Thursday, 4 February 2016 - I took Steve Oldham's advice today and put together a system to charge my boat batteries and supply the boat with electricity via my Honda generator. The only other time I've used it so far was to run the air compressor so I could dive on the hull of the boat to clean it. I'm sure that is way past due, too. I ran the generator for about an hour and a half, but since they were so low, it didn't really top them off, but it did do a respectable job for the time allowed.
                  Late afternoon, Stephen Luta, LeeAnn Buce from the "Lynx" and I all went out to dinner at one of the waterside restaurants for fresh seafood. Pot pie with shrimp, crab, scallops, fish, peas, and carrots. Yum!
                  Strong winds were predicted for the night and next few days, so Stephen and I returned to our boats to make sure everything would be okay. Things were not. Wind picked up in the 20-30 knot range and sometimes higher. On top of that, the tides were very strong in the anchoring field. Stephen had out two anchors and I had out one 70 lb. Bruce anchor with 90 feet of 3/8" chain. Stephen eventually decided to hit the sack and I told him I'd keep an eye on his boat. I don't think he'd been asleep but about an hour when I saw it break its hold on the bottom and start moving. I called him on the phone, woke him up, and he immediately went into action to get the boat anchored again. Apparently during the change of tides or wind direction, one of the anchors he had set tripped the other, and away he went into the darkness. He eventually got the boat moved and set two anchors out again, but this time, one at the bow and one at the stern. I think he finished about two or three in the morning, but was so scared that he might break loose again, that he couldn't, and didn't want to go back to sleep.
                  I was having my own problems. We had been anchored in this spot for three or four days when a power boater pulled in and anchored a short distance from me; a little too close, I thought, but I didn't say anything. It didn't matter most nights, but tonight it did! My boat has a very deep keel for Florida waters, six and a half feet, and something about its depth and shape, along with the opposing strong winds and tides, made it want to dart about randomly like an armadillo, or maybe more like a mad bull in a corral, charging all over the place. The power boat had apparently drifted with the tide to its northern most edge of its anchoring circle and my boat, which had also moved north with the tide, apparently got its bow caught by the wind and headed straight for the other boat. I was so nervous about the way the boat was moving around that I was standing at the helm and saw a collision it the making, so I quickly started the engine, put it in reverse gear, and missed their boat by about what, in the darkness, appeared to be about 15 or 20 feet. Now I was really awake! I got close to them several times decided that the next time I got close to their boat, I would wake them with my air horn. They needed to know they were in danger. I tried raising them on the marine radio to no avail. I had been running my engine for at least two hours when I finally woke them. I explained the situation to them, saying that their boat had moved into the intersecting area of our two circles, told them that I had already had several close calls in the last two hours, told them that I am single handing the vessel, and that I didn't think I could stay up all night doing this. Then asked if, since they had already had several hours of sleep, if they would take a two hour watch, move their vessel if needed, then call me for my two hour watch on the phone, which I would keep by my pillow. They agreed. They didn't turn on any lights, so I decided to watch for a few minutes and before long, my boat headed right at them. They did nothing! I got it stopped just in time. I must have come within about 15 feet of them again. I told them "Look. If my boat gets that close you need to have your engine running and be ready to move. In fact, if it gets that close, it's too late. There were lots of near misses and I had to back off each time. They never did anything, and in fact, I later discovered than since I had my engine running and averted each collision, they went back to bed. I did this until about 4am and finally remembered that I had a spare anchor in an aft compartment. I got it out, rigged it and got it down onto the swim platform, put the boat in reverse to get as far from them as possible, and threw the anchor overboard. I let out about 75 or a hundred feet of rode, then tightened it so I was locked between the two anchors, and waited to see how effective it would be.

