Keys & Beyond

[cube]

Darrell,

I wan't to hear more about this 17 knot sailing. Since I was on the boat at the time, I will do my best to keep the story honest!

Had a great time at dinner on "Lucky Fin" 😀

Have a safe trip back!

Craig

 

[captd]

Craig,
Come on now, Don't be making a lier out of me. Yup Craig was there, In fact he was calling out the speed. So he is the source. What a wonderful day with a stop at Grabbers.
Welcome to the Tugnuts , Craig. What a great day it was. Please tell them about these amazing boats.
We are now in West End after a 140 mile trip. Came in with the wind and rain. Wind was still out of the east. So we had a following sea from the top of Sail Cay on. Used a bit more fuel as we were running late and I wanted to clear the shoals at Indian Cay.

Wednesday looks like the day for a crossing.

Insured through Progressive. 75 mile limit. That gets you on the Banks. From then on be carefull. If your boat is 26 foot they will sell you insurance. Measure your boat from stem to stern counting the dive platform and I think they will buy that. There was life before insurance companies and will be after is the way I look at it. I refuse to let them dictate when and where I can go with my boat. There has been no Piracy in Bahamas for years. Drug trade is now done through Mexico.

Hope to post when we leave.
To be continued


captd

 

[captd]

Would have been a good crossing last night. It looked good this morning but the wind was picking up from the North. When the wind switches back to the East the seas are suppose to drop to 2 to 3's. Looks good for a couple of days.
It was 140 miles from West End to Marsh Harbor. 55.5 miles to Palm Beach. About 400 across Florida and up to Crystal River.
Been on the boat about 4 months now. It will feel good to be home. Trade my fishing buddy back in for Dee. 😉

Point of interest: Slip rent here at Old Bahama Bay is $3.20 per foot with a 40 foot minimum. 😱 $128.00 per night. The guy at the fuel dock settled for about $40.00 that he pocketed. He said we must be gone by 7 in the morning. Went to see the owners and managers the next morning. I did mentioned that more than one business here in this location went broke because of employee theft. They were well aware of that. I told them they had priced guys like me out of coming here at all. It has become a marina for rich people only. They dropped the minimum and the price of our stay to $37.50 ($1.50 per ft.) for our wait for the good weather crossing. They also dropped the $15.00 required fee for water. Which we were in no need of . We had no need for plugging into power. Turned out they were nice guys. Still cannot afford this place.

To think that slip rent in Bremerton was $15.00 a night.....

To be continued

captd

 

[captd]

We are back in the good old USA. At 10:00 AM this morning we talked with a fellow boater who just came across. He said it was good. If we would have left at six in the morning it would have been good. Wind was out of the north east. My rule is don't go, but we did anyway. 1st 30 miles was good than thing started to get rough. Bud said no big deal. He is a salty guy. Swells got up to about 8 to 10. Once in a while a breaking wave would form on top. Did my best to avoid those. At one point the gps said we were surfing at 18.1 knots. I thought oh my God! 30 miles of this. My fear was that it could get worse, much worse.......Well it didn't and we made it back in 4 and one half hours. More later
captd

 

[Stella Maris]

Darrell,
Glad you made it back safe!!!!

 

[captd]

Dropped the hook in Peck Lake Tuesday night. In the morning we hit it about 8:00 am. Run hard to the mouth of the St Lucie river, 90 miles to and across Okeechobee. Spent the night tied to a dock in Clewiston. Nice setting with Tiki bar, cafe Groceries, ect. Will top off fuel, go back to the Lake and about 13 miles find the Caloosahatchee canel and the Moore Haven locks. Mile 65 to 78. Should be in Fort Meyers tonight. We are about half way across the state of Florida.

Weather looks good, Should be in Crystal River by Monday. .........Maybe. Been on the boat for 4 months, ready for home.
To be continued

captd

 

[captd]

One more lock and 33 miles to Fort Meyers. Had an absolute peaceful and quite night at anchor. Screens kept big bugs out .
5 locks altogether. We got it down pat now. !st one we didn't have fenders ready. 13 ft. lift on the 1st one. Now the last will let us down about 2 to 3 feet. The others down from 6 to 1 feet.
Lots of birds and one gator. We are now in the Caloosahatchee River Not all man made but tampered with a lot. Very nice.
Where do these people get so much money for such huge and magnificent homes?

Weather is holding out well for us. Looks like it will be good at least until Monday. On the trek North , some will be in the ICW. Others on the outside.

