Wow. I like sailing. I forgot this is a sailboat… Felt great to get out for a little romp in Biscayne Bay. Aaron, a fellow S.E.A. alum and CJ came out for an afternoon-into-evening sail complete with chips, salsa, a few root beers and some Double Stuffs. We sailed over to Stiltsville, an old prohibition era community of houses built on stilts in the eastern shallows of Biscayne Bay.

Elizabeth is nearly ready for the upcoming trip to the Bahamas and ultimately back to Marthas Vineyard. I have been a busy drone the past few weeks… Installed a new house bank. Three new Group 31′s. I knew it was time for new batteries when the resting voltage read 12.4 volts but as soon as a load was added, it dropped to 10.6 volts. Useless. But before buying the new batteries, I wanted to be sure I had adequate charging capabilities. I found a skinny solar panel, that fits on the rail pretty smartly. It’s rated at 65 watts, or more importantly, 3.8 amps. This brings my total solar potential up to 145 watts. In conjunction with the wind generator, on a sunny day with 12 knots of breeze, I should be making about 13 amps.

I loaded aboard a few non perishables, and found places to stow it all. Seems there’s plenty of room aboard Elizabeth for both food and my extensive bosun’s stores. I’ve finally finished the head rebuild now that the last remaining part has arrived… good ole part #1203BW. This solved the leaky intake valve problem. The pump out hoses are nearly complete, just waiting on a very sexy 90º elbow I really like. No more wheel-squeelin’ corners for the poop to make, it’ll be like riding the poop-louge, fast and fun, minimizing potentially crusty, stanky build up. In building out this new plumbing system, I found the ABA hose clamps to be superior. They’re 100% 316 SS and non-perforated, the only way to go.

It’s a proven fact, time moves quicker when the ambient temperature is higher. Winter in New England tends to drag on, one dreary month after another. Whereas winter here in sunny Florida is flying by, everyday is busier than the last. Our winter of warmth is beginning to wind down. Well actually, Mr. Warmth has been on vacation this year, so really, our winter of below-normal-temperatures is beginning to wind down.

My boat is a mess. Open projects abound:  wind generator install, Monitor windvane repairs, bilge pump rewiring, tri-color repositioning, backstay re-making, refrigeration repair, etc. I’m into push mode again… pushing to get it all done before weighing anchor and heading north.

I’m looking forward to getting underway again.

To follow up on the previous post. All the boats willingly moved from the anchorage. None were towed. Today I noticed, one boat is back in the same anchorage now. No further info.

I returned back to my boat today to find this notice. Evidently the Marine Patrol stopped by all the boats in our neighborhood, threatening vessel impoundment in less than 24 hours if we do not move our boats. However, it looks like this notice they left me says within thirty (30) days. I was told by some neighbors that the claim made by the Marine Police is that we are anchored over city owned bottom. According to the note at the top, I “must removed vessel to avoid towing”.

There are plenty of documents explaining the new anchoring regulations put into effect in 2006, this being one of them. According to these laws, Florida makes a clear distinction between liveaboards and cruisers. Cruising vessels may anchor anywhere – within reason; for example, not in a mooring field, not in a channel, not within 500′ of a fuel dock, etc…

This Boat US document explains it very clearly.  Anchoring Information for Florida Cruisers

This notice appears to be an attempt to get the 5 or 6 cruising boats out of this anchorage and into the new and 50% empty, city owned mooring field, a 1/4 mile to the south, at a rate of $21/day or $340/month.

To the Marine Patrol’s credit, there were two boats anchored in the channel. As neighbors, we can only suggest to those cruisers that they move their boats, we can’t force them. However, for their carelessness and negligence, we all pay the price.

Right now, I’m still anchored here. We’ll see how this plays out tomorrow…

Merry New Year! I’m vacationing in New Hampshire, where the sun barely rises and the snow always falls. It’s been a lovely holiday taking care of family, pondering the meaning of life, contemplating the future, the best cell phone, my retirement, and of course the trip to France.

Here’s a new video short…

Here’s how it breaks down this month…but I ask why. Why bother posting this? I think the reality of it is worth illustrating. It’s not really about how I can save more money on groceries. I certainly could avoid higher priced options, but I didn’t. I could learn to cook some more-cost-effective meals; I will. I could eat more beans. I do love beans. I could shop in bulk – oh no wait, I can’t… the basement floods often. But I’m more interested in this month’s data because I had a few unexpected expenses. And you have to expect the unexpected.

A fellow named Steve, who I shared a mooring with in Velcro Beach aboard a 28 O’day named Searcher said it best. After my starter finally gave up the ghost, on a Friday afternoon, I was complaining that there’s always something that needs fixing, and how I wish I had a spare starter aboard to avoid the delays of a rebuild. He replied with,”Ya know what the secret to successful cruising is? Carrying a spare boat.” That tickled me. I got stuck in Velcro Beach because of my starter, not because of the mandatory raft ups on the mandatory moorings, the 9:05  #1 bus, the Publix, or the food court. But it’s not a bad place to get stuck I suppose.

