Lasers and Windsurfers

It has been exciting to watch the Rolex event competitors come and go. They are all young people, men and women in their late teens and early 20s. They have gone out in some fairly nasty weather but it doesn’t seem to faze them. They seem so at ease with their boats, almost casual. I love to watch them tack. They turn the boat and let the boom swing and they calmly duck under it. Then, they wait until the last minute; dipping the end of the boom in the water; you would think they were about to capsize, before righting the boat. When the windsurfers tack, they step around the mast to the other side of the sail and Wham! They pop the sail so it balloons on the opposite side of the board.
I began calling out support to the French and Italian competitors, “Vive la France!” and “Viva Italia!” I always got a big smile. Then, I looked up the names of the competitors and their sail numbers. “Bonne chance, Sarah!” or “Buona fortuna, Carlo!” That gets a big smile and a “Merçi!” or a “Grazie!” I’m sure they wondered how I knew their names. Ain’t the internet grand?
The races are over now. I was glad to see French and Italian entrants in both the windsurfing and the Laser events were among the finalists. Maybe my cheering had something to do with that.

Coconut Grove

Coconut Grove Sailing Club where we are moored is an active club. Many of its members go sailing, even when the weather is not especially pleasant. As the saying goes, “A bad day on the water is better than a good day at work!” The club is conveniently located on Biscayne Bay. It is hosting an international sailboard event. World class sailboarders from all over the world are qualifying for the Olympics. Next door, at Dinner Key Marina, the Rolex Miami Olympic Class Regatta is taking place. Hundreds of sailors from all over the world are competing in the International Sailing Federation World Cup. It is quite a site to see hundreds of Laser performance boats sail out to the course. Sails announce competitors from over fifty countries, Hungary, Poland, Mexico, Italy, Czechoslovakia and on and on. Now or Never! Is moored right next to the channel where they go in and out.

We rented a car with some friends and did some shopping. Somebody, please remind me why I don’t like to go shopping on Saturday! We did discover a really fine restaurant on Calle Ocho in the heart of Little Havana. “El Atlacatl” is a Salvadoran restaurant apparently named after the last ruler of a people centered in Cuzcatlan in Meso America. The food is magnificent. The Mariscada (sea food soup or stew) is brimming with shrimp and mussels and fish and crab and other sea foods. It is at least as good as the Mariscada of El Tamarindo in Ft Lauderdale where we discovered this outstanding dish. Claudia’s fish had a spicy tomato based sauce and was smothered in calamari rings. We were the only gringos in the place which was full of families who were speaking Spanish. In fact, a little knowledge of Spanish was helpful in communicating with the waitress.

Goodbye Ft Lauderdale, Hello Miami

We left Ft Lauderdale in light fog. The wind was right on the nose but the seas were smooth so there was no need to raise a sail. Okay, I know, it’s a sailboat! Sure, we could have sailed the entire distance but that would have meant many more miles and many more hours. We have come to terms with the fact that sometimes it is necessary to turn on the “iron genny.” We ran into some really skinny water just north of Biscayne Bay but after some confusion managed to get through it. We arrived at Coconut Grove Sailing Club in early afternoon and we grabbed a mooring ball. We were greeted by our good friends Greg and Janice on “Glenice.” Later, we joined them on their boat and Earl and Kathy from Seeker for sundowners. It was so good to meet up with friends.

Janice gave us a brief tour of Downtown Coconut Grove and introduced us to the bus system—25 cents to go anywhere! Coconut Grove, “the Grove” as it is known to us cognoscenti is laid back, full of little shops, all of them pricey. There are lots of nice restaurants. It would be easy to fall in love with this place.

FT LAUDERDALE

Since arriving in Ft Lauderdale, we have been busy. To begin with, our friend Al wanted us to “check out” the V-berth on his “new” boat, a 1988 Hylas 44. We assumed he was inviting us over for the night. Actually, he had several projects and needed some help. Peter installed a new radar system, traced down several problems in the 12 volt electrical system and the water system. In all, we spent a week on board his boat. We enjoyed several good restaurant meals--Mariscada at El Tamarindo and Conch chowder at Ernie’s and cooked some really good stuff on his boat—seared tuna with a rum reduction sauce, chicken Vesuvio.
We moved Now or Never! from a slip at Las Olas Marina and hauled her out of the water at Playboy Marine, a boat yard where our primary goal was a bottom job. We also replaced the cutless bearing and tended to a couple of other jobs. Originally, we had planned to do this at St Mary’s, GA, a day’s sail from Brunswick where we keep the boat. We are so happy that we did not do that. Had we done so, we would have been delayed in our progress south and would still be freezing at Fernandina Beach waiting for favorable weather to go South.
Peter re-installed the battery combiner. When we first boarded the boat back in December it didn’t seem to be working properly. So, Peter removed it and replaced it with a new one that definitely wasn’t working properly. He contacted the manufacturer who said, “Send both units and they would test them and replace if necessary.” Well, the new unit tested defective and they replaced it. The original unit tested OK so they returned it. Upon re-installation, the original unit worked properly. For those who don’t know, a combiner is a device that combines two battery banks in parallel whenever one of them is receiving a charge and separates them when neither is receiving a charge. It eliminates the possibility that one bank will discharge the other when in use.
Ft Lauderdale is a good place to stop for a few days. The marina is located right on Las Olas Blvd just a couple of blocks from the beach. Public transportation is good and easy to use. There are lots of restaurants nearby although most of them cater to tourists who come to Florida to lay on the beach. One however is really good. When we’re cruising, we are often beset with an insane craving for a hamburger. Near the marina is The Quarterdeck. On our anniversary, after bringing the boat back to the marina from the boatyard, we had one of those Jimmy Buffet desires for a “Hamburger in Paradise.” No champagne, just a beer and the best hamburger we’ve had in nearly two years! It was so good we went back the next day for another.
We’ll stay in Ft Lauderdale a few more days then move to Dinner Key south of Miami. We’re looking forward to seeing our friends Greg and Janice o/b Glenice there. We may also see Kathy and Earl o/b Seeker. It will be good to see cruising friends.


