Julie Said Yes!

Sorry for the delay, but when you have your head down running full out for 3 days, something has got to give, and the blog was it.

I will try to recap the last 3 days in short order.

First, this might be one of the best boat names I have come across:  "Julie Said Yes!".  I love it.  It sums up how a lot of us ended up having a boat.

My journey started very late on Sunday (4/28).  I flew from Wilmington around 7:45pm up to ISLIP airport on Long Island, NY and didn't get in until 11:30pm.  This not my normal routine as I like to get to the boat early to complete my inspection and get ready for the first leg of the voyage, but prior commitments kept me in Wilmington until late in the day.  Gene, the owner, was very understanding and we did our inspection and had a brief chat, before we called it a night.  His brother Chris had already called it a night, so those introductions would wait until the morning.  All of our dialog leading up to the this point along with a spotless survey led me to believe that there would not be any issues with the boat which turned out to be the case.

We were up at 6:00am the next morning.  I got to meet Gene's brother Chris who was making the passage with us.  Gene and Chris are as good as they come.  Both guys have a great sense of humor, so I knew this was going to be a fun trip.  We were now just waiting on a fuel truck to top off our tanks before we left.

The fuel truck was right on time showing up at 6:30am.  By 7:00 we were topped off and ready to roll.  Just one small issue, Hurricane Sandy has left the great south bay a total mess and Fire Island Inlet is almost impassable.  I had spent a few hours on Sunday afternoon making phone calls to obtain some local knowledge on how to get out the inlet.  I got very lucky and spoke to Capt Paul at Sea Tow.  He agreed to meet up with us at the mouth of the Patchogue River and lead us out the sound and through the inlet.  We waited for Capt Paul to give us a call and at 7:50 we shoved off the dock to begin our journey.

Capt Paul did a great job of leading us out and at 8:50am, we cleared the Fire Island Inlet sea buoy and had nothing but 160 miles of open Atlantic Ocean between us and Cape May, NJ.  The seas were a bit bumpy running 3 feet with an east wind at 10kts.  The 44 Sea Ray took the seas flawlessly and we had a good run down to Cape May.

We came in the Cape May inlet at 2:30 after 170 miles from Patchogue, NY.  The boat was thirsty and needed some more go-go juice to get us the last 72 miles to the top of the C&D canal.  We pulled into Utsch's Marina in Cape May and took on 242 gallons before heading back out.  We were racing to make Summit North Marina before they closed at 6:00pm.  We had called ahead to let them know we needed fuel and we made a slip reservation for the night, so we were feeling really good when we got to the marina at 5:50.  Unfortunately for us the fuel dock was closed (they let the dockhand leave early) and the restaurant was not open on Monday.  I guess they didn't really want us to spend $500 bucks at their marina.  So we turned the boat right around and got back on the C&D and ran a few more miles to the Chesapeake City Marina & Inn.  There was no fuel, but at least we were going to get a nice meal.  The Inn was great and we had a fantastic meal.  By 9:00pm it was all over but the snoring.

The next morning we were up at 5:30am and off the dock at 6:05.  We knew we needed to stop one more time for fuel since we were not able to top off the night before.  We had quite a bit of fog, rain an mist on the Bay all day long, but the Raymarine Radar was really dialed in and we had a clear picture that allowed us to run hard all day.  By 8:15 we had already covered 55 miles and were pulling into the Bay Bridge Marina on Kent Island, MD to take on our last bit of fuel before finishing the Chesapeake Bay and running up the Potomac River.

After the fuel we were on the Bay again at 8:50 making our way for the last 160 miles.  We turned at Point No Point Light into the Potomac River around 11:30.

Then a funny thing happened.  I had given a call to a friend of mine in Wrightsville Beach that I knew was traveling up to DC on his trawler.  He had left our marina about 2 weeks ago.  I gave him a quick call to see if he had made it yet.  Come to find out he was about 10 miles ahead of us heading up the river.  So as luck would have it.  We got a few running shots of each others boats.

We pulled into Belmont Bay Harbor marina at 3:00, right on schedule.  I got to met Julie and we settled "Julie Said Yes" into her new slip.  We finished 452 miles in just 2 days.  By 5:00pm I was in a rental car driving back home to Raleigh.  This was just a great trip that could not have gone any better.  Thanks again to Gene and his brother Chris for a most enjoyable voyage.

2006 Sea Ray 44 DB: Long Island, NY to D.C.

I only have a 2G connection tonight and it is taking forever to load pictures and publish.  Sorry, but I am pretty beat, so I will update the blog tomorrow.

Close but no Cigar

Well, we almost made it...

We came up a little short today. We left Apalachicola this morning at 7:00am under freezing conditions. It could not have been 50F degrees when we pulled off the dock this morning. It was a far cry from the 90F degrees in Clearwater a day earlier.

Anyway, the first thing we noticed about 15 minutes into the trip was that the starboard engine was not turning up the proper RPM's. I thought it was one of the fuel filters getting clogged until I noticed some more than normal black smoke coming out of the exhaust. A quick trip to the engine room uncovered the issue. The turbo hose on the starboard engine was cracked. As a result, boost pressure was down and we were running too rich which was causing the black exhaust smoke. There wasn't much we could do at that point so we continued on at a reduced speed. We just had to reduce rpm to match the pressure with the proper fuel mixture until the exhaust cleared up. Not a big deal as we were able to manage the problem.

