Modern Navigation

GPS Navigation (continued)

 

Continuing the discussion of navigation and GPS units; I'm surprised and amazed at the number of sailors out there that have little or no understanding of the navigation instruments and what they are telling you.  Perhaps it's because we assume we know what they're saying when we've never really thought about it.  So in the category of 'there are no dumb questions only dumb answers', here's an answer to a question nobody asked.

 

I don't know how many sailors have said to me, " I have quite a discrepancy between what my knotmeter says and what the GPS says my speed is."  Well, yeah, they measure different things.  No, they don't measure speed.   The readings they give may be in terms of speed but they are different measurements.  The GPS measures your position on the face of the planet, compares that to the last position it had and implies speed from the distance between the two positions and the time it took to cover that distance.  In other words, it is using the old time-distance-speed formulas to imply over the ground progress.  Some GPS units may have slightly more advanced calculations where they average a certain set of speed computations and report that number just so the reported speed doesn't fluctuate so much.  It is not measuring velocity at a given moment in time although the distances measured can be very short.

 

On the other hand, your knotmeter is measuring the flow of water over the hull of the boat.  In other words it measures water speed.  It also does not measure velocity.  It is akin to an airplane measuring airspeed. You can have knotmeter readings when you're firmly anchored provided there's enough current.  Knotmeters are a variation of the ancient mariner's chip log.  I am old enough to remember when we actually had an improved chip log; that is, a propeller driven cable that we dropped over the side to read speed on a dial indicator.  It wasn't all that long ago! And no, I never owed a flintlock rifle either.

 

Very often the difference between the knotmeter and the GPS reported speeds will be the current either for or against which you are attempting to make progress.  Of course, currents rarely flow in the same direction as the boat is moving but still the knotmeter measures water flow past the paddlewheel.  A 1.5 knot difference between the knotmeter and the GPS means that there is an 'apparent' current of 1.5 knots assuming proper calibration of the knotmeter.  Sideways slip and eddies caused by the keel also impact the knotmeter readings not to mention vertical velocity changes as the boat plunges through waves. 

 

To measure actual velocity at a moment in time, you could ask a local gendarme to take up a position on the nearby breakwater and aim a radar gun at you as you streak by.  Again, that would be measuring something different. 

 

Different compasses likewise measure different things and it can be helpful to understand the different measurements they take.   I've often heard sailors tell me about the differences they experience in heading between their steering compass, GPS and 'autopilot'.  That is as it should be.  They measure different things.

 

The steering compass and the autopilot's fluxgate compass ostensibly measure the same thing; The earth's magnetic field.  They do it in different ways however.  The flux gate compass senses the horizontal component of the earth's magnetic field by it's changing relationship to 2 or more electromagnetic fields (coils) in the unit.   The coils must be gimbaled to keep their horizontal plane and then they must be dampened just like a magnetic compass to prevent wildly swinging readings.  Remember too that fluxgate compasses were invented to provide an electronic reading rather than a visual one.  A fluxgate compass likely controls your autopilot.  Magnetic flux, in case you were wondering, is the earth's magnetic field.  Remember the classroom experiment with a magnet and iron filings?  Remember the pattern the filings made on the paper?  That pattern is called the flux.  That's what a flux gate compass measures in a relative way.  That's why they must be calibrated to give reasonable approximations of direction, it senses changes in the flux plus or minus but it really doesn't know what direction that is. 

 

Meanwhile, the old standby, mechanical compass has a magnet attracted (or repelled) by the earth's magnetic field.  In our hemisphere, the card of the compass remains fixedly pointed at the earth's magnetic north pole; about 82 degrees north or somewhere near Ellsmere Island in northern Canada; meanwhile the boat turns underneath the card.  It's not the compass card that moves, it's the boat that changes it's relative angle to the pole.  The fact that magnetic north is in Canada and not that close to the true north pole is a clue; no offense.  Navigational charts express the difference between the true north and magnetic north (declination) as variation (usually it's printed in the compass rose).   The earth's magnetic field does move somewhat over time, hence the variation expressed on navigational charts must be adjusted every year for progression changes.   The earth's magnetic field even reverses itself periodically although not predictably, yet. 

 

The GPS implies the boat's heading from changes in geographical position, without regard to the bow of the boat.  The GPS doesn't care which way the boat is pointed and in fact, can't tell.  It reports simply the pure direction of travel over the face of the earth.  It bears no relationship to magnetic north but since it is an electronic computerized unit, computations can be introduced that compensate for declination (the difference between true north and magnetic north) so that some units can be switched from reporting true to magnetic direction; But it is only relative to the GPS unit's progress over the face of the earth.   There is no heading if the boat is stopped.

 

Differences between the three carefully calibrated units can be fairly extreme given wind and current conditions.  A boat heading west according to the GPS, could be pointed north as reported by the steering compass and north-northwest as reported by the fluxgate compass.  As a side note, small aircraft (at least) also have a gyro-compass which measures changes in the airplane's horizontal aiming direction since calibration (calibration is usually performed in preflight when the gyro compass is set to match the take-off runway's direction).  

 

Anyway, the difference between a boat's heading on the steering compass and the GPS can represent a measurement of the angular effect of wind and current applied to the hull at that moment. From a practical navigator's point of view it is helpful to remember that the steering compass tells you where the bow is pointed while the GPS reports your angular progress over the planet's surface.  The fluxgate compass, while it may report differences with the steering compass, should be relatively close to the steering compass if it is calibrated correctly.   Mainly the difference between the two is likely the result of deviation or the influence of ferrous metals and magnetic fields in the boat.  This can be affected by the location of metal masses vs. the difference in location of the two compasses.  In my boat, the steering compass is in the binnacle just behind the engine/transmission mass and centered in the boat while the fluxgate compass is located on the V-berth bulkhead about 5 or 6 feet ahead of the mast and offset maybe 4 or5 feet to port.  So some small differences are to be expected.

