To: engstromle@hotmail.com, g.preston@ieee.org, N9XA@winlink.org From: Subject: Weather Strategies Date: Mon, 2 Jul 2001 21:31:00 -0000 (GMT) Mike, Len, and Gene - Sorry to hear your stuck with the bad weather blues, Mike. Seems like it's every other day here too. We thought we might do an off shore run from Georgetown NC to either Beaufort NC or Cape Fear. But even though our local weather was beautiful, good wind from the south, the faxes and reports said a big front was coming in centered in the Great Lakes area. So even though I was skeptical about how big a deal this front was, we decided to do the ICW instead. Right after lunch it hit us. We were not disappointed - blinding rain, lightning, and a wind shift to the north that would have likely stopped us had we been sailing off shore. In the ditch it was bad enough. No place to pull off and anchor, we put on rain gear, clipped the zinc anode Grouper to a shroud hanging it into the water in the hope that it would somehow deflect a stroke outside the boat, and pushed on. We made it to a nice new marina in Southport before dark. I don't know which is more stressful, offshore or inshore. Doing the ICW requires constant vigilance, don't you think Mike? Thirty seconds of gazing at the clouds or a bikinied girl on the deck of a power boat, and you can be aground, or worse. Then, at least here in this recreation area, there are the power boats and jet skis zooming in all directions. Also the tows, although not so many as in Texas, the tidal currents (why are we only going 5 knots at full throttle?) and the markers (is this the water way or red right returning?). Off shore the stress often comes in brief moments of terror - ships passing in the night, seeing a big black weather front rolling in on you, and worse, getting into bad weather/seas and knowing that you'll be in it for hours with no way out. Has anyone tried the GRIB weather chart down loads? The info from the mbo Program said that it is a three day forecast of animated weather/wind charts that require Raytheon software to read. The software is on a cd that can be ordered on line. I'm going try it. The forecast takes about 15 minutes to down load. But if it can tell what the weather is going to do, it would be worth it. Now if we had something that would make the weather do what we want it to do- Thanks for the air time, Dave To: KD5BZH@winlink.org From: Subject: Re: Weather Strategies Date: Mon, 2 Jul 2001 20:43:00 -0000 (GMT) Cc: engstromle@hotmail.com, g.preston@ieee.org David: I am so glad you talked about the stress in the Intercoastal. In fact, where we are right now, some of the Bays are extremely rough. We pulled in today to Biloxi and are glad we did (update tomorrow). I guess the big thing we have learned is not to push a schedule. Yes I am afraid of Hurricanes, but am not going to push it so bad that we get our nose wiped in one of these Gulf thunderstorms. Tomorrow we have to replace all of the lights on the mast and then just take the 4th off here in Biloxie and enjoy ourselves. Yes we will catch up, but not as quick as we had hoped. We are now planning to enjoy the voyage, not the destination. We both must admit we need a little time below on Alexus with some good wine and your great gourmet cocking Dave, but not at the expense of getting clobbered. Spent much of the night on the dock here talking to the Charter fishing skippers. They had a terrible day off shore, but caught many shark, red fish and mackerel. Watched them clean them all while they told how their charter guests bitched the entire day. Looks like fireworks in Biloxi for us. Love Mike and Linda From: Subject: Southport, N.C. Date: Tue, 3 Jul 2001 10:24:00 -0000 (GMT) Hi all, Somehow or another I got it in my head that I wanted to be in Beaufort, NC for the 4th of July. Well, we only made it to Southport, but have learned on our arrival that THEY have the largest celebration of the 4th in the state of North Carolina! The festivities began last Friday and continue through the 4th. Seems like serendipity that we should have come here! We have had a dilemma deciding whether to go "in" or "out" since leaving Charleston. We hadn't done much of the ICW and so we left there on the "inside". People had told us that it was the prettiest stretch. As we pulled away from the fuel dock a fellow cruiser's last words were "stay off the rocks in Myrtle Beach"! Yes, there is a five mile stretch of ICW that is known as "The Rock Pile" where rock ledges line each side and the whole waterway is only 80 feet wide...no room to pass a barge if one should meet head on. Yesterday, as we weighed anchor from a side creek on the Wacamaw River (the lovely, pretty stretch...old plantations and rice fields with sycamore trees and Spanish moss), a large tow with barges passed ahead of us going North. We spent most of the day behind "Island Boy" mostly because he was going fast enough with the riding tide, and also we learned quickly that bridges that have a set schedule will open for commercial traffic and so we slipped on through in his wake. It wasn't until we had gone through the last bridge of the day that we passed him. When he saw our hailing port, he hailed us on the VHF and said that he was from Houston originally. We were like "old friends" from then on and stayed in touch for quite a few