Easy trip out, not so much coming back

[rfrance0718]

I need to make some longer sails in the Oday if I'm going to expand my cruising realm. I have Bahamas plans that would include several 12 to 15 hour sails. So, on Wednesday morning my brother Bill and I set off for a fairly long sail. It's about 56 miles, due East, from our dock to Edgewater Yacht Club in Cleveland. My son belongs and he could set us up with a transient spot for free. The forecast called for a 8 knot Northerly until noon, and then a big drop, until 3:00 or 4:00. We planned on leaving at 5:30 AM, sailing for about 6 hours, then motoring, and a bit more sailing to finish up.
 It was still dark, with no moon, when we left and our channel out to the lake is tricky. About half of the markers are lit, and it snakes out through a crooked creek, about a mile in all. I've done it hundreds of times in the light but it's always tough in the dark.  I had turned on the gps, but I couldn't figure out how to dim the screen in the moment, so I turned it off and relied on my eyes and my memory, neither of which are strong suits. There is one part, right after the entrance, where the buoys are long apart, and the first set, 11 and 12, aren't lit, while the 9 and 10 are. That would be fine if they lined up, but there's a 10 degree left turn at 11 and 12. I was using a light to try to find the dark markers, and finally picked up #12, about 30 feet, right in front of us! After that slight correction all was fine, and we passed onto the lake at 5:45.
I'm thinking that a passage from the Keys to the Bahamas will require a nighttime departure, and that those channels will be even more difficult in the dark. I need to make sure that my charts are updated and that I can dim the screen! I'm planning on buying a new chart plotter anyway.
Our trip to Cleveland went exactly as planned. We reached at 6 mph until noon and put about 30 miles behind us. The auto helm steered the whole time, with a few sail adjustments. I was able to cook egg sandwiches and make coffee for breakfast and put together some sandwiches for lunch. When the wind let up, we motored peacefully for 4 hours, and then a bit of wind came back and we sailed for the final couple of miles and docked at Edgewater at 5:00 PM.
It was an ideal evening. My son was sailing in the Wednesday night series in the VX1 fleet, and the new breeze allowed for one race to be sailed. We motored out to watch. The one design course included starts for Tartan 10s, Dragons, Highlanders, and the 10 VXs. Ben won the race, but not without some challenges as the breeze died off.  We towed him in and enjoyed a great evening, eating $6.00 burgers and sipping refreshments. We enjoyed a quiet night at the transient dock, which we shared with a Moody 45, and a 40 something Beneteau.
I reclined in my berth and checked the forecast, which had changed a bit. It had originally called for a 6 to 10 knot West-Northwest breeze for most of the next 2 days. This would have us tacking back to Port Clinton, but we had 2 days to make the trip, allowing for a pleasant stop at Vermillion, which is about halfway home. Vermillion has a picturesque downtown with plenty of restaurants right by the transient docks at several marinas.  But now the forecast was calling for much more breeze, with 21 knots and gusts to 28, from that same direction, beginning at noon!
The smart thing to do would have been to get up at 5:00 and make our way to Vermillion before the big breeze set in, but I felt bad about getting my brother up that early for a second day in a row. We left at 8:00 instead. I figured that we could get past Lorain before noon, and seeing how we could handle sailing close hulled in the big breeze would be valuable. If it proved to be too much we would be able to duck into Lorain which has plenty of dockage. Once again, the forecast proved to be accurate. After sailing close hulled, close to the rhumb, line for 4 hours, the predicted changes set in, as the velocity increased, and the direction backed. We started shortening sail with one reef, and then a second, and finally a switch to our stay sail. We were making slow progress, with about 9 miles, straight upwind left, if we wanted to make our original goal. I would have kept going but the other part of the forecast included a serious line of storms heading our way. If everything had gone as planned, we could have beat the storms by an hour or two. In the end I thought that the unpredictables were too numerous, and we bore off for the safe harbor.
