1/10/08 Update from Saratoga Springs, NY
A lot has happened since my last blog posting. In early December we met a group of very interesting folks, all cruisers preparing to go south or to the islands, at the Jacksonville Naval Air Station Marina. Getting to know them was the highlight of our week; we enjoyed nightly libations and hors d’oeuvres on one another’s boats. The rest of our free time was spent cleaning the boat and getting ready to leave it for the month while we returned home for the holidays.
The Sunday after we arrived home, the phone rang at six in the evening - it was the marina. The metal eyebolt on the mooring ball had chafed through our bridle and chafing guard. DeLaMer had broken loose from the mooring and was aground on the opposite shore of the river, two miles away. The marina staff were great. They had located the boat, gone over, and put our anchor down. The 20-25 knot winds and 3-4 foot waves prevented them from doing anything else. We contacted TowBoat US and, due to the rough conditions, they had to call in additional staff. They spent the next 3 ½ hours searching for the boat. When we called them at 11 PM, they still hadn’t found DeLaMer!
We spoke with them again at 7AM. They had located the boat and, by afternoon, had returned it to the marina. Bob flew back to Florida to assess the condition of the boat. Amazingly, there was no damage. It went through all of the boats in the mooring field without hitting any of them; crossed two miles of the St. Johns river in wind, waves, and strong currents; missed the low bridge (which would have demasted it); and came to rest between two concrete pilings (both of which it missed) on a soft mud bottom.
We’ve decided from now on we don’t need to spend time determining our course and navigating – the boat does so well all by itself!!!
Steve FedEx’d a heavy duty mooring pendant from Great Island Boat Yard, which Bob installed with a heavy duty swivel and shackle, along with a backup heavy duty pendant, both of which are fully encased in a rubber lined fire hose for chafing protection. That boat is going nowhere!
The rest of our month at home was less eventful and much more pleasurable. We spent Christmas with Amie and her boys, traveled to Maine to be with Steve and his family, and stopped in to see Bob’s son, Ken, and his family on the way home. We even got to spend a few days skiing – conditions were great!
We are flying back to Florida tomorrow. We will spend a few days provisiong the boat and doing preparations for the next leg of our journey. We plan to leave on Tuesday, January 15th, weather permitting, and sail offshore from Jacksonville to Miami and then on to Key West. The 530 statue mile trip should take between 3 ½ and 4 ½ days. This will be our first extended offshore voyage on our own. We are both a little apprehensive and also excited about the challenge.
Bill Hooper, the Captain who sailed offshore with us from Maine to Annapolis, will be racing in Key West the last week of January. He has invited us to crew for him when he returns the boat to Palm Beach after the races. It will be a 30 hour offshore sail on a 42 foot Swan which we are really looking forward to!
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