St. Augustine

After a grueling day and night of motoring into the wind followed today by a full day of really good, actual sailing, we tied up at the Municipal Marina in St. Augustine at around 3:00 this afternoon. We all agreed to stay for the night instead of just buying fuel, water, ice and beer, and then heading out again. We also agreed to eat off the boat at a brew pub, which was pretty good considering they didn't make their own beer. Yuengling has been the flavor of the trip so far.

Tomorrow, we set sail early for Fort Pierce, the second of the three legs that will get us to Key West, our launching point for Isla Mujeres, Mexico. It will be a little longer than our first leg, but the forecast is calling for winds 10-15 out of the north, so we may be able to ride a fast broad reach most of the way. Spot notifications will continue to show our progress.

Check-in/OK message from SPOT Whispering Jesse: 5/12/2013 17:10

Whispering Jesse
Latitude: 29.89192
Longitude: -81.30878
GPS Location Date/Time: 05/12/2013 17:10:34 EDT

Message: This is the crew of Whispering Jesse checking in. All is well. Click the Google Maps link to see where we are.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=29.89192,-81.30878&ll=29.89192,-81.30878&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

Check-in/OK message from SPOT Whispering Jesse: 5/12/2013 11:50

Whispering Jesse
Latitude: 30.15011
Longitude: -81.30533
GPS Location Date/Time: 05/12/2013 11:50:19 EDT

Message: This is the crew of Whispering Jesse checking in. All is well. Click the Google Maps link to see where we are.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=30.15011,-81.30533&ll=30.15011,-81.30533&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

Check-in/OK message from SPOT Whispering Jesse: 5/11/2013 16:01

Whispering Jesse
Latitude: 31.53392
Longitude :-81.02722
GPS Location Date/Time: 05/11/2013 16:01:33 EDT

Message: This is the crew of Whispering Jesse checking in. All is well. Click the Google Maps link to see where we are.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=31.53392,-81.02722&ll=31.53392,-81.02722&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

Check-in/OK message from SPOT Whispering Jesse: 5/11/2013 10:34

Whispering Jesse
Latitude: 31.89005
Longitude: -81.06223
GPS Location Date/Time: 05/11/2013 10:34:35 EDT

Message: This is the crew of Whispering Jesse checking in. All is well. Click the Google Maps link to see where we are.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=31.89005,-81.06223&ll=31.89005,-81.06223&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

Away we go!

The big day is finally here. Our crew members have arrived safely. The boat is ready to go. And the weather looks fine for now. We are planning to set sail at high tide at 10:30 this morning. Spot Beacon postings will follow our course. Wish us well!

Boat projects

A week from right now, we should be most of the way to St. Augustine, Florida, our first planned stop after having set sail from Savannah on Saturday, May 11. In the meantime, Nan and I have been chipping away at our endless list of boat projects and making numerous trips to West Marine, Home Depot and Walmart.

Nan is back in Wisconsin for a long weekend celebrating her mother's ninetieth birthday and seeing her family one last time before our departure. She is due back tomorrow evening for the final project push before our crew members start arriving on Wednesday, when Mike and Jim fly in, and then Friday, when Jack joins us.

My progress on exterior projects has been hampered by lousy weather. It has been raining off and on since Thursday, and the winds have been gusting to thirty knots. There are whitecaps on Delegal Creek, and breaking waves are visible out toward Ossabaw Sound. The high tides have been record breaking, flooding huge expanses of the Romerly Marsh. Whispering Jesse has been rolling in her slip and straining at her dock lines, making balance in the cabin a challenge. We are hoping for much calmer conditions after the current low-pressure system moves out. We can handle light winds, but rough seas to start would be no fun at all.

Before the weather turned ugly, we employed the services of Sailor's Nautical Services, as recommended by Joel, who slips his cat ketch at the adjacent pier. Walt Suter spliced our anchor rode to its chain after we cut out a badly rusted shackle, and then he returned to tune our mast with some precise adjustments to the shroud turnbuckles. If only everyone in the marine services business were as reliable and professional as Walt!

