CLOCKING UP SOME MILES. March 2016

Tourist boat at St Augustine

So several months have flown by and many miles have been flown. Taipan stayed on a mooring at the St Augustine City Marina for nearly 2 months while we returned to Australia for the best wedding. Sam Medcalf married Melita Murdock in Albany WA on the 31st of December and we had to  be there. This involved several flights, starting from Jacksonville Florida to Dallas, Sydney then Perth. If you have to fly long haul make sure you get the A380.  We arrived in Perth just before Xmas and spend a lovely day with friends before heading to Albany for Mums 88th Birthday.

Great memories Mum

Sadly Mum passed away just three days later. The formalities took some time so we stayed on awhile before departing again for USA.

Another long flight.

Back to Florida on 1st Feb and we commenced recommissioning Taipan. Always takes a few days. Then there is provisioning. Another few days, made easier by the St Augustine Cruisers Shuttle. Eventually we were ready to start south. And none too soon, as the morning temperatures were only just above freezing.

One of the many local shrimp boats.

Snatching what looked like a decent weather window we bolted. It was  a little light and we did lots of motoring but that's fine because the motor kept the boat warm as we don't have a heater aboard. We did purchase an Electric mattress warmer and took turns off watch to deFrost in the bed!

We entered at Lake Worth 200 odd miles and uneventful passage later with no fish. The anchorage at lake Worth was OK but there is nowhere to get ashore so we headed on south down the waterway. From Lake Worth to Fort Lauderdale all the bridges are Bascule bridges so we had no mast height issues. We hit something pretty hard in the channel just south of Atlantic Bve Delray on the east side of the waterway. Some local boys in a big motor boat managed to drag us off after a lot of effort. Thanks to team "Yes" No damage but it was a pretty hard something down there ...  about 7 feet.

One of the prettier Bascule Bridges.

Our arrival in Fort Lauderdale was in some very windy weather so we picked up a mooring off the Las Olas Bridge, belonging to the City Of Fort Lauderdale Las Olas Marina. At $40 per night we were not planning to stay long. Next morning a typhoon went through and sank 2 boats about a mile away. It was ferocious but only lasted about 15 minuits. We were glad to be on the mooring. The anchorages are scarce and getting scarcer if the local authority has its way.

 

Capitalism on steroids in Fort Lauderdale.

After 2 days we moved  just north of the bridge and anchored at the end of Valencia Avenue. We spent a great night with old friends and circumnavigators Jim and Barbara Wallace at their home at Deerfield Beach. They spotted us on the mooring as they were returning from a historic race to Cuba.  Ovi, another friend saw us as he was running one morning so we caught up with him. "Silver Fin", Carl and Kathleen who we haven't seen since Malaysia were passing through town on their return from touring south America on a motor bike so they also called by to catch up, Small world. I think the boating world revolves around Fort Lauderdale though. We hired a car for a day to get some parts and have a bit of a look around. Its all canals, huge homes and massive boats. just miles and miles of it!

Carl, Kris, David and Kathleen

Waiting for weather and fixing stuff is pretty much what we did in Fort Lauderdale. On Tuesday 23rd of Feb it looked like a suitable day to cross the Gulf Stream and head to the Bahamas . We left at 10pm in some reasonable breeze with a forecast which was predicted "good for very salty sailors." Well that is obviously not us. We clung on all night in some very stiff noserly wind with gusts to mid 30s. Taipan was happy but her owners were wishing for something a little more sedate. By dawn we were 20+ miles south of West End and 65 miles from Fort Lauderdale so instead of beating onward to the Berries we decided to turn north and take a break. 

 

Taipan in Fort Lauderdale

The wind was predicted to go southerly which was more favorable but that hadn't happened and we were over it! So 3 hours later we arrived in West End Old Bahama Bay Marina and tied up in our first marina since September 2015. Well deserved we thought even though it was US$70 per night!!.

During that passage we were delivered of our 6th grandchild. Jason and Fern announced the arrival of Louis Paul. The produce beautiful babies!