The unexpected:
1. Group 31 battery meltdown. ($194)
2. Bad alternator bearings. ($140)
3. Going for an accidental swim with my phone in my pocket. ($19.49)
4. Flipping the dink and sending my bike to the bottom of the Ashley River. ($12 for the diver; the bikes… well…we didn’t recover them)
5. Starter armature meltdown ($150 – not a Nov expense)

Everyone’s got one nowadays. “Hi, I’m Ben, here’s my card”. Not sure what I’m selling, but we are often trading email addresses and phone numbers. So Boat Cards, as they are called, make it easier. It’s really just a calling card. I had no clue! Seems a bit presumptuous, but anyways I made some…and people really exchange them! I put my credentials at the bottom, just in case someone needs a delivery captain, some graphics or what-have-you.

So what could be my new engine issue? Is the starter fried?  With all that smoke…how close did I come to having a fire aboard? Immediatly after dropping the hook, I dug into the engine room to begin troubleshooting. Visual inspection of starter and ignition wires indicated everything was OK. No melted wires. I crawled back a bit further to where the starting battery perched. The entire engine room smelled like ‘burning electricity’, so it was hard to determine exactly where the smell originated. But upon inspection of the battery, there was no doubt in my mind where the odor came from. The negative terminal had completely melted! It looked like ‘Hot Liquid Magma’ at the terminal. Internal short I guess. I talked with a few friends about possible issues. Together we traced my charging circuit and tested to make sure the starting battery was getting a proper charge. All checked out OK. I have an Ample Power Next Step Regulator coupled with their Eliminator to charge a 2nd battery bank.

The simple starter test: I swapped the starting circuit Hella key switch, and fired up the engine using the House Bank. Starter appears to be OK. Engines running. No meltdowns… yet. So, out with the old battery. Let’s just say, moving the Group 31 from its perch is a royal bitch; sweat and curses come standard.

I loaded the small boat with my bike and the dead battery, bound for West Marine to find a replacement. I pulled up to Daphne to get Teresa and her bike. Now, Charleston Harbor is actually a river, the Ashley River. At max flood/ebb, the current rips at about 4 knots. All the boats in the harbor sit in different directions depending on their hull shape. Some are in harmony with the wind direction, others follow the flow of the current. This day, the wind and current opposed one another and the chop was annoying to say the least.

Making room for Teresa’s bike, I moved the battery and my Dahon to the center. All in a matter of seconds, she handed me her bike, the dink rocked from the large wake kicked up by a powerboat speeding through the nearby ICW, the painter jerked, I lost my balance – which was compounded by stepping through a crack in the floor, and the dink began filling with water! I thought I could recover it, but nope, it was too late, I was getting wet, the bike was in my hand. I let go, the dink flipped over and I swam away, thinking, “Damn there goes another phone!”  Teresa yelled, “It’s OK, It’s OK. Get the bike, it’s stuck on the dink! Quick!” The bikes! In my state of shock, I didn’t even realize the bikes would be gone. With hope, I swam to the dink, but there was no bike – it was the outboard motor lower unit, triggering another realization… the outboard was submerged.  My phone, the outboard, 2 bikes, chain, lock, oarlocks – sunk in 30′ of water with a 3 knot current. Damn. Two dinghies arrived quickly to help out. Jim from Starbound, and another fellow, who’s name I didn’t catch, but his boats name was Timrod. We righted the dink and pumped her out, retrieved the oars, got a GPS fix, and took a deep breath.

Having sunk an outboard before, I knew if I was going to save this outboard, that was the first thing I had to attend to. I got the outboard to the Mega Dock, hosed her off, flushed the oil, sprayed the cylinders, and cleaned out the carb. She’s running just fine – for now. Go Team!

We found a diver through the “I know a guy who knows a guy who’s knows a guy” network. He came down after he got off work in two halves: half in the bag and with half a tank of air. Needless to say, finding our bikes that day was fruitless. The next day another diver came down, and again had no luck finding the bikes. 30′ of murky water and  3-4 knots of current didn’t help the situation. We decided to give up the search, and move on. It was MORE than time to leave Charleston.

Charleston was the original destination for this trip. Most everyone I spoke to about Charleston said something to the effect of…”Oh, what a great city, it’s a good walking town, fabulous history, very cosmopolitan, you’ll love it, and they even have a french quarter”. I figured I’d spend the winter in Charleston…should be warmer than Martha’s Vineyard at least. When we arrived, I nostalgically put my sail covers on one last time and sadly wrote in the logbook, “1310: Trips over, anchored in Charleston with 120′ of chain in 25′ of water, M.E. secure @ 1174 hrs”.

