2006 - Another year, another adventure

Sailboats and Schedules are like oil and water, they don't mix; then add a few interesting storms

 

15 April 2006 – Spring Cruise number Seven

We arrived in Florida and started preparations for our Spring Cruise 2006.  Tropic Daze spent hurricane season, stripped and secure in her slip in Twin Dolphin Marina, Bradenton, Florida.  We re-commissioned her and by Monday, 24 April, we were ready to cast off for the Keys and points beyond.  

Tropic Daze secured and ready for hurricane season

In the slip, stripped and secure for storm season

Twin Dolphin from the top of the mast looking west

Twin Dolphin Marima looking east up the Manatee River

View of the the office and pool from the top of the mast

NOTE: Parts of this this year's and last year's adventures, such as storms or boat problems, may sound like a bummer; although they may have been trying or scary at the time, it was all worth while and we have had a great time.  We chalked each up to a learning experience that makes us better sailors and cruisers.  Even more than the beautiful water and destinations that we have visited, we have enjoyed all the other cruisers, sailors, and boat people that we have met and who have befriended us.  They are a great and diverse group, and we enjoy being with them.  We wouldn't miss these adventures for the world.  So don't think of any of our adventures in a negative light, they are all fond memories and great experiences.

We departed our slip in Bradenton’s Twin Dolphin Marina for the Keys, but quickly discovered a problem.  Our port engine, which started and seemed to run fine at the dock, was putting out faint white smoke and would only come up to half speed when under load.  To make a long story short, after extensive troubleshooting and finally engine teardown, we found that a part at the bottom of the pre-combustion chamber for number three cylinder had broken and fallen into the cylinder, which cause a dime size hole in the top of the number three piston.  Since the engine had 5000 hours, we decided to do a complete rebuild, which gives us essentially a new engine with zero hours. 

We have rebuilt gas engines, but never having rebuilt a diesel engine, we decided to enlist the help of a diesel mechanic, and he and I have done the majority of the work.  The head was rebuilt by a machine shop and the injectors were rebuilt by an injector shop, the rest of the rebuild took place in our cabin.  The rebuild went fine, other than finding the needed parts and waiting for them to arrive.  Sue saved the day on multiple occasions, by called all over the US and finding the parts we needed.

The problem, a hole in the #3 piston

Starting the rebuild, the engine with the head removed

Mid Rebuild, the engine on its back for access

New paint and parts going back on

Parts waiting to go back on

The engine during it's first test run

 

A lesson learned, watch your Exhaust Mixer and replace it regularly.  The Exhaust Mixer is where the raw cooling water leaving the heat exchanger and the engine exhaust meet, mix, and leave the engine.  Here is what mine looked like.  Did it cause the problem?  I don't know, but it didn't help engine performance.

New exhaust Mixer with its parts annotated

This is what the inlet should look like

The old inlet was over 90% blocked

View up the outlet tube, note the inner tube

Old outlet, note the inner tube is broken in pieces

Delays, yes but the good news is that, even though delayed, we enjoyed marina life in Florida.  As with all of our boating travels, we meet the most interesting and friendly boat people.  Yes, our schedule is shot and the Bahamas are out of the picture, but we really enjoyed life in our floating Florida condo.  We swam, biked, explored, shopped, traveled; but mostly we find that what the Water Rat said in “The Wind in the Willows” was right; “Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing--absolutely nothing--half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. Simply messing.".  We “messed about”, and enjoyed Florida marina life; what more can you ask?

Everything took three times as long as we expected it to, but the engine rebuild was completed, it ran smooth, sounded great, and was in the process of being broken in.  We found two bad motor mounts and replaced them during the rebuild.  Having installed new motor mounts means that I had to realign the engine to the propeller’s drive shaft, another time consuming job.   Also, the things that we uncovered on the port engine, lead us to replace parts on the starboard engine, such as rebuilding its fuel injectors, replacing its exhaust mixer and realigning the starboard engine to the prop shaft. 

Since the engine rebuild, we have been exercising it and breaking it in.  We departed Bradenton and motor sailed to Venice, then on to Pelican Bay, near Ft. Myers.  We spent three days and nights anchored in Pelican Bay, and then motor sailed south to Marco Island.  Marco Island is the last major city going south on Florida’s west coast.  We planed to spend two nights here and then sail across Florida Bay to Marathon and the Florida Keys.  From there, we planned to continue “messing about”.

