The trip south - FL and Home

Okay, I'm not going to lie. I've been remiss in my duties and I'm actually writing this in February, although I'm going to date it December. Hey, I've had a lot going on -- two trips back home, two weddings (one my own), and also general laziness. Anyway, hopefully most of you know that we made it safe and sound to Florida and beyond, but let me sum up the rest of the trip:

1.) We made it to Florida. Duh. And we learned that the ICW leaves ugly brown stains on your hull.

2.) We had a lovely Thanksgiving Dinner aboard the boat, complete with turkey (just a breast -- the oven's kinda small), mashed potatoes, stuffing, and fresh baked bread.

3.) We stayed longer than we planned in St. Augustine because it was so cool. We'd gladly go there again (and probably will).

4.) We hauled the boat out once we got to Fort Pierce FL. Haulouts are expensive!

5.) Stuart's Southpoint Anchorage is still the best deal in town. We kept the boat there after the haulout. Interestingly they've been hit by several hurricanes -- two last year and one this year, and there are still a couple of boats washed ashore. But its one of our favorite places -- reasonably priced and a short walk to the downtown pubs and restaurants.

While poor Kevin got stuck with the haulout duties, I flew back to Phoenix to spend time with family and friends. I'd been feeling pretty homesick, so seeing everyone really helped. My friend Catherine had a lovely bridal shower and bachelorette party (Vegas, baby. Vegas.), Jamie and my sisters threw me a fantastic bridal shower. Kevin joined me for the week of Christmas, and we frantically scurried all over the Valley trying to get last-minute wedding things done while we had a car. But by New Year's Eve we were both back on the boat (and in bed by 10:30pm. Yeah, I know we're lame.)

Anyway, most of you know what happens next, but I'll post it separately. :)

The trip south - SC to GA

Yes we have made it all the way to Georgia. Only 300 miles to go.

So we have not raised a sail once in the past month or so. We have been motoring down the intracoastal waterway (ICW) which is a series of interconnected rivers, canals, swamps, and other inland waters that begins at Norfolk VA and takes you all the way down to the Florida Keys. Its nickname is the "ditch" and in some parts that is exactly what it is -- a ditch carved out by the Army Corps of Engineers. So for anyone who has been worried about us being offshore in bad weather, worry no more. We are "inside" and are anchoring in safe harbors every night.

We have seen some interesting things on this leg of the trip. We have gone straight through a military firing range (they weren't practicing at the time), seen some interesting lawn decor along the ICW, and narrowly avoided a tug pulling a quarter mile train of barges. I apologize for labeling the photos "Long Ass Barge" but that is what the tug captain let slip over the radio when he was asking us to get out of his way: "You see ma'am, I'm towing this long-ass, I mean big ol' barge here...". It looked like he was towing the entire Alaskan pipeline to me, 10 barges behind him at least! We are in "hurricane country" now, we can tell by the outrageous-looking houses on stilts. In all other respects they are beautiful homes, mansions even, but the stilts sure detract from the beauty. I guess it's better to have an ugly house still standing than a pretty one washed away by a storm surge. We have not seen any bad weather, the hurricane season is tapering off and officially ends on Nov 30th.

So as we were leaving Wrightsville Beach NC, I ran the boat aground. Luckily it was soft ground and we used the other engine to get us off the bottom, but it was still kind of stressful and not the greatest way to start out the day at 6:30 am. Running aground is fairly common along the ICW from what we have read. There is a lot of shoaling in the rivers and creeks so many times the chart says it is deeper than it really is. For us running aground is no big deal because as a catamaran, we use the engine on the other hull to help us get off the bottom and into deeper water. So far the score is Kevin: 2 groundings, Amanda: 1. But not for lack of trying. I have had several close calls so I imagine I will be ahead by the end of the trip.

Heading south through North Carolina we went through the Cape Fear River. I wonder who named it Cape Fear and why? The name conjures up images of scary winds and currents and waves. Why would they name it something like that, just to intimidate you? Kevin suggested that we change the name on all our charts from "Cape Fear" to "Cape Fun & Games". That's how I'm going to refer to it in future. Just you wait -- it'll catch on.

We made some new "friends" one night at an anchorage in the Calabash River. We had dropped our anchor and were swinging around in a strong current drifting far from our anchor. Another boat called Turnabout* comes swooping in and drops their anchor right next to ours. I tried telling them "no", that our anchor was over there but they didn't listen. Our boat was far away so we thought it would be okay, but then later the tide changed and the current switched sending our boat in the opposite direction. Of course we ended up on top of each other at 2 am. We had asked them not to anchor there, then told them "hey put out some fenders" (they refused) and finally around 2:45 am our boats bumped each other. There was no damage, and technically they should have been the ones to move since we were there first, but they wouldn't move and we ended up picking up anchor and resetting at 3am. Funny thing is, now we see them EVERY DAY, rain or shine. And what's worse is that they get up earlier than us and get going, and then we get going and we motor faster than them, so we literally pass them every day. We haven't seen any other boats as many times as we have seen Turnabout. At first it was irritating but now it's just plain funny.

