Dauntless – Page 14 – Dauntless at Sea

An Atlantic Adventure – Three Aborts – Dauntless has fun; Richard and Julie take a Beating

Spoiler alert

We turned back; left Sebastian Inlet at 8:00 a.m. dragged ourselves back to Cape Canaveral Inlet at 17:00. And almost got run over by the one ship we saw all day.

But let’s start at the beginning.

Day 0 Fueling in Stuart

Getting fuel from the fuel truck meant I had to move the boat to a temporary slip. No problem and an hour later we were returning to our slip. As I went to back in, the current was clearly stronger than the first time I had done this the week before. Having this million dollar Krogen on one side and the fat ass catamaran on the other side, just increased the pucker factor.

On the second try, I even used my bow thruster, but to no avail, as my swim platform made a beeline for the Cat. Wondering what I could do differently to get this to work, I aborted the whole process, left the marina, turned around and docked bow in.

Even that was not so easy, as we had trouble getting the stern tied to the pilings. But an hour later, all was right with the world.

(Except in Portland, Oregon, where the know nothings are emptying a 38 million gallon reservoir because 1, yes, one, person pissed in it!)

No, I did not make that up and if I had, no one would believe such nonsense.

Day 1 Leaving Stuart

Starts like any great day, Dave the mechanic who works on my boat like it’s his, brought me three freshly baked turnovers. I promptly ate one and froze the other two.

Dave and his minion got their work done by 1 p.m., so it was time to cast off. We did so and motored up the ICW into the evening. Now, the wonders of my driving and fog lights made themselves apparent. It was so easy having the markers lit up.

We hadn’t seen another boat on the water for hours, so I had no worry about blinding anyone.

Our first attempt at the Vero Beach anchorage ended after I hit bottom twice while trying to approach it. The second time, I had to power out backwards. We aborted that plan too.

Motored on in the darkness, blissfully content with our artificial daylight. An hour later, at 21:30 we were safely anchored at Palm Cove 2. By the way, our new Delta anchor is such a joy. Thanks to Parks at Hopkins Carter in Miami for steering me to the right solution at a great price. I will use them to get all my supplies while in Europe too.

Day 2 Dawned Dark and Early

At 4 a.m. I had gotten up to look around; make sure were in the same spot, all was fine, so I crawled back into bed. Before I could go back to sleep, I remembered that I had meant to put one of yesterday’s frozen turnovers on top of the engine to defrost and warm. So, up I go again, get the turnover and put it on top of the engine, which was still warm by the way.

So at 6 a.m. up again, do my engine room checks and start the engine (I needed to warm up the turnover!)

. 15 minutes later, we were underway; I had my perfectly warmed turnover and a cup of my Korean coffee. All was perfect with the world. It wouldn’t stay that way for long.

We had anchored an hour south of Sebastian Inlet, so the plan was to head out to the Atlantic and depending upon the sea state head NNE to Beaufort, NC or, head North to Savanah. Now, even to Savanah it would be 48 hours, to Beaufort, 60 hours, but if the Atlantic cooperated, it was doable. I also knew the weather forecast was for continued easterly winds, but I was hoping that the front would push back to the west sooner than forecast, decreasing the winds and having them come out of the south. Wishful thinking.

As we left the inlet, the fishermen on the jetty looked at us like we were crazy. The waves were about 5 feet from the east north east; this meant that they were just off our beam. We had put out the paravane poles before the inlet and as we exited the inlet I thru the fish (aka birds) in the water too.

With the paravanes the roll was reduced 80%. Initially we were hardly rolling at all (plus/minus a few degrees), but as we were heading into the waves we were pitching a lot. Up and down, every 6 seconds. As the morning continued, the waves got higher and veering (moving clockwise) around to the east. Now we were getting 6 to 8 foot waves, with a few of their bigger brothers (10’) thrown in for kicks every few minutes. The waves were on our right quarter, so we still had pitching, but the paravanes were making the rolling tolerable, maybe 8 to 15° in each direction (would have been 50° without). Every once in a while the combination of pitch and roll would be such that the top of the wave would hit the beam of the boat on the pilot house, with water pouring in the gap of the pilot house door that I have been meaning to fix since I first noticed it 12 months ago!

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At this point, 5 hours into our 60 hour trip, we decided enough was enough and turned tail for Cape Canaveral to our northwest. Wind and waves were now on our rear quarter, which did speed up the boat (we had been plodding along at 5 knots), but as the winds had been increasing all day and we all know that the strongest winds are in the afternoon, everything else being equal, we were getting hit with some big waves 8 to 12 ft.

Three merciful hours later I had the Cape Canaveral Inlet in sight and lo and behold, there is this really big ship aiming for the same spot. First boat we had seen in the last 12 hours was now ready to mow us down. After watching her for a bit, they did put out a “Securite” call so they wouldn’t be liable when they ran us down. I radioed them and said I’d been watching them and would turn around to come up behind them.

All went well; it only delayed our salvation by about 15 minutes and an hour and a half later we were tied to a dock wondering what they hell were we thinking?

We had spent a miserable 8 hours on the ocean to cover a distance that we could have done at a serene pace on the ICW in 6 hours. Oh well.

Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained.

Rigs, Riggers and Fabricators

Background, How I found John the Rigger and Red the Fabricator

In December, I had come down to see my friend Paul, who lives in Coconut Grove. He introduced me to John Duffy, the Rigger.

John and I talked about what I wanted and I gave him the 120 pictures I had taken of Larry and Lena’s Krogen 42, Hobo. I also gave them the files Kadey Krogen had given me of the blueprints done long ago. A few weeks later, he called to say he had sat with Red, the fabricator, and he gave me a quote of a little less than $10k. I was ecstatic since the numbers I had been hearing for installation of paravanes (flopper stoppers) was in the high teens to mid $20s.

They did say they wanted a rig that was lighter, elegant and took advantage of the materials now available. Admittedly, this did make me a bit nervous, as I was happy to replicate Hobo’s rig.

We decided I’d come back to Miami the beginning of February to start work on this project.

