Wow have things been Busy!

Been offline for a while. So long  in fact that I had trouble remembering how to get into my Blog. Guess I was suffering from a Blonde Moment.
Tropical Storm Beryl did a number on us here in St. Marys. All the boats on our dock had issues many ending up in the Marsh. Stray Cat was one of them. We even made the newspaper! Once we were able to get her from the Marsh she was taken straight to the boatyard. We are still working on repairs. We will post pictures soon.

Boat Work Stalled, Who's the Real Captain Here?

Plans? They just keep on changing.

Our original plans when we acquired Stray Cat were to get our sailing feet wet locally, flesh out the cruising kitty and shove off when I joined Freddie in retirement a couple of years from now. The local area offers good beginner sailing and weather most of the year. That worked out great the first year and then I joined the millions of Americans in the unemployment line. Job searches were exhausting and fruitless. OK tighten our belts, get serious about finishing the work on the boat on a budget, and get ready to shove off after hurricane season. We don't always understand what God is teaching us through our circumstances,but I am always amazed at his provision. With lots of projects started and struggling financially to finish the work needed, the perfect job lands in my lap! The problem is that work really interferes with extended cruising but it does help to pay for boat work. Since we had to wait for the boat yard to get their crane back to haul out Stray Cat, we weren't getting out of here as early as we had planned anyway. Then we found that the mast step looked really ugly. Time to pull the mast and get a rigger to check it out and make repairs. More time and more money. I am truly grateful for a paycheck! I have still been able to get to the ocean on my day off. Freddie volunteers at the Hospital in Fernandina once a week and I drop him off and head for the beach for sunrise.
Beautiful!

Maintenance project

We have a swim ladder that is right in the middle of where the dingy goes for offshore trips. When we take the ladder off  the supports rub the dingy when hoisted for travel. We removed the supports and had them alttered  by a welder to  protect the dingy. I am pleased with the results and hope our idea eliminates the sharp edges and damage to the dingy.

The Dingy Cutter Culprits!















Before



                                After alterations, the ladder itself will be removed for travel













Fishing Fun

Our son, Tripp, and his girlfriend, Dana, came from La's Vegas for a visit and we took advantage of a good afternoon weather forecast and motored to a spot just off of Cumberland Island for a little fishing. The first catch of the day was a nice Whiting that was dropped when being taken off the line. From then on it was a succession of small sharks and fish stick size whiting. No worries, it was all fun anyway. This was Dana's first shark encounter and she enjoyed getting a close up view of these little guys. It was slack tide and Tripp and Dana decided to swim to the island and spend a couple of hours there and then swim back to the boat. When they returned we pulled up the anchor and started home. The port engine promptly shut down. The alternator belt had broken and Freddie replaced it while I had the helm and Tripp and Dana enjoyed the hammock. We are looking into what is causing this as this is the third time this has happened and the belt was still new. The radar also went out just as we came around the bend to the marina. add a couple more things to the "Lets get her fixed List" I hope you enjoy the pics.

    

     

Fourth of July St. Marys Georgia

We cleaned the props and took Stray Cat out for a sail. The day was beautiful and there was a slight swell but only 6 knots of wind. We had a great time and remembered why we had gotten the boat. That was Friday. We worked on the boat all day on Saturday. We are trying to track down a problem with the Auto Pilot. Talked to a marine electrician and are now going over each connection one by one. Auto keeps kicking out to stand by mode. That has got to be fixed before anything longer than a day sail. Sunday after church we spent the night on the boat at the dock and prepared for the July 4th celebration. I worked on setting up my Internet on the boat while Freddie worked on going through other systems and getting with the marine electrician. It was a beautiful night. We could see Resort's July 3rd fireworks across the river and the air conditioner in our berth was blanket cold. Monday morning we met up with our Kelsey, oldest daughter and her family and watched the parade. Every year St. Marys has a festival right here at the waterfront that attracts thousands. With so much going on right beside us it is amazing that the marina is still so quiet and laid back. We actually came back from the parade and watched a movie and took a nap. My brother and his wife came down and took a tour of the boat for the first time. Tonight Celebration ends with a fireworks display that they set off from a barge at the waterfront. Stray Cat makes a perfect platform to watch the show and all of the family will be be here tonight to join in on the fun. I hope you enjoy the pictures and Happy 4th!

Busy Times

Well a lot has went on since our last post. We have done lots of day sailing and a few overnight trips to Cumberland Island. We managed to fly the spinnaker, hoist the main and hold a course strictly under sail. We've had a few visitors on board besides family and friends. A small bird was so tired that it actually landed and sat on Freddie's shoulder for a rest. We had a small leopard ray land on our tramp when passing through some ruff seas on the way in to port one day. Unfortunately we did not see him until we were docking and it was to late to save him.Our first big outing with all the grand kids and some of their friends resulted in seven kids and a couple of adults feeding the fishes. That was a mass introduction to the realities of coping with seasickness.  Freddie and I also got our scuba certification and scuba gear.With my work schedule that has been all the sailing we could fit in. Since I no longer have a work schedule to adhere to, we are in the process of getting the boat ready to sail to the Bahamas after Hurricane season. We are excited about actually cruising on Stray Cat and living the dream that started it all.
      

