yeah, chain is expensive. We have about 200 feet now but we may cut back to 100 feet and 200 feet of line. We’ll see. BTW, my birthday is in July! :-)

Finally, It's March and our March birthday boys are two of my nephews. Happy Birthday Kirk and Scotty!

This and That

2009-03-04T04:09:00.005-06:00

Sue and I have nearly finished painting the entire topsides of Enee Marie. Big job but what a difference. The old girl (Enee not Sue) was just looking tired (well, Sue did get tired though). You couldn't really clean the decks any more because they were so dull and pasty. Now all the white is shiny white. Painted it with Petit EasyPoxy. Seems to be a good hard enamel. Painted the cream colored non-skid patches with Epiphanes Non-slipverf (it's a Dutch company). The non-skid paint has sand mixed in it. This is good as the old non skid patches have worn pretty smooth over the years.

I bought the angle iron I need to install my new manual windlass so I hope to really get on that job later today. I'm anxious to try it out, weigh anchor and go sailing!

Our friends are coming down to visit at the end of the month. They're going to be staying at Jenny's Place, a very neat little hotel at the end of Grand Anse beach. Jenny herself runs the place and was Miss World back in 1970-something.

Can't have a post without a picture. Here's an exciting shot of our new high-tech tumblers and Sue's yummy bruchetta. . . or is that artichoke pizza? Well, both are really good!

Finally, here's an interesting article from Scientific American about how the Coast Guard goes about searching for someone at sea. They actually don't just start flying around but use some pretty high-tech software to tell them the most likely areas to start in.

Moving On

2009-02-18T13:11:00.005-06:00

Well, I'm officially unemployed. The government here won't approve my work permit and I suspect good old Chicago style politics. I think someone on the island got wind that Spice Island was going to begin offering woodworking to their customers and somebody didn't want that and perhaps that somebody has the ear of a government official. Oh well. Being from Chicago I'm used to this sort of thing. Being new here I didn't have the advantage of getting buddy buddy with an alderman or committeeman. But, as my brilliant daughter says, "Oh, too bad. Now you'll have to go to plan B: SAiLING AROUND THE FREAKING CARIBBEAN!

So, in that vein we now make plans to head north starting around April 1 and explore places we either missed or really liked and time it so as to return here in August. One big thing that has to happen is that we MUST get a new windlass. WHICH I ALREAD DID. Get this. I saw a guy in the tiki bar who was anchored by us who I noticed had a manual windlass. Since I know these are cheaper than the electric kind I asked him how he liked it. Well he loved it. He said all the boats he's ever owned have had this windlass and their great. It's a Tiger made by Simpson Lawrence (but no longer). Then the guy next to him who I know from being here for awhile says, "Hey, I have one of those stored in a locker that I'm no longer using and I'd be willing to sell it". What a strange coincidence! Long story short I am now the pround owner of said windlass. I got it for $250 whereas an install of a new electric windlass would be about $2500. Nice. And, just like I like no refrigeration, paper charts and so forth this just gets it's mechanical advantage the old fashion way: You use a long stick! It will need a couple coats of paint but it works great.

The more interesting part will be the installation of this thing. Windlasses should be installed so that the angle between the incoming chaing and the vertical drop in chain is less than or equal to 90 degrees. That was the problem with the old windlass. It was located IN the anchor locker a full foot below the deck level so that the chain came in at an angle much more than 90 degrees. This caused the chain to jump off the gypsy (I DO love that phrase) and ultimately ruin the motor. So, I'm raising this windlass to deck level. I'm cutting the triangular anchor locker door and mounting the windlass on the pointy part. Steel channel will go under this piece of lid and through holes in the walls of the anchor locker. That and some mounting plates and epoxy for the edges should complete the install. I'm really looking forward to trying this beast the first time. Anchors AWEIGH!

To celebrate being unemployed we bought some new cocktail glasses. Mismo of course still thinks she can hide in a thimble and crawled in to the empty box. Here she is thinking no one can FIND me! Yeah, except your head is out one end and your giant ass out the other! She is as always quite entertaining.

