Sailing with Bob and Melinda on SV Counting Stars! (Day2/3)

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 raising sails. We could see white caps as we headed out the channel and soon thereafter we could feel them too.  They seemed to settle down some as we got into the deeper waters of the harbor.

The topping lift, which keeps the boom from going lower than you want, was replaced when the boat first arrived in Punta Gorda, and when it got replaced, it appears that something was not done correctly as the topping lift line was wrapped around the main halyard.  We had to use a pair of binoculars to be able to tell that was what was happening.  We also discovered, through several failed attempts of raising the mainsail and one ripped-off sail attachment point at the head of the sail, that the short line at the top of the sail used to raise the top bit of the sail against the battens also seemed to have been mis-routed.

Sailing with Bob and Melinda on SV Counting Stars! (Day1)

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, especially those working on the canvas (American Yacht Outfitters) did really nice work.

At some point in the day, we did a little route planing by looking at the weather and by using the route planning in the PredictWind app.  After Sunday evening, the wind turned foul for our trip up the outside of the Keys, so we all agreed that the first plan would be to try to sail as long as we could, hoping to leave by 10am Saturday and arrive in Marathon on Sunday around 6pm.

Bob and Melinda had been using a rental car while there and I helped Bob drop it off with the added help of a friend of their's Mini Cooper to which they were given access.  The line of storms that we missed on the way out extended all the way into Southern Florida, and they didn't miss us on the second attempt. As we were driving back from returning the rental, the skies were getting darker and louder.  We called the rest of our group still at the boat and figured out an early dinner plan to meet at the Marina restaurant.

We got over to the restaurant just before the skies opened up and the westerly wind started kicking up, a lot.  So much so that the fixed docks at this marina were underwater at the peak of the storm.  Andy (he's a 2020 Leopard 45 owner, that we met at the Miami Boat Show when we met Bob and Melinda) had jogged back to the dock to help Bob secure the boat from the high winds and the flood current that was now pouring into the marina at a visually noticeably rate.

They arrived back at the restaurant, with one or two dry spots between the two of them after they were happy with how Counting Stars was situated.  Dinner was actually very good, though our waiter could not remember things like who got the margarita with salt and without, who got the steak sandwich with mushrooms and who without.  These were very serious first world problems.

At any rate, we returned to the boat and soon after the folks from American Yacht Outfitters returned with some very cool "Transom-handles-turned-Transom Steps" and some panels to finish up the enclosure.  I ended up staying out in the cockpit watching and helping for a while (actually, yes helping, I was even thanked the next day when we saw them again!)

After they were all squared away, we all turned in, ready for our big sail the next day!

Tech Article - Hull Speed, Displacement Boats and Planing Boats

Tech Article posts are those that came about because of something I was writing in a more typical blog entry and decided to break out as a reference item.

Hull speed is nautical speak for maximum theoretical speed for a "displacement" boat.

A boat is basically just plopped into a body of water and displaces an amount of water equal to the weight of the boat.  A boat's weight and it's displacement are the same. 

That is true for every boat that is not moving.

Once you add movement, that can change.

A displacement hull is the name used to signify a boat design where the hull just pushes water as the boat moves. The fastest a displacement hull boat can move (Hull Speed) is determined with the formula:

HS = 1.34 * SQRT(LWL)

HS is the Hull Speed in Nautical Miles per Hour, aka knots 

LWL is the Length at the Water Line in ft.

As an example, as 38' monuhull sailboat, may have a 33' LWL.  Therefore, the Hull Speed for this boat will be:

HS = 1.34 * SQRT(33) = 1.34 * 5.74 = 7.7 knts

A Nautical Mile is a little longer than a regular (statute) mile, so 7.7 knts = 8.85mph.

That is the fastest that boat can move, (*kind of, more on that later). 

You may wonder why and the answer is kind of neat.

When a boat is moving through the water, it is moving that water and creating a wave of its own.  That wave starts at the bow (the very front) of the boat and rises up highest at the bow.  From the bow back, the height of the wave falls off and then starts to rise again, like any other wave in a body of water.  When a displacement boat is moving very slowly, there is a wave that starts at the bow and then falls off quickly.  As the boat accelerates, the wave takes longer to fall off, until eventually, it falls off and rises again at a distance that is equal to the boats length at the waterline.  The boat is trapped in the trough of its own wave and has reached Hull Speed!

Taken from a post on Cruiser's Forum

So to become un-trapped, the boat will have to exert considerably more effort so that it can push up against the front of that wave and start to ride on top of it.  If the boat has the power to do that, the boat is now said to be planing, where it is riding on top of the water instead of just sitting in it.  Hull design can make this a lot easier, and while the effort to go into planing is substantial, once the boat is there on top of the water, it doesn't take as much effort to stay there.

