February 17th - The key to success in sailing - Part One

Well, sailing successfully to a key, anyway.

As I write, we're anchored off Rodriguez Key south of Miami. No
doubt, those of you who've commented on my logs before have
noticed I've not been saying much lately. The "why" of that is
another story altogether, but it suffices to say that our last
many weeks have been varied and different in many ways from our
first several months afloat.

Before I get into the sailboat stuff, for those who may have been
concerned, we've been attending to a lot of personal (as compared
to cruising) business. Among them is the expiration of our Cobra
coverage under Lydia's prior employment insurance extension.
Those of you on Lydia's log got a flavor of that in her last
posting. That expiration led us to try to squeeze all the
last-minute stuff we could into our policy.

So, we came to Miami, where we not only managed the final refill
on our medications on the day before our expiration, we got a
final colonoscopy and my light-vision test as the final item
needed for my medicals to qualify for my USCG commercial license
for me, and a mammogram and a nasal resection for Lydia.

Lydia's mammogram was a very distinct departure from every prior
one she's ever had, as it was done with one of the new digital
machines. We men have no concept of what women suffer in
mammograms, but the new machines not only don't do the suffering,
it's over in a flash.

Her nasal resection was over quickly, too, but despite the
marvelous "stuff" (flower children may use a different, more
scatological, euphemism.) she was provided, she strenuously
objected to the pain in her nose for a day until the packing was
removed from her nostrils. She's been breathing freely, ever
since. She even noted to a friend that, as a result of her having
to sleep on one side for all her life, she has wrinkles on one
side of her face which aren't present on the other. She's making
up for lost time, sleeping nearly universally on the other side,
now, so, while she'll tell you it (the pain, compared to the
gain) wasn't worth it, for the rest of her life she'll be able to
breathe easy, so to speak. Already, she doesn't need nearly as
much sleep as she did, the sleep interruption resulting from her
obstructed nasal passage having caused frequent apnea-like
symptoms being what caused me to finally put my foot down and
demand she see an ENT.

All of our medical stuff in Miami, including my vision test, was
as a result of a connection forged with the cruising community.
That doctor - who was also an FAA examiner, and thus gave me my
light test (the means to confirm that I wasn't a danger on the
water!) - was instantly able to refer us to some of the very best
in the medical community in Miami.

Now that that's over, however, we went sailing. I'll come back to
the immediate past, but first...

We sailed down to Miami from Lake Worth - but only after making
the inside passage from there to Ft. Lauderdale, including the 21
opening bridges. It took two days to get there, with an overnight
stop in "Lake Boca Raton" - a puddle off to the side in the
Intra-Coastal Waterway - where we were, again, able to get a very
nice internet connection.

Once we reached Port Everglades, the Fort Lauderdale commercial
port, we headed south in lousy conditions, but made it to Miami
without incident. We even threaded the needle in extremely
shallow water, getting to our St. Steven's mooring off the Miami
Yacht Club without grounding. Getting on that mooring was a bit
exciting in the wind, however, and we fouled our prop with the
mooring.

Into the water with my hookah rig (a compressor on the deck, with
a long line providing air below) and wetsuit, I got it untangled
with only the loss of one tool but no other real excitements, and
we hooked on for the night. Side trips excepted, we've been there
ever since. In the meantime, however, since St. Steven wanted a
car at the yacht club so he could use it when he flew into the
area, we rented a car, made a dash back to St. Simons, drove both
cars down, and his car, too, has been at our disposal for our
entire time here. Mucho gracias, multi bene, merci beaucoup and
every other form of thanks you could imagine. We'd not be able to
have done it without your generosity.

Before we got into our medical stuff, Saints Steven and Michael,
along with their wives, came for a visit, which is related to the
title of this log. We'd hoped to sail to where we are, now...

