Pre-Departure Seatrial



The End of the Monsoon, it was like someone turned off the switch, no more of this just clear sky's and beautiful days with cool evenings,  mornings and warm afternoons


Finally Sailing Again


After getting the boat back in Navigation health and the end of the Monsoon in Florida we finally got the boat out in North 5-15 mph winds. It was time to turn everything on, get all the sail out and get the seatrial done to prepare for our departure from Tampa. This was the first North wind we had sailed in in Tampa Bay so we had a nice broad reach all the way to St. Pete




Motoring down the narrow channel just outside of our marina to find some room to get the sails out.


The purpose was of course make sure all systems are working and purring just right. One thing to make a note of are the variations between the ships compass, the Garmin Chartplotter Course over Ground (COG), and the Heading on the Autopilot. It is obvious from the pics below that the Autohelm may need to be re-calibrated but that is for another day. There are always differences between a GPS heading and a Magnetic heading. I did not bother getting a chart out during our trip today to compare since I was most interested in making sure everything was functioning properly. I took care of that drinking a beer in the cockpit when we got back.




Here you can see the Ships compass  reading 196 degrees




The Garmin is reading COG is reading 198 degrees




The autohelm heading is reading 185 degrees.

 Now that all the electronics checked out the Admiral took the helm so I could run down below and check the running gear. A inspection of the engine room, belts, any noises?, hoses and through hulls. then Inspect the shaft and shaft seal for any leaks, good none. That expensive PSS dripless shaft Seal is one of the best things we installed.





Oil Pressure and Temperature good




The neat thing about Florida is they have two VHF stations that you can call for radio checks without crowding Channel 16 the distress channel

 Once we got everything checked out we put all the sails out and made sure we remembered how to sail this boat. the winds allowed us to enjoy a nice broad reach to St. Pete and Tampa Bay. Of course I new the return trip may be different since the winds would be right on the nose and it could be a long trip back to Westshore. The best sailing is right out in front of St. Pete, the depths are much like Corpus Christi Bay just a lot more water to sail in . I knew better than to go to far South as our trip back may require more motor than sail.  Yep, I was right, We took a few very longs tacks heading back but it was obvious that if we wanted to get in before dark then we might as well put up the headstail and motor sail back with just the main.

This Pale Ale has become my favorite, It is a Tampa Beer and perfect after an afternoon on Tampa Bay

check it out, hope you can find some!

I keep a very detailed ships log of every trip, and every detail about this vessel. I find it is great to add a good beer when we are back in the slip and it is time to complete the days ship log.

Then after the ships log is done and the boat is resting comfortably back in her slip you can have a second one with the View.