Planning

By mid-February, planning was underway. John and Red had visited the boat a few times and took some preliminary measurements. In late February, they came and told me they had a design that would not utilize an “A” frame as Hobo had, but instead a number of guys and stays, the Fore guys, the “up-down” guys and the line attaching the fish (aka bird) all using 8 mm Amsteel blue. The aft guy would use 3/8” Stayset and John would add two stays to the mast, as well as a compression fitting with two large pulleys (they have another name) for the up-down lines. This would also allow the up-down line to transfer stress from one pole to the other and at the same time both the mast and pole would be under compression.

I was a bit more nervous, as it got further and further away from the design I thought needed to be done. But at this point I also felt either I trusted that John the Rigger and Red the Fabricator knew what they were doing, or I didn’t, and in either case, my course was clear.

My friend Richard was with me and he helped, in that I had someone to talk to who understood my angst, thus allowing me to talk it through. In short order, I told John, “Go for it,” and decided I was all in.

Now, it’s end of February. Having decided I was all in, I wanted to get this show on the road.

For the next three weeks, John would come by periodically, take some more measurements or install some fitting and disappear again for days. He told me Red was working on the fabrication and both Red and John promised I would be able to leave Miami by April 3^rd. (two weeks away, at this point).

Installation

It’s two weeks before my drop dead date (well, someone is going to die). So far, John has installed just two chain plates for the two mast stays. I’m nervous, very nervous.

Ten days before some more action. John assures me that Red has completed all the fabrication and now the installation is just a piece of cake. I’m crossing my fingers, but still nervous. John claws up the mast to install the compression post and pulleys. I start to see he knows what he’s doing.

My drop dead date is the following Friday, a week away. John comes out, brings a few things, and says he’ll start installation Monday.

Monday dawns sunny and bright (I’m in Miami after all). I awake eager with anticipation, like a first teenage date. John comes by, ready to install– no, he is going to meet Red at the solar panel warehouse. I ask to go along, if for no other reason than he will have to return. The warehouse is not far from the boat, and the price on solar panels is so good, I decide to buy 4. This is something I’ve been thinking about and it has never a question of doing, only when to do it. At $110 for a 110 watt mono crystalline panel (47”x26”), this is too good a price to pass up.

We get back to the boat, unload the panels and John tells me he’ll be back tomorrow. I’m past the point of worrying.

Well, just as advertised, all the installation was finished by Thursday, giving us Friday to adjust some lines. I was very pleased and upon reflection I realized that the long drawn out process really worked to my benefit, as I was able to understand and absorb what was going on piece by piece.

So something that just a month earlier I had looked at as like magic, now, I knew what every part did and how to adjust or replace as needed in the future.

The installation went so quickly because I was only 80’ from the entrance to Hopkins Carter marine Supply. http://www.hopkins-carter.com/

I literally ran in there to get stuff probably 50 times a day Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. I will write more about them, but needless to say, being there made this process so much easier.

The Stabilizer Rig

In the end, Dauntless ended up with a rig that clearly was designed by Red and John with a sail boat attitude in that pieces not only had to be strong, but also light. They made it clear they did not want to clutter the boat with heavy hardware and brought a sailor’s perspective to it. Red had also worked on real trawlers and he also clearly understood the stresses the boat is under when rolling and having to stop that roll.

Also, when I told John of my adventures, having one bird in the water, not two, he confirmed the rudder deflection (5°) confirmed the amount of stress the bird puts on the boat. He also told me that’s why he added the two additional forward stays to the mast. How he could know that I would test it asymmetrically on the second day, I can only guess.

Also, when the bird is in the water, the angle between the line the bird makes to the pole is about 45°, which means that the stressed are divided equally between the fore guy and the up-down line to the mast and the other pole through the compression post.

We decided not to put a permanent chain plate on the bow, as I wanted to be able to adjust the lines, so we used the bow and stern hawsers for the guys. I did have to readjust the port side guys by about 6 inches.

The largest waves we have seen so far were 4 feet.

Tomorrow, 16 April will be the real test

The installation of the solar panels is almost complete. The rest of the work I have had done in Stuart, the new Fridge/freezer, the almost new Splendid washer/dryer, and the Katadyn 160E water maker are all ready to go. Also, many small projects, like the wooden frame that covers the generator Racor (which had already been hit twice by the 30 lb. hatch cover). We also got permanent wiring and control for my winch and new lines for the boom pulley, as well as the wiring for the 240v to 120v transformer.

I sold the Sea King satellite system, which won’t work in Europe, and my too-large dingy, which didn’t work for me.

The cold front that is affecting the entire east coast from Nova Scotia to the Bahamas will also be affecting our planned trip tomorrow. With good weather, I had hoped to take a NE course from Stuart FL direct to Beaufort NC. That won’t happen now. Stay tuned, but it will probably be a slow crawl up the coast.

You can follow Dauntless on Marinetraffic.com and search for Dauntless mmsi # 367571090.

Rule of the Desk

Think about this picture. What is it telling you? What do you see?

Interesting questions, so why am I asking?

On Trawler Forum, http://www.trawlerforum.com/forums/recently, there was a thread asking why some boaters were so discourteous, as to cause a large wake (wave caused by a moving boat. Dauntless produces about a half foot wake (wave), most speed boats or faster boats produce wakes 2 to 5 feet in height), which can actually damage boats, property and people (if you’ve ever been in a boat that suddenly rolls 40 degrees on to it side, you know what I’m talking about). It’s not dangerous, but certainly uncomfortable.

There was also a different thread about Coast Guard stops, when they stop a boat and check for safety things, etc. These stops typically last 15 to 30 minutes, which in boater time, doesn’t not seem like a lot (we routinely wait 30 or 45 minutes for a bridge to open), but in the real world, this would certainly be viewed as intrusive. (How would you like to be stopped on the highway every few months for 15 to 30 minutes just to check your paperwork!)

