Mai Tai's & Margaritas

We woke Monday morning with the brunt of the storm passed .winds have died down but a hard cold has set in. With no heat on board we woke up to a cabin temp of low 40’s. After a cup of hot coffee I went up top and began to unlash the dingy and motor. Even though the wind had slowed it was still absolutely nasty cold on deck while it blew. Still with higher chop then I would like to go out in a 7’ boat, the thought of a hot lunch and warm restaurant was too enticing to resist. Dink in the water Tyler handed the new mercury 4stroke outboard down to me and I set on and fired it up. I let it warm up for a few minutes and Tyler jumped in. We let go of the ” Abby Gale” and the motor konks out. A quick pull start and we’re moving again. The chop is pretty big and we are going criss cross against the current and wind. Tyler is getting soaked but at least he’s blocking the water from me . Almost to the shore and channel entrance the motor begins to falter and gives out .I try to restart it as the current is pulling us back out to the bay. No good . Quick check and the gas tank that’s built in to the top of the motor is empty. I filled it the day before and have only made 2 trips to shore. Really should have picked up those paddles that were on the shopping list. With no other choice we started paddling with our hands. Every long sleeved item I have with me on the trip I am wearing . 3 sweaters 2 jackets and 2 Long sleeve t shirts are now digging into the icy water to get us to the beach. After a few minutes we are soaked. Tyler in the from of the boat is splashing me as he paddles. We made it to the beach and began to drag the dink up and tie it off to a tree. Cold and wet. We went to the restaurant and ordered lunch. As we waited for the food I wrang out my clothes but still cold and wet. Turns out there is no where on the island to get gas . Closest station is over 16 miles away ! Really nice people on this island though. The owner of the restaurant offered us her truck to drive into town for fuel ! That’s some absolute blind trust and faith in fellow man. Then a guy eating lunch overheard our predicament and just offered us some fuel he had atnhis house a block away and refused when we tried to pay!
We got back out to the mothership just in time to meet the mechanics who showed up at 2oclock. The rest of the afternoon they tour into the engine but the news just kept getting worse.Bottom line I’m looking at a complete overhaul with a price tag that completely exhausts my travel funds. And it will be several weeks for parts etc. Boat needs to be moved somewhere ,not sure yet where and I have no idea what we are going to do. Continue to live on it or go home for a few weeks. Not sure I want to leave so much expensive gear out in the open anywhere ,especially if people know we have left.
The marina owner Tom brought us to shore after delivering the bad news and set us up with a hotel. Not a bad thing as it was a low of 29 last night but just our luck the heat doesn’t work in the room ! Sometimes I really begin to wonder about this string of bad luck. With a decent nights rest under our belt we are relaxing in a hotel room today. Im waiting a vet to show up and take a look at Abby. She whimpered when going to the bathroom this morning and hasn’t been drinking enough water so I think she has a kidney infection. Just another nail in the coffin on this trip. But I just keep telling myself it’s gotta get better.

Day one started bright an early ,about 930am. Not really that early unless you consider I was up until 3am the night before doing last minute tasks and still had another hour that morning to make ready for departure. Load this ,tie down that move something below ,reorganize etc. After 4 months of traveling back and forth 2 hours to work on this boat we were finally ready to go . Weather had held us off almost a week now but finally there was break if we could get underway and ride a cold front moving south. All the forecasts looked good but a had a nasty feeling when a heavy fog had moved in earlier in the morning while I was still up and about. I awoke to finally see my co-pilot on this little adventurer had found is way to the boat in the wee hours of the morning.Sometime around 5am he came aboard and dropped his gear. With a mere 4 hours asleep I woke him to start preparations to make way . Out on deck the heavy fog was still on us and had made the deck dripping wet. Not ideal conditions for working outside . A breeze was blowing southward from the east.Completely opposite of the forecast. Offshore I’m sure it would change.
