Still Relaxing in Lake Worth

Ahhh just an easy cruis’n day in Lake Worth. The weather forecast has strong winds coming in tonight and tomorrow and continuing through Monday so here we will sit for awhile. No Bahamas crossing this week.

Mid morning we had a visit from Mark and Julie on S/V Rachel. They were seeking information on bus routes which Karen is now the resident expert on and they shared information about Miami and the best ways to get there beyond the ditch run – ICW. The ICW between here in Fort Lauderdale is no picnic because of the numerous bridge schedules and all the inconsiderate boaters. Then we can not go inside between Ft Lauderdale and Miami because of a 56 foot bridge in Miami just before the inlet!! Thus that leg would always have to be done outside.

They also shared a little tidbit which will save us some money when we go to the Bahamas. Verizon Wireless has no service there so our phones and my broadband card become useless for 3 months. Now Verizon has a vacation plan where for $5 a month you can suspend service for up to 90 days – the suspended time being added to any contract. Thus we do not have to pay the usually plan charges during that period -- Yahoo a way to save money – that doesn’t happen too often in the cruising world. Be advised you cruisers of this plan is you so want to choose..

Late morning we did some postal chores and a “Pak and Send” shop nearby and went to “Bella Pizza” for lunch. They are across the road from the Publix here. After that – well we had to visit the Publix and just bought a few odds and ends – mostly odds.

The afternoon was spent sewing up the “riding sail” I cut out yesterday and well not to work too hard – I’ll put the grommets in it tomorrow and test.

Just a realxin evening planned unless it gets too windy then I’ll be sleeping in the main salon again..

Moon Set over Lake Worth

It was a peaceful night since the wind died down. I slept like a rock. Ohhh check out the cool moon picture I took this morning right at sunrise. Wow it was BIG>>

Today was cooler and a bit breezy but with the wind mainly NW and limited fetch it was comfortable here. Karen left early on a big bus adventure. She got an all day pass for $3.50 and was going to work a couple of bus routes to find a JoAnn Fabrics. She needs more yarn for more knitting projects.

I cruised by in the dinghy and visited with Carl on Diva and Mark on Rachel. We discussed the forecast and all agreed that we will be here till at least Tuesday. Tomorrow the wind will be 20 with gusts to 30 from the N and NE. Again with the limited fetch should not be a problem here. The only “fly in the ointment” is that a couple of new boats came in today and anchored near me. Well if we get to close they have to move – anchor etiquette. First one in gets the spot.

I cut out some Sunbrella to make a riding sail for the boat and hopefully eliminate or minimize this anchor dancing. Good thing I talked to Carl though. He said he had one but never uses it because it constantly blankets his KISS wind generator and it stops. I think I’ll make a smaller one and build it so it goes up past the KISS on the backstay. I’m just using 3 yds of fabric.

Ohhhh got bitten by the Previous owner (might be the first owner) notations in a manual. The front cover of the engine manual showed the NAPA filter number to use for oil and says 1 gallon 1qt. When I changed oil that is what I use it seemed a little low on the dip stick. The dip stick is very poorly engineered and difficult to read. Well I was looking at the Endeavour Owners manual last night to get some info on the propeller and on the same page was a statement to use 9 qts of oil in the engine. Well 1 gallon and a quart is only 5 quarts!! I checked the Yanmar manual and it said to use 6.5 liters which is 7.7 quarts. Aaaaack – I’ve been using too little oil…. I added another quart today and it is at the full mark now. I also made up my mind to ignore any previous owner notations in any manual for future references. Grrrr..

Sleepless in Palm Beach

It was an uncomfortable night all right. Once an anchor doesn’t completely hold then you are anxious about it for sometime until the confidence rebuilds. What is that saying?? “One oh sh-t wipes out 1000 at a boys!”

I don’t think the problem yesterday was just short scope. Another boat came in late and anchored near where we were yesterday morning. First thing this morning they moved to another spot – could be holding is just poor there.


It blew strong all night and this boat wants to “dance” around the anchor. In other words the boat will swing to one side of the anchor and catch the wind broad side until the anchor pulls back, then it swings to the other side and repeats and this oscillates at about a 4 –5 minute period thus putting a lot of stress on the anchor.

Well the holding and scope worked well and we had no problem over night or through the even stronger winds that came late morning into early afternoon 25 – 30 kts. Once the cold front passed at around 2:30pm the wind clocked to the west and dropped to about 10 kts along with a 30 minute shower. It is quite comfortable here now and should remain that way until Sunday. Unfortunately no good window to cross to the Bahamas until maybe middle of next week.