miles. We heard him hailing the Coast Guard later after we went through a big thunderstorm....apparently "Island Boy" had wiped out somebody's dock piling along the waterway. We feel lucky to have found a slip in a marina here in Southport as the celebration draws thousands of people from around the state (as reported by our dockmate who is a "local") We are in a marina that is only one week old and will be having their grand opening celebration tomorrow. The older marina at the waterfront was full, but we will inflate the dinghy today and go check it out by waterway. The ICW has been trying, but now I feel that it has offered us the opportunity to check out some of these old towns that we would never have come to. We have no real deadline...only to escape hurricanes and we spent an entire year in the Galveston area without hesitation...a known hurricane target as witnessed by "Allison". We have changed our agenda back to having "no agenda"...if we only go 3 hours up the coast to visit the next interesting town, that will be the PLAN! Best to all, Happy 4th...Sandy To: g.preston@ieee.org From: Subject: CW web site Date: Wed, 4 Jul 2001 18:17:00 -0000 (GMT) Cc: engstromle@hotmail.com, jay@jstorm.com, N9XA@winlink.org Gene, we are at a marina in Southport NC and I finally got to a phone line and looked up your CW Cruiser's Net Web Site at http://k5gp.home.texas.net/index2.htm - great site. I continue to be impressed with what the ham community does for sailors. While at your site, I read Jay's story about the Crockagator and holding tanks. Couldn't agree more. If you are marina based, you can get a pump out, and if you are cruising, there are pump outs, or, it dosen't take much planning to wait until you are three or more miles off shore. And the same philosophy hold for oil and trash. It's just not that big a deal to do it right. We did some diving in the keys, and one spot we went to, I dove when I was 16, nearly forty years ago. I didn't recognize the place - the reef was dead with only small remnants of live coral. There are a lot of factors contributing, but as boaters, we don't want to be part of the problem. Compared to land based activities, there is not much enforcement on the water. There seems to be a certain amount of anarchy when it comes to speed, noise, waste disposal, and just common courtesy. There are just too many of us enjoying being on the water to continue in that direction. I appreciate your posting the emails, Gene. It' not like we are out on the edge like some of the great cruising stories in the mags. But we are have a great time and learning fast. Hope it's of interest to some. Dave From: Subject: HI from Beaufort NC Date: Mon, 9 Jul 2001 00:04:00 -0000 (GMT) Just sailed in about 7pm from Wrightsville Beach, about a 75 kn trip (port to port, so to speak). Looks like a great town, anchored right off the town dock. Had a good sail and, for a change, guessed the weather window right. Yesterday we would have been whacked by a front, the day before , and tomorrow. Today it was down wind sailing, not our favorite, but we learned to reef going down wind without going head to wind. We put in one reef, then the other as the wind built to 18 kts appartent. Motor sailed early on, but then turned it off and just rolled through the beautiful building seas for six hours. Had the fishing pole deployed and caught a couple of mackerel. Threw the first one back, but, after our freind Bonny told us how to cook them, we dicided to keep number two. I got the recipe when I sent Bonny a story about "holy mackerel": Have a theory about the term "Holy Mackerel". Just a theory, but, maybe the miracle of the loaves and fishes was made possible when Jesus included three smoked Mackerel in the basket, along with some bread from the previous decade that was brick hard. Well, when the basket was past through the crowd, first the people tried the bread and couldn't break it with a hammer. So next they tried the fish. Upon smelling the smoked Mackerel they said "Holy Mackerel, Whew! I'm not as hungry as I thought I was." So the basket passed through the crowd and came back full. Just a theory. Probably wrong. There was probably a saint name Thomas-a-Mackerel and people just called him the Holy Mackerel. Something like that. Anyway, we marinaded the fish in Italian Dressing and grilled it - was very good, and since we have been catching a large percentage of these blessed fish, it's good to know how to cook them. Thanks Bonny. Hope all is well with you, Dave From: Subject: Alexus in Oriental, NC Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2001 19:23:00 -0000 (GMT) Hi, we are presently in Oriental, a little town of 800 residents, but one of the most cruiser friendly places we have been. We are anchored in their harbor in 6+ feet of water. There is no tidal range here-it is all wind driven and the bottom is mud so if we are on the bottom we can still plow our way out. A small front came through last night and it cooled off to the 80's and has been a most pleasant day. The local provisioning company had 2 nice bikes to lend us and so we went off to do laundry and buy some supplies at a small grocery. The restaurants here are few, but good. The anchorage here is small unless your mast is less than 45' and you can get under a bridge to other areas, but there