Once in a "Blue Moon"

Well It's like this, We had the choice to sit and write blogs or enjoy the great weather and blue clear water of the Florida keys. That is really the best reason that we came up with for this long dry spell.
Boot Key harbor in Marathon Key is where Godspeed lies tied to a mooring ball. There is over 200 moorings here and it is a community on the water complete with a cruiser's radio net in the morning that keeps us up on organized activities, buy sell trade, trivia, stuff like that.
Ok, ok so you want the dirt do you? I (Pat) got to meet this great Caribbean gal in North Palm Beach on a bicycle trip back from Home Depot. There she was in her rather crappy mini-van waiting to turn into the four lane highway. I was pedaling along down the sidewalk and made eye contact with her, slowed down and proceeded to pass in front of her when Louis Jean proceeded to pull into the highway. It wasn't so bad while I was on the wedge shaped hood, or while the bike slowly was sucked under the front end, the terror started when the bike pulled me along. Luckily I managed to get a bent leg and a good stiff arm on the bumper which prepared me for the journey ahead. I was kind of glad she decided to find the brake after a couple of lanes and her exceptionally slow reflexes allowed me to kind of get untangled before she put it into reverse and punched it. Well the good thing was I was free of the van, the bad thing was my bike and I were one now and the traffic light had just turned green. There was no time for self pity but a massive adrenaline rush and a rather interesting and athletic dive for the curb with the bike in tow. Louis Jean never got out of the mini van but sat there and told me that I ran into her and she had to go see Jerome and did not have time for this. I kept turning the conversation to -I need my bike fixed or we are calling the cops. No you ran into me mister! I calmly explained to her that all the damage to the bike was in the back so therefore I had to have been riding my bike at about 30 mph "BACKWARDS" to have got the job done. She finally got the bike fixed and even added a new kickstand for our trouble. When she dropped the bike off and I told her "God bless you, you did the right thing" she smiled and said "I still don't think it was my Fault!"
We rented a car and went to Fort Laurdadale to buy a head sail for stiffer wind conditions that we were in great need of. David Jenkins and Justin Sandner of Alpine Wyoming called us up and said we are in Port Everglades. Well, it was like 5 miles away, so we had a great lunch with them at Jack and Linda's place right on the inlet. It was quite obvious that they were there on business, Bare feet, flip flops, fruit drinks, subtle clues like that made it clear so we bid farewell and headed back to North Palm.
"Mon Ammie" I hollered to Lorrie as We watched Dave and Mary on "Mon Ammie" motor in and set their anchor. We enjoyed having them in the anchorage and got to watch Dave climb the mast in record time one morning to change a bulb. We met them in Oriental and they are professional cruisers. We learned a bunch from them!
Down the ditch we went, During the stay in North Palm we finished prepping Godspeed to hit the Ocean. As it worked out we could not get outside for one reason or the other and the next thing we know we are facing a 56 foot bridge. Now in our preparation for this possibility we had made several measurements and concluded that the mast is 54', maybe, We think,we hope. So there she stood like a great judge with the final word. I slowed Godspeed to a crawl and just wanted to be on the other side. We crept up and I realized the current was pulling us into it so we pulled a u turn and let mother nature take her course. This allowed us to inch up to the bridge in forward gear and have the ability to escape in forward if we made contact. Bam, just like that we were under it and high fiveing each other. Now all we had to do was take a left into Government Cut (one of the busyist ports on the east coast) drive past all the giant ships turn into a side channel and toss over Bruce, Right? It was really neat turning into this super busy harbor to find that we were the only ones moving. Godspeed seemed kind of small in that huge channel surrounded by cruise ships and big shipy ships. "No traffic Lorrie", this is great just us and a fast moving boat with flashing lights, loud speakers, and big guns! These kind gentlemen told us the harbor is closed turn around now, they were very convincing, so we did! Homeland security closes that harbor when certain ships transit it, so now we know! It is now about dark and we can't get to our anchorage, so into Biscayne Bay we turned and cruised by the rather impressive Miami skyline. Right at dark we spotted some masts in what looked like a cove so we felt our way in and tossed Bruce. In the morning we figured out that we slept in the middle of the Miami water speed way, there were grandstands around us with all the cool racing stuff, so we weighed Bruce and raced on outta there!
Before noon we Raised all sails in the Hawk Channel and "We Be Sailin" Since we left the mainland, using the engine only to charge batteries, tight maneuvering, and anchoring. Godspeed loves the open water and slips along swiftly in light winds, reaches hull speed quickly and have not seen her heel more than 15 degrees. We are getting used to it but it seems strange to see the bottom most of the time. When we dingy up we can see the rudder and keel underwater. Shortly after we arrived in Boot Key harbor we spotted Friends from Oriental, Randy and Ellen On "Bella" and have enjoyed thier company. This morning just before the Cruiser's net radio show Dennis on "Majic" dingyed up, Knocked on the hull and asked if we Knew Peter Hatcher from Wyoming, of course we did and he too lives in Alpine. Then we met a Game warden and school teacher from Thermopolis WY just leaving the harbor. For those of you back home shoveling snow, don't think you have to rush right down, Wyoming is well represented in the Keys and after all somebody has to move the snow or it would melt on its on without being noticed!
Pictures:
Dave up the mast
Miami speedway anchorage
Great white heron that lands on the blone each night
Happy new year!
The "Blue Moon" on New years morning in Boot Key Harbor

