Simple Interest First Trip of 2023

[Be Free]

After a false start yesterday I finally got out on the water for my first trip of 2023. The plan is to test out some of the electrical changes I made last year and to see if my current house batteries will need to be replaced before the Anclote Key trip in the spring.

If the wind cooperates I'm also going to field test some self steering ideas.

I would really like to install an auto pilot but I don't have the electrical budget to feed one yet. I don't see any way other than solar to make it work and I have a few more projects in front of that one.

So far I've determined that I need to work on my anchor light (good thing I have a backup) and the left front brake on my trailer locked up when I was pulling the trailer up the ramp just after launching.

The forecast is for 39 degrees just after sun up. It's not the coldest night I've spent on this boat but it's probably in the top three. Odd thing though. My wife is from Nebraska and I'm from Miami. She's at home with central heat and I'm layered up and already in my sleeping bag. I think there's something wrong with this picture .

Speaking of pictures, here's a couple from today.



This is looking east from where I'm anchored. That's about as fancy as Steinhatchee gets. The moon looked a lot better in person.



This is what the other side looked like.

[Jimmyt]

Beautiful pics! Sounds like a fun outing!

[Be Free]

I'm hoping for fun. I'm sure it will be cold!

By the way, I'm in the v-berth and the moon is high enough to shine through the front windows. A picture would not do it justice, but it is beautiful.

[Russ]

My boat has a foot of snow on top. So envious.

Beautiful pictures.

Living vicariously through your post.

[NiceAft]

Be Free said:

I'm hoping for fun. I'm sure it will be cold!

Someone up north would like to know your definition of "cold!"

[Be Free]

It was definitely chilly last night. I know upper 30s doesn't sound so cold to a lot of you but to this Florida native it's pretty cold. Layers are for cakes, not clothing.

I tried but couldn't come up with anything that would hold a course to the wind. I wanted something I could attach to the wheel but nothing I tried could overcome the friction in the steering. Even with the engine disconnected it was too stiff. Back to the drawing board.

On the plus side the heavy steering held course by itself as long as the wind was relatively steady. It worked better upwind than downwind. Speed was a lot better downwind though.

I covered about 20 miles today but I'm anchored back in the same spot. There is a big cat from Montreal that came in off the gulf right behind me. He's anchored about 30 yards up river.

I got in early enough to work on my anchor light. I tracked the problem to my deck connector. I was able to wire around the problem with three sets of bullet connectors. I feel better having a proper light. My battery powered backup gets pretty dim by morning.

Speaking of batteries, the house bank appears to be up for the job. So far everything is making it through the night with no problems. I'm not pushing them too hard because I have to charge from the engine or generator and I don't like to listen to either.

There was not much that was picture worthy today. I hoped to to find a pod of dolphins or maybe a sea turtle. No luck. Here's an osprey eating breakfast.

[OverEasy]

Hi BeFree!

Sounds and looks absolutely gorgeous and beautiful!
Glad your having a good time out and about on the ‘warm’ waters of Florida!
I’m envious.
It’s snow outside and in the 20s…….

Best Regards
Over Easy

[NiceAft]

Be Free said:

I know upper 30s doesn't sound so cold to a lot of you but

Yep, sleeping in your Mac, upper 30’s is at the very least a two dog night.

[Be Free]

Be Free said:

I know upper 30s doesn't sound so cold to a lot of you but

Yep, sleeping in your Mac, upper 30’s is at the very least a two dog night.

The dogs were smart. They stayed home with my wife.

[OverEasy]

Hi All!

When we spent the Fall of 2021 (70 Nights) and Fall of 2022 (14 nights) on Lake Champlain VT we used a marina slip with shore power to run a little heater at 350 Watts for the most part and as the weather stated to consistently drop into the 20s in October and November we used slightly more powerful heater we limited to no more than 900 Watts. Both made a world of difference in comfort...the 900 Watt heater was almost too much!

As a back stop I packed several of the large ThermaCare Back Heat Pads as a just in case.
We've used them in the past and they work great! Both in the sleeping bag and under clothing!
We keep several in our winter travel kit (which includes a large sleeping bag, a couple energy bars, a LED flashlight and a couple bottles of water) which we duplicated for Over Easy as part of our standard set of equipment kit.

These ThermaCare things last about 8 or more hours once opened and you can reseal them in a ZipLock bag once you exclude the air.
These use an air oxidation process, produce no fumes, are light weight and use no fuel or flame and are very comfortable and convenient to use.
A box of 10 currently goes for about $30 or $3 a night and can provide about 10 nights of comfortable sleep in a good moderate sleeping bag.



