The Adventures of Solstice: 2010

Friday, April 30, 2010

Where We've Been

Vessel
Manta 40 (Hull # 17) commissioned 1996.
Major factory refit in 1999 due to lightning strike Aluminum Hardtop/Davits/Radar Arch.
Cored FRG (Nida-Core), Solid FRP below water.

Engines
Volvo Penta MD 2040 (2) x 40 HP, Volvo 3 Blade folding props w/weed cutters.
100 Gal Aluminum diesel tank, 2 start batteries.
Electric pumps on each engine for changing engine oil.

Sails
Full Batten Main, lazy jacks.
100% self-tending jib with Camber Spar and battens.
UK Drifter, rigging and winch in cockpit.

Rigging
Harken, 44.2 STE-H, Two Speed Electric Winch.
Dutchman, Boom Brake.
3/8 inch 316 SS Rigging, Awlgrip Painted Alum Spar 1999

Dinghy
AB 13’ Inflatable w/fiberglass hull.
Tohotsu 30 h.p. w/ steering extender for stand-up operation.
Two 6 gal and one 3 gal Fuel Tanks

Galley
Stove/Oven, Seaward-Princess 3 burner.
20 lb propane tank.
Solenoid valve with remote.
10 cu.ft. Freezer-Refrigerator, Alder Barber 12V.
Microwave.
Toaster/Oven installed over exhaust hood
propane bbq grill mounted in rod holders.

Communications
Icom SSB with 23' whip antenna
VHF, Standard Horizon with RAM mike.
EPIRB, ACR Satellite 406.

Instruments
Garmin color chartplotter
Wind sp/dir, Depth, Speed, B & G Network.
Autopilot, B & G, below deck, hydraulic ram.
GPS, Garmin 12XL.
Radar, Furuno 1621.
Compass, Richie Powerdamp
C.A.R.D. Radar Detector.
Electrical Meter, Heart, Link-10 on house bank.
NEMA port at helm, Nav center and Salon Table for computer hookup

Entertainment
Indoor antenna
Stereo, Clarion Marine M3170 Radio/CD/Tape.
10 CD changer
Sirius Satellite radio
13 Inch TV/VCR.
Portable DVD player
Glowmex at mast head, 4 Bose speakers.

Electrical
6 Batteries, Lifeline GPL-2C
Battery Isolation, Heart, Pathmaker 100/3.
6 Solar Panels, 75 Watt Siemens.
Inverter Jazz 2500 Watt.
Controller for Solar Panels, Trace C-40.
Charger -Trace
Strikeshield Lightning Protection system.
Air Conditioning Cruisair 26,000BTU.
Nav Lights, Trilight, Combo Decklight/St Lght.
2x30 amp 110 service, Zinc Saver II.
5.5 kw Next Generation Generator w/Kabota 2cylinder – 10.8hp diesel engine.

Plumbing
Washer/Dryer combo
Water Maker, Spectra Gulfstream 400
110v automatic ice machine installed in wet locker
100 Gal Aluminum Water tank, 2x20 Holding.
2 Macerators, Jabsco, 18590-0000.
Water Pressure system.
2 Shower Sump Pumps, Rule 500.
2 Auto Bilge Pumps.
Hot Water Tank, Seaward 11 Gal, F-1200.
2 Manual Bilge Pumps, Whale Gusher.
2 Heads, Jabsco, w/fresh or saltwater flush
Deck Wash Pump, Flojet 4325-143L.
2 TankWatch Holding Tank Alarms.

Ground Tackle
Maxwell Electric windlass.
5/8 nylon 20 ft bridle.
275 Ft 5/16 Inch hi test chain.
Delta 44 lb and 2 Fortress Aluminum anchors

Safety
MOB bouy, Jacklines, 4 Self inflating Life Vests
4 Life Vests, 3 MOB throwing lines.
Sea anchor, 18 Ft Paratech, 450 ft. 5/8 nylon.
Radar Reflector on Mast.
8 man automatically deploying life raft mounted at aft stb side of radar arch

Soldstice!

For those of you in a hurry, let me sum up: after a whirlwind week of work as of 4:30pm EDT today we are no longer the owners of Solstice.

For those of you who are more detail-oriented, let me give a full rundown of the past week's events.

Where did we leave off? Oh, yeah, Thursday and we had just arrived at the marina.

Thursday -- we arrived in the afternoon and managed to check into the marina, go get a rental car, and eat dinner. We halfheartedly started packing up our front berth/junk room. We definitely felt a little overwhelmed while writing out the long list of things to do to get the boat ready for sale.