It was a 3 mile reach to Lorain, and we screamed along, still under minimum sail. The plan was to drop the sails and start motoring at ¾ miles out, which is exactly where we met with an issue. All was fine, until I squeezed the primer bulb, and gas started flowing out around the connector!  When I ripped off the engine cover, I discovered that the plastic nipple that was supposed to attach the fuel line to the connector had broken off. I had time to try a quick fix, but it wasn't to be, and I started making plans to sail into the harbor. This was ironic, because on Tuesday I had had a discussion with our lunch group about docking under sail. Since we all race small boats, docking under sail is second nature, but it does get your attention in a bigger boat. The main problem is that tacking takes so long that second attempts may not be available. For this reason, one friend suggested that coming in under jib was better because the sail can swing 360 degrees, eliminating the possibility of not being able to totally depower as you approach. I thought about that but decided that using the main allowed for better control and visibility. This is also the way that I dock the Thistle, and I felt more secure with it. None the less, I'm thinking now that the jib would have worked as well and would have eliminated one bad possibility.
The breakwaters at Lorain are complicated, and I hadn't been in there for 15 years, and I had always been to the yacht club, and not into the marina. When I looked at the gps, there were labels obscuring the harbor details! I sure didn't have time to figure out how to eliminate the labels, so I had to make some quick decisions about our path. In the end it all worked fine, and we coasted gently into an open slip. After tying up, I stopped by the marina office, explained our situation, and walked about 2 blocks to Gene's Marine. It proved to be one of those great places that stocked everything, and they had the needed part. After a quick fix we motored to an open transient dock and settled in to wait out the weather.
The forecast was now calling for a 21 knot Westerly, with gusts to 28, coming right from our harbor, 34 miles away, due West.  The wind was supposed to last through the night and not let up until 4:00 or 5:00 the next day.  Once again, the forecast proved accurate. Fortunately, the marina had a nice restaurant, and there were convenience stores close by, to augment our supplies. At 5:00 on Friday, I was still getting 17 knot readings with gusts over 20, but by 7:00 it was down some, and we headed out for an all-night cruise.
We sailed out with reefs in, and staysail set, but were able to go to full sail in a short time. The Oday will sail itself upwind if there is enough breeze to make her heal. That way, with the tiller locked in place, she'll head up some, level off, and fall back down a bit without losing momentum. This is better than using the auto helm as the boat will deal with the shifts and keep us as close hulled as possible. We were able to sail this way until the early morning, only steering when we tacked, and making as good progress as could be expected. The Oday's idea of close hulled isn't great, and my jib is terribly blown out, with a chattering leach that destroys the flow.  The tacking turned our 34 mile leg into about 55, so 12 hours was our expected duration.
The gps was still way too bright, and it also proved to use a lot of battery power, so we sailed sailed without it. I checked our position on my phone from time to time but mostly relied on visuals.
It was a beautiful night, no moon, but good views of the towns along the shore. When we tacked back out, we would be sailing into the darkness, and I could watch the North Star to monitor our heading. At some point a cloud obscured Polaris and I decided that I like modern conveniences. At 4:00 AM the wind died down a bit, and the boat wouldn't steer for me any longer. At that point I furled the jib and motor sailed, with the auto helm doing its magic. This gave me the opportunity to monitor the auto helm's power consumption and it proved to be minimal. I used it for about 8 miles, and we didn't lose even a tenth of a volt! After one last tack we sailed the last leg, six miles to our entrance, which we reached just after sunrise.
Although we hadn't planned on an all-night sail, I'm pleased that we had the experience. If I sail from Key Largo to Bimini, it might take 18 hours, depending on how much the current helps. Leaving before dusk would help with finding my way out of a complicated channel, and an early arrival the next day would be a good plan.

