The idea for the this leg was to go from Gulfport to Ft. Myers, then all the way to Stuart on the East coast via the Okeechobee waterway. My dad would help out for the offshore journey from Gulfport to Ft. Myers, and then it would just be Jenny and I for the week while she was on spring break. Unfortunately some bad weather made us have to stop our trip in Ft. Myers. This all took place March 6-7. I came back this previous weekend (March 20-22) to finish the trip across the Okeechobee waterway, and will post about that journey soon. Here are the photos to go along with the sail from Gulfport to Ft. Myers.
Leaving Gulfport. It was a chilly day.
Out of the inlet, sails finally up. We had to beat upwind to clear the inlet, which was a very uncomfortable way to start the day. Sizable short period wind swell pounding the hull. Once we cleared the inlet and turned Southwest things were comfortable.
Jenny and my dad cruisin
We headed out Southwest to clear the shoaling around Egmont Key. This made us have to cross the primary shipping channel coming into the bay. I was worried about what kind of traffic we would face, but only had to deal with this one cargo ship. Luckily it was going fast enough to pass a few miles away.
Ended up dead downwind once we cleared the shoals as we pointed South-southeast, our track for the remainder of the night. I poled out the jib for a wing to wing sail formation.
It was another great sunset, but I didn’t take too many pictures of it this time.
I trolled three fishing lines the entire night: a light tackle spinning […]
After closely monitoring the weather and looking at my route options, I’ve decided to do an overnight sail to Ft. Myers from Gulfport. We (me, my dad and Jenny) will leave around 3:00 p.m. out of the Pass-A-Grille channel, out a ways to avoid shoals at Egmont Key, then Southeast towards Ft. Myers staying off the coast approximately 5 miles. We should get in on Sunday sometime in the morning or midday where we will dock at Moss Marina for the night. We drop my dad off there and then we follow the Okeechobee waterway to the east coast! I’ll make updates along the way if I can.
Wish us luck! The weather should be beautiful for the night sail, but next week on the Okeechobee waterway may be a little cloudy and wet.
CRUISE UPDATE: This past Saturday night I sailed off-shore & overnight again from the Gulfport to Ft. Myers Beach, about 120 nautical miles. It was a much better sail than the first but was still a little nervy since we are all so inexperienced. But the crew did well, and the weather was good to us.
The plan was to go up the Okeechobee waterway this week, but bad weather has us stuck in Ft. Myers. Yesterday we traveled about 18 nm northeast up the Caloosahatchee river to downtown Ft. Myers. Until then we had clogged and replaced the fuel filters a few times, but right past Ft. Myers we used our last one up and a fuel line became clogged. The offshore sail had stirred up all sorts of gunk in the diesel fuel tank and it needed cleaning desperately. This morning we had a guy come out and “polish” the fuel by agitating the sludge on the bottom of the tank, sucking it through […]
I have returned from the sea! This past weekend I took the first step in the long journey transporting Windsong from Inglis, FL to St. Augustine, FL. The trip will take me down the West coast of Florida, through the Okeechobee Waterway, and up the East Coast. The first leg was the long journey from Inglis to Gulfport near St. Pete, a total ride of about 90 nautical miles and well offshore. The entire journey is outlined in this picture:
Let me recap the story thus far. I purchased Windsong in July, 2009 from the previous owner, Paul, in Inglis, FL. Inglis is a small town on the West coast of Florida in a region called the Nature Coast. The Paul was kind enough to allow me to keep the boat at his house up the Withlacoochee River. I would visit the dock about every other weekend cleaning and fixing up the boat.
I am by no means an experienced sailor. I have only done a few day trips in very easy conditions. I’ve braved one squall, but it was in the Inter-coastal waterway in St. Augustine. The worst threat to me was running aground. Being an inexperienced boat owner and novice sailor, this is an intimidating boat to learn to operate. The first time I took the boat up the river the engine’s cooling water impeller busted and caused the engine to overheat. Spew steam out of the expansion cap, which I first thought was a fire brewing down below. It was pretty traumatic for a first ride and my confidence in the boat went down, as did my overall spirits. I spent the next couple of months trying to diagnose and repair the problem, learning as I went along. Eventually we were able to get it fixed and […]
We learned about sanding, sanding and more sanding. We also learned about filling, fairing, priming and taping. We stripped the cap-rail and removed the old sealant from the inner and outer edges. We removed anything from the cabin and decks that had not already been removed. We hired Brooks from Charlot Marine to spray the primer and finish coats. We dry fit all the cabin and deck hardware and brightwork and drilled out their respective fastener holes through the epoxy plugs we had made.
We had been warned that repainting the cabin and decks would be a time consuming process. True to the prediction it took an incredible amount of time. Truly incredible. It would be easier the 2nd or 3rd time, but not really knowing what to do sure helped make it a long experience. After the first prime coat we found all of our imperfections, well almost all. After the 2nd coat we found some more, and we found yet a few more after the 3rd coat.
Finally the top coat, Awlcraft 2000. It sure looked good, not perfect but good. We have a drip to try to sand out and a couple other problems but it looks good. Hopefully it will stay on long enough that I won’t have to do that again real soon.
We had lots of hot days, mid-90’s by noon. We started at dawn and either came back in the evening or simply laid off at 2 or 3 for the day.
Once the non-skid was done it was time for assembly. We fit and installed each fitting, mounted winches and etc. In spite of the dry fitting and drilling a few pieces took some additional steps. All were bedded with polysulfide. We first dry fit […]
I excerpted the below from a post on Amatheia’s blog by Scott Maxwell
I was perusing the “sailboat” section of the Pdx Craigslist and a listing caught my eye. The ad was for a local boat builder, advertising his services. I thought I would give him a call as I still had a major structural refit of the forepeak that I just didn’t feel qualified for. Enter David Smith, master boat builder when not selling real estate. David does this for the love of boats he says, and it’s clear that he speaks the truth.
He gave me a bid and got started on the forepeak. We settled on a plan for the refit. Plywood would be epoxy coated and glued to the underside of the forepeak, extending aft under the side decks to the wall of the hanging locker on the starboard. side and the bulkhead to port. The bulkhead that formed the chain-locker would be removed, strengthened and reinstalled. A toggle system would be constructed to receive the bitts, the toggle secured to the bulkhead.
David is a part-time boat builder and this project took a while although it didn’t cramp our other work at all. When it was finally completed he installed the bitts and bowsprit with the stainless trim around the bitts on deck. David did a fantastic job and forepeak is strong and the deck gorgeous with the great looking bitt trim and new bowsprit.
In the meantime the warmer weather allowed us to begin the prep process of the deck and house. I struggled with how to proceed. Repaint the whole deck? Leave the non-skid and just paint the old gel coat? I finally decided to paint the whole thing white, then come back and tape out the non-skid […]
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