We have met some nice people though. While we were docked at Myrtle Beach we met Jack and Jo, from the sailboat "Maggie Rose". We went out to happy hour with them and then the next night we both anchored at the same place and grilled burgers. And we have also seen several other boats that are the same make/model as our boat (Manta catamaran). There are only 100 of these boats in the world and we have seen 8 of them since Rhode Island. Pretty much everyone we have met has been very friendly, and all of us seem to be heading to the same place, so we'll probably see some of them when we are in the Bahamas.

Here's an interesting fact: there are two Beauforts on our charts, one in North Carolina and one in South Carolina. I was pretty confused until I heard the natives pronounce the name of their home town. Beaufort, NC is pronounced BOH-furt. Beaufort, SC pronounced BYOO-furt. Go figure.

We wanted to see a movie in Beaufort SC (byoofurt). Thought it might be fun to just take an afternoon and see something mindless and fun like "Zathura" or something. We were so excited that a movie theater was just across the street from where we were docked. Of course the theater was only showing 3 movies: Saw II, Jarhead, and Doom. Anyone who knows me knows that I am terrified of even the thought of horror movies so Saw II was out. Also having missed the first Saw for similar reasons I figured I might not be able to follow the storyline. And I tend to end up with post traumatic stress disorder after watching war movies (cried, literally sobbed, for 2 hours straight after seeing Black Hawk Down), so no dice for Jarhead. So although I am not a huge fan of shoot-em-up video games I agreed that Doom sounded the best of the three until we checked rottentomatoes.com and saw all the horrible reviews every critic in the nation had given it. So no movie. That's okay, I plan on seeing lots of movies while I'm back in Phx in December.

So now we are in Georgia. Tonight we are at St. Simons Island, but last night we anchored in the Wahoo River. Kevin looked at me as we were heading up there and said "Guess what, tonight we'll be anchoring 'up the Wahoo'." Well, I thought it was funny. ;) That expression will never be the same to me again. And sure enough, who should anchor next to us? Turnabout.

*name has been changed, we know we're gonna run into them again someday.

The trip south -- NJ to NC

We have come a long way since I wrote last, more than 400 miles. At an average speed of 7 miles an hour. I know some of you who can run faster than that. We've actually seen butterflies flying faster than our top speed.

After our stopover in New York we decided to sprint (at 7 miles an hour) down the coast as fast as possible to make up for lost time. New Jersey was, well, it's hard to describe New Jersey. My mom used to say if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all. But those of you who know me well know that I've never been one to hold back my opinion. So here it is. We hate New Jersey. Sorry if I offend anyone with an affinity for NJ but after you hear this you'll understand. First of all, at our first anchorage a huge ferry came steaming right through the anchorage, even though there is no channel. And when we called the marina guy to ask him if that was the norm he was very curt and rude. Then, at the second place we stopped we ran aground (stop laughing, Jean). Luckily it was mud so no damage and we didn't get stuck or anything. And in another channel, one of the marker buoys was adrift and the coast guard didn't seem to care. And the worst was one terrifying day with waves of up to 8 feet and a terrible pounding every time we slammed into them. I don't want to scare anyone back at home, but we were pretty unsettled after that day, we definitely don't want to be out in those conditions again. On the plus side we anchored right in the heart of Atlantic City one night right next to Harrahs, and the lights were really pretty. But other than that, we didn't see anything about the famed "Jersey Shore" to tempt us back there again.

From Jersey we went up the Delaware Bay and into the C&D canal which connects the Delaware with the top of Chesapeake Bay. The canal itself was kind of pretty, we had a favorable current pushing us through and pretty soon we arrived in the Chesapeake. We stayed for a week in Annapolis which was a fantastic place with lots to do and see and we also had a chance to get into Washington DC to see the monuments and visit with our friend Carrie. For those of you who don't know her, Carrie has super celebrity spotting powers. While we were in Georgetown we saw a movie being filmed starring Nicole Kidman. Kevin's new zoom lens came in handy and he was able to snap some great shots. Then we went to lunch nearby and sure enough if Nicole wasn't sitting at the table directly behind us. So if next year sometime you guys see a film called "The Visiting" and see the scene with Nicole punching a pay phone, we were there during filming.

After DC we continued south through Norfolk (dodging submarines and Navy jets practicing bombing runs over us) and chose to take the route through the Dismal Swamp Canal. The canal is 22 miles long and has locks at either end. If you look at the photos it was neither dismal nor a swamp. But we did see several homes on stilts, a bunch of "no trespassing signs" and a tin shooting target shaped like a man and riddled with bullet holes(?!). So we knew we were in swamp country and were glad to be going through there on a sunny day. I think I might have heard dueling banjos in the distance.

So now we are in Beaufort North Carolina. It is a beautiful town with a great waterfront. On the way into the docks we saw three pods of dolphins. It is nice to be far enough south to see them again. We are docked next to a massive 70 foot power yacht. There are lots of mega yachts here where we are docked. Our 40 foot boat looks like a dinghy in comparison. Today Kevin's cousin Jeanne came to visit with her husband Bill and daughter Jessica. We had a nice lunch and an ice cream soda afterwards.

Tomorrow we will start up again, heading south down the intracoastal waterway -- we're about halfway to Florida now, the weather is warming up and we are sure appreciating seeing the sunshine again. It was pretty darn cold there for a while, it got down into the 40's inside the boat at night until just the last few days.

