Where is Serenity

Blue Water Sailing School Day Six

Date: May 15th, 2008
Location: Docked in Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA
Coordinates: 26.136849, -80.11947
Weather: Sunny, 95F, wind: not measurable
Sea State: Calm

                   

Last night I decided to sleep on the forward trampoline. I took my pillow and poncho liner up forward and laid down on the trampoline. I laid there for a few minutes watching the clouds pass in front of the moon or looked at the beautiful homes surrounding the cove in which we had anchored. It was very peaceful and I soon fell fast asleep. I slept quite soundly and awoke with the rising of the sun. I now think I was lucky to have lost that coin toss and ending up the vagabond without quarters. Since I was taking the class with my cousin Scot there was never any question about which head to use or where to stow most of my gear. And because I slept in the salon, I would often have nice quite time to write these posts at the table after everyone went to their cabins for the night. After writing my nightly posts, I would go up forward and enjoy the solace and scenery from the comfort of the trampoline. In many ways the lack of a cabin aloud me to enjoy aspects of the boat that the others did not.

After another bagel breakfast (what happened, the first several days we had such good fair for our morning meals) we sat down and graded the ASA Basic Coastal Cruising 103 tests. Everyone passed, I ended up missing 14 questions out of the 125. Having finished the test CJay informed us that if we had failed this test, then we would not be able to take the tests for Bareboat Chartering and Catamaran Cruising. Apparently a high percentage of students fail test 103 and it is uncommon for all four students to pass. I can only imagine how upset some people must get to pay so much money to take this class only to fail and finish the week with the only 101 certification. If you are reading this blog and plan on taking this course, make sure you read and study your books and find a good instructor like CJay.

We prepared the boat for sailing, pulled the hook and having plotted the course, set sail for Fort Lauderdale. Before getting to the open waters of the Atlantic we pulled into a anchorage and swung the compass. Swinging the compass is something you do to find out the deviation of your ships compass. On different headings, you compass will be off by different degrees. By swinging your compass you can graph the deviation and use it to adjust your course while underway.

We finished swinging the compass and continued toward open water. After getting passed the reef we hoisted the mainsail. As we were preparing to hoist the jib, there was a loud bang and the clew of the mainsail went slack. The outhaul sheet had separated. The outhaul is a line that runs thought the boom and tightens the foot or bottom of the sail. You can not sail with the mainsail flapping about in the wind, so we lowered the mainsail, then lowered the boom onto the bimini. We tightened down the boom and then took the first reefing line which also runs though the boom and tied it the clew of the mainsail. The first reefing line was now out outhaul. We re-raised the main and then the boom and then tighten the foot of the main but pulling on the outhaul. Amazingly this only took about 10 minutes.

We then sailed in very light winds to the gulf stream which was just a few miles out to sea. The gulf stream moving north added about 5.5 knots to our speed over ground. The wind was very light. We had to set a tang line to keep the jib open and not collapse. CJay rigged a trolling line hoping to catch some fish for dinner. I think the highest speed we saw on the GPS was 8.5 knots. This means the wind was only adding 3 knots to our speed!

After about an hour of this we heard a zing sound, quickly followed by CJay yelling,”Fish on!” and then “Heave to!” So as CJ fought with his fish, the crew went into action and bought the boat to a stop. Both Scot and I grabbed our camera’s and followed CJay from the stern, forward to the starboard pulpit, and across to the port pulpit where you could see that CJay had hooked a beautiful Dolphin fish. Within a few more moments CJay had landed the fish and quickly went to the stern euro scoop to clean the fish. We jibbed out of the heave to and were back on our way to Fort Lauderdale. Yeah, fresh fish for dinner!

The wind dies several times leaving us becalmed gliding north on the gulf stream at 5.5 knots. After about 3 and half hours we changed course out of the gulf stream and made our way into Port Everglades. After entering Port Everglades and transiting two draw bridges we were back at the dock behind Blue Water Sailing School. The weather had been very pleasant out on the Ocean, although there was not wind, the temperature was probably in the mid 80’s. At dock however it was just plain hot! We washed down the boat and reviewed and took the ASA Bareboat Charter 104 test. This test had a few confusing questions on it but overall a much better test than ASA 103. We graded the test as the dolphin was grilling and again we all passed with scores in the 80 and 90 percent ranges. We got done with dinner about 10:30 p.m. and the fish was delicious.