the last Supper and Thanksgiving

It's been awhile so there is another post right after this one. We spent 3 days in Fernandina Beach tied to a mooring ball and decided to make a hard run south to Melbourne Beach for thanksgiving dinner with nephew Tyler Gustafson and wife Jess. Things went great until we passed the Port Orange Bridge south of Daytona. As we slipped under the bridge I looked back and smiled as I remembered catching a very large Pompano from that spot in 1978-good times. Then came the weather. We have rigged the GPS/Chartplotter to be taken forward under the dodger along with the autopilot remote for times like this and it works great, you can drive with your fingertips anywhere on the boat while ducking for cover or whatever but we still stay close to the wheel. Yea, it was blowing and carrying on-so what, right?
Well, we entered a big sound area after New Smyrna Beach that was "yee haa". Nice rollers off the port quarter in rapid succession that made Otto(autopilot)get confused so it was hands on and very busy for about 2 hours. Then Lorrie tells me it is about time to duck out of this sound and into a man made cut to the next sound. Oh by the way, and there is a low bridge in the middle with 25 knots of wind on the Stearn and a wicked current with very little room to do anything but pray that the bridge operator would not be too slow today. We have never seen such a great concentration of dolphins as in this cut, I was glad they were there to take some of the pressure off as we transited the bridge just fine and now comes the fun!
As we slipped into the next sound it was quite apparent that the first was merly training for what was to come. A narrow channel in 2 feet of water with big rapid rollers moving at a fast pace to the starboard quarter. It got worse as we progressed and that is when Lorrie put on her foul weather gear and all the trimmings and prepared the "last Supper". Cheese and crackers were great at the moment and I was very busy keeping Godspeed off the shoals and water under the keel while mother nature did her thang. We stayed in Titusville that night and slipped under the bridge at first light Thanksgiving morning, At high noon we sent Bruce to the bottom in Melbourne. Later on Tyler picked us up at a park we dingyed to and what a treat we were in for!
Jess and her sister Melanie made their first Thanksgiving dinner and it was as good as we have ever had, complete wih pie and ice cream. It was a great time seeing these guys and meeting Drew (Melanie's boyfriend) and also Jess's grandfather. The next day Tyler and Jess rode their bikes over to the park and we dingyed them to godspeed for a look. We dropped them off, said goodbye, and took off in the Blonde(that is the name of the dinghy because she is full of hot air and "just a little dingy"). The indian river was smooth and the Blonde wanted to run so I gave her all the rein and off we went. Tyler & Jess had quite a look on their faces as they biked down the bridge 20 minutes later to see us walking in front of them.
Pictures:
1000 miles
Tyler and Jess

Three Passages in one!

