Sat...03-14-15 ----------------- Ft. Myers Beach to Marco Island
Long day, 41 miles to Marco Island (Factory Bay) all into the waves and south wind in the Gulf. Only saw a couple other sailboats going north or south. 2 foot waves on a 2 second interval. They were ok but the 3 foot sets slowed things down. The boat would ride up on the first one, land on the second one and dive into the third one and drop from 4+ mph to 2+ and then have to accelerate again. Water over the anchors a number of times. I was running south about 4 miles off shore and then decided to go in the cut at Naples and do the rest on the Inland Waterway to Marco.
Going towards shore I was able to get the Genoa out but closed hauled on a starboard tack the tiller pilot would loose control of the boat when it rolled down off a wave to starboard and it would round up so had to give up on the tiller pilot and take over till I got about 1/3 mile off shore. In there the waves weren't near as bad. I found out later from a local that there is an arm of the Gulf Stream that runs south along the west coast about 1 mph and then with the south wind today that stacks the wave up, kind of like what happens in the Gulf Stream on the east coast with a north wind there.
So since things were better I passed the inlet into Naples and continued on closer in but when I made the turn south of Naples for the last 8 miles or so I again had no protection but now the waves were larger, some white-capping but now I could run into them at an angle so things were good. The Mac is a good boat and never once acted like it was in trouble.
This morning I was up at 5 and wanted to leave in the dark from Ft. Myers Beach for practice but couldn't pull the boat to the anchor after pulling in about 25 feet of rode. Then I realize that sitting there for a day with the tidal current changes the rode had wrapped around the center board that I left down a little ways at an angle (usually pull it all the way into the trunk as this happened before
). I let the board all the way down but the rode wouldn't pull around or fall off the bottom so used the outboard to reverse in a tight circle and got it unwrapped. By now the sky was getting light in the east so got out with partial darkness. Got to Marco about 12 hours later so only averaged a little over 3 mph. Long day but a good one!!
The last thing I learned was that I'll tie the dinghy along side the leeward side of the boat the next time I'm in these conditions. It probably took on over 25 gallons of water that I had to bail out tonight. I noticed that it is calm on that side of the boat so next time will try tying it up to the lee side.
I took some pictures but I'm beat and have to still eat and get to bed. Plan is go dingy in for gas here tomorrow and also go to West Marine. My friend Scott at the boatyard put a PLB (Personal Locator Beacon) on hold at the WM here for me to use and then give to him after the trip. Ruth had made some safety harnesses from Sailrite kits and he loaned me a tether the other day and I used it along with Ruth's harness this morning and the tether works perfect on the 26S as the long side of the tether reaches the far life line and the short side works on the life line on the side you go forward on. Unsnap the one side at the mast and re-snap it ahead of the mast and it stops at the stanchions just ahead of the mast and you can just reach the anchors and rodes. I'm going to get one if they have it also so I can give Scott his back. I need to use it as I'm careless about going forward without even a life jacket, being alone and old now I need to be more careful,
Sumner
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Our MacGregor 26-S
Our Endeavour 37
Our Trips to Utah, Idaho, Canada, Florida
Mac-Venture Links
, just to late in the day now to make the miles I need to,
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