“Wow! I’ve never seen so many wires on a sailboat.” Thus spoke Alan, the guy who is helping us install all our new gadgets. “Where does this one go, and this one”? Of course, I don’t know. We open panels, crawl around, and tug on wires to find out. Alan buys materials with his contractor …read more
Month: January 2012
Jan 21
Spent the day taking old parts off the boat and shopping for replacement parts and more boat stuff. We drive back through Palm Beach County, where I grew up. I have to drive up A-1-A by my favorite spot — Juno Beach. I spent many mornings running barefoot from Carlin Park to the old Jupiter …read more
Jan 20
We decide to haul out at nearby Cracker Boy’s instead of motoring up to Port Salerno. Our haul-out is scheduled for 2pm. This gives us time to macerate. Yep. Maceration is some pretty dirty stuff. It’s so dirty there are restrictions. You can only do it it you are at least three miles offshore. Actually …read more
Jan 19
Another day northbound on the ICW. Another ten bridges. Royal Palm bridge was broken. We danced there for an hour and 15 minutes before getting through. A sailboat don’t sit still in the water. If the current and wind are on your nose you can kind of idle slowly facing ahead. If the current or …read more
Jan 18
We originally wanted to sail from Ft Lauderdale to Palm Beach, but the wind direction changed while we were delayed one day. Now we had 15-20 knots on our nose. We decided to motor up the ICW instead of sailing. We puttered past the homes of the ultra-rich, waiting for ten drawbridges to raise for …read more
Jan 17
No one made us leave the private dock. We had been assured by everyone that the left side of the channel was deep. So we left early in high spirits holding close to the left side. Well, there was this one hump on the bottom. We found it. Aground again after going only 100 yards. …read more
Jan 16
Our trip south to Ft. Lauderdale using public transportation went as planned. There were a few snags in the trip to bring the boat north, though. First, the boat was grounded at the slip when we arrived. I had printed some tide tables, but nothing that showed the tides four miles up New River. We …read more
Jan 14
Today was a big day. We rose before the crack of dawn and drove down to Fort Lauderdale. We had to accomplish three big things: 1. Pick up our new life lines and install them on the boat (Had a few problems, but eventually resolved them – accomplished) 2. Spend a whole lot of money …read more
Jan 13
Here’s a tip for new owners of old Catalinas with diesel engines. Engage that glow plug a long time before trying to crank the engine. Hold that button until your finger hurts. Then until it grows numb. Then until your fingernail has grown measurably. Then it’s time to crank that engine. Our engine ran fine …read more
Jan 10th
We’ve made a little progress since arriving in Stuart, Fl Sunday night. Monday we did some research. We also found a friendly boat yard in nearby Port Salerno. Tuesday we did the 90 minute drive to Ft. Lauderdale to work on the boat’s lifelines. The lines are upper and lower level plastic coated steel cables …read more