Return from Florida

My winter 2019 season ended with a rough ride home to Rhode Island in early May 2020. The ride home had tossed everything in the salon as I fought beam seas.

My Keurig needed a minor repair but she is still making coffee this morning as I type this

Lots of fenders to starboard as this early in the season has many transients coming and going.

Back in my slip in early May… I thought the worst was over…

Covid-19 Pandemic

2020 had some good times for me but it sucked in so many other ways

Dad

Now home, the first order of business was to go see Dad. I had flown up to visit once during the winter but now we could spend the next six months together until I had to leave again on Halloween 2020.

Dad & I enjoying some coffee & catching up

I could not do my trip south each winter if it were not for my brother, Eddie and his wife, Doreen. They give so much of themselves to help my Dad live his best life. They become the primary care givers for my Dad when I leave to head south for the winter. Family is a wonderful thing.

Doreen is playing barber and making sure Dad looks sharp

Eddie and I took my Dad to the D Rounds Truck Shows 2020

My Dad drove trucks all his life. These days his memory is failing. My brother and I thought it would be nice to take him to the Danny Rounds truck show 2020. Dad surprised us with his recall of all things trucks that day. It was a great day to see him get out and smile around the antique trucks.

Projects – Dad’s Home

When I get back every Spring my brother and I make any needed repairs to my Dad’s home. This year was a busy one with lots of repairs and modifications to siding, ceilings, furnace, new privacy fence, etc.

FBM – FaceBook Marketplace – Cash is King

I spent some time using FaceBook Marketplace to sell many items and turn them into cash to purchase others. I am kind of addicted to FBM.

More Anchoring – No Kayaks

This was the year that I finally decided to sell both heavy kayaks and go with twin lightweight, high-pressure inflatable, SUPs (Stand Up Paddleboards). I was able to stow two SUPs in the port kayak hooks and a 12″ high-pressure inflatable dock on the starboard side. I also purchased two 12′ x 18″ rafting fenders so other boaters can raft along side me each weekend.

Dinghy Upgrade

Fishing is big in SW Florida. However, much of the water is very shallow. I have decided to upgrade my dinghy as my old Walker Bay 340 dingy (shown below being hauled away by its new owner). It had several patches and was showing its 8 year age.

I found a 12′ Highfield aluminum hulled hypalon dinghy with a 25HP Yamaha outboard on FBM (shown below).

I then set out to customize it. I added:

Tan colored dinghy chaps
Motor & seat covers
Custom silk-screened state registration panels
Garmin GPS/fish finder
NMEA 2K network for outboard engine data on Garmin.
Lifters trim tabs,
Garmin Fusion Stereo
Upgraded battery box with cell charger and 12V power.
Drink holders
Fishing rod holders
etc. (see pics below)

I like to trick out the dinghy to have everything that I need for fishing.

Summer Getaways

My brother was nice enough to cover for me while I flew to Florida on a family emergency as well as got in a few boating trips to Martha’s Vineyard, Cuttyhunk, Block Island and Newport.

Forget Baby Yoda, I got to hang out with a baby Zebra

Saltwater Drone

My old drone got damaged by salt water so I decided to buy a drone that can land directly in the saltwater.

My 4-Legged Kids

Thanks to Kelly for letting me visit our dogs before I left. She’s a great dog Mom and takes the best care of these two. I love these furry kids.

My girl Happy on my right and my boy Brody on my left.

Projects – Simple Life

I worked on several boat projects such as replacing my Khalenberg air compressor, new bottom paint & zincs, waxed hull, LED & party lighting, upgraded to all Gen 3 iPad Pros for navigation, new windlass & deck mount, etc.

Simple Life’s new party lighting in the salon

I also added a new espresso machine and station complete with everything needed to make some good coffee drinks.

Also a shoutout to Greg and Tracey from MV Reel Fine for giving me their old dinghy davits. I mounted them on the stern just before I left.

I finally mounted a proper first-aid kit, Anti-chocking device and AED – Automated External Defibrillator. I hope I never need these but it’s good to know they are aboard.

While I had the boat on the hard for maintenance, I made sure to pretty her up.

Civic Duty

Soon I was down to a week before departure so I had to run out quick and cast my vote.

Last Minute Projects

Preppy was supposed to join me for the 1st week on the trip but we needed that week to finish several projects that needed to be done before departure . I can’t thank Preppy enough for his help during this last minute rush to get things fixed and get off the dock. I don’t know how I would have done it without him. Nice to have good friends. Below is a pic of Preppy & I while we took a break and chatted with Heather and Debby who had come by to see me off.