The weather gods, however, had gotten the schedule confused. It
was nasty enough that their arrival was delayed by a day, and
once here, the day we could leave had the wind briskly coming
from the south, which is great for a Gulf Stream Crossing, but
not much for getting down the island chain inshore. It's been
quite a while since I did this particular passage, the last time
being when we took possession and delivered the boat. As a
result, I'd forgotten the fine details, and when I looked at the
overview of the chart, it appeared that there was ample room to
tack down the channel, and, even though it would take a long
time,
it was ok. They'd come to sail, and that would be sailing, wouldn't
it? So, it would be all right. That it was at night was of little
moment, as it would
mean that we'd arrive at daylight, allowing for more snorkeling
time, and allow a night passage experience as well.

However, not only did our tacking give us next to no forward
progress (in the total scheme of things), as we approached the
Fowey Rocks weather station, and continued to look at the detail
of the route, it was apparent that Hawk Channel was the only safe
way to navigate the last portion of the trip. To go outside of
the reefs would mean bucking the Gulf Stream's current; it's
possible that we'd make no actual forward progress at all.

Unfortunately, Hawk Channel is very narrow, so tacking was out of
the question, and, worse, has day marks only to show where we
should be staying, even if we were to "drive" (motor vs. sail)
it. That meant that we'd not be able to navigate it in the dark.


So, at about midnight, after deciding to let the second watch
sleep in for many hours past our expected changeover, Steve and
I, the first watch, made the executive decision to head back the
other way, taking advantage of the prevailing wind of the time,
and of the expected wind shift to the other direction allowing us
to come back the following day.

Sure enough, we dashed north, and arrived off Miami in short
order. Given that they'd come to sail, the destination wasn't as
important as the experience, and since the wind was scheduled to
come around the other way on the following day, it would make for
a nice return, as well. So, off we went, expecting to go into Ft.
Lauderdale for a leisurely rest before returning.

As the sailing was so good, we kept on going, and woke the next
shift when we were about 5 miles north of Miami's Government Cut,
at about 4AM. Lydia, Mike, Vicki and Dianne took over as the wind
built on a perfect broad reach. However, they all were gossiping
so much that they entirely missed Ft. Lauderdale as it went by,
and by daylight, were nearly to Lake Worth. When they realized
their mistake, they attempted a reversal, only to foul both
sails. The ensuing noise woke both me and Steve, and we were all
on deck for the bash into the building wind to get us back to Ft.
Lauderdale. We managed to tack our way back in, keeping close to
shore to minimize the waves and try to take advantage of any
counter-current off the Gulf Stream.

Once into Ft. Lauderdale's Port Everglades, we headed down the
ICW to an area Steve and Mike knew, pulled up to a restaurant to
have a late lunch, and assessed where we might spend the night.
Flying Pig is substantially deeper than either of their boats, so
finding an anchorage was going to be challenging. Neither of the
marinas in the area responded to either VHF radio hails or cell
phone calls, so Steve and Mike set out on foot to reach the
marina on the same side as the restaurant.

There, they encountered one of our newest, charming, unique
friends - Ricki, a big-boat Captain living on her own massive
trawler/cruiser there in the marina. She told them we should come
on in and it would either be free or a trivial amount to stay.
Nobody's home most of the time, there, due to its being under
renovation, and being a weekend, it was no problem. Hot showers
and laundry ensued, and, the weather being what it was, we stayed
another day, as to go south in the rain which was building, along
with the strong winds, wasn't appealing.

However, Steve and Mike needed to be back in the air, and,
fortunately, Mike's plane wasn't far away, since they landed at a
corporate airport nearby in Ft. Lauderdale when they came down
(see Steve's car at the marina for reference). We inquired about
calling a cab, and Ricki insisted, instead, on taking them there.

So, as they headed off to their airport, because the weather was
forecast to be building, and even worse than it was at the
moment, we shipped out as well. With a strong following wind and
seas, we rolled around and crash jibed several times, breaking,
first, the shackle on the deck side of the preventer (the line
from the end of the boom, led forward, supposed to prevent the
boom from flopping the other way if the wind shifts), and then,
on the boom attachment point. So, we put in the sails and
motor-sailed on bare poles, making over 8 knots at times.