That's why a shorter bass boat, which may only have an LWL of 28', can reach a top speed around 60 mph.  At 28' long, it is only operating as a displacement boat until it hits 8mph, at which point and when given enough added horsepower, it becomes a planing boat.

It's also why a 1000' long oil tanker, weighing almost 1 million tons can travel much faster than a relatively light (8 ton) sailboat.

* so I said "kind of" earlier, referring to the maximum speed of the hypothetical 38' sailboat and that's "the fastest that boat can move".  If you add enough power, any hull will become a planing hull, but in reality, you never would and probably never could add enough to a regular sailboat to get it to be truly on plane.

Step 4 - Sailing on our Own!

It's been a month and we haven't been on a sailboat, what do we do?

Ever since our Learn to Sail vacation, we have been thinkin about another opportunity to sail.  We still had the potential to sail on S/V Counting Stars in April, and a possible trip with Lisa and Jesse to the BVIs, but that wasn't for a while, so we had to start looking at other options.

A Google Search of "bareboat charter NC" returned a few results, one of which was Bow to Stern Sailing, located in Oriental, NC. They were exactly what we were looking for and they were an easy 2.5 hour drive from our home in Cary, NC.  Oriental is a small town on the Neuse River, a brackish tributary to the Pamlico Sound.  The Neuse River, which starts as a small freshwater river in Raleigh becomes a 2+ mile wide body of water by the time it reaches Oriental and the area sees great wind for sailing.

We called and spoke with them and I wasn't sure if the ASA certifications would be enough, but after a few minutes of us talking they were comfortable that I knew what I was doing and had no hesitations to charter one of their boats to us. They have quite a few to choose from, ranging from a very modest C&C 25 and Cal 25, all the way up to a 42' Leopard catamaran and 45' Jeanneau Sun Oddysey.

Our friends Ray and Lisa were planning to leave their slip in New Bern, just up the Neuse River, and start their 10 month trip on the Great Loop at the time, so we also saw an opportunity to spend some time with them before not being able to for quite a long time.  Plus, another couple that Ray and I both worked with at Device Solutions, Reynold and Cathy also have a sailboat they keep in Oriental.

We figured out what they had available that weekend (March 23, 24th) and settled on an older 32' Endeavor; a pretty basic one cabin, one head boat that was plenty large for the two of us for the 24 hours we'd be on it.

Her interior smelled of diesel fuel, she was rough around the edges and the mainsheet traveler had recently come off its track, and when it did, some of the nylon guides in the assembly went missing.  Other than that, she was plenty seaworthy for our inland needs over the course of one night.

Bow to Stern did a great job of getting us checked in, providing us with PFDs and taking us on a tour of the boat's systems.  We moved our things onto the boat and after getting things situated, Jim and Mark helped us throw off lines so we could head out into the creek that fed into the Neuse.

Heading out to the Neuse we had to go under the bridge for NC 55.  Upon leaving the dock, we were told, as long as you see air under the horizontal concrete portion of the bridge, just above the water level, the boat will fit.  We motored for about 5 minutes before getting to the bridge.  It looked close, actually really close, but sure enough there was "air" and we fit.

We continued out the marked channel for a bit to get to deeper water and then raised the mainsail and unfurled the genoa. Seemingly at the same moment, we got the first of what would be many gusts that day.  This was the first time we'd been on a monohull.  It heeled a lot and very quickly.  Sue was pretty sure we were going to capsize and had a look of panic in our eyes.  For a moment, I was afraid she was going to be demanding a return to the dock.  Luckily she didn't, and after we got things right, we spoke of how it would be very difficult to actually capsize this boat in anything but pretty severe wind.  But, given that gust, we decided to reef both sails.

We headed on a Northeast bearing, on a port tack beam reach and we both eventually became very comfortable with the heeling, but, admittedly, it did take some time for both of us!

We only had about 5 hours to sail before having to head back so that we could meet up with Ray and Lisa, whom were motoring our direction from New Bern.  South River was our target; we were told by Bow to Stern that it wuld be a great place to visit and we'll have to make a return to there in the future, but honestly, we just wanted to get out and sail.  And sail we did, for about 2 hours, then we hove to and made and ate lunch.

After lunch we continued south a little more, even getting on a wing-on-wing run for a bit and then decided that given the change in direction of the wind we should head back since we would be beating back to windward on a zig-zag path containing quite a few tacks, including a few thrown in there to avoid some shallows.  It was honestly great fun and a great re-fresher of all the great things we learned in our class!