So, the other day, as I was motoring at Dauntless’ normal speed of 8 mph, I noticed a smaller, newer semi-displacement trawler (American Ranger) coming up quickly to pass me on the right. No problem, as I looked out my pilot house door, I happily waved to the older couple driving the boat.
At this point he was probably going twice my speed and would be past me in mere seconds. All of a sudden, he slows his boat. Maybe because he saw me and thought, I better slow down and not wake him.

So he does, but now I had already turned my boat towards his stern, to come up right behind him. That would minimize the wake I had to deal with.
But with his abrupt slow down, everything changed. A potentially uncomfortable situation, instantly became a dangerous one. I had to cut power and make sure I didn’t hit him. But with me trying to stop suddenly, it unsettles the boat and I rolled back and forth, much more than I would have had I been able to continue at my normal speed. At this point, he sees what happened and pours on the power again. Within moments, he was well ahead of me, moving more than 20 mph.

As I reflected on what happened, I thought about the above TF threads and peoples posts.

I thought about what was this boater thinking? I realized that he was oblivious, but my wave sort of woke him, so he decided to “be nice” by slowing, but not really understanding the dynamics of the situation. He didn’t think about the fact that with his semi-planing boat (which means that when he is going fast, his boat’s power actually pushes part of his boat out of the water. Dauntless is full displacement, which means that the amount of water the boat displaces is always the same, no matter my speed or power. If I had a thousand horsepower engine, I could still only go 9 mph!). So when stops or slows abruptly, his boat must settle back into the water, increasing the wake he was already producing. Think of slapping your hand on top of a pan of water.

And he is typical of the thousands of boaters I have seen in Florida these last months. Most of the time, they don’t do stupid stuff on purpose, they do stupid stuff because they are stupid.

They may have made their fortune being the smartest wizard of wall street, but when it comes to boating, what they had was the million dollars it takes to buy one of those 40 foot sport fishers.

No license, no training, no nothing. This is America after all.
Simply put, they boat the way they drive.

Connecting the dots yet?

Flash back. 30 years ago, I am in Germany, in the passenger seat of my friend Siggi’s 20 year old daughter, Suzanne. She just got her license, so I’m expecting the worst of a typical new driver.

Instead, she drives well, competently. In her car, I am witness to the results of a comprehensive driving training program that not only costs months’ of salary, but takes a minimum of a year, and many times two years, to complete. But when complete, the new driver can drive. Not too fast, not too slow, certainly not over- cautiously, but they drive very well.

Drivers trained in Germany understand the physics of the situation: how a car slows in cornering, and how to compensate. How to brake gently and at the right rate. I see the time and effort of the training in the results of their driving. I’m impressed with a program that I was initially disdainful of as both a waste of time and money for all concerned.

I also understood that she could drive so well because she had good teaching and because she had the opportunity to practice a multitude of times over a year; she was able to learn what she needed to learn.

My 10 years in Europe were a driver’s delight. Speed enforcement was limited to the city limits and your your speed down the miles of twisty roads was limited only by your skill. But that was a real limit; virtually every road was bordered by a drainage ditch. Going off the road at any speed at best meant a totaled car, at worst, you needed better driving lessons in your next life.

So I saw an infrastructure that was about training first and enforcement second.

See any dots yet?

In the meantime, what have we done in this country, the Desks keep on creating rules and structures to enforce those rules.

If the US Coast Guard did not stop boats, how would they justify the infrastructure they have? Do we need better training and licensing for those driving million dollar boats with 10 times the horsepower of the average street car? Let’s ask the Desk.

So Desk, shall we increase the training and license requirements for boaters? Desk thinks:, sure, but then how do I justify the 10 desks working for me and the 100 working for them and the 1000 desks working in my organization? No one gets promoted for managing smaller number of desks, we get promoted for managing more desks. So Desk responds, Sure, but if we do that, the results will not be apparent for years, yet the carnage will continue, so why don’t we increase our enforcement efforts, make more signs, even add some nifty lights, powered by those solar panels and just go after the people who are causing the problems. I’ll only need another 10 desks.

Now, Politician thinks, if he needs 10 more desks, he’ll need equipment for those desks, and I have a company in my district that makes that kind of equipment, plus all that new signage, lights, everyone will get a bigger rice bowl.

Now think of law enforcement in this country, they have millions of desks and they never get smaller.

So back to the top, remember that picture of the cross walk. Think of all the work, money and effort went in to just one cross walk.

Let’s look, the two vertical signs saying “stop,” we see those all over, then there is the orange sign on the pole with arrow pointing out the crosswalk, then there is the large yellow sign with person walking, with flashing yellow light, powered by a solar panel, lastly we have the pavement, which not only gets special bricks, but is also painted outline.

Wow, that’s one crosswalk, I wonder how many desks were involved and how many promotions?

I wonder what the data shows as to how effective each of these features are? My guess is that we passed the point of diminishing returns a long time ago. Drivers see so many warning signs, they ignore them all.
I remember once seeing a pedestrian almost killed because a driver A saw him waiting on the curb, stopped , signed for him to cross, totally oblivious to the car in the far lane, which could see none of this, and was traveling about 25 to 30 mph. When this person appeared in front of their car, Driver B jams on the brakes, and pedestrian jumps up like his life depended upon it (it did) his butt came down near the top of the windshield and he sort of slip along as the car passed below him.

Getting up with just some scrapes, he walks away. Driver B is still palpitating, and Driver A, the “good Samaritan” is thinking about speed demons, since he is clueless that it was he who actually almost got that guy killed.

Living in Seattle, known for its draconian jay walking enforcement, I was struck, not literally mind you, by how many people were killed in crosswalks because they are trained not to look for cars, but to look for crosswalks. I bet more pedestrians are killed in Seattle than in NYC.

Oh, don’t worry about the Desk, he got a promotion and is enjoying his new boat this weekend.

Richard Bost
9 April 2014
Stuart, Florida

An Experimenter

Ever wonder why I get into so much trouble or have so many shenanigans?

By heart, I’m a scientist. At a relatively young age, I decided to be a meteorologist. Even at the University of Washington, when I had the opportunity to meet a lot of kids like me studying to be engineers of some type, I still eschewed engineering, believing meteorology was more “scientific”.