The trip south -- RI to NY

Well we are done with the first leg of the trip. Our first stop after leaving RI was Mystic Connecticut. They have a great seafaring/shipbuilding museum there, and of course we did have a highly overrated "slice of heaven" at Mystic Pizza. I imagine that place sells more t-shirts and hats than they do pizza. As I recall the movie that was filmed there (also called "Mystic Pizza") wasn't anything to write home about either, although it did star Julia Roberts before she hit the big time. After the pizza and Seaport museum we headed back to the boat and on to another small highlight of the day -- shore showers. Those of you who live at home connected to a virtually limitless supply of freshwater cannot know how truly lucky you are. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind showering on the boat. In fact we have a very pleasant setup with a separate shower and plenty of hot water. But because we don't want to waste water, taking a shower on board consists of a cycle of turning the water on to get wet, turning the water off to lather up, and then rinsing and repeating. In normal temperatures it's no big deal, but now that we are well into fall, those precious few minutes when the water is off seems like an eternity in a very cold hell. So needless to say, I like shore showers because I can let the water run and be the truly wasteful American that I was born to be. I told Kevin that it felt like I not only washed the dirt off but I also washed my sins away.

Our next stop was Port Jefferson which is only memorable because we came into the port and anchored after dark (our first time trying to navigate based on little red and green flashing lights alone). There were moments of stress but obviously it went okay because we are still here to tell the tale, right? After that it was a couple days in Oyster Bay where we toured the home of Teddy Roosevelt. Let's just say that Teddy liked to kill stuff. A lot. There were dozens of heads, trophies, tusks, skins, in every room of the house, even the kids rooms -- no joke. It made for an interesting tour, but I don't think I could live in a house with all those glass eyes staring me down all the time.

We then spent a night at City Island and waited for the tide the next morning to take us into New York City. We rode the tide down the East River, right past La Guardia, Rikers Island Prison, through Hell Gate, past the UN building, under the Brooklyn Bridge and up into the Hudson River. And of course not only do you have to navigate but you also have to dodge all the ferries and water taxis and tugs with garbage barges etc. It wasn't as nerve wracking as the first time we went through (in May) but we did have to pay close attention. We picked up a mooring at the 79th St. Boat Basin which is on the Hudson at, you guessed it, 79th Street. It was a mile walk to the middle of Central Park, and the subway was just a few blocks from where we were anchored. Plus it was only $30/night. Can't beat that right? We walked till our feet ached, and then walked some more. Surprisingly we ran into my boss from Starwood in line for the Empire State building (what are the odds? small world.). The weather put a huge damper on our trip though. Record rains and windy conditions forced us to stay on the boat several days (it was too risky to attempt to go to shore with the winds and the Hudson current. We quickly found out why the mooring only cost $30 a night!). But in the end we got to see all the major sights and didn't miss out on too much. The highlight of our whole trip by far was getting to see Brooke and Tom on Thursday. I haven't seen anyone from my family since July and with the weather so bad my spirits were pretty low. So even though it was only for a couple of hours, spending time with them was like a little slice of home. Thanks Brooke and Tom for cheering me up!

All in all, New York was a great place despite the rain. I don't mind a little rain, but I sure hope it doesn't decide to rain that hard every time we hit a tourist town. Ironically we are now in New Jersey where we don't particularly have any desire to see anything ashore and it has been as sunny as can be. Hardly a cloud in the sky! But set one foot in the tourist mecca of New York and the sky opens up, dumping record rains by the bucketful. Guess Mother Nature really is fickle.

Our plans are to get to the Chesapeake (Annapolis) by early next week. Can't wait to see Carrie and Dan, Judy and Jim, and George W. and Laura (j.k.). I hope everything is going well for everyone, keep in touch!

Mahthah's Vineyud

We have been having an interesting week, weather-wise. It was rainy on Monday and Tuesday, and yesterday was extremely windy (35 mph) as we felt the remains of hurricane Katrina. Luckily our marina is really well protected and we were tied up at the dock during the windstorm.

Last week we had a wonderful, long trip away from the dock. We finally left Rhode Island, even. But I get ahead of myself.

Last Monday, spur of the moment, Kevin said that the weather was going to be good all week and we should take a trip to Martha's Vineyard. The next day we set off and after motoring for 2 hours (no wind) we ended up in Bristol, RI. It's a big-time sailing town, they have a huge Museum dedicated to the old time America's cup winners (from way back in the early part of the 1900's). We stayed there one night and explored a bit of the town (great pubs), then the next day we set off down the Sakonnet River. Nothing very eventful, we anchored among the vineyards and spent a peaceful night.

The following morning, it was on to Massachusetts! It was a good wind and we got some good sailing in. We reached Cuttyhunk in the early afternoon (Cuttyhunk...it's fun to say, try saying it five times really fast). Cuttyhunk is supposed to be this wonderful place, but I thought it was a little overrated. It's basically a small island (you can climb to the top of a hill and see ocean on all sides) with little to appeal to the average tourist. If you like nature and hikes though, it was kind of pretty. But the settlers back in the 1600's chopped down all the trees to build stuff so it's mostly scrub. They have a tiny school (2 students!) and one or two restaurants. Everyone drives around on golf carts or ATV's!

