St Johns Trip - Update 5

Well  it's finally here. Our last day. Johanthan and I elected to take out at different locations. He headed to Sanford and the Lake Monroe public boat ramp where his family would pick him up. I choose to go up the Wekiva River because Wekiva Island is only a mile from my home. Its a 15 mile run up river. The Wekiva has a good flow to it and can be a little tricky to navigate due to submerged logs and and lots of eel grass getting rapped around the prop. But its a place I know very well so I was sure it would be a relaxing trip.

Not really much to report. Just a few pictures of the river, Wekiva Falls and arriving at Wekiva Marina.Total time to get up the river was just over 4 hours. Distance was 15.1 miles. I arrived at noon just a head of some light rain.

Mark 96. Entrance to the Wekiva.

Check out the bottles.

Entrance to Wekiva Falls.

Cool tree.

Wekiva Island

Thanks for reading my trip blog. I had a lot of fun making the trip and sharing it. A big thanks to Johnathan for inviting me along. I would have never considered a trip of this magnitude on the St Johns. Especially the distance covered. I learned a lot about Sea Pearl 21 sailboats and the St Johns too.

Trip Distance Log

Camp Holly @ 192   (Mile 0)
520 Bridge 28.7 Miles
528 Bridge 37.4 Miles
50 Bridge  50.8 Miles
46 Bridge  72. 5 Miles
46/Lake Jessup   91 Miles
415 Bridge 94 Miles
I4 Bridge 101.3 Miles
Wekiva River  107.5 Miles
44 Bridge 120.3 Miles
Deleon Springs 135.1 Miles
44 Bridge 152.4 Miles
Wekiva River 165.2 Miles
Wekiva Island (Tom) 180 Miles
Sanford Lake Monroe Public Boat Ramp (Johnathan) 176 Miles

St Johns Trip - Update 4

Its a day late but here it is. I tried to post last night but there were several things working against us. First was destination. We didn't set anchor until around 10 PM. Then there was the humidity and my need to try yet another sleeping arrangement on the Sea Pearl that just didn't work out. And finally I couldn't get Internet access on the river for some reason.

So back to yesterday. We had a relaxing night at Hontoon Island. This time no blind mosquito/midge hatch and no rain. Finally a good nights sleep. The sunrise made for some nice pics but we were off early trying to reach Deleon Springs before the rain threatened again. Arriving at the 44 bridge mean our first draw bridge opening. This being my first sailboat it was as cool experience. (forgive the dork moment).

Sunrise tided up at the docks at Hontoon Island.

SR 44 bridge opening for two Sea Pearl 21 sailboats.

With our destination being Deleon Springs we left the St Johns for Norris Dead River. The entrance was the tightest part and other than a couple of slight turns here and there it was no problem for the Sea Pearls with masts up. Great short cut if you want to visit Lake Woodruff and Deleon Springs. The biggest disappointment was the lack of wind (again) as we crossed another lake.

Entrance to Harris Dead River.

Take this waterway to another fish camp.

Lake Woodruff. No wind (again)

Even with no wind we made amazing time getting to Deleon Springs. I am so impressed with how much you can do with a 2 HP motor. We arrived at our furthest north destination at about 11:30 AM. Our total distance so far, 135 miles in 3 1/2 days.

The plan was to swim and eat. I brought my free diving gear and checked out the spring. I was stunned to find that Deleon Springs is a pipe feeding an artificial pool. Still it was a very refreshing swim. One that I had been looking forward to since the begining of the trip.After that we headed to the Old Spanish Sugar Mill which is now the "Grill and Griddle House". I thought I was going to have lunch but after seeing that you cook your own pancakes right at the table I was easily talked into giving it a taste. I have to say their multi-grain batter was darn good. I am not a big pan cake eater. I walked out stuffed and with a big smile on my face.

Old Florida private properties just before Deleon Springs.

Arriving at our final destination. We were the only boats.

Pulling into the dock.

Huge swimming area. Nice cold water too.

Brunch spot.

Tom and Johnathan enjoying pancakes.

By mid afternoon it was time to move on. This time we were headed back up river. Instead of backtracking right away we went towards Tick Island Mud Lake and out to the St Johns. As we went over the small lake our motors stirred up the bottom releasing tons of bubbles. Below is a shot where I pulled in front of  Johnathan and yelled, smell my swamp gas. Next is passing through a narrow creek before coming back out on the St Johns. 

Swamp Gas Bubbles

With mast up we could usually find each other.

