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Grace Log Supplimental
Fresh Bread
So the bread that Hannah had been making along the way just came out of the oven and we are having warm bread with butter!!! OMG it's good! What a wonderful end to the day. Home made bread! Sam's working on this weeks video for upload tomorrow and I'm going out to smoke my pipe and watch the sunset. Good night friends!
Date:Thu, 30 Nov 2023 23:37:00 GMT
St. Augustine to Daytona
Make sure you're filled up!
We woke up at 06:15am and got ready to go south. We decided to use the time to get on the way to Ft. Pierce rather than wait till Monday or Tuesday for good wind for off shore. Our friends wanted us to come with them and so we did. We left St. Augustine with 90Gal of water and 75Gal of fuel which is very unusual for us. We typically top off before we head on a journey. But once again we have violated our rules. Still this time it worked out ok and we got fuel and water in Daytona at 3 in the afternnoon.
We got the 7:30 bridge opening and were about an hour behind our friends. The tide and current were in our favor and so we zoomed along at 8 knots most of the day. It was a beautiful day with light winds and there were lots of birds and dolphins along the way. There was a line of boats heading south from St. Augustine and at one point the lead boat headed a little too close to shore and almost ran aground. The entire chain turned around and fell in behind us. I only saw 8 feet minimum of water but I was closer to the center of the channel. However that put us in the lead and an hour or so later we caught up with our friends.
We encountered a dredging operation and passed on their port as they were heading north and it made the channel very narrow for that passage. We also encountered a Coast guard tug/cutter called (Iron fist?) heading north pushing a large barge.
As we approached Daytona there are a couple of really beautiful bridges. We went under them and then turned inland to Halifax Harbor marina for fuel and water. They were very nice. We topped off on everything and all was well and we are fully stocked. It's a very sheltered and well run marina with very reasonable prices. There are three different anchorages in the area with 10 foot depths and good holding. We chose the one to the south which is the largest of the three and easiest to get into. It is however next to the channel so there are wakes from passing boats.
As a note about St. Augustine in particular that also applies to most of Florida: They want their waters clean and will bring a pump out boat to your boat for free on a mooring ball or just $5 if you're at anchor. When it's so convenient I don't know why anyone would not use the service. They pumped us out before we left, in St. Augustine you just need to call them before 9am and they'll add you to the list.
Date:Sun, 26 Nov 2023 17:12:00 GMT
St. Marys to St. Augustine
Don't do inlets at night
We woke up at 7am and got ready to go to the farmers market in St. Marys. We got the market at 8am and left at 9:30. So armed with fresh produce and 8 dozen farm fresh eggs, we started getting the boat ready for off shore. The reason for going off shore instead of the ICW was rain and storms forcast for St. Augustine by 10-11 am Sunday (today) so we had to leave in time to arrive before the storms. We could have done that by leaving in the later afternoon and sailing the night to arrive in the morning. But that would have meant only having a couple hours leeway. That's too tight so we elected to do the inlet to St. Augustine at night.
In retrospect this was not a good idea. We have several standing rules:
1. Reef often and early. Reef at night.
2. Arrive early in the day. No Inlets at night
3. Arrive when others are leaving to have room in the anchorage.
4. Go off shore when at all possible.
5. Always have someone on the wheel.
6. Keep water and fuel full.
7. Keep a clear deck and never ever tow a dinghy.
8. Put everything away below. Nothing laying about.
9. Plan for the worst. Hope for the best. Always be ready to sail.
10. Always, Always wear life jackets and use the jack lines religously.
So how did it go? Well the Sail out at noon from St. Marys was terrible. A couple boats turned around with 6-8 foot rollers in the inlet. The cat threw up twice. Hannah was miserable and everything was rolling around the cabin because we didn't have enough time to put things away properly. After we got out of the inlet and turned south the weather was exactly as expected. 2-3 foot waves 15 knot winds from the NE and it was a fine sail. But as it got on towards evening of our 10 our sail the clouds started forming over St. Augustine. Sam and I first reefed then took down the main sail and we were still making 6 knots with just the Genoa. We had a tiny bit of light rain for about an hour and as we arrived at 2200 local under a nearly full moon and broken clouds the tide was wrong. A catamaran that had passed us earlier warned us there were unmarked unlit bouys in the inlet but that it was not rough. 2 hours later when we arrived the tide was going out at 4 knots and the wind had picked up to 20 against the tide. So unable to see under the dark skies and with unlit bouys potentially on our route Hannah and Sam went out on the rolling deck with 8+ foot rollers stacked up every 4 seconds coming from our starboard quarter and at full throttle we were only making 3 knots against the current. It was miserable and dangerous. We had tracks on our chart plotter for previous runs in and out of the channel but we needed eyes on the unlit bouys. Standing on the deck was nearly impossible but Hannah and Sam wedged themselves in against the mast and the side supports. Eventually Hannah sat on the wet deck as waves were crashing over the gunnels. It took us nearly an hour to get into the harbor only to find that it was completely full. So we wandered through the tightly anchored boats in the dark for nearly another hour trying to find a place to anchor. We tried three times in two different locations but with the winds and a 4 knot current ,in the dark, I couldn't find a place I liked. So tired and frustrated we went back out to the mouth of the inlet and anchored in the flats after running aground twice. Tired wet and frustrated we had hot chocolate and Campbell's soup and went to bed at 2am after driving around the anchorage for 3 hours. 1/3rd the length of the entire journey just trying to anchor.
And the Moral of the story is? Stick with the Rules! And this morning we rose at 8 am to work on the leaking engine before trying to re-anchor. And sure enough if we had arrived at 8am we would have found space where people had left on their way south. So we anchored near one of the places we had tried to anchor the night before and all is well. It didn't start raining till exactly as forcast and if we had left at sunset we would have had better tides, gentler winds, a place to anchor in the daylight and then rain at 11am three hours later.
Of course hind sight is 20/20 but we have developed these rules over the years and they work for us. They came from having experiences like this and us saying "never again". Well, this is exactly why we do what we do.
Look, I'm not trying to toot our own horn. That is not the point. But what we did was dangerous and if we were unsteady, overconfident, or inexperienced with our boat this could have ended in tragedy. Is it possible to survive when doing dangerous things? yes. But the odds are not always in your favor and eventually the odds will get you. Be smart, be safe, have your own rules based on what you are capable of. There are plenty of times when things do not go as planned and you have to do something inherently dangerous. There isn't any need to do it on purpose.
Date:Wed, 22 Nov 2023 03:01:00 GMT
Friends old and New
The festivities in St. Marys have begun!
Tonight was a meet and greet at Southern River Walk for all the cruisers that are here for Thanksgiving. Many of the people we met last year are here again and of course we got to reaquaint ourselves with locals who put this event on every year. The yacht club here is amazing and their efforts make a home away from home for thanksgiving. If you haven't been here for Thanksgiving before you need to do it next year! Everyone is so helpful and friendly that it really makes you feel like someone cares!
All the cruisers, guests and locals brought snacks and side dishes and we all sat around and traded stories and ate each other's foods. Hannah and I brought toritilla wrap bites with chicken and capers and cream cheese. We met new friends too! A & A!, T, A & M, DJ & J, C & T, B from CH and (gosh I hope I didn't forget someone!). We had drinks listened to music told stories and made plans to meet in the islands!
Southern River Walk were wonderful hosts and the drinks and DJ were excellent! We all had a wonderful time. Now it's time to put everything away from shopping and washing before our daughters come to visit tomorrow! good night everyone!
Date:Tue, 21 Nov 2023 14:13:00 GMT
Friends and Family
We should have at least a day between guests!
The last few days have been filled with new friends, visiting, cheese, wine, and walking in the park. But we are also getting ready for family to arrive on Wednesday.
The last few days have been filled with new friends, visiting, cheese, wine, and walking in the park. But we are also getting ready for family to arrive on Wednesday. We absolutely love meeting new people and sharing stories! It is one of the highlights of cruising for us. It's still a little odd for Hannah and I because we have always tended to be a little bit like hermits. I'm not sure what clicked in us but now we simply can't get enough of hearing new stories and meeting new people. It's a very small community of cruisers and I'm always amazed when we find people who know each other. I mention a story about someone we've met and low and behold they've talked to the same boaters perhaps even years ago!