With all the rolling which happened without any sails to steady
us, I took advantage of the cleaning action to run the fuel
polisher. As our vacuum guage has stayed at the same level as a
new filter, I'm convinced that we got as much as will likely, or
even possibly, be dislodged, from the walls and floor of the tank
as a result of our wreck and trip back to the yard afterward last
year at about this time. None the less, it makes me feel secure
to think that our Racor filters get only the best, cleanest fuel,
and any future filter changes will be presumptive rather than
fouled!

As my dear friend George says, this is reaching 4 pages, so the
rest of the story will have to wait for another time. We arrived
in Miami none the worse for wear, got ourselves back on the
mooring ball, and set about our medical chores. I'll tell you
more about the keys and Ft. Lauderdale in the next installment.

L8R

Skip

Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
See our galleries at www.justpickone.org/skip/gallery !
Follow us at http://groups.google.com/group/flyingpiglog and/or
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheFlyingPigLog

"You are never given a wish without also being given the power
to make it
come true. You may have to work for it however."
(and)
"There is no such thing as a problem without a gift for you in
its hands.
You seek problems because you need their gifts."
(Richard Bach, in The Reluctant Messiah)

"Skip Gundlach" wrote in message
...
Unfortunately, Hawk Channel is very narrow, so tacking was out of
the question, and, worse, has day marks only to show where we
should be staying, even if we were to "drive" (motor vs. sail)
it. That meant that we'd not be able to navigate it in the dark.


Hawk Channel is anything but narrow. You obviously weren't even IN Hawk
Channel if you make such a stupid claim. For everybody's information, Hawk
Channel is anything from three to five miles wide the entire way from Miami
to Key West with the exception of a small choke point of a couple of miles
in and around Fowey Rocks light. It consists of the area between the
outlying barrier reef and the Keys. Plenty of water there to tack to one's
heart's desire. Skippy is a liar! Obviously makes up more sailing tales
than he actually lives. And, for your further edification, the Gulf Stream
current rarely comes to within three to five miles of the barrier reef. And,
in most places, the reef itself is no barrier to a sailboat that draws five
feet or so. One can tack his way across the reef back and forth in most
places. In many places the reef is ten to twelve feet beneath the surface at
MLW. It's a hazard to shipping but to small sailing yachts it's not much of
a problem. Time to get real Skippy. Your lies about the Florida Keys will be
exposed by yours truly because, like many places up and down the East Coast
and the Gulf Coast and the Florida Keys and the entire Bahamas chain, I've
spent years being there doing that.

Wilbur Hubbard

On Feb 20, 6:42 pm, "Wilbur Hubbard"
wrote:
"Skip Gundlach" wrote in message

...

Unfortunately, Hawk Channel is very narrow, so tacking was out of
the question, and, worse, has day marks only to show where we
should be staying, even if we were to "drive" (motor vs. sail)
it. That meant that we'd not be able to navigate it in the dark.

Hawk Channel is anything but narrow. You obviously weren't even IN Hawk
Channel if you make such a stupid claim. For everybody's information, Hawk
Channel is anything from three to five miles wide the entire way from Miami
to Key West with the exception of a small choke point of a couple of miles
in and around Fowey Rocks light. It consists of the area between the
outlying barrier reef and the Keys. Plenty of water there to tack to one's
heart's desire. Skippy is a liar! Obviously makes up more sailing tales
than he actually lives. And, for your further edification, the Gulf Stream
current rarely comes to within three to five miles of the barrier reef. And,
in most places, the reef itself is no barrier to a sailboat that draws five
feet or so. One can tack his way across the reef back and forth in most
places. In many places the reef is ten to twelve feet beneath the surface at
MLW. It's a hazard to shipping but to small sailing yachts it's not much of
a problem. Time to get real Skippy. Your lies about the Florida Keys will be
exposed by yours truly because, like many places up and down the East Coast
and the Gulf Coast and the Florida Keys and the entire Bahamas chain, I've
spent years being there doing that.