To be continued
captd

 

[captd]

After leaving the Caloosahatchee River, I kind of forgot some of the big bodies of water between there and Ocala, not counting the Gulf of Mexico. Like Tampa Bay, Sarasota Bay and St. Andrews. Well let me tell you .....With a southwest wind whipping a steady beat , the windward side can make for a wild ride. It puckered my draw strings more than once.
By the time we reached Tarpon Springs on Sunday night , I had had enough boating for a while. The ladies met us with the truck and trailer. We loaded up and were sleeping in our own bed Sunday night. Driving home in the rain with wind and lighting all around us. The last 50 miles out in the Gulf would have been out of the question.

Some things I learned on this trip:
1. Don't violate what you know to be true. Do not cross Gulf Stream with anything out of the North.

2. The Ranger can take more than the capt and crew.

3. You can not go too fast or too slow. Use of the throttle and Lots of manuel steering is a must in rough seas. Forget the auto pilot.

4. You can stop a broach by giving full power.

5. Stay on top of the swells the best you can.

6. Watch for braking waves that can poop your cockpit. Shut your back door to the dive platform.

7. The morning ( early ) is the best time of the day to cross any large body of water.

8. Use your pot racks on the stove when cooking. When traveling or anchored in a spot where you can get a 4 foot wake.
Boiling coffee is painfull.

9. It could get worse at anytime when crossing the Gulf Steam. We were lucky ( Lucky Fin ) It did not.

I will probably add to this list later. Anyone have any tips, jump in here.....


Prime Rib sandwich at Santinni's ( spelling ) Was awsome. Helped with docking, hollered at another boat for leaving a wake while holding the Lucky Fin steady. I told the owner how much I enjoyed eating there and how good the food was. I told him I was writing a blog on the Tugnuts and was going to mention them. .........He brought me another glass of wine on the house. hee, hee, What fun. This site is a power house.....This was in Tarpon Springs..The sponge capital of the world......Well Florida , anyway. I used this little trick on a regular bases.

Marsh Harbor, Abacos to Ocala was a little over 600 miles. 206 to Lake Worth. About 2000 miles for the winter. Coldest and worst winter in my memory. But I enjoyed it all. Dee........Maybe not quite so much. She says the St. Johns River next winter...............


As the days go on I might think of other thing to mention. Any questions or comments on this topic are welcome.


Now I will be getting ready for 3000 mile tow back to Chain of Lakes, Montana.

captd

I will post more pictures in the next day or so. 😉

 

[sportner]

Its been great traveling with you. How many miles, hours, and fuel did we log?

 

[captd]

My record keeping leaves a lot to be desired, But as near as I can figure using info from the Garmin M-4.

To and from The Bahamas and Ocala. Right at 1400 miles. With some running around the islands milage. Another 500 with the keys . 100 mile of towing from Tarpon Springs to Ocala. About 2000 all winter. Averaged 2.9 mpg. We did a lot of high speed running. Lots of idle zones where we would get 5 mpg. Cruising speed of 8 mph produced 4 mpg.
Fuel prices all the way up to $4.00 a gal.

I will review this with receipts and see if these figure are correct.
Hours.........A long , long time acordding to my tail bone. Guess 250 hours at the helm.

The 29 ft Ranger would have made the trip a little more comfortable. Anyone for a well equiped 2009 25ft Ranger?

captd

 

[Stella Maris]

Darrell and Dee,
Welcome Home!!!! Your adventure has been great reading for those of us that are continuing to support Mr Obama's tax and spend plan....

One note on something you mentioned. You said full throttle will help prevent a broach, not true on the R-29. A few weeks ago, Maureen and I got stuck out in a very nasty blow. Sitting in the helm seat, I was looking up at the waves right off of Blakely Rock on the Puget Sound. Many times as we slid down the front of the wave, the stern would go to the port even with the helm hard over port and the throttle full down! We would end up sideways at the bottom of the wave with the next one fast approaching..... A couple of times I gave thought to what the roll point was on an R-29 while the next wave rolled under us beam on.

I continue to look back at this situation to analyze what I could have done different. One would have been to bash into the waves for another six miles and go through Agate Pass. We chose to run with them back to Rich Passage. All was well until the wind built and the waves really began to stack up. At that point you are committed to your decision and must go on.... more throttle, less throttle???? Not sure what the answer is. Only one way to find out though, hope I don't have too.....