We got our friends Ray and Lisa on the VHF radio and they told us that one of the two, deep free docks in Oriental was available.  They had reserved a transient slip a few down from there and our other friends Reynold and Cathy were at that same marina for an event for their sailing club.  It seemed perfect!

We motored up to the dock and were coming up on it okay, and then a gust came from our stern and what seemed like a well lined up approach quickly turned into one that would overshoot the dock.  We some verbal guidance from Ray on the dock, I ended up pulled further into the dock area, which was actually a double dock, with a fuel dock on the left and the free dock on the right.  In this 40 foot wide by 50 foot long area, I ended up performing a 180° turn, pulling up on the port side instead of the orignally planned starboard.  Ray, Lisa and Sue helped us tie off and then joined us on our boat, along with Reynold and Cathy for a quick "success" beer before walking over to their sailing club party.

After hanging out with them for a while, visiting both of there boats, we headed to dinner right down the street from the marina.  The food was good, or it could have been that anything would have been good after the excruciating wait.  At any rate, we all returned to our respective boats with a plan to meet up the next morning for coffee and the local coffee shop.

The forecast was for overnight lows in the upper 30s.  Luckily, I had planned for this and we brought our zip together sleeping bags.  We decided to sleep in the convertible salon instead on in the forward V-berth.  Not sure why, but it wasn't that great of a decision, because it wasn't that comfortable.  The diesel fumes became quite noticeable with the boat all buttoned up, but the sleeping bags kept us super comfortable temperature wise, even when we opened a hatch for some fresh air.

After the morning coffee and hanging out with Ray and Lisa, we untied and made the short motor back up to Bow to Stern to return the boat.  This time I was at the helm as we passed under the bridge.  There was still air between the water and the concrete, so we proceeded.  There must have been less air though, as the tip of the VHF antenna clinked off of each rib of the concrete underside of the bridge!

After finding the right slip, we found Jim and Mark ready to help bring us back in.  They gave us some guidance, as the boat exhibited very strong prop walk to port when in reverse.  I was able to bring the boat in cleanly and they helped us secure the boat.

We tidied everything up, trying to put things back exactly as we had found them, and then carried our things back to the car for the trip back home.

Then I asked one more impactful question of Jim, "So are these all owned by Bow to Stern, or are they owned by private owners".  He replied that it is a mix of both.  Hmmm.  Given that our one day of sailing cost us $500, I was interested to learn more about a possible way to sail more without it becoming a very expensive expense.  Turns out they were looking for a another boat in the 38 foot range to add to their offering.  They had such a boat in their fleet last year and it did very well.

Interesting...a little too interesting...

-Mike

Stap 3, Day 7 - Last Day on "About Time" and "What the hell happened last night?"

At 7:45am we woke up to the sounds of voices in the cockpit of the boat.  Voices that we didn't recognize.

Long story short, the Captain stayed out very late (4am-ish), eventually walked back to the boat, but "decided" to stop and take a nap on the front lawn of someone's house.  After his nap, we woke up and called an Uber to take him back to the boat, not quite sure of where he was.  It turns out he was only a 5 minute drive to the boat.

Oh, and then there was Charles, he was one of the voices we heard in the cockpit, along with two others, all of which returned to the boat at 7:45am.  Charles was probably a little drunk, but his two drinking buddies were pretty well gone.

It took some time to get rid of them, but after we did, we had breakfast, had a quick review and then took the final test for ASA 104 (we scored 95 and 99).

We were 101, 103, 104 and 114 certified!

We cleaned, packed up and said our farewells to the Captain, Charles, Caroline and "About Time".

Given that we had some time, we had the Uber take us to West Marine, just to look around.  From there we walked to a restaurant/bottle shop for lunch.  We still had time, so we walked to Sailorman which is another sailing supply house (right down the street and owned by the father of the wife half of Sailing the Space Between).  Then we took the Uber to the airport to end our vacation and start thinking about our next chance to go sailing...

- Mike

Step 3, Day 6 - The trip back to Ft. Lauderdale

Day 6 was the trip back up to Ft. Lauderdale.  

We started the day early and were all eating breakfast before 8:00am. After breakfast we performed Engine Checks.  One of "About Time's" engine was new, the other was original.  It was quite easy to tell which was which (both visually and audibly).

After the engine checks and topping off the oil in guess-which-engine, we took the ASA 114 test.  I got a respectable 94%.

Before leaving the Harbor, we did some close quarter motoring drills and then left the harbor and  turned south to go around the Southern Tip of Key Biscayne. After getting just beyond the bottom of the Key, we turned, raising the sails and headed out to sea for a mile or so, then turned north to head towards Ft. Lauderdale.