is a free dinghy dock, and all a cruiser could need within walking distance or with use of the free bicycles. Will be a place we remember. Off along the waterway tomorrow to Belhaven, another small waterway town. Will probably be in Norfolk by Monday or Tuesday depending on the weather. Best to all, Sandy From: Subject: One step forward, 1/2 step back Date: Fri, 13 Jul 2001 23:01:00 -0000 (GMT) Hi, We left Oriental, NC this morning at 8 am. Had only 50 miles to do to get to Belhaven. As we left, there were about 1/2 dozen other sailboats trying to head in the same direction. The wind was out of the NE AND, of course, in the direction we wanted to go. We were not in the ocean. We were in the Neuse River, on the ICW and the wind was gusting to 20 kts. We were taking big waves over the bow and only making 3 kts headway tacking with reefed main and staysail. In 2 1/2 hours we only made 3 miles headway and decided it was "for the birds" and ended up going across that river and pulling into another river (the South River) for an anchorage and some protection. We were anchored by 11 am. I made myself a "Bloody Mary" and some breakfast for us both which we ate in the cockpit and enjoyed the cool weather that was blowing in, in the mid-low 70's. We spent most of the day in the cockpit, reading books and laying low until the rain came and then retreated below. It has been a relaxing day. The anchorage is remote and pretty. Would never have come here if not driven by the weather. Have only seen shrimp boats and crabbers and a couple of other sailboats that have since left. We had an incredible sunset and will try again to leave tomorrow if the weather agrees, if not, will stay put and read another book! The other sailboats moved on...we are sticking to our "no agenda" attitude and will go when the weather agrees. Dave fixed a great dinner of shrimp curry on rice with a fine chilled wine, and we are in heaven on our "floating oasis". Will try again tomorrow, if not...another day. From: Subject: The Mighty Pungo Date: Sun, 15 Jul 2001 23:44:00 -0000 (GMT) Yes, we spent most of the day sailing the mighty Pungo River in North Carolina. Real men sail the Pungo. Good sailing and great scenary. This entire waterway from South Carolina through North Carolina has been nice. Starting with, say, the Great Pee Dee River in SC. In fact, one could say that we have had a "pleasant Pee Dee - Pungo passage". No accidents or problem , so one could add "proper". Yes, there it is, a Proper Pleasant Pee Dee Pungo Passage. But enough of that. This evening we are on the Alligator River - no kidding. And we haven't seen one alligator yet. This stretch of the ICW will take us north to the Albemarle Sound and then finally to Norfolk and the Chesapeake bay, about 85 miles away. In fact, the sailing has been so so. We have gotten in a few days of good motor sailing, and even some rail in the water seven knots to weather sailing. But often, the conditions are just not there. When the wind is from the north, it is on the nose. When it is from the south, at say eight knots, and we want to do at least five, even if we have to use the engine, then we have an apparent wind of only three knots. A couple of days ago, we enjoyed seeing flags blowing in the six knot south wind, but for us, it was zero and we just sat and sweated. I won't say that Buck was right, but he did have a point (inside joke for Waterford Harbor folks). The last four days we have enjoyed a low that has brought cool weather, 80 -85 max and 65 min. Great stuff but it won't stay much longer. So, we push on down the water way, eating at the resturants as we go, shrimp, flounder, crab, and that ever favorite sea food, hush puppies. Bye for now, Dave From: Subject: Norfolk....FINALLY! Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 19:53:00 -0000 (GMT) Hi from Alexus, We left Oriental, spent a night in Belhaven...Mike and Linda, we ate at the Helmsman...good hushpuppies and Phil Donahue was there the same time we were (altho' we didn't know it until we paid our bill). Our next stop was the Alligator River Marina. Good reasons to stop there: they have transient slips for 70 cents/ft. and low diesel prices. Good reasons NOT to stop there: there is nothing else there. The restaurant is in a gas station and is a greasy spoon. It is owned by "Miss Wanda" and her husband "Mr.Wanda(Why?). They have no customer service. They act like they are doing you a favor to take your money. Try not to need to stop there. Have all the fuel you need, pumpouts are $17.50, and don't need food. There is an anchorage near there and just plan to stay there. That is my advice. The next logical stop is Coinjock (they give you a free fly swatter so you won't have "Coinjock itch" when you leave). This place was great. Not fancy, and dockage is a sidetie on the bulkhead along the canal, but big shade trees and pretty. Home of the Coinjock Marina Restaurant where they are famous for their 32oz prime rib. Dave & I split it @ $29.99 and carved off a 5 oz. slice apiece and brought home the rest of the 22 oz. for sandwiches. We don't usually stir until 8 am for our next day's travel, but this morning we left at "first light" to head for Norfolk. This is necessary, because you have to go through 6 opening bridges and a lock. The last bridge won't let you through