After five days and 5 nights at the Mega Dock in Charleston, we set out once again for points South. As we left the dock and turned into the channel, I noticed there was very low oil pressure and we immediately turned into the anchorage and sent Bruce down. After a bit mechanicing and considering our safety in this particular situation, I determined we were OK to continue, not the best start but we were once again off. That night as we slipped into the anchorage of our choice, our new friends from Dreamer were the only boat there. Just as Bruce grabbed a hold, Pete dingyed over and invited us over for wine and cheese, a couple of local dolphins supplied the entertainment and we had a great evening on Dreamer!
We anchored in Beaufort SC that night(said like it sounds not to be confused with Bo-fert NC). The next few days we took on Georgia, We started out with an 80 mile day and into the big sounds and marshes we went. This leg of the journey was highlighted by the lack of man, the abundance of nature and marine life, and NO FUEL FOR 100 MILES!!!!!! We were sicking the diesel tank constantly watching it slowly disappear. The tidal change in this area is between 8 and 9 feet, so the currents scream to move this amount of water every 6 hours so there wasn't much chance of sailing. There was one boat that Godspeed just could not shake, the Fiscal Stray. We got to know Tod and Anne and shared anchorages for a couple of nights and we were sure glad they were near us. After explaining our situation, Tod offered a jerry jug of diesel to us and being the only way out, we excepted. Fiscal Stray adorned with fenders on her starboard, Godspeed on her port, Anne held Fiscal Stray at a steady true course and I maneuvered Godspeed alongside and Tod made the passage of jerry to Lorrie. We Fed the "Iron lady" and completed the passage again, waved goodbye to Fical Stray at Brunswick GA and into Florida we came. Three passages in one, Two jerry's and one Georgia!
Pictures:
Godspeed leads the pack
Dreamer
Sunrise at anchor
Fiscal Stray has our back
After much abuse, anyone can comment- have at it!

Hurricane Holeing

Just came in from setting all the ground tackle we have (anchors, chain, etc). Hurricane Ida is expected to mow us over. The Coast Guard rescue helicopter is circling overhead begging us to evacuate, but were not leaving Godspeed!
The weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed, if it wasn't for the courage of the fearless crew, Godspeed would be lost!
OK, OK, we are actually tied to the City Marina "Mega Dock" in Charleston Harbor just livin' it up.
Backing up to Friday, we were making our cruise to the Isle of Palms area and I watched the depth sounder slowly count down, 8, 7, 7.5, 6, 5, 5.5, and down she went. In horror I slipped Godspeed into full reverse and slowed almost to a stop and slowly continued (wrong decision). For the first time we felt her bump bottom the the bow surged downward and we were officially aground. Clearly we were in the channel and "Christal clearly" we were on the bottom! After a holding the throttle at about half reverse and a sharp turn of the rudder we slowly slipped off. Then sheer terror set in! We inched our way into deeper water. As we continued we passed several abandoned boats sitting on the bottom, it had the Erie feeling of a graveyard. We made it to a nice anchorage at dusk, relaxed, and counted our blessings.
Saturday evening, my two sisters Melanie and Melinda, accompanied by adult supervision Norman (Melanie's hubby), boarded Godspeed at Isle Of Palms, SC. In the morning, after running aground again, we anchored at a remote spot and Melanie baked biscuits, made gravy, and all the fixins while I baited hooks and removed the catch of the day for perhaps the best "trash fisherman" man has ever encountered, Melinda. She was like a little kid starting with "I don't like to fish". Then came "here Melinda reel this one in", Sheer "Joy" (her middle name) followed and some of the finest trash fishin' the world has ever seen was witnessed by all aboard.
We made a very slow cruise to the Ben Sawyer swing bridge to hit the "on the hour opening" and then into Charleston Harbor. Out came the sails and we spent a fabulous day sailing around the harbor. After docking Godspeed's 35 feet in a 34 foot spot on the Mega Dock, Melanie did the "surf and Norm grilled the Turf" for a great evening meal on Godspeed. We giggled ourselves to sleep and said goodbyes in the morning. It was fun having them aboard, even for such a short time.
We had planned to move off the dock to an anchorage when some other cruisers told us that Ida's storm track had changed and could threaten us. After checking the weather, we walked to the dockmaster and asked if we could stay a few days, then the phone rang and someone else was turned away and we were told we could stay. Now that's cutting it close! Although this little stay will put a gouge in the kitty, "Safe than sorry" is the card we are playing as we watch the storm's progress, safely attached to this massive structure. It does not appear it will do much more than rain buckets here. Anyway, we took the courtesy van to the Charleston visitor center and spent the afternoon as "world class tourist" enjoying watching the horse and mule drawn carriages, eating boiled peanuts on a park swing, and enjoying the deep history of Charleston by foot, eventually walking all the way back to Godspeed.