Blowing dogs off chains in West End. Bahamas.

West End had us trapped in an up wind pen until the wind moderated because we couldn't get out even if wed wanted to. Wind blew hard straight out of the north but it was a washing machine out there. By Friday there was some moderation so we managed to maneuver Taipan out into the wind and escape South. The 135nm run overnight and into Nassau mid afternoon, was pleasant with some motoring when the wind dropped out. A nice yellow fin tuna in the bag to complete the passage. 

After spending a night in Nassau we headed out the following morning for an 80nm run Black Point. Another night at anchor and a good sleep before the final 55nm leg to Georgetown. David redeemed himself by catching 2 nice Mahi Mahi and a Barred Mackrel. Several got away but we were more than happy to have some nice fresh fish again.

Georgetown Regatta was well underway when we arrived and the weather was just glorious. We are happy to just sit back and soak up the scenery, catch up with a few old friends and enjoy the warmth.  There will undoubtedly be some odd jobs as well.

Port of Nassau

THANKSGIVING AND GIVING THANKS IN ST AUGUSTINE. FLORIDA 4th December 2015

 

Jacksonville sundown at the City Dock

Not a lot of water has passed under Taipan's keel recently and none of it has been clean! We languished in Fernandina Beach and enjoyed catching up with friends, met new people and enjoyed the hospitality of the Fernandina  Beach Sailing Club AGM and dinner. We fixed a few things as usual and finally dragged ourselves down the ditch, a little further south. Jacksonville a whole 20 miles south and 20 miles west up the St Johns River and back to the Jacksonville Landing. The City provide a free central city dock where you can pick up water, wi-fi and just enjoy the bright lights. It can get noisy but it's a nice changeand offers good bike riding oportunities. There are now good bike paths which take you round the river to Riverside on the western shore. Publixs. AT&T, Starbucks a few food outlets and banks.  There is a bike shop nearby and a new waterfront walk on the eastern side of the river. On Saturdays the Art Market is held under the Fuller Warren bridge. To the East over the main Street Bridge there is an easy ride down to San Marco, some nice shops and a Starbucks! 
Cindy and Bob some old friends from the River City Brewing Company Marina took is to St Augustine to collect some parcels we had directed there and we had a couple of social evenings with them. 

 
 

Veterans Day arrived with plenty of fanfare and a huge parade of veterans, floats children and vehicles of all description. We watched it pass by for over 2 hours. It was still coming. Now we know why everyone bought chairs!

Jacksonville’s Arena Marina. We are the only boat. Its free.


Then it was time to move on again.
One of the oldest Streets in USA is in St Augustine.

Intra-coastal Waterway. Fernandina to Jacksonville we know, and have done several times now, but the next leg is a new one, and with 65 feet of air draft and 7'2" of water draft we were a little apprehensive as we set off from Jacksonville to St Augustine. However, apart from an occasional grounding due to lack of concentration, it was fairly uneventful. There was good tide range so we were able to sneak under all the bridges without incident! We did have a slight hic-up when we realized the main engine was not spewing out as much water as it should be so we rolled out the sail and David did a bit of trouble shooting. Fortunately it was a very cold day and the engine wasn't over heating at all so we were able to just quietly tonk along enjoying the bird life and scenery. Once at anchor just north of St Augustine, David changed out the impeller which had spat out a few rubber blades and was the reason for the inadequate cooling water flow. Next morning back in business and into St Augustine.

The oldest wooden school house in the USA,

There are two big mooring fields and a marina so finding an anchorage was tricky. The first night we sat on the bottom for a while on the west side of the river, not a big drama, but annoying. Next night we crossed to the east side of the river and anchored just north of the bridge. It was fine there although there is a good current up to 3 knots during springs, at some periods of the tide.
 
 
 Beautiful “fish scale” detail on one of the historic homes in St Augustine. Florida.

