The Indian River

Monday, March 14, 2005, Melbourne FL

N28 04.672 W080 36.062

Today was an inland day. We needed to get to Melbourne on the Intercoastal Waterway (ICW). It meant a whole day of motoring.

The ICW is pretty pleasant down here. It actually follows the Indian River, a brackish river. The channel is very narrow, and we found that straying even a few feet outside the channel made the alarm on our depth sounder blat at us.

One encounters lots of other boats on the ICW going both ways and it’s fun to watch them. We learned that we were the slowest motoring boat on the ICW. Everyone passed us. We passed no one. I finally raised the mainsail and that gave us another knot, but we were still slowest.

The Indian River is full of dolphins everywhere. I didn’t know that. They’re fun to watch.

In the afternoon we got hit by a thunderstorm. We learned that Tarwathie can not be steered into a 30 knot headwind under power. We had to drop the anchor and let the storm pass.

We arrived at the Melbourne Harbor around 1830. 30 minutes after they close, but they were nice and waited for us. I managed to dock Tarwathie for the first time. It went without mishap.

This evening, my brother Ed and his wife Sally came for dinner on the boat. They were our first guests onboard. That was fun.

Tomorrow we’re going to shop, and I’m going to post these blogs. I’m not sure how many daily readers I have, but they’ll drop out unless things get posted. Tomorrow night, Dave Hackett and his wife Jonnie are coming for dinner. This whirlwind social life will tire us out.

Dolphins

Sunday, March 13, 2005, Fort Pierce

N27 28.142 W080 19.423

Our objective today was to sail 55 miles from Lake Worth to the Fort Pierce inlet to the ICW. We did it, but it didn’t come easy.

We motored out from the Lake Worth inlet about 3 miles then set the sails. The wind was terrible. It was from the SE, almost still, and the water was glassy. The forecast said W10 becoming SW10-15. It was dead wrong. We sailed for a while, then gave up and motored for a while, then sail then motor then sail again. Neither was much fun.

Another mishap! The tachometer stuck at 1500 RPM and the engine hour log stopped with it. I don’t know how to repair the tach.

Anyhow, we got good practice navigating. I showed Libby how to use the GPS and the charts and to cross check one with the other.

Around 1600 we noticed a pod of dolphins following us. I know that everybody experiences this, but this was the first time for us. There were at least 2 adults and 2 kids, maybe more. It was fun to go all the way forward on the bowsprit and watch them cavort. They’d dart in from the side and cross, just inches from where the bow cuts the water.

Dolphins brought good fortune. The tachometer unstuck, the wind picked up, blew from a more favorable direction and in no time we were flying toward the destination at 7.5 knots under main and yankee.

We came into the inlet at Fort Pierce just about sunset, and it was very pretty. The navigation is complex, and it was dark, but we paid very close attention to the chart and did OK. We’re at anchor in the ICW. The nice ending to the day erased the frustrations of the earlier part with bad wind.

We continue to gain gobs of experience every day. In a few weeks, things will seem familiar.

I can foresee that the simple life does not mean an idle life. There are chores to do all the time. Take something out, put it back. Repair, clean, polish, inspect. All in all, we probably won’t have any more idle time than we did when working full time. However doing simple chores is relaxing and therapeutic. It doesn’t feel like work. That’s why we pounced on the Brasso.

If we had retired to live in a condo in FL, we would have been idle a lot. Probably watch a lot of TV. The simple life, as opposed to the idle life, is the right life for us.

Day Off

Saturday March 12, 2005, Palm Beach N26 45.736 W080 02.85

We decided to take a day off and loaf. We’re both pretty tired from the hectic schedule of activities of the past few weeks. Besides, there are still lockers and procedures on Tarwathie that we haven’t explored yet, including how to launch the dingy. The dingy is stored under the boom. It’s too heavy to just lift, so we’ll have to rig something with pulleys and lines.

I noticed with alarm that the boat was sitting nearly abreast the wind and heeling 1 degree, even though we were at anchor. Ay ay, we must be aground! Everyone knows that a sailboat at anchor points into the wind and doesn’t heel. Quick I turned on the depth sounder. 11.5 feet, it said, 6 feet deeper than the keel. I didn’t believe it.

Just before pulling up the anchor to get us off the ground, I noticed that all the other boats at anchor pointed the same way we do. Wait, there must be an explanation other than being aground. Aha! It must be the current. Both the wind and the current push the boat. If the current pushes us abreast the wind then the wind will make us heel to leeward. Once again, unfamiliarity fooled me.

