Sailing Kismet

Pilgrims, John Smith, Ponce de Leon, the French, the Portuguese, the vikings; who discovered and who settled North America first? Lets start with our oldest city.  Saint Augustine is an anomaly of American history, it is the oldest continuously inhabited city in what we now call the United States, but it was not the first place settled by Europeans nor was it continuously Spanish or English or American, there is much to unravel here. And what about the Fountain of Youth? We'll get to that too. On or about the 2nd of April 1513 Ponce de Leon, while taking a break from being governor of Hispaniola, led a voyage to Florida and landed at or near the sight of current day St. Augustine, claimed it for Spain and left. However, saying he discovered it first is not true.    This Portuguese map from 1502 shows a little bit of Florida in the upper left corner, they knew it existed at least eleven years before Ponce de Leon. This map was literally top secret to the Portuguese so no s...

 You're probably not old enough to know the title line, it's from The Honeymooners, but it doesn't matter, neither am I. This is what matters: That picture is Artamis II launching from Cape Canaveral on April Fools Day. No wonder why people think the moon landing was fake. Come on NASA! As usual I am getting ahead of myself, I didn't tell you how much fun it was getting there. So, there I was, in Fort Pierce weighing anchor before dawn on April 1st, right in front of the US Coast Guard station, I like to hide in plain sight, keeps them guessing. I had 64 miles to sail to get to the anchorage at the south end of Cape Canaveral, there is also a bridge and a lock to traverse to get to said anchorage, nothing to it.  I motor out of the Pierce inlet at first light, 45 minutes before sunrise and already have a couple of miles behind me when the sun reluctantly rises after my usurping. After turning north it's a straight shot and my next log entry is at 4:05pm, "motor...

    Some day finally came, the day the wind shifted southerly enough to sail away from Key West before the heat built up to levels intolerable on a boat without air conditioning. On 12 March I set sail for Marathon on a heading of 80 degrees, the wind was at least 125 degrees, life was good.  It was an easy seven hour run and I arrived at the Marathon Safe Harbor Marina fuel dock where I slowed down enough for Doug, my friend from Marco Island, to jump on board. We did a lap around the Boot Key moorings, it is a very down to earth kind of place, regular folks living on the water. I had trouble reaching the city docks on the radio and decided to just anchor outside the harbor.  Doug and I rode my dinghy back to his boat in the Marina. I agreed to come by for a couple of days and help out on some more repairs.    Repairs require parts and parts require a parts run, a parts run requires wheels. We walked into town and the first thing for rent was the Polaris S...

 What do they say about the best laid plans? Stuff happens, and some stuff happened when I went to leave Wisteria Island for Boca Chica. I started Kismet's engine, raised the anchor and on the way back to the cockpit I noticed that no water was coming out of the exhaust. I know I reopened the engine raw water valve after cleaning the strainer, but I checked it anyway, open. I shut off the engine, I thought about it, I pondered it, mulled it over, I jumped overboard to see what was blocking it. The terrible answer was that the valve, despite the position of the handle and shaft turning with it, was closed. It wouldn't open, I tried from above and below. Stuck shut, no cooling water available for the engine. I was stuck. Now, dear reader, you may be thinking, how stuck can on be on a sailboat just because there is no engine? This is a fair question and I appreciate your candor. There are days when I actually cover 99 percent of my miles sailing, I need very little auxiliary motor...

 After visiting Dry Torgugas I was left wondering what comes next since I had gone as far south and west as I could in Florida. I guess it's time to leave. But sometimes that is easier said that done, with the trade winds blowing full force it is next to impossible to sail back to the east coast of Florida. At Key West the trades blow from the east and the gulf stream flows to the east making the sea a big mess of heaping waves that want to stop forward progress and swamp your boat. I would have to wait for a weather window to escape Key West. You can check out any time you like but you can never leave. Plan B consists of a side trip while I waited out about a ten day blow from the east. I would sail north! North from Key West puts you on the West Coast of Florida, the first stop, Naples. To get there I had to sail around to the west end of Key West, dodge a squadron of sightseeing schooners and then head due north. Another unexpected weather anomaly, the wind doesn't bl...