Wilbur Hubbard

You've obviously not been paying attention to my prior posts. Our
yacht draws well over 6 feet, and the destination we were attempting
was just beyond Fowey Rocks.

The combination caused us to make an easier landfall and sailing
destination. As the later portion of my post indicates, we did indeed
transit that area later, with great results.

As before, I invite you to tell us of where you've cruised in the last
- say - year...

We're out doing it...

L8R

Skip

Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
See our galleries at www.justpickone.org/skip/gallery !
Follow us at http://groups.google.com/group/flyingpiglog and/or
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheFlyingPigLog

"You are never given a wish without also being given the power to
make it come true. You may have to work for it however."
(and)
"There is no such thing as a problem without a gift for you in its
hands. You seek problems because you need their gifts."
(Richard Bach, in The Reluctant Messiah)

On Wed, 20 Feb 2008 20:30:11 -0800 (PST), Skip Gundlach
wrote:

On Feb 20, 6:42 pm, "Wilbur Hubbard"
wrote:
"Skip Gundlach" wrote in message

...

Unfortunately, Hawk Channel is very narrow, so tacking was out of
the question, and, worse, has day marks only to show where we
should be staying, even if we were to "drive" (motor vs. sail)
it. That meant that we'd not be able to navigate it in the dark.

Hawk Channel is anything but narrow. You obviously weren't even IN Hawk
Channel if you make such a stupid claim. For everybody's information, Hawk
Channel is anything from three to five miles wide the entire way from Miami
to Key West with the exception of a small choke point of a couple of miles
in and around Fowey Rocks light. It consists of the area between the
outlying barrier reef and the Keys. Plenty of water there to tack to one's
heart's desire. Skippy is a liar! Obviously makes up more sailing tales
than he actually lives. And, for your further edification, the Gulf Stream
current rarely comes to within three to five miles of the barrier reef. And,
in most places, the reef itself is no barrier to a sailboat that draws five
feet or so. One can tack his way across the reef back and forth in most
places. In many places the reef is ten to twelve feet beneath the surface at
MLW. It's a hazard to shipping but to small sailing yachts it's not much of
a problem. Time to get real Skippy. Your lies about the Florida Keys will be
exposed by yours truly because, like many places up and down the East Coast
and the Gulf Coast and the Florida Keys and the entire Bahamas chain, I've
spent years being there doing that.

Wilbur Hubbard

You've obviously not been paying attention to my prior posts. Our
yacht draws well over 6 feet, and the destination we were attempting
was just beyond Fowey Rocks.

The combination caused us to make an easier landfall and sailing
destination. As the later portion of my post indicates, we did indeed
transit that area later, with great results.

As before, I invite you to tell us of where you've cruised in the last
- say - year...

We're out doing it...

L8R

Skip

Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
See our galleries at www.justpickone.org/skip/gallery !
Follow us at http://groups.google.com/group/flyingpiglog and/or
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheFlyingPigLog

"You are never given a wish without also being given the power to
make it come true. You may have to work for it however."
(and)
"There is no such thing as a problem without a gift for you in its
hands. You seek problems because you need their gifts."
(Richard Bach, in The Reluctant Messiah)

Ah Skip, don't pay poor old Willie-boy no mind. He just sits there in
his Lazy-boy recliner, down there at the trailer park, reading his
books and magazines and imagining he is sailing the Spanish Main. He
rides a bicycle to work, don't even have a car, never mind a boat --
except for the rubber duck there in the bathtub.

Bruce-in-Bangkok
(Note:remove underscores
from address for reply)

"Bruce in Bangkok" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 20 Feb 2008 20:30:11 -0800 (PST), Skip Gundlach
wrote:

On Feb 20, 6:42 pm, "Wilbur Hubbard"
wrote:
"Skip Gundlach" wrote in message

...

Unfortunately, Hawk Channel is very narrow, so tacking was out of
the question, and, worse, has day marks only to show where we
should be staying, even if we were to "drive" (motor vs. sail)
it. That meant that we'd not be able to navigate it in the dark.

