Key Largo!

I guess I should report the good with the bad and yesterday was a very long
and nerve-wracking day.

Up at 5, we left Bayside at 5:45 bound for Cat Cay.  The weather forecast
was 2 foot seas with winds from the east 5 to 10.  I know that you are
supossed to wait for winds from the south but I figured that we will never
get better than 2 foot waves and that we should go.  The previous day was
flat calm - but we were not ready (we need fuel and last minute food
shopping).  Bayside Marina was throwing us out because they had some kind
of sailboat regatta coming in.

The forecast winds were stronger than anticipated.  In the marina they blew
lightly all night from the east.  Entering Government Cut at full pitch
dark, there was a moderate swell running from the east.  We had exciting
nightime encounters with a ferry (which I never saw, even with the radar
on) until he blew his horn for a 2 whistle pass.  Right in Government Cut
exit we met a Carnival Cruise ship and got slammed by a 5  foot wake.
After that I attributed the rough sea conditions to all the heavy ship
traffic at the port entrance.

The seas were very lumpy and confused.  Bumpy.  The winds were 10 or more
directly from the east.  Every few moments we met an ugly, steep set of 4
footers right on the nose.  Indiscipline has never put her pulpit under in
any seas we have ever seen, but the second or third of these were within a
inch.  The anchors were getting wet.  The foredecik was soaked with spray.
We were about 5 miles out on course for Bimini.  The skies brightened with
a lovely sunrise, but we were holding on tight at 7 knots.  Even pushing it
to 8 was enough to cause bad pounding.  And I had told the kids they would
wake up in the Bahamas (planning on a 4 hour crossing at 15 knots).

So we made the decision to abort.  It was bad 5 miles out, we were able to
continue but we were afraid to get really bad conditions at 20 miles where
the NOAA radio was reporting the western edge of the Gulf Stream.  I
foresaw a day of gradually slowing, from 7 to 6 to 5 knots and finally
dragging in really beat up, or even aborting 20 miles out.  The winds were
forecast to go to 15 to 20 from the east by the afternoon.  If we couldn't
make the crossing on plane in the early morning hours we had to abort.

Turning around, we put those seas on the stern and ran back in at 15 knots.
I was really disapointed.  If we couldn't make it in what they call 2 foot
seas we may never make it!  However, that was not really the bad part of
the day.

Back in Government Cut we consulted the guides and decided to go to Boca
Chita Key a few miles south.  It was now around 8:30 AM and we had plenty
of time before the wind came up.  We put Indiscipline up on plane and ran
across Biscane Bay to beat the afternoon winds.  We docked at Boca Chita in
strong cross winds and before we even had the spring lines on the Park
Ranger made us leave because no dogs were allowed.  We had missed the
entrance bouys and had to feel our way in and out of the Featherbed reefs -
at least we got plenty of practice reading depths by  water color!  The
water was so clear we could see the rocks, sand and coral in 4 feet.  I had
to steer around the big ones.  So we went south to Elliot Key, which has a
park and an anchorage.  But we didn't like the anchorage for strong
south-east winds so Karen picked out the Anglefish anchorage from the
guides.  We ran south another 10 miles.  This place, and the Pumpkin Key
anchorage were more sheltered, but all mangroves and no place to land dogs
and kids.  The weather forecast for Tuesday (today as I write this) and the
next few days were for strong 20 knot winds.  So we picked a marina further
south.

After another 15 miles w finally were getting to Manatee Bay, there was no
way we could enter after we started metering 3 foot depths.  When we meter
2.5 we are on the bottom and we get really nervous when it is below 4 or
even 3.5.  So we continued south to Key Largo, finally coming into a
"resort" marina which is really a dingy, run-down hotel with a pool and a
couple of tired docks.  The woman on the radio directed us to our slip.  I
said "You mean next to the Krogen 42?"  She didn't have the faintest idea
of what that meant.  This place would be OK, even good, at $0.70/foot but
we are paying $1.25, same as in Miami.

