|
Date/Route/Crew/Time |
Position |
10-20-10
Waterside Marina, Norfolk, VA - Charleston Maritime Center, Charleston,
SC
Crew: Gregg, Jen, and Quinn
0953 - underway |
36°50.626'N,
76°17.550'W |
|
1200/10-21-10 |
34°55.737'N,
75°35.690'W |
|
1230/10-22-10 |
33°36.932'N,
77°38.171'W |
|
0912/10-23-10 - docked at Charleston
Maritime Center |
32°47.312'N,
79°55.445'W |
|
Total time: 71 hours 19 minutes,
Total distance: 423 nm |
10-23-10: Wednesday and Wednesday
night went as planned with a bumpy ride out of the Chesapeake Bay and
easy ride down the Virginia and North Carolina Outer Banks. Cape
Hatteras treated us kindly and we passed the Diamond Shoal light
sometime around 8 AM in moderate winds and seas.
As we rounded the Cape, the wind slowly picked up and backed to the
Southwest, just where we were heading. By Thursday afternoon we were
pounding into 5-7 foot waves and 20-25 knot winds. Not the best point of
sail for Mirasol and Captain and Crew were displeased. We had expected a
brief 6-10 hour stint of beating into 10-15 knots of wind around
Beaufort, but this was getting very old really fast. In all, it was
about 18 hours of 20-25 knot wind on the nose in big steep seas leaving
Mirasol and crew very thoroughly crusted with salt and somewhat
dissatisfied with NOAA's forecast.
Happily, Friday morning around 4AM the tardy cold front passed through
and blessed us with a welcome North wind. We left the motors running for
several hours and motor-sailed with the jib only as the big main would
slat back and forth too heavily in these light winds and confused seas.
We used the time to have a nice lunch and wash down the cockpit. We also
successfully tested the water maker after a summer of it sitting idle. A
pod of about 15 dolphins came to welcome us back into the Atlantic and
played about the bows for a half hour or so. They were a welcome site
and cheered the crew almost as much and the wind shift!
By 1pm motors are off, seas are abaft the beam and crew was relaxing to
the "Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" on the TV.
Friday night continued with moderate north winds and we sailed and motor
sailed the rest of the way to Charleston without any more drama |
11-9-10
Charleston Maritime Center, Charleston,
SC - St. Augustine, FL
Crew: Gregg, Jen, and Quinn
0932 - underway |
32°47.315'N,
79°55.446'W |
|
1200/11-10-10 |
30°14.931'N,
80°54.470'W |
|
1700/11-10-10 - docked at Conch House,
St. Augustine, FL |
29°53.691'N,
81°17.641'W |
|
Total time: 31 hours 28 minutes,
Total distance: 199.28 nm |
|
11-10-10: We had planned to go all
the way to Fort Lauderdale on this passage, but we fortunately got a
weather update and decided it would be safer to go in at St. Augustine
to wait out some pretty bad weather further south.
11-11-10: Gregg moved the boat
to a different dock to get out of some chop coming from the north winds.
11-13-10: We moved to a
different marina in town, the City Marina - it's less expensive and
right in downtown St. Augustine - lovely spot. |
11-17-10
St. Augustine - Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Crew: Gregg, Jen, and Quinn
1051 - underway |
29°53.538'N,
81°18.575'W |
|
1200/11-18-10 |
27°53.137'N,
80°16.677'W |
|
1000/11-19-10 - docked at Bahia Mar fuel
dock, Fort Lauderdale, FL |
26°06.783'N,
80°06.520'W |
|
Total time: 47 hours 9 minutes,
Total distance: 263.2 nm |
|
11-23-10: As we were
approaching Port Everglades, our starboard engine stalled and we
couldn't get it restarted, even after changing filters. While
Gregg worked on the engine, Jen drove, in circles, around the turning
basin until the Port Authority screamed at us and threatened a $50,000
fine if we didn't leave. We moved on to Bahia Mar, which has a
fairly easy fuel dock to tie up to, but they wouldn't let us at first.
Jen begged them again and they agreed. We were stuck there for the
weekend while we waited for a new low pressure fuel pump, which ended up
not being the problem. It was the fuel intake - it had cracked.
Gregg swapped the engine fuel intake with the generator one and we were
finally on our way up the New River on 11-23-10.
12-11-10: We had to move to
Lauderdale Marine Center to get out of the way of the Winterfest Boat
parade, which stages where we were docked on the New River.
12-12-10: Returned to the New
River for the remainder of our time in Fort Lauderdale.
2-2-11: After an extended stay
in Fort Lauderdale due to Jen's sprained elbow, we are planning to leave
tomorrow, finally, to head to Miami to stage for the trip to Bimini. |
2-3-11
Ft. Lauderdale, FL - Miami, FL
Crew: Gregg, Jen, and Quinn
0649 - underway |
26°07.119'N,
80°08.886'W |
|
1417 - moored at Dinner Key Marina,
Miami, FL |
25°43.119'N,
80°13.668'W |
|
Total time: 7 hours 28 minutes,
Total distance: 41.33 nm |
|
2-3-11: A pleasant, although beamy,
motor-sail down to Miami. It's nice to be on a mooring again. |
|