The best thing I found in Charleston was the candy shop with free praline & candied-pecan samples. We stopped by there everyday for a free snack. We also got a free carriage ride, and free pizza lunch by suffering through a presentation about Festiva Vacations… 3 hrs later, they gave us vouchers for $130 worth of food and carriage rides. Eh, not bad.

We spent a week getting a feel for our new home, applying for a few jobs, seeing an old high school pal, and taking in the sights. But, it became clear, Charleston wasn’t the place to spend a winter. After coming all this way, I realized, Charleston is just too cold and there’s no work. Winter is the ‘slow season’, just like Martha’s Vineyard. Clearly, we hadn’t gone far enough south.

We did however, have a fantastic time with our friends Chad and Nicole aboard Sabbatical, and Maxwell and Jen aboard Anastasia. We all celebrated Thanksgiving aboard Anastasia, a Baba 35. We enjoyed a wonderful meal to which we all brought something, and felt the warmth of family so far from home this time.

Seven days after we arrived, with a good weather window, fuel and water tanks pressed up, we passed Fort Sumter again, this time bound for sea. The winds were perfect, 15 kts from the NE, but I needed a little help fetching the southern breakwater. I went to fire up the Main Engine, it barely turned over, as if the battery was dead. Then suddenly I smelled that unmistakable smell of “burning electricity”. The smoke followed. Then, after I stopped pushing the start button, the engine kept trying to start. It would slowly turn over. I even removed the key from the ignition, but still, that starter, down on it’s knees, bleeding, kept trying to get that engine running. It was freaking me out actually…like the ghost of Yanmar’s Past. A few rotations later, it breathed its final breath and the pathetic cranking ceased.

There I was being set onto the breakwater without an engine, bound for sea to make the overnight passage to Florida. Without much thought, I tacked round and headed back to Charleston reluctantly. Past Ft. Sumter again. Soon the wind petered-out of course, and I was faced with the decision to either anchor and wait for the favorable current to carry me back in or get a tow from Daphne. I took a tow.

Re-anchored in the swift current of Ashley River near our newest  friends aboard an AWESOME wooden replica of Joshua Sluocum’s Spray, Starbound, we began “Charleston Part II”.

It’s been 7 weeks since I left Martha’s Vineyard. I’ve taken 3 showers. That’s 49:3. I do love a good pie chart, but not sure how to graphically display this data, perhaps this will do…

The last shower I took has a cool little story that goes with it…

Teresa and I rafted up in Hampton, VA for our first night there. The winds were light, the anchorage was well protected from wakes, but it was small and crowded. So it made good sense to raft up, in the name of “anchorage space conservation”. The second night however, winds were forecasted to increase to 25 knots… a great reason to anchor separately. After a few boats had left for the day, I dropped my anchor a few hundred feet to the West. Once I was secure, we went ashore to drop off my alternator and get me a new phone. I have a bad habit of using my phone in the rain, and well, it got really wet this time, and died a slow, vibrating death.

The next morning, while eating my breakfast and checking my email I got a comment on the blog from snoodletime:

When I woke up this morning, I saw your boat anchored in Hampton Creek.  I recognized the bow as that was all I could see from my window.  Curious as I am, I had to walk down the dock to see if it was really you.  Sure enough, I could see you and Teresa too. I’ve quietly read your adventures and it sure was nice to actually see your boats.

A little while later, after a quick email exchange and a phone call we met up with Steve, humbly accepted his offer of dock, electricity, shower, a ride to town to collect my repaired alternator, and an invitation to dinner with his sailing friends that night, who put on a feast I couldn’t believe. What an amazing guy! What a fantastic coincidence! What incredible hospitality! Steve showed me the small gap between the buildings and the trees through which he saw the sliver of my bow… just incredible he recognized her.  Thanks for everything Steve!

Here’s a quick breakdown of my expenses for the first month of being underway. Groceries dominate… I’m pretty sure it’s due to these particular cookies I buy, to use in a dessert I make, to bring to social boat gatherings. They cost $5 a box. I buy alot of boxes. Yup, I’m getting fat. In addition, the first month groceries figure includes alot of staples, that will last many months. Fuel is a necessary evil when you do the intracoastal waterway. The trip north next spring will be offshore and my wallet is looking forward to it already. Eating out includes the occasional coffee/treat and two nice dinners: one Thai dinner with my aunt and uncle, and one awesome All You Can Eat Crab Feast with Travis and Joanne. When in Maryland, one MUST go for crabs. Galley gear is non-skid plates and mugs, neither of which I had before leaving. Sailing gear is a logbook… yup, a waste of money. Yanmar is actually lube oil… should that go under fuel? Tools is a deck cap opener.

This cruising expense report  doesn’t include my other “grown-up” expenses like: cell phone, data plan, boat payment, boat insurance, car insurance, health insurance etc…

I suspect November’s expenses will be alot less…