Just something to consider adding to your cold weather boating, camping or winter travel kit.
hopefully this might be useful to those of us that boat and contend with cold weather boating and travel (deliberately or inadvertently ).

Best Regards
Over Easy

[Be Free]

I'm back in almost the same spot as last night. A trawler from Atlanta was in my usually spot when I came back in tonight so I'm sitting about where the Canadian catamaran was last night.

The plan was to sail down to the Suwannee River and spend the night there. The wind cooperated for about the first third of the trip and then swung around to dead on my nose! I put up with it for an hour or so but finally decided that there was no way to get there before dark without motoring the last 20 miles. You don't want to try to run any of the channels into the mouth of the Suwannee in the dark unless you have someone on the bow with a good light. I have the light but no one to shine it so I turned around and ran downwind all the way back home.

The trip south was enjoyable. Apparently at least a couple of pods of dolphins read this forum and knew I was looking for them. Two different pods swam with me over a three hour period. The first group was very interested in me and stayed for about 90 minutes. I had seen them feeding about a half-mile west of me and thought that was all I was going to get. Just after I passed by the whole pod moved over and began swimming around, under, and in front of the boat. I think there were 8 to 10 individuals but it's hard to be sure since they were never all above water at the same time. There was never more than a minute or so without at least one and usually more surfacing nearby. The ages and sizes varied. Four appeared to be full grown adults and the rest looked smaller and presumably younger. Two of them were very interested in me. They would come up behind the boat on the port side and swim alongside even with the cockpit. Once they matched my speed they would roll to their left and watch me with their right eye for 30 seconds or so and then speed up and cross my bow. As soon as the first one left the second would move up and do the same thing. They kept up their people watching for about 15 minutes and then went off to do whatever dolphins do when they are not watching people.



The second pod showed up about 30 minutes after the first. There were probably 6 dolphins in this group. They all appeared to be full grown adults. They swam beside, under, and in front of the boat crisscrossing and racing around.

The only other wildlife I was was a very large flock of mallards. I saw them flying out to sea when I was going south. When I was coming back I found them all sitting almost on top of the 3-mile line. I don't know what was out there that interested them but there had to be close to 1000 of them.

[dlandersson]

Dolphin equivalent in Lake Michigan in Jan.

Apparently at least a couple of pods of dolphins read this forum and knew I was looking for them. Two different pods swam with me over a three hour period. The first group was very interested in me and stayed for about 90 minutes. I had seen them feeding about a half-mile west of me and thought that was all I was going to get. Just after I passed by the whole pod moved over and began swimming around, under, and in front of the boat. I think there were 8 to 10 individuals but it's hard to be sure since they were never all above water at the same time. There was never more than a minute or so without at least one and usually more surfacing nearby. The ages and sizes varied. Four appeared to be full grown adults and the rest looked smaller and presumably younger. Two of them were very interested in me. They would come up behind the boat on the port side and swim alongside even with the cockpit. Once they matched my speed they would roll to their left and watch me with their right eye for 30 seconds or so and then speed up and cross my bow. As soon as the first one left the second would move up and do the same thing. They kept up their people watching for about 15 minutes and then went off to do whatever dolphins do when they are not watching people.

[Russ]

Dolphine equivalent in Lake Michigan in Jan.

No Joke

Our dolphins

[OverEasy]

New England version of open water…

[Be Free]

Not a great day for sailing but I still had a good time.

The wind was perfect, 10 to 15 knots out of the west. Right in the sweet spot before the first reef. The problem was the waves. The waves were mostly 2 feet with a two second period. I'd call it a washing machine but they were all rolling in from the Gulf.

I'd planned to run a half day either north or south and then turn around. That put those waves directly in my beam both ways. I tried it but the troughs were exactly the width of the boat so I was constantly rolling one way, then the other. I did not think to look at the "fun gauge" but I'd estimate 15 degrees or so back and forth every couple of seconds. Not fun and rough on everything.

I went out past the three mile line where the water was a little deeper. That helped some. I eventually decided to run just enough west of south to smooth my way through the waves. It did not take me anywhere interesting but it was fun.

I had all of Deadman Bay to myself. It was too choppy for the fishermen to catch anything. There was one lone crab boat later in the day.

Being so choppy it was hard to spot dolphins but I did see three pairs by the end of the day. They did the usual game of "play in the bow wave". Instead if watching from underwater though they would jump from wave to wave while looking at me. Not big jumps, just enough to stay out of the water briefly.

I tried to get pictures but without being able to see them underwater I couldn't predict when or where they would surface. Sorry.

How about a nice sunset instead?