Anyway the next day we motored to Martha's Vineyard (again, no wind...how fickle is Mother Nature!) We had four choices of where to stay with the boat: Vineyard Haven, Edgartown, Oak Bluffs, or Gayhead (okay, they've changed the name to the native american "Aquinnah", but I just like saying "Gayhead" better. Gayhead! Gayhead!). We took a chance on Oak Bluffs and it turned out to be the best decision we could've made. Oak Bluffs has a TINY harbor and you are not allowed to anchor there, but you are required to pick up a mooring. They only have 50 moorings available but they sure know how to pack them in! They require you to "raft", meaning that if you pick up the mooring first, at any time another boat can come alongside you and tie up to your boat (up to 4 boats per mooring). And the people in Oak Bluffs aren't stupid, they charge all the boats the same rate so that even if you have to share a mooring, you still pay full price and so does the other guy. Anyway because our boat is wide we were only "rafted" on one side -- on Friday night it was a yuppie powerboat family and on Saturday night an "old salt" sailboat with an older couple. Both were nice experiences, it kind of forces you to be friendly since it's like you are all sharing a boat for the night.

But anyway, tiny harbor and having to share the mooring aside, Oak Bluffs was the best part of the trip by far! The town got its start back in the 1800's as a Methodist revival camp. They would go there once a year and set up tents and get saved. As time evolved, people started building tiny "tent-houses" on their parcel of land, all crammed in right next to their neighbor. Then, with the invention of the jigsaw, all these tiny houses were decorated with this fancy trimwork and started giving the impression of gingerbread. They painted them whimsical colors and gave them names like "Heartsease" and "Valentine". I was completely overwhelmed when we started walking around and realized that it wasn't just one street, but that there were 300 of these little houses all clustered together on these narrow streets. Kevin and I felt like we were in some kind of Disneyland attraction. Kevin joked that whoever ran the paint store on the island must be rolling in dough. You'll have to look at the pictures to really get an idea, but if you are ever on Martha's Vineyard it is a "must see".

The rest of the island was very quaint. The other good town, Edgartown, was more swanky. This was where all the old whaling captains built their mansions. In contrast to the crayola colors of Oak Bluffs, most of the buildings here were painted white (that paint guy really has a good thing going) and meticulously maintained. The homes are all stately and very posh, and most of the shops were pretty upscale. It was a pretty town, and most tourists stay there but I preferred the kitschy charm of Oak Bluffs.

It took us four days of sailing/motoring to get to "the Vineyard". and we had hoped to go on to Nantucket and Hyannis Port (c'mon, say it like a Kennedy, you know you want to!) but unfortunately weather got in the way. On Saturday night we checked the forecast and it predicted bad weather starting Monday. So we had one day to get as close to our home port as possible. Sunday was a beautiful sailing day and we got an early start. We had hoped to get 1/2way home but the wind was so good we ended up sailing the entire way (57 miles). We left Martha's Vineyard at 8:30 and were safely at our dock in Warwick by 6pm. We have pictures posted on the web if you want to check them out: http://photobucket.com/albums/b186/solsticecatamaran/

Geez, sorry I always write a book, hope my travelogues aren't too boring! In other news, Kevin grew a great fuzzy beard in 3 weeks (but shaved it off yesterday without telling me). Hopefully you can see it in the pictures, though. We are looking forward to having Carrie and Dan out this weekend, the weather is supposed to be fine with a nice cool North wind.

Narragansett Bay, RI

So a lot has happened since I last sent out photos. We've had several visitors, and sailed around most of Narragansett Bay.

First Sheelagh and Kathy came to stay with us. It was great to hear all about their around-the-world travels. Plus they were fantastic at the boardgame Taboo! Then Desiree brought lobster and steamers and we had a nice weekend hanging out in an anchorage called Potter Cove. And last weekend Jamie came out and we braved the pea soup fog to get to Block Island. We had Bahama Mamas on the beach and took a taxi tour (right past Christopher Walken's house).


It's been nice having so many people come out to the boat -- in between guests, we have been honing our sailing skills, Kevin has been working on our backlog of maintenance tasks, and I've been learning to cook. Even Boris is enjoying life on the boat (when it's not in motion, of course).

Newport, RI

Ahoy!
Here we are finally at the boat. My parents spent the last week with us and we had quite an adventure. The day before my parents arrived, Kevin and I took the boat out on a shakedown cruise to find out if everything worked okay. We took a quick two hour sail around Warwick point in Narragansett Bay and everything worked like a charm. That is until we started the engines again to come back in. Our port (left) engine had a huge leak and spewed oil all over the engine room. So we had to come in with only one engine, luckily Captain Kevin’s deft maneuvering got us safely docked.

Then the wait began. Those of you who own homes know that home repair guys never show up on time. Well sometimes with boats they never show up at all. Of course our “accident” happened the day before 4th of July, so no mechanics were available the first 2 days, but then we waited until Wednesday night for the guy to show up and he never did. (Meanwhile my parents arrived and we had a birthday party on Wed for my stepmom Donna). Frustrated with the no-show mechanic, Kevin decided to just fix our engine himself, and he and my Dad plugged the hole with a stainless steel threaded plug. We ran the engine and the repair held, so off we sailed the next day (Thursday) for Newport, RI.