Stay tuned for the next blog post about the first leg of my Winter 2020.

At the Marina:

We are still here at Crystal Point Marina in Point Pleasant, NJ. It’s a rainy day – perfect for writing a blog update.

RainyDayPilotHouse — Rainy Day in the Pilothouse

Correction, I think the marina’s official address is in Brick, NJ but it’s right on the town line. While we wait I am catching up on “The Walking Dead” and “Mr. Robot” while Kelly is watching “Blue Bloods”.

We are waiting for a weather window to proceed south to the next leg of our journey – Atlantic City, NJ. The NWS Marine Weather Forecast is showing Friday @sunrise to be our best bet.

If you want to feel like you are on the water with your VHF radio tuned to the WX channels (first 5 or so channels on a VHF Marine Radio) check out this live stream of the Tom’s River NWR Station

NOAA Weather Radio Frequencies

162.400 MHz (WX2)

162.425 MHz (WX4)

162.450 MHz (WX5)

162.475 MHz (WX3)

162.500 MHz (WX6)

162.525 MHz (WX7)

162.550 MHz (WX1)

Channel numbers, e.g. (WX1, WX2) etc. have no special significance but are often designated this way in consumer equipment. Other channel numbering schemes are also prevalent.

I feel like all the other “Snowbirds” have left before us and I am like the main character of the book my mother would read to me, “The Poky Little Puppy”. She would joke that I was a “lollygagger”. I suppose it’s my right as the last-born.

Snowbirds:

Snowbirds go south and there is more than one route to take. If you have a “Blue Water” boat and enjoy open ocean you may simply wait for a weather window and set a rhumb line straight from Newport, RI to Bermuda. This route is what the sailors of the bi-annual Newport to Bermuda sailboat race take. From Bermuda, its due South straight to St. Thomas in the Caribbean.

Bermuda-Rhumbline — Rhumb line from Newport, RI to Bermuda

This route is only taken by larger sailing vessels and long-range stabilized trawlers such as a “Nordhavn”. Speaking of Nordhavn Yachts… in 2011, I flew down to Jacksonville, FL to purchase a Nordhavn 43. The marine broker met me at the boat which was “priced right” but as soon as I toured the vessel it was clear that she had not been properly maintained. Maybe in the future?

While we initially looked at buying a blue water trawler we realized that it did not match the type of cruising that we would be doing. We settled on a long-range trawler that was perfect for the kind of coastal cruising that we do. Coastal cruising means that you generally cruise from one port to the next never exceeding 10-12 hours at the helm. Blue water cruising means 24-7 motion with 3 hours “watches” while the other crew are sleeping in their bunks. We settled on a North Pacific Yachts 43 (45 LOA) with a raised pilothouse design and many options that we hand selected. I will save the details for an upcoming blog post about the boat itself.

Weather:

When you become a full-time cruiser you start to focus your efforts on learning more about weather. You find yourself spending a lot of time on the NWS (National Weather Service) Marine Weather Forecast website learning about all the information that it can give you. Not just forecasts but real-time observations from ships and weather buoys.

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/marine/home.htm

from the link above, you can select from a graphical map, the coastal forecast for the “zone” that you are in. The coastal forecasts are broken up into small rectangular sections of coastal waters that are roughly 20 miles on most sides. There is an offshore forecast for fisherman who fish the “Canyons” which are the deep underwater valleys that you see when you look at a bathymetric chart that shows the underwater topology (sea mounts and valleys).

Canyons Block Island — Canyons South of Block Island and Nantucket

There are also inshore forecasts as well that show the weather inside the bays. I have always had a keen interest in meteorology and understanding weather. I was smitten with weather the very first time a meteorologist came to give a lecture at UMB (Umass/Boston) and I swear every other term I needed to lookup the meaning. More recently, I signed up for a 2-day “Marine Weather Workshop” at the annual Newport RI Boat Show. I imagined that the class was going to talk about how to read the weather by looking at the skies around the boat. I was thrilled when it turned out to be a much more science based talk about wet & dry adiabatic charts and surface pressure charts built from daily weather balloon launches, etc.

The presenter was Lee Chesneau and you can find his Marine weather page here.

I’ll post more about weather as we go and maybe spend some time talking about the many different aspects of understanding weather. For now, my plan is to shelter-in-place (unfortunately, that word has a more recent meaning) and wait for the northerly winds that often follow a cold front.

Tag: Block Island

Summer 2020