Let me pick up where I left off: ".…..so I will rest well tonight." That is how I ended my last entry.
The winds were predicted to be calm (at least on the last forecast I looked at 12 hours before), so I elected to anchor out a bit from shore (4.5 miles). If wind and waves are forecast, I would go in toward land and seek the protection of the land as a barrier to the wind and waves. The star gazing was incredible out here, no light pollution.Well either there was an updated forecast, or the forecasters missed it. The first half of the night, Lesson Plan was gently rocking me to sleep with a gentle motion created by the less than one-foot waves. About 2:00 AM, that changed. It seemed that my gentle rocking horse was beginning to trot. I got up and moved from the V berth in the front to the cabin in the back of the boat. I could hear the waves slapping against the bow of the boat. In the rear cabin, it was again a somewhat peaceful sleep. I could still feel the bouncing around, but it was much quieter.
The alarm went off at 6:30, 30 minutes before first light (with all the crab pots in the area, I did not want to leave in the dark.) By this time Lesson Plan was no longer in a slow trot, she was somewhere between a full gallop and bucking horse. We would rock back and forth and then about every 45 seconds the big wave would hit. I think Lesson Plan did not like these waves. She would raise her bow in the air and slap the water.
I boiled some water for coffee and oatmeal. I could time these waves and know when to hold the kettle (it only slid across the stove top once). After breakfast, it was beginning to get light and it was time to haul anchor and head to Tarpon Springs.
This is going to be fun with the nose of the boat bouncing up and down. I donned my life jacket (the one with the PLB in it). I attached my safety tether to my life jacket and stepped out on the deck. I was getting pretty good at timing the waves. I moved forward between two waves and opened the anchor locker. I pressed the button to start bringing in the anchor chain. The critical point will come when the anchor breaks free from the bottom and Lesson Plan is free to float. If she gets turned sideways to a wave it could make for a treacherous trip back to the cockpit. The waves are not big enough to make her roll over, but they are big enough to put the deck on a very steep angle.
I pulled in as much chain as I thought I could without pulling the anchor off the bottom. I waited for the next big wave to pass and then pulled in the rest of the chain and anchor (remember I push a button to pull in the anchor, I don’t want you to get the idea that I am out there like Popeye pulling the anchor chain hand over hand). I slam the anchor locker closed and rush back to the cockpit to grab the wheel and keep her heading into the waves for the next big one. After that one, I spin her around and pointed her toward Tarpon Springs.
The wind and waves are at about 60 degrees off the port bow. I will be on this heading for the next 46.6 miles, so I roll out the head sail. I picked up 1.1 MPH and am now making 8.3 MPH. I’ll be in Tarpon in no time at all (the ETA time on the iPad chart plotter went from 4:50 to 3:20).
As I made my way to Tarpon Springs the waves and wind decreased. I was about 10 miles from the R2 marker when the wind had decreased and shifted around to about 40 degrees off the port side. I could change my course and get the wind angle back to a usable one, but by the time the sail started flopping (meaning it was no longer pulling the boat), the wind was down to 4.5 kts. So, I just reeled it in and motored the rest of the way. Since the wind and the waves had decreased, I was able to maintain 7.6 MPH. The R2 (Red No. 2) maker that is at the entrance to the Anclote Channel (Tarpon Springs lies on the Anclote River).
Just before I reached the R2 marker I saw two boats coming up behind me on the AIS, Take a Breath and Whisky Business.
I met Jerry Rodgers and his crew on the boat Whisky Business (from Louisville, KY) in Carrabelle. He was among the group of us that went out to anchor at Alligator Point on Tuesday afternoon. The next morning, they all went on to Steinhatchee. Jerry said the ride to Steinhatchee so nice, they decided that they would make the one-day crossing the next day (Thursday). In my last post, I forgot about a group (very small group) of Loopers who do the one-day crossing. Those are the boats who can complete the 168 miles in 10 hours. They need to average 17 MPH, which is twice the normal trawler speed. Whisky Business is one such boat. If you have the right boat (not all boats can make 17 MPH) and are willing to pay the fuel bill (more than twice the fuel at a slow crossing), you can do the one-day crossing.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday morning, the crew of Take a Breath was weighing the options of making the overnight crossing. They decided they would leave about 1:30 PM on Wednesday.
The three boats come together (within 4 miles of each other) on Thursday at 2:45 PM. Three different crossing decisions but all resulting in arriving at the same point at nearly the same time.
After organizing the boat, I met up with Herb for dinner (you may remember that I traveled on Herb’s boat for a few days last month). The crew of Whisky Business and Take a Breath were at Costas, a local Greek restaurant. The crew from Antonia joined us just after we ordered.
The conversation eventually got around to boat names.
- Antonia was named after the former owner. They purchased the boat from his widow. They were able to keep the boat at a dock behind her house after they purchased the boat. They prepped it for looping and learned to operate the boat over a couple of months. They fell in love with the elderly lady they purchased the boat from and decided to name the boat after her husband.
- Whisky Business was named because Jerry owned some liquor stores in the Louisville, KY area. Only two bourbons spell Whisky without an “e” (whiskey). The founders of Old Forester and Makers Mark are of Scottish heritage. The Scotts spell it whisky. The Irish spelling is whiskey. He was able to get the graphics department at Brown Foreman to make the graphics for the name and home port. It looks just like the lettering on an Old Forester bottle.
- Take a Breath, what else would you name a 37’ Trojan. Or, now that they are retired, they can Take a Breath. They gave both reasons, I am just not sure which is the real story.
- Lesson Plan is a nod to my time as a teacher (12 years before I went to the admin side). And I knew I would be learning a lot of lessons from her.
- Phanthom was supposed to be like Phantom of the Opera, but someone misspelled it on the official paperwork. It wasn’t discovered until time to renew the registration. It would have cost $1,000 to change the name on all the paperwork (USCG, state, bank), or a $100 to change the graphics on the boat.
Lesson Learned (again): Weather forecast change, ALWAYS check for the MOST recent forecast before anchoring.
I will leave Lesson Plan here in Tarpon Springs until January 22, when I will be heading to the Keys with an Island State of Mind.
I have a couple of VIPs joining me in Key West for a week in February. Stay tuned to find out about them and the Magic of Key West.
Here are my Nebo Logs from the trip.
NEBO 2018-12-11 I did not forge to turn, I was laying down a track for the next morning.
NEBO 2018-12-12 Where this one ends, is not where I anchored.
NEBO 2018-12-13 Where this one starts is where I anchored.
I will add pictures when I get to a place where I have wifi. I am working from an ATT hotspot and cannot upload pictures (well I do not want to pay for the data use). I will have pictures uploaded to the picture folder by Sunday afternoon.
Ok, one picture
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| Lesson Plan, Otto and Jenny on duty. You see my reading perch on the right. |
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