We had great wind and the benefit of the Gulf Stream, so we were moving along at a very respectable 10 kts!

Eventually the wind shifted and weren't getting quite as much speed, but I ended up at the helm for the last part of the sail, and we changed our heading to 270° (west) to head into Port Everglades.  We had a wind directly on our stern, so we ran wing-on-wing for a while (the mainsail on side of the boat and the headsail on the other).  The Captain trusted me enough to do this, without us setting up a(n accidental jibe) preventer.  Using the windex at the top of the mast, I just steered us to stay as close as possible to being directly on a run, to keep both sails happy.

Eventually, we had to turn on the engines as we entered what can become a very busy inlet to the ICW.  Once inside the channel and on the ICW, it opens up and we did a 360° turn, with a brief stop while heading 90° so that we could face the wind, drop the mainsail.  We also furled the genoa during our turn when we had enough wind on the headsail to make sure it furled cleanly.

We headed north on the ICW, waited for the first bridge to open, and then proceeded through, turning immediately west so that we could stop at the fuel dock.  I pulled us up along side as the rest of the crew ready fenders, docklines and got us tied up.

After topping off the tank, the others took turns at the helm, practicing turns as we went the rest of the way to return to the dock from which we started.  The size and number of million dollar plus boats and houses along that section of the ICW is hard to believe.

We got back, took showers at the bathroom in Blue Water Sailing School's office and then got ready for our last dinner together as a crew.

Dinner and the rest of the evening was kind of crazy.  Our Captain, with life and limb responsibilities done for the trip seemed to let himself enjoy the eating...and drinking more than during other parts of the trip.  Our two other crew members, Caroline and Charles also seemed to ramp up on the enjoyment (which was kind of saying something).  We still had one test remaining and it was the longest and hardest of the four, so Sue and I enjoyed ourselves too, but to a more modest level.

Before walking to dinner, everyone enjoyed some/many drinks in the cockpit (the exterior "hang out" area on a sailboat, usually where the helm station is located).  The rest of the bottle of vodka was finished off, as were some beers as was the rest of the bottle of rum.  We then walked to stop #1; a Mexican restaurant.  Well, four of us walked, one of us stumbled.

We enjoyed some Margarita's and appetizers and Caroline didn't seem to slow down on the drinking, as she started to become louder and louder.  Oh, and she also fell off of her chair at the table, at which point she decided to leave our group and go make friends with a group of ladies at the bar.  None of us stopped here, nor felt bad enough for her new friends to retrieve her. :-)

With our appetizers and drinks done, we settled up and prepared to walk to stop #2 for one of the Captain's favorite places to get a Cheesesteak sandwich.  Then Caroline couldn't find her phone.  We called it and no luck.  After looking on the floor, in the restroom, near the bar, on the chairs (and I think the captain wanted to pat down her new friends at the bar), Charles decided it was time to give up, not dwell on it and use it as an excuse for a phone upgrade. I felt bad she couldn't find it, but was happy to be able to move on.

While Charles and I were inside looking, Sue and Captain were outside with Caroline, preventing her from getting into some random person's car, because she felt like talking to the driver.

On to Stop #2: Parrot.  Caroline was still in a deepening "loud, happy drunk" state as we got a table at Parrot. We all ordered and soon noticed most people in the bar/restaurant staring in our direction, their attention drawn by Caroline now at full, outdoor voice volume.  We all moved to a separate room of the place, trying to distance ourselves from the others in the bar.  That was good for a while, but it was obvious that Caroline had not "crested" yet.  Charles soon realized it would probably be best for everyone, if he took her back to the boat to turn in (sleep it off).  When grabbing hold of her to take her back, he all of a sudden reached into her bra and pulled out, wait for it...her phone!  Our jaws hit the floor.

After "properly putting her to bed", Charles returned to hang out and drink for a while.  Soon after, Sue and I were done, and we decided to walk back and get some sleep.  Charles and Captain Keith decided to stay out (more on that in the next post).

We returned to the boat, walked into the salon and happened to notice Caroline at the bottom of the stairs to the starboard hull that she and Charles' cabin were in and she must have forgotten to put clothes on.  We both pretended to not notice and turned in for bed.

Step 3, Day 5 - Man Over Board! (practicing)

Another strong breeze for another great day of sailing!

No test today, so we just had sailing and MOB (Man Over Board) recovery practicing.  We left from our mooring ball with Sue at the Helm and took us expertly out of the narrow channel, especially given the current and wind, which was stronger as we left the protection offered at the mooring ball.

