This is Part II of the Miami to Fort Pierce trip. For Part I, please click here.
Pete and I watched the sun go down over Boca Raton and then come
back up over the Atlantic Horizon as we passed Jupiter (not the planet, the town in Florida). The night was
clear and billions of amazing stars twinkled in every corner of the sky. My crew saw a dolphin, but there wasn't much for wildlife other than the phosphorescence we
saw at night as nearby waves disturbed the water. No
ships were near enough during the night to cause us any concern.
Being able to watch a beautiful sunset and still be there when
the sun rises is like going to church for me. In the morning, a fuzzy
line at the horizon began to emerge out of the darkness. Gradually the line hardened in soft colors, clouds became discernible and the sky changed from black to blue and
grey. Soon the whole horizon splashed with purple, peach and orange. And finally, with the sun peaking through, the sky filled with the
yellows and oranges of a new day. It was sublime and holy.
Once we got to Fort Pierce, the wind was blowing straight down the
channel [Editor's Note: sound
Ft. Pierce Inlet
familiar?] Damned if I didn't try to sail in anyway.
While Pete was telling me it couldn't be done, I inched my way
toward the last pair of day markers. We were out of the channel a bit as
I tried to slice the wind thin enough to make it in under sail. The
Fort Pierce Inlet has a dogleg turn about a third of the way in from
the Atlantic. If I just could have made it to that turn, we might have
sailed all the way in. Alas, Pete was right – dammit – it
couldn't be done. After gently bumping the bottom, testing Emma's
patience, I pushed the tiller over and we spun back into open water. We were starting to get the hang of sailing a cutter. Patience with the jib sheet is critical, but even with a couple rank amateur cutter sailors, Emma tacked nicely for a heavy girl.
And we called for another tow. Happily, this one was considered an
emergency. Pete and I made a big lazy circle toward open water and
just as we headed back toward the inlet, our tow was already steaming
toward us.
The Cormorant, Fort Pierce, FL
As I was pushing my luck trying to sail through, a Coast Guard
cutter (same term, but not a sailboat) came by, passing us as she headed in. As we were towed past the Coast Guard Station, home to the cutter we'd seen, the Commanding
Officer spotted us and sent a launch to investigate. The Coasties later told us the CO was convinced on
seeing an old sailboat getting towed, we must be drug smugglers.
I had told the marina that we would arrive Thursday afternoon or
Friday morning. Having arrived at 8:30 Thursday morning, we were
really early (thanks, Gulf Stream). Further, there is some kind of
friction between the tow boat company and my marina. Towboat/US
wasn't going to tow me in until they talked to the marina manager.
Apparently, the tow guys were worried about being able to maneuver
Emma, or any boat, into the slipway without damaging theirs or anyone
else's boat. Riverside's channel is tight and the docks are full of
boats of every variety; sailboats, fishing boats, catamarans,
trawlers, etc.
When it was all said and done, I couldn't get into the marina at
8:30 am because Emma and I were
Riverside and the spoil island.
scheduled for the afternoon; they
had a full schedule for the day. Fair enough. They planned their day
based on when I said I would be there. Towboat/US towed us to a spot off the Intracoastal Waterway, next to a spoil island and right across from the marina. We dropped anchor and as I signed the
tow bill the USCG launch hovered nearby.
“Don't worry, they're just training,” the tow captain assured
us.
When the launch arrived, however, we learned we were suspected
drug smugglers. The Petty Officer chuckled and said “I could see
how high your boat was floating in the water. I knew you weren't
smuggling anything.” We got the inspection; PFDs, fire extinguisher
and – oh, shit – a signaling device. I meant to grab a bag out of
storage that was stuffed with miscellaneous boat stuff – including
a couple air horns and a whistle – regulation signaling devices. I
had no such device; a USCG requirement. On top of that, my crew's
passport and license were Canadian; a whole different number to call;
a different system to check.
Nevertheless, since we were nice guys and cooperative, despite the boat being a
mess from the overnight passage, but mostly because the Petty Officer
knew from our conversation that I was headed right across the river
to be hauled out for more than a year, we got a pass for the missing
signaling devices.
Mid-afternoon, Towboat/US came back to tow us in. Emma was
skillfully nudged into the slipway. Riverside Marina hauled her out
of the water, pressure washed her hull, and parked her out back on
jackstands. We're in the northwest corner of their yard. I can't say enough how well I was treated by Towboat/US
at each end of the trip. Riverside not only took care of setting Emma
in a safe spot 'on the hard', but they have been great to work with
ever since.
Emma is in her new temporary home and my work has begun. Finally,
all my stuff is in the same
I'd been spread out all over Florida since February. Emma, my
boat, in Miami, the job in Fort Pierce, a rolled up inflatable
dinghy in the back seat, and half my life in the trunk. I've been
living out of a bag since I started driving a truck, so that went
without saying.
In the meantime, I'd been trying to work on the boat whenever I
had some free time. But she was almost three hours away in traffic
and I had tripped into working 6 days a week. Most of my boat money
was going toward cheap motel rooms because often I didn't have enough
time off to make a trip to the boat. It's a funny thing for a
vagabond to feel rootless and spread out.
The previous mess.