 

Keeping the magnetic compass and the fluxgate compass away from iron masses is important although fixed iron sources such as the engine can be compensated for.  It is the portable or intermittent ferrous metal/field sources that are problematic.  We all know about the effect of a screwdriver carelessly stowed on the binnacle but things such as a strong magnetic field near the fluxgate compass can throw it off too. That's why my fluxgate compass is located so far forward.   In fact, we moved it there after we discovered that the boat's autopilot would make a 40 degree course change when someone flushed the toilet.  The Lectra-san system was throwing a strong enough field to move the fluxgate compass from 6 feet away!  It's hard to beat that for fun things to do in the toilet! Well, maybe not so hard. 

 

Also consider things like your handheld VHF radio.  Is it hanging on a bracket near the binnacle?  The speaker magnets may be enough to disturb your steering compass.  

 

I know that you all know these things but sometimes it helps to remember them or think about it again.   I think it might be neat to integrate the fluxgate compass with the GPS such that GPS headings could be computed relative to the direction the boat is pointed.  This might allow a user of a chart based nav system to set a real anchor alarm that measures not just a change in position but a change in position along a heading.  That way a change of 100 feet swinging along the anchor rode's arc would not trigger an alarm but an increase in the arc radius of 6 feet would set it off.  Oh well, that's probably been invented already.    

 

Meanwhile we should all get ready for the next geomagnetic reversal. 

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GPS Article

This is one of those articles that I write when I get the urge or maybe when my Muse speaks to me (yeah, right).  I've posted this to my website too.  It occurred to me that some of my sailing friends aren't using their GPSs to much advantage and that a few hints might go a ways toward helping them get a bit more out of these systems.

Getting a little more from your GPS

By Ron Butler

 

Ok, I've ranted about the shortcomings of Garmin and other brands of GPSs so this time I thought I'd share some of the virtues.  Of course, the greatest virtue of the GPS is that it has made child's play of navigation; literally.  It's now like playing a video game.  Color chart plotters and mapping software have made obsolete such nautical artifacts as the sextant, parallel rules, course computers and even LORAN.  But please note that they haven't yet displaced paper (or plastic) nautical charts anymore than digital books have replaced the paperback.   This is not to suggest that you don't need to know how to work a DR plot or use a hand bearing compass, on the contrary, the old techniques still work, it's just that GPS has made it so very much easier.

 

I carry two Garmin GPSs on Kismet.  One is attached to the binnacle and is used for steering and the other is anchored to the chart table at the nav station and interfaced to a laptop computer.

 

First the steering GPS.  I think it is essential to have a late model DGPS within easy sight of the helmsman. The one I have, is one of the first DGPS units to hit he market and it is a chart plotter type with a 6" (vertical) black & white screen.  It is a Garmin GPSMap 230 .   There are a number of issues with this unit that I have discussed elsewhere but it does have a NEMA 0183 interface, which enables me to display navigation information on my Furuno Radar.  This is a very handy feature.  For one thing, the radar will display our GOTO waypoint as a target with a rhumb-line course from our position.  This can be a confirmation of our plan vs. actual if the next waypoint happens to have a radar signature.  A large buoy used as a waypoint, for example, would show up on radar.  If the return from the buoy is not inside the target, there might be reason to investigate. 

 

One night we were traversing the space between Three Rooker Bar and Anclote Key on Florida's west coast.  The waypoint I chose to use appeared on the radar screen as a target squarely on dry land.   It had been years since we visited this area and shoaling had built an island where our old waypoint was located.  Good thing for radar.

 

The integrated system also displays our heading, bearing, position, speed, etc on the radar display.  I can see both the radar and the GPS displays from the steering station but because I have them interfaced, I can also see all of the nav information on the radar display from a nice cozy spot up under the dodger.  This is because I have the radar mounted to a swinging arm that we swing into the main companionway when we are using the radar in the cockpit.  This mounting position unclutters the helmsman's view ahead and enables a nice sheltered watch-keeping spot under the dodger when making a passage in less than fun conditions.  This swinging mount also means that I can see the radar from the nav station by simply swinging the radar screen into the cabin.  

 

We also keep the track feature of the GPS turned on thus leaving our little trail of breadcrumbs should we need to find our way back the way we just came.  More on this feature later.

 

Next, the nav station GPS.  This unit is a small, inexpensive, handheld, Garmin GPS72 set into a mounting bracket on the nav desk.  It is wired to ship's power and interfaced to our laptop computer.  When we are underway I usually keep our MapTech Ocean Navigator software up and running and displaying our current position from the GPS.  This system constantly keeps our route, track and position displayed so if we need a quick look at exactly where we are, a peek down the main companionway at the laptop screen does it.  Of course the software will also display all the nav info from the GPS as well.  This system is used to plan our travels as well as provide an immediate route check.  We usually plan our next day's travels the evening before we depart using the laptop system and then manually transfer the waypoints to the steering computer.  Time consuming, yes, but it is also a built in redundancy.  In the Bahamas the planned route on the computer is an estimate using artificially spotted waypoints.  The route I key into the steering plotter is usually pulled manually from the Explorer Chartbooks using their waypoints or waypoints that I have already entered into the GPSMAP 230.  Generally our routes are less than 70 miles long since we prefer to stop overnight, mostly. 

 

The redundancy comes in once I've keyed a route into the steering GPS.  If the planned route was say 50 miles long and I key in a route that ends up 62 miles long then I have a cue to check things out.  Likewise when we're out sailing and our actual path ends up wildly different from the plan on the computer, it's time for some do over or at least a reasonableness check.