What a dope.

Only some years later, working on a forecast through the night, I realized that in practice, a synoptic meteorologist, is a weather engineer. As we take the science of the atmosphere and put it to a practical use.

Oh, for the hubris of youth. Sometimes I do miss the certainty that comes with inexperience and knowing everything. In a world for me that was once black and white, there are now only shades of gray. Even that, though a better place, and heaven knows the world could use for less absolute people, does have some drawbacks, which I may expound upon at another time.

So on this sunny Sunday morning, 6 April 2014, leaving the environs of Port Palm Beach, fate had me do an experiment, that admittedly, I had decided beforehand not to do, (much like going out on deck, at night alone. I vowed never to do that and my first night at sea, single handing, that got thrown out the window. Remember, no absolutes!)

Anyway, back to the story. As I hauled up my new Delta 55# anchor, which worked like a dream, made even better because Hopkins Carter has the most competitive prices, and even less expensive than even Jamestown, with no stink’in shipping.

I decided to deploy the poles, but leave the fish on the rail. That way, I would not have to go to the fly bridge to deploy them while underway and I needed to adjust the port side aft and fore guys, as port side pole was running about 6 inches too far aft for my liking.

That done, power on, look around to make sure nothing is in front of me and I see that one of the fish already fell into the water, but the other is obediently waiting as directed.

So the experimenter in me takes over. To retrieve the fish, I would have to go up to the fly bridge and retrieve the pole to vertical, go down and pull in the fish. Forget that. I decided to see what would happen with one fish in the water.

Power on, Dauntless, like a Top Fuel Dragster, gets to 5 knots in about 20 seconds. As I am moving north, turning towards the east to go out of the inlet (see picture), I decided to stay on the south side of the inlet, as there are bunches of sport fishers, dive boats, skiffs and all sorts of south Florida water life, including a few jet skiers, coming from Palm Beach to the north also turning into the inlet to exit into the ocean.

After carefully measuring the additional rudder, 5°, I need to keep the boat straight with only one fish in the water, I look to my left and see this multitude of boaters racing out of the inlet at Warp 10. F.. this, I throw the other fish in the water, and should a jet skier run into it and get decapitated, let heaven sort out who was right and who was wrong.

Going back to the helm, I confirm the 5° deflection is gone and I see the humongous wake rolling up on me, maybe 4 to 5 feet high. I watch in fascination as it hits the port side of Dauntless and just like that disappears, just like that, they were gone, like Keyser Soze.

We rolled a few degrees. unlike yesterday, before I deployed them a wake rolled me 25 degrees, to each side, that’s 50°

My side decks are dry while underway. Another first.

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Even with that wake, it took just a cup full of water thru the port scupper. Normally my side decks, well not mine, Dauntless’are continually bathed in sea water.

Paravane Stabilizers aka Flopper Stoppers

Robert Beebe’s book, Passagemaking Under Power,http://www.amazon.com/Voyaging-Under-Power-Robert-Beebe-ebook/dp/B001NABXPW/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1396820429&sr=8-3&keywords=robert+beebe convinced me from the beginning that we needed a stabilized boat. And even though the edition I read was co-authored, updated by Jim Leishman, a Nordhavn disciple, Passagemaking Under Power makes clear that passive stabilization, flopper stoppers (FS) or paravanes, as some call them, are superior to active hydraulic stabilizers mainly for three reasons:

Dependability,
No drag when not needed
They also work while anchored or not moving

So I knew we needed them. In searching for a boat, when we came back to the Krogen 42 idea, I realized that while we needed FS, they could be added after and that the boat layout (two heads) was more critical, as well as the overall condition (I knew I could not deal with a project boat, one that always needs something fixed or replaced).

Julie and I loved Pay to Play, when we first saw her and we ended up buying her a year and a half later.

So up and down the coast we came and went, I’d ask people, but most only were familiar with active stabilizers that while easy to use, push a button, would cost above $40k.:eek:

Having run aground three times in the first month, while I did expect that frequency to decrease, I knew it wasn’t going to zero in this lifetime. So, it just also confirmed that I needed paravanes.

The Numbers

Here are the numbers so far and as I compile more data, my experience has been that these numbers after only two days will always be in the ball park and pretty representative. If not, I’ll let you know.;)

A small (2 foot) beam sea produces an average roll of 10 to 15 degrees in each direction, with some rolls 15 to 20° (40° total) and 1/8 of the rolls greater than 40°.:eek:

Fish (aka paravanes) in the water, this gets reduced to a few degrees each direction, with the bad ones to about 10° !

Overall roll is reduced by at least 75%.

The fact that I was hit with a 4 to 5 ft. wake this morning, and we didn’t roll at all, says it all.

My life is transformed.

Pictures are at http://dauntless.smugmug.com/

I’ll write about The Rig and Rigger next

The Plan is Coming Together

Yesterday, I purchased four 110 watt solar panels. This debate on been going on in my mind for weeks, as I had watched the price of solar panels get lower and lower on Amazon.com.

Yesterday, John the Rigger had come by, had worked about an hour, when he announced he had to meet Red at the Chinese warehouse, where they were contemplating buying solar panels.

I figured I better go along, if for no other reason than John will have to return.

At $110 each, the solar panels were impossible to pass up. They also solved my logistical problem of being able to get them in time for Dave to install then next week in Stuart or Ft. pierce.

The decision was made even easier my Lee Xu’s accommodating me in that I had brought no wallet, credit card or anything. A 3% surcharge for using AmEx, but no sales tax, made this a no brainer.

And when I got back to the boat, lo and behold, my Katadyn water maker had also arrived.

So, with the Katadyn and solar panels in the pilot house and John actually installing the paravanes poles, We’re making progress.

In two months, I’ll deal with the next and last phase before Europe, the new charting software and computer.

In the meantime, as I wait for the crew to start, I’m sitting here, reading Science News, and learning that it’s been confirmed that all native Americans are descended from a mix of Siberian and East Asians people and that dogs have a portion of their brains dedicated to deciphering human emotions (the key here was to train the dogs to lie perfectly still for six minutes in the MRI machine).