St Johns Trip - Update #3

Day three. I am tired. I will probably be rambling and not finishing my thoughts very well.

Motor sailing for 3 days has been fun but exhausting. The little air cooled Honda 2 HP motor is like having a lawn mower always running next to you.

The biggest disappointment today was no wind. Especially as we crossed Lake Monroe which has become my home turf for sailing. Also the sun continues to beat down on us. So far I have avoided getting sun burn. Still there were several high points today so let me start at the begining.

Our night on Lake Harney was uneventful, at least once we hid from the midge hatch. I tried to sleep below deck but it was too uncomfortable dealing with the center board. I gave up a little after midnight and slept on the new hatch lid. It was actually very pleasant compared to being below. The mosquito net did its job and on deck I felt a nice breeze all night. We did have one visitor. It was around 3 AM. Probably a fisherman setting some lines.

Crossing Lake Harney and going north brought about a big change in scenery. More buildings lined the river. There were now channel markers leading the path. More and more boats. No bad. Just different.

Johnathan got into the Buff crazy today. I gave him one of my extras so he could give his a face a rest from the sun.

One of my goals for this trip was to get some photos of Bald Eagles. I thought that the good shots would come south of 46 but the only ones we saw were off in the distance and flying further away. I got very very lucky on this section of the river with two opportunities. The first was two egles in a tree and then a single bird on top of an dead palm tree and then in flight. Awesome birds!

Our first stop was a resturaunt at the 415 bridge called Gators Riverside Grill. They filled us up with ice but we still had enough gas to motor on. I put this place on my list to come back and eat at one day soon. Next to the restaurant is also a marina. They had this funky advertisement on the side of the building. Mail Pouch Tobacco. It had all kinds of cool old Florida character.

We crossed Lake Monroe at about noon. I was very disappointed that we didn't have enough wind to sail with any decent speed. I tried. I could  see the American flag in Sanford showing signs of a breeze but it wasn't happening on the lake. Multiple times I shut the motor down and felt for breeze that just wasn't there. I was also a little disapointed that we had reached  this point early. I had hoped that we would have arrived here in the evening to sail with the  Lake Monroe Sailing Association's Wednesday Night Rum Race.

Making it to I-4 signified 100 miles so far. As we made our way under I-4 we encountered our biggest traffic obstacle yet. The river ship Romance. The picture makes it look like we were clear but moments before this we were on an course to meet under the bridge. We both thought better of it and rounded up. Johnathan quickly snuck past after the bigger boat was through.

Our intent was to make it to Blue Springs to finally go swimming after three sweaty days on the river but the weather didn't cooperate. As we passed the Wekiva River and marker 96 we were being overtaken by dark clouds. The Swamp House at High Banks was right there so we elected to pull in and have a bite to eat while waiting out the storm. The food here is good but expensive. Two cheeseburgers and soda ended up being a $22 lunch.

By the time we got back on the water it was too late to make it to Blue Springs and the weather had cooled off. Instead we headed for Hontoon Island which is where I sit writing this post. We really didn't have to stay here. Its another unforseen expense but it has clean showers. And Electric which is recharging my laptop right now. Enjoy the pics. Tomorrow may be our last day heading north.......

St Johns Trip - Update #2

2 + 2 + 2 = 70. Two days plus two gallons of gas plus a 2 HP motor equal 70 miles of the St Johns River. Wow! What a day. We motored and sailed from 8:30 AM - 7:00 PM today with one short rain delay. I would have never thought it was possible but I am sitting on north end of Lake Harney writing this post. But back to the beginning......

Our night at Lone Cabbage tide to the dock was uneventful. I slept in my Hennessey Hammock tent tied between the two masts. A couple boats passed by, you could hear the traffic from 520, it rained a little but overall it was a good night and I was able to rest up. We took our time getting ready in the morning. I had a headache which I attribute to dehydration. Today I planned on drinking a lot more water (and less beer).

I measure the river from bridge to bridge. The first leg of the day was from 520 to 528. This was the first stretch that we saw plenty of cows. Johnathan's motor was acting up. It sound like a dirty carb to me. He can't idle but he can run around 1/2 throttle with the choke open. If he slows down the motor will die on him. It hasn't slowed us down though. If anything we are running a little faster than expected. Making it to the 528 bridge was all motoring and uneventful. I was starting to feel a little better too.

