Here's a photo of Brigadoon perched on the stub of her keel ..... I thought the keel weighed 1600 lbs, but turns out it weighs more like 2,700 pounds. Guess it doesn't matter, since it is underwater outside Alligator Harbor. What a sad sight!
Monday, June 8, 2009
Brigadoon on the beach
Here's a photo of Brigadoon perched on the stub of her keel ..... I thought the keel weighed 1600 lbs, but turns out it weighs more like 2,700 pounds. Guess it doesn't matter, since it is underwater outside Alligator Harbor. What a sad sight!
Monday, June 1, 2009
Shipwrecked!
Shipwrecked!
This Blog might take the record for the shortest-lived ever. Regrettably, It appears our cruise has come to an abrupt end.
Our weather window finally arrived, and so at last we departed Carrabelle and looked forward to getting past Florida’s “Big Bend” and down the coast. We enjoyed a beautiful sail over to Alligator Harbor on Ochlocknee Bay, where we planned to stay overnight and leave for Crystal River in the morning.
As I furled the Genoa jib, Caroline steered for the harbor entrance, using the small red daymarks outlining the narrow channel. Unfortunately, the number 4 daymark turned out to be missing, and there was also a confusing set of marks which turned out to be on the other side of the bar. A quick discussion ensued and we attempted to turn back, but it was too late, and we were aground on the bar. Not able to motor off, I rowed an anchor out with the skiff and we tried to winch back to the channel, which was a short distance away.
In contrast to NOAA’s forecast for light winds and fairly smooth seas, we were pummeled with waves and wind which kept pounding us onto the bottom. The keel bolts could no longer take the strain, and we lost the heavy lead keel and began taking on water. Caroline called for help on the VHF radio, and a pair of local fishermen came to our rescue. The Coast Guard overheard and jumped in, asking us ceaselessly for information such as type and color of our boat, etc. This was while we were pumping water and trying to rig a towline and talk to our rescue boat on the radio. We felt like telling the Coast Guard girl to “shut up,” as we had more than enough to do without trying to answer her questions. She was just interfering with the rescue operation.
We fastened a float to the main anchor rode and let it go, and were towed into Alligator Harbor to a shallow sandy beach, where we are now beached. A wooden plug has replaced the leaking keel bolt and we no longer ship water, the other bolts still tight in the hull. It has been a bit of a chore to keep Brigadoon upright on her bottom, and during low tides we’ve experienced her tip over in the middle of night. It’s a ton of fun sleeping on a bunk at a 40 degree angle!
We are, of course, devastated and heartbroken about this turn of events. We have worked hard on the boat, and with the winters’ upgrades, finally felt she was ready for whatever came our way. She’s become a beloved member of our little family and this is like the death of a relative. We don’t have the resources to raise her keel and put it back on. Her rudder and rudder post are bent badly and inoperative, too. There are no yards near this area, and if there were, they’d be prohibitively expensive, like everything else in Florida.
To top this off, we haven’t liked Florida and often wished we were sailing someplace else. The contrary winds and shallow water make sailing here difficult and dangerous (and we hate the bugs.) The south end of the state is a “Police State” for boaters and cruisers. I don’t know why anybody would choose to live here. We have found ourselves just wishing we could skip Florida and get to someplace else. And now, Hurricane Season is here! We’ll take the electronics and most hardware off the sailboat and hang a “for sale” sign on her. She would still make a good motor cruiser if someone would remove her mast and do a good seal on the keel bolts.
So, we are done. We’ve had some good times and some bad ones. We’re glad we have had the experience. We still have our skiff, Brigid, which we built ourselves. We’re not sure where to go from here, but will probably go back to Texas and then likely on to Puget Sound.
Thanks for your comments and concerns. We appreciate you all. Keep in touch.
Skip & Caroline
This Blog might take the record for the shortest-lived ever. Regrettably, It appears our cruise has come to an abrupt end.
Our weather window finally arrived, and so at last we departed Carrabelle and looked forward to getting past Florida’s “Big Bend” and down the coast. We enjoyed a beautiful sail over to Alligator Harbor on Ochlocknee Bay, where we planned to stay overnight and leave for Crystal River in the morning.
As I furled the Genoa jib, Caroline steered for the harbor entrance, using the small red daymarks outlining the narrow channel. Unfortunately, the number 4 daymark turned out to be missing, and there was also a confusing set of marks which turned out to be on the other side of the bar. A quick discussion ensued and we attempted to turn back, but it was too late, and we were aground on the bar. Not able to motor off, I rowed an anchor out with the skiff and we tried to winch back to the channel, which was a short distance away.
In contrast to NOAA’s forecast for light winds and fairly smooth seas, we were pummeled with waves and wind which kept pounding us onto the bottom. The keel bolts could no longer take the strain, and we lost the heavy lead keel and began taking on water. Caroline called for help on the VHF radio, and a pair of local fishermen came to our rescue. The Coast Guard overheard and jumped in, asking us ceaselessly for information such as type and color of our boat, etc. This was while we were pumping water and trying to rig a towline and talk to our rescue boat on the radio. We felt like telling the Coast Guard girl to “shut up,” as we had more than enough to do without trying to answer her questions. She was just interfering with the rescue operation.
