We finally get underway!

Okay, finding the time to write this blog is not coming easy.  I started this post when we were still in St. Augustine.  Now it is a week since we returned home from being aboard Owl Moon.

February 10-12, 2016  We arrived St. Augustine Marine Center about noon on Wednesday, February 10 to find Owl Moon pinned to the dock in the travel lift launch area.  Our friends Joe and Eve-Marie drove up from Ft. Pierce in a one-way rental car to meet us at the marina.  Owl Moon needed a bit better fender protection than the mrina personnel had provided, but the 4 of us pushing could not budge her even an inch of the dock.

The marina manager was on lunch break and we were hungry so we left our gear in the cockpit and took Joe and Eve-M to the Blue Hen Cafe that is nearby.  We discovered it in September.  It is our favorite breakfast/lunch place in SA.

We were supposed to have arrived first thing in the morning and be on hand for the launch, but a winter storm that never materialized delayed our departure from MD.  So, we missed the chance to see the board down and inspect the centerboard pennant attachment, having to leave that to the yard.  The marina wanted us to move Owl Moon so that they could launch another boat...that was impossible and with support of yard personnel, the other launch was delayed until the next morning.

While waiting for the current and wind to subside, we received delivery of our new dinghy from Arnis Zvirbulis, Fair Winds Boat Repairs.  It was relatively easy to lift up to the fore deck of Owl Moon while she was pinned to the launch area dock.

The next couple of days were full days with Joe helping John sort through several issues with the boat (head plumbing and masthead tri-color light being the major ones) and Eve-Marie helping Diane organize the galley.  We did not have working refrigeration and were told that we would not get it serviced until Monday.

Taking the job off to have the UV cover restitched.

The reason for the "one way" car rental was that the plan was for Joe and Eve-Marie to help us sail Owl Moon down the coast to Ft. Pierce, about 160 nm.  From there, we had hoped to return in March to make the passage across to the Bahamas.  With the weather looking bad anyway for an outside run down to Ft. Pierce until middle of the following week, Joe needing to get back to Annapolis to deal with his condo, and not having refrigeration on the boat, we came up with the alternate plan to take Owl Moon north to Georgia.

We needed to get Owl Moon out of Florida by March 10 in order to avoid paying Florida sales tax.  John had already burned through enough annual leave that it did not make sense to try to get Owl Moon over to the Bahamas.  Coming to that decision was a big disappointment, but seemed the prudent thing to do.

John just down from going up the mast to measure height above water

Friday night we took Joe and Eve-Marie to the Gaufre's & Goods, a restaurant with Greek and Polish food that we had enjoyed on a previous visit to St. Augustine.  Joe and Eve-Marie had been to St. Augustine on their trip south on the ICW, but with us they saw some different parts of the old city that they had not seen before.  It was great to have them spend a few days with us helping to get Owl Moon ready to go.  It was too bad that they would not be going with us!

February 13, 2016  It was time to split up our group.  Joe and Eve-Marie were going to drive the "one way" rental car back to Ft. Pierce and we were going to take Owl Moon north.  Our dock neighbor had suggested the Brunswick Landing Marina where there was no tidal current.  He also said that we should stop at Fernandina on the way.  After breakfast with Joe and Eve-Marie and a few last minute errands, they helped us off the dock so that we could move around to the City Marina for an early morning start.  Owl Moon was finally under way again!  Fortunately, on Friday afternoon our refrigeration was fixed...no freezer, but a least we had a fridge.

February 14, 2016  Valentines Day!  Up early to make the 7:30 am Bridge of Lions opening as we were in a race to get through all the bridges in the ICW between St. Augustine and the St. Johns River.  We were followed through the bridge by an Ericson 38 being single handed.  Both of us headed out on a course toward the inlet from the ocean, but then we made the left turn to head north up the ICW and the Ericson continued on out the inlet.  Good for him!  We weren’t ready to face the predicted weather in the ocean in our boat.

Waiting for the bridge to open.

The first two bridges were fine, showing over 65’ clearance.  Approaching the Pablo Creek Bridge at peek flood flow against us of over 3 knots, we saw that it was just under 65’.  We held our breath and went for it.  Tink-tink-tink went our VHF antenna on the bridge as we went through, but we made it with all instruments intact atop our mast.  One more bridge to go, and it was fine, showing just over 65’ (I think we still caught the bridge with our antenna).

Turning into the current in the St. Johns River, we headed for Mayport Marina where we had a reservation for the night.  However, after considering the current and the forecast for the next day, decided that we did not want to stick with the plan.  We turned around and went back up the river to where the ICW continued north, uncertain of what lay ahead (so far we had only retraced the route we had traveled last fall).

Thankfully, we had picked up an ICW cruising guide at West Marine.  We called ahead and made a reservation at Fernandina Harbor Marina.  We made pretty good time averaging just under 7 knots, powering into adverse current some of the way and adverse wind much of the way.  The total trip was just over 50 nm and we did it in about 8 hours.  Docking went smoothly on the outside of the face dock up current and down wind.