We swam, soaked in the hot tub, and took naps prior to watching the Super
Bowl.  It ended up being a 65 nautical mile day and one of the worst of our
entire trip.  Nothing happened but it was full of worry.  It's good that
Budwieser makes a treatment for that.

We are going to stay 2 more days (today it is a small craft advisory even
in Biscane Bay) and make our way north probably returning to Coconut Grove
or one of the Miami area anchorages to wait for the next chance for the
Bahamas.  This may come by Friday or Saturday.

Friday the forecast winds are 10 from the southwest with 2 to 3 foot seas
after several days of south winds so we should find better conditions.  If
not, we will wait.

-JimB

Join the Virtual Cruise 2000 at  http://www.indiscipline.org
760-822-7827

Dear Listees,
Skooch went on her maiden voyage last week, so I thought I
would write a brief account of our first voyage on our own
trawler with tid bits on what worked so far.
Skooch lives at St Croix Marine, they watch out for her
and had mostly completed the repair list when we arrived.
It took a extra day to correct a few problems I found, but
on Wed. 1-24 at 5pm we left the ship yard for a 4 mile run
to Buck Island were we anchored in 6' of water with a sand
bottom.
Tid Bit: We successfully anchored three nights always in sand.
Our main anchor is a 40lb Plow 50' 3/8 chain and 250' 3/4 nylon.
We usually had 10' of water and put out all the chain and whatever
nylon to make 7:1 scope measured from her high bow. We use
one anchor unless I'm uneasy with the forcast.
1-24 We left Buck island 9am for the 38 nm crossing to St John
USVI. Winds were 15-20 knots SE seas 10-12 feet. This is
how we find out what kind of boat we've bought. She was dry
rolly, ran like a top and confirmed we made the right choice
finding a Hatteras LRC with stabilizers. The movement even
in these seas was smooth and predictable as expected by
having a full displacement hull. The seas where on the beam
so we tacked a few degrees to smooth out the ride.
The trade winds are a fact of life in the Caribean and this
crossing is always a little sporty. We were very pleased with
the boats performance as she chased the flying fish out
of her way.
Tid Bit: The stabilizers are Naiads active fin. To me they
did help lessen the roll but they made it super easy
for me to steer. (We do not yet have an auto pilot). I do not
recall hearing better steerage as a benifit to stabilizers, but
they are a huge, huge help on Skooch.
We took 5 hours to Rams Head and into Salt Pond. What a
great place, we had lunch and swam. With any new/old boat
there are always hundreds of things that need attention, so each
afternoon we tried to do a few repairs.
1-25 Now in protected waters of the USVI, Winds East 10-15,
seas a couple feet, temp 85.
Cruz Bay for a great lunch at Mongoose Junction, groceries,
short walk about. On to Hawkes Bay for a wonderful overnight
with three other boats, all sail.
1-26 Leinster Bay St John, Watermellon cove another wonderful
over night. Toured through Sopers Hole BVI without stoping. We
are the only trawler.
1-27 Back to St Coix. We Left at dawn with bad forcast for 15-20
NE trades later in the day with large North swells. We made it in
conditions fairly similar to the last time, but we are better
conditioned and our stuff better stowed. The crew had more
confidence in the boats ability to handle these sporty conditions.
Winds E 15-18 Seas 10-12.
1-28 Anchored in Christiansted. Had a great dinner at The Rum
Runner and watched the super bowl on the boat.

All in all a great first trip. On the needs list we will install a
1500 watt inverter to run the Sears 20' fridg, coffee maker
and microwave. Currently we have to run the gen set to cool
the fridg. I also will add a few cooling fans to ventilate the
tightly packed fridg.
Although the tanks have year old fuel and they certainly got
a chance to get stirred up, the racors had very little dirt and
no water in the bowls. I did not change them. I will put gauges
on them next trip.
We burned 69 gallons of fuel with 14 hours on the motors, 22
hours on the gen set, 116 nautical miles. Fuel is $1.41/gal
in St Croix where they have a refinery.

Hatteras LRC 42 Skooch
St Croix, USVI

David Stahl

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