Pushing Off

Renaming Blessings - My surveyor Lee and his family centre

Xmas arrived and forced me to act - had to push off on Boxing Day and move somewhere before I became stuck fast in Tampa Bay. It had become an almost funny continuum of bad luck and unseen issues - Customs needed me to depart the States at St Petersburg and become an exporter to ship Whakaari out, even tho the next port was still in Florida; The electricians hadn't had time to finish everything before Xmas and I wasn't waiting round for more work in the New Year;  I managed to acquire a raging flu that attacked me with more vigour every day for more than two weeks, the drugs didn't help, and I ended up hacking away trying to direct preparations in between coughing fits; denaming and renaming of Whakaari was squeezed into the pre Xmas chaos and thankfully a great group of people came along for the renaming while Lizzie poured champagne and I beseeched the gods for fair winds and safe passages; my new inflatable dinghy arrived in the 11th hour and once out of its box turned out to be shop damaged so began a full day of haggling to get a replacement shipped down the line; making fitted linen and mattress protectors hadn't been started til Xmas Eve and poor Dianne who'd taken on the task spent her Xmas sewing; destinations south to the Keys were filling up for with the holiday rush and we left without having a mooring or slip to go to. But after a fun Christmas grill by the pool leave we did on Boxing Day nearly 3 hrs later than planned and we slipped the lines well after sunset and headed out into Tampa Bay for the last time.

"Whakaari" - rebirth & rejuvenation

Leaving Tampa Bay - Skyway Bridge

We had a fast reaching sail down from St Petersburg, sharing the watches and revelling in finally getting some sailing. Whakaari had a bone in her mouth the whole way, covering the 240miles in 37 hrs. Wow, is she fast, and a dream to sail - like a racehorse that has had the reins held too tight for too long - just ease sheets and she sets into her groove and pumps along , steady as a rock, at 8 knots - truly exhiliarating, and the wind held all the way, with super clear nights - takes a while to get used to sailing under a northern hemisphere sky - Orion and the Big Dipper sitting above the masthead. And endless lines of crab traps -thankfully Whakaari has a full keel and protected prop and rudder, with a rope cutter on the shaft, so we didn't have to be too concerned. There is no deep water here, quite the opposite to home. I draw 5'8" and having on average 11-12 ' under the keel is normal, 35' a rare relief. 

A membership with BoatUS almost obligatory to get towed off the ubiquitous shallows. We didn't need it, I'm pleased to report.

We sailed most of the way relying on iPhone Navionics as the new Raymarine system fell over completely, not long after clearing the Skyway Bridge exiting Tampa Bay. 

The AIS (ship collision avoidance) held in OK, but we only encountered four coastal freighters at night (no moon now of course so relying on instruments as they come up fast)and I have paper charts, a  computer based set of charts, and our dead reckoning, so it was only ever depth that gave us concern. Luckily I had enough competent crew aboard for a watch schedule that meant we didn't need to rely on autopilot, as there was none! And the weather was perfect, a constant 16-20 knots of wind from the east giving us the chance to let Whakaari run free with full main and both headsails set.

Lizzie & Annika shooting the gap

We'd timed our arrival in the Keys for first light so navigated the channels OK -seriously, I've navigated some pretty hairy channels in the Med but nothing like here off the Everglades - half the beacons aren't lit, or are supposed to be and have stopped working, the shoals move around, and there are no straight lines. Its Red Right Returning on the Atlantic side but opposite bouyage on the gulf side of the Keys, so you have to stay alert. Going under the Seven Mile bridge was a heart stopper - 65' clearance with a 58' mast height - looked like we wouldn't fit when it was too late to pull out.

Bottlenose dolphins usually solo or in pairs paid us regular visits night & day, but otherwise visitors on the water were scarce, esp crossing the Bay of Florida where we were 30-40 miles offshore.

Lizzie and Annika have been fantastic crew, and Annika's skills with her $15 iPhone Navionics a blessing.

But it wasn't all fair sailing - going fast and easy across the Bay of Florida, stars all around, I got the fright of my life at 4 am when the emergency bilge alarms went off and shattered my state of reverie.   

