........MacGregor Index Page.............. 2015 Bahama Trip Index Page
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..........--- Charlotte Harbor Boat Storage --- ......................................................--- to --- .....................................--- Placida, FL --- |
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............ ..(March 8th to 12th) Placida Anchorage --- N 26º 49.528´ ==== See text below ............................W 82º 15.708´ ==== See text below |
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March 9th
Trip Mileage to Lake = 3 miles
Day's to Lake = 3 miles
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I spent March 8th buying supplies and packing the Mac after working on her in the sister yard to Charlotte Harbor Boat Storage for 2 months at least a few hours almost every day. I also inflated the ...
... Zodiac and put the cover on and hoped she was ready to go also.
I woke up at 2:30 am on the 9th with a really bad sore throat and the beginning of a bad cold. By the time I got up a few hours later the cold had really hit and I felt terrible. I'd arranged for the yard to put me in at 10 am but wondered now if that was a good idea considering how bad I felt. Here I hadn't had a cold in 5-6 years and I get a bad one the day I'm finally going to put back in the water. I decided to go forward with it and have them put me in and I'd go down the canal system a couple miles to a small lake there and then anchor and rest up. The boat was a mess inside with all the supplies and such.....
.... that I'd loaded since bringing the boat over from the other yard on Saturday and parking her in front of the Endeavour. I also put the mast up and ran all the running rigging for the sails, sail pack, lazy-jacks, etc.. Getting all of this done on the trailer was a big help vs. having to do it on the water. I'd considered putting the boat in at a ramp about 1/8th mile from the yard but would of had to leave the mast down to get under a bridge before I could get in the part of the canal system that would let me get out into Charlotte Harbor. If you pay for year around storage like I was doing on the Endeavour it includes them putting you in and out 3 times a year for no additional charge. I hadn't used any of those and Brady, one of the brothers who owns the yard said it would be no problem for them to put me in and use one of those.
So with the boat all loaded and ready to go and me sick I hooked up the Suburban and pulled her the short distance in the yard near the slip they use to launch boats.
Brady with his remote control ran the lift they use to suck boats out of the water and put them in and move them in the yard over the little Mac and .....
.... they ran the straps under her after I had released the bunks up forward on the trailer. Scott my good buddy to the left keeps and eye on all that is going on and has been a big help in this whole venture. He has a boat in the yard also that is larger than the Endeavour and lives in the area but lately had been living on the boat in the yard trying to get her ready to go back in the water.
The lift easily plucks the Mac off the trailer. Smitty to the right works in the yard and plays 50's-60's and 70's music at some of the local gigs around the area as the bands drummer. His wife Shirley manages the office. Good people if you need a place to store your boat or work on it contact them and mention I sent you (won't save you a cent as they are already the lowest price place to put your boat).
Within just a couple minutes they had the Kera Jane positioned over the slip and ....
.... lowered her down into the water where Scott and Smitty then pulled and pushed her around to one of the two docks and we tied her up.
A couple hours later still feeling terrible I was off to the lake a few miles away where I spent the afternoon trying to organize everything inside the boat better. I had enough food for two months, the lady at the store checkout said she had never checked someone out with so many can goods. I also had over two cases of the milk you don't have to refrigerate until after you open it. Lots of packages of sandwich meat about 3 loves of bread, lots of pasta dinners and other pasta and the list goes on and on. I also had about 60 gallons of water on board and the 20 gallon gas tank was filled along with another 12 gallons in gas containers and 2 ½ gallons of gas in the tank that fits on the stern of the dinghy. Probably 1200 lbs or so in the Mac. I had raised the water line some years before about 2 inches and it was just below the water loaded as I was.
I had a very peaceful night anchored on the lake that night aside from battling the cold.
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March 10th
Trip Mileage to Placida = 35 miles
Day's to Placida = 32 miles
I get up in the morning feeling like you know what but head off toward Placida about 35 miles by water from the yard but only about 7 miles down the road by car. I was going to meet Scott there the next day for a day on the water hopefully sailing and checking out the boat before I really took off as this was the first time the boat had been in the water since 2011.
I went about 5 miles in the fresh water canal system to the lock that separates the fresh water from the salt water bay. This is all motoring. No problems at the lock once the people coming in figured out how to work it and finally cleared it with me trying to patiently wait on the other side jocking the boat forward and in reverse to hold position.
Once out onto Charlotte Harbor I had to beat into a lot of waves and wondered if I was going to get seasick the first day. I'd never been seasick before but it entered my mind so I tried to put it out of my mind and look at the horizon. After about 7 miles the wind and waves abated which was good as far as getting rid of the bad conditions but not so good as now there would be no sailing today so motored down to Gasparilla Sound where I found a place to anchor (see anchorage coordinates at the top of page) not far from where I'd pick Scott up the next morning. I put the outboard on the inflatable and made a mock run over towards where I would pick him up and promptly ran aground with the dinghy and the outboard. After getting off I decided a different route in the next morning might be a good idea.
Back on the boat I watch all the birds settle in not far from me on their rookery and ...
.... watched the sun go down over Gasparilla Island to the west the last bit of land between me and the Gulf of Mexico.
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March 11th
Trip Mileage back to Placida after day sail with Scott = 62 miles
Day Sailing = 27 miles
The next morning I meet Scott and Gracie (his dog) over at the dock using the correct route in. We motored a ways down the ICW to where we had Charlotte Harbor off our port side and started sailing. Well not much at first as there was hardly any wind but that changed and soon we had good wind, probably around 10-12 kts and ....
....we were off to the best pure sailing day I'd ever had with the Mac. Scott and Gracie kept an eye on the things ....
.... so I could go below for a moment.
The Mac settled into a groove and was steady as a rock most of the time once the water ballast kicked in.
For a YouTube video of the day's sail click ( HERE ).
Ruth had a hard time with much heeling so I/we always kept it under 14 degrees if possible and that was fine with me as I sure wanted her to be happy as she made me happier than anyone had before she came into my life. I wish we could of pushed it a little more in retrospect as under 14-15 degrees the Mac is tender and reacts more to gusts than at a higher heeling angle where the water ballast can stiffen the boat up.
We were seeing high 5's and low 6's under the ideal conditions.
Not bad considering we were towing the inflatable and that the boat was so heavily loaded. It was a great day and we sailed on one long tack up near the lower end of Punta Gorda and then back down to the ICW, about 20 miles and part way up the ICW until we neared Placida.
I decided to take the Mac in and drop Scott and Gracie off instead of using the Zodiac. I got on the dock ok and had taken the solar panel on the port side. I had problems backing off and then going ahead to port and almost got the panel on the other side that I hadn't flipped over. That would of not been a good start to the trip but all was well.
It was back to my anchorage a short distance away and.....
...... the end to at great day on the water regardless of the cold that I was dealing with.
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