2008 Cruising
12/1 to 12/15/2008
This is our log for 2008; our other voyages are now in Prior Voyages.
We plan to post and update at least weekly. We move the older portions of the log to secondary pages accessible at the bottom of the page. Join our voyage!
Updated on 12/15/2008
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12/1/08 - December, wow, the year has wound down fast. Today's weather is cloudy with light rain. I guess we were due for one of those - at least it's in the 70's. Ruth has tickets for almost a month in WI over the holidays. She got me a round trip for a week, I'm so happy! Ruth wanted to do today's log, here goes: We think we have a bird sitter for Buddy - John & Nell's son-in-law Rick, a bird specialist from Boca Raton where we will be staying while Barry does some major projects for John and Nell. Oh, we have an Enterprise car for the whole time Ruth is home. With our "Great Loop" partnership, the cost is $500 instead of $1000!!! No complaining there. Today we ran (sailed) outside on the Atlantic while Ruthie fished and washed down the cockpit and Barry continued to sew the dinghy chaps for Ariel. They really needed the chaps because they have 2 holes almost worn through on their floats. Ruthie caught 2 tunas that were only about 10" and not enough meat - but she sure had fun bringing them in and releasing them. Ariel screamed ahead of us as she is an Es-car-go much more than Sampatecho or Another Adventure and found that the inlet we were going into was WAY too shallow. Okay, no problem, we just go to the next inlet and go back north to Lake Boca. Funnier than heck, one of the bridges had about 10 huge iguanas sunning on the cement flats next to where our boat went through. Wow, all different colors from green to orange. Barry told the bridge-tender it's good to be back in "Iguanaville". She laughed. BTW, about half of the bridge-tenders are female. 12/2/08 - Dawn crept out of the east seeming to struggle out of a dark cloud blanket as the sun rose. By 7:30 Miles was raising anchor to head to Miami. We intended to make the offshore run with them to finish fitting the dinghy chaps. As I looked over Ariel I saw what looked like a nasty squall approaching and advised Miles I was going to wait it out. Miles replied he had his anchor up and didn't really trust the holding in Lake Boca so was leaving as planned. I suspect that the fact they were paying for a vacant slip in South Beach motivated him to use the weather window he had. The squall wasn't as bad as it looked, but the temperature dropped 10-15 degrees and the wind was gusting into the high teens. Ruth didn't want to run in the rain to Miami. I concurred, especially after going on line and realizing there was not a good weather window for returning to Boca this week. We are here early and will likely have to move around to avoid harassment for anchoring too long in one spot. I worked on Ariel's chaps, getting them as complete as I could without another fitting. Basically they are 90% done, 4-6 hours will finish them. With the dinghy they'd have been done today but Mile's would have lost his weather. The rain cleared by 10:30am but stayed windy and cool. Miles called mid-afternoon to report they were in their slip in South Beach, safe and snug. They had a fast ride, often topping 10 knots. Bradd called and set up a meeting at a nearby park for us to pick up some of the items we had shipped to John and Nell's... a computer, scanner, mattress topper, some gifts and the new wire for the wind instrument. We put the mattress topper on our berth first thing! The other items will take days to get set up. The computer software is at Amy's. 12/3/08 - Quiet day today. Sunny with some broken clouds, light winds, probably in the 70's after a high 40' night. The mattress topper proved to be a great buy on Ruth's part... what a great night's sleep! Should have done that years ago. We moved North, yup, North to Marina Del Sol, John & Nell's home where we joined Sampatecho at their dock. It was good to be back visiting John & Nell and introducing Buddy to their twin grandchildren. Neat reactions to a bird that talks. Ruth got the boat cleaned and decorated for Christmas, penguins, snow flakes, and a very small tree. I did little tasks like checking that the new computer ran okay and reading. Should be busier tomorrow as Sampatecho needs some sewing in preparation for showing to a prospective buyer next Wednesday. We had dinner on Sampatecho with wonderful food, good red wine and great company. We'll miss them when they leave 2morrow to do the "Seven Seas Cruising Association" get-together (GAM) in Melbourne FL. We didn't need to help this time as the crowd will probably be 2-400 instead of 2-4000. But we'll miss helping them sell the excellent product line they have developed. 12/4/08 - Broken clouds this morning, warmer than yesterday - forecast says a high of 76. Worked on Sampatecho's main sail cover as the webbing was totally compromised by mother nature. I worked ripping out the old and bringing in the new and adding wear patches to bring the whole cover up to A-1 shape again. Wow, it took all day as the old webbing fell apart so I had to deal with my really good threads still hanging in there. Ruth left mid-afternoon with Nell to go shopping for groceries and some decorating items for Nell's tapestries and curtains. They look really awesome. 