Underway! - The Plan

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OK.  So we (Janet and I) got underway on the cruise and left Miami this past Thursday.


We sailed to Fort Lauderdale and hung out there for a day...

Left Lauderdale and sailed to Palm Beach...

Left Palm Beach and sailed to Fort Pierce which is where I am as of this post... Gonna hang out here for the day  - then sail to Cape Canaveral...

So far we have covered about 110 nautical miles.  And have already experienced quite a few things on our adventure including:

  • Overheating Engine 1 hour after leaving Miami!  Found a wad of seaweed fouling the cooling pump... problem resolved..

















  • Locating the Gulf Stream right offshore of Ft Lauderdale and cruising an average of nearly 10 knots (normal speed is around 5 knots)..
  • Take a look at this short video for a feel for the sail in the Gulf Stream:  
  • https://youtu.be/f1bmWvEYys8
  • Failed bilge pump with water coming into the bilge - Figured out that this was due to a backwards -siphon where water was entering the boat backwards thru the pump...  Problem re-solved but a bit nerve wracking seeing water coming in boat and pump not working...  Manual pump did work... 
  • Running aground in Lake Worth...  Soft grounding - no damage - good reminder that I must always 'keep my eye on the ball'...
These are just a few highlights from the first couple days... lots of excitement and challenges...

The plan from here is to head to Cape Canaveral, FL.  Janet leaves from there on Wednesday - then Rich and Kendra will meet me there.  We plan the next leg to sail from Cape Canaveral to Savannah GA and Charleston SC...  That is a sailing distance of close to 350 miles...

Rich and Kendra will leave after a week or so with me then Rich Z joins me for the next leg of the trip which is from Charleston to the mouth of the Chesapeake...  Rich Z leaves then Carolyn and Phil are aboard for the leg from Chesapeake to NYC...

This guy wants to come on the trip too!



That's the tentative plan that I've laid out that will take me to mid-July...

After that I plan to sail around and hang out in the Northeast on Long Island Sound where I spent my early years sailing with Dad...  I'd like to head north to my Alma Mater (Coast Guard Academy on the Thames River, CT) and to the Cape Cod/Nantucket area and perhaps as far up to the Coast of Maine...

As the summer wains I'll begin to head South and plan a good month on the Chesapeake Bay...  After that it's a cruise down the InterCoastal Warterway.  This is a trip Dad made many times as he joined the 'snowbirds' - boaters who migrate south for the winter.  I plan to return to Miami and take a break around the Thanksgiving/Christmas holidays...  Then the second half of the trip after the 1st of the year is  Bahamas and Caribbean Bound...

That's the plan.  We'll see how it goes!!!  And I'll keep y'all posted..

RF





Comments

  1. RichJune 11, 2018 at 8:19 AM

    Test Comment

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  2. CarolynJune 17, 2018 at 8:11 PM

    That's one cute bird! Great post dad, and I didn't hear the story about running aground. Yokes!

    ReplyDelete
  3. MonicaSeptember 26, 2018 at 3:33 AM

    What a trip! Looks like you have great company. Janet looks so cute.

    ReplyDelete

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