Plans

2009-02-16T04:05:00.004-06:00

Well, I'm still waiting for word on my work permit. Today I'm going to set a time limit of April 1 to know one way or the other. In the meantime we're going to start making plans to (perhaps) sail west along the islands north of Venezuela. Venezuela itself is to be avoided because they hate us but you can skip along the islands of Los Testigos, Blanquila, Orchita, Roques, and then on to Bonaire. These island are about a hundred miles off the coast of Venezuela. You can stop at them without checking in (true for Los Testigos. . . I need to check on the others) as long as you don't over stay your welcome. Three days in the case of Los Testigos. I know Los Testigos has no airport and no cruise ships go there. Perfect!

This is all a nearly due west sail so should be a nice down wind ride. THAT'S appealing!

Bonaire will be decision time again. We can either soldier on and maybe make Cartagena in Columbia for our September haul out or make a long run north back to Puerto Rico straight across the Caribbean sea - probably about a 3 day passage.

Anyway we've already bought the chart that we need:
This should work!

Cooking for a Living

2009-02-13T08:30:00.028-06:00

This is where all the 'magic' happens aboard Horizon Yacht New Horizons. It's a 39 foot Bavaria and the galley is in the salon starboard side so no hiding from the guests while preparing food. No putting dropped food back in the pot!

I had my game plan ready - a 7 day menu with 7 breakfasts and lunches and 4 dinners. The guests were a honeymoon couple and they decided to eat out 3 evenings to taste Caribbean island food as well. My dinners were good old fashion baked chicken, bbq steak, fish, and spaghetti. Nobody starved and better yet nobody got sick.

Here is the honeymoon couple: Lisa and Tim also known as Timmy. They are from London and this 7 day charter is one of 3 weeks vacation for them. After the charter they are staying 2 weeks at an all inclusive resort on Grenada so they really know how to live. A lovely couple who were very excited to sail, snorkel, kayak, play cards, laugh at jokes and in general have fun.

This is Captain Andell, a 14 year veteran of the charter fleet world who really knows the islands (no need to refer to the charts since he has them memorized) and has many entertaining stories to accompany the 7 day tour we took from Grenada to Bequia and back.

This chart shows the route from the northern tip of Grenada at the bottom of the chart to Bequia Island near the middle of the chart.

After snorkeling the underwater statues near St George's we headed into the Lagoon where we spent our first night at anchor. Nice and calm. The next day's sail was quite sporty with a significant heel to the boat so it was good to have a good night's sleep beforehand. Although the main halyard kept playing its tune on the mast throughout the night which kept Lisa mostly awake. What's music to one ear is a pain in the neck for another. Halyard pulled away from mast at night from then on.

Just because it's your honeymoon doesn't mean you get to sit on your arse all day.........
Tim and Lisa did their fair share of trimming sheets while tacking and jibing our way around the islands. Faster Timmy.....faster!

New Horizons moored at the Anchorage Yacht Club, Union Island. A good place to replenish ice, buy a few fruits and fresh baked bread, and have dinner out on the island which Tim and Lisa did. Nice and clear this night and we were able to see many constellations including my favorite - Orion.

The Bavaria 39 is a well laid out boat with a large forward cabin including head and 2 aft cabins with a head in the salon to share. On this boat there is no freezer however and so a cooler is kept in the cockpit with ice and drinks.
After a day and a half this is all that's left of the Heinekens. Sorry Timmy........only the labels remain! (Not really.....many more bottles in the cockpit locker, but it was a funny joke).

Just off Union Island is Happy Island - a man decided to put conch shells around a small sand dune which caused the sand to continue to pile up. He continued to add conch shells which caused the sand to continue to pile up until this island was formed. St. Vincent took him to court over ownership but the guy won. St. Vincent owns the land that is officially documented on the charts and since Happy Island isn't on the charts, they can't own it. And so the guy is very happy on Happy Island where he has a house and runs a tiki bar for visitors.

After Union Island we sailed to Bequia - a nice beam reach all the way. Andell said, "Ok Lisa it's your turn". Really? Of course. She was a natural helmsman. So much so that she got promoted to co-captain in no time.

Tim also had his turn at the helm. Calm.....cool......collected.
Until ---- it was time to sail through a very narrow reef. Yikes! Don't worry -- no problem!!

The blissful couple kayaked many places - Salt Whistle Bay, Bequia, Tabago Keys - and sometimes even rowed in sync with each other.

