Time To Scratch The Itch

Boot Key Harbor, Marathon, Florida

For months, we have been reisting making plans to leave the Keys this spring, or to plan what to do with the summer.   But in the past few days, the itch to do so has been almost irresistable.  It is time to leave.  Indeed, right now this morning, would be a splendid time to depart, but it will take us 3-4 days to prepare.

Our plan is to sail up Florida's West Coast.  We'll stop in The Everglades, and we will sail to Fort Meyers.  From there, we will take the Caloosahatchee River, Lake Okechobee, and the Saint Lucie canal to cross to Florida's East Coast.   From there, we'll take the ICW north to Jacksonville and Green Cove Springs.   We plan to put Tarwathie on the hard, to paint the bottom and the hull.  Then, we'll leave her in storage, and buy a car to travel north this summer.

This will be the first time we do not take Tarwathie with us north for the summer.  Part of the reason has to do with my aching back. Recovery from the fall I took is very slow.

Conditions look favorable.  Winds for the coming week will be mild.  Lake Okechobee's lake level is 13.5 feet, minimum depth is 7.5 feet, and clearance under the low bridge at Port Mayaca is 51.02 feet.  All signals are green.

We'll be stopping to visit friends as we go north.  We'll also spend some weeks with Dave and Cathy in North Carolina.  Dave and I plan to work on our rowing shell project.  Then, we are dying to get to New York to visit with family and to hold our great grandaughter Anna for the first time.  But the bulk of the summer we'll be in Vermont with Jen where Libby can induge her gardening instincts.

Running Aground

Boot Key Harbor, Marathon, Florida


There is a constant competition in the minds of cruisers.  The competition is between the pleasures of cruising versus the fears.  Among the fears, I believe running aground is among the most potent.

Libby and I have run aground so many times (30 or more times), that I have a database of the lat-lon coordinates of all those locations.  (I can't find it at the moment.  I'll publish it later.)

Today, let me say a few things about the truths and myths.

A Westsail 42 after running aground on rocks.

Running aground can sink your boat and end your life.  True, but only if you run aground on rock or coral in heavy surf.  On the USA East Coast (except for Maine) it is more common to go aground in mud or sand (a so-called soft grounding)  In those cases, both you and your boat are likely to come away unharmed.

On the ICW we have two kinds of boaters.  Those who run aground, and those who lie about it.

If you do run aground in mud or sand, don't panic.  Stop and think before taking any action.   Resist the urge to immediately use the engine to try to power off.  That can cause more harm than good.

The most common solution to a soft grounding is to simply wait for the tide to come in.  If that doesn't work, try the following.

1. Try a modest amount of power with the engine.  Before trying that, figure out which direction is best to try.   If you have a fin keel, a spade rudder, or an exposed prop, you can damage the boat or the engine by overdoing use of the engine.   Tarwathie has a full keel, a skeg rudder, and the prop is in an aperature far from the mud.  Those advantages allow the W32 to try harder with power than some other brands.
2. Kedge yourself off.  That means taking an anchor out in the dinghy as far as you can, and dropping it.   Then haul the anchor line in to move the boat.  Electric anchor windlasses have clutches that are not strong enough for this job.  Use a manual windlass, or the manual crank on the electric windlass if possible.   Which direction to pull?  90 degrees for a fin keel sailboat, and astern aft for a full-keel wedge-shaped boat like Tarwathie.
3. Fin keel sailboats can make it easier to drag sideways if they heel over.  Sometimes raising the sails will do it.   Other times, pulling the halyard from the masthead will do it. Don't overdo that, or you may break the rigging.
4. If you have towing insurance, call them.  I wrote recently about towing insurance.  Actually, if you have the insurance, and if there is any chance of damaging the boat by self-help methods, make this item number one on the checklist, right behind waiting for the tide.   The towing companies recommend that you do nothing to try to free yourself while waiting.

As a guess, out of say 32 groundings in our history:

• 30 of 32 groundings were soft, two were on rock.
• 25% of the time, we didn't get stuck.  We just bumped hard on the bottom.
• 25% of the time, we were able to back off in just a few minutes using the engine.
• 25% of the time, we kedged ourselves off within 30 minutes.
• 25% of the time, we were towed off by passers by or by the TowboatUS, or by Sea Tow.
• 0% of the time (according to my memory) were we able to float off when the tide came in.