after 3:30 pm, opening again at 5:00pm and that is a long enough wait to encourage you to leave early. We followed a fellow that we met at the Alligator Bridge Marina who also stayed in Coinjock last night and whom we had dinner with. He is soloing a Union, looks like a Hans Christian 37' and has done 18,000 cruising miles. It is the first time we have "buddy sailed/motored" since we left. It was a bit reassuring to have someone leading us who knew the way. It was also our first lock ever, and although it only dropped us 2 feet, it was interesting. We finally made it to Norfolk at 2 pm. What a bustling seaport! It is pretty too and we are excited to be here. Thought we would just want to "bust" through, but it looks like a place to stay for a while. We are in the Waterside Marina, in the hub of downtown Norfolk (sorry to have missed you...again, John & Missie!) Will let you know what we think. Anyway, we are at the mouth of the Chesapeake and in some ways this feels like THE arrival to us. Even tho' this is the start of another big adventure, it was a destination and all of the places in between were part of the journey. The adventure continues....Sandy (Alexus) From: Subject: Reedville Virginia on the Wicomoco Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2001 22:07:00 -0000 (GMT) X-MIME-Autoconverted: from quoted-printable to 8bit by mw4.texas.net id f6O27N800766 Here we are anchored up a little creek that eases along side the small town of Reedville, once a great fishing town in the early 1900's. Reedville is on one of the many rivers that create great waterways off of the main body of the Chesapeake Bay. This one is on the west side about one third of the way to the north end of the bay. The fishing that made this town, and still goes on but to a lesser extent, is for Menhaden. I had never heard of them either, but they are a hand sized, non-food quality fish that are caught in purse seines (nets). These nets are deployed from two 25' boats, which cinch in the net around a school of fish and then hands it off to the mother ship, about 100' long, that retrieves the fish and then tows the two boats to the next fishing site. We got a chance to watch this today on our way out the Rappahannock River from Urbanna. Here's the good part. The fish are taken to a processing plant where they are cooked, pressed for oil, and then ground to meal. Reedville became a very wealthy town as a port for Menhaden ships and for their processing plants. Many beautiful old homes with idyllic settings are still here. The irony is, the remaining plant, which is probably operating at a fraction of the capacity it did in the hey days, is directly up wind. The aroma is the sea fairing version of a stock yard. Wew! We have found a spot to anchor out of the direct line of fire. And don't get me wrong, neat town none the less. Tomorrow we get some soft shell crabs from the fish market (has a dock we can dingy to), and then we head up to Solomon's Island. Don't know much about it, but it's supposed to be a good place. This is our third day in the Chesapeake after leaving Norfolk. We really enjoyed Norfolk, and, although we planned on blasting right through, we stayed four days. Two at the Waterside marina and two in the anchorage off of Hospital Point, a great point of land that juts out toward Hampton Roads. The hospital is the Portsmith Naval Hospital. Hampton Roads (took me a while to figure this one out) is the convergence of several rivers and bodies of water that are the maritime cross roads for the area. Many great navel battles were fought here, including the show down between the Monitor and the Merimack. Great place Norfolk. The Chesapeake is going to be a fine place to spend the summer. Although we have heard that it gets calm and hot in the summer months, we have had good wind and fairly cool weather. Today, coming north, we had about 12 knts from the SSE. Winged out the jib on the whisker pole and made about 6.5 knts. Beautiful sky and scenery. So long for now. Dave From: Subject: Headed north on the Chesapeake Date: Sat, 28 Jul 2001 18:24:00 -0000 (GMT) Hi from Alexus, we are presently in Solomons Island, MD. We made a special effort to come here to meet Debbie and Mickey McHugh on "Yaga" who were our slipmates back in Kemah at Waterford Harbor for 9 months. They left last Dec for Baltimore and are now headed back to Kemah. We are headed up to Baltimore and will be staying at the marina that they have just departed! Anyway, we just finished an evening and a day with them here and had a great time...recollections, exchange of tales of our adventures, LOTS of great food and libation. Renewing friendships (and making new ones) along the waterway is what makes this lifestyle most special. We have really enjoyed this port. The dinghy docks are cheap and everything you could want is within walking distance...gourmet grocery, laundromat,post office, liquour store, fish market,nautical museum, brand new West Marine, and several restaurants. We could spend more time here, but will probably leave tomorrow and head north towards Annapolis. You COULD spend years in the Chesapeake. There is a neat little town, or secluded anchorage a day sail or less away, so no need for overnighters. If the wind isn't favorable for the way you planned to go, you can find a neat port in the