It only took a few days to fall into a routine. Breakfast was always around 7 - 7:30; lunch around noon (depending on how the sailing was going); and an appetizer and dinner in the evening.

One evening Andell drew lines and marks on a tablet of paper, had 6 coins - 3 small and 3 large, and taught us how to play the game that he invented. Lisa picked it up right away and never let Timmy win. Andell would say 2 or 3 moves before even the winner or looser knew: 'You win' or You loose'. Well he did invent the game so of course he knew what was going to happen on the next moves. Your turn to play Sue - not against Andell - he always wins!

We sailed 7 days straight and around the 3rd or 4th day Tim was getting relaxed and really enjoying the ride when.......

the Big Kahuna hit! We snagged George the Baraccuda. And just in time. The menu called for fish for the next night.

Here's Sailor Sue with the catch of the day.
Tim caught it, Andell cleaned it, and I baked it. Never had barracuda before. It was light and flakey and not 'fishy' at all. As Lisa would say, "Very lovely".

However, George didn't give up easily.....

As Andell was cleaning George and ready to make the final slice to free the fillet from the head and body.....OOOOPS......the whole half of fish dropped into the sea!
Oh, Andell it's ok. Don't worry we'll have something else for dinner.
Bloody hell we will....not after all that work.

Throwing off hat and sunglasses and donning snorkel and fins, he quickly found the remains of George and so there was plenty of fish for all.

It's true that I cooked more in 7 days than I have in the past month. But look at all the fun we were having and the beautiful places we visited.

This photo is at the Tabago Keys where Lisa and Tim snorkeled and saw 7 or 8 huge turtles. Nice.

While they were snorkeling Andell decided to leave the mooring ball and anchor instead. What a surprise they had when they headed back to the mooring to find the boat 'missing'. SSSSWWWWTTT (that's the sound of a whistle) Hey guys - we're over here now. Just as Andell was about to dingy over to them they spotted us and headed over. No problem.

The last dinner ashore Tim and Lisa treated Andell and I to dinner at Palm Beach Restaurant on Petite Martinique. Terrific food and a fun water taxi ride from our anchorage at Petite St Vincent.

Our last day was a long, rock - and - rolling one. We sailed down the east coast of Grenada in 8+ foot swells and confused seas. It was rough and hard to hang on. But in the middle of it all Lisa snagged a huge barracuda and hauled her in.

Tim had a turn with a smaller barracuda....

and Andell put both of them (the fish not Tim and Lisa) on the stern 'swimming' in the water to stay fresh.

The last night was spent at the 'lagooniest' anchorage ever - Hog Island on the south side of Grenada. Very - very - very calm.

Early on Tim and Lisa taught Andell and I how to play Black Jack (very similar to Uno) and we played this game almost every night after dinner. Everybody usually had a turn to win during the course of several rounds.

This last night Andell hadn't yet won. He kept saying, 'Just one more'. And so it wasn't until almost midnight when he had won 2 in a row and then agreed to call it a night.

You never know what's going to happen when traveling and sailing with 3 people you don't know. As it turned out we all got along very well. Tim and Lisa were great sports and now are salty sailors. Andell was always calm and cool and ever-ready with an interesting story to tell. We all laughed until we stopped.

Now when people ask me what the 'C' stands for on my hat I say - CHEF.

What???????

2009-02-09T14:14:00.003-06:00

As regular readers know we are in Grenada. I was hoping to work here and in fact did for several weeks thinking that my work permit was on the way. That has not come through yet and so we thought it better if I stay away awhile while it either gets sorted out or not. Since Wednesday Sue has been working on a charter as cook. The boats I knew in this harbor have sailed away. Everyone knows I'm no good at just living on a boat and not sailing her. Work made it all do-able. So, I while away the time reading, writing, working on this and that. Sometimes a story catches my interest and I write a bit of silliness as I did yesterday about "close-knit" communities.

Now I love getting comments. Especially now. But what does the comment, 'What??????" mean? Which part? The satire? The part about the Chicago Tribune now being a tiny advertising rag? The story itself is true and from the Trib. Me not believing that every community with bad news is "close-knit" (and should that be closely-knit?)? Well, I'd love to comment back but I don't know where to go with "What??????" So, Anonymous, feel free to elaborate or just wait for the next bit of silliness. Shouldn't take too long.