Lizzie was just getting up for her watch at 4 and I seriously thought it was her clock alarm -I told her to think about changing her alarm sound as it was too much like my emergency bilge alarm ha ha! 

So, shorten sail to ease the heel on the hull, pull all the stowage out of every orifice until locating the source (a back siphoning into the boat as the stern pressed down on a light sea cockless skin fitting), then fashion a temporary fix and put the boat back together before we had a gust that would spill unstowed gear overboard - all hands were needed on deck, and we did really well. 

Should've added a Jolly Roger

The most alarming part of it was that no-one responded to my Pan Pan calls, on either of the two VHFs, the back up handheld VHF, or the SSB! And no -one answered the phone til 3 hrs later - so if we had been sinking we were on out own -I was trying to find which ports we were passing had haul out facilities in case we had to get her out of the water ASAP - so that has exposed weaknesses in emergency coverage here and questions over my radio signal strengths - so add that to the list! (Actually resolved the VHF issues, just the SSB to work out now)

A few other problems aboard in addition to nav gear and needing more seacocks -the Isotherm thermostat went haywire and froze all our perishables so a lot of food was thrown out (A local whizz kid Alex has confirmed the problem and sourced new ones, plus a back up board for the compressor so that's sorted) This is a power hungry vessel, and as with all cruisers you're constantly managing amp hours. The latest investment is a complete conversion of all the halogen and conventional lighting aboard to LEDs. We've spent time & money proving all the charging systems and battery health and now understand better how to manage Whakaari's complex systems.

And its been fun too -getting to know Boot Key Harbour here in Marathon - a laid back city of boats, made up of cruisers from the four winds, time to talk and socialise, stone crab claws, and Eric Stone boating ballads.

So where next? - On 10 January we depart Boot Key for Key West, down at the tip of Florida, where US1 Highway starts its long run north to Maine, and Ernest Hemingway worked on his classics, where fabulous snorkelling and old forts are to be found, racing regattas about to commence, and our stepping off place for Cuba. We'll be there at least a week no doubt continuing with the refinements we find are needed on the 10 hour sail from here in Marathon - all part of the shakedown!

There's a tide in the affairs of men

which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;

Omitted, all the voyage of their life

Is bound in shallows and in miseries

                                                      William 

                                                              Shakespeare

At Drum Circle, Treasure Island

Tampa Bay

"Whakaari" in Letter Art, Yay!

And - have you supported the petition to try and stop the slaughter of dolphins and endangered sharks on Peru's coastline

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/dolphin_hunt_peru/?ayrMWab

Finding Florida

Finding Florida

Lake Okeechobee

Lake Okeechobee swollen with 12" rain in so many hours, waters enriched with fertilisers and chemicals drained from the sugar cane fields and flooding the coast with nutrient rich pollutants that spark the mother of all algal blooms on the east coast of Florida, and consequently starving the wildlife of all oxygen -result? hundreds of dolphins, pelicans, manatee, and other coastal sealife washed up on Florida's sparkling beaches, tho missed by many as it occurred before the influx of  Americans heading south for the winter, and suppressed by the state's tourism hungry government.

Crossing the state from one coast fringed by human excess to the other, this endless flatness, wetness, of remnant everglades, of intense cropping in sugar cane with its attendant black workers refugees from Cuba and other Caribbean hellholes, convoys of harvesters and smoking sugar mills dotted along ruled lines of concrete highways, morphing seamlessly into rambling cattle ranches, and broken only by the wake-up calls of buzzing crop-dusters, RV saleyards in the middle of nowhere, and Arcadia, the most original cowboy town left on earth, even if it's main street is marred with McDonalds, KFC, Subway, Burger King and Taco Bell.