direction the wind will take you, so there is no reason not to sail. We will continue to take side trips from Baltimore (St. Michaels, Oxford, Rock Hall etc) but the marina in the inner harbor will be our "home base" for Aug/Sep. We are really meeting other cruisers now. Our Canadian neighbors in the anchorage organized a "happy hour" at a local bar that was attended by the owners of other boats anchored here from Canada, Australia, and Louisiana (Frank & Karen: it was "L'envie", your friends that you had just told us about...small world!). Most of those boats moved on this morning, but it will be no surprise to find them already in our next anchorage when we get there, and, a ready source for company for the next "happy hour"!!! Having a great time...still, Sandy (Alexus) From: Subject: Annapolis Date: Sun, 29 Jul 2001 21:55:00 -0000 (GMT) Hi, We left Solomons Island this morning under a grey, rainy sky with gusty winds from the S/SE predicted for the day. We decided to go because we were going N and the winds are predicted to clock around to the North tonite. We were out in some of the worst conditions...rain, constantly, winds gusting to 20, and choppy seas, and...it was SUNDAY! Back on Galveston Bay, only Wayne Harris and Isabela would be out on a day like this!! Well, here there were tons of boats, both power and sail, out on the Bay...the Chesapeake, of course. Quite honestly, we had one of the best days of sailing that we have had since we left Tx. We had up a reefed main, staysail, and most of the genoa and were broad reaching at an average of 7 knots the whole way! If the sun had been out we would have been in heaven! We arrived at Annapolis at around 5 pm (left at 9:30am, we are NOT early risers). Are now anchored and will wait 'til tomorrow to explore the town. We have been here before to the US Boat Show, by car...in 1999, looking out over the water to the sailboats anchored and dreaming of being here ourselves. Now we are...Alexus is happy to be home to her US birthplace. This is where she was launched in 1987...she was the Tayana representative that year at the boat show. (I wonder if she remembers all of those thousands of people trodding over her decks?) Today, she seemed in a hurry to get here, and we were too! Best to all, Sandy, on "Alexus" From: Subject: Rendezvous Date: Tue, 31 Jul 2001 10:00:00 -0000 (GMT) We are still in Annapolis, a Meca of sailing on the east coast. The plebes at the Naval Academy were up again to today doing their calisthenics, the sunrise was beautiful, the temp is 72 degrees, and the dingy is waiting to take us to shore to explore the city. Went in to Baltimore yesterday afternoon with our friends Debby and Mikey McHugh who were our slip neighbors at Waterford Harbor in Kemah. We rendezvoused with them by sail at Solomon's Island, and then once be got here, they drove a rental car over to pick us up. They had been in Baltimore for seven months while he was on a temporary assignment, having sailed their boat there to serve as home. They are now leaving as we arrive, to sail back to Kemah. A very nice reunion. We joined them and there friends from the Harbor View Marina at a going away happy hour at one of the local eateries. We can't imagine when we will see them again, but it will be on the water someplace I am sure. What a special sailing couple they are - a great team and always enthusiastic about sailing. Nobody that we know sails as much as Debby and Mickey. They made the passage up to Baltimore in eleven days. Must be some kind of record, and they will be going back at a fast pace again. From: Subject: Back to the projects Date: Thu, 9 Aug 2001 10:54:00 -0000 (GMT) Hi all, We probably won't be sending any/many updates during our stay here in Baltimore at the HarbourView Marina because we will primarily be working on the boat in the way of unfinished projects that we put on hold in order to get on our way last April. Those that are interested can let Dave know and he will report on what he is doing projectwise. I will mostly be involved in sewing and exterior maintenance projects. Baltimore is hot now, but a cold front is due in tomorrow and so the temp is supposed to drop back down into the 80's. Our decision to be somewhere that we could plug into the electricity for the months of Aug/Sep has turned out to be a good one...we are wimps about the heat. When it cools back down a bit we will wander further and explore some of the interesting sites of Baltimore, but after a week here it has been basically walking to the laundromat, grocery, produce/fish market, and dinghying to West Marine. The liveaboard community here is very active socially and we have found ourselves included and invited somewhere just about every night since we have arrived. FUN! Anyway, you won't be bombarded with daily updates from Alexus for the next 2 months and we will pick up with our travelogue when we depart for ports unknown in Oct. We will also offer, to those who would prefer, a quarterly update as to where we are instead of our more frequently transmitted log. Also, those who would like to be dropped from our list altogether can let us know...it will speed up our transmit time if we shorten our address book, so let us know and our feelings won't be hurt. Best to all, Sandy (Alexus) To: g.preston@ieee.org From: Subject: Projects