Sewing Projects

Yesterday it rained a good bit of the day which gave me the momentum to tackle a couple sewing projects that I've been wanting to do.

Project #1

The first one was a seat bag for the dinghy, a long rectangle bag to store things like rags, flashlights, and so forth so that the dink doesn't look like my car used to when I had young toddlers. Our dink makes this project fairly easy since the seat board comes completely unfastened from the hinge that hooks it to the side tubes, so you can slide the board into the bag for an easy mount and finished look. I eked this project out of leftover and used fabric and notions so no money was spent.

Looking from the front of the dinghy to the back, the bag is solid fabric along the top and back. The bottom is made from a vinyl mesh so that it can drain water out from rains and/or wet things put inside and hopefully not get too moldy.

From the front, there is a zipper to access the bag and you can see the mesh bottom in this picture.

It has enough room to fit most of the things that keep rolling around in the dink so our family car is a little cleaner more organized than it was before. It took the pictures for me to see that it's time to scrub the thing though. In my defense, I did scrub the deck of the boat after making the dinghy bag because by the time I got it installed I was soaked from the rain anyway and it seemed the logical thing to do.

Project #2

Since we were due to have rain most of yesterday and most of today and it's finally around 80°, we needed a better hatch rain cover so we could leave the hatch open while it's raining, especially the one over the V- berth. I definitely could have made this better had I ordered parts and materials specifically for it, but I was using stuff I had on hand, a common problem on boats, which is why so many boat projects are designed and built to some pretty weird standards. It's just too hard to order stuff and have to trudge halfway across town to haul it back from the Post Office.

From the inside, the cover allows the hatch to be open enough to funnel air in without allowing too much rain in unless it's absolutely raining horizontally.

I made the straps adjusting with plastic clutches and pre-marked the straps at the normal point that they need to be so that we can install it in a hurry. The line on the front edge can go up high on the stay so it acts like a wind scoop, or it can go low on deck for the minimum opportunity for rain to enter.

Miscellaneous Miami Pics

Not everyone has this drive to get to the grocery store...

And from the "Only in Florida file...

And we close the day with a Miami skyline...

Friends and enemies

After spending some time today chatting about the fallout from last night's State of the Union address (which we did not watch), we spent happy hour on S/V Hunky Dory, an Irwin 37 MKIII that is anchored just next to us here in South Beach. Canadians John and his wife Marie were our gracious hosts and as cruisers are wont to do, the discussion migrated to the cruising community's tendency to form fast, deep friendships, a topic we've addressed on this blog in the past.

I was thinking about this yesterday as we spent some time in Miami with fellow cruisers and their kids. We went to hear some live music in an outdoor theater attached to an upscale marina (see Tim's previous post if you haven't already), and our friend's three year old found a similarly sized kiddo whose mom was also listening to the music. Within five minutes, the two of them were happily skipping and running around the arena holding hands and whispering secrets in each other's ears like they'd known each other a lifetime. It gave me pause. In spite of the fact that one was starkly blonde and the other Hispanic, the two of them were completely unencumbered by preconceptions, prejudices, fear, favoritism, or arrogance. They were just happy to share the music and the beautiful day.

I wonder at what point do we learn those things? Is it our families that teach them to us?  Is it our schools?  Is it our neighborhoods? Tim and I talked about it while waiting for our friend to shop for shoes, and we decided that language certainly plays a primary part. In learning language we learn concepts and frame them with words, all colored by the inflections of the presenter and the environment in which they are presented. Without definition these concepts remain blessedly out of reach to these toddlers.

As the insults raced back and forth between political parties this morning, I was thankful that we've had this chance to be a part of the cruising community which, for the most part, has chosen to cast aside a lot more than just the dock lines. It's good to reject these life-sucking characteristics and go dance to the music with a friend. You should try it some time.

Happy Dance

It is a rainy day in Miami, foggy too, but not cold. It isn't even cool by Kintala standards, though the people of Miami might disagree. We are still in the Belle Island anchorage. It still gets wake rolled pretty often, limiting the time spent below to keep the inner ear happy. This is a reality to living on a boat neither Deb or I expected. Bigger water on the hook or mooring has the boat moving around a lot more than our years on the lake suggested. It means we spend even more time outside, not a bad thing.