At this time, they have no plans to try this with cats.

Rantings and Ravings

Another Sunrise on the Miami River April 1, 2014

Yes, I am sitting here, still, on the Miami River, watching the sun rise and feeling miserable. Why? You ask yourself, he is in this almost idyllic setting, yet feels miserable? Because he tells you, he is an impatient, spoiled American, whose patience was never very much in the first place. And he adds, there is one of those noisy birds, I think of the magpie family, who sounds like a whole flock, but is just one plain noisy, and probably horny, bird. Every few minutes, my idyllic setting and even noisy bird, is interrupted as a plane takes off from Miami International Airport. Not good noise. Unpurposeful.

I used to have a T-shirt which proclaimed, Jet Noise, the Sound of Freedom. It was, but we were referring to a pair of F-4’s flying over your head at 300 feet. In the 80’s in Europe, it was, and the little left wing meteorologist that arrived in Italy in 1976 and had just voted for Jimmy Carter, saw that world as it really was, and it was not as depicted in the American press. Europeans liked, loved the sound of freedom. I learned to appreciate the goodness of the US, (though still annoyed at our bumbling sometimes) and have not voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since!

By the way, those too young to know or too old that you already forgot, should read Robert Gate’s book, From the Shadows, a fascinating account of the White House politics and the world from the Nixon years thru George Bush one. And surprise, surprise (actually I was) that the Russians, yes, the same peace loving, respectful people they are today, actually did promote and fund all of the anti-American protests of the 70’s and 80’s in Europe. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006L9B616/ref=kinw_myk_ro_title

OK, I’m really not miserable, slight (gross) exaggeration. Just a bit bored and impatient, as the paravanes stabilizer project proceeds at a glacial pace. I’ve actually been assured it will be finished in three days, but Felix, the guy I’m renting the dock from, thinks three weeks is more like it. Also my back hurts, since the painting project almost three weeks ago and it’s hard to think of witty things to write when in pain.

Then, eerily, for just a few seconds, I hear one of those birds that is on the soundtrack of every Hollywood movie scene in a jungle. Distinctive, loud, but quite short.

Did I mention the dolphins? Yes, dolphins swim by. Julie and I went kayaking Saturday morning and they swam right next to us. Same one, (Who knows?) came by this morning. I threw him a piece of salmon from my breakfast, but I don’t think they like it cooked (smoked, processed whatever). A less picky sea gull soon took care of that piece of offal.

What you think, kayaks? Yes, as we wanted a way to get to shore, without having to use the humongous dingy (I’m also dealing with that issue).

Lastly, yesterday evening, I rode by bike to the cutest Dairy Queen, I’ve seen in a long time. Old time, with only ice cream. Getting into a conversation with another patron, he told me he was coming here to this same DQ 50 years ago.

Dairy Queen - a Glimpse of the Past — Dairy Queen – a Glimpse of the Past

OK. John, the Rigger and Red, the Fabricator, should be by any day now, so I better get dressed.

wpid-storageextSdCardDCIMCamera20140329_090536_NW-20th-St.jpg.jpg — Dauntless Awaits

wpid-storageextSdCardDCIMCamera20140401_071413_NW-20th-St.jpg.jpg — New Deck Lights

A Day in the Life of Dauntless

A Typical Day on Dauntless

It’s 7:00 p.m. and I am geduscht, as my German friend Siggi would say.

When I started the light project this morning, I thought I’d be done with some luck by 10 a.m., but would have bet the baby that I would be done by noon.

9 hours later, I’m done. Everything seems to take 4x longer.

So, I thought this would be a good opportunity to quote one of the sages of Trawler Forum, Phil Fill (I am not making fun of his name nor making it up). As Phil Fill wrote recently about boat ownership:

When my wife bought the Eagle we were newbie’s wanna bees and we had a ton of questions. I was not a very happy camper at the time! The things we wish we know before buying and becoming a live aboard was:

What to do with our worldly junk/stuff, especially the sentimental and remembrances? We gave what we could to family friends and charity, there was still at last two dozen trips to the dump. It’s amazing what we collect over time. Do I really need 3 of these?

How little 30 amps at 120 volts AC is. We had to reset the breaker dozens of times each day. When we lived in the house we never threw a breaker? What’s 30 amps and where can I buy more amps?

How little two hundred gallons of water is and 12 gallons a hot water. I just fill the tank yesterday? It seems the water and/or the hot water usually ran out in the middle of a shower. Ahhhh!

How little room there was for shoes, cloths, shoes, person items and did I mention shoes? Had to pare down to two small closets. We were forced to wear the same thing more than once. How embarrassing! We have to buy another boat just for our stuff!

What you cannot put down a marine toilet? How come the toilet is plugged again. I only used two hand full of Charmin toilet paper? We are limited to only things that have been eaten, so the toilet can not be used as a garbage disposal?

How small the holding tank is. What is the smell and brown stuff running down the hull? What do you mean the holding tank has to be pumped out? So who does that? We do? You must be joking?

The refrigerator is too small as there is no room for our drinks, and NO ice? Ok so we don’t have to eat! Remember, in college we lived on beer, pop corn and chips, We can do that again!

I don’t feel so well! How can both of us catch the flu at the same time, and how do we make the bloody boat stop rocking/moving. Gawds, I hope the toilet is not plugged again!

The boat makes these weird sounds. The toilet sounds like a garbage disposal, motors come on/off, we can hear water, the fenders and lines make creaky sounds. How does a person sleep with all this noise? What do you mean it’s relaxing?

So where did everybody go, its only 6 o clock. What do you mean there are only two of us living in the marina and it’s an older couple three docks down. Well who are we going to party with?

Our address is West Marina, Dock 2, slip 3, Fairview. Seattle WA. What do you mean that is not a good address and our driver’s license can not be renewed or have food delivered. Will you accept our GPS locations?

Thanks for those words Phil. He is generous with his posts in that he always tries to answer the question posed in as objective way as possible. But Trawler Forum can be a tough crowd at times.