Captain Keith gaves just a destination and asked us to come up with the plan and the expected ETA.  We plotted the course, factoring in some tacks we would have to take and gave an estimate of 12:15p.

We arrived to what was basically a wide open spot out in Biscayne Bay and we started learning and practicing four methods of MOB recovery:

• Figure 8 - Good if you are in warm water and are not really in a hurry to get the victim back on board and want to go on a bunch of points of sail.
• Broad Reach/Close Reach - A lot quicker and involves only two points of sale.  
• Quick Stop - By far the easiest and quickest way to recover a MOB, except...
• Motoring - Probably the prefered way, assuming the motor starts or is already running.

Sue and I both did quite well on the practice of each type and recovered our victim on the first attempt and since I was the last to go, I stayed at the helm and took us back to No Name Harbor for our second overnight stay there.  When we pulled in to No Name Harbor, there was a spot on the sea wall in front of a monohull and behind another catamaran, captained by the friend of our captain that happens to be another BWSS instructor.  I manuevered us into the spot, and using both engines, was able to very smoothly pull us basically moving sideways and did so well enough to get a compliment from a person that was walking by.

We "got to" empty the holding tank, another valuable skill that I was just not that eager to learn.  All that being said, it was actually a very easy and really not that gross of a job.

With that done, I went for a walk on the seawall and noticed a couple coming to tie up on an older monohull.  They were on vacation from Switzerland, on a boat that he owns and keep in Ft Lauderdale for the couple of trips he gets to take a year.  They were super nice and happy that I was so eager to help get them tied up that they offered me a beer and we sat and talked for a while.

Sue found me and let me know that there was a manatee up near the harbor entrance that was eating seaweed from the seawall. I was stoked, I really wanted to see a manatee during this trip!

It is quite obvious why they are often called Sea Cows. Its back was covered with algae and a few boat scares :-(, but very docile and happy to be moving along the seawall, eating as it went.

We had another great meal (steak, potatos, salad, asparagus wine) prepared by Captain Keith, but soon after we were all zonked after being out in the sun all day and all of the grinding involved in the MOB drills, so off to bed we went.

-Mike

Step 3, Day 4 - Great wind!

This was a great day to sail.  A nice consistent 20 kt wind and otherwise nice weather in Biscayne Bay!

So, I had to get up around 3am and re-apply bug spray because the mosquitos were finding me through the hatches we had opened to get some airflow.  I managed to walk up in time to re-apply before beocming light headed from lack of blood supply.

I wake up for good around 6am to a beautiful sunrise above the Atlantic visible from across the small, 200yd wide key.

 

After breakfast, we walked up to the top of the Boca Chita Lighthouse, which is usually closed.  The view of Miami was pretty amazing!

I took the helm to bring us out of the anchorage and into the narrow channel as we headed towards Coconut Grove; our next stop. We continued to take turns at the helm practicing points of sail and taking turns grinding the winches and were averaging around 8kts, which is about top speed for a 37 foot catamaran.

Sue taking her turn at the Helm

When we got to the Coconut Grove Sailing Club, we picked up a mooring ball and then, using the Sailing Club's shuttle dinghy service, we took a trip to the clubhouse to take a shower while the opportunity presented itself.

We then walked into the Coconut Grove area to go to one of the Captain's favorite stops; a very good Indian Restaurant. A few other bar stops on the way back and then we finally returned to About Time, but not "in time" to close all the hatches before the rain storm came through.  Our fellow students ended up with a pretty wet bed, the salon was pretty wet and we were fortunate that the only thing that got wet in our cabin was my iPad, which is in a waterproof case! We all helped to dry off things and then head to bed.

- Mike

Step 3, Day 3 - Let's do some sailing already!

Sue and I woke up at about 700 am and I decided to go for a swim in No Name Harbour.  It was a little cold at first, but I fixed that with a lap around the boat. It is a really nice State Park and would be happy to return here!

Once everyone was up and moving, we pulled the hook and moved over to the face dock while there was an opening.  Captain Keith made us a breakfast of Pancakes and Sausage.  We gathered up the track on the boat and deposited that while we had the opportunity.  

We then took the first our our tests, the written exam for ASA 101.  I aced it at 100%! 

We left No Name Harbour around 10:00 and returned to Biscayne Bay were we headed mostly North, tacking back and forth until about 12:30p when we hove to so that we could have lunch.

