Our winter respite in Florida has been interrupted by flights back to Annapolis for work, doctor's appointments, volunteer activity and grandkid duties. It is all good. The winter has been mild in Maryland and going to the cold reminds you why you are in Florida anyway. On our last flight down we went from around 32 degrees as we boarded an early morning flight to 82 degrees when we landed in Florida.
This trip down was the start of an actual cruise on the boat. We are in Ft. Pierce as I type. Having not moved the boat for four months, since arriving in Florida via the ICW, I was happy to see all systems working just fine. The trip from Stuart to Ft.Pierce was just 90 minutes but it was great to be back on the water navigating.
We have friends with a new to them boat, a Jenneau Nc 895. They were anxious to use her and so we devised a week long cruise up the ICW to Cocoa and back. Last evening we had dinner with them and another couple, friends who live in Ft. Pierce. We enjoyed a nice meal at the Second Street Cafe and a good time was had by all.
Century Club: mike pitchford
Back on the ICW fro a week!
Back to Florida for just ten days. Annapolis beckons again. This is to be followed by a short trip home then a return to Florida and a six day cruise on out boat!
This time of winter we are split between living on the boat in Florida and enjoying wearing shorts in the middle of winter and being back in Annapolis for meetings, medical appointments, etc. We got a week in the warmth before needing to head back nth for a week. We advanced planing on our early March cruise (seven days north than back on the ICW, all in south Florida). More to come on that.
After returning from a week chartering in the BVI, south Florida was a little different, but not as much as for my fellow BVI crew who went home further north. While it was breezy and a bit cooler in the evenings, the 60s are way better than the 30s.
We settled quickly back into the active snowbird social schedule and resumed daily exercise (such a joy in warm, but not hot, weather typical of south Florida this time of year). It was also a time for boat projects (additional electrical outlets and installation of a dock box) and cruise planning.
We have a cruise planned up the ICW with friends for a week in March, a yacht club cruise to Long Island Sound for most of the month of July, and a September cruise on the Bay with members of the International Council of Yacht Clubs (ICOYC). The of course there is home on the ICW in May and back to Florida in October to consider.
Boys Sail BVI 23, Sogy Dollar beach bar
Back in college I fell in with a bad crowd. There were four of us, fast friends, roommates and fraternity brothers, bonded in so many ways. One of us had a Cape Dory 25 and we spent many a spring or fall afternoon, when we should have been in class or at the least studying, sailing. Fast Forward a few years and we reestablished the pattern. Beginning in 1992 we were ducking out of work for long weekends on a string of cruising sailboat. As time advances and as spouses, family obligations and work permitted, the trips became longer. In 2007 we made our first trip to the BVI for a week long charter. We repeated in 2010 and 2013. A year after the last trip I traded my cruising sailboat for a commodious trawler. With that the "boys" got their Chesapeake weekends power boating. Longer trips were accomplished via ICW transits to Florida. Still we longed for some more BVI time. And so it was in 2021 we began planning for a 2022 sailboat charter out of Tortola. Covid moved the plans to 2023. We got eight days in boating paradise for our efforts. The BVI, mostly recovered from 2017 hurricane damage and Covid restrictions, was so worth the effort. We made stops at Norman Island (jumped off the Willie T), Cooper Island, Jost Van Dyke, Leverick Bay, Marina Key, Trellis Bay and the Bitter End Yacht Club with a side trip to Saba Rock.
home sweet home
Winters in and around the Bay seem colder as I get older. While January has been somewhat mild, December was brutal. More cold days will follow in February and March sure as death and taxes. Then we will have that long slow Chesapeake spring that tries to warm to summer like the little engine that could.
For the past seven winters my response to the cold weather stimulus has been to be in south Florida as much as possible. One season we rented a condo. For three winters we were on and off our trawler while still working. We sold the trawler to buy a condo as full retirement approached. and so we spent three winters in the condo.
The world of condo politics became a bit much. At the same time we longed for a cruising boat again. So we sold the condo and bought our current cruising boat, a Back Cove 37. We took her down the ICW last November and once again our winter home is a boat!
Got to the boat in Florida. Drove down so we would have a car with us for the winter. Clearly we were not the only ones needing to be on the road. Traffic was particularly bad on the 29th through South Carolina.
We were gone from the boat for a little over six weeks. Got some stuff done while gone, a little fiberglass repair and full wash and wax. Looks good!
on to 2023!
After two failed attempts, Mighty Quinn is finally covered for the winter (and just in time).
The Mighty Quinn should have donned her winter cover a month ago, as noted in my last entry. However, the winter cover, as is, would have pooled water. I tried using flexible 1" PVC to make a frame for the cover. This has worked before, shrink wrapping a former bigger boat. However, this time the tight radius needed for a smaller boat made it a bad idea.
I settled on the idea of custom saw horses as the center-line ridge that would keep a slope on the cover and eliminate water pooling. These are easily made of 2x4s, which I purchased and placed on the dock. But I needed to order the saw horse joiners from Home Depot. That was delay one.
So today I had the saw horse joiners in hand and walked down to the dock to initiate the second attempt at a winter cover. First I had to properly adjust the bunk boards and guide poles on the lift for this boat. Why I didn't do that when it was warm is anybody's guess.
The Mighty Quinn, already winterized, was briefly back in the water so I could makes the adjustments which went very well. Back on the lift and level, I went to start cutting the lumber to make the custom saw horses. The lumber was gone.
It seems we had an extreme high tide or two in the past week. Unbeknownst to me, the lumber intended for the saw horses drifted off the dock during one king tide event or the other. It is either that or the geese took them.
Diverted from my main task, I winter covered the rowing dinghy and strapped it and the kayaks to the floating dock, ready for a strong winter blow. Tomorrow I will go back to Home Depot, buy some additional 2x4s and hopefully complete the winter cover install.
With really cold days ahead, then the thanksgiving holidays then December, it was time to put the runabout to bed for the winter. So before I turned the dock water off ran the boat a bit, to mix in the fuel stabilizer, then flushed the engine with fresh water, then fogged the cylinders. Tomorrow, I will install the winter cover. After that it will be May before she emerges.