The Backdoor/ Land of my people!

Godspeed motored out of Masonboro about 8:00am Monday morning into an overcast and dreary sky. We stopped at Carolina Beach for fuel and were pleasantly surprised to see Godspeed had only sipped 12 gallons of diesel in 24 hours of motoring. It was the next 2 days when we really began to appreciate our vessel, she is very nimble at the helm and has long swift legs that steadily will out distance most other vessels which is a great advantage when you arrive at an anchorage way ahead of the pack and have a place to send Bruce down for the night. Several times we have made timed bridge openings, slipped through when many others are far behind and have to wait for the next window as we head to the next anchorage early. Godspeed is the right name!
After the fuel stop, we found ourselves in a wide sound area which ia a major shipping lane. A dredge had all but a few feet of the channel blocked and a shoal on the other side. The good thing was there was a strong current and a 15 to 20 Knot wind sucking us into the shoal, It was very exiting for a few minutes as I held Godspeed at a 45 degree angle to the channel crabbed along and made only forward progress. We made it through ok and beside the big boats we went. After a 60 mile run we sent Bruce down and we stayed the night at Calabash, just a few feet inside South Carolina near the Little river Inlet. When we arrived, there was one nice spot left amongst 5 other cruisers. The sky cleared overnight and at dawn we were the first out and headed for the dreaded "Rock Cut".
'Rock Cut" is about 20 or so miles rated as the worst on the ICW. It is a man made cut through rock that is high walled with submerged trees, floating trees, rock ledges and much shoaling. Lorrie read all this to me as I was gleaming about our boat's speed. Suddenly I wanted to be in the back, are the other cruisers playing us like a fiddle or what? Anyway we picked our way through and were glad to see that several bridges we encountered opened on radio request which was great due to the stiff current pulling us into them.
The next section was a Cypress swamp which for the most part had deep black water which gave Godspeed a dark mustache for a while. we began to see palmetto plants and I realized as we passed the mouth of the Pee Dee river that this is where the "Barefoot clan" is from, my mother's people. Later we saw the Barefoot marina, several other business named Barefoot and even made the Barefoot Brige open. With another 60 mile leg behind us Godspeed motored into the Seaport of Georgetown SC at about 3:00pm. Bruce took a swim and I hoisted the dingy over the side and rowed the 100 feet to the shrimp docks. A few feet further and we docked at the town "dingy dock". It is really neat showing up at a new place, not by plane train or automoblie, but walking through the "Back Door". Banana sized shrimp still "wigglin" came to the galley for dinner!

Dolphins, Blunders, and Oysters

We waited in BO-Fert until 10:00am to "ride the tide" south. We picked up our first of many dolphin pods in Morehead harbor. They sure are entertaining to watch. Mile Hammack Bay was the anchorage for the night. It sounded like a really cool place on Camp Lejune. You cannot go ashore or you will get shot or taken prisoner and might end up with "Dead on you". We got there eariler than we thought to find a Marina and bridge in the spot we had navgaited to-bummer! Lorrie hailed the Marina on the VHF and they replied that we were lost, but the good thing was, all the other cruisers got to hear it-rookies.
Godspeed motored into Mile Hammack Bay a couple hours later and it was a unique anchorage. Some poor soldier doing survivor training gave us no end to bad looks as we barbequed chicken from the stern pulpit. He had a cast net and no dinner, poor guy! At first light we weighed anchor, proud of ourselves for an early start and excited to get a jump on the other 25 yachts in the bay. As we turned into the channel we were last in line, how could that be! Rookies again!
Early afternoon we arived in Masonboro NC, and called Robert Point's (known as "Pidge" from Thayne WY) brother Judge. He isn't really a judge but he looks like one. We took a slip in the marina 100yds across the inlet from thier home. That evening Judge, Cris, and Cris's mother Renee picked us up for sushi. We arrived at an undisclosed location- the home of Mark and Karen's place and had a fantastic time. They have a beautiful place on the ICW, we laughed and giggled for hours and the food was great. The next morning Judge and Chris kayaked over to Godspeed for burnt biscuits and the fixins, another fine time. About noon, Lorrie's niece Karina and her children visited us on Godspeed for a few hours and had gourmet hot dogs and they made muffins.
While that went on Judge showered us with many useful items-spare dingy fuel tank, fishing rod, winch handle, too many things to list, but well needed, thanks Judge! About six that evening we went to Judge and Chris's for an oyster roast and Chris's birthday celebration. Another fine evening of southern hospitality in a beautiful setting!
The next morning we were sent on our way with brunswick stew, birthday cake, and a sunflower for Godspeed.