We heard about the St Augustine Cruisers Net (they also have a Facebook group, Facebook site) via Neil and Jeanette, some friends from Perth who we met in the Bahamas last year. They bought a boat here and are making their way back across the Pacific next year Thus we also learned there was to be a Thanksgiving cruisers pot luck. It was a huge event, with around 70 people off cruising boats attending. St Augustine is a gorgeous town but busy with tourists. 4 million per year ! Lots of tourists!? Lots to see.  Oldest town in USA. 1526 or near enough! The Spanish found it.

 

The Cruisers Thanksgiving Pot Luck was fantastic. Excellent traditional thanksgiving  fare and we met lots of people. We returned to Taipan after lunch with Neil and Jeanette from Echo Echo (Perth). After a cup of coffee, as they were about to leave, we noticed a boat dragging towards the low bridge which was very close to us. Neil and David in the two dinghies, rescued is as no one was on board. We tied it to Taipan. Had another drink... Or two.
We have been experimenting with making our own sparking Shiraz with the soda stream and it works great. They just bought a soda stream and so we had to have lots of samples!   Many more wines later and the owners came back... They gave us another bottle of red wine......so we drank that....Then another boat next to us dragged off so we rescued that. No one on board that one either. Tied it to Taipan. More wine! .......1.00am Neil and Jeanette finally left and the owners of boat tied to us were still partying elsewhere!  They got back about 2 am..... but we didn't wake up .....they were very sheepish in the morning and gave us another bottle of wine! Haven't drunk that , can't face wine today!!


View down to the deck from the mast head.

We caught the cruisers shuttle bus (see link to their web page for details Port of Call) one morning  and went driving all round town till about 2 pm. Got all the bits we needed and met lots more people. 

The weather has been a mixed bag. Windy ... Windy windy horrid out at sea so we decided to continue going south down "The ditch" a little further. We have been down the waterway from Fernandina beach to St Augustine and thought we could get to Canaveral.


 
The view from the mast head when I went up to check the instruments after the brush with Flagler Beach Bridge.

Our adventure was bought up short by the Flagler Beach bridge about 27 miles further south. We could not scrape under it with 64 feet on the board, we needed at least another inch to get the instruments under. Being neap tides now we can't get enough low tide to clear it even if we wait till dead low. Could have made it with springs last week. Darn. Turned round and wandered back to St Augustine. With a good track on the chart we were able to keep going well into the night. Had the whole waterway to ourselves after dark. Finally dropped anchor near Matamzas Inlet. Easy run the following day back to St Augustine. Now on a mooring waiting out another crappy forecast.

Well that's enough excitement for one post.

More Photos of St Augustine and Jacksonville 

 

CAPTAIN HOOK FAILS FISHING 101. 5th November 2015

Pushing on south lighthouses still dominate every headland. The original Cape Henry light house was the first Light house authorized by the US government. 1792. The lighthouse was damaged by Confederate forces during the American Civil War then repaired by Union forces in 1863, who depended on the light for navigation. In the 1870s, following a lightning strike that caused large cracks in the structure concerns about the condition and safety of the old Lighthouse at Cape Henry  led to the construction of a new, 350 feet tall, lighthouse in 1881.

Cape Henry at the Entrance to Chesapeak Bay. The old and the new.

Our arrival into Rudee Inlet anchorage was awaited with great anticipation. Not the least because the weather rounding the Cape Henry Lighthouse was crappy. Not dangerous but just unpleasant. 

Our friend Walter aka "Marnie" lives in Virginia Beach and had offered to come pick us up and go do some shopping or whatever. After brief introductions to Mason and Donna, Walters friends who live on the lake, and to whom we were grateful for the use of their dingy dock. Then it was straight to the nearest Bed Bath and Table for a Mattress Warmer.... in Aus its know as an Electric Blanket. With that firmly within my grasp we filled a gas bottle and went out for a great dinner. Next day we again visited with Donna and Mason and then Walter took us to his amazing house C1630! where we dined on duck, expertly cooked  by master chef Walter!. We caught up with Trish, Walters sister who we had met in the Bahamas last year.
More photos of the Chesapeake Bay area 

Buildings adjacent to the Cape Henry lighthouse

Tuesday was shaping up for a suitable departure weather wise for a rounding of Cape Hatteras so we said our farewells, pulled out our anchor without snagging Walters old mooring and motored out the inlet. 