Friday, 5 February - About 5am, I called Stephen, who was also still awake and made arrangements for two hour watches with him. He said he'd take the first watch, since he had had a few catnaps. After having stood at the helm all night, I gladly went to bed and slept like a log till 7:10 am. Stephen hadn't called, so I called him. He was having coffee and oatmeal. I decided to have my usual egg with Rotel tomatoes and boxed, dehydrated hash browns that Stephen had given me to try. Very good, but enough for several days.
                  We decided to get out of that anchorage and out to San Carlos Bay, where I had been before. We'd still have wind, but only about a mile of fetch across the water for waves to build, and almost no tidal current. We each spent the morning getting ready to raise anchors when the tide would be high and slack around noon. The wind was still blowing around 20 - 25 knots when the time came to get out. I was having a hard time getting my aft anchor out and Steve, during the darkness, had taken has anchor into such shallow water that he couldn't get to it, so he came to my boat to help me. His past experience really paid off, and he showed me a couple of tricks of the trade that I'm sure will come in handy many more times in the future.
                  Once we got my first anchor up, we moved over to his boat. Even though I was now on one anchor, the wind and tide were moving in the same direction, so the boat wouldn't be wandering all over the place. His anchor was in such shallow water that we couldn't get to it, so he decided to stay at this anchorage and wait for a higher tide late tonight...in the dark again. No sooner had I gotten back to my boat than he called and asked that I come back. He had figured out another strategy. He had attached his anchor line to has halyard and needed help winching it up to the top of the mast; the theory being that the increased angle would lift the anchor off the bottom. Slowly but surely, it worked like a charm. Once his boat was free, I returned to my boat, raised my main anchor, and followed him out of this anchorage, then led him to the spot in San Carlos Bay. We are two weary guys. Tomorrow, lots of line, chain, and anchors to put away. I'll bet we both sleep like rocks.

Saturday, 6 February - I got up around 8am, had breakfast, then put things back in order to some degree. After that, there wasn't really much to do, so I relaxed a bit. Stephen had suggested that we get together on his boat for dinner around 5pm, so since it had rained almost all day, I started looking for some waterproof bags that I know I have on board somewhere. I was convinced that I had put them in the storage compartments under the berths in the forepeak. After two hours of moving things out of the way, discovering I have some water leaking into the forepeak that I didn't know about, and removing everything in those compartments, I was convinced that the bags were not there, so I inventoried the items that are in there so I won't have to go through that again. Time to go to Stephens boat and it's blowing like crazy. Dinner called off.

Sunday, 7 February - Still blowing hard, maybe a little harder, but, after about 10am sunny. Very cool temperature. Stephen had been invited to a Super Bowl Party and headed north. Winds picked to 25 - 30 kts. He was gone about 3 hours into the wind when he called and said it was too dangerous and that he was turning back. The engine speed that should have propelled him at about 6 kts. was only producing 1.6 kts. He got back in about an hour or less. Winds are going to shift again, this time from the west, so we need to find another anchorage. We might be better protected back over at Ft. Myers Beach, but I certainly don't want to have to deal with the tidal current and winds of any sort there again. Much of both our afternoon has been watching the various, conflicting, weather reports and trying to sort it all out. I think were going to head back over to the Westin Hotel in Glover Bight, where we met. By the way, when we were there the last time, I could not get a strong enough phone connection to get this posted, so I will probably be late again.
                  I found the bags I was looking for in the aft stateroom in about 5 minutes this afternoon. I need one to put my laptop in when I leave the boat in my dinghy.
                  Ooh! Something very rare just happened. While typing this here in the saloon (main cabin), I felt a strong puff of wind. When at anchor, the boat almost always faces the wind, so unless I have hatches open, which I don't since it's only 55%deg;F, I shouldn't be getting breeze in from the rear of the cabin, where the companionway is. I just went on deck to see what's going on, and the boat has already switched directions 180°. The weatherman has been predicting strong north winds until around 4am, dying off in the morning. I sure hope it doesn't come on strong from the south tonight. The boat having turned around means that the lines on my two anchors are now crossed. If the wind shift is temporary, I hope I go back around the way it came from so it untwists the lines. It'll be hard enough to get the anchors up without them being tangled. This is the same spot that I had such a hard time raising just one anchor about a week and a half ago. It took two or three hours that time.
                  Well, I'm so tired I can barely think straight. See you tomorrow.