Time enough for a shower before dinner and we walked into town to see what we could find.  Several places turned us away, being full for Valentine’s Day.  The owner of Ciao welcomed us in our foul weather jackets and said he could seat us.  We had a delicious meal there with excellent service.  All tables were taken and the staff was hustling.

On the way back to the boat we decided to check out the Alley Cat where some people we met on the dock told us someone would be playing violin.  As we got to the door, we could hear rousing Irish fiddle, hand clapping, hooting and hollering.  It turned out to be a rousing good time.  We even got in a waltz!

February 15, 2016  Lay day at the dock to wait for better weather to take the outside route north to Brunswick.  We really wanted a chance to see Owl Moon under sail.  It sure was nice to sleep in and not feel the push to get up and get boat projects done or get underway.  This was more like cruising is supposed to be!  During the day, the Ericson 38, Alliance, that left St. Augustine with us docked right opposite us.  Mark Stetler had spent the previous night at Mayport and said that we had made the correct decision to stay inside…thought about us often during the day wishing he had followed us up the ICW.  Mark was bringing his boat back to Charleston after racing from Key West to Cuba.  His crew had flown home.

Ericson 38 Alliance across the dock from us

It was a lay day, but not a lazy day, other than sleeping in.  John was busy with boat projects while Diane assisted and also was busy with various house renovation, business, and Annapolis volunteer things.  The big accomplishment of the day was to get the dinghy off the bow and onto the davits.  Before we knew it, the day was over and it was time for diner…no sightseeing!  Mark joined us for dinner at Espana where we had some delicious tapas.  We enjoyed talking with Mark about Ericson 38s, his experience in Cuba and other things.

February 16-18, 2016  A front was forecast to come through early morning with winds picking up and not settle down until late morning.  We hoped that would be not too late for us to wait for the settled winds and still go outside to Brunswick.  Well, the front came through in a blast. We were awoken at 3 am with the wind howling, wind and waves rocking the boat and pushing us onto the dock.  We saw 40 knots on the wind display so donned our foul weather gear to go out and check on things.  John grabbed a heavy line Hank had left us and used it to take the pressure off the spring line which was the only line holding the boat.  As winds subsided a bit, we went back to bed and didn’t see any damage to the boat in the morning.

Taut heavy spring line and frothy water

The winds had shifted from SW to W and were now pinning us to the N/S dock.  The day before, John had opened the port to the fuel tank and saw that we were low on fuel (the gauge was reporting empty).  We needed fuel and also wanted to get a pump out.  That would mean getting off the dock, coming back on to the fuel dock in more or less the same situation and then getting off again…not something we wanted to undertake.  However, we also wanted to get going to catch the winds inn the ocean before they died completely.  So we resorted to using the two 5 gallon cans we had to make multiple trips to the diesel pump and dock cart down the long length of the fuel dock to refuel…3 trips, 22 gallons because we didn’t fill them all the way).

This time Mark on Alliance left just ahead of us.  He texted back that it was fine in the ocean with the wind 10 knots from the west.  We were getting a bit of a late start due to the refueling delay and were going to have to make good time to get to Brunswick before sunset.  We sailed for a bit and motor sailed most of the way, at times doing close to 8 knots.  It was great to finally get the sails up on Owl Moon.  One frustration was that we could not get the centerboard to go down…something we should have tried while we were in St. Augustine.

Good to be under full sail on Owl Moon!

We were slowed by current coming into St. Simmons Sound and up the Brunswick River, sometimes dropping below 6 knots.  We pulled into our slip at Brunswick Landing Marina at about 5:40 pm, not keeping Cindy too long past her usual quitting time.  We met our dock neighbor, a former Annapolitian, who had his custom Passport 47 up for sale and went up to get our free mug of beer from the "Yacht Club"...yes, they have free beer every day.  Old town Brunswick with a few good restaurants is a short walk from the marina.  We had Margherita pizza and a salad at Arte Pizza.

Fishing boats at the dock in Brunswick

Tugboats at the dock in Brunswick

The next day was a lay day to do laundry and take care of some more things on the boat.  Diane also managed to take care of some other business.  John cleaned out the bilge...no telling the last time it had been cleaned.  We also determined that both holding tank vent hoses seemed to be blocked which a trip to the pump out dock first thing the next morning seemed to confirm.

Late Wednesday afternoon we decided to check out the happy hour at the yacht club.  They have happy hour Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  The marina supplies wine and we learned that boaters contribute food and more wine.  It turned out to be a great time to socialize with other boaters.  There was quite a diverse group of boaters there, some passing through and some there for an extended stay.

After happy hour we walked to Fox's Pizza Den, not for pizza.  It was an interesting place, with album covers from the 60s and 70s on the wall and posters of bands from that era.  Food was good and we received a small discount after showing our access card from the marina.