Pictures; 1. finally heading for home, 2. why we were waiting all day, 3. Bill, enjoying the ride, 4. Sun coming up behind us as we enter our channel.
   

[rfrance0718]

Shoot, still struggling with photos!

[Charles Brennan]

rfrance, Your statement: "If I sail from Key Largo to Bimini, it might take 18 hours, depending on how much the current helps. Leaving before dusk would help with finding my way out of a complicated channel, and an early arrival the next day would be a good plan." is generally good advice.

It was hairier in Ye Olden Dayes ('70's).  You left Miami at dark, because for example, the entrance to south Bimini harbor is surrounded on both sides by reefs that are easy to see in daylight, but invisible at night.  It has gotten better in the decades since with marker lights and condos along the shore and a good GPS chart plotter can waltz you right in, in the fog, if necessary.  So guys that left at daybreak would find themselves having to anchor just off-shore and then wait until dawn, rather than risk hitting coral rock.  And for a more pragmatic consideration, Customs Officials in Alice Town generally keep bankers hours and are even closed on holidays, so check your dates before crossing unless you're prepared to spend a coupla days at anchor, flying a yellow flag.

Hope this helps,
Charles Brennan

[rfrance0718]

Thanks Charles. I want to learn more about the harbors and entrances along the Ocean side from the 7 mile bridge to Key Largo. It looks like there are plenty of marinas and  anchorages at Vaca/Hog/Boot Key.  From there it looks like 70 miles up to North Key Largo where a good starting point would be? Maybe Angel Fish Pass?

Looks like 3 hops would be good to go 70 miles, but around Angel Fish I'm seeing anchorages but maybe no marinas? I don't need hookups and I can dinghy in, rowing, so not super far. I would probably want ice at some point. I can last about 3 days if I load up. Other supplies might be in order. It looks like there are amenities at Bimini. It looks like there are several places to duck in along the 70 mile route, but wondering which places are best? Hanging out and relaxing at a Marina, maybe a shower, etc. at some point.

[Charles Brennan]

rfrance, North Key Largo is primarily the home of the Ocean Reef Club.  Has it's own marina, it's own airport and it's own aggressive security forces.  Those millionaires are loathe to share their yacht slips with riff-raff the likes of you and me. That whole area is private clubs and developments. Your best bet for marina and re-supply is further west and north at the South Miami-Dade Marina in Manatee Bay.

Hope this helps,
Charles Brennan

[pgandw]

When we sailed to the Bahamas in our ODay 25 in 1979 (the old days before GPS and lighted aids/decnt charts in the Bahamas), we were docked at the Marina at Homestead AFB (south Miami).  We departed across the Gulf Stream from Cape Florida (south end of Key Biscayne).  Because my navigation was DR, an RDF, and compass, I had contingencies of Palm Beach and Grand Bahama if the Gulf Stream pushed me further north than I anticipated.

We left Cape Florida at about 1700 in late Sept.  We ended up with very light airs - at times becalmed.  I only had 6 gal of gas for the Chrysler 9.9hp outboard, which used just under a gal/hr so not enough to motor all the way.  Motor, shut off the motor, sail until becalmed, motor again, set sails again as soon as a breath of air appeared.  About 3am I realized how little easterly progress we were making, and made the decision that West End, Grand Bahama was the only practical entry.  We would never make Bimini fighting the Gulf Stream.  We arrived at about 1400 the next day, and were able to clear customs before they closed at 1600.  The universal comment was, "Nice dinghy, where's your real boat?"  Less than a gal of gas left, exhausted and incredibly stressed, but we made it.

Had an incredible 4 weeks cruising the Abacos, Spanish Wells, Nassau, then Bimini, and back to Miami.

Fred W
Stuart Mariner 19  Sweet P
Yeopim Creek, Albemarle Sound, NC

[rfrance0718]

You cannot view this attachment.You cannot view this attachment.
You cannot view this attachment.You cannot view this attachment.You cannot view this attachment.You cannot view this attachment.   

The first pic is heading East on Wednesday morning. 2nd is my brother, enjoying the view when we started back on Friday. (the boat is steering itself) The forecast for Friday afternoon made me think that 4:00 would work. It probably would have, but I figured that we would be sailing all night, so what was the rush? 7:00 worked just fine. I don't think that we got down to 4 knots until 5:00 AM. The second to last picture was taken at 8:00 PM and we still had a reef in but had gone to the full jib. The last picture is the sun coming up as we entered West Harbor, our home base.   