C 1630

Moose.

After an uneventful 24 hours and a comfortable rounding of the Cape we were settling into our watches nicely until fate intervened to provide some excitement and a new cruising experience.

Well David was on watch and had a Rapala lure with two triple Gang hooks on it. He hooked a good size False Albacore ... Like a Bonito. Bloody awful eating... And was bemoaning all the effort involved to get it in. As he was lifting it up on the line, with the rod at the stern quarter, it suddenly got off and the lure flicked back and up, hitting David in the upper forehead. It went in a good way. About half an inch of the business end, including the barb, was well and truly engaged!

This isn't the original..... that's on the doctors wall!

Not much blood and not much pain, strangely. We were about 18 hours from Beaufort which is a detour of about 20nm from our course. Well he managed, with some assistance, to cut the barb off the rest of the gang leaving about 1/4 inch of the shank sticking out. Then he insisted that I put it back out backwards. Well I had some local anesthetic and a needle and syringe so I slid some down beside the hook. I don't know how much use it was but anyway ... Using all my strength... I don't know how he put up with it.... I tried to budge that hook to no avail. So then, multigrips firmly locked onto it, he tried! No! Couldn't budge it. Gave up. Took a couple of Panamax and a glass of red wine and went to bed! Couple of hours later it was a bit sore but we just motored on.... There was no wind.... Rounded Cape Lookout and headed into Beaufort NC the following morning. 

Luckily, when we came north a couple of months ago, we met Chris and Tippy Montleon in  Beaufort. They had directed us to their friends in Galesville, where we were so warmly welcomed. Well they were very happy to see us again, and ran down to take us to a clinic. The surgery wanted all sorts of personal details on pages of forms, then kept us waiting 2 hours only to tell David that they couldn't do it and that he should go to Hospital emergency.

Well... Chris phoned one of his old fishing mates and found the contact, nearby, of a doctor who has had lots of fish hook experience. He has a board on his surgery wall of hooks in all sizes and shapes that he has removed from various parts of past patients.

Tippy insisted I come to a girls lunch which she was expected at, while Chris took David off to the new doctor. An hour or so later and a lot more forms, it was out. He used another big needle which he slid down the shank and positioned over the barb, and then he withdrew it the way it went in. Clever. No stitches but a couple of closure tapes. Like stitches. He was surprised it was looking so go after 24 hours and a dirty rusty fishy hook in there. Asked what it had on it. David didn't know but I had used the trusty Butisin Pictrate again! Anyway he gave him some antibiotics and a tetanus shot and off the boys went to lunch so apart from kissing $300 goodbye there really wasn't much damage. Lucky it wasn't an eye!!

Moral of the story.....gaff the bloody fish before you try to lift it out of the water.!!!

I didn't mention that Beaufort North Carolina is a really big fishing destination. That weekend, for 3 days they hosted the final of some huge fishing competition. People who had qualified come from all over the world to charter great big game boats and compete. As we were entering Beaufort about 100 boats were heading out to catch that elusive Big One! I wonder if the Doctor got any more trophies for his Surgery wall!

Well the best bit was that Tippy and I had a great lunch and the girls were all good fun and interested in out travels. Another amazing coincidence.... Donna, one of tippy friends, runs a B&B in Beaufort and she said one of her regular clients and now a very good friend, comes from Perth and stays with them regularly. It turns out it was Chris Norman and his wife Bev, who we know from Perth. We had Taipan in a dock at the fishing boat harbor while their flash new catamaran Duplicity, was in the Fremantle Yacht club across the road. But anyway was so weird knowing yet another West Ozzie. We took Chris n Tippy to dinner at a nice little seafood place. Not expensive but very nice. With a few extra groceries we picked up along the way, we were back aboard  by 9.30. Very successful day all round really.