 

I do not have either GPS interfaced to the autopilot, nor do I have them interfaced to each other.  They are two independent displays.  I think this is a reasonably good way to set things up.  Sure I could interface one of them to the autopilot but I prefer to correct our course myself according to the steering GPS and compass while occasionally checking it against where the MapTech plot shows us.  Also I think that navigation requires that you keep your head outside of the boat and thinking about what you see out there rather than playing the video game displayed on some LCD monitor.  In the Bahamas especially, you must always be aware of the water color, the wind and wave set, the tidal flows and other boats.  In the Bahamas, there are no channel markers nor should you need any.  The water is so clear that the bottom is visible in 40 feet or more of water in most places.  The water color marks your channel and while the Explorer charts that I have on paper and in my MapTech system are the most reliable there are, you still navigate passes and anchorages by sight.  In addition, the visual cues such as the shape of a headland, an airplane taking off or landing, the channel wash, a radio tower or a stone monument offer confirmation of what the charts and GPS are telling you.  Lesson #1 for cruising the islands, "Keep your head out of the boat!" 

 

I can remember at least one time where we were approaching Darby Cut from the east and saw a plane landing on the island ahead of us.  We couldn't see the pass but assumed it was behind a headland.  I didn't remember a landing strip near Black Point or Darby Cut.  A quick chart check showed the nearest airplane patch to be Staniel Cay.  We changed course and figured out what happened.  I had fat-fingered the waypoint coordinates for Darby Cut.  We were actually 3 miles north of where we thought we were.  Of course, a quick look at the MapTech system showed our error.  I suppose one could argue that having the steering GPS interfaced such that we could electronically transfer waypoints and routes would save this kind of error.  Yes, it would and it would be much easier to boot especially if both systems could share the same library of routes and waypoints.  The problem comes in from being unable to transfer data to and from the now old and obsolete GPSMap 230.    The good news is that our position was in real time display down at the nav station so I didn't have to waste time plotting it on a paper chart.  By the way, we always keep the paper chart of our immediate navigation area in the cockpit for handy reference.

 

I would also relate the cautionary tale from last year, when a large motor-yacht ran onto a reef attempting to enter Little Harbor on Long Island.  I've been in that wonderful little hole and we've always entered and exited based on the Explorer Charts using their waypoints and our own eyeballs with no issues.  The power boat was following their RayMarine chartplotter and relying on it as their sole means of navigation.  The RayMarine system does not use the Explorer Chart data and clearly shows an entrance to the lagoon that is barred by a barely submerged reef of stag horn coral.  I've been diving on that reef and at low tide, it is right at the surface.   The Explorer Charts clearly show the reef blocking the northern entrance to the lagoon.  The motor-yacht ran right onto the reef.  Just keeping their eyes out of the boat should have told them that their electronic chart was wrong.  Later we found out that RayMarine is one company of several that have refused to pay Explorer Charts royalties to use their data and so make their own charts based on satellite or other sources.  If you cruise the Bahamas, you need the Explorer Charts, period.  No other charts are as frequently updated or as thoroughly researched.   If you're buying electronic charts for use in the Bahamas, make sure they are based on the Explorer Charts data.  I have no interest in Explorer Charts, by the way, I am just a convinced customer; Nothing against RayMarine either just one more little item to keep in mind.

 

I mentioned our breadcrumbs.  We always have the track feature turned on in both the MapTech system and the helm GPS.  We record a track about every 2 boat lengths as we progress.  This feature we find very useful at least once in a while even if it is a bit of overkill.  More than once we have found ourselves in a position where we had to navigate a narrow channel in less than ideal visual conditions, sometimes even at night.  Steering our way out of a risky passage at night for example, may only be possible because we have tracks that we can follow.  Sure it takes some practice to learn to steer the boat so that it stays on 'track' but it can be done.  We zoom our steering GPS map screen in to the ¼ mile display for this purpose.  By the way, the track feature works whether or not you have a chart cartridge in the machine. 

 

We have also used tracks to negotiate alternative anchorages.  Some small cays and islands in the Bahamas offer anchoring protection from only one wind direction, usually east.  This is fine so long as the wind doesn't shift.  Usually you get large wind shifts with the passing or approach of some major weather system feature such as a cold front.  If we suspect that we may get such a wind shift sometime in the near future, we will scout out an alternative anchorage just in case we have to make a move.  Usually you can count on the wind shifts to happen at night or other adverse condition.  By scouting the alternative anchorage with our track feature on, we feel comfortable making the move even if we can't see the water color all that well.  

 

Tracks might also serve a safety function.  If someone were to fall overboard, returning to the location would be easier if you can follow tracks.  Thankfully we've never had to use that or the MOB feature of the GPS. 

 

We also make extensive use of the route feature on the steering GPS and the MapTech software.  We plan the route using MapTech and then enter the waypoints we want to use, manually to the steering GPS.  While we do change course by pushing buttons on the autopilot or by hand if we are hand steering, having the route pre-entered to automatically announce the arrival at a waypoint and then change to the next waypoint, saves fumbling with the GOTO feature right when you're busy changing trim or getting set-up for the new course. 

 

Having the route and tracks displayed also allows you to see where and when you went off course.  This I have found to be very helpful when doing post race analysis where the tracks will show you every lift and header.  I have even used these features to call a tack when I see on the GPS that we've sailed into a favorable shift.

 

While I'm sure there is nothing new here to some cruisers, I hope I've managed to get you thinking about how you use your onboard GPS systems.  Sure there are more sophisticated and expensive systems out there but this works for us.  Thanks for reading; hope it was helpful.

 

 

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Taah Dahh

Hey what do you know it works. If we ever get back to the Bahamas again I should be able to attach photos to the blogs as long as I keep the pics under 250k ... also I don't get to position the blog within the text so I suppose I'll have to post multiple short blogs more or less explaining the picture.

Anyway t's mo betta with pics.

Test Photo Email

This is a test to see if I can update the blog by email with a photo attached.

The photo is the flamevine on our boat shed behind our house in Auburndale.  The vine covered the boat shed in these bright orange blooms this past winter until the frost turned it all into a brown ugly mass. 