Aha! I found something that Al Hatch did wrong. The 1st and 2nd mainsail reefing lines were reversed. Never mind that it was a minor error. He gets only 99 44/100% perfect score.

Maiden Voyage

Friday March 11, 2005, Palm Beach N26 45.736 W080 02.85

Neither one of us slept much last night. We were scared. We were keenly aware that today would be perhaps the most dangerous sailing day of all. We were on an unfamiliar boat, unfamiliar engine, unfamiliar waters, unfamiliar traffic protocols, unfamiliar charts, and unfamiliar sails. Mishaps were highly likely [we were right; read on].

We got away from the dock at 0935 with well wishes from Mrs. Page. We were starting our sailing lives and they were ending theirs.

We navigated the channels OK, and made our first bridge draw up for us just fine. We then stopped for fuel and headed for the 17th street bridge.

The 17th street bridge is where the big cruise ships and mega yachts [>100 feet] hang out. It is 56 feet high and doesn’t need to raiae for us.

As we approached the bridge Libby noticed that we forgot to lower the big yellow beach ball that was hauled to the top of the mast to act as a scarecrow when at the slip. She went forward to lower it and, alas, dropped it overboard.

The embarrassment was total. The stupid ball skidded across the water blown by the wind. I had to make a U turn under the bride with hundreds of spectators watching, including 4 coast guard men right behind me. I chased the ball but we couldn’t hook it with the boat hook. Eventually the ball skidded behind a mega yacht and I gave up on it. Our first mishap.

The final channel to the sea was crowded with big powerboats. The waves were big and we could only manage 3 knots. I felt puny. Near the last buoy a fancy sailing yacht passed by and a man on deck was staring at us. He yelled, “Where bound to?” I didn’t know what to answer so I didn’t. Later I realized that he recognized Tarwathie as a serious blue water boat and his question made me proud.

It took me nearly 45 minutes with several false starts to get all the sails up properly. Normally I’d be embarrassed to take more than 5 minutes, but everything was unfamiliar. My reward was when the sails were set and we turned North. The knotmeter showed 7.5 knots and the GPS showed 11.2 knots. I thought 7.5 was more than the hull speed. Anyhow, we had a 3.7 knot current going our way. We were riding on the Gulf Stream.

When things settled down, the GPS predicted arrival at the Lake Worth inlet at Palm Beach at 1730. Good; one hour before sunset.

We had great fun sailing north. I struggled for 3 hours with the self steering gear before I got it right. Soon thereafter it didn’t steer right again. It’s a matter of sail trim and sail balance. One has to trim the boat to steer with little tiller force before engaging the self steering. I finally decided that I had too much sail up and should take a reef. I was too lazy, and we steered manually for most of the trip.

Hooray, we just saw a school of swordfish (marlin? other species?) swimming by and jumping out of the water.

We got to the Lake Worth inlet at 1720, 10 minutes ahead of schedule. Navigation with GPS and charts went very well. 42 nautical miles in a straight line was the longest straight leg I ever ran. I was very pleased with myself.

We doused the sails and started motoring in the channel to end a successful day. That’s when things started to go bad. I told Libby to motor in at 2200 RPM. She thought I said 3200. When I found out, I got scared. Shouldn’t run at more than 3000 for more than a minute. I asked Libby to read the engine coolant temperature gauge. Top temperature should be 200 degrees. She said, “380 degrees.” Panic! Had I ruined our engine first time out. I wend down on my knees to check the gauge. It’s low down and hard to read. Whew, it was 180 not 380.

The next mishap was really bad. We scraped against one of the channel market piers coming into the channel! It put a 2’ scratch in Tarwathie’s side. Al Hatch would die if he knew. My error was to let the boom and the mainsail create a blind spot while I stood in the cockpit. You can’t navigate close with a blind spot. I should have known that. I felt awful.

We found a nice anchorage, and it took me 45 minutes to anchor and to stow sails and lines on deck to my satisfaction. Unfamiliarity again. In a few weeks, I’ll do all that in 5 minutes.

I’m writing this after supper. Libby is already asleep. She’s exhausted. Hopefully we’ll sleep well tonight.

So ends the maiden voyage day of our new life at sea. 2 mishaps, but solid accomplishments, and invaluable experience gained.

Dick & Libby's Maiden Voyage on Tarwathie