Friday, we had a good weather forecast light and motoring ...supposed to be.....but it became rougher and more uncomfortable as wind built... But warmer, thank goodness. We went straight through to Fernandina Beach arriving on Sunday.

We had a lot of dolphin around the boat for several hours off Frying Pan Shoals north of Beaufort, and although the half moonlight was not quite enough light, with the phosphorescence and the sound of their splashing and breathing it was pure magic. Lots of dolphins joined us again as we left Beaufort and in crystal clear blue water I spent some time on the bow photographing them. Impossible to get their out of water acrobatics though. They stayed with us for about 200 miles. Disappearing only for about ten min at a time then back spinning and jumping all round. They left when the wind dropped and we slowed down around Brunswick GA.

Altogether we were pleased to be back in northern Florida where we are once again warm.

Fernandina Halloween.

BALTIMORE IN THE BAY. 18th September 2015

Approaching the mighty Chesapeake Bay Bridge.

A gorgeous day was forecast so we decided to go take a look at Baltimore. Departed Galesville around 10.30am and motored out into a flat windless glassy bay. Lots of other vessels of every shape and size were out doing the same, cris-crossing each others wakes on business of their own. Our business was a mere 26nm run north up the Bay. Once again under the mighty Chesapeake Bay Bridge with clearance of 183 feet so we didn't expect to hit it. 

Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse

There are several interesting light houses enroute and we detoured to get pictures. The first was Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse was built in 1871. Widely recognised by locals, it is the only screw-pile lighthouse still on its original site. The building is a 1½ story hexagonal wooden cottage, equipped with a foghorn as well as the light.

Sandy Point Shoal Lighthouse

Next there is Sandy Point Shoal Light, a brick three story lighthouse on a caisson foundation that was erected in 1883.
Its a brick, three story lighthouse on a caisson foundation,  erected in 1883.   The whole gamut of light sources has been run, from oil wicks to incandescent oil vapor (1913) to electricity (1929). The present light is powered by a pair of solar panels attached to the roof on the south side. After automation in 1963, it was vandalized and the original lens was destroyed, apparently smashed with a baseball bat. What a terrible shame.! In 2006 it was sold at auction. Nice isolated little nook if you like a remote getaway!
 

Baltimore Harbour Lighthouse

The Baltimore Harbour Lighthouse was Commissioned in 1908. Like an iceberg, there is much more to this lighthouse than what appears on the surface. Its sunk deep into the Chesapeake muddy bottom to prevent ice in winter dislodging it! The three story octagonal brick cottage is constructed on a one hundred and three foot tall concrete and stone filled cast-iron caisson. The main deck of the cottage is sitting room, storage area and galley. The second deck is keepers quarters in two bedrooms. The third deck is one large open space, known as the watch-room. The watch-room provides a 360 degree view. On the the 3rd story sits the lantern room. Connecting these levels is a spiral staircase that leads from the lantern room to the cellar floor, ten feet into the caisson. 

7 Foot Knoll lighthouse has been replaced by a tall tower 

The 7 Foot Knoll Light has been replaced with a tower and now stands in Fells Point Historic District.

After taking in the light house sights along the way we continued to motor into Baltimore City Center where, in the inner harbor we juggled in tight confines with 3 yachts already at anchor, to nestle into a tight spot. The guide says there's room for 1 boat but 4 is possible at a pinch. 
The harbor has quite a lot of tourist traffic so anchoring is only permitted in a very small corner. Somewhat miss-led by the placement of some buoys which appeared to limit the anchorage to a narrow strip between the paddle boats and the line off the docks we discovered from the Water Police several days later that the buoys were placed by the paddle boat operator as a disincentive to yachts from anchoring into the small cove. So we all picked up our anchors and moved further into the area.
 

Anchorage is inside the blue line.

