CRUISE UPDATE:
This past Saturday night I sailed off-shore & overnight again from the Gulfport to Ft. Myers Beach, about 120 nautical miles. It was a much better sail than the first but was still a little nervy since we are all so inexperienced. But the crew did well, and the weather was good to us.
The plan was to go up the Okeechobee waterway this week, but bad weather has us stuck in Ft. Myers. Yesterday we traveled about 18 nm northeast up the Caloosahatchee river to downtown Ft. Myers. Until then we had clogged and replaced the fuel filters a few times, but right past Ft. Myers we used our last one up and a fuel line became clogged. The offshore sail had stirred up all sorts of gunk in the diesel fuel tank and it needed cleaning desperately. This morning we had a guy come out and "polish" the fuel by agitating the sludge on the bottom of the tank, sucking it through a bunch of big filters and putting it back into the tank, circulating it a few times through until it ran clear and clean. The fuel I was getting out of the filters was oil black, not good. After spending some time bleeding the engine of air in the fuel lines (a big pain), we got the engine running smooth again with a clean tank.
However, a front is about to come through with a lot of rain and thunderstorms for the next few days. I dropped off my dad in Ft. Myers Beach so now its just me and my gf while she is on spring break. We expected to get to Stuart on the East coast by Friday. Now it looks like I'll have to keep the boat here for a week or two until good weather comes along and I can find at least one person to crew with me when the time comes.
4 comments:
Well done Erick!
The sailor who has no schedule always has favorable weather...
bob
s/v Eolian
Seattle
Hi Erick,
Just wanted to let you know I have been following you blog for a while and am enjoying it. I am 26 y/o male who is glad to see another younger person actually sailing living their dream! All I can say is you have put a tremendous amount of work into her and it will pay of. Looks great already. I will keep following. Good Luck with everything!
Steve
Winston salem NC, soon to be Jacksonville FL.
Nothing keeps a sailboat in working order like using it. By the time you get tho the Atlantic, you should be ready to make some serious time out there.
Anytime a boat is left alone it will degrade in every way. I feel guilty and wake up late at night if I haven't been on the boat in two weeks.
The good cruising is coming up, I envy you and your boat. Sail safe!!!
dc from Jax
Thanks everyone! Glad you guys are following along. I'm rummaging through pictures of the trip and I'll be putting then up shortly. If all goes well, I'll be able to cross the state next weekend.
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