Next leg was 528 to 50. I knew there were some shallow areas just after the bridge. We found them but they were not that bad. We were able to get through with minimal bumping of the bottom so long as you followed the main channel. It had to rain sometime today and the down pour hit just south of the power lines. Johnathan elected to pull over and go below. Since I don't have a cabin I threw on my rain jacket and motored to Catfish cabin. Its an airboat shelter on the river just north of the power lines. There were two other fisherman there who were friendly. Interesting they were fishing for softshell. Don't worry if you don't know what softshell is. I didn't figure it out either. It's softshell turtle. Pretty interesting.

We were surprised and stoked that we made it to 50 by 1:30 PM. It was another 23 miles to 46. The distance was not a problem but we had to navigate Puzzle Lake. Johnathan's motor started acting up again. I joked that if it died now we were at the 50 boat ramp. A couple off pulls and it fired right back up and we continued on. I was starting to worry about getting too much sun. I applied sunscreen at least 5 or 6 times today but as the day went on I got hotter. Hopefully I will not be burned too badly in the morning. The section of the river from 50 to just south of Puzzle is probably my favorite stretch of the upper St Johns. It is so fishy. Unfortunately we were on a mission and I did not break out a rod. It will have to wait until the next trip. I would love to tell you a story of how we got lost in Puzzle Lake near Hatbill but it didn't happen. It could have been luck or the water level was just right to be able to follow the main channel. Either way we made quick work of this section too. As we came out of Puzzle Lake and approached the Econ the winds started to come from a favorable SE direction and increase in speed. We motored under 46 around 6:00 PM ready to start sailing.



After we passed the Jolly Gator we set sail and cut the motors. We made it up the small section of river below 46 and out on to Lake Harney. Winds were gusty. We sailed over to the NE corner of the lake relaxed and looking forward to a quiet night.

Unfortunately as the sun set the sky erupted with bugs. I think its another midge hatch or the same one from last week still happening. It was all I could do to get my mosquito net up. No tent tonight. I am sleeping below deck to stay out of the bugs. Being below deck I did find that I could set up my rowing seat and new hatch cover like a desk and write away on my laptop. Thats probably why this post is so damn long. Anyways, enjoy. I will try to post again tomorrow but we may be a little more remote so Internet access could be hit or miss.

St Johns Trip - Update #1

I am writing this sitting in a hammock tent docked at Lone Cabbage. No spell check so hang in there with me.

Today Johnathan and I launched our Sea Pearls from Camp Holly off 192 in hopes of making a one way trip down the St Johns. How far will we get? Not sure. There are a few things that could get in our way. Wiers, shallow water, weather. Good or bad we are making a trip going.

The morning started off fairly nice. We launched right at 10 AM. It took a while to get to the weir just north of the first lake. Our initial attempts at dragging the boats across didn't work. Too heavy. We finally wised up and used our mast tube extensions as rollers and made quick work of getting both boats across. Yeah, one major obstacle behind us.

As we completed the portage the weather began getting a little darker. It wasn't a 1/2 hour later and the rain and lightening set in. Johnathan and I had some discussion on weather we were better off with the masts up or down. I elected to put mine down on the deck and his remained up. The rain and lightening go so bad that we stopped for about and hour. Johnathan was able to crawl into his cabing but I remained above deck and bailed as needed. The bad weather didn't really let up for the entire afternoon but as we made our way onto Lake Pointset we had our winds at our backs and sailed across with storms chasing us the whole way.

We arrived at Lone Cabbage at 7:45 PM. Had a little dinner and now its rest time. Enjoy the pics.

Time to Start Packing

Its time to start preparing for a 4 night camping trip. I just finished my new deck. It has several purposes. First is a strong watertight deck that will keep more water out than the canvas cover while also being able to walk on it. Second is a as a place for to sleep above deck. The hatch lid is built slightly larger than the actual opening to fit a one man tent. I have about $200 in material and about 20 hours invested so hopefully it will hold up to my abuse.

I still have a couple minor projects still to finish. First is to get the PVC that is raising the Bulwinkles (ears on top of posts) that hold masts to stay there with out falling over. I am having trouble finding the right material or making something fit. The mast tubes are schedule 40 PVC and the inside diameter is about 2 3/4 inches. I can not find an off the shelf product that fits so I may have make some sort of spacer rings.

Other stuff
- Oar Holders
- Route My Solar Panel
- Fix a Couple Canvas Snaps

Then I still have to shop for food and pack. One thing I am kind of excited about is the amount of room. So far the biggest boat I have taken camping is a Gheenoe which is a little larger than a canoe. I love my Gheenoes (1,2,3,4) and the places it gets me but the biggest difference is that I will sleeping aboard the the Sea Pearl and the amount of storage below deck. Especially since I don't have water blasts.