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FW: Bahamas Photos

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From: kismet@ocens.net
To: rcbutler@hotmail.com
Subject: Bahamas Photos (fwd)
Date: Thu, 12 Jun 2008 17:00:34 +0000

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: kismet@ocens.net
To: captronb.sailin2@blogger.com
Subject: Bahamas Photos
Date: Thu, 12 Jun 2008 11:37:37 +0000


Here's a couple of photos from our travels in the Bahamas this past season.  I'll try to post a few over the next several weeks but we're traveling again so it'll take a while.
Not all of the pictures were taken by me.  Some came from friends or were just generally shared among the cruising community.
One of the things we tend to take for granted in the Bahamas are the spectacular sunsets as seen in one of the following photos.

The other photo is from the cruiser racing in George Town during the Cruiser Regatta.  It is a photo of Kismet overtaking and trying to punch through the lee of Star a beautiful dark blue hulled Bristol 38.8.  We didn't make it and ended up dodging back behind her and overtaking her to windward.  Big waste of time trying to pass so close to leeward.

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Kismet Log 40

Kismet Log 40
Indiantown Marina, Indiantown, Florida
27.00.54N
80.28.07W

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there; Sorry you have to put up
with us children but them's the breaks.

Man is it hot here. Indiantown hit 95 degrees here yesterday. It's so
hot that we generally quit working on the boat (outside at least) by noon or
1pm and then siesta in the air conditioning until 5pm or so when the sun is
low enough to tolerate.

Even with the A/C going full blast the inside gets up to 84 or 85.
Overnight it can get it down to 73 so it's been nice for sleeping.

Anyway, in spite of the heat we're getting some boat stuff done. We
shipped out the water pump for refurbishing and the Norcross depth sounder
for a tune up. I also have the old Datamarine depth sounder ready to ship
for repairs. We ordered new life line stanchion bases too. The old ones
are somewhat bent and distorted and they leak. The new ones are cast
stainless and so should be stronger although with the heat, installation
will likely wait until next fall.

I also installed a dual fuel filter system using two Racor 500 series
filters. The system uses two fuel pick-ups and two fuel lines as well as
the two 2micron filters. There's a valve between the filters that will
allow me to switch from one filter to the other easily. We need to get the
water pump back before we haul out so we can test run the engine and make
sure the system works as intended but it's installed. I also installed an
oil change transfer pump that'll make changing oil easier. I'm also
waiting on a new oil pan drain fitting so I can replace the old drain hose.

While Tom was here, I went up the mast again to revise our lazy jack system
and move our flag halyard farther up the backstay. So we're getting a few
things done. I also replaced the wire-rope spinnaker halyard with an all
rope halyard.

Oh yeah, speaking of Tom, I got the rental car, loaded it up with Tom &
Judy and drove to Pinellas County (T&J live in Seminole) and then to Plant
City to visit Lee (Carole's brother) and then home to Auburndale. We
didn't get to see Chris and Carol as they were working. Lee had dinner
waiting for us, very nice and we got to see his new Honda Gold Wing cruiser.
It's some machine. I think it has every option available. It's
beautiful dark red wine color and it's the size of a small car. If it
falls over, Lee's going to need a wrecker to stand it up again. Good
thing his son is a wrecker driver.

When we got home, everything appeared to be in order except that the water
hadn't been turned on. There was a notice on the door that indicated that
the city wouldn't turn on the water since no one was home and granted
permission for me to do it myself. I managed to get it turned on in the
dark under the car's headlights.

The truck's battery was also dead. My little solar panel on the dash
didn't get the job done. I jump-started it off the rental car the next
morning and it seems to be fine so far. We'll see; probably killed the
battery or at least started it dying, just like last year. I guess the
panel has to be outside in the sun and wired directly to the battery.

We have the dinghy loaded up on the trailer. That's a fringe benefit of
Indiantown Marina by the way. We're in fresh water here so the engines
get flushed with fresh water automatically.

Friday, May 16, 2008

Still here. Boat repairs making progress. I installed a new galley faucet
and two new drains. I also have the gooseneck (joint where the boom joins
the mast) apart to repair. If the water pump doesn't show up today,
we'll go home for the weekend and resume work on Monday. Most of the
electronics have been taken off and packed to go home. The radios will stay
where they are but the printer, scanner, camera, radar, GPS units, Sat
phone, hand-helds, etc will go home for the summer.

Saturday, May 24, 2008

Sorry about taking so long to send out this log. It really is the final log
for the season so I was waiting until we put the boat to bed, which we
finally accomplished yesterday.

Not all that much to report except that the final few repairs seemed to take
forever. I managed to get one (of six that need it) lifeline stanchion base
replaced. I bought cast stainless steel bases that are much more
substantial than the welded OEM ones. The problem with the welded OEM ones
is that the metal plate on the bottom isn't stiff enough and under load it
bends enough to cause the stanchion to leak. The OEM plate is probably about
.090 thick; the cast bases measure approximately .250 thick, much stiffer.
It took me all day, in the heat, to get one done. Of course, the mounting
holes don't match the old ones so I had to fill the deck with epoxy and
redrill the mounting holes. Also the backing plates are stainless steel and
had to be redrilled. Not fun with a hand drill but with the right bit it
can be done. I bedded the fitting with 5200. I know some prefer other
sealants but I'm hoping for a permanent fix.

I also got the water pump back from the repair shop (no bill yet) and
installed. I then tested the engine again, (had to bleed an air lock out of
the raw water system) and tested the new fuel filter system (works fine, no
leaks).

We also replaced a gasket and screen in one more opening port. That leaves
one to go; the one in the quarter berth that opens into the cockpit. It's
not leaking yet anyway.