Friday -- After 30 phone calls, we sold our scuba gear on Craigslist to the first guy who showed up and bought it all. We then found a storage room and began the process of dismantling the boat. At this point, we figured we had until Friday April 30th to get everything situated, since the Catamaran Company boat show did not start until May 1.

Saturday -- After our last night on the boat, we checked into the Sheraton Beach Resort. Our corner room had amazing views of both the Atlantic and the ICW (thanks Teresa!). We spent a full day boxing up items for storage, unloading personal gear, and dropping donations off to St. Vincent de Paul. Late in the afternoon we received word from Michael, our broker, that a potential buyer had put in an offer for us to consider. Their offer was only 6% lower than our asking price. Yippee!

Sunday -- We countered the offer by splitting the difference. By end of day the buyers accepted our counter and we were pretty optimistic. We had a contract! Of course it was subject to their personal inspection, survey, and sea trial, but still -- a contract is a good thing! We knew the buyer would be in town by Tuesday night and would want to have their first look at the boat on Wednesday, so we kicked everything into overdrive and made many trips to West Marine/Home Depot/storage room to get the boat looking good.

Monday -- The buyer (at this point let's give them names -- Don & Diana) let us know that the only available day to do survey/sea trial would be Wednesday morning. Aaack! Don/Diana had never even seen a Manta other than in photos, so not only would they be seeing Solstice for the first time, but they would also be taking her out for a spin and hiring a guy to peer into every nook and cranny looking for defects. For us, panic set in. We had the inside taken care of, but would need at least another person to help wash the decks while we finished the aesthetics.

Tuesday -- Around 8:30 am, the Catamaran Company sent Flo over, who spent several hours detail-cleaning the exterior and making Solstice shine. I headed to Target where I bought a carload of "staging" decor. Kevin painted the scratches on the black steps, touched up the awlgrip, checked off a bunch of other items from our to-do list. Midway through the day, as Flo was hosing off the deck, our broker called to tell us that the buyer may come over sometime in the afternoon. We calmly inform him that "sure, that's okay, but the boat is still in process of being cleaned. We will try to have the boat ready by early evening if they really want to come by that badly." We frantically finish all cleaning and decorating and manage to be ready by 4:30 pm. We call our broker and find out that it was a false alarm, Don & Diana would not have their first glimpse of the boat until Wednesday morning. Whew! At least we were ready! We headed back to the hotel for a quick shower and then met Don & Diana for drinks (we had previously arranged this w/ them). They seemed super nice and actually have about the same level of experience that we had when we bought Solstice. Which is great, since Mantas are an excellent boat for beginners with the self-tacking jib and all lines leading to the helm. We tried to sleep that night but it was futile. We were too nervous to sleep.

Wednesday -- When we bought the boat, the previous seller was elsewhere so he had hired a captain. Since we were in town, Kevin figured it would be better and cheaper to captain the sea trial himself. Since we kind of have our routine down, that meant that I would go along as crew. We arrived at the boat by 7am and soon after that Don, Diana, and their broker George arrived. From the get-go, we could tell that George was a closer a la Glengarry Glen Ross ("coffee's for closers only"). He complimented us on the condition of the boat and while it seemed sincere it was definitely a bit over the top, I mean the boat is fourteen years old so to ask when we had the floors replaced (they have never been) was a little funny. (The floors were already all scratched up by the previous owners two dogs before we even came aboard). Anyway we were soon joined by their surveyor Jonathan and our broker Michael, and the seven of us set out on our day-long sea trial.

We started out around 10:30 am going under two bascule bridges and out the Port Everglades inlet to sail. While we were topside sailing, Jonathan was below running all the systems (including the stereo, washing machine, etc) and writing down whatever was broken. He was very thorough, much more thorough than our surveyor was when we bought the boat. (If anyone needs a good surveyor, we would highly recommend him!) The sailing part went really well and we had a 1pm haulout scheduled. Running up the New River with its 5 bascule bridges was a little stressful, although I did my best to hide how stressed out I was (I did wish we'd ponied up the $400 for a professional captain though!). Once again Solstice was hauled out into the slings and we ate lunch while Jonathan looked at the bottom.

It was at this point where we weren't sure what would happen next. If Don & Diana did not for sure want the boat, Kevin and I definitely wanted to return down through all the bridges to the Catamaran Company docks so that Solstice would be on display for the boat show over the weekend. BUT, if Don & Diana did want the boat, the two brokers wanted it docked somewhere else so it didn't take up valuable selling space at the show for an "already sold" boat. George, Jonathan, Don, and Diana had a pow-wow in the salon while Kevin and I waited outside with our broker. When they came out, we had an unconditional sale! Unconditional means that they agreed to pay the previously agreed price without asking us to fix any deficiencies found by their surveyor or come down in price. Wooo-hooo! We were able to dock nearby without having to run all those bridges at rush hour, and George had a contract ready and signed before everyone went home. Cool! So now all we had to do was wait until May 17 for the official "close" of the contract. Kevin and I went back to the hotel elated!