Our last morning was hectic, squeezing in a pump out, one more laundry, and prepping the boat for leaving her unattended.  When it came time to call Uber for a ride to the airport, no cars were available.  Called a taxi instead and were worried that we would be late for the plan.  Turned out to be now worries.  The Brunswick airport is a very small airport.  There were several people behind the Delta counter and no customers in line. They opened the TSA security check-in as we were checking our bags at the Delta counter.  A far different experience from catching a plane at BWI.

Catching Up for the First Post

June 28, 2015 Our first look at a Tartan 4300 was a photo on the wall in a broker’s office.  We had come to look at a Saga 43 he had listed.  While waiting for the broker, the boat in the photo caught our eyes.  It had nice lines, a dark hull, and a Solent rig which John had liked for years as he looked at Outbound 46s…the Outbound 46 had been John’s dream boat until recently when we realized it was not really a boat for us.  We were not likely to throw the dock lines and sail away for years...the Outbound seemed a perfect boat for that.

While there, the broker was able to get us aboard a T4300 they had recently sold.  We liked what we saw, but didn’t really investigate thoroughly as it was someone’s personal yacht and not for sale.  We talked to the broker about used T4300s and he indicated they were hard to come by.  We also talked about the price of a new boat and it was out of our budget.

Later, John looked online and found a used T4300 for sale in Florida that was within our budget. Could that boat be our next step from Red Rover, the Ericson 38 we loved so much?  The fact that it was in Florida was a bit of a hurdle, but after conversations with the broker and a little more investigation, we flew down to Jacksonville to see Czech Mate first hand and take her out for a test sail.

July 27, 2015  For the test sail, we had to go out a shallow entrance to the marina and then about 8 miles up the Intracoastal Waterway, passing under two bridges that we just cleared along the way.  This got us to the St. John’s River with a strong ebb current running…not ideal conditions to see how well the shoal draft keel/centerboard T4300 went to windward.  Another frustration for us was that the centerboard would not go down.  The owner said he never used it.  We did like the way the boat felt under sail in about 15 knots of wind.  At dinner with the broker and owner, we settled on a purchase price and Czech Mate was ours, pending a survey.

August 21, 2015  After an aborted survey immediately following the test sail due to a severely corroded sail drive, John flew down in late August for the survey.  All went well with the survey and there were only a few contingencies to resolve before the closing.

 Haul out for the survey

 Centerboard up in the keel will not drop down

Working to release the centerboard

Success!

September 10, 2015  In between the survey and closing, we sailed with friends aboard their Catalina 380 from Stanford, CT to Annapolis, MD.  En-route, we continued to communicate with the broker to resolve the contingencies.  It was also on this trip that we settled on Owl Moon for the new name of Czech Mate.  With all worked out and closing documents signed, we flew down to Jacksonville for final acceptance of the vessel and were underway southbound on the ICW by late morning.

Southbound in the ICW on our new boat

Diane's turn at the helm

After about a 3 1/2 hour motor, we arrived at the Bridge of Lions in St. Augustine just in time for the 3 pm opening.  From there we headed up the San Sebastion River to the St. Augustine Marine Center where we had arranged to have Owl Moon hauled and work done.  Gene met us at the T head for what should have been an easy docking straight into the swift current.  However, John misjudged the current and put a light scrape along the topsides with the well protected hard rubber corner of the dock.  Fortunately, the streak was easily buffed out later.

Docked at the St. Augustine Marine Center

We had an enjoyable weekend in St. Augustine, including a visit with our friends Dan and Jaye and tour of El Galeón, replica of a 16th century galeón.  After only 2 nights aboard Owl Moon, we flew back to Maryland, leaving Owl Moon at the dock waiting to be hauled.

Our pirate friends Dan and Jay

October 3, 2015 Quick weekend trip down to St. Augustine to see Owl Moon securely blocked on the hard at the Marine Center.  We discussed the work that we wanted to have done with Andrew and again enjoyed a bit of the St. Augustine town.
January 14-18, 2016 Using the long MLK holiday weekend, we returned to St. Augustine to bring some things to put aboard Owl Moon, check on work done by the Marine Center, and try to get a few DIY items done. We were looking forward to getting back aboard Owl Moon even though she was still on the hard and not going anywhere. Opening the companionway hatch and stepping below, we saw that most surfaces were covered by a layer of mildew! Spending the next 2 days cleaning had not been in our plans. Fortunately, most of the long weekend was sunny and dry weather, good for putting cleaned items on deck for some sun.

During this trip we purchased a new dinghy from Arnis Zvirbulis (www.fairwindsboatrepairs.com). He repairs dinghy's and we asked him to look at the deflated dinghy that had been included with our purchase of Owl Moon. He told us that, although he would like the work, the dinghy was not worth repairing. Since he is also a dealer for Walker Bay, we purchased a new Walker Bay Superlight 310...not in our budget, but now we have a reliable dinghy.

We worked with Charles Downing of St. Augustine Signs to design the boat graphic for Owl Moon and he put it on just before we left.  He was great to work with...knew what he was doing with boat graphics.