Sunset from Crow's Nest, Venice

The anchorage in Pelican Bay near sunset

Pelican Bay with Cayo Costa in the background

Sue on the Cayo Costa Beach

Bob in the Gulf off Cayo Costa

Starboard view

Starboard forward

Head on

Port Side

Stern view

Cayo Costa beach looking north

A Hobie 16 on the Cayo Costa beach

Some of Cayo Costa's beauty

A young Osprey

Sue exploring Cayo Costa

 

The night before we departed Marco Island, a couple we knew from Bradenton’s Twin Dolphin Marina arrived and docked in front of us.  They were headed for Key West, but had never made the 100 mile crossing from southwest Florida, across Florida Bay, to the Florida Keys.  When they heard that we were departing for Marathon in the morning, they decided to change their plans and follow us to the Keys, via Marathon. 

Heading to Marco

Marco Island YC

Marco Island YC

An Owl on Marco

 

The next morning we had to delay our scheduled departure due to heavy rain over our departure route down the Marco River.  We got off at 6:00AM and made the 14 hour trip without incident.  This was a big test for the newly rebuilt engine, but she did fine.

Sunrise over Marco Island

Sea Biscuit with Diana & Bob Inscoe southbound

Tropic Daze off Marco Island heading south

Tropic Daze with Marco Island in the background

Under sail, headed for the Keys

At anchor off Marathon, after arriving at sunset

 

We spent three weeks in Marathon’s Boot Key Harbor biking around the island, snorkeling, kayaking, riding around in the dingy, eating seafood, and doing boat chores.  We enjoy the layback life style of the middle Keys.  Our weather was fairly good, but much of the Keys were getting hammered by thunderstorms and heavy rains.

The first morning off Marathon with waterspout over the 7 Mile Bridge

Boot Key Channel, the entrance to the harbor

Tropic Daze enters the west end of Boot Key Harbor

Boot Key Harbor viewed from our favorite spot, Dockside Marina

Celebrating our arrival, Diana, Bob, and Sue at Dockside

Sea Biscuit rafted to Tropic Daze

Boat chores, Sea Buscuit receives new paint

Sea Biscuit's new paint is complete

Sombrero Key Light

The Inscoes with friend on a trip to Key West

We left Marathon and sailed down the keys to one of our favorite anchorages in Newfound Harbor, stopping along the way to snorkel on the Looe Key reef.  We spent two nights in Newfound Harbor, anchored to the west of a couple of small islands.  We were just north of Little Palm Island, which is an exclusive resort (very exclusive – a couple we met had lunch there and the tab was $500.00 for 4 people) and where the movie “PT 109” was filmed.  Our last night in Newfound Harbor, thunderstorms surrounded the Keys, but remained fairly dry.

Evening with Tropic Daze anchorage in Newfound Harbor

Sea Biscuit at anchor in Newfound Harbor

It is almost sunset and company is comming

Bob & Diana arrive with drinks in hand

Enjoying Sunset from Newfound Harbor

Sunrise and storms surround Newfound Harbor

 

We departed Newfound at 8:00AM for the 30 mile run down the Hawk Channel to Key West.  The Hawk Channel is a five miles wide ribbon of water that runs between the Florida Keys and the barrier reef at the edge of the Gulf Stream.  The barrier reef protects the Hawk Channel from the more severe conditions which typically exist in the Gulf Stream.   The forecast was for wind at 10 knots out of the west, with light chop in the Hawk Channel and 2’ to 3’ seas in the Gulf Stream.  Choppy seas means that waves are not well formed, typically closely spaced, and chaotic in direction; but light chop is the normal condition on a nice day, it just means it isn’t a smooth surface.  No problem!

First of all, our direction of travel to Key West is to the west, into the wind, and with shallows, sand bars, and reefs inside the channel, you can’t tack back and forth; so sailing was out and motoring was in.  The forecasted wind was correct, but the sea state was way off.  We started out driving directly into 1’ to 2’ seas with moderate chop and rain, but soon found 2’ to 3’ seas with heavy chop and rain.  The combination of a one knot current, and the wind and the waves, all working against us, held our speed over ground down to just under 4 knots. 

