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It’s Saturday morning and as of tomorrow my crew will have been aboard Pandora for a week TRYING TO GET TO CT.  Yes, I am raising my voice with the hope that Ana will hear me and decide to get out of the way so WE CAN GET MOVING!

Well, that’s how I feel.  So there.   Are you listening Ana?  Didn’t think so.

Anyway, St Augustine is a lovely city and I should know as it’s the third time I have been here this year.  I will say that it’s a much nicer spot in May than it was in January when Brenda and I had our first stop and again in March as it was pretty chilly both of those times.  The weather in May?  Terrific.  Warm days and balmy nights.  And, the warm weather makes for great people watching.  

Yesterday Michael, Jim and I stopped at a pub for a beer, two actually, as it was “buy one get one free” happy hour, and spent some time watching the world walk by.  And there was plenty to watch.  Here’s Michael taking it all in. Perhaps it’s just me but there seemed to be a LOT of tattoos.  Not just the little ones that say something in Mandrin on an ankle but the rambling sort that begin at the wrist, flow up to shoulders and back down to the small of someone’s back.  And, that’s just the part that you can see.   Perhaps these folks that turn themselves into a walking art gallery are around all the time but there is nothing like a warm spring night to let you see, first hand, the result of what goes on in those little store front tattoo parlors that seem to be everywhere.

To be fair, there was much more to see than ink on skin.  How about fife and drum corps on the march?The historic district is quite quaint and a great spot to “people watch”, that’s for sure.  Did I mention that there were a lot of tattoos?And, for the “older set”, there was a big band concert on the town green.  I understand that Michael is in a band in RI, where he calls home.  I wonder if 25 years from now everyone listening to band concerts will be completely covered with tattoos?  How about a musical scale running up your right arm and down the left?  Hmm…  Sure as shootin, tattoos look better on a 20 something than an 80 something.   “Is that a picture of a bowl of prunes tattooed on your back Grandma?”  “Shut-up and eat your cereal kid or I’ll send you back to your parents.”

Alas, I digress.  So, back to Ana.

I plan on talking to Chris Parker, the weather router, today about next steps and am hopeful that he will suggest that we leave on Sunday morning to head outside to Beaufort NC, just south of Cape Hatteras. a two to three day run, I think.  After that, I understand that there will be some northerlies again as a front passes offshore, north of the cape.

After all that,  I am hoping that things will clear up and we’ll be able to make a jump the rest of the way to CT.  I fear that this is going to stretch beyond two weeks and I’ll end up with some new crew for what is beginning to look like will become the “second half” of the trip.  I know that it will be tough for Michael and Jim to commit more than two weeks to this.  Perhaps my biscuits will convince them otherwise.

If not, luckily, I have been contacted by two guys who ready my blog, one of which I have sailed with before, who have put up their hands to finish the run if I need new crew along the way.

It’s nice to know that someone out there is reading this stuff.

So, more to come on this.  Let’s hope that we can get to the “main event” soon with the new Pandora and put some ocean miles on her and soon.

Oh yeah, I forgot.  Yesterday I was finally able to sort out the antenna issues with the satellite radio on the plotter so now I’ll be able to keep track of weather while we are out of cell range.   That makes me feel much better and gives me confidence that I’ll get advance warning if my buddy Ana, or one of her friends, decides to make plans to move in our direction and give us some trouble.

For now, it’s clear that Ana’s calling the shots and we’ll be waiting here in St Augustine while she makes up her mind on what’s next.

At least it’s not Cleveland…

It’s Friday morning and we are motoring up the ICW on our way to St Augustine. where we will spend a day or two.  Unfortunately, we are still tied to the ICW as it’s just too rough offshore to make a run out in the ocean.    Things are particularly nasty as you get up toward Hatteras with Ana poking along to the NW at only 1kt, a very slow moving storm indeed.

Here’s what conditions are alike now off off of Cape Fear (Brenda just loves that name). The winds are running 35-50kts from the NW with gusts to 65, nearly Hurricane strength and it’s kicking up seas to 10-20’ tall.  Big waves.  Not a great spot to hang out.   And, to make matters worse, it’s not clear as to when this will settle down enough to make a run past Hatteras.

However, Chris Parker, the weather router, believes that that we can jump out from northern FL at some point, perhaps as early as the beginning of the week and begin our run outside.  Hopefully Hatteras will be settled by late next week, by the time we pass that area.  After that, 4-5 days to the CT River.  Well, who knows how long it’s going to take.    What a change from the last two years when I was able to make the run the entire way from the Bahamas in a week.  