A Tight Knit Community

2009-02-08T16:37:00.002-06:00

I don't know. Is it just me or does it seem like all the bad stuff happens in 'tight knit communities'. And, what does that even mean? (the following from the formerly big city newspaper, the Chicago Tribune).

Authorities say John Weatherspoon, 34, of the 18000 block of Edwards Avenue, was killed at about 10:20 p.m. after he and his wife had returned home from a shopping trip. The boy allegedly came out from behind a door with a knife in his hand, stabbed Weatherspoon in the neck and then fled on foot. A neighbor said she heard the woman scream over Weatherspoon's moans.

He died about an hour later at a south suburban hospital.

The killing has sent new shock waves through the tight-knit south suburb of 16,000 residents, which was already reeling from four other slayings in a little more than a week. Previously, there had been only three homicides in the last decade, said Mayor Dwight Welch.

What happens in a 'tight-knit community' that doesn't happen in one that is more loosely knit. Or one that even had dropped a stitch here and there. How about one that wasn't knit at all but instead was made out of Titanium? Think about THAT!

Well, all I know is every damn hurricane, tornado, mudslide, wildfire, volcano, mass murder, nazi invasion, locusts, flood, baby in the well, tsunami, or republican landslide has happened to 'tight-knit communities'. Maybe it's time to loosen the ties that bind a little.

Sue will be back on Wednesday and these posts may return to normal. Stand by!

Come Mr. Taliban. . .

2009-02-07T14:17:00.004-06:00

I read a headline that said that the Taliban had executed a Polish Engineer. Those nutty Talibans. I thought we got rid of them just after 9/11. So a little reading ensued....(italics from Wikipedia)

Well, as you may remember, they ARE a fun bunch. Here's the short list of things they outlaw:

pork, pig, pig oil, anything made from human hair, satellite dishes, cinematography, and equipment that produces the joy of music, pool tables, chess, masks, alcohol, tapes, computers, VCRs, television, anything that propagates sex and is full of music, wine, lobster, nail polish, firecrackers, statues, sewing catalogs, pictures, Christmas cards.

I have to say that I'm with them on the human hair and lobster (especially served together) but firecrackers? Who doesn't like firecrackers? Crazy.

Sewing catalogs?

Furthermore,

Possession was forbidden of depictions of living things, including photographs of them, stuffed animals, and dolls

Imagine the trouble you'd get in if caught with a photograph of yourself with your dog Sparky while holding your favorite doll (Elvis of course) and stuffed animal.

The women got the worst deal of all:

Women in particular were targets of the Taliban's restrictions. They were prohibited from working; from wearing clothing regarded as "stimulating and attractive," including the "Iranian chador," (viewed as insufficiently complete in its covering); from taking a taxi without a "close male relative"; washing clothes in streams; or having their measurements taken by tailors.^[54]

Employment for women was restricted to the medical sector, since male medical personnel were not allowed to examine women. One result of the banning of employment of women by the Taliban was the closing down in places like Kabul of primary schools not only for girls but for boys, because almost all the teachers there were women.^[55]

Women were made to wear the burqa, a traditional dress covering the entire body except for a small screen to see out of. Taliban restrictions became more severe after they took control of the capital. In February 1998, religious police forced all women off the streets of Kabul and issued new regulations ordering "householders to blacken their windows, so women would not be visible from the outside."^[56] Home schools for girls, which had been allowed to continue, were forbidden.^[57] In June 1998, the Taliban stopped all women from attending general hospitals,^[58] leaving the use of one all-women hospital in Kabul. There were many reports of Muslim women being beaten by the Taliban for violating their version of the Sharia.

Yeah this is one fun bunch of guys. Now what in the hell would provoke a bunch of guys to start a club like this? I want to be a fly on the wall where these guys decide that they do NOT want their women to look stimulating or attractive. What's with that? Maybe these guys always got turned down when asking for dates (try bathing!). Just shows to go you how twisted things can get when it comes to religion.

Interestingly they ruled Afganistan (or maybe it was Scotland) from about 1996 -2001. Only 3 countries recognized them in that time: Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Hmmm, notice anything? There it is again, Saudi Arabia, the nationality of nearly all of the 9/11 terrorists. The same country that the Bush family is so buddy buddy with. Now count the letters in Saudi Arabia. OK, I already did. It's 11. How many letters in John Kennedy? 11! Conspiracy theories have been based on less!