When a marine forecaster says 2 to 3 foot wave height, he means that 2/3 of the waves will be in the 2 to 3 foot range, sets of bigger waves should be expected.  On this trip, every thirty or forty seconds a set of three bigger, closely spaced waves would hit us bow first.  The first wave would pitch the bow up, and then the bow would drop into the trough between the waves, just in time to drive under and through the second wave.  The bows would disappear into the wave and water poured over the bows and ran down the decks as the bows lifted themselves back out, just in time to smash into the third wave.  The force of this would slow our speed to about 2.5 knots, and then the engines would struggle to accelerate us back to almost 4 knots.  This continued for most of the 30 mile trip, which normally takes 4 hours, but took us 7 hours that day.  To experience the fun of sailing in these conditions, try riding a Tilt-A-Whirl for 7 straight hours with no opportunity to get off.  BD, our cat, was terrified, but Sue got her calmed down though her eyes remained the size of saucers.

After 7 hours we made it to the calm, safe waters of Key West Bight (harbor) and the Galleon Marina.  BD came out of the cabin and kissed (licked) the deck, glad to be in calm waters again. 

Our plans were to stay in Key West till the end of June, and then start the trek back up the west coast.  If the weather cooperates, we typically take five days to hop up the coast to Bradenton and our slip in Twin Dolphin Marina.  The weather is a big IF, you may remember we were caught by hurricane Dennis here in Key West last year, and the number and frequency of major thunderstorms over Florida has increased dramatically this year.  We have seen a number of water spouts (tornadoes over water) and dozens more have been reported in the Keys in the last three weeks.

Lunch at BO's Fish Wagon

A small waterspout begins north of Key West

The Waterspout near two boats in the anchorage

The waterspout moving across the anchorage

The waterspout starts to disipate

 

It is not all doom and gloom though, as Key West was as much fun as always and we enjoyed it to the hilt.

Return from the Keys

Three daysails and we made it from Key West to our slip at Twin Dolphin Marina in Bradenton, just off of Tampa Bay.  What is the difference between a memorable trip and an unforgettable trip?  We won’t soon forget this three day trip.

It was Thursday night, June 29th, in Key West.  We planned to leave Saturday afternoon, the 1st, for a two hour run up to Cottrell Reef, hang on a mooring ball that night till 4:00AM the next morning, and then, on July 2nd, sail north to Marco Island, which is about 100 miles.  From there we planned a 70 mile hop to an anchorage in Pelican Bay, then a 37 mile hop to The Crow’s Nest Marina in Venice, and finally a 52 mile hop to Bradenton and our slip. 

That was the plan until we saw the 11:00PM weather forecast.  A tropical wave was going to move into the Keys in 2 days, bringing rain and strong winds.  We quickly prepped the boat and ourselves for a 6:00AM departure direct to Marco Island.  The winds were forecast to be 5 knots which were a little light for the 105 mile trip to Marco, making the trip a 13 to 15 hour long motor sail, and getting us into Marco at sunset.

We departed Key West Friday morning and all went smooth till late afternoon when the thunderstorms started building up to our east, on Florida’s southwest coast.  Thunderstorms are as typical on a summer afternoon in Florida, as fire ants are in Texas.  Annually, Florida has more lightening strikes than any other state in the US.  We expected to encounter a thunderstorm or two, and get a little wet on the trip to Bradenton. 

We are equipped to monitor the weather using XM Satellite Weather, which overlays the charts on our Garmin Chart Plotter.  XM Weather shows us the NEXRAD radar, marine weather alerts, current conditions and local forecasts; and we are prepared to use this information to either avoid any storms, or to minimize their effect. 

The current storms were 20 miles away and were not moving towards us.  We only had about 1 knot of wind, on the nose, and the Gulf of Mexico was a mirror surface.  One thin line of clouds extended from the land out past us, but it was thin and carried no rain.  We rolled in our jib, (front sail) as the wind was too light to do any good.  We left the main sail up incase we got a little wind to help speed us on our way.

Sunrise over Key West as we depart

Heading north in calm seas & little wind for 80 miles

A storm develops inland, over the Everglades

Calm seas, no sign of the storm moving out to sea

Storm builds, but is still over land and many miles away

The alarm went off on the GPS/Chartplotter, flashing “Marine Warning”.  We called it up and it was for our area and said that winds as high a 30 knots (35 MPH) could be expected.  At our location, 20 miles off shore, it was clear and sunny, the water was like glass, and our tell-tales were hanging straight down.  What wind?  The nearest storm was 20 miles away.