After lunch we all took turns practicing all the points of sail.  For those of you that don't know, that would be:

• Port Tack, Close Hauled (heading up as close to the wind as possible)
• Port Tack, Close Reaching
• Port Tack, Beam Reaching (wind directly on our port beam)
• Port Tack, Broad Reaching
• Running (directly down wind)
• Starboard Tack, Broad Reaching
• Starboard Tack, Beam Reaching
• Starboard Tack, Close Reaching
• Starboard Tack, Close Hauled

After we all took our turns at the helm, we continued on towards our anchorage, however our VMG (Velocity Made Good) was not very good at all, so we turned on the motor to make sure we'd make it to Boca Chita anchorage before dark.

We tied up and went for a walk around Boca Chita.  So, so many mosquitos.

Spaghetti, meatballs, garlic bread, maybe a few Dark 'n Stormy's and then off to bed around 9:30p.

-Mike

Step 3, Day 2 - "Sailing" down to Miami from Ft. Lauderdale

We woke up early, un-tied and cast off with Sue at the Helm, motoring the 30 minutes down the ICW.  We timed our departure so that we could make the timed openings of the two bridge between the boats slip and the cruise ship port of Port Everglades, where we would access the Atlantic.

We entered the Atlantic and turned South to head to Miami.  Unfortunately, the wind was directly on our nose, so it was about 6 hours of motor-sailing along the coast.

Sure, we would have preferred to sail, but it was a really relaxing trip and Sue was driving the boat like a boss!

After motor-sailing, we entered the Miami area, motored past the Miami Boat Show location and then down to No Name Harbour, where we dropped anchor and stayed the night.
FYI, the mosquitos AND the no-see-ums both found me quite delectable.  Grrr.

On the plus side, the first beautiful sunset of the trip!

- Mike

Step 3, Day 1 - Provisioning for our week aboard our classroom, "About Time"

Saturday night, after being introduced to the boat and each other, we sat down in the Galley and came up with a meal plan and then a shopping list, by grocery store department, for the week to come.  We walked about a half mile to a grocery store, broke up the list and went shopping!  We also walked across the parking lot to the liquor store for some other essentials ;-)

With our three carts worth of bagged groceries, we hailed an Uber XL for a ride back to "About Time".  We stowed all of our groceries in the galley, which honestly all seemed to disappear in to so many nooks and crannies.  While the boat lacked in storage in the cabins, there is a surprising amount of storage in the galley/saloon.  We honestly probably could have provisioned for 150 meals instead of the 75 we provisioned for.

For dinner, we walked about 10 minutes to go to a burger place called BRGR STOP.  Glutenous menu of piled high burgers and milkshakes, which were really good.  Unfortunately, the place decided to have a DJ with blaring music starting at about 9pm, which effectively ended our conversation and completely ruined our otherwise good experience.  Why must places do things like that?!

Back to the boat for an early morning trip down the ICW (Intra-Coastal Waterway) to Port Everglades and the open ocean.

- Mike

Step 3: BWSS Course C+ Cat: Advanced Catamaran Skipper

Time to Learn to Sail!!

The Boat Show was fun and helpful, but not the main reason for the trip.  What is this sailing thing about anyways?!

We started the day (Saturday) in Miami and took an Uber up to Dania Beach to look at a few boats for sale, just to get an idea of what'd out there and see some Leopard 44's currently on the market.  We're currently thinking that getting a 3 or so year old used boat will get us the best value; that's when the depreciation is worst and when the first owner is usually doing upgrades to the boat, that we would likely want or at least appreciate.

The Leopard 45s are brand new and are selling at a premium.  Again, we love that boat, except for the 4'11" draft (and the brand new price tag).  The Leopard 44 is almost as nice, available on the used market (sometimes) and has a 1 foot smaller draft.  We looked at two 44s and it was obvious that the mainteance done by the previous owners makes a big difference in the look of a used boat.

I digress.

We arrived at BWSS and were pointed to the boat we'd be living on for the next 6 days.  It was a 2001 37' Island Spirit named "About Time".  The boat was nice enough, sailed really well, but showed her age and lacked cabin storage space.  She is a 4 cabin, 2 head boat which looks like Leopards of that vintage and was also made in South Africa.

The Salon (living room, of sorts) was plenty large for the five of us (Sue and I, our Captain and another couple that would be taking the course as well).  They Galley (kitchen) was also fine, maybe a little cramped for five, but it was really the cabins where the size seemed small.  Plenty of room to sleep, but when getting ready for the day or ready for bed, there was really only room for one of us to be in the cabin at a time.  For this class, it was fine, just sayin'.

-Mike

Miami Boat Show - AKA More HP and Bigger Masts

Miami Boat Show - February 14-19, 2019 - Miami Marine Stadium

Miami is not known for being a reserved, sleepy hamlet and that is reflected in the boats, yachts, electronics and people we saw at the boat show!