Underway Jose

Tonight we "swing on the hook" (lay at anchor) outside Beaufort, NC (pronounced Bo-fort) after negotiating Adam's Creek. Communications amaze me as we are 1/4 mile from land and I sit at the navigation desk in contact with the world-with no visable means of support.
Last Sunday we slipped off the dock lines, motored out of Oriental harbor, and rolled out the genoa. "Whosh" we were off to New Bern NC to see the sights and visit a bit. The genoa was reefed down a bit and Godspeed shook out the wrinkles and jumped into a high lope and that was all the sail she needed. It was fun with a nice following sea and was fairly uneventful until we hit this narrow channel and decided to navigate it under sail. As we turned into the fist marker we also turned into the wind on a close reach (about 45 degrees into the wind with the sail pulled in tight to the boat) our leeway (side slippage) was too great to stay in the channel and sail at the same time, something to do with that shallow shoal a few feet downwind caused me to start Mr. Yanmar and burn a little deisel. We motored the last 45 minutes to the Trent river and sent Bruce (one of 3 anchors) to the bottom.
Interesting night! There was a 45' bridge(our mast is 54') about 200 yards behind us with 20 to 25 knots of wind on the bow. I slept (not a wink) in the cockpit stareing at the bridge all night and when my eyes closed I saw the mast drifting closer and closer to the bridge as the anchor dragged. Funny thing was, when I jumped up we had not moved an inch. This senario happened at least 1000 times that night until the wind stopped and Lorrie showed up and said "I'll take over the anchor watch now" That's my first mate!
The next morning we found ourselves trapped behind the now closed rotating railroad bridge. About 10 am "Candybar" a little working skiff, raised enough caine on the vhf to get it opened. We quickly pulled up Bruce and turned for the bridge just in time to see it closed again. The next 2 hours we took turns motoring in a lazy oval pattern raising some caine ourselves and got to play a game of bridge with the RR.
Helen met us at the docks and we had a great time. She took us on the town tour, did a little shopping and she dropped us off at the dock. From there we motored Godspeed to the Northwest Creek marina. We were treated to a slip, showered, and off to Helen's dinner party. After a tour of Zepher, Helen's Endeavour 40, Gil and Joanne from 3 doors down showed up and we had a fun evening. Before our trip back Helen gave us some much needed anchor chain, that Godspeed is swinging from as I write this, and some jerry jugs for extra fuel. If that wasn't enough, she drove to Oriental the next day bearing more gifts and best of all, cruising advice! What a
gal!
Dave Wright from St-Bart Yachts stopped by to wish us on our way and Lorrie conned him into a picture. Dave has been a great help and way above the call of duty- thanks Dave! Now we head south down the ditch, watch the depth sounder, and connect the dots!

Casting Off!

Today we hoisted the dingy on the foredeck and are ready to sail away. The last month has been non stop preparation and modifications to our little sturdy ship. My high school buddy Rich came and helped us for a while, it was great to see him again and I still have to get him back for the "incident in Miss Eggo's class". I installed an additional battery bank so we can run electrical items while under sail like electronic navigation, autopilot, frig, tunes, whatever. This is "house power" and is separated from the engine start system. Also installed new marine refrigeration and tricked the bottom portion of the frig into being a deep freeze, it works great and consumes way less power. We had some great neighbors for a few days, they took us to Bayboro on a provision run(groceries and such). We filled the trunk of his rental car and stuffed it away on Godspeed. George is a wealth of sailing knowledge, spends 9 months a year on his 40' Island Packet, how cool is that. They left at dawn this morning and will take the ICW for 2 days until the weather clears and then jump into the ocean until they reach Brunswick GA, we hope to see them there in a couple of weeks. Lorrie has been little miss pack and consolidate, making boxes smaller and then they disappear. Our waterline is getting smaller and smaller, we raised it by two inches when bottom painting and when we finish provisioning it should be just right-lucky guess.
Cody and Beth sent us some climbing gear to get up the mast, so I tried it out and changed a light bulb at halfway up 26' or so, Great fun! Lorrie was the supply Sargent passing tools and such in a bag tied to the flag hoisting lines.
I snuck away from Godspeed for a few minutes today and walked down the dock with my fishing pole when I heard the slave driver giggling as she caught me playing. Just as she walked up wham, a nice spotted trout joined us for dinner! If the weather is OK we plan to head to New Bern tomorrow for a shakedown cruise and visit our new friend Helen(cruiser extraordinaire), ride bikes, maybe a little provisioning, anything but boat chores.

