A thirty year old boat....is bound to have its problems

This post has been a long time in the making. I'll start by saying that a few days before leaving Albuquerque on March 12 for our trip to Florida and the moving of the boat to Tavernier, I called the marina and asked the manager if the boat was back in the water yet. The answer was yes and that she "took on a little water" when she was put back in the water with new bottom paint and a new thru-hull fitting.

I got hold of the mechanic (Mike) who has been doing a great job for us and he explained that the marina put the boat back in the water after he had left for the day and that no one had gone below to check to see if the boat was taking on water. When he got to the marina the next morning he found 3 1/2 feet of water inside the boat and the boat headed to the bottom...right there at the dock. Mike got a bilge pump running (God knows why ours wasn't working) and pumped out the inside and ran to a store to get a dehumidifier to dry out the inside. By the time we got to Florida the boat was pretty dry inside, but it took a new starter and alternator to get the engine started. Lara was pissed about the condition of the teak and holly cabin sole and expressed her displeasure to all who would listen and the response was to put someone from the marina to work oiling the sole to make it look better. No doubt it is going to take some sanding and some new varnish to make it look like it did before the near catastrophe.

It took some wrangling with the marina to square things financially, but we finally got that done and we prepared, with our friend Brad, to get the boat out of Tampa Bay and on our way south. The day of our journey south got off to a rocky start. We motored out of the marina and the narrow channel that leads to Tampa Bay and before we got to open water, the fog moved in and we headed back to the dock at the marina to wait out the sunshine. After our wait, we headed out again and when we were about 3/4 of the way to open water, I managed to put us aground in a shallow area and despite the help of a good Samaritan we ended up having to hail Mike to help move us off the sand bar and send us on our way. We fueled up and headed into Tampa Bay, under motor, not sail. The wind was blowing from the exact direction we wished to head, so we motored for several hours, passing under the Sunshine Skyway bridge and around the bend at Anna Maria Island. It was already so late in the day that we decided to enter the ICW and motor to the Bradenton Beach Marina for the night.

We chatted with marina staff via cellphone before our arrival and they told us where to park the boat for the night (as they were leaving for the day). As we pulled the boat into the slip, the transmission cable snapped and we slid into the berth. What next??? We knew that both the throttle cable and the transmission cable were stiff from age, but believed that if we were careful we could get to the Keys before getting them fixed. What a mistake! We pulled into the marina on Monday evening and didn't leave until all was fixed...on Friday morning. We were fast running out of time, as we had a flight to take back to Albuquerque and our friend Brad was running out of his time off from his job.

New cables were ordered on Tuesday and delivered early on Wednesday morning, following a full day of work by our friendly, Jerry Garcia look-alike mechanic from the marina disassembling the pedestal steering and cable mechanisms. Somewhere between the marina shop and the boat, one of the cables disappeared, along with an essential part (which was not available from the local nautical supply house). Sooo, another cable was ordered, along with the part, which had to be shipped overnight from Edson, the steering manufacturer. Both arrived Thursday morning and were installed, but not in time for us to head back out into the Gulf for our journey south. Bradenton Beach was a lovely place to spend a few days and the marina staff was as kind and generous as could be, but we were running out of time. Dinners at the restaurants along Bradenton's beautiful beach were special, as was all of the time we were getting to spend with Brad. We passed St. Patrick's day cooking corned beef and cabbage aboard the boat and sharing it with our mechanic, who went way above and beyond the call of duty in his assistance.

Friday morning we motored out of the ICW and under a raised bridge into the Gulf and headed south in a rather light breeze. We had a brief discussion about whether we should sail through the night and decided that if we were to get to Tavernier in time we needed to do that. We didn't make very good time, spending most of the delightfully sunny, warm day doing 2 - 3 knots. Brad was going to get some sleep first and he went below at about 5pm and Lara and I sailed along south, accompanied by dolphins for part of our journey. Lara and I had been taking Dramamine and Brad had decided not to. We didn't see Brad on deck again till the next morning and then not because he wanted to. The sail through the night was a first for both Lara and me, but our gps and the dolphins kept us headed in the right direction, about 10 miles off shore. The following morning, just as the sun rose, we were at a sort of point of no return, about 10-15 miles southwest of Marco Island.

I decided that without Brad feeling well, we were not going to be able to progress any further. Both Lara and I were falling asleep and it was time to get the sails down and head back toward Marco. The sail south during the night had been at good speeds and despite a couple of accidental jibes, things seemed to have held together pretty well. It was while taking down the sails to head into Marco Island, that the bolt that held the forward end of the main boom to the gooseneck had let go and we weren't going to be able to go any further without getting it fixed. Not sure where to find a marina to get some work done, I called Tow Boat US and related our problems and they promptly motored out, hooked us up and towed us to the Marco River Marina.

We have had remarkable good fortune with the marina employees we have come into contact with. The folks at the Marco River Marina were no exception. They could not have been more gracious. We spent a couple of days getting the boat ship shape and making arrangements to have the service staff at the marina assess what needed to be done to the boom before we left to rent a car and get Brad back to Tavernier. A night spent at a delightful inn in Key Largo was followed by a drive to Ft. Lauderdale to visit our friends Kathleen and Kris, who had made their annual trip to the Cardinals' spring training site from their home in St. Louis. We had a great time with them and drove them to the airport the next morning for their return to STL and we headed back to Marco Island to spend the night on the boat. A night there was followed by our drive back to Tampa airport and our return to Albuquerque. God, when would we see our boat again.

About 10 days after our return to New Mexico, we talked to the marina's service staff, who informed us that the fix to the boom was relatively simple, cost us far less than we expected, and that it was all back together again. We will return to Marco Island at the end of May to resume our trip to Tavernier. You know what they say about sailboats....they are merely holes in the water, surrounded by wood/fiberglass, into which you pour money. Damn!

There are lots of things that have been learned about the boat and ourselves on this journey, but the most satisfying is that Lara is an incredible trouper and is going to be a hell of a sailor. She is a delight to be around every minute aboard the boat. She says that she talks to the boat and gets good vibes from those conversations. I believe her!