Yesterday we went with friends on a bus ride adventure. The goal was a free concert advertised at the marina / upscale shopping / tourist trap area in town. We try to avoid marinas whenever possible, and the Miami Marina (at $2.75 / foot + electric) fell into the "avoid at all costs" category. We don't care for upscale stores or tourist traps, so hope was the concert would be worthy. Alas, "the concert" turned out to be a solo performer strumming basic cords on a guitar and singing to canned music tracks; enhanced karaoke. He also displayed some modest skill on a steel drum, but any street performer in New Orleans would have put him to shame.

The day would have been a bust but our friends included a three year old, her younger sister, and Mom; a cruising family we met several weeks and hundreds of miles ago. Even karaoke is fun when a three year old takes to the stage to dance and twirl and shake her booty. Suddenly the concert was the highlight of day and smiles broke out in all directions. There was the expected twinge as pictures of my own little ones far away came to mind, but a happy child belongs to anyone with a heart.

Sooner or later Kintala will set sail again, still looking for warm, clear water and daily swimming.

99

S/V Ellida, our friend John's boat

 

Today was day number 99 since Kintala sailed away from Oak Harbor. It was a fantastic day of sailing. Three boats cleared the Port Everglades inlet, together and on the ebb tide. Turning south head and main sails fluttered into the breeze and engines fell silent. Mother Ocean offered up one to two foot waves to play with the sunlight, her waters glinting a deep turquoise as the boats settled into an easy five knot close reach. And this went on for hours.

Eventually the winds faded as forecast. Our two companion boats took to motor sailing but Deb and I were content to bubble along a while more. It seemed a shame to hurry such a day though, finally, we had to give in as well. It is a long motor from the Miami inlet to dropping the anchor at Belle Island and the sun was getting low in the sky.

A Sunday afternoon on Miami waters is a place of exuberant insanity. Power boats thrashed about as if possessed, throwing giant wakes that bounced back and forth like shock waves on steroids. Kintala just shouldered her way along, occasionally shrugging the largest and steepest of them onto her foredeck. Truth to tell, from the cockpit of our little Tartan the whole scene seemed kind of pointless. Rip snorting around a crowded port when a whole big ocean lay only a mile or so away? Isn't that like flaunting your manhood in a play pen?

Cruise Ship Central

Our two companion boats, S/V Ellida and S/V Dancing with the Wind

The sun is hours set now and Kintala is set for the night, but I'm not sure long we will stay in this spot. The anchorage has been regularly assaulted by speed boats and jet skies ripping between the parked sailboats at full song. So bad was the rocking and rolling that, after a full day on the ocean without a problem, Deb and I had to stay on deck to keep the motion sickness at bay. It is starting to settle down a little now but the current has us laying beam to the wakes being shed by the evening party returning to where ever it is they return to.

Steven Spielberg's 7Seas

Still, we are a bit further south than we were this morning, after one of the best days of sailing either of us can remember. And though Miami has been unimpressive so far, we worked our way through its mad waters choked with boats being driven by the obviously unhinged with nary a hiccup. I'm not sure that would have been the case 99 days ago.

Map 1-25-14 to 1-26-14 Middle River Anchorage to Belle Island Anchorage

Look at those sailing tracks! Almost no motoring today.

So long...farewell...we'll see you all again

On the surface it wouldn't be obvious that Fort Lauderdale has been a particularly enjoyable stay. One might think that the dink parking issue in Hollywood, the dragging anchor in Middle River, and the power boats that went out of their way to wake drag us in Middle River (with the clear intent of letting us know they didn't like us being parked there), would take the shine off a place. Yet, almost in spite of itself, Fort Lauderdale has been a good stay. Much of the credit for that goes to Friends Bill and Ann and John and Stephen. Getting to spend some time with them, catching up and telling stories, trips to various this and sundry that, nothing but solid gold. But after 12 days, a few hours at a giant marine swap meet / flea market this morning, and a visit to the heart of Fort Luaderdale's beach tourist mecca this evening, I'm feeling the need to be away from the crowds, on big water and under way. It is time for moving on.