Anyway, glad you made it home safe. Hope you and Dee come to the PNW this summer and spend some time cruising with the rest of us.

 

[captd]

Dave,
Thanks for the come back on that topic. Thats why I put the comments in there. Different types of seas must require different use of the throttle. And I am interested in what other old salts think about this.

Crossing Tampa Bay with following seas. I had the occasion to ride a fair sized sea. To much throttle, would start you down the steep side. I let up on the throttle and broached hard enough to where the thought crossed my mind that we could roll. From that point on, if I went down the face of the wave at the moment of the start of a broach I would give it full power and a hard turn away from that direction and it would pull out. Now when taking the sea on the quarter it would be set to broach in that direction I found let up on power, at the bottom to hit it just as it felt like a broach.

In contrast, the Gulf Stream was a differnt story. The seas of Tampa Bay were smaller and steep sided. The gulf stream was like driving through the mountains. With the mountains moving in different directions. 4 1/2 hours to cross meant that I was wide open most of the time. The speed allowed me to avoid breaking sea and not get pooped. You didn't fall off the mountain, you just rode it down and tryed to hold it on the down side of the wave. The short, steep waves of Tampa bay were harder to handle and provided a much rougher ride.

I hope others will come back with their thinking on this matter.

captd :?

 

[rt11002003]

If possible, depending on wave size and distance apart, the best action is to reduce throttle at the top of the wave before the bow drops and stern comes up. Surf down the wave at a slight an angle as possible (much less than 45 degrees), working the rudder to maintain control (sculling). Apply throttle at the trough and approach the face of the wave at about a 35 to 40 degree angle. Repeat. Much easier to read about and say than it is to do. 🙁

This technique works much better when one has sea room to stay on one tack. Changing direction, tacking, is safer when done just before cresting the wave top. The objective is turning soon enough to keep the wave from getting under the stern as you turn and the bow is dropping. Broaching is almost always the result when attempting to tack at any other place.

Broaching is almost always a result when getting sideways (more than 45 degrees) on either side of the wave.

 

[Stella Maris]

This past weekend Maureen and I took Karma over to Kingston with John and Laurie of the Laurie Ann. On the run back up to Everett, we got the chance to try out the suggestions by Tuglet. We had following seas of 2 to 3 feet. Not quite what we experienced a couple of weeks ago, but a good size to practice on. I did as Tuglet suggested and we had a much more comfortable ride. Not sure if I am ready to try it out on the monster waves we had a few weeks ago, but I would not mind practicing on some more waves of this size.

Thanks for the advice Tuglet! It made things a lot nicer!!!

 

[Harmony]

Hi there Captd
How much of the intercoastal are you going to conquer? Did you trailer to the area or do you live near there? I'm enjoying your posts and am dreaming of the time when I will boat the intercoastal. It will be a long trailer from the state of Washington, but I am determined to do it. I am counting the weeks until we take delivery of our tug. Before boating the East Coast, I am going to see the inside passage. My son has taken a 70' yacht up there and reports that it is stunningly gorgeous. I didn't trust our old boat enough to go that far, so the new boat will open many horizons.
Enjoy your trip and thanks again for reporting for all to share!
Harmony
Skipper-to-be
Poppy's Legacy

 

[captd]

Harmony,
We have home base in Ocala, Florida. This year we put in at Crystal River and went as far as Marathon. At one time or another we have cruised the whole coast of Florida from Jacksonville all the way around to Panama City. We did the whole of the St. Johns River and The Saint Lucy across Florida canal.

We have gone to Bahamas about a dozen times. One trip was the whole chain of 750 miles to Great Inagua ( forgot how to spell it) on to Jamaica, Cayman Islands and Panama Canal.

The inside passage to Alaska is my one last dream. I am hoping the 2010 rendezvous will peak Dee's interest to do it with me. Last year she enjoyed everyone and the Puget Sound so much she may be ready after this next get together. So lets all talk it up this next September. 2011 may be in the cards.

I took the Hunky Dory to Prince Rupert by trailer and loaded it on the ferry to Ketchican and another over to Prince of Wales. Such fun. Got me interested in fishing again. We did the cruise from Seattle to Skagway once upon a time.

captd

 

[Stella Maris]

Darrell,
You need to come to the PNW early this year and do the Points North Cruise with us. The dates for this are August 20th through the 29th. You and Dee could take a "slow" trip back to Bremerton and see some more of the PNW. This may start to build the dream in her.