Scot and I decided not to spend the night on the boat and got room at the Double Tree just up Sunrise Boulevard. After a hot shower it was
time for bed in the nice air conditioned hotel room.

View BWSS Day Six in a larger map

Blue Water Sailing School Day Five

Date: May 14th, 2008
Location: Anchored in Hurricane Harbor, Key Biscayne, FL, USA
Coordinates: 25.41262, -80.10483
Weather: Sunny, 80F, wind 15 knots
Sea State: 0 – 1 foot

                   

We woke up this morning and had to fend for ourselves as far as breakfast goes. I had a bagel and cream cheese. Scot checked the starboard hull and found that the water level had risen significantly during the night. So we got to learn about the manual bilge pumps. The Lagoon 41 has two manual bilges built in. You sit on the back seat of the aft cockpit and pump the handle up and down. It was quite a bit of work and the four of us took turns and after a half and hour or so the job was done and the starboard hull was emptied of water.

About 10:00 or so we cast off the dock lines and practiced docking there at the dock on Cross Key. The docking was made harder with the current in the channel from Jewfish Creek and the gusty and variable winds from the north. Each of us got to practice docking two times rotating from the bow, midship, stern, and helm positions. The helm position was the most exciting have to steer and maneuver the 41 foot catamaran with the engines and rudder to within inches of the dock while heading into a strong current with the wind whistling thought and over the surrounding buildings. As difficult as it was we each did, for the most part, very well siding the big boat up to the dock. CJay was great at explaining what needed too happen and when. He remained very calm and never raised his voice, even when one of the other students approached a little to quickly. It was quite the confidence booster. Knowing that you can handle the boat in those conditions is very reassuring. When you were not at the helm maneuvering you had specific duties manning a line to secure the boat the dock.

After we had all had a chance to dock th boat several times we hailed the bridge and requested an opening. We held steady in the channel for several minutes until the bridge opened at 11:30. CJay had us plot a course and we had a great time sailing back toward the the north heading to Miami. The wind was perfect and coming from a good direction so we were able to sail at a beam reach for most of the day. At one point we had a monohaul get close to us. CJay spent several minutes explaining what the person was doing wrong and why they did not need to be healed over to such and extreme. It was quite comical. I think the other guy in his brand new $400,000.00 boat thought the more he could get the boat healed over the faster he would go, but it only ended up reinforcing to us how important it is to get some quality education so you can understand the forces at work against the boat while underway. I do not want anyone to think I am this great sailor now, just because I have taken this week long class. But I do feel that I now have a very solid foundation on which to keep learning.

While sailing toward Miami we practiced trimming the sails, heaving to and man over board recovery. Heaving to is a quick way to stop the boat without lowering the sails and can be used in many different situations. To heave to you back wind the jib, release the mainsail and turn the wheel toward weather, in this case toward the jib. The boat will come to a stop within two boat lengths.

19:00 or so we got to our anchorage. We anchored are this little cove on Key Biscayne that is surrounded by beautiful multi million dollar homes. Most of the homes have expensive boats tied off to the seawalls of their properties. I think it is funny that we can anchor here. It is like someone camping in our cul-de-sac.

After securely anchoring our boat we reviewed for and took the next test. The test for ASA 103 has to be one of the most poorly written and conceived tests I have ever taken. CJ actually apologized for the test as he handed it out. All for of us students were a bit numb when the test was finally over. You know a test is bad when you have to spend as much time figuring out what you are being asked and how they want a question answered as you do answering the question. With the test out of the way we had a few brews and sundowners as CJay grilled some delicious chicken on the barbie.

I am back to sleeping in the salon. As much as I enjoyed the privacy and comfort of the cabin, I simply did not feel right about making the lady that jumped ship in Cross Key sleep in the salon. I think of myself as a gentleman and it simple was not gentlemanly to keep the cabin. Our new female crew member resisted taking the cabin, but finally after instancing several times, she agreed. It might have had something to do with have a private head that finally convinced her to take the cabin.