There are a number of spots on the ICW where municipalities make free docks available to visiting boaters and New Smyrna, where we tied up last night, is one of those.  The town is lovely and we enjoyed walking around town to get a bit of exercise last night.  Here’s Pandora tied up to the free dock and a floating one at that.  Notice the davits holding up the dink.  That’s the work that was done last week.  I really like how they turned out.  The yard did a great job.  The new logo of the name looks great but it doesn’t show up quite as well as I had hoped on the dark green hull.  Oh well, I am not doing it again.  At least it’s subtle.This boat has all sorts of electronics and one that is particularly intriguing is satellite weather.   I had some problems getting it to work as it seems that I didn’t do a very good job of reattaching the antennas that I had removed from the arch when the welding was done.  However, today, after a few days of tinkering with the antenna (first I had to figure out which of the 5 was the right one) it’s working again.  This service shows weather for the entire eastern seaboard in real time.   It includes rain, waves, wind, lightning strikes (Brenda will particularly enjoy watching that) and a bunch of other data to help us understand what’s going on with the weather ahead of us when we are offshore.   As I have not yet installed my SSB radio, having this service is particularly useful.  This screen shot, cockpit reflections and all, shows how much information it has on the screen.  Very cool.Anyway, while the “where” we are going is not a question (Connecticut) there’s plenty of doubt about the “when”.  I guess it all comes down to Ana and what she has in mind.  So far, she’s proving to be in no particular rush to get out of the way.  “Ana!  Get a move on. “  I don’t think she is listening.  Women…

It’s Thursday and we just passed Cape Canaveral on our way north on the ICW.  We stopped last night in Cocoa and enjoyed a brief walk ashore (and a beer too, of course).   After a few days of rain we were happy to see the sky clear up but there were enough clouds remaining to make for quite a show at sunset.  Cocoa is a very cruiser welcoming spot with good shore access abutting a lovely waterfront park. 

Today we are headed up to New Smyrna for the night.  After that, probably St Augustine to wait for the low to clear out and then, well, we’ll have to see what the weather brings.   I had hoped to be able to jump out for an ocean run from the start, as I have done for the last two years on my runs from the Bahamas, but there is a nasty low that just won’t quit just off of the Carolinas.   It’s expected to land sometime over the weekend which should give way to some nice favorable winds early in the week.  I am a bit concerned that our run north might stretch beyond two weeks and necessitate a crew change along the way.  Oh well, at least I have a boat that folks want to crew on.  Fingers crossed that we can keep moving.   Anyone interested?  Hmm…

Besides, the crew is getting along well.  Don’t we look happy in this “selfie”?  Yes, pretty happy after a happy hour brew.  Nice way to end a day on the water with friends.The view from the rooftop bar in Cocoa, a brand new place that just opened, was terrific. One way or the other, we’ll have fun at the various stops along the way while we wait for a favorable weather window.   

Here’s Jim steering away at the helm.  Love that hard dodger.Today we were treated to a flyby, several actually, from my favorite bird, the pelican.   With their 4’ wingspan, they are an impressive sight.Well, I guess I had better wrap this up and make lunch for the crew.  I wouldn’t want to trigger a mutiny brought on by low blood sugar, would I?  So far, none of my crew has died from hunger aboard Pandora and I am working hard to keep that from happening.  

It’s Wednesday morning, beginning to get light to the east and the rain has stopped, for now.  After two seasons of fair winds to head north to CT, this year is certainly going to be tougher with a low centered off of Hatteras that is moving so slowly off to the north west that we won’t see favorable winds till the weekend, or perhaps early next week.

Ideally, I’d like to make a short offshore run to get a feel for the new boat as I have never even had the sails up, much less sail offshore with her in nasty weather.  I think it is prudent to take it easy and wait for more ideal conditions to make the “first” jump out.

Yesterday, I called Chris Parker, the weather router, to see what his recommendations were and was surprised and here’s what he advocated.  He thought that my best option was to leave Ft Pierce today and sail a few hundred miles east, to an area just north of the Abacos to take advantage of the northerlies for easting and then hang a left when the low gets further west and I hit SW winds behind the low to turn north to Cape Hatteras and home.  

It was an interesting thought but my concerns are that I don’t have any experinece with this new boat and worse, I don’t have any long distance communication gear to stay in touch with him as the trip progresses for updates on the storm.  This boat doesn’t have a SSB radio so after I am about 25 miles out I won’t be able to get weather updates.  So, if the low persists I might run right into the backside of it and hit some really nasty weather, something that I really do not want to do. 

I took another look at the weather gribs today and it seems that the low is moving faster to the NW than was forecast as recently as last evening. even yesterday so we could probably do what Chris is advocating.  However, I am not going to take the chance with a new boat and limited communications.   Besides, the current model seems to suggest that we might find favorable winds near shore as early as the weekend, a few days sooner than it appeared as recently as yesterday.

So, here’s the plan.  We will head up the ICW for the next few days and jump out and run offshore as soon as the winds are favorable again which could be as soon as the weekend.   One way or the other, we are going to leave and put some miles on.   