We got into Newport around 2pm and picked up a mooring (like anchoring, only everything’s already set up and you don’t have to use your own anchor, just tie the line onto your boat). We went into town and decided to do the “Cliff Walk” which is a famous tourist attraction – it’s a walkway along the ocean where all the rich and famous built their summer cottages back in the 1880’s. And they use the term “cottage” very loosely, these are palaces. However, the Cliff Walk soon became the “Mansion March of Death” as we realized that the best houses were at the end of a 3 mile hike, and we had already walked almost that far just to get to the start of the Cliff Walk. By the time we arrived at the Breakers (the Vanderbilt mansion), it was 5pm and it was already closed, so we marched right back into town to the nearest Pub, and then back to the boat where we ended up watching CSI. The next day the forecast was pretty bad, gusty winds and lots and lots of rain and fog later in the day, so rather than spending a second day in Newport and trying to walk around in the rain, we decided to motor back to our dock in Warwick. It was pretty clear when we left and we missed the worst of the weather, my Dad was at the helm for most of the trip and that was pretty cool. It continued to pour on us on Friday night, but by Saturday morning the weather turned better, so we rented a car and drove to Newport (renting a car for the day was actually cheaper than picking up a mooring at $45/night). This time we made it before closing time and took the Breakers tour – the Vanderbilts really knew how to spend their money. Everything was gold leaf this and Tiffany that…even their children had a playhouse as big as my house back home!

We then drove along the coast admiring the views, and we saw hundreds of kites in the distance and decided to check it out. It was apparently a huge kite festival and there were all shapes, sizes and colors. The wind was just right and there were some amazing looking kites, I’m not sure if my pictures do it justice. So we sat on the grass awhile and just enjoyed the day. So it’s Sunday now and we dropped my parents off at the airport this morning. The boat is cleaned up and we leave tomorrow morning for Phoenix. We’ll be in Phoenix a few days tying up loose ends, and then we’ll drive out here in Kevin’s car. Hopefully we’ll see a few of you guys while we’re there.

The trip North

[Kevin's Post]We asked Ed to come along on the trip to RI to help us learn how to sail and keep us from killing ourselves.  He agreed, but had another boat delivery scheduled and couldn't do it until mid-may.  That was fine with us, we would use the time to get more familiar with the boat systems and get her ready for the big trip.  At this point, Amanda and I finally told our employer (we worked at the same company in the same department) that we would be leaving the company at the end of June, oh, and by the way, we'll be gone for 2-3 weeks in May to sail our yacht to New England.  We were worried that our coworkers would bear us some ill will since we were quitting to basically go on a permanent vacation (in their eyes), but everyone thought it was pretty cool and they even threw us a big send off party with a nautical theme.

We made one more weekend trip out to the boat to move it out of the Jupiter marina.  We discovered there was a municipal mooring field in Stuart about 20 miles north that only costs $10/day.  So, we motored back up the ICW and tied up to a mooring for the first time.  We used three dock lines to tie off to the mooring since we were leaving the boat again for a few weeks and were terrified that the lines would chafe through.  We were also worried that leaving the boat unattended in a mooring field was an invitation to thieves.  The boat had locks, but nothing that would stop a determined thief.  We left the dinghy on the boat hoping that would make it look like someone was on board.  I figured it was actually safer than at the marina, since at least the thief would need a boat to rob us (or swim).  At the marina, anyone could just step aboard and rob us.  Still we worried a lot about the boat for those weeks, especially since Amanda had accidentally left her engagement ring in the port bathroom.

We headed back to the boat about a week before our planned departure for Rhode Island to provision and get her ready to go (the ring was still there!).  Ed had provided us with about a dozen different lists of gear we should have on the boat for a "delivery".  These included everything from spare parts, to first aid items, to specialized tools.  It was like an expensive scavenger hunt trying to track down all the items he wanted on board.  We spent literally thousands of dollars searching for and purchasing all these items.  Then it took us days to find places to stow it all.

We consulted with Ed regarding the weather and agreed we would try to leave FL on May 14th.  We planned to just hug the coast all the way up to RI so that we wouldn't be far from shelter if the weather turned ugly or if we had mechanical problems.  We would sail non-stop as long as the weather was tolerable, but we would keep an eye on the weather and take a break if things got unpleasant.  It was about 1500 miles so we figured it would take at least 8 or 9 days if we went non-stop, longer if we had to stop for weather.

The 14th came and we picked up Ed and headed out the St. Lucie inlet to the open ocean.  The forecast was for 10kt winds, 1-2 foot seas and scattered thunderstorms.  We motorsailed on one engine to keep the speed up, this was all business, not a pleasure sail.  With Ed costing us $300/day, it was worth it to burn a little extra diesel to shave a few days off the trip.  The first night there were some squalls to our east with some lightning, but Ed showed us how to monitor them with the radar, so it was easy to see exactly how far away they were and which direction they were headed.  You could track the squalls just like they were a boat.  We altered course a few times to dodge the storm cells, but for the most part the squalls stayed a good distance away.