The symptoms were that it couldn't get fuel. It tried to start but would sputter and die, sputter and die. I thought that perhaps we had water in the fuel or bad fuel so I checked the fuel filter. No water was draining out the bottom plug. So we tried to change the fuel filter with a spare. It was way way too tight. But we finally got it off with the help of a rubber jar opener. I need one of those oil filter straps. After replacing the filter the generator runs fine. Whew! I'm always skittish about the generator failing because repairing it will be very difficult and will require completely disassembling the nav station and drawers.
Hannah got fresh eggs from a farmers market so we've had eggs for breakfast for the last couple days. But now after having guests over and plates of cheese and deviled eggs we need to go on a major shopping trip. That is today, shopping and preparing for Thanksgiving!
Date:Fri, 17 Nov 2023 23:58:00 GMT
Crabtraps and Fish
It was a busy day but we have fish for dinner!
To start the day I decided to check and possibly move the anchor. We have been watching this crab trap for several days and I was afraid it was tangled on the Anchor and of course it was. So as we pulled up the anchor the crab trap was wrapped around the chain. It was a very old trap with barnacles all over it and nothing in it. In fact there were so many barnacles that there was no way for anything to get in the trap. So we cut it free and re-anchored. I feel much relived knowing it's not going to get tangled in the prop or something.
Then Sam and I went to get 150 more gal of water from the town dock. while we were there we met some folks who's fishing boat was against the dock and the engine wouldn't start. So I helped them find what was wrong. As it turns out it was just a broken wire. But they were very thankful and so after they returned from fishing they gave us three speckled trout and a whiting! So Hannah and I spent the evening cleaning the fish and now they are cooking in the oven!
Lilah is funny she wanted to smell the fish but doesn't know what to do with them. Even the fish heads she doesn't know what to do with. So I think tomorrow we are going to make fish head soup/stew. We talked with Hannah's father about how to cook them and flillet them. I've never had speckled trout so this will be a treat.
Date:Wed, 15 Nov 2023 19:29:00 GMT
Getting water
Chores on a blustery day
Today Sam and I went to get 50 more gal of water from the town dock. This time we filtered it twice before putting it in the tanks. once from the spigot and once as we pumped it into the tanks. There was a funny taste yesterday as well as film on top of the water.
Hannah made grilled cheese on home made bread with leftover cheese from a couple nights ago and also cookies! She made white chocolate cranberry orange oatmeal cookies. Now we're cleaning up the boat a little bit and I did a little more work on the web site.
We have been spending too much time listening to the news and it makes us all a little ill.
Date:Tue, 14 Nov 2023 23:43:07 GMT
Too long on the Generator
This is why I don't program anymore
So, today I spent probably 8 hours programming and obsessed with making things work right. I was working on a system to remotely add blog posts even when I am off shore with a very tenuous slow link. So I wanted to send minimal data in a very particular format, securely, and have it post to the blog. The problem is that I spent all day on the generator doing it and ignored the rest of everything that needed to be done on the boat. I probably wrote somewhere around 3000 lines of code and I think it was well done, but I get so focused that I ignore everything else. I found that long term this did not make me happy so I had to figure out something else to do. The answer was that I went back to flying, only coding when I wanted to and when it was fun or in my free time. Otherwise years passed and I was barely aware of the outside world.
We did get water today from the dock. We were down to 75 Gal and now we're back over 100 but we will need to get water more often to re-fill the tanks to 200 gallons. We also did wash and dried wash and Hannah made sword fish leftovers from the two steaks we didn't eat yesterday. We always try to deal with leftovers quickly so as not to take up too much room in the Freezer. And oh my!, Lilah loves swordfish! so we had to share with her as well after all she is part of the family. She's sleeping happily now on one of our grey arm chairs that we keep outside on the deck.
The anchorage here is really strange on the river. We are near a bend in the river and there is actually a little vortex here and so we dance around alot. I think we're going to move to a different location because the movement is just too unpredictable and we have moved at times too close to other boats. Also the water here is 25 feet deep so we need 150 feet of rhode as a minimum in this current and wind. If I move a little farther away then we will be in 7-10 feet and it will be better. Also there is an old crab trap here and I'm pretty sure the chain is wrapped around it. We're going to have to cut it free when we move.
Date:Tue, 14 Nov 2023 23:11:07 GMT
TEST MESSAGE
This is a test of my new blogging system
Hi Folks this is just a test message. It should get all the way through the rss feed and be formatted correctly.