I rest my case.

You know if they'd treat women like equals and stop beheading people they might want to come to America. You can have the craziest damn religion you want here in the good old U.S. of A and you won't have to pay taxes. It's pretty easy to avoid lobster and human hair here. Satellite dishes do tend to intrude but you don't have to own one. You might occasionaly run into a woman who looks stimulating or attractive though (hmmm, maybe better settle in Fort Wayne then). So, come on Mr. Taliban come to America. Enjoy the good life and you can hate Americans close up!

Moving Anchor....

2009-02-06T08:35:00.002-06:00

I'm into my second day with no crew as Sue is off cheffing on a charter. Mismo's here and while she's rotten company, at least it's better than no company at all. I was up at 4. Internet is fast then and I get reading and writing done. Then at 7 I here the thrum of larger engines. Oh no. . . my worst fear. The Coast Guard is out moving boats again out of their "channel". The quote marks are because there is no marked channel. They just like to come out every couple of weeks and move a dozen or so boats out of their pretend channel. Why they don't lay a few buoys is beyond me. I guess there's no fun in that.

So here I am with no windlass and no crew. Coast Guard guy tells me 'Big boat coming in. You have to move NOW!' Seems like he means it this time and he didn't even swear at me so I go for it. Luckily there is very little wind for a change. I can haul the chain by hand without driving the boat forward. I do have the engine running however. When I get right above the anchor I go back to the helm and drive forward a ways to pop the anchor loose. Now I'm hauling a little faster so as to not drift into anyone but it's no problem with the light breeze. I manage to stay on this western shore but re-set the anchor and drift back nearer said shore and hopefully out of the 'channel'. The wind is so light it is hard for me to tell if the anchor set well. I'm trying to slip back between a couple of boats that didn't have to move. I get enough chain out and set the snubber. Drive backwards at about 1200-1500 rpm to set the anchor. Looks good!

After a little breakfast and some straightening up I return topsides to find myself nearly on top of one of the boats I had been between. Damn! He has two anchors down so doesn't swing like the rest of us do. I should have allowed for that and gone nearer the other boat.

Crap.

I don't like how close I am so now that the wind is up I'll probably get Kerry on Bellagio to help me move to the other side of the harbor or somewhere. I may also lose the wifi signal if I have to mover too far from the anntenna. So this could be goodbye for awhile!

OK, I hailed Kerry and he came over and we move Enee. Much better. Now I'm too close to his boat rather than a boat I don't know so well! That's progress! We're fine with it and it is such a bitch to haul this nasty chain that I'm not for moving again. A fine day ensues. Great weather. I read and relaxed. In the evening I went to Bellagio (Kerry and Kathy's boat) for burritos ala' Canadian...that means moose meat I guess. Good fun with them and their visiting friends from Saskatoon. Saskatoon. To me that should be a musical instrument! Yes, I play the saskatoon.

HA!

Happy 35th Grenada

2009-02-06T04:09:00.002-06:00

Well, one more February birthday I guess. GRENADA! Feb 7 is their 4th of July. In 1974 they split from England. This island used to be attached to the mighty Brits but in 74 they sliced it off and towed it to the Caribbean. Residents of what was formerly know as "Scotland" said they were just sick of the stinking weather.

On On! *

*Grenada motto

A Rising Star in Photography

2009-02-03T13:45:00.004-06:00

Hey gang, That lovely person on the left (well the only person up there actually) is my daughter, Leah. The photo is one of hers of downtown Chicago. If you'd like to see more of her photography go here. You can leave individual comments on the pictures. Leah would really love any constructive criticism.

(and yes, she gets her looks from ME!)

musings from the unemployed

2009-02-03T03:25:00.007-06:00

I'm still waiting for my 'work papers' here in Grenada and in the meantime, well, I guess I'm laid off. So, random thoughts etc..

Zimbabwe removes 12 zeros from currency

Brilliant! Just remove the zeros. It could work! Maybe this is the way out of our financial mess. Just get rid of the zeros! OR. . .