After switching jobs, it only took a couple weeks to get the boat
set up to be able to move her. I wired just enough to have running
lights for the trip. Emma's wiring is so bad, I'll have to replace
nearly all of it eventually. Nevertheless, the solar panels that were on the boat
have been keeping my new battery bank well charged. Also, the
composting toilet that I installed has worked great and is super easy
to maintain.
As I got close to being able to move Emma, my buddy Pete from
Canada contacted me about a big motorcycle trip that he had been planning.
He was going to be in Florida and wanted to come by for a beer and to
catch up. As his timing began to converge with my need to move Emma,
I offered to take him sailing on my decrepit boat. Emma was neglected
enough that I could afford her, but she was in the water, floating,
dry inside and ready for a new life. I was just the man for the job,
but sailing her without an engine 120 miles from Miami to Fort Pierce
was safer and more practical with some crew. Pete didn't hesitate and
he didn't abandon ship once he saw Emma's current basic
accommodations.
Emma has a few chunks of foam in her cabin but no upholstered
cushions. The dinette would fold
The Galley
down to make a double bed but has no
table. The head is solid and installed but a little too high off the
floor in its temporary position. The galley is a one burner swing
stove that I brought from my much smaller previous boat. She has no
refrigerator or sink. As mentioned above, she has no engine; no
motive power other than sails in the wind. (Editor's Note: Sound Familiar?)
And she sails like a dream, but we'll get into that later.
I got back from my week of trucking and met up with Pete on
Monday, July Fourth. Pete parked his motorcycle at the marina. We ran
a few errands in town, forgot to grab a bag out of my storage unit,
and took off for Miami in my vehicle.
Pete, hard at work at the tiller
Poor Pete, a Canadian remember, had already been on the road for
4000 miles and I drug him into the thick tropical swelter of Miami in
July. After provisioning, we dinghied out to the boat Monday night.
We didn't do much but organize ourselves and get ready to crash.
Auspiciously it was the Fourth of July. As we sat in the cockpit,
having a beer, we could see six different fireworks displays. What
looked like the main Miami display was fantastic but the display
toward Kendall or Pinecrest seemed to go on all night long. Mother
Nature even got in the game flashing lightning off of huge thunderclouds
that gathered over the Everglades.
Tuesday we did some boatwork; tuned the rig, taped off all the
cotter pins, got the jib sheet and the downhaul installed, and
generally got ready. We were feeling ready so soon that I called and
moved our tow appointment up to Wednesday morning from Wednesday
afternoon.
Yeah, towing. In addition to having no engine, Emma was moored
deep on the wrong side of the
Emma was four rows down from the top right corner.
Dinner Key Mooring Field. Without a
tow, I would have had to get through the maze of other moored boats,
sail across Biscayne Bay, and make it out one of the channels through
the shallows and into the Straits of Florida (the Atlantic) – under
sail – the first time I'd ever sailed my boat. It was much safer
and efficient to get towed out.
In no hurry, our tow captain talked our ears off before he even
tied a line to Emma. After the chat, he decided to tie up at
Emma's hip to get us out of the mooring field. Which meant he was
beside us rather than in front of us, but we were “attached at the
hip” and easier for him to control in close quarters. Once in the
channel, he untied and tossed a line to tow us from the bow. We were
attached off center from the starboard hawse, so I had to steer
toward the tow boat to keep Emma in his wake.
Someone else's starboard hawse
Originally, the Miami Towboat/US franchise had told me that they
thought I'd be covered by my insurance for the tow out. When I called
Boat/US corporate to have the tow dispatched, they informed me that
their service is for emergencies and I didn't have one. They determined that because I had purchased a boat without an engine, Ihad known all along
I'd need a tow. I did, however, get a good discount from the Miami
guys for being a Boat/US member. And it sounds like the office newbie
gave me a pretty low quote to begin with. They were all great and
stood by the quote.
We had a pleasant ride across Biscayne Bay and down the channel
between Key Biscayne and Stiltsville. Just past the last marker, we
were set free. The towboat captain hung around to watch us
Stiltsville
hoist sail
and get underway. We set the yankee, the staysail and raised the
main. The wind was easy, 5 to 10 knots, and Emma began to sail gently
straight north. As soon as I could feel that surge of wind against
sail, I was in my element. Emma sails wonderfully well for a heavy,
wide bottom girl.
I had set up some waypoints and researched the waters about five
miles offshore. Unfortunately, the wind we had wouldn't let us get
farther offshore without pointing the boat almost perfectly south –
the wrong direction. I hadn't really studied this
particular patch of
The Sail Plan
water, but we sailed on. There was lots of water
underneath us and not much traffic around us. And Emma was just happy
to be back in the ocean!
We made it past the Port of Miami without having much ship
traffic. Port Everglades was busier but we only had to
watch one ship as it crossed our bow a good distance away. Several
ships and a tug towing a huge barge were offshore heading north and would
be no trouble to us.
Nine Knots!!
The sailing was glorious. The wind piped up on a few occasions but
was steady and went easy on us. We might have had some gusts to 20
knots but the wind stayed 10 to 15 knots most of the way. Once or
twice we were nearly becalmed; just gurgling along, but we only
tacked once the whole trip. Though I had expected the wind to shift
behind us, it never did. We were on a beam reach nearly the whole
time. Check out the screenshot of Emma making 9 knots over the
ground. Pretty nice for a 20,000 pound boat. The Gulf Stream current
almost doubled our speed even as the ride was smooth as silk.