It is supposed to be a simplified more consistent format and easier to send messages. It's set up a lot like an old telegram system. So I'm essentially sending a telegram to my machine to post to the blog.
I have not yet been able to send pictures with this system yet and I'm not sure I want to. But theoretically I could do it. I think, however that off shore it would be too much bandwidth to send pictures. So for now I will not do that. Have a wonderful Morning! S.
Date:Tue, 14 Nov 2023 00:46:30 GMT
Good Friends and Good Food
Having company over to the boat
Well, today we spent the entire day getting ready for friends to come over. Hannah and I went shopping, Sam worked on the outside of the boat and the stainless. Wanda did the floors, I put things away and helped Hannah in the Galley and in about 4 hours we had the boat looking presentable once again. It is so easy for a boat to fall apart when you are living on it day to day. It's a small space and it can get messy really quick. One of our biggest challenges was laundry. It is been rainy and misty for a couple days and nothing was drying. Our second big challenge was gettin the dinner prepared. We went shopping at 10:30 and didn't get home till about 13:00 so we only had 2 hours to prepare the meal and put everything away that we bought. Because of course we couldn't just shop for one day we had to shop for the next week or so as it is difficiult to get to the store when you have to get rides. And naturally, we couldn't pick something easy like chilli mac, it had to be something nice and it required quiet a bit of prep. However, amazingly it came off without a hitch and the fish went in the oven about 15 minutes after they arrived so we had dinner on the table by 16:30! Hannah is a master in the galley and can do amazing things in limited space. She is so organized and everything in that galley has a very particular home with the most used items in the easiest locations and thing things less used in deeper hidden spaces. There are galley tools that came out of every where that I didn't even know we had!
One of my Highschool buddies from 45 years ago or so came to visit us and Hannah made a dinner of Sword fish, rice, fresh green beens and key lime pie. We had a few drinks and ate a wonderful dinner together and talked about boats and politics and memories and everything. It was a wonderful time and it reminded us how much we like entertaining on the boat. He and his wonderful wife were a welcome diversion from working on the boat. I wish we could have spent more time with them but perhaps in the future. They are considering buying a boat and I think that would be amazing!
The recipe that Hannah used for the key lime pie came from our friends in the Keys, Moral Compass. The Fish was a lemon garlic wine sauce and the Basmati rice was made in the pressure cooker with Amba spice. We found a woman in St. Mary's who gives people rides and so we went to WinDixie to get food for this evening. Now we are cleaning up and getting ready for bed with warm full bellys and the memory of good friends. We'll catch ya'll tomorrow or the next day.
Date:Sat, 11 Nov 2023 19:55:00 GMT
Going Ashore
Finding old friends and meeting newYesterday we spent a quiet day on the boat and I worked on the web site. I wanted to get the rss feed working correctly and updated. This meant reformating all the old posts. I wrote 1/2 dozen scripts to do it with sed. I continued that this morning till about 9am.
We got in the Dinghy to go ashore to the Saturday market to get produced and whatever else we could find and got caught by our new neighbors, Judy and Chris and their dog Keleb. We love meeting new people. Then we went ashore to the waterfront pavilion and there was nobody there. Dissapointed, we decided to just go for a walk
We sat on the waterfront swings for an hour or so and then came back to
Date:Thu, 9 Nov 2023 01:50:00 GMT
Arrived St. Mary's GA
And now we sit for a while!This morning at about 10am we left Cumberland island for Fernadina Beach and we refuled, pumped out and took on water. We also let our cricket go! We found a stowaway while we were off shore and we put him in a little jar with an apple peel. I guess he wanted to get out of the cold. So today Hannah put him in a big planter near shore. George, the cricket, hung out for a couple minutes and then left before Hannah could get a picture of him in his new home. We also saw three baby sea turtles eating barnacles at the Marina. After that we motored up the river to St. Mary's and set anchor. The Marina here has just gotten going and they're trying really hard to be ready for people. So if you need a place to dock please consider St. Mary's. It's a wonderful town and a quiet friendly place to spend a few days. We are going to stay here through Thanksgiving as they have a Cruisers Thanksgiving. The town does the turkey and the boaters do the fixings! It's a wonderful time and after enjoying it last year we had to come back and do it again. So please come visit! We love making new friends and meeting new people. If you're in the area we will be at anchor here till the end of November.