12/5/08 - Beautiful day, actually too hot with the sun and little breeze. Ruth and I spent the day stripping threads out of the leach cord and sun screen on the headsail. I figured it would be a two day job for the two of us. We finished it in a day... nice. The sail is now ready to be delivered to Mac Sails for a new sun cover, foot and leach tapes. Hopefully the sail will then be ready for another 5 years (power boaters, think of this as a valve job). 12/6/08 - I know, I know, another damn beautiful day, temps in the 70's, blue skies. I went up the mast and took down the Raymarine wind indicator and measured for pressure relieves for the anchor light and indicator wiring - trying to avoid the problem that appears to have broken wires in the original harness. I tested the indicator on deck with a new wiring harness... looks promising. Another trip to the top of the mast to remove the plate that holds the Raymarine indicator, anchor light and wind vane. It will be mucho easier to mount the new wiring and anchor light on deck. I got the rebuild about 80% done but need some hardware to finish it. Then comes the nasty task of feeding the new wiring down the mast. Ruth has been housekeeping - hauling stuff we don't use off the boat. She's also going through all our digital pictures from the last 2 years, that's a real job! Buddy's been wolf whistling at the girls across the canal... hard to believe Ruth taught the bird almost everything it knows. Hmmmm? Buddy's whistles were better received than mine would have been... voices cooed over the water, "there you are... pretty bird... thank you". Not the **@@@xxx response I usually get. John returned from the SSCA Gam noting that it was a meager show. Bradd & Maeve have another day there. 12/7/08 - Cloudy when we got up (would you believe 9:30), then it cleared to another B-D (beautiful day). Quiet day today... didn't get much done. Set up the sewing machine later in the day and fixed our laundry basket while Ruth cleaned the solar lamps along the dock and changed their batteries. When from two working to 17 working - looks nice! Bradd & Maeve returned from SSCA reporting the show was pretty meager. The St Petersburg show was the same days with venders reporting it was a bust too. Sign of the times or sign of too many regional shows? Maeve prepared their bimini top for my repairs. 12/8/08 - Windy this morning with scattered clouds... another "cold" front. The day actually turned out to be pretty nice. I finished sewing a reinforcement on Sampatecho's bimini and helped install it. Later in the day I sanded the teak in their cockpit so Bradd could re-varnish it. Looks great! They have a prospect looking at it Wednesday. I also sanded the teak on our swim platform again in preparation for trying a different system for coating it - nothing I've tried so far has lasted more that 4 months. Ruth had a good day, moving a couple of trucks of paper - way to go Ruthie! The day went fast... after sundowners on Sampatecho we had sandwiches and hit the hay. The wild and exciting life of sailors! 12/9/08, 12/10/08, 12/11/08, 12/12/08 - The week went by in a blur - Ruth working at selling paper while I worked on small boat tasks. The weather was blustery but with little rain or cold. We enjoyed the company of Bradd, Maeve and Nell (John was traveling). We used John's car for a day to run errands. Shopping in Boca almost always takes a day as things are so spread out and the stores are crowded. We found a great clinic here so this will be our medical home base. It's also a good location for finding boat stuff. We delivered the headsail to Mack Sails in Stuart for its overhaul; it will be ready after the holidays. 12/13/08 - Early morning, on the road by 4:45am headed for the Miami Airport to get Ruth on an early flight to the Fox Valley... she's heading there for the holidays. After I got back to AA the sun rose on a beautiful cool morning. Sampatecho headed for Cuba at noon today with an enroute stop in Marathon. They need to get offshore and out of the country to stay in compliance with their USA cruising permit. Its a hard job but someone has to do it and they do it very well. 12/14/08 - Heard from Ruth late last night; she'd forgotten to turn her cell phone back on after her flights. She arrived Appleton mid-afternoon, about an hour late. Flights were smooth, got her car and is with daughter Amy. Measured several projects for John in preparation for ordering materials tomorrow. Had a enjoyable dinner with John, Nell and their friend Chuck. A very interesting afternoon and evening of conversation on a wide range of topics. 12/15/08 - Sunny and warm, light breeze. The blustery winds of the past few days have abated. I worked on the mid-aft side panels for the cockpit and ordered the materials for the work on Our Way. Tried to reach Ruthie several times and couldn't... I suspect the native Americans' had sung their siren song. Early afternoon John asked me to come up and participate in a brain-storming discussion with two of his business connections. Very interesting couple of hours exploring emerging technologies and opportunities... now if I had a million bucks (not the white-tailed kind either). Back on AA I made supper for one... hardly seems worth the time though Buddy still likes to beg for her share. While Buddy apparently misses Ruth we've spent prolonged periods with just the two of us so our feathered friend seem not to be stressed. |
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Our Holiday schedules Ruth
Barry
Ruth working on our headsail
Iguana watching Ruth work
Our Charlie Brown Christmas tree
Sporting refinished teak
Sampatecho's looking good
Line-up at John & Nell's house - Sampatecho, Our Way and AA
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Visit earlier portions of our 2008 voyage...