But then the real problem occurred about 30 minutes later. The entire trip the starboard throttle cable was very stiff. When I mean stiff, I mean like we needed both hands to pull back the throttle. It wasn't that big an issue the first three days as we were running off shore. So once we throttled up, we didn't touch the throttle again until we came into the marina. Well today the weather was bad off-shore so we ran the ICW. There was boat traffic and some no wake zones. Well after a few times up and down on the very stiff throttle, the cable finally broke. We ran slow while I was down in the engine room trying to jerry-rig a fix, but I couldn't get it to work. So we just had to limped into Panama City, about 40 miles away, where we will need a mechanic to fix both the turbo and the throttle cable.  Since the boat is all safe and sound we will fly home tomorrow.



 That is how it goes sometimes. The boat is only about 100 miles from its new home. We talked with the owner and determined there was really no need for us to stick around. We couldn't get anyone out to the boat this weekend, so it will be Monday before anyone is on the boat for the repair. The owner will come down to the boat on Wednesday and finish the last few miles.

Thanks to all who followed along. This was definitely one of the more interesting if not challenging trips. We have the Meridian Rendezvous this coming weekend, April 27th, but I will be flying to Long Island on Sunday the 28th for another trip on a 44' Sea Ray to the Washington, DC area. So stay tuned...

It's Just Another Tequila Sunrise

I don't care how many times you see the sunrise or the sunset, it never gets old.

Another beautiful morning, however we were a little apprehensive about pushing off the dock this morning.  Around 2:00am we could hear the wind pick up and the waves were hitting the bow of the boat in the marina.  Forecast was wind out of the south at 15kts gusting to 25kts and waves 2 to 3 feet early increasing to 3 to 4 feet by the afternoon.  We thought we might be in for a rough day as usually it is worse than expected. 

Well as it turns out the weatherman hit this forecast right on the nose.  The first 4 hours of the crossing were great.  The waves were pretty much behind us and we were making great time.  What Jubilee lacks in modern convenience, she more than makes up for in her sea-keeping ability.  I would have to say that this is one of the best hulls I have run.  The boat really performed beautifully in these sea conditions. 

The trip across from Clearwater to Apalachicola is 170 miles inlet to inlet.  At about the have way point we started to see some bigger waves.  Solid 3 to 4 footers with an occasional 5 footer thrown in.  The boat took the waves really well and we had a most enjoyable crossing.

We covered 183 miles today in 7 hours and 30 minutes.  Without autopilot and having to hand steer the entire trip today, we are pretty worn out from the crossing.  We are all fueled and tied up at Scipio Creek Marina in Apalachicola.  We were lucky and got in just before a huge band of thunderstorms and rain moved through the area.  We would have continued on the ICW had we not had the rain and severe weather forecast.  We were following the weather on NOAA very closely as we were crossing the Gulf today.  We plan on having some steamed oysters tonight at Papa Joe's.  Tomorrow on to Orange Beach to get Jubilee handed off to her new owner and settled into her new home.

Welcome to Clearwater

What a beautiful start to my day!  This is why I love this job.

Departed Marco Island to a most gorgeous sunrise.  Seas 1 foot with wind out of the southeast.  We had a great ride up to Clearwater today.  Saw some dolphins and a few other boats.

Arrived in Clearwater around 1:45pm after 165 miles.  Fueled up and got ourselves tied up in the slip by 2:30pm.  After a quick washing down, we decided to do some more maintenance.  The boat has no electronics of any kind to speak of, including a working VHF radio.  Due to the distance and nature of the Gulf crossing tomorrow, we will be about 80 miles from the nearest land.  My handheld VHF radio will not be sufficient to transmit that kind of distance, so we went ahead and installed a new VHF radio for the owner today.  As you can see from the pictures below, the radio is nothing fancy, but it works perfectly and we will sleep much better knowing if we need help, someone will be able to hear us.

We are hoping for good weather tomorrow for the crossing.  Jubilee continues to run very well for us!

On to Marco Island

Today started off like most delivery days; up early and on the water at 6:45am.  We needed to stop on our way out to top off the fuel tanks.  Fortunately for us there was a marina just before we headed out the inlet.

After a cup of Joe and 270 gallons of diesel fuel later, we were out Bakers Haulover Inlet and heading south on the Atlantic Ocean to Channel 5 down around Islamorada.  The seas were a bit bumpy this morning averaging 3 feet and it was rather uncomfortable for the first hour.  Then things settled right down for us and we had a beautiful ride on past Key Largo and Islamorada.

My first mate, Mark Groper, at the helm of Jubilee

By about noon the seas were flat.  We rode up the west coast to Marco Island and got in around 4:30.  The boat really ran great and our hard work last night really paid off for us today.  We were able to top her off with fuel and expect a good ride up to Clearwater tomorrow as the wind is supposed to be out of the east at 9kts gusting to 20kts.

We covered 202 miles in a little over 9 hours.  The old girl did us proud today.

Jubilee - Tough Start

Jubilee is a 1985 Ocean Yacht Super Sport Convertible with twin Detroit Diesel 671's.  A good boat that I am sure has raised a lot of fish in her day.  However, she is ready to leave the east coast of Florida and travel to her new owners in Orange Beach, AL.

We got down to the boat around 2:30 pm and immediately got to work.  Jubilee has not had the best of care in the past.  While doing our engine room inspection, we noted that the Racors were in need of some help.  So they were completely taken apart, cleaned and reassembled.  It kept us in the engine room until midnight, but we knew we would have no chance of a successful voyage without getting and keeping the fuel clean.

A bunch of "gunk" in the bowl of the Racor

So it was a tough start to our trip.  But we hope she is ready to purr like a kitten tomorrow.