We rented an Airbnb in downtown Miami, right next to the water taxi stop that would bring you to and from the boat show.  Unfortunately, Lisa and Jesse were not able to join us, last minute, because of a new job Jesse had taken that required him to be at the Pentagon for a meeting the Friday of the Boat Show.  Didn't seem like going to the Boat Show was more important than whatever the meeting was about, so we understood their not being able to make it, but were disappointed to not be able to spend a few days with them.

Leading up to the Boat Show, we booked some appointments to look at Catamarans like piqued our fancy.  It is possible to schedule an appointment to see a yacht while at the show, but you may have to wait a while, but honestly, booking ahead of time sends a clear message that you are serious and not just a looky-loo.  We had done our research before the show and knew a few makers whose yachts we wanted to visit, namely Leopard, Fontaine Pejot and Lagoon.  We also wanted to visit Just Catamarans, a yacht broker that is based in Ft. Lauderdale (and another company we learned about through Gone with the Wynns).

We scheduled these appointments for Thursday, the first day of the boat show, which they call the Premier Day and for which they charge a little more for admission.  Our hope (which seemed to pay off) was that attendance would be lower that day, given the price and the fact that it was a Thursday, which would allow us a little more time to see boats and speak with their reps.  We were reserving Friday to look at all the indoor portion of the show, for things like electronics, furnishings, water makers, little boats (you know, under 25') and all manner of other things, mostly related to boating.

Seeing "fishing" boats with four 300HP outboards was commonplace, motor yachts with three decks abounded, sailing vessels up to 77' long and 36'wide could be ordered.

(Lagoon Seventy-7 - with optional Owner Cabin swim platform, 'cause why not)

We learned a few keys things.  

• We didn't want a catamaran with daggerboards (sure, higher performance, but the draft gets so deep with them deployed and you don't want to hit a reef with them down)
• We didn't like the interiors of the Fontaine Pejots
• We didn't like the exposure required to get to the flybridge on all of the newly designed Lagoons.  The Lagoon 42 was okay, but that will be phased out soon.
• We were amazed by the 50' (aptly named) Exquisite Yacht, but way outside of our budget.
• We absolutely love the Leopard 45 (except for it's now monohull-like draft of 4'11"')
  The draft on the predecessor Leopard 44 is only 3'11" - a world of difference
  
• A LOT of people in this community follow and respect Gone with the Wynns.

Probably one of the best parts of the trip to the boat show was that we met and made freiends with Bob and Melinda, owners of the new Leopard 45 that was on display at the show (new owners often show their boats at one or two boat shows as part of their purchase agreement).  They are a few years off from retiring and their yacht, S/V Counting Stars will become their retirement home.

They are super sweet and spent a great deal of time with us, since we were so enamored with their boat and have similar plans to them.  They invited us to the Leopard Owners party held at the Leopard slips at the end of the day, which allowed us to meet just amazing, down to earth people, all owning and mostly living on Leopard Catamarans.

More amazingly, Bob and Melinda invited us to help them move their boat from Punta Gorda, on the west coast of Florida to Ft. Lauderdale, with a stop at Key West after an overnight sail AND to sail around Vancouver Island in the Spring of 2020 with them!!

The trip to moving their boat is coming up (April 19th) and as long as things are running smoothly at work, we'll be going!

-Mike

Step 2: Come up with a plan to learn to sail

We are admittedly impulsive.  But I like to think we are not blindly impulsive.  We're good at research and impulsive or not, try to research our decisions, with more research going into more impactful decisions.  This particular change of course (getting On a New Tack?) was going to take a lot of research and a lot of reining in our (or really mainly my) impulsive tendencies.

So, knowing that we liked the thought of living on a sailboat, it's probably time to spend some time on a sailboat and actually learn to sail.  We both love a challenge and we are both engineers so figuring our new things, especially thing that involve mechanics, levers and pullers, is second nature.

So, how do we learn to sail?

Fortunately, there are two large Sailing Organizations in the US; the ASA (American Sailing Association) and USSailing.  The ASA seems to be more prevalent when it comes to course availability and having sailing certifications from them makes things like chartering and getting insurance a lot easier.  We opted to take a "Catamaran +" certification class from Blue Water Sailing School, in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.  This course is on a 4 cabin sailing catamaran and when successfully completed, students are awarded:

• ASA 101 - Basic Keelboat Sailing
• ASA 103 - Basic Coastal Cruising
• ASA 104 - Bareboat Cruising
• ASA 114 - Cruising Catamaran

We chose Blue Water Sailing School because of their reputation and because of their location, which is an easy flight from Raleigh.  The Miami Boat Show was coming up in February 2019 at the time and we were able to find a class that would allow us to fly down for Thursday and Friday of the boat show, then start the weeklong class on Saturday.  (Ironically, we later found out that BWSS is the school that the Wynn's used to learn to sail.)