View BWSS Day Five in a larger map

Blue Water Sailing School Day Four

Date: May 13th, 2008
Location: Docked at Gilberts Restaurant, Cross Key, FL, USA
Coordinates: 25.11014, -80.23318
Weather: Sunny, 90F, wind 5 knots
Sea State: Flat

         

It was Scot’s turn to make breakfast this morning. He made hash browns and steak egg sandwiches. It was very good. After breakfast we went
over lot of material. Navigation signals and signage. Right of way. Knots, Points of sail, a lot of different things. CJay then said he was going to give us the test for ASA 101. I had a suspicion that he would give us a test since we had just reviewed so much material. Out of the four students the lowest score was 97 out of a 100. Not bad.

By the time the test was over it was 13:00, so we prepared to set sail. Scot checked the starboard bilge and found that the sole was almost awash in water. We checked thru hulls and traced lines but could not find where the water was coming from. Cleaning the bilge filter greatly improved the performance of the bilge pump and the water started to drain. The water is now at an acceptable level and we are checking it very several hours. But we have not figured out where the water came from.

The crew worked on raising the anchor while I prepared lunch. By the time I had the pork jambalaya finished, we were well underway. The crew eat as we motored toward our destination. Everyone seemed to enjoy the lunch and several even had seconds. We set the jib to its full extension, which was about 110%. We had to repair the mainsail before it could be set. One of the pins that hold the luff of the mainsail to the track had fallen out in the heavy winds yesterday. We scrounged around and found a screw driver that would work to hold that part of the sail to the mast. I suggested using the shaft of my writing pen to reduce chaffing. Mainsail repaired, we removed the reef from the day before and hoisted the main. The winds were very light, so we set a tang line on the jib to give it a better shape and the best performance possible in the wind we had. We then practiced more gybing and tacking. We also practiced heaving too and man over board drills. Finally we practiced sailing by the lee. Sailing by the lee is running downwind, while keeping the main and jib on different sides of the boat. It can be very dangerous because if you allow the main to gyb unexpectedly the shock can break equipment. With the mechanical trouble we have been having with “La Bamba” who knows what would break! Now I want to say that Scot and I were talking and we agreed that the mechanical problems we have had on “La Bamba” we were choosing to viewing as a great learning experience. Now, if the boat was to actually sink, or a problem was to negatively impact our time spend learning to sail, we would probably change our minds.

About 17:00 we headed to a dock at Gilberts Restaurant on Cross Key to spend the night. When was got to the dock a student from one of the
Blue Water Sailing Schools other boats pulled CJay aside and asked to jump ship. She was having a very bad time on the other boat. Some sort
of interpersonal problem with the instructor. CJay wanted to allow her to come on our boat, and asked us all several times if it was okay. We all agreed it was okay. I think we would all be more hesitant to agree if we felt that she would interfere with our time spent getting to do the various sailing duties on board. But CJay assured us that she was just hitching a ride back to Fort Lauderdale. I do not want to sound mean or appear callous, but the reason we picked Blue Water Sailing School (BWSS) and paid a premium was the small class size. Each student added reduces your time at the helm and mast. CJay was going to put the female student in his cabin, since he has been sleeping in the aft cockpit. Greg one of the other students mentioned that I was sleeping in the salon, and perhaps I should get his cabin. So the new gal is sleeping in the salon, and I am now in the starboard aft cabin. I guess a true gentleman would have refused the cabin.

We had dinner at Gilberts Restaurant, it was very tasty. I order every item on the menu that had conch it it. Conch fitters, conch salad,
conch chowder, and a conch burger!

View BWSS Day Four in a larger map

Blue Water Sailing School Day Three

Date: May 12th, 2008
Location: Anchored off of Mangrove Key , FL, USA
Coordinates: 25.21290, -80.19422
Weather: Partly Cloudy, 97F, wind 20-25K from W
(Small Craft Warning)
Sea State: 0 to 1 foot waves with variable chop

           

This morning it was my turn to make breakfast. I boiled some potatoes and made hash browns with scrambled eggs and sausage. The meal seemed to go over well. We had a problem with the starboard engine not starting this morning. Turned out that the battery was dead. We took the battery off the port engine and used it to start the starboard one. Then moved the battery back to the port engine. We then connected the battery back the now running starboard engine. The battery charged and the starboard engine now seems to be starting fine. Also, the water accumulator that is used the to supply us with freash water sprun a leak. The leak was bad enough that when I awoke this morning the cushions I sleep on were wet. I was a little concerned for a moment that I had had an accident. We tried to repair the accumulator with epoxy but it did not work. No problem, we just turn the system on when we need water and turn it off when we do not.

