The work continues.

Yesterday we took CMTB out to calibrate the autopilot.  On our last outing the autopilot failed to hold track.  It appears that installing a TV and a new stereo caused magnetic interference with the autopilot.  Moved the autopilot sensor.  That required us to take her out and drive around in circles.  I think we are good to go there finally.

Today we installed the jib.  Went smoothly except the wind picked up and the jib was filling.  We tried to douse the jib, especially when it was about 3/4 of the way up.  Tried to pull us up and over.  Satisfied with the sails.

Another recurring problem is with the air conditioning.  It is getting hot in St Pete, and we ran the A/C today.  The only one working well is the one in the saloon.  We have the A/C guy coming out, but not until Monday.

It is great that we are staying with Grandma, and the cooking is fantastic.  I have told my boys that they can claim that their Grandma is the best cook - and be correct.

We need to get on the boat so we can lose some weight.

Call Me The Breeze has been sitting pleasantly back in the marina.  Lauren and I drove back to Atlanta to take care of some personal business.  We also took down the jib and took it to a sailmaker for repair. We also need to get someone to check out the autopilot on Wednesday.  Evidently getting work done in Florida during this time of year is challenging.

Taking down the jib was a hoot.  We actually took it down without any problem at all.  This in comparison to seemingly having a glitch with just about everything else.  The way the jib is held on is fascinating and simple.  There is an extruded aluminum pole that the sail slides into.  Simple and effective.

The plan now is to get these last squawks fixed and cast off.  We need to go have some fun.

We left.  We broke. Same tune second verse.

As we were leaving the marina, the cable from the helm to the engine on the starboard side broke.  It got stuck in reverse.  It took me climbing into the engine compartment with a hammer and "whanging" the linkage with a hammer to get it in and out of gear.  We finally got her back to the dock and spent the rest of Saturday getting a new cable from West Marine and getting it installed.

Sunday we set out again with Captain Norm and finally got to clear the coast and get to sail.  To get to the Gulf from our marina we have to travel North up the Intercoastal Waterway and have to clear through 3 bascule bridges.  Takes about an hour to an hour and a half.  Got to go down the middle to keep the top of our 71 foot mast from hitting the bridge.

We had a great day of sailing, doing over 8 knots under sail with a boat loaded to the brim with fuel and water.  Pretty impressive.

Our plan was to sail south to Venice Florida, but when the wind died we detoured to a location closer to home.  We got lots of good experience and some great coaching.  The boat is better set up and we know how to properly reef the main.  We spent the night and I was freaked out when I thought we were dragging anchor.  It took three tries to get the anchor set.

Today we sailed back to the marina.  Got an up close view of a freighter coming into Tampa Bay;

  

We had to share the channel with the big boys, too shallow either side of the channel.  Pretty cool.  It was impressive sailing through the wake after it passed.

I got Call Me The Breeze back without running aground or hitting anything in the marina.  Progress.

Next step is TBD.

We leave in the morning.

Next is how to get wi-fi and get into a new routine on the boat.

Time to put some miles under our keels...

I want to dedicate this blog to our good friends, John and Julie Kish.
Our thoughts, love and prayers...

We did not leave...

As we were getting our final check out of the boat before we were to leave we found some issues we had to fix.  One was the air condition pump failed.  The other was the alternators were not charging properly.  And finally, the hot water heater was full of rust and gunk.

I replaced the a/c pump.  Took the alternators to get them checked out.  One bad one good.  Had the bad one rebuilt.  New hot water heater installed.

I think we are ready to go.

For those of you north of Florida, the weather has been great.  The picture below is of Gulfport Marina off the back of the boat.

Hopefully Call Me The Breeze is ready for a few thousand miles of cruising.

We are still on schedule to leave on Monday.

A new wrinkle though.  During the month we have talked to a number of old salts and were convinced that getting someone to get us over the hump was a smart thing to do.  Our new "Captain Ron" is a gentleman that is a licensed captain and an ASA instructor, Captain Norm Russick.  He has a challenging job teaching me. And he only has between St Pete and Key Biscayne to get it done.  Lauren is happy.

The latest catastrophe was a leaking gland.  The driveshafts from the engines go through the hull to the propeller and the glands are part of how they seal.  The guys we have paid a few boat bucks jumped all over this new problem with both feet.  Bill Krul (the warrior king) and Chris. They replaced both sides in an afternoon.  One of the interesting aspects was that they brought a diver in.  He goes under the boat and as the shaft comes out, he stuffs a t-shirt in the hole as the shaft comes out.  No kidding.  The hole vacated by the shaft is stuffed with a t-shirt.  The diver, Captain John, was in 68 degree marina water stuffing t-shirts.  We was  a Navy diver and possibly a SEAL, not quite sure, but quite interesting to talk to.

Got the sat phone working, but the dive compressor motor is giving me a problem.  Won't stay running under load.  Got to get that one figured out.

The weather looks great for Monday and a possible crossing on Sunday.

Another aspect of this voyage I am becoming convinced.  Crossing the Gulf Stream is not something to be taken lightly.  Captain Norm told a story of a 5 week period where boats we stacked up waiting for a weather window  to make the crossing.  You have to wait on wind from the South before the seas are calm enough.  I am hoping we have better luck schedule wise.

Still at the dock.  Fog the past 2 days.  But it did not matter anyway.  The problem with the VHF has been fixed.  The crappy 10 year old antenna just fell apart and was not working properly.  The guys working it ran a new antenna wire through the mast and I am glad that was not me at the top of the mast.

Now that we have VHF, we have to stop another leak in the boat.  There is a leak where the shaft exits the hull going to the propeller.  Need to get that solved.

We had a watermaker installed and we spent the day screwing it up.  Lauren got extremely frustrated. That has to get resolved too.

Another fun thing is that Lauren has worked hard follow all of the rules.  One is that there has to be the boat documentation number on the boat.  It has to be somewhere.  So, she put it on a board.  Cute.