So after we anchored we decided to put the dinghy down and go into town. But, well it had been since St. Augustine that we last put the dinghy in the water and we lost our block and tackle to let it down off the deck. So we spent 2 hours taking the lazerettes apart looking for it. Finally frustrated and thinking we must have lost the line we ate dinner. But after dinner in the dark I decided to take even more apart and low and behold there at the complete bottom of the starboard lazerette under the spare sails and canvas there it was the bag-o-spareline and the block and tackle was in that bag. It was a big relief! But it goes to show you need to write everything down! So we added it to the inventory and now we feel better. Tomorrow we will go into town.
Date: Mon, 6 Nov 2023 14:30:00 GMT
Arrived Cumberland Island GA
60 hours off shoreWe just completed our first 60 hour trip on the open ocean. We left Friday Nov 3rd from Beaufort NC and arrived at St. Mary's Monday Nov 6th in the morning. Friday was our best time ever leaving Beaufort. Traditionally that has been a spicy inlet but this time it was calm on a slack tide. Saturday was a little rough but Sunday was one of those sailing days you dream of. Good winds and calm seas on a broad reach to our destination. We made good time the entire trip and both the forcast and the schedule (you never have a schedule) worked out exactly as planned. It was difficult moving around the boat on Saturday and we saw the biggest waves and swells we had seen in the last 2 years. The water was the most amazing blue 50 miles out and we were far enough out that there was not even the glow of land on the horizon at times. Grace simply danced across the waves and performed wonderfully with her 11 foot draft centerboard down she wasn't even rocking much. The red sails and the blue water were amazing. This time we left the cushions on the deck instead of putting them inside and it was much easier to eat at the table when the boat was rocking than standing up. The mast didn't leak and the new lines and soft shackles performed wonderfully. Our new boom vang and spinnaker storage position worked great. Sam and Steve were much better with the rig and sails than before and they could even reef and drop the sails in the dark on a pitching deck. We could not have hoped for a better run.
We left the anchorage at Adams creek the morning of the 3rd, Friday, at 07:18 and started motoring down to Beaufort. The engine started flawlessly this time and we were off. At 7:45 we filed a float plan with the waterway net on 7.268 mhz. We had oatmeal for breakfast. We continued to re-organize the inside of the boat while we were heading for Beaufort. And Sam and I reorganized the Lazzerettes for off shore. But that meant that everything was pulled out for a good hour while we were motoring down the creek. Hannah had started baking bread for the journey and it was rising while we were underway. As we arrived in Beaufort, we anchored on Taylor creek and baked the bread. We anchored in Taylor creek around 10.
We met Jason and Bianca from Marathon and had a nice chat on our boat. I also talked with Pete who we anchored next to. He knows Mike on Rusamee and we said we would look for him in St. Augustine and say hi for him. We had leftover soup from our pressure cooker debut and filled up the drinking water. We did the last cleanup of the boat and headed off shore at 13:56lcl. We headed for the outside of Frying Pan shoals on a heading of 230. Wind was 050@15 with light seas of 2-3 feet. It was clear and chilly. Around 6pm on the third the wind picked up to NE at 20. On a broad reach we were doing 6 1/2 knots and the seas started picking up.
On the 3rd at 10 pm wind was still picking up to 22 knots and waves increasing to 4-5 foot. By 1 am we were 33d48m X 77d31m and winds were 033@20g25 and it was overcast with seas 6-9 feet. So we reefed the Genoa and put the 1st reef in the main and were still making 7 knots. It continued to cloud over and it was a wet chill in the air. The waves were flattening out with little wind scallops all over the top of the water and the salt spray was everywhere. Winds picked up to 027@28 by 6 am of the 4th and seas were up to 12 feet and more on an 8-10 second period. So we double reefed the main and left only a patch of the Genoa. We lowered the mizzen completely and were still making 7+ knots. We were just rounding the Frying Pan shoals.
