Monthly Archives: November 2016

LOGBOOK, outings

St Augustine

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We spent the first night in Crooked River anchorage after a quick stop on Cumberland Island at Plum Orchard Mansion. There is a nice dock there, on the Brick hill River. I don’t know what the deal is with it, but nobody was around so we tied up. The mosquitos were so fierce we only stayed long enough to snap a few pictures. We will definitely have to go back later this winter, and spend some time. The mansion is just about a half mile above where the Brickhill converges with the ICW, actually the Cumberland River. The Crooked river empties into almost the same spot from the west. When going in, if you hug its north bank for a few hundred yards, there is ten or twelve feet of water in there with room to swing, a gentle current, and many less bugs.

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Bath day on the Tolomato River. Another good anchorage about ten miles North of St Augustine.

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Castillio de San Marcos, from the north mooring field where we spent the night.

dsc01294 Patty and Thad joined us for breakfast on Sunday morning. It was Thad’s birthday! We had pancakes with bacon, eggs and sausage as we watched the town come to life.

img_3680 There is a launch that runs every two hours from 8am-6pm. EXcept Sunday when the first run is at ten. So…

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The trip home we had some fog in the mornings

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Drydock at Mayport.
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passing a fellow travelerdsc01315

This was “Brother” Jim’s third trip on the Spirit of St Simons. A talented teacher, artist, chef, story teller, and all around good company.

We saw a good bit of damage from Hurricane Matthew. At Fernandina we counted over a dozen good sized boats on the beach. The city dock was completely closed down. Fuel was available at Amelia Island Yacht Basin, but their channel is narrow and fairly shallow. We got in and out OK at low water, but with a deep draft you would be tide dependent.

sailing lessons

Basic Sailing lesson Three- More on Tacking

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Ok, we have learned that the act of zig zagging to get to a destination is called tacking

Now, If the wind is coming from the port (left) side of the boat, then you are on a “port tack”
If the wind is coming from the starboard (right) side of the boat then you are on a “starboard tack”

Turning the boat (tacking) upwind so that the eye of the wind passes from one side of the boat to the other, is called “coming about” or to “come about”

Turning the boat downwind, (also tacking) so that the wind passes from one side of the boat to the other is called Gybing or to gybe. (pronounced JIBE. not to be confused with jib which is a kind of sail)

To “come about” is to tack upwind
To “gybe” is to tack downwind

It is important that the crew is aware if the boat is about to tack, since whether coming about or gybing, the sail will be swinging across the deck. The sail is attached to the mast, and usually to a boom, which is a horizontal tube, or spar, that can whack you in the head if you aren’t paying attention.

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gybing
mast
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port tack
starboard tack

In a sentence: We were cooking along on a port tack when the boat gybed accidentally, shaking the mast and scaring the beejezus out of us.

PS port and starboard: here is how you remember which is which. Port wine comes from Portugal. Traditionally, when at the dinner table, you always pass it to the left, if you have any class. We never drank wine at the table, but we did pass the bottle over the carseat at the drive in. Anyway, port = left, then you can figure out the starboard part from there.