The good weather continued for the next few days with the wind staying mostly between 10-15 knots out of the southeast.  We were sailing northbound in the Gulf Stream, so the current added a few knots to our speed.  We each were taking 3 hour shifts so we would have 3 hours at the helm, then six hours off.  On watch, there wasn't much to do since the autopilot steered the boat.  We just had to watch out for other boats and stay away from things like cruise ships and container ships.  At 4AM on the third night at sea (May 18), we were off the coast of North Carolina when the starboard engine sputtered and died.  Ed investigated and saw that there was air in the racor filter so he filled it back up with fuel from a jerry jug and bled the air out.  We restarted the engine only to have it stall again a few minutes later.  It looked like we were out of fuel, even though the fuel gauge said we had a quarter tank left.  Ed confirmed that we were out of fuel by using a dipstick in the fuel tank.  The gauge was wrong.  We were only about 50 miles from Beaufort, so we decided we would sail the rest of the way there and fuel up.  But, as soon as the sun rose, the wind died and we were adrift.  This didn't bother Ed, he didn't care if it took us all day to get to Beaufort, but I was a little impatient.  The charts showed half a dozen inlets to the ICW that were closer than Beaufort.  Ed warned us against trying any of them saying that inlets can shoal and change depths and can be dangerous without local knowledge.  So we consulted one of our cruising books and started looking at them.  It turns out Wrightsville beach (Masonboro inlet) is one of the 12 all-weather class A inlets (just as good as Beaufort) and it was only 10 miles away.  So, Ed agreed that Wrightsville was a better plan.  We dumped our 10 gallons of reserve fuel into the tank and headed for the Wrightsville inlet.  Ordinarily, 10 gallons would be enough to motor for 10 hours, but when you're this low on fuel it doesn't take much sloshing around for the fuel pickup to suck air and stall your engine.  So we were all on pins and needles as we approached the inlet and motored to the marina hoping the engine wouldn't stall.  We all breathed a sigh of relief when we got tied up at the Seapath Yacht Club Marina.  We had gone over 500 miles in the first two and a half days.  Not bad!

We spent one night at the marina and took the time to fix the fuel gauge and buy more jerry jugs.  We did not want to run out of fuel again if we could help it.  We left again the next morning with more of the same great weather.  The forecast said the weather would be good for a couple more days, so we motorsailed as fast as we could to try to put as many miles under the keels as possible while the weather allowed.  After two days we ducked into Norfolk to wait out the weather.  Ed was familiar with the area and navigated us to Cutty Sark marina where he knew they would be able to fit a catamaran our size.  

After 2 nights waiting for a weather system to pass we were back on the move on May 22nd.  By sunset the next night we were anchored behind the breakwater in Sandy Hook, NJ with the skyline of Manhattan in the distance.  Our plan was to motor up through New York Harbor to the east river and on to the protected waters of Long Island Sound, but even Ed didn't want to attempt that in the dark.  There is a reversing current on the East River that can be up to 6 knots, so we wanted to time our arrival there to have a favorable current.  Ed used our copy of Reed's Almanac to calculate a window for the next morning.

We were underway early the next morning with Ed at the helm.  It was pretty exciting to be motoring past the Statue of Liberty and under the Brooklyn Bridge and seeing all the other famous NY landmarks.  It was nerve wracking however due to the volume of boat traffic.  We were getting waked every few seconds by ferries, water taxis, and a variety of other large commercial vessels.  Who would have thought that our roughest seas on the passage would be in New York Harbor?  Once we got past the Brooklyn Bridge and up the East River things calmed down a bit and we were tooling along at over 10 knots due to the current. 

After a quick stop to fuel up in Flushing, NY we were back on the move on Long Island Sound.  Less than 200 miles to go, we had hoped our next stop would be our marina in Rhode Island.  But the weather did not cooperate.  Within a few hours, the wind was gusting to 30 knots and is was starting to drizzle.  The seas weren't bad because we were on Long Island Sound, but they were steep and close together so the boat was just slamming through them.  We were glad to be on the Sound and not south of Long Island where conditions would have been terrible.  We decided to call it a day and pulled into a marina in Norwalk, CT.  That evening Amanda and I left the boat to go to dinner at the marina restaurant and thought Ed was already off the boat.  A few minutes later a red-faced Ed shows up saying we had locked him in the boat!  He had to climb out through a hatch.  He thought it was pretty funny too, so there were no hard feelings.

The weather continued to deteriorate and we ended up staying in Norwalk for 3 nights.  It was a nice break, but with dockage at over $100/night and Ed's captain fees piling up, it was getting expensive.  Finally, the weather was good enough to depart and we were back on our way.  We were too close to our final destination to do an overnight, and didn't want to arrive in the dark, so we went as far as Point Judith (at the mouth of the Narragansett) and anchored for the night.  The next day was beautiful and sunny and we only had about 30 miles to go.  It was a Saturday and the Narragansett was chock full of daysailors enjoying their weekend.  We had made dockage reservations for the summer at Greenwich Bay Marina in the NW corner of the Narragansett.  It was pretty exciting to be arriving safely at our new home for the summer after such a long trip.  We really felt a huge sense of accomplishment.  As we pulled up to the dock, half a dozen people appeared out of nowhere to help us tie up to the dock.  What a friendly place!  Everyone seemed excited to have newcomers at the marina and they were full of questions about where we had come from and what the trip was like.  We think we're really going to enjoy the summer here.

After writing a huge check to Ed for his services and putting him on a plane to FL.  We hopped on a plane ourselves to return back to Phoenix. We're not liveaboards yet!  We'll make one more trip to the boat by plane for the 4th of July, then once we get the house all packed up and ready to rent we'll be driving our car (and cat) out to the boat in late July.