I had one problem today – the wind generator. It was working just fine and gen’ing a lot of amps when suddenly it got noisy and more vibration. I realized it was spinning faster but only outputting a couple of amps. I turned it off at the switch which usually stops it but it just kept spinning at HIGH revolutions. I had to carefully reach behind it and grab a control line and spin it so its back was facing the wind. The blade slowed down to a near stop and I could grab it and put a line on it. Apparently the high winds caused the internal coil to get so hot that it tripped some thermostats that allowed it to go free wheeling – not a good design.. Anyway once it cooled down it worked fine again .

The other things that worked well last night was stowing the dinghy and motor. No worries about the painter separating and it wasn’t bumping into the stern or ladder all night – pretty quiet back there. Unfortunately I spent the night on a couch in the main salon to listen for strange sounds and make numerous checks on our position throughout the night. Well that new mattress pad is working because my back ached today. I should be back in the main bed tonight with these mild conditions. Putting dual snubbers on also made a difference. The boat did not rock fore and aft as much as it did the previous night so the sloshing of the partial 120 gallon water tank was not as noticeable.

Somethings work – somethings don’t.

Cruising is not always a bed of Roses

Cruising is great but there are times that challenge you. Most of the time those challenges are around anchoring situations. Either you are worried your anchor won’t hold or someone near by anchor won’t hold. Reasons for not holding are many fold – some you control – some you don’t.

Last night just before bedtime the wind picked up to 20 kts. It blew between 20 –25 with frequent gusts to 30kts for about 6 hours. The boat was right in the center of the fetch. It wasn’t too uncomfortable but with the boat swinging to one side then the other side of the anchor there were shock loads on it. I got up several times and did not see anything amiss. Then this morning when the sun came up I saw where I was a bit closer to the boat directly behind me – yesterday when we dropped the hook I was about 150 feet from the bow of that boat. This morning I was about 90 feet or about 20 yds closer. I use a handheld range finder to measure these distances.

Now it was decision time?? Do I just set another anchor?? Has the first anchor really dug in strong?? I’m too close to increase scope -- I had 80 feet out in 15 feet of water which is a bit short..

The wind was strong and I didn’t want to set the second anchor from the dinghy. I thought about it awhile then fortunately a sailboat left the anchorage. Ohhh he had a nice spot. We pulled anchor fairly quickly and repositioned over that spot. I now have 120 feet of chain down in 14 feet of water.

This is a concern because the winds are forecast to go to 20 – 25 after midnight tonight and maybe 30 knots tomorrow and numerous thunderstorms as the latest cold front passes through. Thus it is not all fun and games and here I worry about tonight but I have more room to work with now. Unfortunately the strong winds yesterday and today have given Karen the impression that this is not a good anchorage. But when it goes lighter on Friday maybe she will change her mind. At any rate there will be no Bahamas crossing for at least a week.

Today was okay. I went to my favorite Chinese Buffet near the anchorage and the food was good but it was not very crowded. Afterwards we walked past all the shops in this rather new mall and were aghast to see most of the spaces were empty!! Probably only 6 shops here out of maybe 50.. Looks like the economy is not all roses here in West Palm Beach.. Gosh I wonder how long this Chinese Buffet will remain??

Now on the plus side today I heard from my ol cruising buddy Ralph Chapman aboard Luna C formerly of Matthews Point Marina. He has located in the Wilmington (NC) maritime center and is thoroughly enjoying himself. He has some ambitious cruising plans for this winter and is planning on having some great fun. If anyone needs his email here it is: captrechappell@yahoo.com

With the weather forecast being so “not so good” for tonight and tomorrow we stowed the dinghy and the motor. In all that wind last night it kept banging into the stern of the boat making noise and the ladder made a lot of noise too. So all that is put away for this storm a coming and I’ve got more chain out and 2 snubber lines on instead of one. We still swing to either side of the wind. I think we need to make a riding sail for the anchorage. This is good practice for the Bahamas where these conditions can be expected once or twice a week in the winter.

Hey anyone know of any good anchor watch software that works with the GPS??? I think it will be a long night tonight.

Rock and Roll!!

Wow what a day of wind.. The wind really came up last night 15 – 20 with gusts to 25kts. We rocked a bit in that Hobe Sound Anchorage. This morning when we left the sky was very hazy. Hobe Sound is just a stones throw from the Atlantic and the wind was blowing beach sand and spray from the ocean. The boat handled well but some gusts did heel us a bit and we had NO sail out. We were also the only boat moving for about 2 hours..

Once w turned at the Jupiter Inlet and went inland a bit the wind and haze settled down.

But boy bridges!! We only had to go 14 miles today but had to negotiate 6 bridges – 2 on demand and the rest on schedule. It took nearly 4 hours to go 14 miles.