Or, to put it another way, we are going to “ditch” the ocean part for now and just go up the “ditch” and be done with it.  Get it?  The “ditch” is the ICW.  Pretty funny, yes?   “No Bob, pretty lame joke but a fine idea.”

Thanks, wish us luck.  

“Hey Bob, where are the pictures?  There should at least be a sunrise. What gives?”

Sorry.  Next time.  

It’s Tuesday morning and, as Brenda would say, “it’s blowing a gale”.  Well, I don’t think that gale is confirmed but it’s plenty windy, let me tell you.  Not a good day to head out for a 1,000 mile run in a boat that I have never sailed.   So, we wait…

Yesterday we left the boat yard where Ariel became Pandora with the application of the new name and hailing port of Newport RI.  We are also sporting a new and very shiny pair of davits to pick up our dink, which is also very shiny as it’s only a few months old.   Good news, the boat came with a brand new Caribe dink due to the previous owner turning in the “slightly worn” one for a warranty problem.  It’s very white, for the moment.

I left Harbor Town Marina, where I am now, on Friday to head over to the boat yard to have the work done and settled in on what was supposed to take a day and a half at most.  Alas, as things seem to go on boats, especially in sunny Florida where most move more S-L-O-W-L-Y than in NYC, the project stretched into four days with everything finally completed on Monday.  Well, technically, it was three days as they don’t work on Sundays.   However, delayed or not, the work turned out quite well in the end.  The folks at the boatyard are very nice but it’s not the sort of place that you want to hang out compared to Harbor Town Marina which is a much nicer place at a much higher price.

The yard sports all sorts of boats, some in various stages of decay.  These two commercial boats have been here for who knows how long.  I wonder if someone is still paying rent on the space they are taking up?  Anyone need a slightly worn fire-boat, cheap?Believe it or now, someone actually paid money to haul this one. It looks like a science experiment gone badly.  Is that a prop under that anemone?  And folks wonder why I am so anal about keeping Pandora so clean.  Beware, EVERYTHING dissolves into chaos…The boat yard is also very tight with boats tied up every which way and I was very pleased to have the nifty bow thruster to turn around in what was an impossibly small basin to back into the slip.  And I should note that the pilings we squeezed into were less than two feet wider than the stern of the boat, not quite enough space to wedge into with a fender on each side.   We had to step on the fenders to get them to squeeze in like partially deflated balloons.  After securing to the dock we built a scaffolding off of the stern so that the welder, Joe, could stand and work his magic.They “tacked” individual pieces onto the structure and stepped back to be sure that everything was level and looked about right.  Frame supports were bent into shape with brute force.   Some of the work required climbing skills in addition to being an expert welder. After everything was secured the welding began in earnest and soon, well sort of soon, everything was ready for polishing.   I was amazed that something that looked like this would eventually gleam brightly, but it did.The finished product looks great and was ready to fit the dink.  My crew, Michael and Jim both shimmied out to the end of the frame to secure the blocks that will pull up the dink. I don’t regard the arrangement of blocks to be quite worked out but it’s quite serviceable for now as I use what I had on hand.  More to come on this when I get back to CT and decide how to refine everything.

CW, the sign guy, did a great job with the logo, based on the one from the “old” Pandora.   It’s grey and silver which looks terrific on the dark green hull.  Earlier in the day we pulled out of the slip and backed in bow first to be sure that there was plenty of room to apply the new name.

He applied it perfectly from a floating dink. He does very nice work. So, all was done by mid-afternoon yesterday and we were ready to return to the marina.  Not…

Oops.  The tide was to low, we were hard aground and couldn’t budge.  Besides, the wind was blowing about 15kts on the beam (not good) and the distance between us and the boats to our lee was less than a boat length.  I had no idea how I was going to back Pandora out of the slip and turn her to get out in that tiny basin without banging into someone.   From the front of the bow-sprit to the back of the davits is something like 53′.  Long boat.

Here’s an idea… Michael is a retired tug captain so let’s have him jump into the dink and do his “tug thing” to keep us crashing into the other boats in the marina.

So, after waiting another few hours for the tide to come up a littlemore, we powered off in reverse while Jim pulled with all his might to help “ooze” our way out.   Michael did his magic and off we went with “no loss of life” as his wife Terri once famously quipped.

Finally…out and on our way.  It was a thrill for me to call the bridge tender  and say “sailing vessel Pandora requesting an opening” for the first time aboard “New Pandora”.

After docking back at Harbor Town Marina we all enjoyed a well earned G&T, well actually, Jim prefers Rum and Tonic.    The bar as open aboard Pandora as the sun was setting. Well, as I mentioned, the weather isn’t cooperating at all so today we’ll be hanging out at the marina, with some sightseeing on the side, for at least another day till this “gale” blows itself out and we can get underway. 

However, dink secure and we are ready…Yes, I am pretty excited about beginning our journey north and our new life aboard Pandora.  You know, the Aerodyne 47 composite one.