It has been more than a month since Kintala spent a night at a dock, but we are in the Fort Lauderdale Marina tonight. This afternoon we stowed the dink and motor, heaved the anchor out of the mud of Middle River, and passed through one of the two bridges between us and the ocean. This gives us a head start on tomorrow's plan for an easy jump to Miami. The afternoon and evening at the pier let us get the usual time-to-go boat-stuff done. One of those was a pump-out. Florida in general, and Fort Lauderdale in particular, are all about their clear and clean waters, something that I am in total agreement with. But the most convenient pump-out for our departure was priced at $40. The pump out boat would have been glad to visit us in Middle River for $75. Demanding some long green for boaters to be green seems a bit disingenuous. (There is a free pump out, but it is located 2 miles off the ICW and out of the way for boats coming and going from the ocean.)

The marina facilities are neither bad nor great, but the price for this little bit of "average" is anything but. They charge a lot and the staff gives off a very heavy vibe of not being the least bit interested in much of anything, particularly anything that has to do with a cruising sailboat or its crew. (My guess is the owner of the mega yacht parked next door has a completely different experience with the staff.) Still, the Middle River anchorage with its easy dink access right at a very nice city park, has been one of our favorite in-a-city stops. Had we been able to find a place in the middle of the anchorage the power boat near hits would have been a non-issue. All in all this has been a good couple of weeks, and we will surely come this way again.

Hugh Taylor Birch State Park Walkabout

Back in 1893 Ft. Lauderdale Florida was a village with a store, a few houses and an Army post. Hugh Taylor Birch was an attorney from Chicago who came here to build a home. He bought property along the beach for - - a dollar and acre, (Wanna guess how much it goes for now? $2,000,000) eventually accumulating nearly 4 miles of beachfront property. He decided he wanted to protect his property from the burgeoning development in the area so in 1940 he donated his estate to Florida to be designated as a park, on the condition that it be preserved as a park.

We happened to walk by it on our way to the beach the other day and decided to go there today to check it out. It's an amazing area of dense vegetation, a couple lakes, trails, bike paths, and picnic areas along the ICW, all right smack dab in the middle of a busy portion of the city. We spent a few hours there today with our friends Bill and Ann of old Carlyle Lake days, hiking and talking, and enjoying the crisp fall-like weather. On our way back from the end of the park we walked along the edge of the ICW and I happened to look out and spot the tell-tale circles in the water that signify a manatee was present. We followed him along the wall for awhile and were able to see him well in the clear water. Such an appropriate thing to spot an endangered creature in this environment of a staunch conservationist. It was a beautiful day, and I'm sure that Hugh Taylor Birch would be smiling with satisfaction had he been there.

Two worlds

The latest cold front hammering the country and bringing freezing temperatures to my Daughters and their families in the Midwest, rolled over us last night. Kintala danced around until mid-morning. Since a soaking wet dink ride with a cool north wind didn't sound like a lot of fun, we put off heading into shore until later. Deb worked on some cleaning. It takes a huge amount of effort to keep the inside of a boat clean and livable. Small it may be, but the constant humidity and the fact that everyplace inside is a "high traffic" area means a constant effort is needed to keep the grunge factor under control.

Very hard to see but the line goes from the aft end of the boom to the bow

Kintala is an equal opportunity boat, but I worked outside today, finishing up some rigging changes. Even back on Carlyle we were careful about keeping the boom under control while sailing off the wind. The lake was a benign sort of place and using the vang as a preventer, even with its mid-boom mount, worked just fine. Our last outside jump in rolling seas suggested that Mother Ocean would require a much more robust approach. As luck would have it Friend Stephen, who Captains a Tartan 42 just one hull number from ours that just happens to be resting at a pier only a few minutes by dink from this very spot, had just the right answer. He was pleased to show it to us when we visited the other day and I shamelessly copied the set-up. My rig isn't quite as elegant since it was put together from spares and extras stashed here and there, but the price was right. Not only are we much better prepared for off-shore work but a few deposits were made in the Black Box as well. The balance in said Black box was, I fear, deep in the red after the anchor dragging incident. Getting the balance back in the black is a high priority. Boat work done we went to shore for some errands.

There is a theory in physics that suggests ours is just one universe of a multi-verse. The idea is that other realities exist in parallel to ours, imaginable, suggested by theory, but forever beyond our experience. A hint that they might actually exist comes from some of the mysteries of gravity, that our universe only makes sense if gravity from the multi-verse is having its effect. Fort Lauderdale has a bit of multi-verse feel about it.