The sun is setting, so you know what that means? Almost bedtime. I live this life that is closer to nature than ever before. I get up once or twice (6 months ago, it was 6 times) a night to check out those strange, creaking noises. Even, as I lay in bed, telling myself I know what that sound is, but then, I’ll hear a variation, so covers off, up we go, walk around, look at the sky and stars. Feel the wind, the rocking of the boat and the whirring of the refrigerator compressor as I fall back asleep.

I’m currently tied up at a dock. At anchor, there is a whole other list of motions and sounds to worry about. I now set two anchor alarms, but it’s always a bit disconcerting when I forget the next day to turn them off and they finally go off after we are underway and have moved almost a mile! Just makes for a busy night. I’m learning to sleep like a cat. Which brings up another point, have a cat would be nice. I already have a name for the future cat, Intrepido.

A Few Thoughts & Comments

In the next weeks, I want to finish the Canadian Adventure, The Jewell Island Fiasco was just the beginning. Suffice it to say, just when you think it can’t get any worse, it does. Details to follow, but I assure you there will be midnight dives, midnight docking, 12 knot currents, flying trawlers, flying people, swinging booms, crushing dinghies, crashing seas, the bureaucracies of the world at their best, BoatUS on the edge, Canadian customs, the ever vigilant USCG, pilot ships, thunderstorms, rain, ships passing in the night, lobster pots, lobsters, big tides and of course fog, fog and more fog.

Before all the gory details, I have another issue. I really try to write to my audience, those of you taking the time out of your busy day to read my writings. I try not to just have a travelogue, as the trawler magazines, have that boring niche.

But I do like being responsive to my readers, therefore, please leave comments (if I don’t like them, I can always delete them!) or send me an email if you just want to keep your thoughts, ideas, private between us.

Hopefully, this will be my last week to ten days on the Miami River. I will certainly miss the planes flying overhead as I am just east of Miami International Airport. Reminds me of watching the Mets at Shea Stadium. The planes were nosier back then,

I’ve finished the cap rail project. It was just painting the cap rail and the hand rails. I’ll post some pictures when were all cleaned up and the paravanes are done also.

John and Red have promised me a very nifty, elegant solution for the paravanes and although I had some initial trepidation, I am really looking forward to what they have come up with.

So stay tuned. The bike with the freshly painted orange fenders is my new bike. First new bike since Alaska.

Why orange fenders? I am going to be in Holland next year after all.

Sunrise on the Miami River

A fascinating place, the Miami River, full of real working boats and interesting people.

I promise to write about it more later, but have little time this morning, as this is the big day.

Richard and I have finished out painting project. The cap rail, and forward hand rails have been painted! We have also replaced 95 teak bungs and screws in our teak deck.

Next up, Dauntless is being fitted for her stabilizer paravanes (aka flopper stoppers) today. Long planned and anticipated. One way or another, I will write of the process and outcome (hopefully great).

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See more photos at

http://dauntless.smugmug.com/

Surviving Boca Chita – It’s Harder than You Think

We had been anchored at Marine Stadium, just east of downtown Miami. A gorgeous site, with a clay bottom, so very good holding for the anchor. We had been here two days, so I was getting hot to trot.

Cumulus Mammatus Not the last time I'd see them this weekend either — Cumulus Mammatus
Not the last time I’d see them this weekend either

The National Weather Service had been forecasting a frontal passage for that day, Thursday, so I decided it was better to be underway during a storm, then anchored. With land and other boats so close by, being blown about by changing winds is far more stressful for me, then to be buttoned up in the pilot house, with wind and rain lashing the windows.

We stopped at Crandon Park Marina to fill up one of two water tanks. A nice place, with reasonable priced fuel (for southern Florida) and a really helpful, friendly staff. I could see the storm clouds building to our west as we started on the three hour, 15 nm trip south to Boca Chita.

And then it got strange.

My autopilot (ComNav) compass, a fluxgate compass (for those who care), is usually 10 degrees off of magnetic, but at least it is consistent. Consistent that is until you flush a toilet. It took me 6 months to figure out why when on autopilot the boat would make a sudden turn, as the compass heading jumped 30°. Turns out the fluxgate is located within 6 feet of the Lectsan Sanitation Processing unit, so the current thru the processing unit, is producing a magnetic field. Umm, maybe with the new generation of marine mechanics, their video games expertise has superseded the need for electro-magnetic theory. Maxwell’s & Ampere’s Laws? We don’t need no stinkin laws.

Yes, I’m looking forward to the next 30 years with unanticipated glee. Please Mister Old Person, show me how to get my thing (any electro-mechanical

device) working again. Sure, sonny, just grab this and yank here.

Sorry, I digress.

Back to the Present

But, now with the storm bearing down on us, my autopilot compass was 90 to 180 degrees off and not steady wither. Totally worthless, and then the strangeness happened. My Raymarine GPS compass was also off by at least 40 to 80 degrees. Now that never happened before.

My Polar Navy gps was working fine, as was the Raymarine course over ground (cog), but to steer a heading, I, or actually, my crewmate for this leg of the adventure, Richard, no not me, another Richard, was steering, using the good old magnetic compass to steer by.

First, I decided to try to recalibrate the Raymarine compass, as it has always been good till now. It consists of making a number of circles. While we were circling, I figured I may as well recalibrate the ComNav also, as it also needed to do circles. After about 10 minutes and five circles, they each said they were calibrated. We continued south, into strong winds, but only 2 foot waves.

Within, a minute or two, the ComNav settled to it normal state of being, about 10° off magnetic, but it was consistent. In the meantime, the Raymarine went all wacky again. So, it’s Tango Uniform.

I was a bit disappointed to get to Boca Chita before the storm. I actually like storms at sea. There is nothing to bang into and nobody to bang into you. It’s freedom.