Cheap motels, expensive campgrounds, and well fed mosquitos!

We prepared our house for renters, sold all kinds of stuff, stuffed the rest in the barn and saw it all disappear in the rear view mirror August 17. Fosston Mini-soda was the first stop to see Lorrie's family for a few days and it was a good visit. Then for our first circumnavigation- Lake Superior, in our land yacht. One fun place we went was the site of our first DATE - "Eighteen Lake" near Isabella Mini-soda. One summer evening 28 years ago, we drove to this lake in Lorrie's Dodge Colt and swung on a rope swing splashing into the lake, google eyed, laughing, and having the time of our lives. The tree was still there, however it has fallen into the lake now but what fun to see that spot again. Pat cooked up a few walleye fillets with a fried green tomato, and we laughed about the swing and Lorrie's "Green Bikini". Then we camped and moteled our way down through Ohio and made a few calls on sailboats in the northeast. After a few conversations & Yankee hospitality, we immediately turned south to the Mason-Dixie line. We stayed with Pat's parents for a few days, rode our bikes, and studied available sailboats. After a whirlwind trip to Florida, and a whirlwind trip back and found ourselves in Oriental North Carolina, they claim there are more sailboats than people and it is actually true. Dressed as true yacht buyers, shorts, flip flops and a garage door t-shirts, we found her.
"Wind Breaker" looking a little neglected on the surface but a very solid boat with a new Yanmar diesel, good sails, and below looked like a fine furniture store. She did not have the "funky boat smell" many of the others had so we moved forward, beat the owner into submission and bought the boat. We finished the paperwork and such at the yacht brokers office, all excited, we hopped into our trusty Tahoe and as we started rolling she came to a grinding halt. The transfer case was toast! So we pulled our bikes off the back and continued to our new home. Later that day, we limped the Tahoe(1 mile per hour) to Jonathan's, the only fix it shop in town. Well funny how things work, we were going to put it up for sale that same day anyway and Jonathan could not believe it had no rust and had to have it. SOLD! Two bikes and a boat, What fun is that!
We had her "on the hard" for 12 days doing hull maintenance, buffing, and bottom paint, while Lorrie removed the old name, faint images of other lettering slowly appeared "Amazing Grace" that had been covered up by "Wind Breaker", Our U. S. Coast Guard paperwork had already been sent. so "Godspeed" she is.
We have been back in the water a week now at Pecan Grove marina in Oriental. The morning we were put back into the water, the wind had blown most of the water out of the Pamlico sound and it was very shallow. Dave Wright, the yacht broker that sold us the boat, is one great guy. Dave jumped aboard and guided us through the shallow waters and raging winds to the marina. the trip over was only a mile or so, but horrifying. The depth sounder was oscillating 4', 5', 4' ,5' and we draw 4'10" of water. Dave took the helm at the end and expertly tucked her into the slip and here we are. Now we are taking day sails and adding some long range equipment to her, preparing to cast off for adventure.

Sailboats - a bad investment!

So we set out to buy a sailboat to sail the seven seas, or maybe one. In our search, we fell in love with the beautiful golfing communities of the south. It is true, we have never been known as golfers but what a great sport to learn. The hunting and fishing should be great on the course after hours and Pat can get a part time job fixing golf carts and caddying for his superiors. Lorrie was swept off her feet when meeting the members of the local garden club and her new sport of speed walking/talking. After all, sailboats will always be a bad investment and real estate couldn't be a better buy right now. So as not to disappoint everybody, we did the right thing......





WE BOUGHT THE BOAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our Endeavour 35 just back in the water after twelve days "on the hard"(not in the water) and our journey beings.