Large heron and egret -sorry, Peli just flew off

One day in St Petersburg, named by a Russian railway entrepreneur, a city oversupplied with rental & retail properties as there is no work for many, but beautifully sited on Tampa Bay with gems of its own;  a retirement heaven, where big cars and bigger bikes thunder on the roads chewing up their super cheap auto gas, men & women in well worn midlife crises sporting long hair, leathers and tats; a cultural heart trying hard to keep the the city alive and safe -the Dali, an architectural masterpiece to house the biggest Dali collection outside of Spain, the only University I'm aware of that has waterfront promenades, solar powered recharge stations for students, and the Fountain of Youth on campus; research centres adjacent for sustainable energy and marine conservation, and a humungous Coast Guard base (-I can paddle board round them all each morning in less than an hour)

Students waterfront with solar device recharge timeout tables.
In fact there were recharge stations for electric cars as well.
And just beyond the sailing dinghy fleet is my yacht.

Spiral Stair of the Dali Museum

Dali's take on warping time - his melting clock

Ribs, ribs and more ribs - bring it!

In the main street "Central Street" I find it closed to traffic for the 3rd annual Scorpio Thunderbikes Meet, heavy metal being pounded out by a local band, beers flowing, and more leather and tattoos  on large 50-something blonde beauties than you can shake a Harley at. A  safe transit thru that, and I'm in the chute for the Ribs Fest - a collection of all the award winning Ribs recipes, with grits and salads and wings and coke and beers and bourbon and..and then? -Steppenwolf, pumping out Born to be Wild like it had just hit #1 - a mecca for the grey beards of the post war 70s dope heads. And everyone just so into it, happy to share whatever, and dance, and there must've been 60,000 there. A good nite out. 

Tampa Bay - no hurricanes, no lightning storms, yay
Half the yachties I've met in Florida have been hit by lightning resulting in
everything from total loss to total replacement of all electronics and electrics

First single-handed sail on Whakaari ( aka Pajarito)

Yacht found, Ring of Fire sailing project about to launch

After returning from South America 3 or so months ago, after ten incredible weeks exploring volcanic landscapes in Chile, Ecuador and Peru, summiting six significant volcanoes, and submersing myself in the waters around the Enchanted Isles, I have yet to write a single blog about the trip.

Why? My house sold! I actually finalised the sale from Cusco Peru, scanning and sending pdfs of the Sale & Purchase agreement with the help of the hotel receptionist, me with very little Spanish and her with even less English. It worked out ok.

So I've been yacht shopping, been to Florida for a whirlwind time of meeting with brokers and surveyors, head down-butt up in the bilges of several contenders, and I now own a Cabo Rico 40/42 bluewater cruiser that is perfect for sailing the Pacific Ring of Fire, and here she is:

The bowsprit - a place to commune with dolphins

The galley - heart of my floating home

Sails set, new adventures await

Somewhere in St Petersburg, Florida, for now.....

Needless to say, a busy time this winter ( tho I did a bit of work, honestly, and skied many vertical feet, climbed with my son Llewellyn, and soaked up some more of Aotearoa to take with me on my journey)

As with any second hand boat, there's a mountain of tasks to be done before pushing off, and I'll be spending a full month at the marina in St Pete's getting her 'fit for purpose' as they say. Hey, I've haven't even settled on a name for the yacht yet, and have all that de-flag/re-name/registration bureaucracy to go through yet.

I'm planning on leaving NZ by 28th October, and a month later heading down to the Florida Keys, onto the Bahamas then focus on exploring Cuba before it changes forever. That's my shakedown cruise before the Panama Canal ejects me into the Ring of Fire.

Wow - it's really happening!!

Just watched a 'made for TV' doco in the How the Earth Was Made series on the Ring of Fire - worth a look if it's new territory to you:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xs4yNL1M8Gg

More details later but I'll be letting you know how to track me along the journey, and I promise, I will be posting blogs with stories and pics.

Hey, fate has determined that house sale or no, I am off to Ecuador to climb volcanoes and explore the Galapapos. Really? Yes, we fly out tomorrow!
Ive just finished a 3 week sailing trip exploring New Zealand's Hauraki Gulf, Northern Coast and Great Barrier Island on a Dufour405. Fantastic! We incorporated quite alot of walking to keep hiking fi, such as Rangitoto crater summit walk (twice), Gt Barrier's Mt Hobson, and other forest hikes. And along with plenty of SUP activity, dawn skinny-dipping and regular swimming I found it very practical to maintain a good level of fitness while sailing for extended periods.
(Of course the energy exerted in procuring snapper fillets for dinner helped as well, esp. when you go so far from the yacht that you run out of fuel on the return journey and end up rowing against the current to get home!?!)