In this case, the winds had built to ferocious westerlies, 25 knots gusting to the low 40s. Boca Chita is a small harbor, in the shape of an square with rounded corners, about 300 feet on a side. The narrow entrance faces west, so as I entered, the wind was right behind me and I made a wide circle to the right, intending to anchor in the southwest corner. As I straightened up the boat, near the south wall, the winds were up to 45 knots (50 mph, 80 kph).

The plan was to tie a midships port line and use that as a spring, to bring the boat to a halt as it pivots against the wall as I give it full right rudder.

A great plan; the problem was the “helpers” on the dock. They are incapable of having the slightest clue about boat handling, vectors or anything remotely associated with physics (the whole universe. Now, you can mitigate this incompetence, if you are lucky enough to get someone, who will at least follow directions.

We weren’t.

We got the braniac, who decided he could halt the 40,000 lb. boat by holding the line, pulling and putting his whole 150 lbs into the effort. As the boat pulled him down the dock, he almost trips over the first cleat and is almost running as he passes the second cleat, while Dauntless is closing to within 10 feet of the corner wall, I yelled for the second time, this time even more forcibly and maybe even some expletive language, “put the fucking line on a cleat.” Somehow it sinks in, he does, and as I crank over the wheel we come to prefect stop.

Later, I see the helper and thank him. He does not invite me for a drink.

We would spend the next three days amazed that the number one maneuver to tie up was to come straight in, hit the dock with your bow with varying degrees of force, throw someone on shore a line and then have them pull the boat to the dock. If I saw it once or twice, I wouldn’t have believed it. But we saw it almost hourly.

I got to put my electric fuel pump to use one again. This time, while running the generator I was also polishing my fuel and transferring it to one tank to get an accurate measurement of quantity. All off a sudden, I hear the generator lowering rpms, as its output voltage drops from 120 to about 60. I quickly, take it off line and jump into the engine room. I realize almost immediately the problem is that it is sucking air from the empty tank. I close that tank’s feed and reach for the little wireless relay remote that runs the electric fuel pump I installed with Richard’s help in Providence, RI. I switch it on, but no change on the gen, but then recognize that I must close the gravity feed, otherwise the fuel pump just pumps the fuel back to the tank, since that is easier than thru the fuel filters. As soon as I close that valve and open the valves putting the fuel pump in line, the generator goes back to its normal song. I run the electric pump for another 30 seconds, then turn it off, it’s duty well done and the three days it took to find the right fitting and install, well paid back, yet again.

My aux electric fuel pump. The red handle is normal gravity feed to filters and then engine/generator — My aux electric fuel pump.
The red handle is normal gravity feed to filters and then engine/generator

My wireless relay for fuel pump. The green light below, is on, when the pump is on. (just in case a Chinese satellite activates the relay) — My wireless relay for fuel pump.
The green light below, is on, when the pump is on.
(just in case a Chinese satellite activates the relay)

Did I mention the first time I had to use it, I had just pulled away from the slip and in my pre start checklist, and I had turned off the fuel tank we were using?

Starving the main engine like that, as I ran the electric pump; I was happily bleeding air form the engine fuel filters, with a big grin on my face, as soon as the air was gone, I could switch the pump off immediately and the engine fired right up with nary a hiccup.

We are here in Boca Chita Key, part of the Biscayne National Park to get some work done on the boat on the cap and hand rails. I like the dock, it makes easy work and the scenery can’t be beat.

Monday, we will be heading to the Miami River, where with the help of Parks, of Hopkins Carter Marine, he put me in touch with someone who should have an affordable slip for me. Our paravanes are being fabricated as I write this and hopefully their installation will start Tuesday.

I’ll do a posting about the whole paravanes thing after the fact, so I do not have to eat any words.

Here are some pictures of Boca Chita, boats and the wild life. Enjoy

All the pictures (well, most of them) can be found at:

http://dauntless.smugmug.com/organize/Winter-2013-14-Florida

America’s Race – The Daytona 500 – It’s just not about $$$

As Dauntless gets prepared for her paravanes, I took the opportunity to attend the Daytona 500 with my friend Richard, from Providence, RI, who will be spending time with me on Dauntless in Florida.

Sunrise & a USAF C-5 Support Plane for the Thunderbirds

Not my first NASCAR race, as my first race I attended in person was in Riverside California in 1981. See those big, really big cars racing up thru the “S” curves was truly something you had to experience. Having been a Richard Petty fan since the early ‘60s (I still cringe when I hear the name David Pearson), he had no chance on a road course, but it was a wonderful experience.

An experience I probably took for granted. You could wander anyplace around the track. You could bring in your own food, booze and beer. In other words, it was an affordable experience, especially for families.

Now, fast forward 33 years, and I, who can be critical of many things, found this race to truly be America’s Race for these reasons:

It’s fan friendly. They actually act like they care, no love their fans. In the early morning hours, I was able to walk just outside the catch fence, all the way around the track. To watch the sun get ever higher in the sky while on top of the 33 degree bank is awesome.
It’s affordable. While the dopes in major league baseball wonder where the fans are, as they have made their venues unaffordable for families, NASCAR welcomes fans. Bring your 14”x14” cooler filled with whatever suits you. Families can picnic. You can buy affordable food, $4 hot dog, $8 steak sandwich, $6 beer 16oz too!
Virtually no areas in the grandstands are off limits. Move to a vacant seat, no problem. Just wander around, seeing where you like the view best to watch the action, no problem.
A diverse fan base. It doesn’t come across on TV, but the fan base pretty much reflects all Americans, both in age and race.
I did not even get the Fan Pass (that allows you into the infield until the race begins), but drivers are accessible to fans. It’s the opposite of Formula One, where they seem to make a real effort to highlight the difference between them and you.
They had a kid’s event with driver Jimmie Johnson. Kids less than 12. They got to build, yes, build, with hammer and nails, a wooden race car. As many girls were doing this as boys. Really inspiring to watch them hammer away, and while they were given goggles and apron, some wore it, some didn’t. Interesting concept, teach personal responsibility young.
Girls & Boys building their cars with Jimmy Johnson at Daytona

Kid’s event with Jimmy Johnson at Daytona
And that leads me to my last point, no nanny state here. Even with lightning and thunder right next to the track, the announcements were very clear; “you were responsible for your own personal safety” it was up to you to stay in the stands or leave. Even when the tornado warning was announced. I was pleased to be treated like thinking adult. All the lawyers who run this country must be up north.