Thursday -- Kevin had two outstanding items that we wanted to take care of despite the "unconditional sale" -- he wanted to install a new watermaker feed pump, and he wanted to have a mechanic take a look at the injector pump seals on the Volvos. Technically he did not have to do either of these things, but we had already mentioned them to Don that we would do them before close, so Kevin headed to the boat early Thurs. morning. He was able to replace the pump and pickle the watermaker by himself, but had to wait for the mechanic to look at the diesels. The mechanic took a look and recommended rebuilding both injector pumps. It wouldn't be a major expense but it would take the mechanic a couple of days with the engines inoperable. Kevin was about to tell him to do it when he got a call from our broker telling us that Don & Diana wanted to move the close up to April 30th (ie. the next day). That sounded great to us, but it certainly wouldn't be enough time to get the maintenance done before close. We couldn't very well hire someone to do work on a boat that would no longer be ours, so Kevin kept the guy's card to give to Don with an explanation of what he would need to do.

Friday -- we stopped by the boat a couple more times to label all the keys and make sure all was well for the turnover. By 11 am we had signed our paperwork and by 4:30pm the wire transfer went through -- we are no longer the owners of Solstice. We've had a wonderful adventure but it is nice to be able to move on to other modes of travel and other life experiences. We aren't sure of Don & Diana's future plans but we know at some point they would like to bring the boat to the Caribbean, so if any of our cruising friends see "Solstice", stop by and say hello to her new owners, they are very friendly folks!

So that is officially it for "The Adventures of Solstice" blog! We have had a wonderful five-year journey, and we hope all the readers back home enjoyed following along with us. For our cruising friends we hope you all have fair winds and following seas, and everyone keep in touch!

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Excitement on the High Seas -- the Final Voyage of Solstice

The unknown ship had been following us shrouded in darkness for three hours. Displaying no running lights, it stealthily crept up to within a mile off our port side. Then it disappeared. Hours later, that same ship suddenly overtook us and we were boarded by men with guns...

Our final trip from Bimini to the US was an eventful one to say the least. On paper, the forecast looked great for a motoring trip across the gulf stream -- less than ten knots of wind with 0-1 foot seas. We thought it would be flat calm for the entire passage. What fools we were. We left our anchorage at 2am with wind on the nose at 15 knots and very lumpy waves that were increasing up to a steady five feet, with some even higher than that. "Uncomfortable" doesn't begin to describe it, but that has been par for the course for most of the last month of passagemaking! We'd been slamming along for an hour in the dark when Kevin noticed a blip on the radar -- a boat was behind us, something big. It kept coming closer and closer until it was less than a mile away but we could not see anything at all. Clearly the ship was running with no lights on purpose. Our educated guess was that it was a US Coast Guard cutter patrolling the waters off the Bahamas. But after keeping a steady watch on the radar, we saw it zoom off into the night just as quickly as it came. Huh. Weird.

We check our radar at least every 15 minutes or so while we're on passage. It helps us keep track of what's around us even in the daytime (sometimes ships are hard to see with the naked eye until they are really close). Anyway it was now 8am with plenty of daylight, but we hadn't seen another ship for an hour. Then Kevin glanced behind him and was startled to see the Coast Guard cutter right behind us, seemingly appearing out of nowhere. They got close enough to read our boat name and hailed us on the radio, announcing that they'd be sending a boarding party over. Yikes. The seas were kind of steep at this point, but that did not stop the brave boys from launching their inflatable with four guys aboard.

We watched apprehensively as they went airborne over the waves and approached our port side (they had told us not to slow down or alter course so we were cruising along at nearly 7 knots). With a final surge the helmsman rammed up alongside and three of the guys clambered out onto our stern steps. All of them were packing and we heard a clang as something metallic fell overboard from one of their utility belts (Kevin thinks it was a gun but they kind of ignored us when we asked what they dropped).

I took the helm as Kevin showed them around the boat and answered their questions about our flares, lifejackets, documentation, fire extinguishers, etc. They had a checklist and were looking for safety violations (and guns, drugs & illegal aliens too I'm sure but the official reason for the boarding was "safety inspection"). Anyway, they acted a bit surprised to discover that we had followed every regulation to the letter and one of them mentioned that we were the first vessel they'd boarded in a long time that hadn't had any violations whatsoever. They actually gave us a "good as gold" award. Fat lot of good that will do us, considering that it was our last leg of our final voyage ever. Ha!