We invited our friends Lisa and Jesse from Annapolis to join us for either or both the sailing school and the boat show.  Jesse, having sailed most of his life, couldn't justify the time and expense of the course, but there were both up for going to the boat show with us.

At this point, we just had to wait until January (it was around October when we signed up) and continue our research vis-à-vis, watch Gone with the Wynns and read the textbooks shipped to us for preparation for the ASA courses.

-Mike

Step 1: Learn what it's like to live on a sailboat (specifically a catamaran)

Good friends of ours, Ray and Lisa, recently made there move to live on a boat after retiring.  I used to work with Ray at Device Solutions, a electronic/software contract engineering design firm.  His retirement plan went through a couple iterations, but he and Lisa ended up finding their perfect Motor Yacht, a trawler name "Scout", which they actually just untied from her slip in New Bern, NC to start travelling down the Eastern Seaboard.

You can learn more about them and there adventures on their blog. 

We went to visit them in New Bern and they turned us onto a couple of Vloggers, Jason and Niki Wynn, and their website and YouTube channel "Gone with the Wynns".  The Wynns started by travelling the US in an RV and then a few years ago, sold that and moved onto a 43' Leopard Catamaran and are currently making their way around the world.
Watching their videos gives viewers a great glimpse into what living aboard a sailboat and travelling really entails.  They don't gloss over the downside, but the upsides look pretty amazing, so the maintenance and waiting out weather and dealing with broken parts seem all worth it.
We've now watched every single one of their episodes, from looking for and buying a catamaran up through sailing in French Polynesia, where they are now.  As we began to watch their adventure and learn more, we became more enamored with the idea.  I guess it's time to learn more and see if this is something we would like in practice, not just fantasizing about.

-Mike

Picking up a truck and visiting friends - The start of it all...

Before the fall of 2018, Sue and I had never really sailed, unless you count one Sunfish Rental at Lake Crabtree Park in Morrisville, NC and a daysail that Sue did in Buffalo, NY when she was co-oping at General Motors. We've owned a 17' Jetboat used in local lakes since June of 1998, but that's usually 4 or 5 hours max at a time on relative calm waters. 

So what happened to get us on the Sailing kick?  Buying a Krispy Kreme box truck and visiting friends in Annapolis, of course!  

Our business was expanding and needed an additional installation vehicle.  I found an ex-Krispy Kreme delivery box truck that fit the bill, being sold by Penske in Baltimore, MD. (It smelled amazing, by the way).  In order to get it back to Raleigh, I'd have to fly up to Baltimore on a Friday, pick up the truck and then drive back to Raleigh with Sue staying in Raleigh to keep things running.  

Our super-close friends, and best-man (Jesse) and Matron of Honor (Lisa) live in Annapolis and invited me to spend the night at their place before having to drive back.  "Oh, and by the way, one of the largest sailboat shows in the country (probably world) is going on, so let's go there after you get the truck?"  Sounded fun to me. 

We arrived in downtown Annapolis and had a lunch and a few drinks.  It was becoming obvious that Annapolis is a drinking town with a sailing problem.  After lunch we walked to the show and it's a big show, focused just on sail boats.  Remember, at this point, I pretty much knew nothing about sailing.  I peppered Jesse with questions, since he is an avid sailor that grew up sailing on the Finger Lakes of NY, crews on racing boats often and Bareboat charters in the BVIs every year.  Me: "What's this rope for?" Jesse: "First, that's called a line or sheet."  Me: "Why does this sheet go to there?"  Jesse: "That's actually a halyard"

After walking around for a while, we starting visiting big, beautiful catamarans and as it turned out, Lisa and Jesse's retirement plan is to sell everything and live on a 40-something foot catamaran in the Caribbean.  We probably toured at least 8 catamarans, each have 3 or 4 cabins, 3 or 4 heads and having amazingly open and inviting interiors.

By the end of the show I was hooked!  I wanted to copy their retirement plan!  The idea of having none of the responsibilities that come along with unnecessary possessions and being able to see new places all the time consumed my thoughts for the drive back to Raleigh and I couldn't even wait until getting back to tell Sue all about my experience and my epiphany.  We talked about it on my drive back and more over the next couple of days, and she actually seemed interested in learning more?!

The next step was to start learning and giving ourselves reality checks...

-Mike