All in all, one of the most enjoyable sporting experiences I have had in the last 20 years. A truly iconic race.

If you like any kind of racing, then check out a NASCAR race at a track near you. You may be surprised.

more pictures at: http://dauntless.smugmug.com/Misc-Public/i-vRr6jLd

Get the Hell out of Dodge

Get the hell out of Dodge.

We were in 5 feet of water with 150 feet of chain out and we continued to drag slowly, but surely, towards the shallows less than 100 feet away. Been there, Done that. But Not Tonight.

It’s almost 11:00 p.m. So, I get out of my nice cozy bed, put on my work clothes and proceed to make the boat ready to heavy seas. The nice following seas and waves we had getting here would now be on the bow. Steady 20 knot winds, a 45 mile fetch, had built the seas to 5 to 6 feet and with a short 6 second period, we were going to get wet. Nothing I had not encountered before, but now, I had daunting task of making Dauntless live up to her name. 45 miles to go, plus we had to tip toe back up the narrow channel.

I looked long and hard at the chart. The ocean was only ½ mile east of us. The chart showed an unmarked channel that should have just enough water for us to get through. It would save us one hour of the narrow channel.

But with strong winds opposing us, the seas would be breaking at the mouth of the inlet. I thought of Barnegat Bay and the channel that almost ended our dream before it even began. I had learned a lesson, 6 to 8 foot waves are uncomfortable, but only become boat threatening in shallow water. I would not tempt Fate again.

After making sure all the furniture was secured and everything put away, 45 minutes later, I was ready. Everyone else was still in bed; I start the engine and hauled the anchor. I told our guests that we were moving, but all was OK and just to stay in bed, as it was going to be rough.

As I headed the bow north northeast, I once again longingly looked at the chart with the ocean only 15 minutes away. But the lesson of Barnegat Bay held me to my plan and I proceeded to follow my path I had just used a few hours earlier.

An hour later, 00:45 I was turning due east into the narrow, but marked outlet channel, when Julie joined me in the pilot house, as a waning last quarter moon, filled the pilot house with a rosy glow.

We were ready for the angry sea.

We didn’t know what to expect with the oncoming waves. Dauntless does so well with a following sea that one hardly notices 6 foot waves from the stern, heading in to them, is a different story, made even more difficult because we had no leeway to maneuver in the narrow channel. And while we had just come thru this channel, the lesson of Barnegat Bay was always with me, as I still feel that is the only time the boat was at risk, in hindsight, we may have been literally within seconds of disaster.

With short period, oncoming waves, I reduced power to 1500 rpm. Our initial speed of over 6 knots quickly evaporated as we would climb one wave, our bow pointing high to the sky, then almost weightless; suddenly plunge into the trough of the wave, with the bow pulpit almost burying itself into the next oncoming wave. I watched with dismay as our speed went from 6.2 to 5.8, 5.4, 5.1 and finally 4.8 knots. With 49 nm to go, our trip was now going to be 10 hours, of up and down.

Luckily, I had the foresight to put a transdermal scopolamine patch on before departure. I would need it. As the boat settled into its yo-yo routine, I resigned myself to a long night.

Julie wanted to be in the pilot house, so she suggested I go get some sleep. I agreed, I was exhausted and even a few hours’ sleep could make a big difference. I briefed her on our course and conditions and went to our cabin.

The Krogen 42 master cabin in under the pilot house in the bow. As I got into bed, holding on for dear life, I remembered that I had sleep in worse conditions. When Julie and I went cruising with our Dutch friends, Jan and Carin on their wonderful Malo sailboat, in the Outer Hebrides, our first night at St. Kilda bay was every rolly. The anchorage was open to the southeast, the direction of the swell. Julie and I slept very well (after being on a sailboat all day on the open ocean, how can you not?). Thought-out that night, I remember thinking I was on a corkscrew roller coaster. But I slept and I remember thinking many times, now we turn upside down as we roll to the right. Think of a fighter plane making a diving turn to the right.

So, I did not expect a problem with this boat movement which was madly pitching up and down, there was little (for Dauntless) roll.

But as I tried to go to sleep, I noticed a very disconcerting sensation. With each pitch upward, as we crested the wave, Dauntless seemed to hesitate, before the downward plunge began. So lying in bed, I found my body waiting and waiting and waiting for that plunge. No sleep could be had here, so after 15 minutes of up and down, I returned to the pilot house.

Julie then decided to try to sleep on our sofa in the saloon. She went right to sleep, so after a while I decided to try it too. The weightless hesitation was not really noticeable near the back of the boat. With the autopilot set and no boats in sight, I curled up next to Julie like spoons and promptly went to sleep for about an hour.

Returning to the pilot house, all was as I left it. All systems were fine, and we were on course moving at about 4.8 knots. Seas and winds were still strong off our bow (due east) and occasionally, the pilot house would get a bath as the wind would take the top of a wave over the bow. Not green water, but a thorough dousing.

As it became light out, a sail boat passed to our north and we discovered two flying fish on deck. We could see the spot where the fish had hit the salon window, about 5 feet above the decks, 8 feet above the waterline. Though most of the night, I thought the waves were 4 to 6 feet (in Long Island Sound, I had the most miserable 15 miles ever as I headed into 8 to 10 foot short period waves, the boat only making 3.5 knots. Virtually every wave put spray on the foredeck and against the windows and then the really big waves put spray over the top of the pilot house, once seemingly not even touching the pilot house)

At 11:15 a.m. 26 December 2013, we were anchored in Shroud Cay, the Exumas, the Bahamas.

My guests were able to have a beautiful day (remember this was their first day at an anchorage in the Bahamas) and I felt it was a job well done.

I made a mistake in our destination, but instead of exacerbating it, I bit the bullet and the problem was solved.

I could now enjoy my day.

Thanks for reading.

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