Heeding the warning, we got the main sail down and stowed, and no sooner than it was secured, then wind hit and the waves started building.  We got the full 25 knots of wind and waves, all broadside.  After a half an hour, the winds were down to 20 knots, but the waves were still large.  The wind lasted for an hour, no rain and no clouds, just wind.  I understand and expect outflow winds from a thunderstorm, but in clear conditions, I couldn’t understand what was driving this wind.  Oh well, just an isolated incident that will probably never happen to us again (bad assumption).

We motored on toward Marco Island and about an hour out of the anchorage we were hit again by high wind and waves from no apparent source.  These waves were more on the nose and slowed our speed from 6.5 knots down to 3 knots, causing our 30hp diesel engines to work triple hard.  The props were turning at the same RPM, but because the water was moving slower under the boat, the engines were pushing a lot harder.  The port engine, which we had just rebuilt, handled the increased load beautifully; it’s temperature remained normal.  The starboard engine, which has 5,000 hours on it, couldn’t take the heavy load and quit.  We continued on using the port engine and made it to the anchorage at sunset.  Once it cooled down, the starboard engine started and ran fine.

The next morning, Saturday, we departed Marco Island at first light and were out in the gulf and sailing north before the sun came up.  We had a great sail up to Boca Grand where we came back inside Cayo Costa to anchor in Pelican Bay.  Surprisingly, for the Fourth of July weekend, Pelican Bay only had about 15 boats at anchor, not the 50 to 60 we have seen at other times. 

Just before sunset, with the closest thunderstorm 15 to 20 miles away, we got hit again by high wind and waves, and this time it was accompanied by blinding rain.  We couldn’t see the boats that were anchored a 100 feet away.  Pelican Bay averages about 6 feet deep, and when high winds work on shallow water the waves get very steep and pound the boat.  At least we were at anchor with our bridle installed.  The bridle connects the anchor chain to the boat and cushions the shock from the waves and keeps the boat from swinging back and forth facing into the wind.  In conditions like this, the fear is that although your anchor may hold, what about the boats up wind of you?  Will their anchors all hold, or will they drag their anchor and crash into the boats down wind, or will their dragging anchor snag and break free other anchors?  In the blinding rain, you don’t know what is happening outside of your boat.  It is a scary situation, no control and no idea what is about to happen.  The wind finally subsided and we survived unscathed. 

Sunday morning we departed at first light and entered the Gulf and got the sails up.  After two days and three afternoon and evening storms we planned to try to get into the marina at Venice and be off the water before noon.  We called the Crow’s Nest Marina but they had a 110’ yacht taking up the entire dock where we would have to dock.  On to Plan “B”, which was to continue up the coast, off shore, and monitor the weather.  There are a few passes that connect the Gulf of Mexico and the Intracoastal Waterway.  Our plan was to make a decision as we approached each pass, stay in the Gulf, or jump inside to the Intracoastal Waterway and hunker down if the weather gets bad.  We have to balance the room and maneuverability of the Gulf, against the protection and confinement of Intracoastal Waterway.  We were a little concerned about going inside and being trapped in narrow channels during bad weather.

The weather continued to look great as we sailed past Venice.  Coming up to Sarasota, we could see hundreds of boats anchored off of Sarasota Pass, which seemed very unusual.  We had heard mention over the radio of a race, but did not know where or when.  We called Sea Tow, one of the nation wide marine assistance companies, for info and they told us that there was an offshore hydroplane race scheduled off Sarasota at noon.  The race was a ½ mile offshore and a 6 mile run, up and down the beach, around large inflatable buoys.  We altered our course by a few degrees and proceeded on.  We were passing the start line just as the races started and could see the entire race.  The boats were in two or three classes and ran several laps, reaching speeds of over 150MPH.  We could not have timed it better for seeing the race.

We passed Sarasota, and then Long Boat Pass, our last chance to get inside before reaching Tampa Bay.  The only thunderstorm was well behind us near Sarasota. 

We entered Tampa Bay in beautiful weather; sunny, clear, and calm.  We sailed past Egmont Key where over 100 weekend boaters had gathered.  We sailed on past Passage Key where we counted 52 power boats and sail boats beached or at anchor around the key.  Tampa Bay was full of boaters enjoying the great weather and a beautiful Sunday afternoon.