After breakfast and the impromptu practical on board maintenance session we when over more navigation. I told the instructor CJay that I was enjoying the material and he told me he was going into more detail than most instructors. But he felt it was no good to know how to sail if you did not know how to get from place to place safely. He also told us we are now 10 percenters. Apparently only 10 percent of boaters ever seek any type of educational classes or certifications. A little scary if you think about it.

Around noon I manned the helm as Scot and the other students worked to raise the anchor. I then pilotted us out of the anchorage under  Rickenbocker Causeway and South down the Intercoastal Waterway. I stayed at the helm as the others hoisted the main and about 90% of the
jib. The winds soon increased to around 20 to 25 knots. CJay had me heave too so that a reef could be put into the mainsail. There are several reef points on the sail and each one reduces the size of the sail to prevent over powering the vessel in strong winds. I continued to steer for quite a while until Scot relieved me so that I could eat lunch. We had fajitas using the left over steak from last night. Scot then got to man the helm as we practiced tacking and gybing. As we approached our destination, the wind strengthened to the point where CJay felt we should not continue practicing any more maneuvers. Greg, another student drove as Scot and I dropped the anchor. We are now anchored in five feet of water just off of Mangrove Key. For dinner tonight we had pork chops and asparagus.

View BWSS Day Three in a larger map

Blue Water Sailing School Day Two

Date: May 11th, 2008
Location: Anchorage at Virgina Cay, FL, USA
Coordinates: 25,44667, -80.10077
Weather: Partly Cloudy, 90F, wind 9K from SW
Sea State: 1 to 2 foot waves with variable chop

               

What a great day. We got started a little slowly. The plan was to start by 0900. At around 1015 we gathered around the salon table and started discussing how to navigate. We laid out a map and drew out rhumb lines and discussed out use the charts to plan and execute the days sail plan. We then went over basic NAVRULES, or navigation regulations. After that was completed it was a little past noon and we fire up the engines, slipped the dock lines and headed toward Port Everglades.

I was the first student to man the helm and under CJay's careful supervision, I followed the prober channels toward Port Everglades. We arrived in time to successfully transit two draw bridges, before navigating thought Port Everglades and slipping into the Atlantic. We motored South for about an hour until the winds swung around to the forecasted direction. I helped hoist the mainsail. Then we raised the jib and sailed a close reach 3 miles off the Florida coast South to the Port of Miami. While waiting for several cruise ships to exit the port we practiced gybing and tacking. We then entered the Port of  Miami and motored sailed the Intercoastal Waterway to Virgina Key. We are now anchored off Virgina Cay and I am writing this after having enjoyed a delicious steak grilled on the charcoal grill attached to the stern pulpit. The lights of downtown Miami fill the sky to the west and the heat of the day is but a distant memory as I enjoy my rum and coke.

View BWSS Day Two in a larger map

Blue Water Sailing School Day One

Date: May 10th, 2008
Location: Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA
Coordinates: 26.136849, -80.11947
Weather: Sunny, 90F, Hot and humid

         

We arrived at the Blue Water Sailing School at 2:45 and met our instructor, CJay. He seems like a straight shooter and I think he will prove to be a good instructor. There are four students on the boat plus CJay. I lost the coin flip and will be sleeping in the salon. Everyone else will have there own cabin and head. I will share Scot's bathroom. Next time I will make sure I bring along my two headed coin for the coin toss.

We went over CJay's rules. He has three:
1. No Yelling, either by him or the students.
2. Do what he says when and how he says it.
3. When the vacation light is on, vacation, when it is not, class is
    in session and pay attention.

I think the point of rule number two is that he is the Captain and he is responsible for our safety. If he says, "Darley, duck now!" He wants you to duck, and ask him why later. No problem, I was in the Army, I can take orders if the situation necessitates.

We then when over provisioning and created our meal plan for the trip. CJay then went grocery shopping, while the rest of use tore the boat part looking in all the nooks and crannies. Our goal was to identify all the thru hulls and find things like the emergency tiller and fuse panel.