Hawk Channel is anything but narrow. You obviously weren't even IN Hawk
Channel if you make such a stupid claim. For everybody's information,
Hawk
Channel is anything from three to five miles wide the entire way from
Miami
to Key West with the exception of a small choke point of a couple of
miles
in and around Fowey Rocks light. It consists of the area between the
outlying barrier reef and the Keys. Plenty of water there to tack to
one's
heart's desire. Skippy is a liar! Obviously makes up more sailing tales
than he actually lives. And, for your further edification, the Gulf
Stream
current rarely comes to within three to five miles of the barrier reef.
And,
in most places, the reef itself is no barrier to a sailboat that draws
five
feet or so. One can tack his way across the reef back and forth in most
places. In many places the reef is ten to twelve feet beneath the
surface at
MLW. It's a hazard to shipping but to small sailing yachts it's not much
of
a problem. Time to get real Skippy. Your lies about the Florida Keys
will be
exposed by yours truly because, like many places up and down the East
Coast
and the Gulf Coast and the Florida Keys and the entire Bahamas chain,
I've
spent years being there doing that.

Wilbur Hubbard

You've obviously not been paying attention to my prior posts. Our
yacht draws well over 6 feet, and the destination we were attempting
was just beyond Fowey Rocks.

The combination caused us to make an easier landfall and sailing
destination. As the later portion of my post indicates, we did indeed
transit that area later, with great results.

As before, I invite you to tell us of where you've cruised in the last
- say - year...

We're out doing it...

L8R

Skip

Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
See our galleries at www.justpickone.org/skip/gallery !
Follow us at http://groups.google.com/group/flyingpiglog and/or
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheFlyingPigLog

"You are never given a wish without also being given the power to
make it come true. You may have to work for it however."
(and)
"There is no such thing as a problem without a gift for you in its
hands. You seek problems because you need their gifts."
(Richard Bach, in The Reluctant Messiah)

Ah Skip, don't pay poor old Willie-boy no mind. He just sits there in
his Lazy-boy recliner, down there at the trailer park, reading his
books and magazines and imagining he is sailing the Spanish Main. He
rides a bicycle to work, don't even have a car, never mind a boat --
except for the rubber duck there in the bathtub.

Bruce-in-Bangkok
(Note:remove underscores
from address for reply)

========================

In my opinion, Wibur makes some valid points.. he certainly seems to know
the channel he posted about.

As for Skips "As before, I invite you to tell us of where you've cruised in
the last
- say - year...We're out doing it..."

Skip is living part time on a boat, to call what he has been doing
"cruising" is a very big stretch.

Since his ill-fated launch, ship wreck, repair, rebuild, depression, .. blah
blah .. about all the cruising he has
done is along the coast, and even this was short hops with long anchor
hanging time in between.

It is February, very cold where I live, snow up the *&^%. If I was "living"
on my boat, "living" the
cruising lifestyle as many do .. I would be in the island, Bahama's, Cuba..
who knows ... but I would
not be sitting at some "good guy let me use it" dock in FLA. That isn't
cruising, that is houseboat
time.

I enjoy Skips postings, in a weird way they are like a bad tv show with a
predictable plot, but I keep
watching anyway. He speaks of his life, health, relatives, etc... very
enjoyable. But .. not in any
way, or stretch of the imagination is what he has been doing ... CRUISING.

"Sir Thomas of Cannondale" wrote in
news:CAevj.20178$eg3.7989@trndny05:


"Bruce in Bangkok" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 20 Feb 2008 20:30:11 -0800 (PST), Skip Gundlach
wrote:

On Feb 20, 6:42 pm, "Wilbur Hubbard"
wrote:
"Skip Gundlach" wrote in message

news:4ef13d3f-d5d1-4e60-ad28-6a00e27b8e08
@p73g2000hsd.googlegroups.c
om...