While we were waiting on parts I had the yard repair the main boom's
gooseneck fitting. I removed it from the mast and boom and had the yard
just drill out the hole and insert a stainless steel bushing (press fit) and
bore the bushing to fit the stainless steel pin. They did a fine job but it
cost me Over $100 … yikes.

Everything else we put off until fall. It's just too hot to work on the
boat. Even with all of our tarps rigged to shade the boat, the A/C had a
hard time keeping the inside temp under 80 degrees. It made sleeping
tolerable though.

Once the boat was hauled and we got a look at our bottom paint, we were
pleased to note that we should be able to get another season out of it. We
need to buy another gallon to touch up the bottom of the keel where we ran
aground a few times (mainly in the middle of the St Lucie waterway) but
otherwise it's in good shape. Also the prop zinc was still there although
greatly diminished and the shaft zinc was gone. I suspect that we lost the
shaft zinc when we were trolling off Eleuthera on the way to Powell Point.
We had run through a very dense weed mat and heard the engine stagger. We
immediately slowed down and reversed the engine. Then when we started
forward again we had a considerable rumbling vibration (as opposed to a
Beach Boys style Good, Good, Vibration) After several attempts at reversing
and revving the engine, we finally dislodged whatever it was and the engine
ran smooth again. It's likely that the shaft zinc got knocked loose by
whatever snagged us and then was hanging by one screw or something causing
the vibration issue until our efforts dislodged it.

We have a number of 'off season' projects (as usual) but we'll work
on them as we have time and energy.

We got a bit of bad news when we got home though. Our friends on Excaliber,
that we sailed with down to the Turks and Caicos back a few years ago,
finally returned to the US from Venezuela. We were lucky enough to meet up
with them in Georgetown and had them over for dinner one evening. We got to
hear of their travels and once again reinforced the notion that other than
the Spanish Virgins, there isn't all that much worth cruising to in the
eastern Caribbean once you leave the Bahamas. Anyway, we got an email from
Jan informing us that Phil has been diagnosed with lung cancer. He's
under going chemo treatment at the VA hospital near Jacksonville. We wish
him well and he'll be in our prayers. I'm so glad that they got to go
cruising before this hit them. It sort of reminds us why we're doing this
cruising thing. It's something you have to do while you can.

When I was a boy I spent my summers on Cape Cod with my grandfather (who I
adored). He always told me that when us boys, (meaning me and my cousins)
got old enough to help him, he'd buy a big boat so we could go fishing
offshore. Of course, that never came to pass. We got old enough but then
got interested in other things. He had several heart attacks and never
again had the energy for fishing. I guess we have Kismet today, at least
somewhat, because of that. Maybe Kismet is Gramp's big boat in a way.
Karma. You have to do it while you can.

It's been fun. We'll start up again in the fall.

Signing off.

Captain Ron
Admiral Carole
Marvelous Molly

Kismet Log 39

Kismet Log 39
Lake Worth, Florida
26.45.64N
80.02.68W

Sunday, May 04, 2008

Back in the ole USA! We left Grand Bahama Yacht Club early this morning (4:40am) and inched our way out the channel with the reefed mainsail up into what looked like a great sailing day; East to southeast wind at 15 knots and a following sea with a bit of current in our favor. You know it couldn't last. By sunrise the wind was down to 10 knots and we shook out the reef and then the wind continued to die and by 10am we rolled up the jib and motored west at 6 knots, booring.

We did run into another pod of dolphins, though. I think this one was a mixed bunch of small spinners and the more usual bottlenose ones we see in Florida but basically it was a boring day. Tom and Carole tried to keep it interesting by spotting ships and such with the radar but even that got boring although we did see a US Warship … probably something like a destroyer or maybe a guided missile frigate. It was over three miles ahead of us when it crossed our bows.

The best part of the day was lunch. We had leftover fried Mahi-mahi sandwiches with spicy mayo on whole wheat bread to the drone of the diesel; Super. This is one of my favorite leftover sandwiches, probably comes in second only to leftover meatloaf with mustard on white bread when you can't sleep about 2am with a glass of grapefruit juice on the side. Oh and with a houseful of snoring relatives for background music. Now that's a great sandwich.

No fish though. We trolled all day not a strike in spite of seeing birds working and schools of flying fish exploding out of the sea. Tomorrow's trip up to St Lucie is the last chance for Tom to deliver. Actually he's been doing great. We've been eating fish or conch every day since T & J arrived I think. Come to think of it, I'm ready for a steak, yeah, red meat, grilled to perfection. Anyway, Tom has delivered on his end of the deal and so did I. Tom agreed to come down and keep us in fish if I provided nice enough weather to fish. I think we got both.

We arrived at Lake Worth Inlet about 5:30pm (1730 to you Navy types) and anchored up downwind. Yep, we anchored with the stern into the remains of the sea breeze. The current was coming in so strong that all the boats were aimed into the current and stern to the breeze. Of course it's really choppy in here right now. It's Sunday afternoon and it's boat wake city here.

After we got anchored, we cleared US Customs by phone more or less. We have a clearance number but now have 24 hours to report to Customs on dry land. We'll get up early again and try to be there when they open. We would like to be back on the boat and heading for St Lucie inlet as early as we can. We hope to make the anchorages near Stuart, Florida just west of the Roosevelt Bridge by evening.

Then the plan is to spend a day prepping the boat for the trip up to Indiantown. I have to go up the mast and remove the VHF antenna and wind bird. Plus while I'm up there, I have a few small maintenance tasks to knock off, ummm, maybe that's bad terminology; I have a few tasks to complete while I'm up there.

Judy is going to fix us Jambalaya with Mahi-mahi tonight so I better get out of the way and let her get it done.

Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Southpoint Anchorage, St Lucie River, Stuart, Fl
27.11.55N
80.15.81W

We're in Stuart now, anchored just west of the old mooring field. It's strange to see all those moorings sitting there empty when just last December we came through here and couldn't get a mooring because they were too full.