Dink parking is on the east side of the bridge. The east side is mega yacht side, beach side, swank and glitz and Fort Lauderdale wealth side. It is condo, fancy bars, and trendy shop side. We went to the west, looking for a laundry. The one we found was $1.75 per wash, $0.50 per dry, located in a little outdoor mall complete with tattoo and body piercing parlor, nail salon, a couple of sub-shops, and little shops that were anything but "trendy". The difference was stark; no glitz, no flash, Fort Lauderdale working class. One short bridge, two different worlds. It wasn't like the west side was poor or broken down, I've certainly lived in worse. But the rich side of this town is SO rich as to border on fantasy land, some alternate reality. The weight of that wealth bends our world around, its influence felt even if most of us can only theorize that it must be out there, somewhere.

Like some kind of magic machine I can take my little sailboat and park it right in the middle of that alternate reality. I can't really experience it and, truth to tell, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't like it much if I did. But it is fun to look at. Tomorrow we may head east, walk on the beach, and look at it some more.

At the bow it goes around a block and back to the cockpit via a series of blocks attached to the stanchions

When not in use, the eye on the left stows on the boom at the gooseneck. The shackle stows on deck. When in use, the shackle comes up off the deck, attaches to the eye, and continues to the bow, around the block, and back to the cockpit

At the cockpit end, it goes around the last block and is secured at the cleat on the coaming.

A real addition to the safety equipment on deck of Kintala.

Ft. Lauderdale walkabout

Since the weather will hold us on the boat tomorrow and Wednesday we decided today would be walkabout day. We needed to scope out a laundromat and the post office, something easier to do while not lugging 4 loads of laundry. We landed the dink in George English Park at their very nice dinghy docks (Hollywood has something to learn from Ft. Lauderdale) and walked to the intersection. To the right was the laundromat and the post office, to the left...the beach and the ice cream store. So the laundry will wait.

Along the way we saw an iguana that was very shy but we managed to get a few pictures for the grandkids to ooh and ahh over. I also need to do some homework on these things because they're everywhere around here. We couldn't get too close, but they appear to have some sort of pouch under their chin that they blow up with air when they are upset, which he clearly was with our attempt to get close. He put on quite a show, diving into the water and climbing up this tree.

Walking across the Sunrise Blvd bridge toward the beach we looked down on more examples of the money in this place. There are so many of these really large yachts of 150ft + that after awhile you really begin to look at them as normal. It was also interesting to be on the bascule bridge looking down at where we usually are in the boat.
It is a completely different perspective.

A 3/4 mile walk and voila! we were looking out at clear turquoise water, palm trees, and white sand. We took advantage of modern technology and Skyped the kids from the beach so they could see the beautiful water. It was a bit of torture for them I think, though, because the temp is in the teens in both St. Louis and Iowa City where the girls live, and the wind is supposed to blow 35 gusting to 45 between tonight and tomorrow night. Tim says we'll know that we're "there" when we can snorkle off the boat into water this clear.

Figured it out ...

... we think.

We finally got the chance to thank Sean, the Captain from Sirenuse who rode Kintala to a soft landing the other day. He is every bit the professional I suspected. He is also an ex-airplane driver. Turns out he flew the jet for the people who own Sirenuse, then transitioned over to managing and driving their mega yacht. (It is a story I have heard from several ex-airplane current Ship Captains. Wish I had thought of it!) The current owner of Sirenuse has become very involved in the environmental movement, particularly the "ocean is being killed by plastic" part. As a result Sirenuse is for sale, to be replaced by a more expedition / work oriented vessel better able to support scientific research into ways we might prevent killing off the sea, and thus ourselves. It was all pretty interesting.

Anyway, of coure we chatted about Kintala dragging her anchor. Sean, (who lives on Sirenuse with his wife and daughter) noted us when we pulled in. Turns out he grew up on a sailboat and thinks our Tartan a pretty boat. He was surprised to see her dragging since he knew we had been sitting there for nearly 24 hours through the winds and tide change. As we talked though, we think we figured out what happened.