Unfortunately, Hawk Channel is very narrow, so tacking was out of
the question, and, worse, has day marks only to show where we
should be staying, even if we were to "drive" (motor vs. sail)
it. That meant that we'd not be able to navigate it in the dark.

Hawk Channel is anything but narrow. You obviously weren't even IN
Hawk Channel if you make such a stupid claim. For everybody's
information, Hawk
Channel is anything from three to five miles wide the entire way
from Miami
to Key West with the exception of a small choke point of a couple
of miles
in and around Fowey Rocks light. It consists of the area between
the outlying barrier reef and the Keys. Plenty of water there to
tack to one's
heart's desire. Skippy is a liar! Obviously makes up more sailing
tales than he actually lives. And, for your further edification,
the Gulf Stream
current rarely comes to within three to five miles of the barrier
reef. And,
in most places, the reef itself is no barrier to a sailboat that
draws five
feet or so. One can tack his way across the reef back and forth in
most places. In many places the reef is ten to twelve feet beneath
the surface at
MLW. It's a hazard to shipping but to small sailing yachts it's not
much of
a problem. Time to get real Skippy. Your lies about the Florida
Keys will be
exposed by yours truly because, like many places up and down the
East Coast
and the Gulf Coast and the Florida Keys and the entire Bahamas
chain, I've
spent years being there doing that.

Wilbur Hubbard

You've obviously not been paying attention to my prior posts. Our
yacht draws well over 6 feet, and the destination we were attempting
was just beyond Fowey Rocks.

The combination caused us to make an easier landfall and sailing
destination. As the later portion of my post indicates, we did indeed
transit that area later, with great results.

As before, I invite you to tell us of where you've cruised in the
last - say - year...

We're out doing it...

L8R

Skip

Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
See our galleries at www.justpickone.org/skip/gallery !
Follow us at http://groups.google.com/group/flyingpiglog and/or
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheFlyingPigLog

"You are never given a wish without also being given the power to
make it come true. You may have to work for it however."
(and)
"There is no such thing as a problem without a gift for you in its
hands. You seek problems because you need their gifts."
(Richard Bach, in The Reluctant Messiah)

Ah Skip, don't pay poor old Willie-boy no mind. He just sits there in
his Lazy-boy recliner, down there at the trailer park, reading his
books and magazines and imagining he is sailing the Spanish Main. He
rides a bicycle to work, don't even have a car, never mind a boat --
except for the rubber duck there in the bathtub.

Bruce-in-Bangkok
(Note:remove underscores
from address for reply)

========================

In my opinion, Wibur makes some valid points.. he certainly seems to
know the channel he posted about.

As for Skips "As before, I invite you to tell us of where you've
cruised in the last
- say - year...We're out doing it..."

Skip is living part time on a boat, to call what he has been doing
"cruising" is a very big stretch.

Since his ill-fated launch, ship wreck, repair, rebuild, depression,
.. blah blah .. about all the cruising he has
done is along the coast, and even this was short hops with long anchor
hanging time in between.

It is February, very cold where I live, snow up the *&^%. If I was
"living" on my boat, "living" the
cruising lifestyle as many do .. I would be in the island, Bahama's,
Cuba.. who knows ... but I would
not be sitting at some "good guy let me use it" dock in FLA. That
isn't cruising, that is houseboat
time.

I enjoy Skips postings, in a weird way they are like a bad tv show
with a predictable plot, but I keep
watching anyway. He speaks of his life, health, relatives, etc...
very enjoyable. But .. not in any
way, or stretch of the imagination is what he has been doing ...
CRUISING.

The key thing to remember is that the vast majority of the people who
respond in this group have never cruised. Most of the people have
sailed at some time in their lives and have owned, or own, sailboats.
You also have the people who race, but that has virtually nothing do to
with cruising.

But as far as doing anything more than long vacations on their boats,
they've never sailed more than a few hundred miles from their home port.
Oh, excuse me, they've also chartered in the BVIs or somewhere similiar.