After that was accomplished we, the students, went in search of the liquor store and bought enough beer and spirits to hopefully last the week. Having secured the libations, we then went to dinner. It is now half past eight and I am sitting in the salon writing this summation. I am writing this rather quickly so please be patient with all the errors, I will come back later and correct them when the trip is over.

Update: It is now a little past 10:00 p.m. and I am sitting in a Starbucks using their wifi to send this post to the blog. I can tell that getting wifi connections on this trip is not going to be easy, so do not expect the next update to come until Tuesday evening. We may spend the night in a marina on Tuesday, so that will be my next best chance to post to the blog. If I can not get connected Tuesday, Scot and I will be back in the hotel Friday night, and I will post the daily entries then.

View BWSS Day One in a larger map

Grib Files

I am anxious for my class to start.  To help pass the time I have been playing with grib files.  GRIB stands for Gridded Information in Binary Form. A grib is basically a computer generated weather forecast file. The grib files I have been looking at contain wind and temperature data. You need a grib viewer program to look at the data in a grib file. I have been using a grib viewer call zUGrib, because is open source and I can run it on both my Windows and Linux desktops.  The grib viewer will show you a map with arrows indicating wind direction and intensity.

What make grib files so valuable for someone who is sailing is that you can get them via email.  And this means that with the proper setup and can get them while at sea or in remote locations via single side band radio.

Getting grib files via email is a lot like using old school LISTSERV commands.  Basically you send an email message to "query (at) saildocs (d0t) com" with commands in the body of the message for the grib file that you would like to have sent to you.

For example after sending an email with the following in the body of the message:

send gfs:20N,30N,75W,85W|1,1|6,12..96|WIND,AIRTEMP

You will recieve an email with an attached grib file that contains wind and air temperature data in 6 hour increments for the next 96 hours for the area within the longitude and latitude given. If you replace send with sub like so:

sub gfs:20N,30N,75W,85W|1,1|6,12..96|WIND,AIRTEMP

You will have a subscription and receive an email daily for 14 days with the latest grib file attached.  Pretty cool!  I have subscribed to saildocs for a grib file from now until my class is over.  It will be interesting to see how close the grib file is to the conditions I experience on the boat.

To get complete instructions on how to get a grib file via email send an empty email message to gribinfo (at) saildocs (d0t) com.

First Post

     

I am excited to announce my new blog, "Where is Serenity", which I will dedicate to my sailing adventures! Hopefully they will be many and varied. I have been interested in sailing since high school, when I used to go sailing with friends on a local reservoir. Also I met many cruisers (people traveling the world by sail) while living in the Bahamas and found the lifestyle to be intriguing.

In two weeks I will be flying for Fort Lauderdale to a take a week long liveaboard sailing class. My cousin Scot is meeting me there and we expect to have a good time learning to sail on a Lagoon 410 Catamaran. At the end of the course we hope to have a number of certifications (ASA 101, 103, 104, 114) which will allow us to charter a catamaran for a planned week long family vacation bare boat charter in 2009.

I will write daily posts during my sailing class, but since we will be anchoring out each night, I am not sure how often the blog will get updated. Updates will probably have to wait until the class is over.

About Me

I worked for several years as a Divemaster at the Riding Rock Inn and Marina a small dive resort on the island of San Salvador in the Bahamas. I can remember walking to the marina in the morning to find a sailboat had arrived during the night. Or coming up from a dive to see a new sailboat anchoring in Cockburn Town bay. Living on a small out-island in the Bahamas seeing these boats come and go the sense of adventure was very real. I was living my own adventure at the time; taking people diving on the beautiful walls of San Salvador, but it is human nature to wonder what is just over the horizon. I would often sit on the porch of my villa just 10 feet from the beach, or at the Riding Rock Bar and stare out at the ocean, wondering what it would be like to approach a distant island after days at sea.

I had several opportunities to crew on various boats that had made port on San Salvador, but either because the situation was not quite right or I was having too much fun diving, I never made the jump. Still I had always thought at the time I would someday leave the island by sail.

Well you can probably guess that never happened. I did leave the island eventually, but is was by plane, and with a lovely new bride. My wife and I have built a good life and wonderful family together. And are living the American dream. But as anyone who has been around sailboats and the sea knows, there is another dream… A dream that involves a small boat and distant shores. A dream of casting off the landlines in search of adventure.