Columbus Day 2009

Friday 10/9/2009

Woke at 6AM and took the last load of fresh food and baggage to the boat. The weather report was excellent, high pressure in charge, no storms and light easterly winds. And it was expected to remain that way for the whole weekend. Everything else was already aboard and the boat was ready to go. I drove home and launched the dingy. The tide was really low and had just turned around. It was quit a drop from the dock to the dingy. And then quite a struggle to get the motor off the dock and onto the transom without dropping it. I sometimes felt like dropping it as it has given me a lot of problems. After sitting for a while the carburetor gums up and it will not start, fuel gushes out of the carb in spectacular fashion. Last year I sent it to the mechanic and just got it fixed just in time to make Columbus Day. This year the same thing happened. I took the carb apart and cleaned it as best I could and amazingly it started right up. At least I have another skill when this ‘electronics’ fad ends.

I left the dock at 9AM and waved to the workmen welding on the 11 Ave swing bridge. The trip down the river was fortunately uneventful. I headed south and set the sails. A number of other sailboats were also going my way and more came out every hour. It was a pleasant sail, about 5 Kt close hauled. I had to tack once just before Government Cut and then could sail a little looser course to Stiltsville and made 6.5 Kt. There were quit a few boats in Biscayne Bay headed South so I joined them and anchored at Elliot Key just after sunset. There were quit a few boats already there and I tried to pick a spot that would be outside of the mob but not too far away from the action. The Coast Guard had a large barge to serve as their command center and I anchored a few hundred yards south of that. I figured that the party would not get too close to them.

I thought I was early but lots of boats beat me to Elliot Key

 including a barge for the Coast Guard command center.

The sun was just going down as I approached the anchorage.

I mixed the first of several Rum and Cokes and prepared tuna, macaroni and cheese for dinner. The moon would not rise until early morning so the evening was a great time to stretch out on the front trampoline and watch the stars. The sky was almost completely clear with not even a hint of rain.

Saturday 10/10/2009

The sun was well up before I woke up and the boats were streaming in, some very large yachts and lots of small powerboats. The weather was still settled with just a 5-10 Kt breeze to keep it from getting too hot. I wanted to try out the kayak so I got out the various parts and inflated it. After lunch of Angus beef hamburgers (yummy) I set out in the kayak. (Later the radio was full of reports of the McDonalds that misspelled their new sandwich, leaving the ‘g’ out of Angus.)  The kayak handled the waves and boat wakes with only an occasional splash coming aboard. When I got into the crowd the waves disappeared, absorbed by all the boat hulls. The kayak is the perfect vessel for this kind of work, no worrying about the motor or propeller and it gets through the narrowest channels to where the action is. I spent two hours circumnavigating the main mob of boats but there were lots more anchored singly all around the central crush of boats. There were a number of other kayaks and lots of dinghies and people just floating around on rafts and pool noodles. I towed a couple of swimmers back to their boat and got a cold beer for my efforts.

The party gets started and some of the racers arrive.

I head out in the kayak and hope I can find my way back!

Back at the boat, some of the racers from the Gulf Stream Sailing Club dropped anchor next to me while I was out. After a nap I prepared a chicken and rice dish for supper and had another quiet night stargazing from the trampoline. I mixed up a big batch of Goombay Smash and it really hit the spot. Everyone had a stereo cranked up and the sound of thousands playing different songs was something like a freight train but not unpleasant. It was almost bright enough to read a book by all the anchor lights out there. The party finally settled down around 2 AM.

Another nice sunset and a good excuse to break out the Goombay Smash.

With all the anchor lights it was almost bright enough to read a book.

Sunday 10/11/2009

This was not a day to get up early and I pitied the racers who had to get to the starting line. I had another row around the anchorage and a long swim. After an afternoon nap I prepared my Sunday steak with rice and a nice Pinor Noir. A far cry from salt horse and hardtack. This is what sailing is about (at least for me). Some boats had left but most were sticking around for another day. It was another fine night for star gazing and I saw three shooting stars.

Monday 10/12/2009

This was a day to recover and prepare for the return voyage. I topped up the fuel tanks, disassembled the kayak and that was more than enough work.

Tuesday 10/13/2009

The alarm rang at 5 AM and I had the anchor up at 5:30. The organizers had set out a number of inflatable markers to designate the anchorage / no wake zone and they were still out there somewhere in the dark. I started out slowly until I found them. I motored out to Feather Bank cut and then rolled out the jib and motorsailed to Stiltsville. There were some clouds and possibly some rain to the south but they dissipated when the sun came up and the day was mostly clear. Outside the wind was just right for a close reach to Fort Lauderdale at 7 Kt. About an hour from Fort Lauderdale the wind started dropping and I limped into port at 4 Kt. The tide had just started to come in and push me up the river. At Andrews Ave bridge the railroad bridge was just going down when Andrews was going up. I tied up at the Riverfront Mall until the train passed. A bunch of boats gathered and just as the railroad bridge went up, the Jungle Queen came through followed by a bunch of other boats. It was quite a traffic jam for a while with boats lined up on both sides of the railroad bridge. I waited for them to pass and then untied and followed. The rest of the trip up the river was no problem and I was back at the dock around 2 PM.