On A New Tack

Wow, very delayed in posting this; got stuck in "Drafts". End of an amazing trip We ended up doing some work from the saloon in the morning on our laptops, packed up our belongings and tidied up our cabin and then we all headed to West Marine and Sailorman before being dropped off at the airport.  The flight back to Raleigh was easy and Chuck and Lucy were happy to see us a day early.  Reflecting back on this trip, we learned quite a few things, aside from just building our sailing skills.  First, Sue and I don’t get seasick easily. Second, we never felt claustrophobic or like we didn’t have enough room.  Third, the Leopard 45 is a beautiful boat and I could easily call it home.  Fourth, Bob, Melinda and Andy were super easy to spend a week with on a boat (and we’re looking forward to circumnavigating Vancouver Island next year even more!) Fifth, and most importantly, this trip didn’t push us off of our retirement plan; if anything it ha...

Wow, very delayed in posting this; got stuck in "drafts". Favorable Wind!!! This was a great day to be sailing!  We were able to leave No Name Harbor with daylight, so we were able to take the tighter, quicker path out to the Atlantic, passing behind Stiltsville.  We decided to sail ESE to the 3 mile line to empty the holding tanks. We then turned North to head up to the cut at Ft. Lauderdale. The wind was variable, but was mostly coming from the NW, given us just enough angle off the wind to be able to sail along the Southern Florida coast without having to tack too often.  We played around with the auto helm and learned how to use the auto tack feature, which let us press one button and switch to the other “side” of the wind, the same angle off the wind. We would press the button, then easily move the Genoa from one side of the boat to the other, quickly and easily right from the helm.  The trip took about 6 hours but only required a few tacks. We ...

Calm seas, but head-on winds After a very refreshing night of sleep in an actual bed (not on various spots in the cockpit and saloon), we woke up early to another beautiful day!  We did our morning checks of the engines, cleaned the raw water strainers and had breakfast. We pulled up the anchor, secured it and the bridle and started our trip up the outside of the Keys.  Our plan was to get to No Name Harbor , located at the very bottom of Biscayne Bay, just South of Miami. This was one of our stops during our ASA sailing school and is a great anchorage.  This day was pretty uneventful.  Even though the trip from Boot Key to Biscayne Bay requires a gradual turn to port for the entire trip, the wind magically made the same turn and we motored the entire way.

Exciting! Time to actually hit the water!! (or did the water hit us...) 7am  and we were up and at 'em! Melinda made some delicious egg and asparagus scramble that we had on a tortilla, along with some diced melon.  The folks from American Yacht Outfitters were back by about  8am  to get the last few things done.  They wrapped up the rest of the items from their punch lists, the water tanks were topped off from the dock pedestal and we were heading to the fuel dock right around about 9:30am.  Right when we wanted so we could have the best/longest wind for our sail.  Nick, from the outfitters, took the helm to bring us to the fuel dock and after about 50 gallons of diesel, the half full tanks were topped off. Bob did a great job of getting us out from the fuel dock and back to the narrow channel to Charlotte Harbor, which we would take to get to the Gulf of Mexico.  The plan was to motor until we got out to open water in the Harbor before raisin...

Vendors meeting deadlines and submersible docks The trip to help move of friends Leopard 45 from Jacksonville to Ft. Lauderdale started with a flight down to Punta Gorda Airport.  We left the ground in Raleigh just in time to avoid the early AM thunderstorms that were forecast to become possible PM tornadoes. When we landed at PGD airport, Bob was already waiting in baggage claim to pick Sue and I up (which was super nice).  We then went to do perishable provisioning for the trip and divided and conquered the shopping list.  As we were driving to the Burnt Store Marina, Bob warned us that there were a number of people on the boat, trying to get things like their vinyl enclosures and cushions squared away before they departed.  They had been promised that everything would be done by that Friday.  They got close to completing on time. SV Counting Stars at the Burst Store Marina Our cabin (Port Aft) On the plus side, the folks working on the boat,...