By 8 am of Saturday, the 4th, we were at 33d21m X 78d03m and the seas were confused. Winds had abated a little to 25 but the seas were less than 7 seconds. Lylah got sea sick and was drooling everywhere. Poor baby was miserable. Mom was not doing very well either and we didn't have much to eat but a few snacks and cold oatmeal. Through out the 4th from 10am to about 4pm The waves and winds continued to ease as we approached 35 miles off shore from Georgetown and we turned inland a little and changed course direct to St. Mary's at 232deg. Winds were NE at 16g20 and seas were back to 4-5 feet on a 9 sec period. We shared an MRE for lunch/dinner with some broth and noodles. By 19:30, winds were still 15g20 and seas were 4-5 feet. It was cloudy and damp with a chill in the air. We were making 6 knots
Sun Morning the 5th at 5 am found us 50 miles off shore south east of Beaufort South Carolina with winds out of the North at 19 but much abated. By 9am we put up full sails on a broad to beam reach making 7+ knots at 15-16 knots of wind. Seas continued to calm but winds held steady at 15 out of the NW. The Coast guard called us because we missed a call to our friend Joe. We assured them we were fine and they asked us to make contact with him when possible. So we checked in on the waterway net and got email from SailMail. I also used the opportunity to get weather for the rest of the journey. By noon of the 5th the seas were 1-2 feet and we were moving right along at 7 knots with 15 knots of wind. There were dolphins everywhere jumping and playing. We could see them just under the water. Hannah made soup and we shared another MRE for lunch dinner. Then around 15:00 we poled out the Genoa to run downwind as the winds shifted a little. We also used the time to test putting the spinnaker pole from the mast to the forward stay on the deck to support it. That works great! We also did more experimentation on our jibe preventer / boom vang. Which also works great. We even had a couple potential crash jibes that it prevented! In the early evening around 7 pm we were getting pretty tired. Sam and I had been doing 4 hour shifts the entire time. It was working well but we were tiring!
By 8 pm we were abeam Brunswick Ga and winds were dying. We had tried to hold the 14 knots as long as possible, but finally the winds were down to 8 knots. But going slow was ok because we didn't really want to arrive at night anyway. So we took the 4 knots and took in the main to go Jib and Jigger. The main was giving us more drag than lift and was blocking the genoa. Around midnight we couldn't keep the sails filled and were only about 25 miles from St. Marys so we took in the sails and started the engine.
An hour before sunrise we were in the channel heading toward St. Mary's inlet and Hannah was on the foredeck looking for the reds and greens. We hit the fort just after sunrise and motored over to Cumberland island to anchor. We arrived at slack high tide and the inlet was gentle with 10 knot winds out of the west but before we hit the jetty's we were running against a 2 knot current. It took us forever to get into the anchorage and we put down anchor at 8am. We got on the HF to call the waterway net just after 8 to let them know were were safe at anchor. Now Sam is sleeping, Mom is sleeping and I am writing this blog. Hannah is doing wash and we are happy with a full belly of a hot breakfast of eggs and home made toast instead of travel food. We finished off the last of the fresh chocolate chip cookies and I polished off the last of the beef jerky. Now it's time for my nap. It's going to be showers for us today under clear skies and 75 deg!
Date: Wed, 2 Nov 2023 22:06:00 GMT
On our way!
Oh wait, can't start the engine!We left Blackbeards at about 13:00 and are at anchor in Adams creek by 17:30. We got out late because our engine wouldn't start again. So Sam and I dove into it again trying to figure it out. And again, of course, the problem went away before we could isolate it. So we motored along during a beautiful day.
It did give us time however to put things away. So all the supplies we got from the storage unit and from our final Walmart run we put under Sam and Wanda's bunks. We were very supprised that it all fit.
Tonight Hannah is cooking soup in our new pressure cooker for the first time. We are hoping that this allows us to run the Generator for less time for cooking. We tried it for 25 min for bean soup and it's almost done so I think it's going to work. It only needed another 5-10 and it would have been fine.
We are very glad to be underway again and away from the dock. Tomorrow we will get up early and hope to hit the open ocean by 1300. We should have good winds all the way to St. Marys Ga. It should take us 3 nights to get there so we could be there Monday. That would be our hope.
Date: Wed, 1 Nov 2023 22:30:00 GMT
Final Hours
Putting the cars to bedToday was a busy day of last minute shopping, a trip to the IRS, disconnecting batteries on cars, putting on car covers and putting things away on the boat, Filling up fuel and water because tomorrow AM we are heading south!! This is just a note as nothing big is going on just lots of work. We also updated our epirb, updated and renewed ham licenses and did a final load of washing.