The City of Stuart has leased the facility to his royal highness, the Wayne of Huezienga. Yes that's the one who owns Joe Robby Stadium in Miami (Miami Dolphins ex-owner). Wayne made his first fortune creating Blockbuster and his second screwing local governments. Anyway, he's supposed to remodel the marina with new docks, new management, a new building and a new restaurant. The city website says they will have some moorings open with some limited vehicle parking, on some limited basis (whatever that means) by next December. Meanwhile, all that mooring field revenue is being lost. So far there's not much sign of any activity, just the empty mooring balls.

Tom hauled me up the mast late yesterday, and I took down the wind birds and turned the VHF antenna upside down. The VHF should still work although with somewhat reduced range even though it's hanging down. We have to clear a 54 foot bridge. Our mast is 52 feet high without the antenna and wind birds.

I also removed the stainless steel ring from the radar antenna mount. The ring is there (I think) to help prevent the leech of the genoa from snagging on the antenna dome. The antenna dome itself is a heavy plastic affair that's intended for the same purpose as well as keeping birds, bugs and weather from damaging the antenna. I think that the PO (previous owner) added this ring since it appears to be something of a jury rig. The ring must weigh 5 lbs and that's a lot when it's 20 feet up the mast. And the genoa hangs up on the ring anyway. The rest of the gimbaled, stainless steel tubing radar mount is still there. I'll be working on eliminating it too. It's just way too heavy. I may try to remount the radar dome on the starboard spreader. It'll be a couple of feet lower and it won't be centered anymore but I don't think that'll matter much. At least it won't snag the sail that way. The problem with that is that I'll have to rewire the connections inside the dome itself. This is because the cable goes down inside the mast and it will have to be rearranged to come out just above the spreader. Complications.

We had the last of the Mahi-mahi last night and since we didn't catch anything yesterday I guess that's it for fresh fish this trip.

Yesterday we came up the outside from Lake Worth Inlet to St Lucie Inlet. That's only about a 25-mile trip and it saves going through multiple drawbridges. It's strictly a fair weather route but that's what we had yesterday. The entrance to the St Lucie Inlet was recently dredged and marked so we felt fairly sure we could get through there. We went through in the last hour of the ebb tide. The tide here flows so strongly that our speed was under 3 knots at times when it normally would be 6. The shallowest water we saw was about 7 feet and that was inside the pass in the channel leading to the St Lucie River/ICW intersection. Of course, wakes from power boats were severe at times but we only had that issue for a few miles. Once we got past Manatee Pocket the big boat traffic diminished significantly.

This morning we're heading out early to catch the 10am lock opening at the St Lucie Lock. Time to get going.

We made the lock ok, about an hour and a half early; better early than miss it and have to wait until 3pm for another opening. It was downright chilly this morning when Tom and I raised and rinsed the anchor. I pulled the anchor chain up a link at a time while Tom sprayed the muck off with the wash-down hose. When we got to the lock we tied off to one of the big dolphins (a dolphin is like a bundle of pilings cabled together) used to tie off barges and had breakfast while we were waiting. Then maybe quarter before ten, we untied and found that we were aground. The wind had pushed us shoreward of the dolphin. Great, now what? We couldn't power off astern so we tried forward and managed to move the boat along the shore side the dolphin and back into the channel, whew!

We locked through with three powerboats, a Bertram 50 sportfish, a 26ft outboard power cat and another 30 something Sea Ray type. Now that we're past the lock, we get to motor the Okeechobee Waterway for a few hours, to Indiantown and the marina; almost home again. Tom and Judy are already happy; they're in cell phone territory now and can talk to their grandkids whenever they want. That's one aspect of the Globalstar sat phone that's been really disappointing. While it works great for email, it is very poor for voice communications. We have to wait sometimes for hours to get a satellite signal and then it drops calls usually within a minute or two. Once in a great while we get a connection that lasts maybe 10 or 12 minutes but that seems rare. Maybe we should reconsider that decision but Carole still likes being able to call home even if she only gets through sporadically. We could use the HF radio for email but then we'd have to get a Batelco cell phone to make calls home or use payphones (which are none too reliable anymore). We've tried US cell phones but at $3 a minute and up they're just too expensive to use in the islands.

We have a rental car reserved for tomorrow. Enterprise will pick me up and drop me off at Indiantown Marina and the rental rate for a full size car is only $40 plus tax. The cab fare alone from Indiantown to Stuart one way was going to cost $40. This way we'll drive Tom & Judy home and then return the rental to Stuart. That works for us ok it's just that we'll have to drive our car and the rental back to Indiantown/Stuart so it's double gas for that leg. So it goes. We'd have to do that anyway whether we drop off T&J or not.

It's hot here, much hotter than the Bahamas where we almost always have a nice cooling breeze. Here in the marina the breeze is blocked pretty much and the old A/C unit just can't cool the boat when the sun is beating down on it. Awnings would help but we don't have any.

We walked the mile to town for dinner tonight in spite of the heat. We went to our favorite little taqueria, Uruapan for our Latin food fix. I had a beef chimichanga and Carole had the chicken chimichanga. Tom went for a pork burrito, and Judy had a chile relleno. The dinners come with rice, beans, and our chimichanga dinners came with a small side salad. The place makes their own green salsa, which is excellent; nicely flavored and hot! A Guatemalan family owns Uruapan but they serve Mexican/Latin style food since their clientele seems mostly Mexican. It helps if you can speak a little Spanish since the counter staff doesn't speak much English but the food is inexpensive and very good. You don't get this stuff at Taco Bell. I think the four of us got out of there for under $40 including a beer each.

That's all for now. I may send out one more log this season but it'll likely be venting about boat repairs or parts.