[Norm L.]

Nice photos!

On that screen shot I grew up just below the bottom edge about in line with the letter C of Course. Two blocks from the beach.
I spent a lot of time on that beach and along that shore in a Comet. And my starting point to end up paying for my dermatologist vacations in Italy and Ireland. 

[rfrance0718]

Thanks Norm. I remembered that you had been a Lorain guy. I was surprised to see that the iron ore transfer dock across from the yacht club and cg station was defunct. It was fun watching the 1000 footers dock there.

[rfrance0718]

What Charles? My Leatherlips Yacht Club membership card won't get me reciprocity at the Ocean Reef Club? Hard to imagine!

[Charles Brennan]

rfrance, I once had a part interest in a 1946 Aeronca 11AC (Chief).
You cannot view this attachment.
(Not mine, just to give an idea, but mine was painted very similar to this one.)
It was a FIGHTING Airplane!!
It Fought! To get in the air; it Fought! To stay in the air!
Sometimes in a headwind, I would get passed up by cars, on the Florida Turnpike! 
Fabric covered (rag-wing) no electrical system beyond the magnetos, not even a starter.  Its' 65hp Continental had a bizarre motorcycle kick-starter arrangement that was attached to an axe handle and crank started from inside the cockpit.  A metal thingie broke off and spare parts were non-existent, so all the time I flew it, it was always hand-started by swinging the prop.  This got right challenging on solo flights!  Trying to hand-prop your aircraft, not get run over by it and quickly hop in the cabin, whils't trying to reach down to the wheel chocks without falling out of the plane, was definitely for the younger, more limber version of me.

We had just had the plane's annual complete major overhaul done and I decided to fly down to Tavernier, take a cab to a fish-camp, rent a boat and do some fishing.
On my way south, the engine suddenly started sounding like the pistons were swapping cylinders.
I switched the mag switch from "both" (the plane's engine had two sets of magnetos, for redundancy) to "left" and the engine quit entirely, so I quickly moved it back to "both" where it resumed missing, horribly.  I tentatively tried the "right mag" and the engine roared back to full power, leaving an extremely relieved pilot who moments before had been wondering if anyone would ever find his body in all that Everglades, underneath the plane. 

"Whew!  That's why you have redundancy!" I thought.  Since I was now so close (compared to where I had taken off from) I decided to head towards the Marathon Airport and set it down for repairs, while that was still a possibility.  Then the left mag began sputtering the engine.  No combination of left, right or both would smooth things out.  While I was wondering what to do, the mags made up my mind for me and simultaneously quit.

Very quiet up there! 
And Marathon was too far out to reach.
BUT!!  To my left seemed to be a perfectly fine airstrip!
A quick glance at my Sectional chart showed it was Ocean Reef and a private airstrip, with no tower.
Called on the Unicom and announced I was landing.
No matter what.

While I would like to take credit for the quality of my first-ever forced landing, in Truth, the super-long runway had more to do with it than anything else; well, that and a good dose of adrenaline!
I no sooner pulled into a taxi-way than a jeep-like vehicle pulled up and Security guards hopped out and told me I couldn't land there and I had to take off immediately.  I told them that wasn't an option, as my engine had just quit.  Apparently they were expecting some high muckety-muck to come in shortly and they didn't want my plane spoiling the view, or stinking up the place, or something.
So next, they decided to tow my plane to a hangar possibly with the intent of hiding it, impounding it, or something. It was a long walk to the hangar, and my legs were still a little "rubbery" from my recent experience, so I rode along with them.

In the hangar, was what looked like an old-time A&P (Airframe and Powerplant, i.e. an FAA Certified mechanic) guy,  one of those guys who had seen it all and done it all.
He asked what happened and I explained the problem with the mags and how I couldn't understand what happened since the plane had just received it's MOH (Major Over Haul). 
He nodded and asked: Didn't you get the 8010-A notice?"   

Turns out the Bendix Corporation had a manufacturing defect crop up, whereby moisture got into the Bakelite of the magneto distributors.  The concern was, that at high engine temperatures the moisture would turn to steam and crack the distributor caps.
Mystery Solved!
Swell.

