Century Club: mike pitchford

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Tuesday, November 8, 2022 to Tuesday, November 15, 2022
Number of days:
8 days
Back to FL for a week
  • Hurricane Nichole around 1:00am on Novmeber 10, 2022

So we got the boat down to FL on November 3rd. We flew home for some meetings and then back to FL on the 8th, election day. Unfortunately for us a late season tropical system was forming in the eastern Caribbean Sea. Nicole would eventually make landfall just north of us in Stuart FL. A good radar picture at about 1:00am on November 10th showed the edge of the eye of Nicole over our heads.

The days after our arrival were dedicated to getting storm ready. The rest of our week were dedicated to unwinding the storm prep and getting back to normal south Fl fall.

Wednesday, October 26, 2022 to Friday, November 4, 2022
Number of days:
10 days
ICW leg three
  • Beaufort SC Sunset

After leaving Charleston we had a couple additional short hops with layover days.  Those included Savanah, GA and Beaufort, SC.  We got to visit with a friend in Beaufort and expeience a little haloween crazy in downtown Savanah.

As the calendar turned over to November, our insurance allowed us into Florida.  We mde one last GA stop, Brunswick and then on to FL: Fernandina, St. Augustine and Cocoa before arriving at our winter home in Sunset Bay Marina in Stuart.

Friday, October 21, 2022 to Tuesday, October 25, 2022
Number of days:
5 days
ICW Southbound, second leg

Our first leg was a "delivery" run from Annapolis to Myrtle Beach in three and a half days.  It was fun but not necessarily relaxing.

We left the boat in Myrtle Beach a few days to get back to Annapolis to attend some meetings and events. We came back down on Friday to begin a more relaxing run that will end up in Stuart FL. 

Several of our cruising friends from the Annapolis Yacht Club are also making their way south. We were in Georgetown, SC on Saturday when AYC cruiser Tom Muha arrived on his boat, TLC, with AYC cruiser Ron Ricketts as crew.  On Sunday, Bob Smith on the Mary Kathryn arrived with AYC cruiser Jim Brantley as crew.  The happy coincidence was celebrated with shared beverages and meals while recounting the trip so far and looking into the future ICW legs.

Now we are in Charleston, SC for a couple days.  Charleston is such a "foodie" town, we are having fun trying various restaurants.   

Saturday, October 15, 2022 to Tuesday, October 18, 2022
Number of days:
4 days
Annapolis to Myrtle Beach, first leg south

With all last minute repairs done and a reasonable weather forecast, we started south.  The first leg was a "delivery" to Myrtle Beach, where Winsome Winn would sit a few days while I attended to business back in Anapolis.  It was a 500 mile push, three and a half days of fast motoring.

My crew for the delivery included my usual college roomates/fraternity brothers, Dave and Kevin. Skip, who usually joins us was home tending to a COVID sick wife.

The first leg was Annapolis to Hampton, followed by a stop in Belhaven then Wrightsville Beach and finally a half day run to Myrthe Beach. All worked well and we caught a mid afternoon flight back to BWI.

Friday, October 14, 2022
Number of days:
1 day
Zip Wake fixed!

The ZipWake parts arrived as scheduled on Wednesday and were expertly installed by Robert from JGordon and Co.  Winsome WInn was launched on Friday and made the short trip home so I could load and provision fer the trip south that is to begin on Saturday. 

Tuesday, October 11, 2022
Number of days:
1 day
Back to the yard to replace a trim tab
  • second haulout in a week

Zipwake system, port interceptor, not working.  Need it functional for the trip to Florida for the winter.  So, back to the yard for a haul and block so J Gordon Co can do the work this week. Assuming all goes well, we start south on Saturday.

Saturday, October 8, 2022
Number of days:
1 day
Quick haul for repairs (on a Saturday!)

Coming back from a short trip last weekend I noticed a bang-bang from the area of the shaft at low speeds.  I was worried I had snagged a crab pot and had a remnant part rotating around the prop.  A diver checked on it and found nothing but the sound persisted.

 

I made a call (on a Saturday) to one of my favorite service shops, Haven Harbour.  Service Manager, Greta Sommers talked to me in the phone about it.  That conversation was helpful deciding to get the boat towed to a nearby travel lift today.  As it turned out Jabin's was willing to work with me (on a Saturday) and TowBoatUS arrived very quickly and was free, thanks to my BoatUS membership.

 

So, the bang-bang when in gear was from the shaft zinc which had come loose and slid forward to bang on the strut. The travelift team at Jabin's spotted it right away and were pretty sure that was the issue. A quick trip to West Marine while the boat hung in the lift and bingo, I was ready to go back in the water, problem solved.

Thursday, October 6, 2022
Number of days:
1 day
back on the water after five days of rain

Cold and rain, must be fall.  Finally on Thursday, after five days of rain, the leftover from Ian, we had a nice day.  Our granddaughter was with us for a couple days and wanted to go on a kayak ride to collect leaves that had fallen into the water.

Monday, September 19, 2022 to Tuesday, September 20, 2022
Number of days:
2 days
creek cruise with Ava

The daycare for our 15 month old grandaughter was closed for the week due to a positive COVID test for one of the kids.  We had the pleasure of her company for two days as backup daycare.  On the first day we entertined her with a short dinghy row and took her on a longer creek cruise on our runabout on the second. 

Friday, September 16, 2022 to Sunday, September 18, 2022
Number of days:
3 days
club cruise to Haven Harbour for Oktoberfest

About seventy AYC members on 20+ boats and assorted land yachts with near by hotel rooms (and one RV), decended on Haven Harbour North for the now annual Oktoberfest cruise. 

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