We thought, how funny – our stay in Miami has been book-ended by all day downpours! Not so funny however, is just how wrong the wind forecast was.

The forecast was for Easterlies to veer around all night long eventually coming Northwest by 1700 the next day. A plenty doable window for the 40 mile crossing to Bimini. During dinner, the wind shifted to the Northeast. Hmm… that’s weird we thought! Must just be a local squall blowing through. But we went to bed with that wind still blowing from the North, dreaming it would come East as forecasted soon.

We awoke up at 0200 as planned, checked the wind, still North. Woke again at 0300. Wind still North. Up at 0400 for a final check. Wind still North. No Easterlies… instead, this Northerly blew all night long.

It’s still blowing North. Here’s the buoy report for Fowey Rocks at 0800 EDT.

I’m keeping a close eye on the weather these days. Looking for a weather window (treatment) for the hop across the Gulf Stream. So much to do, so little time. But it could be weeks before we see another window treatment like this. I have to be ready, and so the list gets edited, to the just the essential essentials.

The Gulf Stream runs about 3-4 knots through the Straits of Florida, and is the reason finding a decent weather window is so critical. Any northerly component to the wind, and the current against wind kicks up a steep and short wave in the stream. An Easterly wind is decent. It’ll be a close hauled port tack on a South Easterly course to make good a course of East, hopefully fetching Bimini, or Berries.

I’m pretty excited for this documentary to be released. Never met Nick Jaffe in person, but we’ve had some nice chats along the way, seems to be a great guy… telling it like it is. Check out more at BetweenHome.com or BigOceans.com.

Wow, pictures and videos just don’t do justice to the awesomeness of a shuttle launch. Even though I was 11 miles away, it was bright, loud, and just generally intense! My cousin, an airline pilot, came down for the event, one of the last few shuttle launches ever. We drove up at 9pm and camped out in Titusville along the Indian River, with a clear view of the launch pad. We arrived at 1am, the crowds were sprawling… RV’s everywhere, cars parked along the roadside, some walking around, others perched in their lawn chairs,  but most people sleeping behind clothing draped windows. This was the last dawn launch, and it was gorgeous. The International Space Station flew by 10 minutes before launch…another rare sight…still can’t believe it only takes only 90 minutes to orbit the earth!

A pic of my own, and a video of one of my favorite bands – Rush playing “Countdown” a song they wrote after being invited to view one of the early shuttle launches. This song has always been one of my favorites since its release in 1982, and it played on a continuous loop in my head as we sat their anticipating the blessed event.

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.

Upon first getting the turbine wired up, and spinning, I thought it wasn’t making much power. I thought I had a dud… another defective Air Breeze. Southwest Windpower has had alot of complaints about the Air Breeze and the Air X. Both are the cheapest in the small turbine category. They both have internal regulators, so nothing more to buy except some wire, a switch and a fuse. But usually… you get what you pay for. You hear and read about people having bad customer service experiences, regulators failing within a few months, blades disintegrating, etc. Knowing all this, I really wonder why I bought one of these units so prone to failure and complaints. Guess it comes down to price and my penchant for playing the odds!

The Air Breeze specs are in kilowatts per month… not exactly the way I want to measure my output. I’m dubious of such convoluted specs. I want to see amps per knot of wind. Since getting the amp meter wired and confirming my power generation, I’ve seen good things. Winds have been strong lately, and I have a new appreciation for breezy nights at anchor.

Here’s a short video demonstrating the kind of power I’m seeing on a breezy night like tonight…

Doesn’t matter where you are — springtime means boat projects. I’m knee deep in 4 or 5 projects, simultaneously. I never was one for focusing on a single task; starting and finishing it in one day. I like to open a handful of projects, then proceed to let them linger for months. Gives me time to ponder the best solution I like to think. I enjoy the process. After all, it’s the journey, not the destination right? Typically, I’ll move into a semi-panic mode as a cruising departure deadline nears, and then it all gets done lickity-split. Dead lines… make great baggy wrinkle.

Perhaps a year of dreaming, wondering, researching and contemplating have all gone into the wind generator project. It’s nearly done. It’s mounted, spinning and making power. But I still need to properly run the wires and install the kill switch. It’s a little noisier then I had remembered based on listening to other Airbreezes on friends’ “yachts”. Oh, wait — it just started up again, and I can barely hear it over my music. Perfect! Actually, I’ve noticed it’s quieter at higher wind speeds. Interesting.

The install is easy. With the internal regulator, there is minimal work to do to get it up and running. I used 8 AWG wire for the run to the batteries. I combined the ground and the negative wires inside the pole, so I only need run duplex through the transom. The slow blow 20 amp fuse is 3″ from the batteries, and uses a 12 AWG jumper. Still looking for a solution to stick with the 8 AWG right to the battery, but for now it’s fine.

The pole kit was bought from emarineinc.com. I prefer their polished tubes to the typical white painted poles you often see with the Southwest Windpower turbines. The main aluminum tube came pre-drilled and the inside is coated with a vibration dampening substance. The smaller support tubes are 1″ SS tube. The entire mount sits on rubber for vibration reduction. Currently, I feel absolutely no vibration below. This is a good thing, cause I’ve been on some boats with wind generators, and it feels like an endless freight train is going by. Nice work emarine.

I’m looking forward to seeing how much power this turbine makes for me over time. I’d like to think, that with my 80 watt solar panel and this wind turbine I’ll be able to keep up with the fridge and the Macbook Pro. I have plans to swap out my single 80 watt panel for two smaller, but narrower 65 watt panels, one for each lifeline, port and starboard.

I always wanted to mount it this way. Makes it easier to walk on the boomkin to get to the  vane changes and removal. Plus I think it looks alot better, it hides alot of the SS tubing. One thing about the Monitor, it’s not the prettiest contraption on a BCC in my opinion. I’d love to have a Freehand Vane, they are  visually slick, and don’t disrupt the beautiful lines of the BCC quite like the Monitor does. However, my plan is to install a wind generator pole on the boomkin, which would inhibit a Freehand vane from spinning fully.

I solved my slipping gear issue on the Monitor by hammering the bronze gears closer together, as recommended by Scanmar. Looks like it will do the job.

The new head hose arrived, I can now complete the head & holding tank refresh…from which I’m currently taking a break to pen this post.

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…