By now the manager of the Ocean Reef club had shown up to the hangar and ordered the mechanic to get that wreck out of his airport!  Unfazed, Mr. A&P told him the engine was inoperative and wasn't going anywhere.  The Manager seemed concerned nearly to the point of hysteria, about somebody already on their way to an airport that prominently featured Exclusivity in their marketing efforts. Not quite yet in a full-blown panic, he yelled at Mr. A&P that he didn't care what he had to do, but "GET THAT THING OUTTA HERE!" 
The mechanic waited until the manager and security guards had left and then went rummaging around in his cabinets, clearly looking for replacement distributor caps.
No such luck.
Then he paused and mused aloud: "He said he didn't care what I had to do, right?"
I quickly agreed.
So he went out to an aircraft on the flight line and opened the cowl and promptly grabbed the caps off a light plane that was the toy of some Up-North Manufacturing Belt Magnate.  He chortled that the guy never really questioned plane repairs and all he would do is charge for the replacement parts.
He expertly popped the caps in my airplane, then came back and started to help me hand-prop the plane.
 
I SHOULD have been grateful.
I SHOULD have been ecstatic!! 
I SHOULD have gotten the heck out of there! 
But, I have had a lifetime reputation as a troublemaker to keep up, one I diligently work at.

"Sign off on my engine log?" I asked, innocently.
He gave me a look that said the next time he saw me, I wouldn't like it and pulled his pen out of a pocket in his coveralls and signed my log.
Then he stalked off, leaving me to hand-prop the plane by myself.
Too late to rent a boat and go fishing, I flew on to Marathon, refueled and then went back to Hollywood.

Sure enough, in the mailbox was a frantic FAA notice along with a coupon from Bendix for replacement distributor caps.
I used the card I had lifted from the mechanic's office and mailed the original "borrowed" caps back to the Ocean Reef Club, care of the A&P.
So, I'm here to tell you, the Ocean Reef Club is not all that friendly to the other 99%.

True Story,
Charles Brennan

[rfrance0718]

That's funny on so many levels!

Thanks.

[rfrance0718]

You cannot view this attachment.You cannot view this attachment.You cannot view this attachment.You cannot view this attachment.

I have a buddy who owns parts of 2 Aeroncos. I flew on this Champ, which is group owned. He also has the larger version which is essentially being rebuilt as new at the factory. He flies international routes for United so I feel pretty safe. He also flies sail planes and also flies the tow plane.   

[Norm L.]

Too bad Steve Haines is no longer hanging around here. he could add some of his small plane experiences in a Bird Dog Cessna 0-1 over Vietnam and I believe an unmentioned bit of Cambodia.


As another aside, that was not an ore dock across from the Lorain marina and CG Station. That was a coal loading dock that was fascinating to watch. A coal car would be run up to the top overlooking the ship. It would be clamped and turned over and the coal would go into a chute down into the ship's cargo hold. The car would be righted and released and given a nudge and it would roll down a slope to near ground level where the tracks would slope up again. After losing its momentum going uphill, a switch would shift the tracks and it would roll back downhill on a sidetrack where it would be shuttled onto an empty car train. It was a bit like watching a roller coaster.
People would watch hoping the car would be going too fast and fall off the end of the up track.

I've tried to find out who designed it and if it had a name, like the well-known Hulett ore unloader. I wonder if the only one in the world was in Lorain.

[rfrance0718]

You cannot view this attachment.You cannot view this attachment.You cannot view this attachment.

Lots of pictures and testimonials describing trips to watch the process instead of going to the drive-in. I think that by the time I started sailing regattas there in the 90s the coal infrastructure was gone. There were 1000 footers dumping off ore for smaller ships to take up the Cuyahoga, into Conneaut, and to Ashtabula. I remember self loaders that would be swung out of the way. They were so long that the ends seemed to be right over our heads across the river. The yacht Club is evidently the old CG Station, with the new one next door, just South.