Our First Days Out

Port St. Joe Marina

Port Inn, home of a great breakfast buffet

Tied up at the dock in Port St. Joe

Watch out for the barge!

Steaming down the ICW.

We left the yacht club in stealth mode. David wanted no fanfare or farewells. He didn't want anything to delay the trip one more minute. We traveled the 60 miles to the St. Andrew's Yacht Club in Panama City in good time. It was a great sail and the new jib is now my favorite improvement. We could sail close hauled with 15 knots of wind and still have an easy helm and only about 15 degrees of heel. Bottom line, that means it was very easy to steer and not so leaned over that you can't do anything but sit still. We motored through the ditch (Intercoastal WaterWay or ICW) then sailed almost to the Hathaway bridge. From there it was a combination of motoring and sailing. We saw so much wildlife along the shores. The eagles and osprey nest in the taller trees and fish. We arrived late but Suz and Sam were waiting on us to help with the dock lines and share a celebratory toddy at finally being off on the adventure.

Next morning, we took the ICW to Port St. Joe. Again, we had a wonderful sail with only the last 6 miles being a motor. The engine smokes but we just try to ignore it. It runs well and doesn't burn oil and we know there is really nothing else we can do at this point to make it better.

We were joined for dinner on Sunday night by Theresa and Ernie. They drove out from Ft. Walton to bring cheer and good wishes. Theresa wasn't going to let us sneak out of town and I'm glad she didn't.

We've spent the last two days here and I'm waiting on the decision of leave for Appalachicola or stay another day. The weather is unsettled and there is no reason to be miserable. The guys are checking weather report now. Decision just in....We go!

More Improvements and How to Pack for 2 1/2 months

New hatch shade/rain cover. We designed this to help venitlate the cabin when it was raining. It took some figuring out when we first used it yesterday but it worked well. We used it on the run down to Port St. Joe as a sun shade. Once we tweak this one, I'll make another one for the forward hatch. David is already dreaming up new ways to use it.

New side curtains keeping the rain out. This was my idea but David loves them now as well. I mostly wanted to stay warm on the gulf crossing but being dry in a rain squall is nice too.

I learned last trip that having things on board didn't matter if I couldn't find them. I took some tips from other women in the Seven Seas Cruising Association and made up a diagram of my storage in "woman land" and also made a list of everything I packed with a designation beside it of where we can find it. Hopefully, in two months when I go looking for that extra bottle of shampoo, I'll know where to start looking.

FInally

Well, tomorrow, we plan to finally pull away from the dock and make it to Panama City. If all goes well, we'll rendezvous with Suz and Sam Weston at the St. Andrew's Yacht Club. Wish us well.

Still Here

"When are you guys leaving?" is an all too often question these days. If you have a hankey ready or a strong constitution, continue reading, otherwise just shake your head and say a prayer! As some of you may know, we've had a problem with our engine putting out excess smoke which makes our transom look like a tramp steamer. Definitely not nice for such a classy lady as Sanctuary. David has thrown many, many hours, dollars and curses into the issue. We thought we had it wickered by taking it to a new boat place in Pensacola. They verified and fixed some of the problems but warned David that the boat may be over-propped (if you want more on that one, give him a call, he now has a PhD in the subject). We had one of the best sails ever from Pensacola to Destin via the gulf. The sooting was still there but better on the trip under power from the dock to the Pensacola Pass. However......once we came under the bridge with the gorgeous sunset on one side and the super moon rising on the other and turned on our high output alternator, the smoke began in ernest. The engine couldn't handle the extra load. So..the next day we pulled the prop and had it resized and reinstalled yesterday. While taking it out for a test run, David starts to adjust the settings and, get ready for it....the adjusting screw broke off. The awesome guy in Pensacola brought out a new part. He is a very experienced Yanmar guy and had never heard of the thing breaking so he probably wanted to see it with his own eyes. Anyway, the part was installed and he adjusted the governer and it still smokes. That left only one more external item to relook, the exhaust elbow. David dutifully disassembled it last night even though it is only 2 years old. Not surprisingly, it was clean so he's reinstalling now. What this all means is that our engine's insides are not going to last forever but for now it develops full power and runs so well that we're going to take off once we get the cockpit surround installed. Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you that our bad juju wafted over to the canvas shop and both his sewing machines broke down the same day, one fairly new!!! He hopes to be out soon to finish the job so we can then load the boat and leave. I'll tell you about the broken dishwasher at the house and my injured knee later. Bottom line, we can use all the prayers you can spare!!