Jupiter FL - Good Idea becomes Solstice

[Kevin's Post]Before we could close, we had to decide what we wanted to name the boat so that all the paperwork could be filled out appropriately.  We didn't think keeping the name 'Good Idea' was a good idea after we realized just how often that phrase comes up in everyday conversation.  We would actually cringe each time we accidentally said it.  So we brainstormed a list of possible boat names.  We wanted a simple, elegant name like boats used to have before everybody started using puns.  We're not druids or anything, we just liked how Solstice sounds, so that's what we decided to name it.

We also had to choose a hailing port.  If we wanted to keep Jupiter, FL as the hailing port it would mean we would have to register it there and pay Florida state sales tax on the purchase price.  If we chose another state, we would have to register it there and get out of Florida within 90 days.  We learned that Rhode Island doesn't have any sales tax on boats (a state measure to stimulate the boating industry there), so Newport went to the top of the list.  And besides, there is no cooler pedigree than a Newport hailing port for a sailboat.  Even if we didn't know how to sail, we figured a Newport hailing port would help us fake it.  You can register a boat anywhere and a lot of people will register a boat in a place they have no intention of going.  But, we still had to get out of Florida within 90 days, and stay out for the duration of hurricane season.  So we tentatively made plans to move the boat 1500 miles to Rhode Island and keep it there for the duration of hurricane season.  Narragansett Bay is a big protected bay and looked like it would be a good place for a couple inexperienced boaters to build some skills.

Not really knowing what we were doing, we enlisted the help of our sea trial survey captain, Ed.  Since he is already familiar with the boat and also friends with the previous owner, we figured he would be a good resource for us.  A few weeks ago, we flew out to FL for another weekend to get more familiar with the boat and systems.  It is pretty overwhelming with all the equipment on board, three diesel engines (two for propulsion and one for a generator), an outboard, a watermaker, all the navigation systems, plumbing systems, charging systems, I could go on.  I haven't even gotten to all the sailing gear.  So we hired Ed for a day to help us sail one inlet to the north and anchor for the night.  Then we would motor back to Jupiter ourselves via the ICW.  We spent our first night at anchor in a place called Manatee Pocket up in Stuart and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  We even made a a little boat tour video.

Last week we took the boat back to the boatyard to haulout.  The saildrives needed new zincs and we decided while it was out of the water, we would put another coat of bottom paint on, and get rid of those crazy graphics once and for all.  I hired one company to service the saildrives, and another company to do the graphics and paint.  I left the boat at the yard and flew home hoping I could manage the haulout from Phoenix. That was a real eye opener.  The saildrive mechanic couldn't figure out how to put the zincs on since the saildrive had aftermarket line cutters.  So I called the manufacturer of the line cutters and got detailed instructions of how to install them.  They needed to drill one hole and cut one notch.  No big deal right?  They still couldn't figure it out.  After days of phone calls I finally decided to buy the modified zincs directly from the line cutter manufacturer and have them fedexed from Great Britain to FL.  It cost about $150 dollars in shipping, but every day in the yard was costing me that, so I figured it was worth it to just get it done.   Then I narrowly avert disaster when I discover the painter is about to try to use an epoxy bottom paint over the ablative paint which is on the boat.  I've only owned a boat two weeks and even I know you don't do that.  How could a professional boat maintenance company be so ignorant?  It's a mystery to me.  So, I tell him the exact brand and color to use and wonder how else he is going to manage to screw up the simple job.  When Amanda and I flew back to FL to put the boat back in the water we were amused and annoyed to see that they had painted over our brand new zincs (another no-no).  So we had to sand the paint off the zincs.  But it was hard to be too upset, because the boat looked fantastic.  All the vinyl graphics had been removed, the hulls had been compounded and waxed and the boat gleamed.  We had one day in the yard to apply the new striping and lettering, which we planned to do ourselves.  If you want something done right . . .you know the saying.  Apparently it applies to boats too.

We proudly motored back to our marina slip to another unpleasant surprise.  No sooner had we tied up at our slip when a marina official pulls up in a golf cart and starts asking all sorts of questions.  Now that the boat looked very different, it was obvious to the marina that the boat had been sold.  He informed us that the previous owner was not allowed to sublet the slip (which he had already paid for through April) and that we would have to sign a new dockage agreement.  What!?  So let's get this straight, the marina has already been paid for the slip, now they want to be paid again for the same slip, same boat, same time period.  Yessir.  Unfortunately, we only had a few hours before our flight out to Phoenix so we were basically extorted into signing on for two weeks dockage (the soonest we could return and move the boat) at about $450.  They thought they were being generous by prorating the monthly rate instead of charging the daily rate.  Gee thanks.  If they had done that, it would have been more cost effective for us to just miss our flight and move the boat.  Let's hope that the ignorance, incompetence, and thievery we have experienced in the past couple weeks is not commonplace.

Jupiter, FL - Survey & Sea Trial

[Kevin's Post] After a few days of negotiation we settled on a price for the Jupiter Manta.  The sale was still contingent on a survey and sea trial (kind of like a home inspection & test drive).  So I flew back out to FL this weekend, this time with Amanda, to supervise the survey.  The brokers aren't allowed to even recommend a surveyor, so I found one in the area with the help of Google and scheduled him for the survey.  He happened to be the author of one of the catamaran books we had bought when we were trying to choose a make of catamaran.

