Sailing!!!

kimosabi has been sold....

kimosabi may be on her trailer in our driveway, but she is now owned by another party. We delivered her on May 3rd to Alex, her new owner. Fair winds and Sail on.....

Here she is hitched up to Alex's truck, ready to roll to the Georgian Bay. Sail fast, live slow Alex...

North to Port Charlotte, Haulout and Home

When we left Naples we motorsailed from Naples to Punto Blanco Island (Cayo Costa State Park 52 NM). These folks were motoring a bit faster than us....

When we dropped the hook behind Point Blanco, this Gulfstar trawler was there. What a name....




We went for a walk on the Island and were greeted by this sign...



We spent the night, then sailed the short distance to Boca Grande for the night.


The next morning our sailing friends Bev and Bob showed up for a couple days of sailing.



Here's Bob driving at 14 knots....





That night, I burned some chicken and we had a great meal aboard (Cathie did most of the cooking)...



The next morning we woke up to a great day of forecasted light Easterlies and had a super sail with the Code 0 Furling spinnaker up Charlotte Harbor. A bit different from the previous days sailing.

We went through the lock and arrived at All American Covered Boat Storage about 4:30. Good thing there was someone working on their boat at the dock as we would not have been able to get our truck and head to Bob and Bev's place for the night.

The next morning we got to the boatyard about 9 AM and had the boat loaded and ready to go by 3 PM. We spent another night with Bob and Bev, then headed north about 11 AM, driving as far as Forsyth, GA.

The next day we drove the rest of the way home (1100 miles in 16.5 hours thanks to the Duramax) getting home about 11:30 PM.

We saw two major traffic jams on the way, but fortunately, they were southbound....

We are now in Naples

Notice the instruments - who says multihulls can't sail to weather??? We left Marathon Sunday and headed north hoping for forecasted west winds. They were westerly for about an hour then went northwest. As a result, the wind was "on the nose" all the way to Indian Pass - 80 nautical miles - about ten hours. If the winds would have been from the west it would have been a much quicker ride... Oh... watch out for crab pots. We motorsailed about 1/2 way to keep the boat speed up and wrapped one on the prop. Took me about 1/2 hour of sawing to free it. Luckily, the engine didn't throw a rod when it was suddenly stopped...





We had a short sail yesterday to Goodland and met friends there for dinner at the "Little Bar" -a nice place. Goodland is interesting, appears untouched by the development that has taken place in most of waterfront Florida. From the photo of Cathie in a Goodland driveway, it looks like a place to go...

We motored up the Intercoastal today, though Marco, to Naples. We have taken a mooring at the city marina for ten bucks a night, a good deal. I even have WIFI while sitting here on the boat!! Tomorrow we celebrate St. Patty's Day at the Old Naples Pub, a small place, that isn't the usual fare in Naples....

Parting Shots from Marathon..Great times - new friends

We got to spend some time with Margrit and Felix, the able crew of Expresso..

The Seafood Festival was March 14-15 in Marathon. Your typical festival... Look who's hiding behind a rather tame dragon...

Cathie and I helped the crew of Revision with a halyard. I got a free ride to the top. Les got his exercise for the day...

The guy taking the photo must have been a bit blurry... Anyway here's to Ann and her Dick, the great crew of Grey Hound....

Grey Hound as seen from the top floor...

Our last visit with Candi and Larry was a short daysail. Here they are waiting for the chef and lunch before our trip through the land (actually it's water) of stray voltage. Does wonderful things to the electric stuff on a boat.....

Goings and Comings

Ronnie and Arnie Gould prepping Freewind for haul out in Marathon...



The GREY Hound gives a hand at haulout... Note how everyone is dressed for the nice warm weather???
Felix and Margaret Kagi arrive aboard the beautiful Expresso!!!



We get one good day and you never know what you will see...

Softball in Marathon...

You can tell Les is going for the Grand Slam on this one...

Not much to report....

The cocktail hours come and go... It is still cold and windy... Too cold to snorkel on the reef... But... we could be home listening to the furnace run...

View from the top...

Went for a 30 mile daysail the other day. I must not have fully clasped the snap shackle when I raised the Code 0 in preparation, as it came tumbling down as I was tightening the halyard. So.... Cathie gets a ride to the top... She took the camera with her when she retrieved the halyard. Here's a photo of the crew that had to pay the price for being bad...

all in a row...

More of the same, the other way...
I like classic boats. Here is a fine one that passed us (barely) in the Hawk Channel.

It's Been COLD!!!

Over three hundred boats in the harbor and everybody without heat is freezing. We're not... We have MR. HEATER!!

A typical Keys sunset...












An important refueling trip...

Good friends and a trip to Key West

local transport

Bob and Bev arrive at Marathon

A visit by long-time cruising cousins, Larry and Candi.. Residents of Del Mar Marina, Key Largo

Lunch at Pepe's. Good thing some things remain as remembered...

Frolic in the Park...

The outboard from hell...

After two carburator teardowns, a $70 carburator rebuild kit that did not include the one part that is really needed and another carburator teardown, it kind of works... Oh, today the not-so-captive gas cap decided to take a swim...

As an update, I removed the carb a total of 9 times... I have since learned the Yamaha 2.5 is notorious for having carb problems.

I'm walking today!!

Yesterday I was down to one crutch. Today it's none!!! I have a brand new pair of crutches available to any needy party. Can't wait to see how much the emergency room charged for those....

Goings on in Marathon...

Moonlight in the harbor...

This isn't the original train to Key West from 1913...

Gee... they sure want allot to look at some old buildings....

A bike ride on the old bridge...

An appropriate gift for an old guy on his birthday...

Great people, fun times...

If you get the urge to play softball like you thought you did a few years ago, just be still, the urge will surely pass...
The ER Dr had us believing I completely severed the hamstring tendon requiring surgery with screws and Superglue. Cath and I didn't have a good evening trying to figure out what to do...The next day the Orthopedic guy said is was a pulled hamstring... Happy day!! Said I'd be good to go for spring training!!

Boats of Boot Key....