When it was over they shook our hands, the inflatable came alongside again, and the three guys all lightly hopped back in. It was all incredibly impressive. Just another day at the office for the Coasties.

Four hours later we finally passed through the inlet at Port Everglades and were immediately reminded of how stressful it can be to deal with wakes, bridges and the ICW. The dockmaster at the marina was out to lunch so we had to tie ourselves up (usually there is at least someone to help with the lines but not this time). Luckily we managed to get into the slip without doing any damage to our boat or the megayachts around us. It felt great to get all the docklines tied off and then just sit in the cockpit to decompress a little. Woohoo. Job well done. Mission accomplished.

So there it is. Our final voyage comes to an end. Don't get me wrong, we have a couple weeks of solid work ahead of us to get the boat ready to sell. We'll be moving all our personal stuff into a hotel; cleaning, waxing, and polishing the boat; and then crossing our fingers that someone out there is looking for a new adventure and that our boat is "the one" for them. Our boat brokerage is having a boat show the last weekend we are here, and they are expecting a couple hundred people to see the boat so we will see how it all goes. Wish us luck!

Location=Fort Lauderdale, FL
Lat=26 07.190
Lon=80 06.498

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Cat Cay

We left Rose Island yesterday morning and made the 120 mile trip to Cat Cay on the edge of the gulfstream. We're planning to cross the gulfstream tomorrow (Thursday). Only 50 miles to go!

Location=Cat Cay, Bahamas
Lat=25 33.637
Lon=79 16.582

Monday, April 19, 2010

Rose Island, Bahamas

After hearing a decent weather forecast this morning we left Allen's Cay for Rose Island which is about 3 miles east of Nassau. "Decent" is relative, we had 15 knots right on the nose for most the trip and were happy to have it after the crazy weather we've been seeing this whole trip. Tomorrow through the rest of the week the wind is supposed to be very light, probably too light to even sail. Feast or famine. So we'll probably be motoring the rest of the way to FL.

Location=Rose Island, Bahamas
Lat=25 05.031
Lon=77 12.715

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Allen's Cay

We dinghied in to the Highborne Cay marina to jerry jug some fuel and hopefully get on the internet. The lady at the marina desk refused to let us pay for internet access, she just pointed at a sign saying the internet was for marina guests only. We had just paid over $100 for fuel (more than a night's dockage would have cost), but it made no difference, she was adamant. I suppose their internet access is the only selling point of the marina, I'm sure they're not winning any customers with their customer service. With no internet access, there was no point staying anchored off Highborne Cay, so we motored the 5 miles north to Allen's Cay where there is better protection from the west. None of the weather services seem to have any idea what the weather is going to do over the next few days (one of the reasons we wanted internet access). We have literally seen forecasts ranging from gale-force winds with water spouts to light and variable winds. They can't seem to agree on a direction or strength. So, we're going to stay here until we can get more weather information tomorrow.

Location=Allen's Cay, Bahamas
Lat=24 44.959
Lon=76 50.219

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Highborne Cay, Bahamas

After 3 blustery days we left Rocky Point yesterday morning. We had planned to go 45 miles to Staniel Cay since the forecast was only 20kt, but with about an hour to go it started blowing 25-30 knots so we diverted to Black Point. This morning the wind was only about 15 knots and finally out of the SE, so we went another 50 miles today to Highborne Cay in the Northern Exumas. We're only about 30 miles from Nassau and about 190 from Ft. Lauderdale. There's supposed to be some squally weather tomorrow and Monday, but we're hoping to get moving again on Tuesday and should have a window to cross the gulfstream Wed-Fri of next week.

Location=Highborne Cay, Bahamas
Lat=24 42.666
Lon=76 49.916

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Rocky Point, Great Exuma, Bahamas

We left Long Island early Monday morning after getting our first good night's sleep since we'd left the DR. We sailed north to Bailey Cay, which is on the south side of Great Exuma island. We saw only one other boat -- a small fishing skiff -- the entire day, and we had the entire anchorage to ourselves.

This morning we continued northwest to Rocky Point. The wind was up (18 knots gusting up to 22) so we just sailed with the jib alone. Rocky Point is another deserted anchorage -- no homes, no boats or anything. To the west there is nothing but blue shallow water. There's supposed to be some strong winds and squalls over the next few days, so we plan to wait here until Friday.