Monday, 8 February - Stephen and I both brought our boats back over to near the Westin Cape Coral and anchored in Glover Bight again. That's where I met him. It seemed to be the best place to hide from strong west winds that are predicted to be at gale force for the next couple of days. I did have my anchors tangled, but was able to get them straightened out in about 30 minutes. I was following him over and was right behind him till we got halfway here. I got pulled over by the Customs and Border Patrol. I guess I looked suspicious as they passed the other way. Actually, I think it was probably because I still have the registration numbers on the dinghy from the previous owners that they obtained in the U.S. Virgin Islands. They probably assumed I was returning from there. When I finally found the boat's paperwork, everything went smoothly and we bid each other a good day.
                  I joined Stephen on his boat around 1:30 pm for a late lunch and he showed me some software that he uses for planning routes and predicting the weather. Speaking of which, the winds here have not been nearly as strong as predicted. Not complaining, and we both have two anchors out just in case. More strong winds predicted for tonight.

Tuesday, 9 February - Winds weren't bad last night at all. Nothing more than a bit breezy. I spent literally all day trying, once again, to get this internet receiver to work, and, once again, failed. I finally got access to the control panel, but never could get it to connect to the internet. The signal that I get from the Westin hotel is very weak, but that's what it is intended to do, reach out and amplify weak signals. I think I have some setting it the software wrong, but darned if I can figure out what it is...and like I say, I spent all day changing settings, rewiring the setup, testing, etc...and failing. All I did was find out what doesn't work. The instructions and information on the internet are very conflicting and, for the most part, written for PCs, not Macs, and certainly not for people on boats. I'm really tired of trying.
                  More very strong winds predicted for tonight, but it's 8:30pm and we've got almost nothing, although Stephen just got notice from a friend about 25 miles north of us that winds are already quite strong there.

Wednesday, 10 February - Winds never became significant, but I had yet another day spent trying to get this Ubiquiti M2 WiFi booster to work. Still no luck, but I did get closer. I can get it to transmit, but not receive.

Thursday, 11 February - I decided to try to fix a leak that is letting rain water come into the aft stateroom through one of the safety line stanchions, but discovered that in order to loosen the one that is leaking, I also had to almost remove another since they make up the starboard half of the pushpin and are tied together with stainless steel tubing. Not difficult, just more time consuming than I had hoped...as usual. Maybe I fixed two leaks at once. I won't know until the next rain. I still have another leak on the starboard bow, but am baffled as to exactly where the water is coming in. Until I figure that out, there's no use tearing things up.
                  Around noon, Stephen and I motored over to another marina it the dinghy, then walked about a mile to a grocery store, had lunch at a Chinese fast food place that was pretty good, and bought a few groceries and brought them back.
                 Later, Stephen and I met several of his friends at a night club that had a great band called Electric Lipstick with a lead singer that was really great and a repertoire or 60s and 70s rock and pop songs that had us dancing all evening. That was the first time in years that I had been out dancing to a rock band and I really had a great time.

Friday, 12 February - I spent some time today checking out lines in my rope lockers and evaluating which lines, chain hooks, and winches I could use to help retrieve my anchors under various conditions. It's not as easy by yourself. I also was pulling in one of the two anchors that I had out since the winds had died off, but several other boats pulled into the bight, and I decided that the crowded harbor might warrant leaving both anchors down because that might keep my boat from wandering so much in the current and wind. I had also hoped to go back over to Ft. Myers Beach to get my mail at the post office, but the postal workers wouldn't answer the phone so I could confirm that the packages had arrived. No use raising anchor, motoring or sailing for two and a half hours to discover than it hadn't arrived yet.
                  In the afternoon, after searching for a couple of hours for my leather punch and jeweler's screwdrivers, I found the appropriate tools and cut 5 inches off several of my belts, then Stephen invited me over to his boat for dinner.