With all prep done I fired up the Yanmar diesel ,tossed the bow lines and we were underway. Heading into the inter coastal the air still hung heavy with humidity with the fog. Tyler checked the weather again via his Iphone ( a nice little device to have ) and the fog and clouds were to burn off by mid morning. It was 11am as we cleared John’s pass draw bridge and motored out to sea.Passing rolling breakers along the channel. The skies showed no appearance of breaking cloud cover and with the wind blowing I headed down below to grab another sweater.It was gonna be colder then expected. Out of the channel we headed south into ever increasing seas. Once again the forecast was wrong. The seas climbed through the afternoon to swells 3-5 with criss crossing winds not allowing us to keep a steady course. Didn’t take long for me give the coffee I had drank earlier overboard to the sea. I had hoped I would be good from there on. Boy was I wrong.
The day just kept getting worse. The wind was all over the place.Never coming from one direction long enough to keep a steady course.The diesel kept us thumping along at 5kts with main sail up.as we pitched and rolled 15 degrees to port with every 3rd set of waves from the west .And damn the wind was blowing opposite the waves. When we tried to unroll the jib it locked up .Something was caught up front, so tethered by a steel cable to the boat I went front side in rolling pitching seas, 15mph winds and a wet deck. Always with a hand on something secure. Steady in my mind was the thought”if you go over you’ll be dragged quite ways in this water before the boat can be stopped and most likely its gonna pull me little below as well ” . Moral being don’t go over.
We got the jib rolled out only to have the winds shift and wrap the damn thing around the front forestay.When we tried to roll it back in was stuck,popping violently in the wind at the top. Another trip front side got it wrapped up partially but the rigging lines were so tangled it would need some major attention in calm waters.
The day pressed with us wearing every item of clothing we owned collectively to stay warm. Even with down feather ski gloves my hands were so cold they were cramping up. We hadn’t eaten anything but peanuts all day and were starving. Night fell on us with heavier seas and a strong gusting westward wind .We were headed for sarasota pass. Apparently a horribly marked entrance with heavy breaking surf.After an hour of searching for some type of channel marker we found a green and red styrofoam ball.”You’ve gotta be kidding me ? ” right I was telling myself. In all my life, markers had always ben reflective in some type of way .But here where there most needed its styrofoam ball that looks like the 70000 crab pots we had dodging all day.
With the jib still popping at the top every time a gust of wind hit we turned into what we had hoped to be the channel. Heavy surf breakers were crashing on our left and the coastline about 100yds on our right with that damn jib healing us over with the wind. Then a loud siren came on from below.Not good not good at all. We are a 100 yds off the beach with breakers crashing on our left 30 yds away . A boat that drafts 6 ‘water being blown towards the beach because the motor had just over heated.Temperature of 240. Engine off immediately but we were a very bad spot. Main sail down I told Tyler to steer us the best he could using the bit of parachute at the top of the jib. We had just enough to keep at .5 knot. Down below I scrambled to find the problem.Raw water strainer? its good ,broken hose? no . Fan belt ! yes ! And thank god I have a spare. The boat is still pitching and rolling heavily. 6’ seas by now crashing into out sides .Even the dog had puked . Crashing about the cabin pulling tool kits out of closets as their contents tried to follow suit I came very close to duplicating the days earlier naseua all over the motor I was working on. Belt repaired and engine fired up just as we passed what we believed to be channel marker,Depth swung from 14 ft to 8’ just as the diesel pulled us back into the channel. we motored into sarasota bay dodging submerged pilings according to the charts and found a sweet little cove right in from of million dollar homes. We joked Sanford and Son had just arrived .By the time we set hook .Tyler had passed out at the table .It was 1030 pm . 12hrs on the water in freezing weather and rough seas. It was bed time .