We had dropped the hook in about 10 feet worth of water, on a short rode, mud bottom, and just a few boat lengths outside the mouth of the channel Kintala ended up in. That channel, and its entrance, are dredged to 26 feet. It is likely our anchor was setting just a few feet from that drop off, and probably on a slope. The anchor lost its purchase but, instead of grabbing hold again, it just slid down the hill. In a very few feet of lateral movement it would have been barely touching the bottom, if it was touching at all. At that point Kintala was free to go were ever she wanted.

I had read about the danger of anchoring on a slope leading to deeper water, but it never occurred to me that such would be the case in a river by a short, man-made, channel. Yes, the chart was marked with a little "6" near the place we dropped the hook, with a little "26" shown in the channel. And no, I didn't add those up to equal "PAY ATTENTION FOOL"! I will next time. We may also start using a little trick Sean shared with us when he anchors Sirenuse in unknown waters. After the hook is set he sends the tender out to make a loop around the boat with a little hand-held depth sounder, giving him an idea of the topography of the bottom under him.

Another cold front is due in here tomorrow night, blowing hard pretty much through Wednesday. We have some minor boat projects to attend to so we will be on board for the next couple of days. We know the hook is set hard, we have 75 feet of chain rode out, and we are pretty sure we knew what went wrong. Doesn't matter. We left the boat today for several hours to meet our old friends Bill and Ann, once-upon-a-time of Cowboy Up based at our marina in Carlyle. Now they live in Fort Luaderdale and are working on getting a bigger boat ready for full time living aboard. After several hours of serious catching up (they left IL more than 2 years ago) we fired up the dink and headed back down the river. We both gave a sigh of relief when Kintala hove into view exactly were we left her, each secretly convinced she had probably dragged her way past the Las Olas Blvd and 17th Street Bascule bridges, past the turning basin, into the Port Everglades Inlet, and out to sea.

It may take a while to get over thinking the boat is going to just sail away every time we leave her on her own.

Luck gets a little help

I remember thinking yesterday, after we figured out where Kintala was and climbing on board, that whoever had made her secure knew exactly what they were doing. There was something about how the fenders where placed and the lines run that said, "Expert". Then there was the fact she had dragged through and settled into this impossibly tight space with nary a scratch. Of course there was a huge amount of luck involved, but it seemed obvious that luck had gotten a little help. That turned out to be more true than I first suspected.

This morning while I was doing a little house cleaning out in the cockpit I found a note we had missed yesterday. It was clipped to the bottom of our dodger,

"You boat dragged. It didn't hit anything. We got on board and tied it here. Sean. Capt SIRENUSE.

"SIRENUSE" is the mega yacht that was tied just of Kintala's stern. Her Captain and another crew member had jumped on our little (to them) sailboat and saw her safely to rest. They don't know us. Indeed, we are part of the tribe that I suspect mega yacht Captains find a bit irritating at times. (Like yesterday maybe, too stupid to safely anchor a boat in a inland river with barely 2 feet of tide and only a minor current.) But they jumped on board anyway and put their professionalism and expertise at Kintala's, and our, disposal. It doesn't get any more impressive than that.

We took the dinghy to SIRENUSE this morning to offer our thanks, along with a bottle of spirits. No one seemed to be home though, I have to admit, I'm not exactly sure just how one goes about announcing one's presence to a mega yacht. I've never actually been that close to one before. We left the bottle, a note, and a boat card. We can see SIRENUSE from where we are now, so perhaps we'll get a chance to thank them personally before we go. I hope so.

In any case, if you happen to be driving a boat in these parts and spot a big, shiny mega yacht name SIRENUSE headed your way down some narrow river, don't worry. Kintala will vouch for the fact that her Captain knows exactly what he is about.

Unbelievable

I am not even sure where to start with this story. I will not blame you at all if you don't believe a word of it.

We anchored yesterday early afternoon, backing down hard on the hook because it was a tight spot with a little less rode than we like. The wind blew, another cold front went through, tides changed and the current ran. Kintala stayed put. This morning the wind blew some more, the tide changed again, and the current ran. Kintala stayed put. By late morning the winds eased and the sun shone. We jumped in the dink, ran to shore for a couple of hours, headed back.

Kintala was gone.

Where the boat had been there was no boat, no mast, not a ripple, not a hint, nowhere in sight. That will do strange things to your heart.