Saturday, 13 February - My plans for the day were pleasantly disrupted when Stephen sent me a text saying that a favorite musician was playing at an outdoor bar and restaurant over in Cape Coral today and invited me to tag along. We met three of his lady friends at an outdoor bar there and enjoyed the fellow's great singing and guitar playing for about 4 hours, then dinghied back three of four miles to our boats. Another great day of 60s and 70s rock music. When I got back, I started the auxiliary generator and have, in the last hour, increased the charge on the batteries from 55% to 75%. While we were off playing, the wind generator had pumped the batteries up about 10%, but they needed more. This gives me the opportunity to charge the batteries on not only the boat, but the computer, phone, and camera, too. Where I am anchored, I can't get good enough reception on my phone to send photos, but I think I can get an email out, so I'll probably send this out tomorrow without pictures.

Sunday, 14 February - I spent some of the day organizing small parts on the boat and then sealed what I thought might be leaking on the starboard bow into the forepeak. I sealed a scupper, then the second thing that I checked was one of the safety line stanchions. I removed the screws on the plate, then went below to remove the 1 5/16" nut from the 7/8" stud, and did, just not in the manner that I had intended. The 7/8" stud broke with about 10 lb. of torque. Crevasse corrosion rears its ugly head once again. The safety lines are something I really don't want to do without.
                  Luckily, about that time, some people that had come in on a powerboat to anchor and that had chosen a spot that would be aground at low tide, and whom I had told them so, reciprocated by asking me over for a rum and mango juice and a rum and cocoanut milk, and a rum and something else, so I graciously accepted. A nice evening watching the sun set from the back of their 1/3 of a million dollar trawler. It turns out they are from Cedar City, Utah. Actually, he had come over to my boat in his dinghy to say that the CSY 44 had, at one time, been his dream boat and that, if it hadn't been a two year wait to get one, he would have bought one. When I mentioned that mine was the 9th one off the production line, he said, "Oh! It must have been made in 1977." Correct. Darkness had arrived, so I departed to return to my boat so I could turn on my anchor light which must be turned on at dusk. I was about an hour late.

Monday, 15 February 2016 - I had hoped to pick up a couple of packages at the post office today, but had forgotten that it was President's Day. Thank goodness I realized it before hauling anchor and motoring or sailing the eight miles or so back over to Ft. Myers Beach. It was a beautiful day here in the 70s with light winds. A large portion of the day was spent going through and organizing some of the sailing hardware that is on the boat. I'm trying to get it so I don't have shackles in five different places and blocks in four, etc. Not only that, but I had one drawer that weighed so much that even while laying on the floor on my back pushing up on it from below, where I had taken another drawer out for access, I could barely lift it enough to get it open. A small drawer with about 50 lb. of stainless and bronze shackles, blocks, chain links, cable clamps, pad eyes, cleats, clevis pins, etc., etc., etc., packed in solid.
                  I did get a call from the mechanic that has one of my outboard engines. They said it needs a $230 electrical coil that they'll have to order in from God only knows where, and a ring job, and that they wouldn't recommend spending that much money on such an old engine, but that they do have an new one they can sell me for $2,600. I believe the last part. I'll be getting my engine back un-repaired.
                  Later, since it was Ladies' Night at the Coconut Tiki Bar, we met several of Stephen's girl friends there for dinner and dancing. This group goes dancing about 5 nights a week, and they hardly ever sit down the whole night. They're dancing machines!