The next day we rested .Motored over to a marina and fueled .Walked the dog ,had dinner,made repairs to the jib and stayed another night in calm water and beautiful lights of sarasota. The next 2 days were calm weather and while making a repair to a leaking driveshaft clamp I noticed seawater dribbling out of our Air intake .Never a good sign .White smoke started billowing out of the exhaust but she was still running.We were in the middle of the Gulf with zero wind so motor on was all we could do . Boca Grande Pass as night fell .We anchored in for the night.Called Sea tow the next morning and we were pulled 16 miles to Pine Island next to Sanibel. A 900$ tow bill covered by my membership.Thank god for that. That was a thursday before xmas when were dropped at anchor in a horrible location .Heavy boat traffic and no protection from the wind waiting the mechanic shop is open on monday to give us a diagnosis on the motor. A delightful cold front has moved in and we now sit in similar swells as the day we departed and temperatures in the 40’s. With a trip planned to tropics there are no provisions for heat aboard and the island offers no stores to acquire a heater . The worst of the storm will be over tonight and we will go ashore tomorrow and get a room when I know theres no chance of the anchor letting go from the waves and wind. A 45fter broke anchor last night and has drifted right up on the shoal.Rudder first and looks to be taking on water from what I can see from with binoculars. Hopefully tomorrow will bring better news from the mechanic, a hot shower and warm bed. Although as I sit listening to the wind howl outside and the waves pull and crash at the hull its a far sight better then any week at work. Its been exhausting and steep fast learning curve but so far well worth it

Theres a point in everyones life where you have to choose a path. A fork in the road . Whether to leave the confines and relative safety of what we know to venture out to see what we don’t know . I chose early on to to stay comfortable with my surroundings. The brash unrelenting emotionally charged decision process of most youth was not part of my rational growing up. Logic had to take precedent in all decisions and weigh out the pros and cons. Its not until recently ( the last 4-5 years ) has my thought processes begin to turn . I’ve had some fun, Ive built my own business up, ridden the roller coaster of the economy and the seasonal swing of the construction trade. Done the 7 day a week work week in hopes of getting ahead. Ahead of what ? A business seminar presentation 2 years ago had an earth shattering revelation for me. The speaker asked a simple question to which 70% of the room replied the same. ” Do you own your own business or does it own you ?” ” If you stepped away could it run itself and operate ?” In my particular instance it would not. I was tied to it . The next year I tried several things ,always with that seminar in the back of my head, to get my business to the point that it would operate on its own even if for just a week .But it just wasn’t gonna happen. Early to bed early to rise missing out on so much that was around me. Economy tanking more and more,stress so bad I got an ulcer at 32 and would wake every night about 230 am exhausted from dreaming about my workload and trying to keep my head above water financially. Frustration and resentment began to set in . I wasn’t me anymore. Everything and everybody angered me. My interactions were jaded . I always looked for the alterior motive to any interaction because for the most part people were looking to take advantage of me in some way . Thats not me and I didnt like who I had become in order to deal with the mounting everyday pressures. Add to the mix an adulterous ex-wife and I was on a bullet train to disaster. I band-aided the pressure with alcohol. Soaking my brain every night just turn it off. Dont get me wrong ,I wasn’t addicted , I really just wanted to sleep and in order to accomplish that drinks were in order. It also helped to be away from work a while with people who were in a good mood like me even if for only a short time . But like I said I knew it was band aid and couldn’t do it forever.
So rather out of the blue;more like semi blue; I said aloud ” to hell with this .its not worth it. I’m getting a boat and going sailing” . And in that instant I felt a little better. Any time at work when the heat was on , I would just start daydreaming about sailing away . The drinking stopped. I had found another way to shut down for a little while ,relax and press on. I used that method for a while till one day I figured why not actually do it. I could. There wasn’t anything holding me to the town I was in . Business was slow and was gonna get way slower. No family or kids .Just my dog and a girlfriend ,who in my complete amazement actually said I should do it. I don’t think she actually believed I was serious until 3 days after she said I should :and keep in mind this crazy idea was just said in passing to begin with; I was on my way to look at a boat. Then theres that whole leaving your comfort zone I spoke of earlier.Rational thought processes be damned I was going to start living. And if that meant crashing and burning then so be it but I was going to at least try. It was time to start being a little irrational. Start doing some stuff to look back on one day and not think “what if” but “remember the time”.
So this is my story . Up on the world wide web for you to come along and share with me. I’m not the most tech savvy there is but pictures say more then I probably ever could anyway. A couple months before my 34th birthday I decided to buy a boat and sail the carribbean . Some important facts to know that make it all the more interesting are I grew up landlocked. Never really liked the ocean or saltwater. Usually vomit when in any kind of rough water. I even get queezy on a cruise liner at dock.What was I thinking ? Never even been on a sailboat but its been done for hundreds of years I will figure it out. I’m good with my hands and can fix most things so it should be a breeze.Besides any day on the water is better then at work . So here we go, my journey in search of the ever elusive perfect Mai’Tai & Margarita