Myth, soft groundings are always the fault of the helmsman.   Myth, if you are careful, you can always avoid grounding.  Closer to the truth: if you cruise on the East Coast, you will run aground; probably at least once per year.    Shoaling and silting never cease.  Staying between the red and the green is no assurance.  Male skippers take note, "Never get angry or yell at your mate for running aground."  At least not for 24 hours when you calm down and have a chance to fully consider decisions made.

Myth, depth sounders, even fancy forward-looking depth sounders will keep you out of trouble.   In most cases they only help by giving a warning just before you hit, but too late to evade the grounding.   You can increase the depth of alarm warnings, but on the ICW, be prepared for false alarms every 5 minutes.

Caveat: If you are sailing in waters with rock or coral bottoms and heavy seas, you must be much more cautious and conservative.  How close you come to hazards depends on the quality of your charts, and your certainty about your current position.   Uncertainty in either of those should caution you to leave miles, or sometimes dozens of miles between you and a grounding hazard.

Finally: In reality, for some of us, the boat is a toy, for others (like me and Libby) our boat is our one and only home, and emotionally a member of the family.  Naturally, we are more conservative about risk taking than some other people.

Selfie Fun

Boot Key Harbor, Marathon, Florida

 

Every other year or so, I get tired of having a beard. So I shave it off, then start growing a new one. This time, I decided to have some selfie fun.

I look like Walter White here.

 

 

 

I think I looked like Walter White from Breaking Bad in the middle. I think I looked like Mario from Mario Brothers with the long mustache.

Now I'm growing a new beard. You are welcome to come and help me watch it grow.

P.s. Libby and I are heading for Key West today.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Darn, Missed Another Perfect Full Moon

Boot Key Harbor, Marathon, Florida

I wrote before about Perfect Full Moons.  Well, this morning was the time to see one.  How did I know that?  Simple, because the moon set in nearly full eclipse.  Not all perfect moonrises/moonsets are eclipses, but all elcipse moonrises/moonsets are perfect full moons.

Not for the frustrating part.  I was up watching, but I couldn't see it.  Why not?  Because condo buildings and mangrove trees blocked my views of the horizons.   I would have had to be out at see or up in an airplane to see both horizons.

That, plus cloudy days, work against us viewing perfect full moons.  Because of that, I stick by what I say that for most of us, seeing one is a once in a lifetime event.

p.s. Last night the ISS space station flew over just after sunset.  It was spectacular because none of the stars were out yet.  Only Venus, Jupiter, and the ISS were visible in the sky.  It passed directly overhead and we watched it for six minutes.

Think For Yourself

Boot Key Harbor, Marathon, Florida

I hate it when people try to tell me what to think.   Does that really happen in real life?  Of course it does.  Politicians, media sources, bureaucrats, and even friends do that every day.   How can you resist?   Critical thinking.

Critical thinking means not necessarily believing what you hear.   You should listen to competing views.   Look around you for corroborating or countering evidence, and apply common sense.  Vigorously resist confirmation bias.

Sometimes, you stumble across very surprising things that rattle your foundations.  I just finished watching a very interesting intelligencesquared.com debate from Hong Kong entitled, "The World Needs Less Democracy, Not More." It is almost unimaginable for that subject to be debated in the USA.  But they did it in Hong Kong.  The audience appeared to be mostly British and American expats.  In the end, 24% of the audience voted for the proposition!  Do you think that is a biased result?  You should listen to the arguments first.

We once lived in Sweden.  Norway is Sweden's next door neighbor.  To outsiders, Norway and Sweden seem nearly indistinguishable, as do the USA and Canada seem indistinguishable (although the natives vigorously disagree).   But Sweden is neutral while Norway is a NATO member.   In Sweden only a madman would propose challenging neutrality.  In Norway, only a madman would propose embracing neutrality.

Democracy in the USA, and neutrality in Sweden are sacred cows. The legitimacy of sacred cows should be challenged regularly.

The bad news is what I read about the climate in US colleges and universities.  They appear to ruthlessly suppress any non-politically-correct views or speech.  Yes, I think critically about that assertion.  I've read arguments from both sides and I've listened the intelligencesquared debate on the topic. (embedded below).  I think that the problem is real and that it bodes ill for the future of this country.

But don't let me tell you what to think.  Watch the debate and do your own research before forming your opinion.  I promise, it is very entertaining.

Resolved: Liberals Are Stifling
Intellectual Diversity On Campus