About this time two thunderstorms developed on the horizon, one was well southeast of our destination, Bradenton; and the other was well north over St Petersburg.  As we approached the entrance to the Manatee River we could see that the NEXRAD radar on our Chart Plotter was showing a little light rain up the river over the Twin Dolphins Marina.  We thought, so we will get a little wet, no problem (bad assumption).

Another storm, this one over Tampa Bay

A typical Sunday afternoon on Tampa Bay

The nearest storm is still 25 miles away

Boats closer to the storm are still under full sail

Clearing? The Manatee River is in sight to the right

As we entered the river we saw what looked like rain on the water coming our way.  We were in rain gear and prepared (bad assumption).  We were in the sunshine under a clear sky when we were hit by driving rain and 25 knot winds.  The river grew angry.  Our speed dropped from 6.5 knots to 2 knots, you walk faster than that.  A sailboat in front of us was able to get his jib down, but still had mainsail up when the wind hit him.  He was unable to control his boat, as it rolled over 45 degrees from one side to the other.  The last we saw of him before we lost him in the rain, he was going straight downwind, out of control, in 30 knots of wind and headed for shallow water.

Meanwhile other boats are battling to get sails down; one catamaran couldn’t get his main sail down before the wind ripped it off the mast.  Then the VHF radio came alive with distress calls from numerous boats that were being washed up on Passage Key and Egmont Key, and other boats were taking on water. One poor woman was begging for help as her boat with five children on board was taking on water.

Meanwhile, back on Tropic Daze we were still fighting to hold out position in the river when our starboard engine overheated and quit.  Left with only one engine we developed plan “C”, which was to turn downwind with Sue driving while I went to the bow to get ready to deploy the anchor.  I was going to have to deploy the 55lb. anchor manually because the starboard engine controls the electric windless, which raises and lowers the anchor and chain.  I got the anchor ready to deploy, Sue turned the boat into the wind and I started letting anchor down and out.  When we had about 75 to 100 feet of chain out, I started tightening the manual clutch on the windless, which sets the anchor in the bottom and stopped the boat.  The bow was pitching heavily, but the anchor was holding.  In these conditions, I couldn’t attempt to hang over the bow and try to connect the nylon bridle which also acts as a shock absorber. 

Back in the cockpit we monitored the GPS to insure the anchor was holding, monitored the weather and the wind that had built to 35 knots.  The boat was swinging back and forth, and the bow was pitching up and down, but the anchor was holding.  The stainless steel mount for the anchor roller was being bent left and right as the boat was swung back and forth.  About that time there was a loud crash forward and we could see that the anchor locker door had apparently blown open (bad assumption).  We could see pieces of gel coat and fiberglass that had blown back on the windshield.

We pitched and bucked in the wind, waves and rain for about 30 minutes.  The wind reached 55MPH.  When the wind subsided to 10 to 15 knots, we restarted the starboard engine, which we needed to bring up all that chain and the 55lb anchor.  I went to the bow and in the anchor locker the windless was tilted forward at a 45 degree angle, it’s 1.5” thick marine plywood and fiberglass mount was in splinters.  The windless had wedged itself in the front of the anchor locker, if it had come out of the anchor locker, it would have gone over the bow and we would have been in real trouble.

The main problem now, with the boat still pitching and the windless out of commission was getting the anchor and chain back onboard.  I had to pull the chain up, and get the anchor unstuck from the bottom and then back on the boat manually.  I was heaving and hauling chain onto the bow while Sue was trying to maneuver the boat over the anchor.  We made progress, then lost ground, then gained it back again.  We finally got directly over the anchor and I cleated the chain and let the pitching of the bow pull the anchor out of the bottom.  I got the 55lb anchor and a bunch of 3/8” chain up and over the bow, and we were free. 

During the trip up the Manatee river, we were accompanied by parade of storm battered boats, all returning to their slips.  In hour later we were safe in our slip at Twin Dolphins Marina.  Another year, another adventure.  Florida does have great weather most of the year, but it does make up for it on occasion.  You now know the difference between a memorable trip and an unforgettable trip.  We won’t soon forget this three day trip. 

We are preparing the boat for hurricane season, and will be heading back to Texas.  We plan to return over Christmas and New Years and repair the windless locker and rebuild the starboard engine. Tropic Daze will be good as new.

 

Till next year, fair winds

Sue and Bob Mimlitch