Garrard, I and #181 arrived about 4PM Wed, Dec 8th at the slip up the St. John's river in Florida.

     In the last minute rush to get started I completly forgot to purchase a disposable camera or two. So there are only a few pics for the passage.

     The delivery was about as big a mixture of conditions as I have ever experienced. Upon arriving in Virginia we spent the first few nights aboard. Early one morning we woke to find that the dew had frozen on deck!

     Departure was at 12 noon Monday, the 29th. Catching the slack at high tide proved a real benefit as the ebb hurried our departure out of the bay. We started with a good breeze from the NW and were soon sailing at 5-6 knots on a port beam reach. By the time we reached the Atlantic the wind was dying but held on enough to see us on our way. This first stage took about 9 hours.
In the early hours of Tuesday the wind went away. Having limited diesel I started the motor and powered away at 1800 RPM. In the late afternoon the wind started to pick up a bit and I was able to motorsail under main and genoa at 1500 RPM and a 1/2 knot better speed.

     Tuesday faded away and we found ourselves in a rising wind by Wednesday morning. Then the true mettle of boat and crew were tested. By noon on Wednesday the boat was down to the working jib only. If I had a storm jib it would have been flown. It was quite an experience to sail this boat in the conditions that developed. I bet few have experienced a CD trying to surf under working jib only while close reaching. Through the day the wind and seas built to a whole gale. Strong from the SW and slowly growing stronger as the wind veered to the West. At its most intense, about 3 hours, the wind was blowing a sustained 50 knots. Seas were up to 18 feet. The were "Greenies" everywhere and spindrift and wave tops were being blown off horizontally. Occasionally a cresting wave top would burst on the starboard bow showering the entire boat with water. Fortunatly the water wasn't too cold as I was soaked to the skin through my foulies and two changes of clothes. At the height of the gale I had to hand steer the boat for about 1 1/2 hours.

     Eventually I was able to get the boat to self steer with the tiller loosly lashed with line and elastic tubing. The seakindlyness of the 28 impressed me a great deal. Even though the seas were very confused from the rapidily building wind and quickly changing direction the boat handled all with a relativly(and this is a big relativly) good motion. From having the lee deck in the water up to the portlights twice to falling off numerous wavetops the motion was not uncomfortable but there was a lot of it. As the wind shifted to the west a few brief rain showers fell and I thought this signaled the passing of the eye of the storm. It did indeed but shortly thereafter the wind reached its greatest velocity. By around local sundown the gale had mostly passed us by as the wind continued to veer toward the NW. Later that night I collapsed into the starboard settee having had only three hours sleep since Tuesday morning.

     By early Thursday a strong NW wind had replaced the gale conditions. This enabled us to charge off again to the SSW. I estimate the gale cost us an extra two days on the passage as we sailed to just east of longitude 73. During the gale I was able to close reach about one point south of east so as not to loose distance to the north. Later on Thursday morning the wind continued to swing around and became a nice 10-12 knots from the NE. By Thursday evening the wind had gone to S-SSW at 10 knots. The wind speed slowy increased and clocked to the west. At the time I had the helm lashed and just let the boat follow the changing wind direction.

     These conditions were not totally surprising as they followed quite closly the weather forecast at departure time. The forecast was for a SW gale, 25-35 knot winds. 25 knots is not bad and I had often sailed in trade winds that strong. Even 35 is not too extreme to keep sailing if the course and wind are compatable. I though the boat should be able to handle those conditions without a problem. But I didn't expect to see that brief three hour period of such intense conditions.
By Friday the wind had gone NW again, 15-20 knots. We must have been getting quite a boost from the current as we had a three hour run of just over 24 miles followed by another three hour run of just over 21 miles.

     Late Friday and in the early hours of Saturday we were becalmed. So we just sat and flopped around. It was a much needed break for catching up on sleep. Later in the day the wind filled from the NW and off we went again. By about noon Saturday we were back in NW winds.
On Sunday the conditions remained for a while but the wind slowly failed us and I started the engine and ran at 900 RPM for quite a while.

     During its first uses the engine performed flawlessly. However after the gale while powering in the Friday afternoon calm it had stopped running. I suspected fuel starvation and wondered if the wild motion had kicked up sludge and clogged the filter. I was hesitant to change the filter as this would require some real acrobatics to bleed the system. After sitting for some time the engine started again but remained unreliable choking off and stopping. It had run fine at only 900 RPM but now on Tuesday evening it was starting to sputter again. This was bad! We were being set north away from the river. So about 9PM that night I dove into the cockpit hatch and tried to change the secondary filter. I couldn't unscrew it from the base. I rigged a temporary bypass and during the bleeding process I discovered that the bleed screw on top of the primary filter wasn't even finger tight! Back into the cockpit locker to re-install the secondary filter which was completly free flowing. Rebleed the system again and then the engine wouldn't start at all. @$#%@$##%!

     By now it was 1:30AM and I was a bit quesy from kneeling over a warm engine snorting diesel fumes and bouncing around in the shallow water swell. As I sat in the cockpit feeling totally defeated I happened to shine the flashlight down into the footwell. In my muddled mind I had forgotten to push the stop handle back in! Garrard and I had a hell of a good laugh at my Homer Simpson moment. DOH! Anyway I turned the key and she fired right up. Unfortunatley it was still sputtering a bit but coupled with the reduced sail we headed for the river inlet.

     Slack water was supposed to be at 11AM. With the engine running so slow the alternator hadn't been charging and the battery was going flat from having the AP and nav lights on at the same time. Oh baby please don't quit now. There wasn't enough electricity to restart the motor and I didn't dare run the engine faster for fear that it would stop again. But we managed to limp to the entrance just past daybreak. We puttered around the entrance waiting for the ebb to ease. We were treated to the sight of a nuke sub leaving, complete with Coast Guard escort who asked us to leave the channel during the sub's departure. By about 9 am I couldn't take it anymore and headed into the entrance. It was slow going.

     After a couple of hours we made it to a fuel dock. We tied up and had our first taste of land in ten days. The fellow at the store told us we could stay if we were going to eat at one of the adjacent restaurants. Great said we, both longing for good meal and a cold drink. Garrard's appitite had returned with a vengence. In the early part of the trip it had taken him a while to get his sea legs, especially with the wild ride of Wednesday and Thursday. I was so wound up on fatigue and adrenaline that I could only eat a small amount of the excellent lasagna offered at the all you can eat, $5.95, lunch buffet.

     As it turned out my print out for the tides at the river seemed to be somewhat out of sync. The 1 & 1/2 hour stop at the fuel dock allowed us to sit out the strongest part of the ebb. When we reached that point on the river the boat was only moving at about 1/4 knot upstream. The engine was performing better however. But I let it run during lunch as I wasn't ready to test the battery's charge again just yet.

   After starting out again Garrard headed below for a well earned nap. He had allowed me to sleep for 5 hours after the fuel filter ordeal of the preceeding night. The remainder of the run upriver went very smoothly. The engine ran without skipping a beat at 1500 RPM and buy the time we reached the slip the battery was well charged again. I had called ahead to the marina and the owner and a group of other workers were there to lend us a hand getting tied up.

     The marina's owner very graciously gave us a ride to the long term parking lot where I retrieved my truck. Garrard and I went to a Denny's to have a treat while we waited for his departure time. He had TWO chocolate milkshakes ;), while I had a good full meal that my now settled body was craving.

     One big thing for me about this trip was the opportunity to rediscover my love of the open ocean and being there. Even during the trevails of the gale I was once more entranced by the beauty and the power.