We aimed for the spot where we last saw the boat, near the head of one of the man made channels that make up Ft. Lauderdale. As we got closer Deb spotted my hammock strung up on a boat tied broadside at the very end of the channel, starboard side to, in front of one of the million dollar houses. It was Kintala.

This channel is just a bit wider than she is long. On the docks along the channel were a BRAND NEW, 50+ foot sport fisher and, just behind her, a 70+ foot sailing boat. Kintala had pulled her anchor, then backed into and down that channel. The sport boat's owner was on board his new pride and joy, looked out the galley window, saw the bow pulpit going by just inches away, ran outside, and managed to fend the wayward Tartan off. Kintala then bumped the other sailboat's massive, steel, bowsprit. Two good Samaritans, (who have yet to make themselves known) who were chasing the runaway boat in a rowing dink but unable to catch up, findally did catch up as our boat fouled the other sailboat. They climbed on board, fended off, let the wind ease them the rest of the way down the channel and against the dock, hung fenders, tied dock lines, and went on their way.

 

And thus we found Kintala, tied serenely as if she was at her home pier, without so much as a scratch in the paint, having done absolutely no damage to any other boat as she went on her solo sail.

I still can't believe it.

Our friend Stephen, owner of another Tartan 42 we met in Oriental, was waiting around the corner for me to pick him up in the dink. (Something we had arranged while in town.) Back at our boat the three of us just stood around shaking our heads. A few minutes later a couple of Marine Unit Police Officers walked up, called by the sport boat's owner. They were as polite and professional as any two officials I have ever run across, and believe me, I have run across my share. The owner of the sailboat also showed up, inspected his ship and declared her totally unscathed. None of the assembled had ever heard of anything like this happening before, ever.

The space Kintala had landed in was so tight that we had to run a spring line from the bow back across the channel off her stern. It was the only way we could think of to get the bow pointed back at the river against the winds, (which had picked back up a bit). The Police Officers handled the line. We motored out into the clear, picked a spot in the middle of Middle River, dropped the hook, set it hard, reached for some cold ones ... and talked of Karma, Black Boxes, weird happenings, amazing efforts of complete strangers, stand-up Cops, gracious boat owners, and luck ... lots and lots of luck.

It is a few hours later and I am still at a bit of a loss. Kintala rocks gently on her rode as if nothing unusual has happened. The generator is purring along, I sit on port side settee looking for words, Deb is getting dinner. I can tell the story of it happening but I cannot get my head around what happened. For all of our struggles over the last years and months, for everything that broke, went wrong, failed, and didn't come up as planned, Kintala may still be the luckiest boat on the planet. She certainly is today.

Map 12-17-14 Hollywood Florida to Ft. Lauderdale

Hello Ft. Lauderdale

Doing the bridge dance. Timing is everything.

We had been planning to go on to Miami this morning but late yesterday the folks at NOAA changed their mind about the series of cold fronts passing over the Florida peninsula, and closed our weather window. Since we have no schedule to keep, 4-6 ft waves and 5 second period didn't sound too appealing, so we decided to pick up the anchor and head north to the city of Ft. Lauderdale proper and visit for awhile. This plan would also give us some time to visit with some friends scattered around the area and the possibility of letting Florida redeem itself on the dinghy issue. When we woke up this morning, the forecast had changed once again for the better, but we decided to stick to our plan and head north to the city anyway.

Fisherman giving the pelicans his leftover bait.

Coming into Ft. Lauderdale via boat is a pretty amazing thing to do. It is a busy place for sure, with water taxis, cruise ships, barges, tug boats, and recreational boats of all sizes, but the most amazing thing is the ostentatious display of mega yachts parked alongside equally ostentatious homes lining the canals. It is capitalism at its best. In the winding curve of one of these canals lies our current anchorage, and it's reassuring that the 22 foot sailboat with a single-hander next to us is sitting in the water 100 feet from the plate glass walls of one of these homes and that modest boat has the same view.

More cruise ships

We're told that this anchorage has a dinghy dock not too far from here with access to stores and a post office so tomorrow we'll give Florida the opportunity to redeem itself on the dinghy issue. For the moment, it's a nice quiet anchorage (although very crowded), and we have absolutely no place we have to be. Isn't retirement wonderful?