Mitch has been kind enough to let us republish a recent series of articles he wrote that are at the Observer News. I have included a link back to the original article on the Observer News website at the bottom of the article here.
The Last Leg
CAMBRIDGE, MD – The temperature outside was falling into the 30s. A brisk wind from the Northwest gripped the rigging, causing my sailboat to shudder. The gust-induced rocking seeped into the dreams of my semi-sleep state, causing wild images and an occasional note of fear. But I had nothing to fear. There was no concern about the wind; there was no chance of waves breaking over the deck. I wasn’t standing resolute to heavy weather as much as I was simply enduring it. I was tucked into the forepeak bed under an electric blanket — the deck of the boat was 12 feet above the ground. My sailboat is in a boatyard in Cambridge, Maryland, not off at sea sailing through a dark and stormy night.
The last leg is getting the boat into the water from the boatyard in Maryland, then sailing three days down the Chesapeake, then making it to Florida through the Intracoastal Waterway.
Although Cambridge is only 1,000 miles from Tampa Bay, I drove 3,200 miles to get here. Driving through snow showers from Indiana to western Maryland on my way to the boat made me question my plans. Snow and boats do not go together in my mind. Palm trees and beaches, yes. Snow, no. The thought of working on a boat and worse, sailing it, with snow falling does nothing to enhance my spirit of adventure. I’m simply not that adventurous. Fortunately, streaks of blue appeared in the sky and the temperature rose nicely as I […]
The final leg of The Journey was to take Windsong from Harbortown Marina in Merritt Island up to Oasis Boat Yard in St. Augustine to be hauled out. I had convinced a few friends to crew for me and to entice them I arranged the final leg to be when one of the last shuttle launches was happening.
I wanted to have a good view of the shuttle launch, and I also wanted the final leg to be easy going so I got a head start by sailing up the ICW about 17 nm to Titusville Municipal Marina. Jenny and I did the sail on a Saturday after my month in Harbortown was done. The weather was great, with Southeast winds at 15 knots. The ride was relatively uneventful but definitely a fun day. It was my first time under full sail in the ICW, something different since steering between the markers under sail was a bit more difficult than steering offshore. I kept Windsong in Titusville for a couple of weeks until May 14th when the shuttle was set to launch. We all met up on Friday morning before the launch to load up the boat and get ready for the weekend cruise. The crew was Jenny, Jeff (from the first leg) and our friend Brian who flew down from Connecticut. The traffic was getting crazy pretty for the shuttle launch, so we were glad to get an early start. The launch was at 2:20 p.m., but we were ready to go by noon. We got some fuel from the marina and then decided to wait out the remaining time at anchor in the ICW. The marina is very spacious, but my slip was near the basin wall and I had 15-20knot winds pushing me forward into my slip. […]
Saturday May 1st was the ideal day to leave New Zealand. Unfortunately about 40 other boats thought so as well. 30 some of them were part of the Island Cruising Association rally to Tonga and had cleared customs the day before, but there was still quite a line at the customs office in Opua. By 10am we had cleared customs and immigration and by 11 we were on our way, killing the motor and setting sail after we cleared the Opua ferry lane. The wind was fresh and favorable, but the clouds were threatening. A rainbow shown over Pahia to send us on our way. Too bad the rain part was also there as I actively sailed in the rain for maybe the 10-12th time in my sailing career. I’ve really been a pretty fair weather sailor for years now. The only time I get caught out in the rain is at sea where I button up the boat and hang out down below until it drys out. We were still in the crowded Bay of Islands waters and had the rally driving hard behind us to catch up, so a soggy captain dawned his foulies and kept a watch, but he wasn’t happy about it.
Leaving New Zealand with the ICA rally close behind
The weather window leaving New Zealand was great with fresh south westerlies turning to southerlies for the first 36 hour easing to moderate south easterlies for another day before the wind died and we had to motor for 8 hours before we started getting some light easterlies. A low was passing over the north island compacting the isobars in the trades. So we got a few days of reinforced trades blowing out of the east at 25-35 knots […]
We left Windsong in Stuart on its mooring ball for a week before I was able to get back there and begin the fourth leg with my Dad. I was concerned while it was there because the stuffing box was leaking worse than it ever had, and I couldn’t get it to stop dripping before we left. I did my best to stem the flow by tying some torn up towels around it, but knew that would help little. The bilge pump could keep up with the flow, and would run a few times a day I think. However, I didn’t know how long my batteries would last with the pump running frequently. Luckily I remembered to change the battery switch to the house batteries rather than its default setting of house + starter batteries. I realized I left it like that when Windsong was in Ft. Myers, and made a mental note to never leave the switch on both when not charging or motoring.
The plan was to motor up the ICW to Harbortown Marina in Merritt Island. We arrived in Stuart on Thursday evening (April 1st) a few hours before dark. First order of business was to dinghy all of our gear out to the boat, which wasn’t nearly as exciting as the nighttime ordeal we faced in Ft. Myers. After the gear was loaded (only took one trip) we enjoyed a beer then paddled back to shore to get some dinner at the marina restaurant. After dinner we had to paddle back in the dark and crashed quickly soon after. As usual I didn’t get any sleep, mind racing about what the next couple of days would hold.
The first day’s ride would be 2/3 of the trip, making progress all the way up to south Melbourne. […]
The weekend of March 20 I was finally able to get some friends to help crew for me as we crossed Florida via the Okeechobee Waterway:
At 6.5 knots cruising speed, it takes about two days of long motoring to cross the state with a stop in Clewiston. Mark and Robbie both took Monday off so we would be able to make it north a bit on the East coast as well. The plan was to go from Ft. Myers to Clewiston on Saturday; cross the lake and make it to Stuart on Sunday; then Stuart to Vero Beach up the Intercoastal Waterway on Monday.
Friday night we were dropped off in Ft. Myers where Windsong was moored for about a week and a half. It was dark when we arrived, and we had to paddle my old dinghy about a half mile to the boat. The rubber dinghy does not have hard floors, so we couldn’t load too much weight. This made us have to take two trips back and forth to collect all cargo along with all three of us. We didn’t get any good pictures of the dinghy rides to the boat, but it was a lot of fun crossing the river in the dark of night, only city lights for illumination. I knew where the boat was in reference to the bridge and island surrounding it, but we couldn’t actually see it until very close.
We loaded up Windsong, had a few beers and settled in for the night. None of us slept well at all, I was nervous about how the engine would perform on its first real endurance test. We would be motoring about 8-10 hours a day for three days straight. I knew the fuel was clean now, so it was whatever […]
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