Ships Blog Single Posts
Previous Post <<<------>>> Next Post
Date:Wed, 14 Dec 2022 00:03:00 GMT
Ft. Pierce
Continuing south
We arrived this morning in Ft. Pierce, Anchored around ICW mile 965 and
cleaned up after 2 nights off shore.
We left St. Augustine at about 1300 on Sunday the 11th. Hannah made chili
mac and we ate as we were leaving the anchorage. The tide was going
out so it was easy to get out of the inlet but the wind was blowing from the
east stacking the waves up 5-6 feet or perhaps a little more. Lilah tried
to jump out of the boat but we locked her in the V berth. She was not happy
and threw up. Poor cat... After we got away from the coast the swells were
5-6 feet out of the east at about 12-15 sec. We ran jib and jigger all the
next day and night and made a steady 4-5 knots. The wind was from the NE at 10
and we were on a broad reach all the way till just past Cape Canaveral. It
was really rolly. We put down the centerboard and it helped a lot. The next
morning Hannah made egg burritos for breakfast. For dinner we tried one of
our Wise packages of Stroganoff.
The trip was uneventful and on Monday evening we were passing the Cape at
sunset. It was really beautiful and we could see the launch facilities from
miles off shore. They are so big!. As we rounded the cape the winds picked
up to 15 and the seas grew to 6-8 feet. We ducked in west a little and the
waves were much more pleasant. We continued south to Ft. Pierce and at
about 20:30 there was a little gust front from a little storm that picked us
up to 7.5 knots and the wind was 25+. Sam and I took down the mizzen sail
and reefed the Genoa to 50% and we were still making 5-6 knots. As it
turned out the storm was just a little thing and it passed in about 30
minutes with just a little rain. On the other side the wind shifted east to
a beam reach for the rest of the trip to Ft. Pierce. Sam took 8pm to
midnight and a couple more to 2am and I went from 2 am till we anchored.
At sunrise I put up the full Genoa and a storm started forming just north of
us moving south. It blew it's self out about 10 miles north of us but there
was another forming just beyond it. We raced it into the inlet.
As we came into the inlet the tide was slack and we sailed right up to the
jetty's before starting the engine as the winds died on shore. We anchored
near mile 965 of the ICW and about 30 minutes later the rain hit from the
Thundershower. It rained hard for about an hour. Hannah, Sam, and I all
got into our swimsuits and showered on the deck in the rain. People on the
ICW in their rainsuits passing us probably thought we were crazy out there
in the cool rain but it felt good after 2 nights off shore.
All cleaned up we got the boat re-organized and I took a nap. At about 1600
I woke up and we made a youtube video talking about our journey which will
be posted soon and one of us repairing the switch/lock for the pump out. I
tried to pump out well off shore but the switch was not working.
I'm still worried about the vibration of the drive shaft. It is not aligned
correctly and it is not as smooth as it used to be. I'll address it
tomorrow. For now we made calls, updated this blog and done with dinner.
Hannah made fresh soup with potatoes, carrots and lintel's and beans and we
ate that with left over honey orange carrots and home made bread.
Now it's time for bed and it's raining lightly. There was an amazing full double
rainbow from ground to ground as you looked east just before sunset. The
anchorage is quiet with only 2 other boats here and a derelict/wreck left
over from the hurricane a couple months back. The Marina is still basically
closed for repairs.