We fastened a float to the main anchor rode and let it go, and were towed into Alligator Harbor to a shallow sandy beach, where we are now beached. A wooden plug has replaced the leaking keel bolt and we no longer ship water, the other bolts still tight in the hull. It has been a bit of a chore to keep Brigadoon upright on her bottom, and during low tides we’ve experienced her tip over in the middle of night. It’s a ton of fun sleeping on a bunk at a 40 degree angle!
We are, of course, devastated and heartbroken about this turn of events. We have worked hard on the boat, and with the winters’ upgrades, finally felt she was ready for whatever came our way. She’s become a beloved member of our little family and this is like the death of a relative. We don’t have the resources to raise her keel and put it back on. Her rudder and rudder post are bent badly and inoperative, too. There are no yards near this area, and if there were, they’d be prohibitively expensive, like everything else in Florida.
To top this off, we haven’t liked Florida and often wished we were sailing someplace else. The contrary winds and shallow water make sailing here difficult and dangerous (and we hate the bugs.) The south end of the state is a “Police State” for boaters and cruisers. I don’t know why anybody would choose to live here. We have found ourselves just wishing we could skip Florida and get to someplace else. And now, Hurricane Season is here! We’ll take the electronics and most hardware off the sailboat and hang a “for sale” sign on her. She would still make a good motor cruiser if someone would remove her mast and do a good seal on the keel bolts.
So, we are done. We’ve had some good times and some bad ones. We’re glad we have had the experience. We still have our skiff, Brigid, which we built ourselves. We’re not sure where to go from here, but will probably go back to Texas and then likely on to Puget Sound.
Thanks for your comments and concerns. We appreciate you all. Keep in touch.
Skip & Caroline
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Catching Up
We are currently in Carrabelle, Florida, on Apalachicola Bay. We will be starting around the "Big Bend" from here towards Tarpon Springs. How did we get here?
As you may know, we began the trip in May, 2008 from Rockport, Texas, and up to now have mainly travelled the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. The GIWW is a somewhat-sheltered route around the Gulf coast and varies from dredged channels and rivers to some open stretches with occasional shelter behind barrier islands. We have sailed all we can, but have had to depend on our motor(s) for much of the way, as the wind usually seems to be coming at us on our bow. As we turn the "corner" of Florida's Gulf Coast, we look forward to being able to sail more.
We have enjoyed several stops along the way, mainly Galveston, Texas and Orange Beach, Alabama. Orange Beach was especially great, and the people very nice and friendly. We weathered several tropical storms there and recommend Ingram's Bayou as a great "hurricane hole." We also became aquainted with Tad and Sherry, former cruisers, of nearby Lillian, Alabama.
Brigadoon arrived in Destin, Florida in November, where we planned a short stop. This "brief stop" for supplies turned into our Winter layover, due to weather and motor concerns. (Our sturdy little British Seagull auxiliary had a short shaft, which would rise out of the water in anything other than smooth water.) After running aground often, we also decided we needed a depth sounder in order to continue through Florida's "thin water."
Winter in Destin. Don't be fooled; winter in Florida can get cold. We endured record low temperatures during our Destin stay. It dropped to 18 degrees F one night, with many in the 20's. We did use our time wisely, however. Among the projects we completed were: installed a new holding tank for the head; installed depth sounder; installed a wind turbine generator; built a new electrical panel and new wiring; made and installed a new anchor light atop the mast; installed LED lighting; found parts and modified motor to long shaft; did lots of small maintenance chores.
While in Destin we met, among others, cruisers: Russ aboard Ariel, Dave and Ray aboard Green Flash, Merrick and DeAnne of Rising Star South, and Brett and Kyla on Benevolence.
Underway Once More. We departed Destin on my birthday in April, after a small false start. We tried to leave several days prior, but discovered that we could not make steerageway (boat moving too slow to respond to her rudder,) and turned back to our anchorage spot. The next day we gently beached Brigadoon and while Caroline scraped and repainted our skiff's bottom, I scraped all the sea creatures off Brigadoon's bottom. Over the winter we had acquired several large colonies of barnacles, as well as "Sea Squirts." (Look up Sea Squirt in Google if you like; the Japanese eat them, but I hear they will eat anything...) Having a relatively clean bottom made all the difference, of course, and we proceeded to Panama City, Port St. Joe, Apalachicola, and hence to Carrabelle with few problems. It has been "hit and miss" so far due to very unsettled weather and contrary winds. We hope that soon the elements will straighten out and we can get to Crystal River and Tarpon Springs.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Welcome
Many of our cruising friends have "blogs" which can easily be updated as they travel and make it simple for friends and family to follow along. So, we are (rather belatedly) going to join the "modern world" and start our own blog.
We hope that you will enjoy cruising with us, even if you can't get away from home. If you have suggestions to make these postings better, please feel free to let us know.
The first post will be a "catch up" to try to get up to date. Enjoy!
Skip & Caroline
(and "Icky," too.)
We hope that you will enjoy cruising with us, even if you can't get away from home. If you have suggestions to make these postings better, please feel free to let us know.
The first post will be a "catch up" to try to get up to date. Enjoy!
Skip & Caroline
(and "Icky," too.)
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