Duer Family Cruising Adventures

We left Fort Pierce for West Palm Beach, one of our shorter runs of just 45nm. Tide and current though meant we needed a 6:30 am departure. We were joined by our long time family friends, Lisa and Grady. While it was mostly a motor boat trip, we did get an hour or so of good sailing with Grady taking a turn at the helm. Dolphin and turtle sightings along with just a rather pleasant and warm day. Lisa and Grady also helped with our provisioning in Fort Pierce, much thanks to them.  West Palm Beach, lying along the intercostal waterway has a run of about 5 miles called Lake Worth, that creates a large anchorage area that is frequented by cruisers and mega yachts, though currently more of the latter. In the past this was a very poplar jumping off point for cruisers heading to the Bahamas, however, shore access has become increasingly difficult with both yacht clubs closed to guests (a Covid thing that never changed I guess) and the corporate buy up of the marinas, with most of them no...

First of all apologies, this month has gotten a way from us as we have moved down the Florida coast. We have made several new to us stops which is both exciting as an opportunity to discover and taxing as we sort through a new place and our still very large to do list.  Fort Pierce has a very well marked and dredged all weather inlet. We had wanted to stop at Ponce de Leon on the way down but was informed by the local Sea Tow that it was not suitable for our draft. Timing wise we passed Cape Canaveral during the evening so continued on to Fort Pierce. The sailing down the coast has been mixed, with usually lightish winds behind us and just enough of schedule constraints (tides/cold fronts to dodge) that our windows to move have been pretty tight resulting a fair amount of motoring.  Fort Pierce has several anchorage and marina options, though the marinas were either too shallow or located under a low bridge, so a no go for Tenacious. We anchored about 3 miles in from the ocean...

Tenacious is a Hallberg Rassy 53 hull #40, built 1999 in Sweden and a Frers design. She is 53' on deck, 15' beam, 8' draft and 50,000 lbs displacement. We are her third owner, she has been lightly cruised and carries much of her original equipment which is a positive and a negative as several systems are in need of updating do to age, but more on that later.  Her layout is a 3 cabin, 2 head, linear galley with Nav station to starboard. Sloop rigged with a removable inner forestay. Main and Genoa on hydraulic furling with 8 winches 3 of which are electric for sail control. Volvo 145hp main engine, 8kw Westerbeke generator, solar panels, wind generator, water maker, 270 gallons of water and 280 gallons of fuel. Nav Station                                                                  ...

A belated Happy Thanksgiving to all. We hung out at Fernandina Beach through the holiday and took in their annual pajama party/post Thanksgiving celebration. The town is about 5 square blocks, packed with shops, bars and restaurants.  Shortly thereafter we departed south for St. Augustine, the oldest European settlement in the United States, claimed by Ponce de Leon for Spain in the early 1500's. The fort, Castillo de San Marcos, still stands from the Spanish settlement and is a national monument now. The fort repelled several invasion attempts including a 30 day siege by the British.  The sail south was spectacular with west 10-20 knot winds creating an offshore beam reach in slight seas. The entrance channel for St. Augustine is omitted from all charts as the shoals/sand banks shift constantly. It is recommended for settled weather only, which we had. Calling ahead to the local Sea Tow office indicated that all but one marker were in place and they did not think there would ...

We departed Cape Lookout on Thursday morning, arriving almost exactly 48 hours later to Cumberland Island GA, about 350km. We had a mix of sailing and motoring in generally calm seas (2-3 ft) with winds from the starboard quarter. Overall the crew felt very good on this 2 day/2 night passage and Tenacious performed flawlessly. For the full week we travelled 600 km.  Sightings over the past week after leaving Hampton VA; 1) Coast guard ship near Cape Hatteras 2) Coast guard plane circling Tenacious at night. It turns out there is a yacht missing in route to Jacksonville so the search was on.  3) Dolphins every day, many times staying with us in the bow wake for 30 mins or longer. 4) Deep blue water of the gulf stream (and man was is warm close to the Gulf Stream - like 20 degrees warmer.  5) Two Turtles 6) 10 Shooting stars 7) Lots of Jelly Fish We will be in Cumberland area which is near St. Marys and Fernandina Beach for the next week, partly to explore, partly to celebr...

Cape Hatteras and the North Carolina Outer banks are collectively known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic - having recored 5,000 ship wrecks since record keeping started in 1526. The trick for the pleasure boat mariner is the Gulf Stream, its nearest approach to the U.S. is right off of Cape Hatteras near an area called Diamond Shoals. The stream moves NNE at 4 knots at its center and is very warm water, while the south bound mariner prefers a northerly component wind, combine this with the south flowing very cold Labrador current is a recipe for wind against current(s) local weather events and just general tough going in sloppy confused seas. The technique is to wait for a cold front/low pressure system to move off the US coast and slip in behind it as the winds clock SW to NW to NE as the next high approaches. Sounds easy except the relative strength (pressure gradient difference) between the low and the high determines how strong these winds will be AND this happens every 48 hours in...

We find ourselves in Hampton VA, having a slightly less eventful week than last. Though, still in boat life you get a "surprise" on the daily, this time a seam in our mainsail opened up, fortunately Jim Miller of Doyle Sails in Portsmouth was able to help us get it fixed. Our mainsail is original 1999 so well past its useful life, thus on the hunt for a replacement - knew this was coming just hoped for a year out of the old girl.  We got a bit of sailing in this week, Deltaville to Norfolk, Norfolk to Hampton then a day sail in the bay. We got to push some mud on our way back to our slip in Hampton, so now have been softly aground in Tenacious - a right of passage for any boat. A overland day trip to Williamsburg left us wanting - it seems we had very found memories from our last visit in 2008, this time around more of a ghost town than a vibrant colonial immersion. Maybe a covid hangover.  So now the wait for weather... Nicole has been named moving over the Northern Bahamas ...