The anchorage here at North Lake Worth is very crowded today. It took us about 30 minutes of riding around before I set the hook and it is ok – but?? We will see when the wind changes direction which shouldn’t be until Friday. Now some storms on Thursday may also have a say in the wind direction. I might have to set a second anchor to control my swing.

Several boats from Vero are here – my Guru Diva for one. We will probably just follow their lead over to the Abacos or down to Miami. Carl is a very conservative cruiser and his wife Debbie has very specific conditions for a crossing. For instance I asked Carl the other day what conditions he preferred for a crossing and Debbie jumped in and said FF is the only way – F—king Flat!!

It has been blowing here all day 15 - 20 SE which is the longest fetch for our position but it is not too uncomfortable – just a bit of Rock and Roll. It may lay down some tonight but will be back tomorrow.

We made one quick trip to the Publix here today and Karen was not impressed with the hill climb and the sand spit to land the dinghy at – but hey it is free to anchor here.. Because of the wind I did not want to leave the boat too long so we will do Chinese Buffet here tomorrow. Then I’ll cut Karen loose to browses the shops here – more than you shake a stick at.

Ohhh the last picture of the anchorage is supposedly Jack Nicholas’ home and boat(s).

FREE at last!! Free at last!!

Finally underway again. Maybe I exaggerated a little about being "Free at last". Vero Beach is really very nice.

The old sailor axiom “Men and ships soon rot in port” is so true. Now Karen and I show no signs of rot but poor Temptation did this morning. When we motored on down the ICW my no current cruise speed was only 5.7 knots where it had been 6.2 kts. The knot log meter (paddle wheel) reported 0kts all day!! Must be caked in slime or barnacles or both. I kept hoping a big wake would wake it up but it didn’t. The wind speed did not work at first but after a good shaking by a passing boat it started to work. Our cruising speed eventually rose to 6.0 kts but still the slime – or is it “Velcro” – is slowing us down a bit.

We had a nice motor down the ICW today – did something like 40 + NMS. We are just 12 nm from North Lake Worth. I want to get in early and take my time to find a nice spot to anchor because we will probably be there awhile. The weather here will deteriorate tomorrow night and be stormy Wednesday and Thursday with wind over the weekend. But hey – a new location and food and stuff still convenient. That and we can stage for the Bahamas in just 4 hours from there.

When we passed through Vero Beach this morning we passed the canal that was the home for Temptation for so many years. The boat did not pull in that direction or just stop so we believe she must like her new home.

We are anchored here tonight in Hobe Sound, FL. The home of multimillion dollar homes – I mean like 10 million each. And we are just hanging out in their back yards – nanny nanny boo boo

Well I shouldn’t get too worked up or I’m sure they will have the jack booted FWC come visit us.

Ohhh anchoring here was interesting… We pulled into the first of 4 nice depressions along the ICW where you can anchor. Each can hold several boats. We had a view of all of them and no boat was here at 3pm. Well shortly after we had our hook down 2 other sailboats and a trawler came in and they anchored all around us… All this room but they had to be close to what was already here. What do they call that syndrome?? I know Mark Haskell knows it!! He reported it before too.

Vic and I just Cruis'n

Vic and I had a nice cruisers day. It is a shame to think we will part company so soon but we will meet up againg soon I expect.

The ladies went to an Art Show at Humiston Park today leaving us to our beer and imaginations. They took our bikes. Karen got to use her new “Bike Trunk” from Downtube.com and Gigi road my Dahon Mariner 26 which she really enjoyed..

Vic worked on his noise problem with his solar collectors and I supervised. We determined that the BZ Controller folks are full of sh--. The filter they sent did not make a bit of difference.

I spent the day – actually just part of it – topping off the water tanks with jerry jugs of water and filled the dinghy tank with gas and carry 2 gallons spare, (boy I hope I did that in the right order) and did what little laundry we had collected -- hopefully next laundry day will be in the Bahamas!!

I also settled our account with the marina here and we are now ready to leave. I think I have thought of a dozen reasons to stay another day or two – but NO we will leave tomorrow. It is time to get out from the grasp of this Velcro!!

The plan is to make a partial trip to North Lake Worth tomorrow and stop at either Peck Lake or along the ICW in Hobe Sound then boogie a short day into North Lake Worth. Wednesday and Thursday are forecast to be poor weather days but after that --- maybe the window we are looking for. If not, there is a great Publix grocery just a ½ block away from the dinghy landing and a GREAT Chinese Buffet which I will make use of a couple of days a week if we stay for any length of time. Did you know?? In the Abacos, I never found a Chinese restaurant there in a previous trip so I’ll need to load up on Chinese before going.