Our foray ashore on Saturday found us in the National Aquarium right on the waterfront beside the anchorage. It is hard to miss. There are several impressive modern structures clustered around the old docks and linked by overhead walkways. The Aquarium exceeded expectations. All the glass aquariums were clean and the displays were excellent. Good information and not too much of it!  There is an exceptionally good reproduction of a Northern Australian canyon in a very large glass terrarium. Birds crocodiles and snakes included. It just felt like the Kimberly in there.

 

Northern Territory in Baltimore.

Fells Point Historic District and Federal Hill, overlooking the inner harbour were all easy walking destinations so we strolled and nibbled and photographed.

Anchored next to the Aquarium and the old Chesapeake Ship Lighthouse.

Fells Point was a center for a "Nest of Pirates", ship owners, who, provided with a Letter of Marque, (a government license,) were permitted to harass and capture vessels of the British Fleet. The plunder was divided between owners of the vessel, crew and the Government. This was in effect a private navy and was very lucrative for the ship owners who had to outfit and arm their own vessels and for the Government.

 We ended up spending 4 days in Baltimore before heading south to Galesville.

Fells Point

For more pictures from around Baltimore go to CHESAPEAKE BAY

CHESAPEAKE BAY September 8th 2015

On the weekend our some of our American family visited. Fun night at anchor and a good sail up to the Bay Bridge and back. Great company good food and pleasant weather.

Light house at Thomas Point Shoal

PLAYING IN THE INLAND 1st September

Some lovely old architecture around New Bern and Oriental.

It's been 5 days since we splashed in the Core Creek at Bock Marine and its official! The knock is gone! Whew! How many times have we tried to find that noise. After a night on the dock and  a test run of the shaft we were confident we had nailed it so we sneaked under the Core Creek bridge a low tide we pushed north into the Pimlico Sound and the Neuse River. 

 

One of the many Shrimp boats operating on this coast

This is part of the Intra-coastal waterway. It's a feature of the U.S. Which never ceases to amaze me. This waterway, much of which is man made and maintained by dredging, runs from Delaware to South Florida along the coast but there are also inland waterways which enable boats to traverse the country from the Great Lakes to Florida and then north from New Orleans to The Great Lakes. This is called the Great Loop. 
 

One of the many Bears in New Bern. Town emblem.

We are slightly challenged in the waterway by the height of our mast. The fixed bridges are 65 feet. Our mast is officially 65 feet but we are a little precious about the stuff on top of it... Lights and instruments etc so rather than challenge the bridges we go at low tide and only under bridges which do have tide. Some areas, such as further up the Pimlico Sound and Dismal Swamp, don't have any tide so we are not game to give those bridges a shot.

There are beautiful anchorages everywhere.

That's why, tonight we are motoring in flat calm water, with our new quiet shaft, up the coast . We rounded Hatteras at midnight tonight and we are headed to Chesapeake Bay, home of the cities of Annapolis and Baltimore. Just round the corner from Washington DC.

The blue dot is Galesville

There are allegedly over 11,000 miles of contiguous coastline in the Chesapeake, including rivers and marshes. But there must be at least 4000nm which we can get close to. No wonder many yachties from this area never leave.... although the snow gets deep and the yachts ice up in their pens if left in the water. Many yachts are pulled out and winterized on the hard. Those who leave make the great migration south with the geese towards the end of October. The waterway is stem to stern with boats of every shape and size. The larger ones head to sea. Many go to Bermuda then turn south towards the Western Caribbean or Bahamas. The run south down the coast is against the current and can apparently be a bit of a slog.... we will see!

Galesville anchorage.

For now we are happy at anchor fixing things... usual stuff. Water-maker Inverter  Radar... so on and so on ... its a boat. not major stuff. Just maintenance type stuff.

Some boats dont get used as much as they should

Apparently the Ospreys were becoming so rare it became illegal to remove an osprey nest from your property once it has been established, until the young are hatched and have left the nest. This means you have to be very vigilant and remove the early attempts by these birds to establish residence. The owners of this boat were obviously outfoxed by the ospreys! 