The morning of the survey, the surveyor was already at the boat when we arrived and was crawling around the starboard engine room.  With him, the two boat brokers, and the hired captain, there were six of us on board.  The brokers were in a hurry to get the boat moving since we needed to get under several scheduled drawbridges to get to Jupiter inlet (access to the ocean) and then back under the same bridges to make our haulout appointment at the boat yard.  The surveyor would continue his inspection while we were underway.  The owner had hired a professional delivery captain for the day to captain the boat for us.  He had been a sort of handyman for the owner and so was very familiar with all the boat systems.

The marina the boat was at was part of a condominium complex on the ICW (intracoastal waterway) so we had to motor several miles to get to the ocean.  The boat has a 60' mast so we had to radio all the bridges to have them stop traffic and open to allow us to pass.  It was pretty neat seeing all the traffic stop so we could putter by.  The boat attracted a lot of attention due to the crazy graphics and silly name.  Everybody who saw us seemed to stare with disbelief.  The hired captain commented that sometimes in a boat it is best to unmemorable.  Yes, the graphics were going to have to go.

When we finally got to the ocean, the winds were light and variable and the seas were flat calm.  Not ideal for a sailboat test drive.  But we raised the sails and managed to make the thing go 3 knots in 5 knots of wind, so the brokers were pretty pleased with themselves.  The sails were in decent shape considering their age, just a little dingy.  Everything appeared to work, although the surveyor recommended that we replace a few of the lines due to chafe.  We didn't waste any time waiting for wind, it was back under the bridges and on to the boatyard a few miles in the opposite direction (also on the ICW).

We were right on time for our scheduled haulout, and our captain deftly maneuvered the boat in to the crane's slings while the brokers stood by with fenders.  Once the boat was stable in the slings, we all hopped off the boat and the crane lifted it out of the water.  This gave the surveyor an opportunity to inspect below the waterline without having to use scuba gear.  He tapped the entire hull with a mallet looking for soft spots and inspected the saildrives, rudders, and propellers.  The bottom was fairly clean and had a good coating of anti-fouling paint, but the saildrive zincs needed to be replaced soon.  (These are sacrificial metal pieces which prevent the important metal parts of the saildrive and propeller from corroding away).  The surveyor said it was unfortunate we didn't have replacements since we could have replaced them right then while we were out of the water.  Now we'd have to schedule a second haulout to make the repair.  Other than the zincs, everything below the waterline was ship-shape.

Back in the water we motored back to the owner's marina.  The surveyor really hadn't found anything notable, so we told the owner's broker we would buy it if we could keep the marina slip through April.  He said he would check with the seller and amend the purchase agreement.  Buying a boat is kind of like buying a house, there is a lot of paperwork.  It will be about a week before we close, but if all goes as expected we will soon be the owners of a 1996 Manta 40 catamaran. 

Jupiter, FL - The Good Idea

[Kevin's Post]I spent the weekend jet-setting around the east coast looking at yachts.  Trust me, it's not nearly as glamorous as it sounds.  We have pretty much narrowed our possibilities down to one particular make of sailboat - a Manta catamaran.  There aren't a lot of them out there, only about 120 have been made in the last ten years.  They are specifically designed for long term cruising, whereas most of the other catamaran builders design boats primarily for the charter business.  There are only four on the market right now, two on the east coast, and two in the Caribbean.  I told our broker that I was willing to fly out to look at the ones on the east coast.  The salesman that he is, he said that I shouldn't fly out to see anything unless I already had a signed contract on it.  Car salesmen have nothing on boat brokers.  He reasoned that without a contract there was no guarantee the boat would still be available when I showed up at the dock.  It would require just a small 10% transferable deposit (about $25k) and I could walk away for any reason.  Uh, OK. Where do I send the check?  A wire transfer would be better.  Of course it would.

So I made a reasonable offer on a 1998 Manta in Annapolis, which to my surprise was accepted, and I went to take a look.  I also made plans to see a 1996 Manta in Jupiter, FL, just so I would have a basis for comparison.  The Annapolis Manta had been to Australia and back and it looked it.  It was pretty tired looking and didn't appear to be very well maintained.  It also had six inches of snow on the deck which made me wonder if it had been properly winterized for all the winters it had spent in Maryland.  I spent about an hour looking through the boat and taking pictures of everything.   I knew in a few minutes I wouldn't be buying this boat.  The listing had some significant errors in the equipment list, and the interior was a mess of half completed projects.

On to Florida to look at boat #2.  I wasn't too excited about looking at the 1996 Florida Manta because it looked ridiculous in the listing photos.  It appeared the owner had painted the sailboat to make it look like a speedboat and the result was hideous.  It had wild graphics in every color of the rainbow down both hulls with the boat name in 2 foot high bubble letters - 'Good Idea'.  Repainting a boat this size could cost upwards of $20k, so that wasn't something I wanted to consider.  But, when I saw it in person I could see that the graphics weren't painted on, they were just vinyl and could be removed.  Not only that, the rest of the boat was in immaculate condition.  The gelcoat was bright and shiny, the waterline was clean, the interior was in nearly mint condition.  I never would have guessed it was a ten year old boat.  The owner had only used it two months a year and never went farther than the Abacos.  I spent a few hours peering into every nook and cranny of the boat and taking pictures while our broker patiently answered my questions.  I told our broker that I wanted to withdraw my offer on the Annapolis Manta and make an offer on Good Idea.