Location=Rocky Point, Great Exuma, Bahamas
Lat=23 34.542
Lon=76 04.160

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Gordon's Anchorage, Long Island, Bahamas

We arrived in Mayaguana yesterday afternoon planning to clear in to the Bahamas and continue onward. But we hit a snag as we walked up to the customs and immigration building - it was closed. Undeterred, we walked into town to see if somebody could find the customs official for us. A friendly guy named Reggie made a few calls and told us to come back in an hour and a half. We wandered around a bit and eventually a car drove up to us and asked if we were looking for him (the customs official). So even though it was a Saturday afternoon we managed to get cleared in and were on our way again by 5pm.

The second leg of the passage brought us here to Long Island. The weather forecast is showing 25-30 knot winds sustained for the rest of the week and we didn't want to get stuck in Mayaguana. We originally planned to stop here on Long Island for 5-6 hours so that our departure time would have us arriving at the edge of the Exuma Bank at daybreak. But once we got anchored our exhaustion won out and we have decided to stay here at least until we get a new weather report Monday morning.

Location=Gordons Anchorage, Long Island, Bahamas
Lat=22 51.517
Lon=74 52.310

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Back in the Bahamas

We're about an hour away from making landfall in the Bahamas at Mayaguana. It will only be a short stop for us to clear in to the Bahamas and then we are taking off again on another 200 mile passage. The weather is going to become really bad starting Monday, so we want to get as far as we can before the bad weather arrives. The forecast is for 30 knot winds sustained for 4-5 days with squalls to 40 knots across the entire Bahamas. Once it hits we'll have to stay put until probably Frday. From Mayaguana we are heading down to the southern tip of Acklins and then south of Long Island to the South side of Great Exuma. This way when the winds start to let up, we'll already be on the Exuma banks and can start moving immediately rather than wait for a window to get to Rum Cay.

Location=Approaching Mayaguana
Lat=22 12.959
Lon=72 53.545

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Bahamas Bound

We are planning to leave the Dominican Republic tomorrow and make the 200 mile trip to Mayaguana in the Bahamas. This weather window is looking a lot better than the last one with the wind out of the southeast for the first time in two weeks. We made some new friends on the boat next to us: Bill and Sue on Unchained. They got here even before we did and have been waiting on both weather and a new transmission which finally arrived yesterday. So, they are ready to leave as well and will keep us company for the 36 hour trip. We are hoping to leave at dawn, but the Navy and a narcotics officer have to clear us to leave first. They are supposed to be at the boat at 4:30AM. We should be in Mayaguana by sunset on Saturday.

Friday, April 2, 2010

Jinxed!

Not sure if anyone was actually fooled by my April Fool's Day post yesterday. Our original intent was the exact opposite -- to leave the Dominican Republic that night (Thursday) and head to Mayaguana in the Bahamas. Well, we didn't leave and Kevin seems to think my post is the reason why.

The forecast for yesterday night was for 12-17 kts with 6-10 foot seas at a 12 second interval. The higher digit interval is important because the farther apart the waves are the more comfortable it is, so even with bigger seas than we usually like this seemed like it might be do-able. And although it rained most of the morning yesterday, we were still planning to leave as scheduled. So we spent most of the day preparing the boat for the two-day trip. Around noon we went up to the office, climbed the stairs to the third floor and took a look at the ocean. We didn't see any whitecaps, and the windspeed was under 15, so we still were thinking it was a decent weather window. We cleared out of immigration just after lunch, intending to get our despacho from the navy and clear out of customs later in the afternoon, closer to our departure time of 6pm.

We went back to the boat and continued our preparations. Specifically, I took off the sailcovers, started the log, and made two nights' worth of dinners and two days' worth of sandwiches (it is really no fun to cook on a rolling boat, so I always do what I can in advance). Meanwhile, Kevin re-adjusted the docklines, programmed the route into the chartplotter, double-checked the weather, did engine checks, and a bunch of other stuff to get us ready. Around 3pm I finally finished cooking and looked around for Kevin but he was nowhere to be found. I went outside and saw him on another dock, chatting with a couple decked out in foul-weather gear. I walked over to find out what was going on.

Turns out that the couple had left the marina earlier in the morning, and after several punishing hours of taking waves into the cockpit they came back. They said that the swells were closer together than 12 seconds and easily ten feet high, plus wind chop that would break periodically and soak them. It was so miserable they just decided to turn around. Well that settled it for us, we weren't going. Kevin had already been second-guessing the weather window, but we definitely weren't about to take ten foot swells/windchop on the beam for hours on end. So we went back to immigration and luckily the lady was nice about granting us an extension -- it's looking like we're going to be here for at least another week. Sigh. On the plus side, we found out we will be getting a tax refund this year, and there's a casino only a few feet from the dock, so...

The Adventures of Solstice