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Kismet Log 38

Kismet Log 38
Bullocks Harbor, Northern Berry Islands
25.45.57N
77.52.69W

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

We're still here, anchored off Bullocks Harbor in the Berry Islands. The weather isn't cooperating. A front went through last night and we have 15-20k winds from about 020 … north-northeast. Friday or Saturday look better with the wind expected to shift to the east and drop down a bit by then.

We're on the homeward bound leg of this year's cruise. If we get perfect weather we can be home in two longish day sails. 60 miles or so will get us to Freeport on Grand Bahama and then a leg of 70 plus will get us to West Palm Beach (Lake Worth Inlet). Both will be long days on the water but we avoid doing an overnighter. I guess what I'm saying is that there won't be many more logs; this is close to the last one for this season. We'll pick it up again next season.

We have a slip reserved in Indiantown for May 7th but if we arrive early, we can call and get that changed. We would like to stay in a slip for a week or two depending on the project list. By staying in a slip we can run the A/C and live a bit more comfortably than we could if we were in the work yard. We have a long project list but it's better that we do some things in the spring, some over the summer and try to keep the fall project list as short as possible. That helps the budget a little too. Of course, the admiral is ready to get home and hug her major appliances.

For dinner last night Judy made a yellow rice 'n peas dish (like her paella) with the mackerel filets that was sooo excellent. Carole opened one of our remaining bottles of white wine to go with it … super. But I guess that's about it for fish unless we manage to score some more. We may be getting down to the hotdogs.

Thursday, May 01, 2008

We're not down to the hotdogs yet. A Bahamian fishing boat with a huge load on conch moved into the harbor yesterday. About as soon as they got anchored I went over to see what they might have for sale. Apparently they had been out fishing the banks for the last 3 weeks or so in very rough weather and now had engine problems. The boat is named 'Sea Haven of the Sea'

When I say they had a load of conch, I mean they had conch all around the decks and piled on the main deck almost to the roof. Plus they had some fish or crab traps on the coach roof. I would guess that the boat is 40 or 45 feet long, single diesel and tows a 20 foot skiff. There were 8 men on board. The man I dealt with at first was the captain and then I met Ian that I think was the boat's dive master or at least lead diver.

They charged me $15 for a dozen cleaned and skinned conch. They told me it would take 15 or 20 minutes to get them cleaned for me. They had frozen ones but they were in big bags, maybe 20 or 30 lbs to the bag. That would be way too much for us. We had paid $5.50 a lb in Thompson Bay and judging by the amount we got, this was a bit more expensive; maybe we got 2 or 2 ½ lbs for our $15. I also asked them if they had any fish for sale and the captain said they had a big mutton snapper he would sell me for $40. I declined, since even if that's a good deal, say 10lbs of skinless filets ($4/lb), we couldn't use that much fish between the four of us.

About twenty minutes later they hollered at us so I went back over and picked up the bag of conch and gave the captain the $15. Then Ian, the dive guy, asked me if I could get them a bottle of rum. He said he would trade me some snapper for some rum. So I went back and consulted the gang and we decided to give them the rum and see what they came up with for fish. So I took a liter bottle of rum over to them. We had the Ron Ricardo Gold from George Town that cost us about $6.50. They were grateful for the rum and promised us a nice snapper.

Later in the morning, they loaded their skiff with live conch and three men set out. Then we saw them drifting maybe ¼ mile behind us with one guy waving his arms. I went over in our dinghy and took a towline from them when another dinghy from another sailboat came over and also took a tow line. The both dinghies towed them back to their big boat. Then the crew gave the other guy 5 cleaned conch for helping and promised me they would take care of me later.

So now I have paid them $15, a liter of rum and a tow for our two lbs of conch. This is not looking too good.

Meanwhile Tom and I are fishing off the back of the boat with conch scraps. Tom & Judy had finished cleaning and pounding out the conch for cracked conch tonight leaving some bait sized scraps. We caught a small pigfish and hooked him up for something bigger.

After lunch, we noticed the Bahamians throwing their conch load overboard. Of course, the conch are tied together in twos or threes via holes poked through the shell lip so they won't be crawling off. I suppose the conch have been on board long enough that they need to be in the water for a while to keep them alive.

Then Ian hollered at me so I went back over. His men had caught a nice mutton snapper and they cleaned it and skinned it for me so now we have about 3lbs of fresh snapper filets for tomorrow. However, while I was there he asked for more rum. It seems the liter bottle didn't last too long with 8 guys on board. I said, 'well, get us some more fish or lobster and I'll see what I can do'. So that's where we are right now. I know he was hoping that I'd front him another bottle but this time I want to see the goods first.

Later on I checked our rod with the pigfish and the rod was in the water, hanging by its safety line and the rod holder was tipped over. I picked up the rod, and took up the slack line when something took off stripping line. I tensioned the drag and tried to set the hook and bang the line broke. We didn't have a leader on; we had just tied the hook to the 40lb test line. Oh well, next time we'll put on a leader. We caught a few more bait fish as the day went on but we never got another hit on them so who knows maybe the earlier hit was a barracuda or shark; it had to be something toothy to chew through 40lb mono.

Dinner was excellent as expected with cracked conch dipped in Matouk's, or cocktail sauce and last night's leftover yellow rice and peas fixed into a cold salad; Good stuff, the hotdogs can wait. I don't know what we'll do when we have to go back to Florida and get by with chicken and beef.

Thursday, May 01, 2008

Unfortunately, the weather reports aren't sounding too good. We may have to tough it out and sail to Freeport tomorrow so we can take Saturday to cross over to Florida. The winds will be stronger than we like but we should be able to sail reefed down. It will be rough however. I'll wait for the grib data and Chris Parker's email before we make a decision.

Ian hollered over his morning so I went over with a bottle of rum but he just wanted to explain that they were going out diving so I didn't even show him the rum. They got both boats running again and they headed out leaving their cache of conch. Judy may try to swim over there and take some underwater pictures of the conch pile. Hopefully, Ian will have a few lobsters for us when they get back.

