Laundry day! Not much going on with the boat today as we're pretty well full of fuel and groceries plus the boat has been running nice (knock on wood). We relaxed a bit in the morning then took our laundry into the marina after lunch. Wouldn't you know it? For the 4 or 5 times we've been by the marina laundry room we've never seen anyone in there. Today there were only two washers empty (out of 6) and a lady showed up right after us with 2 or 3 loads.
But, we didn't have to wait and got our laundry right into the washers. We just hung out while washers were running then, after moving the laundry to the dryers, we went for a walk. We walked south down Indian River Drive then across Rt 60 into Riverside Park. Wow! What a huge and beautiful park! We didn't even have time to walk all the way around it before we had to head back for the dryers although we did 2 miles of it.
Back at the marina we folded up our laundry then headed back to the boat. Timing was great as I had the dinghy up on it's davits just as the afternoon rain started. It wasn't as bad as predicted but there were huge storms just south of us. We could see the lightning and hear the thunder for a couple hours.
Tonight will be cool - down into the high-60s with north winds tomorrow. That's why we are sitting another day so the north winds clock east and we can sail on Tuesday.
Monday, April 28th
It was cool enough last night to put a blanket on the bed. Very comfortable for me.
After a few boat jobs in the morning, we went for a dinghy ride after lunch. Dean had told us about a canal that runs over toward the ocean so we meandered around and eventually found a small beach, between the mangroves, where we were able to lock the dinghy. Then just a short walk across A1A to the beach! On the way to the beach, we spotted a snack bar with an advertisement for ice cream. I think we've only had ice cream once this Winter so we were ready. Crap. They closed at 2:30pm. It was 3:10pm.
Plus, the public access was all closed and no other place we could find to get down there. It was beautiful and empty. Bummer. Now we were 0 for 2.
It was a pretty day though with a cool north wind blowing down the coast. We both had long-sleeve shirts on to keep warm. On the way back to the dinghy, I took this picture of the nice park with a place for the dinkster. Sorry about the finger in the upper corner...
Before we left I had texted Dean about playing some music at the marina this evening. We made a date for 4:30pm and just had time for showers and pack up our instruments after our dinghy ride.
Dean and I alternated songs on our guitars and Laura even played a couple songs on her Mountain Dulcimer. Dean had invited several of his friends at the marina who came and chatted while listening to music. It was a fun evening that was helped along by TWO glasses of Tequila. Back at the boat I hauled up the dingy and secured it a little better than normal because tomorrow we are going sailing!
Back at the boat I was feeling pretty good and very ready to be leaving tomorrow morning. Those who have followed our blog for the past 14 years might remember that Laura and I are classified as "Globe Trotters" and not "Cruisers". This was a term used by Bruce Van Sant in his Gentleman's Guide to Passages South which we use during our first two years for traveling to Grenada and Trinidad. It says we are the type of sailors who like to travel between places more than staying there. We are always ready for the next horizon.
Tuesday, April 29th
Air temp 72, water temp 76 winds E @ 10-15
33 nautical miles today, 277 total from Marathon
Tuesday morning we are up shortly after 7am and motoring out of the harbor by 7:30am. The winds are a little lighter than predicted so we motored for the first hour until we were away from shore a bit and the east winds built in nicely. We turned off the engine and sailed the ICW for the next 5 hours with full main and jib pulling us along at 5-5.5 knots. It was one of our favorite days in many months. The boat just glided along and it was so quiet.
Autumn Borne passed us later in the morning as Dean was running his engine to check everything out. This was their first day on the water under-way since December so lots to watch for.
We made it an early day and anchored just past the Dragon Point bridge near the eastern shore around 2:45pm. I practiced my flute for a while then Laura and I watched a few shows off my iPhone. We hit the sack around 10pm.
Wednesday, April 30th
Air temp 76, water temp 74, winds SE @ 10
33 nautical miles today, 310 total from Marathon
After a nice night on-the-hook, we were up and raised the anchor at 7:30am again. I rolled out the jib but the winds were light and behind us so we were only making about 3 knots without the motor. I decided to work on my sailing a bit today and because the Indian River is fairly wide here I jibe-tacked back and forth from a broad-reach to wing-on-wing all morning. This means running the boat a little east of our desired course to keep both the main and jib working on a starboard tack (wind on our starboard side). Then, when we got too close to shallow water, I jibed the main to the starboard side and we ran straight downwind with the full jib out to port and full main out to starboard. This only works with the wind right behind you so the boat gradually worked toward the western shore of the river on this tack. I ran this process all morning and probably averaged 4.5 knots for the day. Since we only had 30 miles to Titusville, we weren't in any hurry.
Autumn Borne passed us again and arrived at Titusville 2.5 miles (a little over 1/2 hour) ahead of us. They had run their engine at low RPM all day while our engine was cold. In the two 7 hour days from Vero Beach, we had sailed for 10.5 hours of it. I know. Not a huge accomplishment but I gotta take gratification in the little things these days.
Because of the storms predicted all day tomorrow, we picked up a mooring at the Titusville City Marina for two nights - $38. I feel safer on a mooring (if they are city run and inspected annually) plus the boat doesn't dance back and forth like if we were anchored in high winds. We might take the dinghy into town for a walk if we can get a couple hours between rain cloud tomorrow. Here is our view of the Titusville bridge and some of the high-rise condos from our mooring.
Three years ago we added solar panels and a wind generator to Second Wind. Days like this are when they are really is nice. We sailed all day and only ran the engine for about 20 minutes at each end of the trip. Prior to three years ago I would have had to run our generator for several hours at the end of the day to charge our batteries. When we tied to the mooring, the batteries were all charged up - even put back what we used last night. I was even able to run the hot water heater off our inverter for about 1/2 hour to get hot water for shower and dishes. That was replenished in the batteries before the Sun went down. It was a prefect scenario - clear, blue skies and winds in the high teens. Don't forget we have a refrigerator and two freezers that run off the batteries when not at the dock. They are frugal but not power free. Thank you Mr. Wind and Mr. Sun!
Today was much warmer and humid with the south winds. The front will clock the winds tomorrow to the west and cool everything down for a couple days. The low tomorrow night is predicted to be 58 here. Our first 50s! I'm so excited (Laura is not).
But, highs will still be in the low 80s for the next couple weeks and even close to 90 on Monday and Tuesday. Nights are going to be in the 60s which should keep things comfortable for us without air-conditioning.
Stay safe everyone!
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