2011 Coastal Run to Florida

[hanleyclifford]

Almost There

Launch is set for Fri or Sat Aug 5/6 depending on boatyard traffic. Bottom all painted and ready. Loading PFDs etc hoping not to forget anything. Art J and Dave E stopped by last night and went on my mooring for the night. Got my first inside look at a Tartan 34C and spent several hours talking A4. Art has a great boat and a smooth running A4.

[chiron]

I'm wishing you all the good luck I can. I love seeing a sister ship still running and looking good!

[ArtJ]

Launch is set for Fri or Sat Aug 5/6 depending on boatyard traffic. Bottom all painted and ready. Loading PFDs etc hoping not to forget anything. Art J and Dave E stopped by last night and went on my mooring for the night. Got my first inside look at a Tartan 34C and spent several hours talking A4. Art has a great boat and a smooth running A4.

Hanley

Thanks for the hospitality and the use of your Mooring. Enjoyed thoroughly
the visit to your home and boarding your Herreshoff for a bottle of Heinikin's
. Left Edgartown at 8 am fought the current through Wood's Hole. IT was
viscious! We were running 6.3 knots plus some help from sails and almost
didn't make the final couple hundred feet. Naturally a couple of big
commerical boats blasted their horns!. Headed down Buzzards bay for
a stop over in Onset till 7 pm when the current changes ( one fight a day
enough). off Cleveland Ledge the engine started to labor and heat (ohoh)
checked plugs by removing wires, all ok. Then considered the prop
as we had just gone through a large patch off eel grass. Considered
anchoring inside wings neck and diving under. Tried one last thing-
while sailing at 5 knots, put engine in reverse and ran it up for a few seconds.
The engine came alive. Put back in forward and everything returned to nornal
Previously tried this reverse trick up in Maine, but it didn't work with the
floating berries up there. However, it did work this time .

Things come in 3's so I am told. Our third " thrill" was a boarding by
the coast guard in hog island channel ( the seawalled approach to
Cape Cod Canal} Not the best place , but they were training about
a dozen people and we were the "traiining". They boarded, were courteous,
thoroughly checked everything , then pronounced the boat to be
okay and left. We then anchored in Onset and waited for the current
to turn at 7 pm. We were concerned about advertised Northeast
winds and thunderstorms after midnight and the next day. So we
decided to bite the bullet and overnight back to Boston, about 57 NM
from Onset. The wind was non existent and we motored at 6 knots
arriving in boston at 4am. Slept a few hours, packed up stuff,
and left for home.

Thanks again for the hospitality and friendship
Art

PS I think Dave E is interested in doing part of your voyage to Florida
his only concern is where to put his 6 foot 5 240 lb body for a nap.

[hanleyclifford]

The Big Day

Just waiting for the man with the trailer. Had a scary moment this morning after running the engine on the hard for the last time - forgot to mark the coupler halves and had to rotate and check to find the right position. Lesson: don't forget to mark the couplers after alignment. (duh)

[hanleyclifford]

Forgot to post the last shots in the barn.

[Marian Claire]

HC: She looks great. Do you have an ETD for heading south? Will you do a blog, thread here, E-Mail, SPOT to keep folks informed? Dan S/V Marian Claire

[hanleyclifford]

Finally Got Wet!

Launched Fri 5 Aug and got the stick up just at nightfall. Today ran outside the harbor and A4 is healthy. The Dave Neptune prop will take some getting used to because I have never reached 2500 rpms at cruising speed until now. I was especially impressed by how smooth it is even though a two blader - runs very true. Plenty of "dig" too for running against current and wind. Look out Georgia currents; here I come!

[ILikeRust]

Love that sheer line.

[chiron]

Back home in the water. She is looking superb and running like a champ. Good job and congratulations. If boats could smile I know yours is. Having the same boat I assure you it is the most beautiful one around.

[hanleyclifford]

HC: She looks great. Do you have an ETD for heading south? Will you do a blog, thread here, E-Mail, SPOT to keep folks informed? Dan S/V Marian Claire

Dan - I really want to keep in touch with the forum but not sure how to do it. I live on the hook most of the time. I have heard that a cell phone can be used to make an internet connection but I need to get some advice about this. My daughter said she can give me an old lap top with Vista software. One way or the other I'll figure out a way to do this. I have a little time to work on this since departure is planned in October. Hanley

[Marian Claire]

HC. Will be happy to share what I know about the systems I have used. Cell phone, laptop, laptop with data card, net-book with internal network thru my cell provider and the SPOT. Each has its limitations. Dan S/V Marian Claire

[jpian0923]

How about old school?..."message in a bottle."

I assume you'll have plenty of empty bottles after a while?

[Mo]

Hanley,

Last year when I was working in the Arctic some of the guys had "air cards". They were the best and those that had them were always in touch. I have a Blackberry and it did OK but I was wishing I had an air card at that time.

Around home here my blackberry works well but again, I haven't used it much. I take my computer and blackberry as they are plug and play. You can get some really good packages and mine is with Bell. They have towers everywhere and I am rarely out of a service area. Here in the big C (Canada) there are allot of service carriers but the service areas can be sparse and it's just as well to have nothing if it doesn't have service.

I'd look into the "Air Card"...because they go to satellite and can work from anywhere. In a few years the whole system will work like that...me thinks.

[jhwelch]

I use http://www.virginmobileusa.com/mobile-broadband/ when I am in transit. This service is month by month, so when you are done with your travels you let your month expire and only reactive the service when you need it in the future (so you are not stuck paying for months when you don't need it).

-Jonathan

[Gordo]

I use http://www.virginmobileusa.com/mobile-broadband/ when I am in transit. This service is month by month, so when you are done with your travels you let your month expire and only reactive the service when you need it in the future (so you are not stuck paying for months when you don't need it).

-Jonathan

This was going to be my advice as well. During our anual Texas 200 trip the leader uses that in sone VERY remote areas of the Texas coast with far better results than any of our cell phones. His is a "Mobile hot spot", which means it connects to the cell tower and then he connects to it via WiFi. The advantage here is he can run that device up his mast in a watertight box and increase his effective range. Pretty cool.