Date: Sun, 12 Aug 2001 12:07:00 -0000 (GMT) Gene, great to hear from you. We are here in Baltimore, and although we haven't done much touring, it looks like it's and interesting city. We are within view of the Inner Harbor. The old area has been restored and now sports a world class aquarium, the USS Constellation, a WWII submarine, museums, shops, etc. Then there is Ft. McHenry, and the "Power Plant", an old downtown generating station that has been converted to commercial space. It houses several restaurants, bars, and a Barnes and Noble. What ever happened to Seaholm? There were efforts to make it a museum. Did anything come of all of that? We've held off doing much touring until we get a view projects finished. The teak finish is beginning to fail in a few places and Sandy is dreding the redo (she does teak, and I do mech/elec). There must be a better option than Cetol for teak. I'm ready to try brown house paint. I'll bet it would last longer. Our next boat will not have teak, at least not above deck. It's pretty, but only if it gets about two coats a year. But I digress. One project I just finished was re-plumbing the sea water supply for the Spectra Water Maker. What a great machine. Quiet, efficient, 16 gph, it's like a miracle. But when I installed it, I used an abandoned through hull that was about 2 feet below the water line. At anchor, no problem. But when we are under way, off shore in blue water where you want to use the water maker, the turbulence in the water allows air bubbles to get into the supply. After a while, the pumps air lock. So I have moved the deck wash pump and head flush water intake to the shallow thru hull, and the water maker to that thru hull, which is deeper and forward. Seems simple, but took a day to get parts, and a day to install (and two days of thinking about it). Parts means walking to a boat yard about a half mile away, or taking the dink across the harbor and walking to the West Marine. Most places we have been are not nearly this convenient. Other projects include: rebuild whisker pole, rig fore guy and after guy for same, get autopilot to steer to waypoint instead of just compass (a little wiring problem), install Tank Tender (tank level gauge), clean water tanks, wire up high level alarm in bilge, and several other things. Your suggestion to send out a chart is a neat idea. I wonder about this, though. Could you do that on your web site? Don't know if that would be difficult, but if you can, it would be our preference. Our location is 39*16.607'N, 76*36.156'W. Again, it's always great to hear from you. Dave Date: Sun, 12 Aug 2001 21:12:34 -0500 To: From: g.preston@ieee.org Subject: Re: Projects Hi Dave, If you include the http line below in an e-mail to your recipients, then they can click on it and get a map showing your location. They can zoom in and out. I'm looking for a simpler map address than the one shown below that enters the lat/lon twice. I think the second lat/lon entry is your call sign location on the map with a pointer to the location. http://www.mapblast.com/myblast/map.mb?CT=39.27678:-76.60260:8000&IC=39.27678:-76.60260:100:KD5BZH&GMI=1&W=456&H=259 73 de K5GP, Gene From: Subject: Alexus on the move again Date: Sun, 21 Oct 2001 00:20:00 -0000 (GMT) Hi all, just a quick note to update everyone on our cruising status. We left Baltimore Harbor, yesterday, after being there for over 2 months. Really enjoyed it there and made some very special friends. We are presently "buddy sailing" with our friends from our marina in Clear Lake who were on our dock. Mark, Jane, and "Heidi" (the dog) are on Pegasus, a Gozzard 36. We will continue down the coast with them as long as it works for all of us. They need to be in the Dominican Republic for Christmas to meet some family, and we may linger behind so that I, Sandy, can fly to Pensacola to visit with my Dad who is battling cancer. We will send updates periodically while we are in transit, but probably not with the frequency that they were sent on our trip up the east coast from Texas. We will, of course, let everyone know about any cruising "adventures" that we have along the way. Hope everyone is doing well. We love to hear from you and what you are doing to. Happy to be back at the helm and living our dream. Praying for peace in the world. Best from Alexus From: Subject: Alexus movin' along Date: Wed, 24 Oct 2001 23:09:00 -0000 (GMT) Hi All, We continue to have winds on the nose. It has been a motor sail the whole way so far. We have had our first fog experiences. We left Norfolk yesterday and had pea soup in those first miles that have all of the bridge openings. It was hairier because we were in a pod of snowbirds, both power and sail and we all learned to hover in close quarters, because it was more comfortable to be able to see the boat ahead of you and hope that they could see the boat ahead of them. The Gilmerton Bridge would not open until he could see his "cage" so we hovered for quite a while. All went well in spite of the fog and it burned off at about 11:00 am and off we went. It has been interesting moving down the waterway in a group, and we are trying to figure out how to avoid this in the future. We have, of course, been staying in view (except in the fog) with our friends on "Pegasus" and stay in radio contact on our free talk