Chart plotter

We did make it to Savannah last Friday night, but it was a twelve-hour day of driving. My folks waited up and were happy to see us arrive safely. With Dad's help the next morning, we unloaded the U-Haul trailer containing the piles of boat stuff we had brought along for Whispering Jesse into the garage. How we'll pack it all aboard, I'm still not sure.

Nan and I have spent the last week working on our long list of boat projects, everything from removing an old saltwater wash-down pump to cleaning the bilge. On Wednesday, Ben from Marine Wire Works installed our new Garmin 740s chart plotter, a carbon monoxide detector, and three cigarette lighter-type DC power receptacles. While he was working his wiring magic, Elfin (his real name) the diesel mechanic stopped by to see about removing our Webasto diesel heating system, which takes up significant space in the starboard lazarette and which we will not need in the tropics. He also checked on our refrigerator, which is lately capable of achieving temperatures only in the high forties. When he returns, he will tutor us in the basic maintenance of our diesel engine, for a self-sufficient, less worrisome future.

The chart plotter is a huge improvement for the boat, so much better than basic GPS and paper charts. It is mounted on an articulated arm next to the companionway, where the antiquated Furuno GPS was. I went with that location instead of mounting it on the binnacle because the installation instructions advised against a location too near the boat's compass. Ben poo-pooed this, but he agreed that having it in the companionway meant that we didn't need to worry as much about theft. Even in its somewhat sheltered location, the chart plotter's built-in antenna is good enough to pull in strong satellite signals, so there was no need to install the external antenna I had bought. I will be returning it to West Marine, along with the expensive stern rail mount I ordered for it.

Today, I am varnishing all the new wooden parts I have made or bought: an outboard motor storage mount for the stern rail, a beverage holder for the binnacle, a teak leg for the binnacle table, and the cut-out frames I made last fall. The boat has many wooden components, like the cap rail and the cabin-top "eyebrow," and these new wooden parts will add some useful, good-looking accents. Time to go brush on another coat...

On the road

Nan and I are holed up in a Holiday Inn Express in Forrest City, Arkansas, about fifty miles west of Memphis. We decided to get off the highway late this afternoon when the rain was falling hard enough to completely obscure the amorphous blobs passing us without their lights on. We had hoped to make it as far as Birmingham, Alabama, but the weather did not cooperate. We may arrive in Savannah a day late, but it would beat ending up in a ditch like the unlucky hydroplaners we passed earlier today.

Yesterday afternoon, we made it to Bentonville, Arkansas as planned. Nan's sister Monica and Monica's partner Vicky made us welcome in their beautiful home. Scout made himself at home with their two dogs and ten cats, which is good because he will be spending the next seven or so weeks with them. Nan and I decided early on in the planning for our sailing trip to Isla Mujeres that Scout should not sail with us. He has almost no experience with being on a boat, and if he got sick or injured, we would never forgive ourselves. Instead, Nan will fly back to get him in early June, after we are safely settled at El Milagro Marina.

The photo from this morning shows Nan, Monica, Bella and Scout just before Nan and I said good-bye to Scout and were escorted by Monica and the dogs out to the interstate. We can't thank you enough, Monica and Vicky!

To the moon

As my 1995 Honda Passport's odometer approached 200,000 miles, I joked that I wanted to take it "to the moon." The average distance to the moon from earth is 238,857 miles, and I figured if I had made it this far, the additional 40,000 or so miles would be a cinch. Alas, it was not to be. I sold my Honda this past Friday to the gentleman in the photo, Perry. He was pretty happy. I was pretty melancholy. Eighteen years is a long time to hang onto a vehicle, and it was not an easy transition. But it's a part of the plan, which makes it worth it. Tomorrow, we will begin our drive east to Savannah, where Whispering Jesse is waiting for us to sail her to Mexico. The adventure begins.