Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Titusville City Marina - at a dock

Dog park inhabitants
Ann learned how to spin the boat this morning. I'm at the bow taking up the anchor but that requires the pull on the anchor line to be vertical. So if the line is off to one side, I point in the direction I want the bow to go regardless of the wind and current which may have other ideas. Sometimes the direction I point in seems impossible to go in. If the current causes the anchor line to be aft of the bow to one side, I may point in a direction back and to that side, a challenge for the helmsman (or helmswoman in this case). Well, this morning Ann learned that a short spurt forward with a hard turn to one side followed by a strong spurt in reverse will keep the boat turning but not going forward, spinning in effect. So with that effect, I was able to retrieve the the anchor without a problem. Ann also brought the boat into the dock at St Augustine when we picked up fuel a couple of days ago. I was on the foredeck handling the lines. It is good seamanship to have both people on a boat be able to handle docking procedures and share in helmsman duties.

The  boat underwater washed up in the last storm!
We were the last ones out of the anchorage this morning, I guess we're getting lazy but then we only had 30 miles to go and it was a nice day with temps in the 70's. The boat was still running hot but then for no reason we can figure out, it started running like it used to, around 180F. We still have a diver coming Thursday morning to replace the zinc on the prop and look things over. I did a back flush with the high pressure from the marina hose, perhaps that will help.




Pretty moon!












The marina here is first rate. They even have a dog park where Hoolie can run free and play with other dogs. It's not often he gets a chance to run without a leash and he's pretty out of shape judging by how long he was huffing and puffing after I took him back to the boat. He's flat out asleep now on the couch.

On Thursday we're headed for an anchorage at Melbourne before heading in to Vero Beach marina on Friday for a week. Traveling is tough so we figured we have to rest up for awhile.

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