The pix are of Now or Never! on the hard, Now or Never! at the Las Olas Marina and one of our less pretentious neighbors.

Ft Pierce to Ft Lauderdale

After our frightful arrival, we spent a couple of pleasant days at Ft Pierce. Unfortunately, an unpleasant surprise awaited our departure. We’ve been in and out of Ft Pierce several times and never experienced the kind of water we had when we arrived. We didn’t expect a repeat performance when we left. What a surprise! As we went out the channel, there was a stretch of about a mile that was like a washing machine. A huge wave broke over the bow, another smacked us from the side and soaked us thoroughly. Then we climbed up an 8 foot wave and rushed down the other side, burying the bow in water. Fortunately, Claudia was seated in the cockpit, facing the stern with her eyes tightly shut and she wasn’t privy to this bit of excitement. ¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬We finally got out of the channel and into “good” water. It was still choppy, but we weren’t tossing around. We didn’t find comfortable water until we got somewhere south of Lake Worth. A warm, tropical sunrise met us as we viewed the four red and white striped smokestacks that crown the entrance to Port Everglades at Ft Lauderdale. We tied up at the dock at Las Olas by 8:30 and called our Kentucky friend and sailing buddy Al. He was in town working on a boat that he recently bought.
The video is "The Good." I'd rather forget "The Bad," entering Ft Pierce and "The Ugly," leaving Ft Pierce. Besides, I was too busy to record the events!

Hope your new year is wonderful - peaceful and loving. Well, once again the "best laid plans . . . " adage applied. We left Mayport at 8 AM with the intention of getting to Ft Pierce in late afternoon the next day and having one of their wonderful hamburgers (as opposed their $24 a dozen raw oysters!!! 'Twas not to be. The day started out nice. Light winds and calm seas. Not the best conditions for a sail boat. Still, we were able to raise both sails and make pretty good time. But things deteriorated. A couple of hours into what was supposed to be a 30 hour passage, the wind died and the sails were useless. The sun set and stars were beautiful—the Dippers, Cepheus, Cassiopeia, the Pleiades, Orion.. It was a long night and sunrise was a welcome sight. We were just off of Cape Canaveral and had traveled about 115 nautical miles. Sunrise was beautiful—reds, purples, grays—stunning. After a long, chilly night, it was cheering to behold such a spectacular sunrise. Alas, behind the beauty of the sunrise lay the old mariners’ adage, “red sky in morning . . .” by the time we were passing Vero (just a few miles from our destination) the seas were pretty rough. The waves were coming at us broadside and the boat was tossing from side to side. Peter said, “Well at least when we turn into the inlet channel, the seas will be behind us and things should smooth out. Wishful thinking! When we got to Ft Pierce WOW!!! We were getting tossed and turned, Waves up to the gunwales. Awful awful. And this in the inlet!!!! The captain was having a hard time keeping control of the boat and was concerned we were going to be tossed against the rocks! Then when we got all the way in there were a zillion day marks and I was on number patrol with my little flashlight so we could see what marks we were passing as there is a Y so we had to keep our numbers. Finally arrived and tied up to the fuel doc. AT 12:30 A.M. !!!!!!! 40 hours after leaving Mayport. Somehow, the 30 hour trip had morphed into a 40 hour trip.
But we were safe and sound. So we had a stiff rum and kept mumbling "can't believe it!!!" and hit the hay. We both slept until almost nine!!!!
Our New Year's Eve was nice. We were still tired and ready for bed by 3 pm! So I mixed up a rum punch (using Chrystal Lite Mango!) And we watched one of our favorite movies; Smokey and the Bandit II !!! I'm sure we were in bed before 8 !!
This morning we went to a farmers' market - fantastic! It's right here at the Ft. Pierce city marina. Getting close to noon and the captain is prepping for his "Tuna Ceviche with a Caribbean Twist"
We will leave for Ft. Lauderdale Sunday and arrive Monday (after a hopeful) (17 hrs) .