Homeward Bound, Our Delivery

Thursday, April 16, 2009 We left the Marina at Key West at 5:30 am and motored up Hawks Channel in very calm conditions. The weather was beautiful and we were excited and more than a little nervous as we tried to acquaint ourselves with all the gizmo's and gadgets on Stray Cat. A chart plotter and autopilot were completely new instruments to us and we had planned on having the PO help acquaint us with them. The wind was on the nose out of the NNW so we continued to motor until we picked up a mooring ball at Indian Key around 5:30pm. I cooked dinner and we settled in for a sound sleep for our first night out.

Friday, April 17, 2009  We left Indian Key at 8 am and again motored up Hawks Channel with 20 knot winds and choppy sea conditions. Around 5 pm we anchored at Rodriquez Key 280n/718w. Freddie dove the anchor to make sure it was set and we set a anchor alarm. We didn't sleep quite as sound as we kept checking to make sure that the anchor didn't drag but it held fast. It appears that we average using around 10 gallons of diesel per day. We still haven't tried to sail as we are preoccupied with instruments and navigation.
Saturday, April 18, 2009  We left Rodriquez Key at 8 am with winds 20-25 out of the ENE. Seas were choppy to ruff. We were trying to make it to Cranstons Marina in Key Biscayne for the night but couldn't get there before they closed. so we pulled in behind soldiers Island at 298n 029w at 6:22 pm. The shackel jammed in the windlass during anchoring. Freddie again dove the anchor to make sure it was set. The bottom was grassy but the anchor still held.

Sunday, April 19, 2009  Freddie pulled up the anchor by hand (nothing worked to free the shackel the night before) and we started out at 8 am. In working our way out of our anchorage our depth readings were 5.8'  and our draft is 3.3' but we still found bottom. They say that tere are 2 kinds of sailors, Those that have run aground and Those that are going to run aground. We had been going very slow and were in soft sand so we had no problem just backing out. We made the short trip up to Cranstons where we topped off the water tank, bought deisel, ice, and icecream. The dock attendant lent Freddie a crowbar and he was able to free the shackel from the windless and stow the anchor chain! This was the first day that the winds would not have been on our nose and we could have tried sailing but it was already 1pm so we picked up a $21 mooring ball for the night. We both enjoyed afternoon naps and I tried out the outside grill on some chicken.
We enjoyed our dinner and watched a dvd then called it a night.

Monday, April 20, 2009  We left Cranstons at 7:48 am took a left at the end of the channel and headed towards HOME. No longer enjoying the protection of Hawks Channel we are in the OCEAN now!
Winds were nice out of the southeast so we tried out the jib. Yee Haw! we are motor sailing at 6 knots in 5-7ft seas. We saw another sailboat heading north a little further out but we elected to stay closer to shore. I was surprised at how few other boats we had seen so far in our trip. The only night we had any company at our anchorage was when we were on the mooring at Indian Key. Of course there was traffic in the channel and at Cranstons but our trip up Hawks was a solitary one. When planning our trip initially we had figured on one or two overnight sails to get us home before my vacation was over. So north we went in light winds out of the SSW. As the afternoon approached so did a storm. The seas were covered in white caps and we had fun trying to get the jib furled our first time in wind and rain. Freddie stayed at the helm and was thourally soaked regardless of his fowl weather gear. I stayed busy trying to keep the salon and berths dry. It seemed that someone had not closed one of the forward small portals correctly and it created a small waterfall. We also discovered a bitty big leak at one of our salon windows. ( wildcats are known for that) Every pot and bowl I had on the boat was being utalized to catch water and being emptied continually. The seas started to calm down during the rain and it ended up being a beautiful night on the water. Freddie is a night owl so he took the first watch. I relieved him around 3 and only woke him one time when I was concerned about our depth reading . Having never done this before we stayed at the helm even though the Autopilot was handling the steering. We wern't smart enough to have a tether riged up but did wear a lifejacket and the kept to the rule that no one left the cockpit when on deck alone.

Tuesday, April 21,2009  Around 8:30 am we were coming up on Port Canaveral. Freddie relieved me at the Helm and I started trying to put my boat back in order. I then made spagetti for brunch. Dinner had been stormed out the night before so we were pretty hungry.  Only challange was trying to get closer to the cape to get a good picture of the launch pad for my dad. The water is quite shallow and had shoaled in a good bit from what our charts said so we spent a couple of hours trying to get back out to head north. There is a lot of information in our guidebook for travelling the intercoastal in Florida but there are few places to tuck in for the night from the sea between the Cape and the Ga/Fl border so we decided to keep going. We are between Indian River and Daytona Beach around 6:30pm. It has been a beautiful day with calm seas (but no wind) The evening and night were peaceful and uneventful (except me loosing my phone overboard somewhere around St. Augustine)
Wednesday, April 22, 2009 We are closing in on home. the day has been unevental and we are still motor sailing with the jib. It is mid afternoon and we are off the coast of Amelia Island. I work at a resort there and my office is located on the beach. I give my office a call (with Freddie's phone since mine is in the deep blue sea) and let them know to look out because I can see the Resort from the boat. It was great to go close in and wave as we sailed by. We go back out and round the south jetties to the entrance to the Cumberland sound and home! Tide was running out and the wind was really blowing in so it was like a washing machine. Spray was hitting us back at the helm. Tempers were running short and we were tired and ready to get home and see the family. Once we passed Cumberland Island things were much smoother and our Daughters and grandkids met us at the dock at Langs Marina. We had 18 gallons of fuel left and 18 gallons of water left in each of the 70 gallon tanks.