radios during the day. The radios have been great since we talk often and don't have to clutter the frequencies on the VHF with our banter, and sometimes silly chats that we would just as soon not have monitored by other vessels. We have been rafting up about every other day or so and on those evenings we party too hard and so we anchor separately on the next night or two to be "good". We are presently anchored in the Pungo River in N. Carolina, just north of Belhaven. We will probably go to Oriental tomorrow and see what the weather has in store for us after that. If all goes well we will be in Beaufort for the weekend and evaluate the possibilities to go offshore from there. Today we had about 4 hours of fog in the Albamarle Sound. I stood watch and Dave went below and panned the radar and the Cap'n (our navigation software) to make sure I was on course and not on a collision course. It IS pretty weird to be going forward in the day and not be able to see anything around you. Since the water was all pretty deep, we were not concerned about going aground and so it was not too nerve wracking. By the time we reached the Alligator River bridge, the fog had lifted. So far, the trip has been great. I am enjoying the "buddy sailing" and would recommend it, there is comfort in the safety in numbers. We are enjoying the trip, and the weather. It is good to be back on the move again. There was a bit of a "rusty" feeling at first, but then it was like being "back in the saddle" and there is not such a feeling of being a "beginner". I think we ARE going to be able to do this. Best to you all, Sandy (Alexus) From: Subject: Two Steps Forward...One Step Back Date: Mon, 5 Nov 2001 21:51:00 -0000 (GMT) Alexus 30 03.130N / 81 21.832W Hi all, I will try to make this as short as possible although we have let too much time lapse since our last update. We waited for a weather window to go offshore from Beaufort but with unfavorable weather conditions we decided to head down the ICW looking for the right combination of outlet and weather. We finally found it at Southport, NC. We left at 12 Noon on 10/31 and spent 3 days and 2 nights to our destination at St. Augustine, Fl. We had our best passage yet. Winds were on the stern and although it was a wallowing ride, we both got plenty of sleep and ate well. We were always in sight of our friends, Mark & Jane, on "Pegasus", and it helped to have a "buddy" to chat with on the radio in the wee hours of the night. We knew that weather conditions were deteriorating in the last 8 hours of our passage, and decided to pass up the inlet to Jacksonville in favor of St Augustine, because it is not a long trip up a river, and Mark and Jane had been there before, and promoted it as a neat town to "hole up" in for a while. What we didn't realize, is that St. Aug. is an uncharted inlet because shoaling constantly changes the location of the channel. Consequently, our entry was in the late afternoon, looking directly into the sun, haze over the water from the churning breakers and following 8 foot seas! It was the scariest adventure we have had so far. We actually "surfed" into St. Augustine! I was at the helm and the waves would pick us up and surge the boat up and forward. As Alexus would come off the top of a wave she would want to fall one way or another and required all of my steering strength. One very large wave pooped the stern and the back of my shorts were saturated. At that point I turned the wheel over to Dave and he steered the rest of the way in. The surf was churning up the sand and our depth sounder was reading depths of 12 ft to 3 ft since it couldn't get a clear sounding! As a result we had no real knowledge of where the shoals might be and could have been slammed down on one at any time. Luckily, we could follow the buoys in and made it...what an adrenlin rush! St. Augustine was worth it. We spent 2 days and nights there before we realized that Michelle could be a problem if she decided to come up the east coast. So yesterday we decided to leave St. Aug. and head north to the St John's River to find a hurricane hole where we could strip the boat of sails and canvas and seek safe shelter. We only made it halfway to our destination in up to 30 kt headwinds and anchored in a side creek off the ICW. By 11 pm last night we felt better assured that Michelle was not going to be in issue for us, but it is presently gusting to 30 kts in the anchorage and so we will stay here a day or 2 until things settle back down. Then, we will probably go BACK down to St. Aug. and make our next move offshore when the conditions are right. Weather conditions seem to be awfully volatile this month, so we will pick and choose carefully. Still keeping the Bahamas in sight but watching the "back (and front) door" in case a storm named "Noel" decides to materialize! Best to you all from Alexus, Sandy From: Subject: Hi from "Alexus" Date: Wed, 14 Nov 2001 22:56:00 -0000 (GMT) Hi all, we are currently in Ft. Lauderdale along with our friends on "Pegasus", getting the last few spare parts, provisions, fishing gear, snorkel equip, and maintenance chores complete. Had a great off shore run down from Baltimore with a stop in St. Augustine. We are at Cooley's Landing Marina, great spot but a strong cross current when you go into the slip. The plan is to finish