Tuesday, 16 February - This morning I spent about 2 1/2 hours raising twisted anchors, but did learn one trick in doing so that may come in handy in the future. I also lost my set of keys overboard while bending down to untwist the chains, I heard them hit the water. Not one chance in a million of finding them, so I didn't even try. Next, it was out of Glover Bight, down the Caloosahatchee River, and back over to Ft. Myers Beach to anchor, then run into the post office, where I should have had two packages waiting for me. One was mail forwarded from my mail service, and the other was to be some parts for the boat. Only one package! Surely not. They were shipped on 2 Feb. The postal service fellow said they were already picked up. Not by me! ...and I'm the only Rick McClain expecting a package, right? Luckily, the fellow also thought it a bit strange and inexplicable and, after about 20 minutes, found my package. Thank Goodness! I thought I was going to have to order and wait for another. Then I went to 7-11, bought a Dr. Pepper to celebrate having gotten the boat parts, and went over to the fishing pier to rest and watch people...and girls in bikinis. It was a great day for girl watching. A high of about 75%deg;F. and hardly a cloud in the sky. The first day in a while to take off the shirt. I think I sunburned my face a little even though I spent much of the day under the bimini top on the boat. Reflected light, I guess.
                  I guess I'd better wrap this segment up so I can start looking for the spare key to the three locks that protect the goodies in my three lazerettes. One key, three locks. I know I have a spare, and I apparently keep all my spare locks and keys in one spot...except that one. I was so sure it was there that I really don't know where to look next. But I'll need it first thing in the morning to get to tools and the pump for the dinghy. Gotta Go!
                  Hot Diggity! Good luck, for once. I went and looked for the key in exactly the same place that I had already looked three times before, so it couldn't possibly be there. Why look in the same place again, right? Well, that's the only place I keep keys other than the set in my pocket. Anyway, there it was, mixed in with all the empty fobs and floaters. Why, you might ask didn't I have it on a floating fob? That way, when i heard it hit the water, I could have just fished it out. Well, that's true but the darned things are just too bulky. They totally fill you pocket all by themselves; and I have other junk that I need to put in there like nuts and bolts and screws and springs and other important stuff.
                  I am glad I found it. Otherwise, I'd have had to cut three very good, matching, Master Locks off and replace them. I'd better get another duplicate made...soon. Now I have to figure out which other keys I lost too. Hmmm. Not the car keys, I don't have a car. Not the boat ignition key, there isn't one. Not the hatch keys, they have combinations. Not the house keys, I don't have one. I'll figure it out later. I'm just so giddy that I found this one.

Wednesday, 17 February - I installed the part than came in the mail, a double rope clutch on the boat, then I called around and found someone that can repair that stanchion. He said call him in the morning and he'll meet me at a dock to pick it up and repair it. Since I had the time, and having the first stanchion break so easily made me think I'd better check the next one back on that side of the boat, it's a bit loose. The first one was relatively easy to access, but the next one, I had to remove a DVD/CD rack and part of the teak wood stripping in the liquor cabinet to get at. I put the socket on it and...nothing. Couldn't budge it in either direction, even with a 1/2" breaker bar, so I put everything back together. At least it didn't break off! Removing the teak stripping also exposed my starboard forward chainplate which has caused a bit of worry, too. It has five 5/8" bolts in it and one had a bit of rust on it, but I was able to tighten all five just enough to feel that they are still sound. I would have been devastated if any of those had broken, or even felt soft. The chainplates hold the mast and all the rigging on the boat up. It would be VERY expensive to have to replace them.

Thursday, 18 February - I got up early, had breakfast, and called the repairman about the stanchion at 8am. He said he'd come right over to the marina that I am anchored off shore from. I had totally removed the stanchion yesterday, so I took it in to him. He said it would cost "over a hundred dollars to repair." What could I do? I said fix it. He'll have it by the end of the week. Oh! That's tomorrow. When I got back from there, I called about my outboard motor. I had told them to return it to me un-repaired, and they did about noon. After that, I returned to the boat and, with the help of a couple of blocks and tackle and a special davit, put the outboard motor back up on its storage mount on the aft handrail, then went by dinghy, bicycle, and bus, over to the local Walmart, Target and Marine Traders to buy several things. Most of the items that I intended to get, including some electronics, a snatch block capable of handling 5/8" anchor chain, and an ignition coil for the outboard, I couldn't find at any of them. I did get another set of keys made to replace the ones that went by the board (overboard). On my way back, Stephen messaged me to come to dinner on his boat again, so I did, and had another great dinner.

            Until next time.
                        "Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!" - Hunter S. Thompson

                                          Rick