Boneheaded Stunt 12/29

Fort Pierce Florida, N27 28 W80 19
December 29, 2005

It's starting out to be one of those days. I set the alarm for 0500 so
that we could weigh anchor at first light and beat it out of the inlet
before the tide turned against us. The first thing I did was listen to
the weather report. Darn, the forecast changed. The favorable winds I
was counting on are arriving 12 hours late. So, we had to alter the
plan.

My first action was to go back to bed, but I couldn't sleep. I decided
to motor from Fort Pierce to Palm Beach (45 NM) then to go out to sea in
the evening and sail overnight to Fort Lauderdale. We could use Friday
to do the errands we want. If we miss Friday, then there's a three day
holiday weekend that we'll have to wait through.

I still couldn't sleep so I decided to clean the raw water filter. I
noticed that the engine had been running a little warm since our last
grounding. Sure enough, when I got the filter out I found it half full
of grass. I cleaned it and put it back. At 0800 we weighed anchor and
set off.

At 0804 I heard an ominous and strange sound I never heard before. It
took only a few seconds to recognize it as steam coming from the exhaust
instead of water. I forgot to re-open the seacock on the raw water
after cleaning the filter. I hurriedly gave the helm to Libby and
scrambled to re-open the seacock. No good, the engine continued to
spit steam for 30 more seconds and I shut it off to prevent damage.

Now we were adrift in the middle of the channel. Our first thought was
to anchor, but we were upwind from the place we departed minutes before.
Therefore we raised the jib and sailed back to the anchorage. We
botched a jibe so I had to take the sail back down and put it up again.
Despite the Chinese fire drill, we were back at anchor where we had just
left 15 minutes before.

I let the engine cool for an hour and started it up. Now water flowed
normally and the engine seems to be working normally. I'm sure that
the overheat didn't do it any good, but we shut it off so quickly that
we probably escaped serious damage. What a boneheaded stunt. The next
time I clean that filter I bet I'll remember to open the seacock when
I'm done!

But now it's raining and the wind is changing and our ETA to Lake Worth
by motor is 10 hours. I'm going to change the plan again and wait until
noon then go to sea from here. According to the weather report we'll
have 24 hours of good wind, plus 12 hours of light wind in the right
direction. After that, the forecast calls for wind in the wrong
direction for the next 5 days in a row.

1900 At Sea
Well the rest of today turned out better than it started. By 1100 we
were out at sea again. We had a cloudless sky, temperature in the mid
70s and 15-20 knots of wind. We sailed on a close reach the whole day,
all of it on starboard tack. It was very pleasant. Tonight we should
have less wind on a broad reach. We'll reach Lauderdale about 0300 at
the present speed. If so, then we'll heave to outside the port entrance
and wait for the dawn to enter.

Just a few minutes ago I was surprised by powerful blinking lights from
astern. It was a Coast Guard boat. He pulled along side and asked if
we saw any flares or any boat in distress. We didn't. I turned the
watch over to Libby. She said, "Oh it's nice to be warm."

I tried calling the marina close to Pass Christian today to ask about
facilities for the boat when we arrive there. The marina's phone was
disconnected. That's an ominous sign.