So watch this space -I'll be uploading stories of Amazon kayaking, Galapagos diving, and attempts on three of the highest volcanoes of South America over the next 10 weeks.

One collapsed house sale and two earthquakes later

Well, I guess this project isn't meant to happen just yet.

I came close to selling the house and being cashed up to buy the ideal boat, but the sale fell thru and I had to let the boat go:-(

Since then my home town in the Shaky Isles (as we like to call New Zealand) has been struck by two decent quakes, the first on September 4th 2010, the second just a few weeks ago on 22 February - virtually a year since I set up this blog.

My house is damaged but repairable, tho no-one is buying in Christchurch's eastern suburbs just yet - wonder why?

So until I can find some funds plans are on hold..

I have found a sister ship to my preferred boat in the Carribean, closer to my price range, so I'm still optimistic I can start soon

Will keep you posted :-)

Murtaig

An Outline of my "Ring Of Fire" Sailing Project

Sailing is in my blood, like many New Zealanders. We all arrived in Aotearoa by boat, many of us from seafaring backgrounds. My father arrived by boat from Scotland, where the influence of Viking blood created a kinship with the sea, setting off for foreign shores to seek a better life.

My surname comes from the Gaelic (Murtaigh) for seafarer. I've indulged in boating since building sailing dinghy while studying atSa Uni, eventually racing yachts, delivering yachts, owning a Whiting quarter tonner, starting out building a yacht to charter, then getting distracted by life away from the water.

Now having reached 50, and with few responsibilities remaining to tie me to the land, I'm free to pursue a long held dream of circumnavigating the Pacific Ocean.

My badly moored boat of a house will provide my total cash resources fro this venture, so it is a committing choice, but better to pursue a dream than end up regretting having stayed secure and comfortable.

I won't be just sailing either, the focus of the Ring of Fire brings other adventures -climbing volcanoes, skiing off some of them, exploring the countries that ride the collision zones around the Pacific, getting involved in environmental projects along the way, with an emphasis on Climate Change studies, Threatened Species programmes, and Positive Action campaigns where I can be of some use, esp. saving Dolphins and Whales from slaughter

Of course I plan to write about my experiences, submitting articles, images, and short docos for publication. Who knows, perhaps something like "Man on the Edge" or "Full Circle" may evolve after this journey of 2-3 years.

My plan at present is to leave NZ early August, fly to Chicago then to Lake Superior (if my first choice of boat comes thru -just in the surveying stage now) I'll take the rest of August to get it shipshape, then spend two months sailing thru the lakes to the Intracoastal waterway, then down to the Caribbean, arriving at the end of the Hurricane season in November. I want to spend some time over the Nov - Feb months cruising the Caribbean, esp to Cuba and Jamaica, then arrive Panama sometime in Feb 2011.

My son Llewellyn will join me before I leave Panama, to sail to Ecuador and climb several volcanoes there.

I think Ecuador will be good March/April, and then to the Galapagos for some environmental project work before heading north to California during late summer, and up to Vancouver thru the Inland Passage during fall.

I plan to winter over in BC, (hoping to get a job set up in Whistler or Blackcomb before I leave NZ)

With the spring thaw I head further 'north to Alaska' then along the Aluetian Island chain, making landfall as often as possible to trek, climb, and explore this volcanic region. Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia next, with similar onshore adventures before crossing south to Hokkaido and the rest of Japan.

I haven't put much detail into my plans for the tropics, Indonesia, and South Pacific at this stage, but essentially I will follow the Ring of Fire back home. After that it will be time to review progress, funds remaining, and the condition of my yacht. All being well, I'll be aiming to achieve to final connecting leg, sailing south towards Antarctic Peninsula, then past Cape Horn, returning to the Pacific through Magellan Passage which separates South American continent from Tierra del Fuego then run with the Humboldt Current past Chile and Peru to come full circle at Ecuador.