here in the next 3-4 days and go to Miami where there is a good anchorage. There we will hold up and wait for good weather to cross to the Bahamas, clearing in at Cat Cay or maybe Andros. Since we changed the boat ownership from corporate to private, we are waiting for new Coast Guard documentation. This could cause a delay because we can't leave home without it. Once we get across, we will look for a good anchorage with nearby airport connection to send Sandy back to be with her dad, whose health is failing. Then we continue on south, with a stop in Hope Town to meet up with my brother in January. How far south we don't know, but there is talk of being south of the hurricane belt for summer (i.e. Grenada, Tobago). Great to hear from everyone. Jack, it's too late for a diesel class now- to many other things earlier, am now on the learn as you go plan. Congrats "Argonauta" on the passage from Texas. Would be nice if we could meet up in Ft. Lauderdale when you are here. Hope to see you in the Bahamas, "Passages". You to "Carolina". And where is "Erin's Child"? Send us an email. Bye for now, Dave From: Subject: Arrival in the Bahamas Date: Wed, 28 Nov 2001 01:06:00 -0000 (GMT) 25* 43.660' 79* 17.588' Hi from Alexus We made our crossing from Ft Lauderdale last Friday night and arrived at Gun Cay at about 1pm Saturday. We intended to rest and then clear in on Sunday. Our first dose of reality about "island time" is that the customs officers don't work on the weekends, or at least the one on Cat Cay where we planned to go. So there we sat with our "Q" flag flying in a little anchorage by an island that only has a lighthouse and a little building on it. Very picturesque, but little to do since we were not s'pose to leave the boat until we had checked in. We cheated tho' and donned our wetsuits and snorkel gear to check out the anchor set, and by the way, while we were under we took the time to check the underwater topography, and, oh yes, the fauna and also, the flora. Well, the truth is we were looking for lobster. All we saw was the carapaces from someone elses' lobster feast floating on the bottom. Dave saw some spotted rays, a nurse shark, and a real shark! He wasn't going to tell me, but Mark spilled the beans. They say that sharks live where the deep water meets the shallow, or at least you shouldn't swim there at dawn and dusk, and that is exactly where we were. When we made land ho, on Saturday, I thought the depth sounder was malfunctioning because it still registered no depth reading and it seemed like we were a stone's throw away from land. Then, all of a sudden it read 60 ft and then 30 ft and then 15. So we were really on the edge of the ocean. Yesterday, Monday, we decided to go 9 miles north to Bimini to clear in because we heard that the Cat Cay Marina charges $50 just to tie up to clear in there. That is on top of the $100 clear in charge. We also realized that we would not be crossing the Bahama Bank for a few days as the winds are 15 out of the east and that is where we are going, of course! We hoped that Bimini would have a more protected harbor. We got in about 2pm when the tide was rising as it is quite a shallow entry. This is the worst anchorage we have ever been in. We put the anchor down and the raging current had us immediately pointing backwards with our anchor well behind us 30' or more. We were sailing back and forth so much that other boats that came in took one look at us and said "we're moving somewhere else" I guess that was a good thing since we didn't have to worry about hitting anyone nearby! One thing we learned since it was our first time to clear in in another country is that you are supposed to pull into a marina and then go to customs and immigration. We anchored first and then Dave & Mark went in into shore in the dinghy to clear. The customs officials let them through though and Dave felt like their(the customs) main interest was collecting the $100. By the time they came back from clearing in, it was cocktail time and we joined Mark and Jane on Pegasus and celebrated our arrival to the Bahamas with champagne and appetizers. Today, we will try to visit some local dive sites. May be here until Thursday or Friday. Best to you all, Sandy From: Subject: From Trinidad To: k5gp@texas.net Date: Thu, 17 Oct 2002 12:55:40 -0000 (GMT) Gene, We have headed south for hurricane season to Trinidad. It is blazing hot here and the sun intensity is amazing. But, other than that, we like Trinidad - very good and inexpensive food, good people, they speak English, and good facilities here at the marina. We are getting some work done and the prices are reasonable to, although I think the days of the really good deals has past. We are having all of the teak stripped to bare wood (good bye Cetol) and six coat of varnish put on ($1300 US plus materials). Also getting a Doyle Stak Pak, and third reef in the main sail. We are planning to be here possibly through February and Carnival. Then up the Lesser Antilles and back down here for the summer, plugged in at a marina of coarse so we can have full time air conditioning. We are then thinking of a going back up the east coast and spending the 2004 summer in Maine. A Maine to Bahamas circuit may work. We also talk about doing the Med. Hope all is well with you and your family. Best to you, Dave