Breeze On

Once again, a change in the forecast gave us a chance to practice flexibility. We were planning to leave Ft. Pierce yesterday but the day before we were told that the seas were likely to be 7 feet with a period of 10 seconds. Although we could sail in those conditions it would not be pleasant. We opted to wait for the next weather window. As it turned out the seas were actually 6 feet instead of 7 but we had already changed our plans and moved off of the boat again.  While we were waiting we went back to the Environmental Learnjng Center and took a boat ride to Pelican Island. Pelican Island is the first National Wildlife Refuge, established in 1903. The photo shows white Wood Storks in the trees and White Pelicans in the middle on the ground. To protect the wildlife were prohibited from getting any closer for a better picture. The Indian River Lagoon was peaceful and beautiful with an incredible amount of wildlife. Since Breeze On doesn’t go on the ICW we hadn’t been able to appre...

After three and a half weeks, our time here has almost ended and we have returned to Breeze On. We had a lovely time visiting family and friends in Florida. Here are the highlights: Lunch at Stumpknockers Restaurant with Mom, Dave, cousin Julie and her friends. So great to reconnect. Lunch with longtime friend, Joan. We grew up together in Florida and can’t remember when we didn’t know each other.  Hot air balloon event with brother, Dave and his girlfriend, Lori. It was so much fun.  Dave and Lori Airboat ride with George, Uncle Don and his partner, Gene.  It was my first airboat ride and I loved it. The scenery was gorgeous, the wildlife plentiful and the boat ride was a thrill.  We wore headphone to block the noise of the engine and to be able to hear the guide.  One of many alligators. We even saw baby alligators and I hatched, abandoned alligator eggs.  A visit to the Environmental Learning Center in Vero Beach. We walked on their boardwalks through th...

We arrived at Harbortown Marina in Ft. Pierce at 9:00 am yesterday, after traveling 233 nautical miles in 36 hours. In those 36 hours we motored for 20 and sailed for 16. The sailing was quite good and the sea conditions were not bad at all; usually 2-3 feet, sometimes 3-4. The route we took, through the Northeast and Northwest Providence Channels, is extremely popular with cruise and cargo ships. George saw eight cruise ships on his watch Saturday night, I didn’t count how many I saw. Sundays are often turnaround day for cruise ships and some of them seemed to be out there meandering around and just killing time before going into port. One Disney ship was traveling one direction then, a few minutes later, was traveling the opposite direction. On Sunday night, our second night, we didn’t see as many ships but had more close encounters. There was a period on my watch when I had a cargo ship heading toward me and a cruise ship approaching from behind. The AIS said they were both going to...

We are on our way to Florida. We left Meeks Patch, outside of Spanish Wells, at 8:30 last night with a plan to arrive in Ft. Pierce around 9:00 am tomorrow. We had planned to make the trip with just one overnight, however Chris Parker suggested we move our trip ahead to avoid unfavorable winds off of the coast of Florida during the day on Monday. Everything is going well so far. The winds have been fairly light so we have had to run the engine quite a bit. We raised the gennaker a few hours ago and have been able to turn the engine off. We will take the gennaker down before the sun sets and hope we will have enough wind—but not too much—to sail with the jib and mainsail.

After a poor night’s sleep we got up out of bed yesterday morning feeling tired. The wind and waves didn’t let up and the boat was rocking and rolling all night. In fact, the wind shifted more to the south making the waves even worse. We wanted to raise the anchor and get moving as soon as possible. First, though, George had to replace the main halyard. We noticed the day before that it was seriously chafed where it is held by the clutch. It is a new halyard—purchased from Annapolis Performace Sailing last summer—and we were already disappointed that it had started to chafe a little a few months ago. This chafe was much worse and must have happened when we crossed over from the Exumas a few days ago. George dug out of storage what he thought was the old halyard to use until we can replace the chafed one. It turned out that he had grabbed the old main sheet instead of the old halyard. He looked up the specifications for both the halyard and the sheet and it turns out they are made from ...