Look for my link on the top right of this page called SPOT Satellite Personal Tracker. You will be able too watch our progress live starting around 10 AM tomorrow.

Tell Tails and a Tiller Extension

Yesterday was another Wednesday night Rum Race with the Lake Monroe Sailing Association (check out their new web site). I was holding off installing tell tails thinking I would be buying new sails soon but that hasn't happened yet so I went ahead and installed them on my old yellow sails. I put 3 on each sail about 10" off of the luff and spread out evenly. Then two about 2/3 out on the sail for when I reef.

I also picked up a Forespar 27" - 48" adjustable tiller extension. I was tired of steering with my foot as I hiked out further on the rail. The tiller extension would hopefully mean that I could move forward and further out on the rail when sailing in heavier winds.

I have been recently tracking wind speed and direction with windalert.com. Great web site and iPhone app. The data seems to be more accurate than other wind sites I have been monitoring. The winds on Lake Monroe were brisk but favorable today. Around 14 MPH out of the NE.

The Rum Race begins between 6:00 and 6:30 PM and you record your own time. I started at 6:00 PM reefed with two turns on the main and one on the mizzen but as I crossed the line I felt I could carry the whole mizzen sail so I unreefed it. The start of the race is usually a down wind leg and last night was no exception. Only slightly more out of the north so no one (that I noticed) flew a spinnaker or went wing on wing. I was the first one to the mark but a Flying Scot was closing in on me. I made a decision to unreef the main before the mark. Sailing solo this is no small task. I wanted to get the sail out before I rounded the mark because I thought I would continue with some downwind speed as I fiddled with the main mast. As you can guess that didn't go as planned. As I went forward the boat rounded up. I stayed committed and unfurreled the mast with a few hang ups trying to unhook the down hull. I raced back to the tiller. I then realized that the out hull had released and the main sail was not deployed properly. It took two more attempts going forward and rounding up (not on purpose) to get the main set. I drifted off course during the mishap and the Flying Scot was next to me by the time I rounded the mark. When I finally got back into position and started sailing I noticed I bent my tiller extension about 5 - 10 degrees right where it connects to the tiller. It must have gotten stuck somewhere flopping around as I rounded up. Luckily it was still working with the slight bend because it was extremely valuable when reaching.

On the return leg I was able to point high enough to head back to the start/finish. The Flying Scott stayed above me and at the time I though he was to high but he was on the correct line and I got pinched when I arrived at the start/finish with a time of 40:01. After time correction I finished 7th out of 8 boats but I was only 5 min 15 sec off of the leader which was an improvement for me over past races.

Because the race went quickly most of the boats competed in an unofficial second race. This time I started with the sails fully deployed. I felt like my downwind leg was a little slower but the tail tells were flying properly so I was confident that I made decent time. When I tacked at the mark I was caught off guard by my sails catching the breeze a little to well and the boat started to roll over. It was so bad that I had to try and release the sails, abandon the sheet lines and start climbing over the rail to try and get the boat to right itself. As I looked over the rail I saw two thirds of the centerboard out of the water. I was sure I was going over but the boat somehow came back upright. I didn't dwell on that mishap too long. When the boat came back up I immediately began trimming the sails and was off. The wind direction stayed favorable out of the NE and I was able to sail strait back to the start/finish again. This time I tried to follow the better course used by the Flying Scot in the previous race. The Sea Pearl was over powered but I was able to control it fairly well since I was sitting way out on the rail and slightly forward of the mizzen mast. I was very happy with my right foot on the mizzen mast and my left foot hooked under the rim of the hatch. Several times I was able to lay all the way out to keep the boat from healing over any further than I wanted.

I crossed the finish line in a time of 34:23. A new personal best that shattered what I had done in any previous race. Show Me, a Precision 23, sailed by Andy Forest came in with a 32:45. My corrected time was 35:35. His was 34:06. I was only 1:29 off of the leader and fished a respectable 3rd. Another personal best and reason to celebrate last night. I finally feel competitive. (At least when I don't have to try and point with the sloops).

Could I have done better? Probably. I defiantly could have improved my overall time with an additional person. With experienced crew I could have unreefed and trimmed sails much better. I also would have benefited from extra weight on the rail and not been so over powered at times. But crew is a difficult thing. I am overly competitive. I can be ornery when things don't go my way. Not many many people want to deal with that. (Ok, nobody that I know) Who knows maybe one day I will get someone else on the boat. Until then I am sailing solo and continue to test my skills.