Fun With Family, Friends and Boats

We were lucky enough to have our middle daughter, Angela and her boyfriend, Dylan join us for the annual Fall Fling from the Fort Walton Yacht Club to points west. We spent about 9 days having a great time. Dylan was an avid sailing student and Angela was able to recall a lot of her knowledge from her younger days when we lived in places with more water than Albuquerque! On one night we had a group dinner at a restaurant in Pensacola so youngest daughter Martha and her boyfriend Dylan (yes it gets confusing) could join us for the evening. We love havingcompany go sailing with us so if you're reading this and want to go......

Improvements

solar array new cockpit storage

new dodger arrangement

stove top

oven view with storage container underneath

cockpit shower

convoluted plumbing

Main SailJib

For the past two years we've been making upgrades to the boat to make it more comfortable, more energy efficient and the ever important to all males, faster. Through lots of compromise (stifle your laughs at this one please) we now have a much nicer boat. She was nice before but what women doesn't like to feel all dressed up and cared for! Some of the things we've done are new mainsail and jib. Both our old ones were 20 years old and pretty much blown out. The main didn't make such as difference as the jib. On Sancturary, the jib is the driver. The new sail makes the boat much more stable under load. We sailed her the 50 miles from the boatyard in Pensacola to Destin with 10 knots of wind and it was one of the best sails ever. We took the gulf route to avoid all the chainlink netting under the Brooks bridge. We came under the Destin bridge at dusk with a beautiful afterglow of sunset and the super moon rising just above the horizon. Truly breathtaking. Other changes include a new stove/oven combo that operates off of propane. Compressed Natural Gas is a much better and safer choice, but impossible to buy in small quantities as a private buyer outside of Milton, FL. The old stove had been repaired several times so it was an easy decision to change over. David did a masterful job of replacing our old cockpit shower with one that works all the time and you can adjust to hot or cold or somewhere in between. These type of showers are unknown on newer boats so we're lucky ours was plumbed for one. It was an engineering feat involving some very skeptical plumbing supply houses but works well now. On the opposite side of the cockpit he added a bit of much needed storage with a bin. Since most boats are white the cubby had to be painted to match our hull and then he added a nice bit of teak trim to hold whatever we put in there inside. Very classy and useful. A huge investment came in our dodger and bimini arrangement. After a not-so-great arrangement at first, we redesigned after one season and think we have a winner. In the old design, the isenglass was rolled up when not in use. This quickly causes wrinkles which then create spots you can't see through clearly. Not safe. On a trip back from Panama City, I had trouble in determining whether I was looking at a boat in the distance, a navigational mark or just a wrinkle. We bit the bullet and it reworked. At the same time we made the commitment to going solar in a big way. The best place on Sanctuary is over the bimini aft of the boom. We had our bimini structure beefed up to hold the panels. We have one long panel running longways over the bimini between the backstays with two smaller panels on either side. With the wind generator, we should be energy self sufficient on most days. That will allow us to stay at anchor for more days and save some money on slip fees. Plus, when it's hot out, anchoring allows for more efficient use of the breezes. The same shop that built our dodger and bimini did the work on the brackets for the panels. They do an awesome job of making everything look right. Better yet they put up with owner input with grace and fortitude. Right now they are constructing a cockpit surround that will make us warmer in the gulf crossing and dry in a storm. Other major improvements include a new autohelm with a remote controller and a new wind/speed indicator. People laugh when I say I work for boat parts, but it is very true! David make more money but I get us better discounts.

Bahamas Bound We Hope

We finally have finished up our major chores and the boat is running well again. It has been a bit of time coming but our new departure date is Thursday, March 24. David gives us an 80% chance of being finished by then. We still have to bring the boat home from Pensacola on Saturday. Then we: fix the wind indicator and wind speed transducer at the top of the mast, have the cockpit surround installed, load the rest of our gear, purchase and load the last food/drink items and about 100 things around the house. We could not make this trip without the support of super friends and neighbors willing to watch the house, the cat and my beloved plants. They are all earning their mansions in heaven! So thanks to Barbie, Steve, Sue, Mark, Theresa and everyone else who pitches in. You guys are AWESOME.