Day 149, January 6th, 2010
We left early at 7:00 as we expected to go all the way to Lake Sylvia in Fort Lauderdale with 19 bascule bridges to go under! Most of them only opened on the half hour, a couple by request.
It was freezing cold again so we both wrapped up warm and actually it gradually did improve a bit in the afternoon.
As we got further south the homes became more and more palatial, with the fountains and the swimming pools. It did seem a little strange with clear blue skies, palm trees and freezing cold temperatures.
We had a nasty experience in the afternoon. I was at the helm. We had the jib out to help get us to the next bridge opening. There were another couple of boats just ahead of us. We had one more bend in the waterway to come around when all of a sudden the engine started "Putt, putt, putting!!!" and John said "Turn the engine off - she's not getting any water!" He ran down below to diagnose the problem while I continued on. Remember the waterway is not that wide with beautiful homes either side. We came around the bend and I could see the next bridge just a short ways off and there were the two other boats idling, waiting for the opening. I knew we couldn't continue down there as there wouldn't be enough room to manoever. I decided to come about. Meanwhile John had dug in the locker for a piece of pipe, took off the intake water strainer lid, inserted the pipe and blew for all he was worth to free whatever had blocked the water strainer. However, when I came about the jib sheet caught on something and I couldn't free it up. The wind was fluky and all of a sudden I had no control and we were headed for somebody's beautiful retaining wall. I screamed "John!!!". Just at that moment he got water coming water coming back into the engine and called out to me to restart the engine which I did. He came up to help. I had the helm hard over to starboard but I was scared still we were headed straight for the wall. As he jumped up on the deck, the boat suddenly, just at the last moment obeyed the helm and we slid into the retaining wall on our port side. "Shove it in reverse!!!" "It is!!" and poor little Periwinkle backed up on command. I was so shaken!!! John took over just as the bridge opened and we continued on without a minute to collect ourselves. It was awful. We ended up taking two chips out of the beautiful wall. The two port stancheons are slightly bent and the strap to the bimini split at the toe rail. The black paint on the toe rail is scraped off just at the midship cleat but really we were so lucky!!
I felt so awful though and kept going over it again and again in my mind. These things seem to upset me more and more. Thank God John was able to think so quickly and get the engine running again. Kudos to him!!!
We ended up stopping at a lovely anchorage in Middle River, surrounded by more gorgeous homes and beautiful boats. We had omelets and salad for supper. I went to bed early, feeling like a bit of chewed string!!!
We left early at 7:00 as we expected to go all the way to Lake Sylvia in Fort Lauderdale with 19 bascule bridges to go under! Most of them only opened on the half hour, a couple by request.
It was freezing cold again so we both wrapped up warm and actually it gradually did improve a bit in the afternoon.
As we got further south the homes became more and more palatial, with the fountains and the swimming pools. It did seem a little strange with clear blue skies, palm trees and freezing cold temperatures.
We had a nasty experience in the afternoon. I was at the helm. We had the jib out to help get us to the next bridge opening. There were another couple of boats just ahead of us. We had one more bend in the waterway to come around when all of a sudden the engine started "Putt, putt, putting!!!" and John said "Turn the engine off - she's not getting any water!" He ran down below to diagnose the problem while I continued on. Remember the waterway is not that wide with beautiful homes either side. We came around the bend and I could see the next bridge just a short ways off and there were the two other boats idling, waiting for the opening. I knew we couldn't continue down there as there wouldn't be enough room to manoever. I decided to come about. Meanwhile John had dug in the locker for a piece of pipe, took off the intake water strainer lid, inserted the pipe and blew for all he was worth to free whatever had blocked the water strainer. However, when I came about the jib sheet caught on something and I couldn't free it up. The wind was fluky and all of a sudden I had no control and we were headed for somebody's beautiful retaining wall. I screamed "John!!!". Just at that moment he got water coming water coming back into the engine and called out to me to restart the engine which I did. He came up to help. I had the helm hard over to starboard but I was scared still we were headed straight for the wall. As he jumped up on the deck, the boat suddenly, just at the last moment obeyed the helm and we slid into the retaining wall on our port side. "Shove it in reverse!!!" "It is!!" and poor little Periwinkle backed up on command. I was so shaken!!! John took over just as the bridge opened and we continued on without a minute to collect ourselves. It was awful. We ended up taking two chips out of the beautiful wall. The two port stancheons are slightly bent and the strap to the bimini split at the toe rail. The black paint on the toe rail is scraped off just at the midship cleat but really we were so lucky!!
I felt so awful though and kept going over it again and again in my mind. These things seem to upset me more and more. Thank God John was able to think so quickly and get the engine running again. Kudos to him!!!
We ended up stopping at a lovely anchorage in Middle River, surrounded by more gorgeous homes and beautiful boats. We had omelets and salad for supper. I went to bed early, feeling like a bit of chewed string!!!
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