We took the five of us (Ron, Carole Tom, Judy & Molly) to the marina today by dinghy and walked over to the beach. We walked down the beach to the Beach Club for lunch. It's getting pretty run down these days; the wood is rotting, the bolts that hold the beams together are all rusted, the beach side stairs are half broken or buried in sand and the plastic chairs have about had it. Other than that it's a nice place.

Tom had a burger but Carole, Judy & I opted for the conch burger because when I asked about it, the waitress said it was made from cracked conch and fried not the ground up conch patty that some places serve. It came with potato chips for $9, I think the burger was $7. Anyway, the conch burgers (and regular burger) came out quickly and the conch burger was excellent. It was stacked to an inch thick with tender fried conch plus another inch of lettuce, tomato, onion, ketchup and a dab of mustard. Excellent! I'm tellin' ya, the food on this trip has been fabulous.

After lunch we hiked back to the marina but we detoured a bit to look at the ruins of the old golf course clubhouse, which is an amazing sight. Once upon a time, this clubhouse was a multilevel masterpiece of architecture. Most of it is built of concrete and glass with elaborate stone and tile work. There's even a concrete bridge over the highway for golf carts to reach the back nine without traffic issues. The roof and ceilings are all caving in now due to the ravages of termites and weather and the glass is all broken out but you can still get a feel for how grand it was once. Golf cart paths wind through the grounds and even though trees have fallen across a couple of them, we could still walk them. At least a couple of greens are still being watered and in use. There's enough trash and graffiti about the place to sense that there have been some wild parties up there and maybe even someone still lives there.

Sea Haven was back when we returned to the boat but they never called me over or came over with anything to trade. Our dinghy is up now on the davits so that's that. The final tally was $15, a bottle of rum, and a tow for a dozen conch and about 3lbs of snapper. Not bad I guess but we had hoped for some lobster (which is now out of season for us tourists anyway)

Friday, May 02, 2008
26.31.00N
78.38.20W

Grand Bahama Yacht Club

Yep, we're clubbin' … We got our sorry butts out of bed by 5am this morning (hard to believe, I know) and wonder of wonders we were underway by 6am (that's like O'dark:30 to you of the night). The Grand Bahamas YC costs $80 bucks a night plus electric ($.45/kilowatt hour) + water($5/day) & cable TV ($2/day) if you're so inclined (we're not) to tie up in here. Yikes, Tom's about to have a heart attack!

The plan is to be outta here in the very dark and early morning of this Sunday (the 4th) heading for Florida.

It's been one helluva trip so far. Today tops them all. First Carole gets sick. I mean really ill. She doesn't know which end it's coming out of, but it's coming out, stand back! Poor dear thing was so sick she ended up on the settee down below sleeping most of the day. It wasn't even that rough out there. She's seen and survived much worse conditions without heaving breakfast. In fact, it wasn't nearly as bad as we thought it would be. We were expecting rough seas (maybe 5 to 8 feet) and 15 to 20 knots on the beam for 8 hours. As it turned out we got about 10 to 12 knots slightly aft of the beam and seas about 2 to 4 feet, mainly wind chop. That's about as good as it gets crossing open ocean like that.

No matter what it was it didn't help Carole much. We think she must have gotten a bit of some food born ailment (although none of the rest of us got sick) which might have been a mild case of the runs ordinarily (assuming dry land conditions) but then with the sea motion, became sort of a double or nothing deal. Poor gal still can't look food straight in the eye.

However before she retired below, we were greeted by a largish pod of spinner dolphins that jumped and chased our bow for a ways. They are really spectacular swimmers and jumpers. They're among the smallest dolphins too, most are under 4 feet long. We always see them in large groups too. Maybe several dozen or a couple of hundred in a pod.

On top of that the big fisherman came through! Tom got his hook into a 5 foot 40 lb Mahi-mahi that will be dinner and lunch for the next week for the 4 of us. It was a spectacular battle on my little 40lb rigs but Tom eased off on the drag and tired the brute out with a few serious grunts and groans. She (we're pretty sure it was a she) came to gaff after a 20 minute struggle and we dosed her good with alcohol on the side deck. I had her by the gills and Tom had the gaff hook in her solid but still she managed to flip herself over the side almost pulling me with her. The gaff held though and we got her back on board with me grabbing her tail and holding on for dear life as the boat surged and rolled. Judy got a few pics but a video cam would have been nice; U-tube eat your heart out. What a great catch. Tom is so happy he's taking us out to dinner tonight (Carole can't handle cooking smells yet).

Ok well, we found a place that had cracked conch for $10 and a $10 steak, yesss! … Nooo! The conch had gone up to $15 since they printed the menu and the steak to $19 so we settled for burgers and fries. Budweiser was supposed to be 2 for $5 but the bill came and they charged $6 … hey it's Freeport Mon! The fries tasted so good we had an extra order of French Fries (with salt) for desert … alright! That's really decadent considering that we have a fridge full of fresh Mahi but given the circumstances …

Carole's feeling better now that we're in a marina and she's even had a little chicken soup with noodles. The puking-shits will be a memory by tomorrow.

We walked out on the Port Lucaya Marina Docks after dinner and watched a couple of guys cleaning their Mahi catch. They filet the fish and then section the meat crosswise into 4 or 5 inch wide planks; then they skin it (skin side down) by cutting diagonally down to the skin along the mid-line of the plank and parallel to the blood-line and then out to the edge. This technique leaves the entire blood-line on the skin which is discarded of course. The way Tom and I did it, we filet the fish and skin it, then we kind of notch out the blood-line. Their technique eliminates a step in the process and yields a cleaner piece of meat. Of course, both ways require very sharp knives. We kept the sharpener handy as we worked.

It's still looking like Sunday for the crossing to Florida.

Later

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