The fact of the matter is that most cruisers move from port to port, or
anchorage to anchorage, in much the same manner that people move their
RVs between RV parks. There's nothing the matter with this, other than
it doesn't fit the image that some of you have of a "real" cruiser.

It's also interesting that many of you think that you can only cruise on
a sailboat. I know lots of people who cruise on their trawlers and we
are often jealous of their space and comfort. Simply because they're
not cruising using wind power, doesn't mean that they're not cruising.
Look at the title of this group: reg.boats.cruising. Do you notice
that it's not rec.sailing.cruising? Maybe you should take a hint from
that.

It seems like some of you think that if you're cruising, that you need
to be constantly moving the boat. I've done that, and found that I've
missed a lot along the way. You need to stop and get to know an area to
truly experience a culture. I much prefer to find an area that I like
and hang around for an extended period of time.

We found that we really liked the NW Caribbean (Belize, Guatemala &
Honduras) and spent 4 seasons exploring the area and giving me my diving
fixes. I had absolutely no problem spending the majority of a season
anchored at Lighthouse Reef in Belize diving 2 times a day. Some of you
might not call that cruising, but it makes me happy.

You'll also note that you rarely see posts from the standard
contributors about their cruising. Most of them post year round from
the comfort of their homes and spend most of their time bashing others.

Skip certainly has had his fair share of problems, many of them self
generated, but he is out there learning and doing it. I wish him well
and hope that the reality lives up to the dream. So until you start
posting from your boat that you're moving from port to port, don't you
dare claim that Skip isn't cruising.

-- Geoff
www.GeoffSchultz.org

Geoff Schultz wrote:

"Skip Gundlach" wrote in message

news:4ef13d3f-d5d1-4e60-ad28-6a00e27b8e08

om...

Unfortunately, Hawk Channel is very narrow, so tacking was out of
the question, and, worse, has day marks only to show where we
should be staying, even if we were to "drive" (motor vs. sail)
it. That meant that we'd not be able to navigate it in the dark.

Hawk Channel is anything but narrow. You obviously weren't even IN
Hawk Channel if you make such a stupid claim. For everybody's
information, Hawk
Channel is anything from three to five miles wide the entire way
from Miami
to Key West with the exception of a small choke point of a couple
of miles
in and around Fowey Rocks light. It consists of the area between
the outlying barrier reef and the Keys. Plenty of water there to
tack to one's snip
in most places, the reef itself is no barrier to a sailboat that
draws five
feet or so. One can tack his way across the reef back and forth in
most places. In many places the reef is ten to twelve feet beneath
the surface at
MLW. It's a hazard to shipping but to small sailing yachts it's not
much of
a problem.
snip
In my opinion, Wibur makes some valid points.. he certainly seems to
know the channel he posted about.
snip

I know Hawk Channel quite well having transited it several times in
our boat which only draws 5 feet. Theoretically, we could travel up
or down the ICW (which is on the Bay side of the Keys) at least as far
as Marathon, but there are some shallow spots at least on the charts.
One of our sister boats, driven to get away from a hurricane that was
approaching Key West managed to get through without a problem, but
absent some kind of emergency like that, we take Hawk Channel.

Even though the reef may not be that shallow in most places, I would
certainly not deliberately tack across it. And in a boat drawing 6+
feet it would be more hazardous. There are some coral islands in Hawk
Channel, and it is important to pay attention to the charts even
though most of it is pretty clear sailing. We've never had a problem
other than having the wind from the wrong direction to where we wanted
to go.

So basically, they were both right in part and wrong in part. Wilbur
overstated the ease of tacking up the Hawk Channel because Skips boat
has a deep draft. Not only did he exaggerate the depth hazard, but he
failed to note that Skip was near the choke point in the channel at
Fowley Rocks. And most of Hawk Channel IS pretty wide so saying that
he couldn't tack in Hawk Channel wasn't correct except for the area
where he was - possibly having in view compressing the reporting of
the decision making process.

The key thing to remember is that the vast majority of the people who
respond in this group have never cruised. Most of the people have
sailed at some time in their lives and have owned, or own, sailboats.
You also have the people who race, but that has virtually nothing do to
with cruising.