Since the government owns the money printing presses how about printing, say, about a trillion dollars, put it in a big bag (Oh, I just heard Tupelo Honey in my head) and GIVE IT to whomever we owe! There.

U.S. becomes top wind producer
this is too easy. . .

Hamas leader praises Iran's help in Gaza 'victory'

Death toll to date: 900+ Palestinians (400 women and children)
14 Israelies

wow, If this is victory I wonder what losing looks like?

Two men found in cooler want to stay in Australia

(CNN) -- Two men found floating in a giant cooler off the Australian coast say they want to stay in Australia and don't want to go home, immigration officials said Friday.

Let's see, how the hell do two guys end up floating around in a giant cooler? Maybe they both went after the last beer shoving the entire cooler into the sea. Yeah, I can see that happening.

Contest Time: Write a clever caption for this picture and win a free ride on my sailboat (you'll have to come to Grenada to collect). Put your entry in the comments section. Good Luck!

Big Find in Jeruselam

2009-01-26T16:07:00.004-06:00

CNN: Archaeologists in Israel have discovered what they believe is the bust of a Roman boxer from the second or third century.

The figurine is small -- about 6 centimeters high by 4 centimeters wide -- but very detailed, archaeologists say.

At first the archaeologists thought that pieces and parts had broken off the sculpture but x-ray analysis shows that the sculpture is intact and, well, being a boxer, some parts are bound to be missing.

Also while seeming small it is known that Roman boxers were bred to have unusually small heads so as to make smaller targets for their opponents. This one, while only being 6 x 4 cm (2.5 x 1.5 inches) was probably the real head size of a six foot four, 240 pound heavy weight.

Hmm....Interesting.

Don't go Changing!

2009-01-26T05:55:00.002-06:00

Yesterday Sue spotted this wonderful caterpillar on our way back to our dinghy. Take a close look (by clicking on the picture) and you'll see this guy looks like he's wearing galoshes on his back 6 legs! He also has a tail not unlike Mismo! Is it true that all caterpillars turn into butterflies? If so I bet this one makes a pretty one!

Other big event yesterday was me putting my new reading glasses into the sea. I'm heading into town today to get some real glasses and maybe have them screw them to my head!

We got an e-mail from Luperon, DR telling us that now the Comandante requires all anchored boats to inform the Comandante if they want to move their boat. This includes moving your anchor within Luperon Bay! Moving without permission results in a $100 fine. This is already the only country that makes you check out of a CITY and then check back in if you go anchor in another city within the SAME country. Of course their are fees and pay-offs involved at each end.

Hey, I got to get to work!

Bellagio Sailing

2009-01-25T05:29:00.008-06:00

Yesterday we all went out sailing on Bellagio with are very good metric friends, Kathy and Kerry AND Kathy's daughter Mel. A fine day for a sporty sail south of Grenada. Wind was 15+ knots with easy swells of 3-4 feet. We just reached out and back to remember how all the lines and giant pieces of material work. A fine time was had by all...Mel didn't even get sick!

Here's the whole fam-damly >>>>>>>>>>

Friday we went to the 'Fish Fry' at Goayve (sp?). This is a much publicized thing to go to. It is said that they close down the streets and have a bit of a festival with lots of fish to eat and so forth. Sounds like fun so we went. It's about an hour and fifteen minute car ride though on very twisty roads. Ug. Once we arrived we find a couple of streets blocked off and many little booths making some sort of fish products. There wasn't much of a festival. No where to sit. The music at one point seemed to be a compliation of bad disco (that's really the only kind) from teh 70's. After about 30 minutes we had seen everything but we had another hour and half before the bus was due to go back. There was a drummer group that was pretty good though but I didn't get to sit in. Well, looks like we're having fun anyway according to this pic. Just not worth about 3 hours in a van though.

As reported earlier, Sue is going to be 'Chef' on an
upcoming crewed charter. As such she thought she might practice making fish for all of us. That starts with a trip to the Grenada Fish Market. She found some Red fish and for an extra couple of bucks a guy cleaned and filleted them for her. Great meal this made! Nice job Chef Sue!

Finally, what's a post without a Mismo picture? Our strange little cat is in love with our giant 'noodles' that we swim with sometimes. It's like cat nip to her. Strange are the ways of the cat indeed.