 Its a very lovely relaxing anchorage surrounded by very pretty waterfront homes with the odd white swan casually swimming by. The locals are friendly and there are at least 2 good restaurants a short dingy ride away.

More Photos from the Beaufort new Bern and Oriental visit.

ON THE HARD AT BOCK MARINE. BEAUFORT NORTH CAROLINA. 25th August 2015

Why, you may well ask, are we out of the water again. Taipan is wondering if shes a sail boat or a rock. Well we sailed north from Fernandina with the expectation that a niggling knock we have lived with somewhere in the stern tube had been fixed. (You cant know this for sure till you are back in the water.) 

Ever since we have owned Taipan she's had a knock in the stern tube or somewhere which we have never managed to locate. It became somewhat worse after we put in a new shaft in South Africa, which instead of being 38mm went to 40mm. Long story but basically a lack of available shaft material there and we were already well down the path.

It was certainly a lot less aggravating after modification in Fernandina and we  could do 2000 RPM comfortably but above that it would start knocking again. We had resolved that one way or another we are going to fix this once and for all. Its annoying! All the alignment has been adjusted and is perfect.

Well we decided to haul out at Bock Marine. They have very good expertise here having been in the industry over 30 years. They once built steel boats here. Their price is very competitive, which becomes pretty important when you keep hauling out!! The are also the only marina we've ever been to which has a complimentary car for the use of patrons. Its available for 2 hrs at at time and you just replace fuel used. (Not quite true... there was one in north Queensland years ago.)

So out we came out.....and out came the shaft..... again and this time a good look up the stern tube with a torch revealed a 5mm collar in the bronze casting which was apparently there for the old packing gland system. I don't believe Taipan ever had a packing gland but it was a standard stern tube casting. Expert opinion was sought and it was decided it should be removed to allow more clearance. So armed with the trusty Milwaukee 18v drill and a hole saw of the correct size on an extension......An hour later it was out. We can see where the tube has been rubbed by the shaft in the removed ring of bronze. so now there is a full 5mm clearance around the shaft. Fingers crossed!

Offending bronze casting.

Now just fit a new cutlass bearing to be sure to be sure.... old one seems fine but......

Then we splash again and try it out!

ARRIVED BACK IN FERNANDINA. TIGER POINT MARINA 19th July 2015

Recovering from jet lag! Mum on the mend again.

Have been frantically getting ready to haul out.

Tuesday 28th July. hauled and washed... let the fun begin

Well the haul-out took a week and we had a reasonably leisurely time of it considering we did anti-foul and modifications to the stern tube flange. The heat was manageable because we jagged some decent weather over the weekend for below waterline work. The hull was pretty clean and a quick wet and dry saw it fit to paint. I put a bit of red lippy.... boot stripe for the yachties..... on the waterline. looks pretty.

All pretty in Red lippy.

Taipan was re-launched on the 4th of August and on the 5th at 3am we departed Fernandina for Savannah. Spent the night and the following day at Daufuskie Island Savannah before weather moderated in the late afternoon and we headed out towards Hatteras. It was a struggle!. The wind and current fought us the whole way and we finally gave up on Monday morning and headed into Beaufort, North Carolina. We were going to miss a suitable weather window for the notorious cape by 6 hours. We followed the radar images of the forecast storm the following day and were relieved we stopped. Followed Chris Parker's advice! Well done team! It would have been very unpleasant off Virginia Beach and in the entrance to Chesapeake had we continued.

Next we had to find a spot to leave Taipan and drive to Alexandria in Virgina to meet my brother and Jo before they headed back to Australia after touring the east coast in our trusty Cadillac. We put Taipan on a dock at Bock Marine and drove to Alexandria on Tuesday. We stayed with darling cousin Judith and husband Bob, for 4 nights full of fine food and family frivolity. More trips into Washington and a couple more of the Smithsonian Museums ticked off. We had fabulous weather and a great time. 

Return to Taipan on Sunday was arduous, with the terrible traffic it added 4 hours to the trip. Uuugh!. 

More pictures of Jacksonville and Fernandina