But as far as doing anything more than long vacations on their boats,
they've never sailed more than a few hundred miles from their home port.
Oh, excuse me, they've also chartered in the BVIs or somewhere similiar.

The fact of the matter is that most cruisers move from port to port, or
anchorage to anchorage, in much the same manner that people move their
RVs between RV parks. There's nothing the matter with this, other than
it doesn't fit the image that some of you have of a "real" cruiser.

It's also interesting that many of you think that you can only cruise on
a sailboat. I know lots of people who cruise on their trawlers and we
are often jealous of their space and comfort. Simply because they're
not cruising using wind power, doesn't mean that they're not cruising.
Look at the title of this group: reg.boats.cruising. Do you notice
that it's not rec.sailing.cruising? Maybe you should take a hint from
that.

It seems like some of you think that if you're cruising, that you need
to be constantly moving the boat. I've done that, and found that I've
missed a lot along the way. You need to stop and get to know an area to
truly experience a culture. I much prefer to find an area that I like
and hang around for an extended period of time.

I'm not sure what the definition of cruising is, but it should include
living on the boat and moving it occasionally. (IMHO) We went up
and down the ICW for several years, but when it got too stressful, we
stopped and now just take short trips in the Chesapeake. I consider
that we have been cruisers, but I don't think that because we've
stopped and are now living in a house that it makes our opinions
invalid.

I'm not sure what will happen when we get too old to even do that (we
are in our 70s). I'm not looking forward to that, but I guess it is
better than the alternate. I know it won't be a trawler because Bob
gets his pleasure in boating from sailing. And I'm pretty sure it
won't be an RV either.

"Roger Long" wrote in message
...
"Geoff Schultz" wrote

So until you start posting from your boat that you're moving from port to
port, don't you
dare claim that Skip isn't cruising.


Hear, hear. Well said.

--
Roger Long
(Posting from the comfort of his office


If I follow ............. then no one should post anything here because our
opinion isn't
of value.

Cruising in the way I think of it, is long trips across open ocean. Coastal
sailing, which is
what I do, is not in the same category.

Why shouldn't I "dare" to call what Skip is doing Coastal Sailing and what
folks who sail across
the open ocean Cruising? That is why I read the postings here,, to see if I
learn something and to
post an opinion.

I dare to call what Skip is doing :: Coastal Cruising, living on a boat.

Nothing wrong with that. Good for Skip..

But :: for Skip to say;; "As before, I invite you to tell us of where
you've cruised in the last
- say - year...We're out doing it..."

As an answer to someone who challenges his knowledge of a channel ..

He is opening up the subject of what true Cruising is.

If, for example, Skip had sailed from Florida to Antigua for Sailing week,
and anyone "dared" to question his
cruising status, then I would side with Skip.

But for Skip, who has really only gone up and down the coast, to challenge a
sailor as if he is a world
ocean crossing skipper .. I don't think he has earned his Cruising Stripes
yet.

Just my opinion.

Amen, brother. That's the best post on _cruising_ that I've seen
around here in a long time. Thanks,

-- Tom.

On Feb 21, 5:30 am, Rosalie B. wrote:
... I'm not sure what the definition of cruising is, but it should include
living on the boat and moving it occasionally. ...

Yes, I think so, too. For instance in one seven and a bit month
season we visited Palmyra, Kanton, Apia, Niuatoputapu, and Savusavu.
Followed by six months mostly at anchor in New Zealand. Basically, we
were living on the boat and occasionally moving and for me this is the
very best form of cruising. Lots of people go from the West coast to
Oz or New Zealand in a few months and spend all their time at anchor
writing their blogs. Obviously, that's what they like, but we still
send letters back and forth with many folks from the places we've
visited and I cherish the time we've spent just sitting around and
getting to know folks... YMMV, of course, but in my book living
aboard and moving around a bit is cruising in Florida every bit as
much as it is in Tonga.

-- Tom.