Oct. 26, eight weeks on the sea.

"The boat is like a plow drawn by a winged bull"
Henry David Thoreau


Yesterday was the 8 week mark for my trip and i felt in a celebratory mood all day. The wind has been mostly light and against, so i was ready to take advantage of a forcast day of northeast winds 10 to 15 knots. The day before, those favorable winds did not materialize and i beat against a south wind all day trying to reach the Sebastian Inlet, the next place to leave the inland waterway. I was glad to wake at 5 am to a brisk west wind that came in overnight. The west wind swung to the north and then died, but reinvigorated in the afternoon out of the east about 10 knots.

I sailed through my first drawbridge in the dark at about 5:30 am. Then later, finally, after quite a few days trying, (especially on Mosquito Lagoon, which is a little bit of water spread over a very large area) i caught my second fish, a jack, which is very common, not so big, and though a great fighter and beautifull in it's own right, i kept it to eat for my aniversary dinner. As i was circling in behind a small island to anchor for the night, i saw teenagers in small fishing boat waving at me. Their engine wouldn't start. It was a big merc cruiser, big as a truck engine, and the starter, it seemed was dead. After the usual antics to try to get it started, it was dark, and something had to be done. With their not having Seatow (like AAA for the water), i offered to try to tow them to the boat ramp where their truck was parked.

Little putt putt, my trusty 6 hp evinrude was put to the test. Though it can barely move Shamballa along at five knots( with the bottom cleaned, which is an everyother day job now in this warm water) it pushed Shamballa and pulled the other boat at just under four knots for about two miles to where his uncle was flashing his headlights on the shore. They swung into the dock and i circled around and tied up as well. They were mightily relieved to be on shore, and the uncle had a six pack, so we had a little party there on the ramp and i recounted some of my sea stories till it was time for them to leave. I filleted my fish and sauted it in butter. It was quite delicious.

Lots of beautifull sea creatures. Manatees, large herbivorous mammals, galore. They swim around these bays and lagoons eating seagrass. To me they are peace in motion. Serene, non agressive, with no predators except the furious speed boats which frequently hit the poor creatures or cut them with their propellers. There are lots of Manatee zones where speed is restricted. It seems to me, that the wakes from these ever larger and more powerfull boats are continually churning up the inland waters and the shore and shallow water creatures are suffering.

Still learning about the sailing life and new discoveries and situations continue to present themselves. For instance, in all the books i read about sailing and sail theory, none of them mentioned a very simple fact. The sail is both pushed by the wind, and pulled by the venturi effect of the wind going around the outside of the sail. Simple enough, but the fact that is unstated, is that this push pull is transferred to the mast, and the forestay, and so if you can look at these forces, and then picture them attached to the mast, it is much easier to see how the boat is put in motion under different wind and sail conditions.

I'm close to Sebastion Inlet here in Barefoot Bay, where the kids last night told me i could dock and get some gas and groceries. As i was heading in to the pier, a fog blew in , my first such experince. It was a complete and utter white out. I had a fix on the pier, and decided to speed up to keep it in place in my mind as as i did so, i hit the sand bar that was across the bay. Striped down, pushed my self off and then circled around the island in the fog. As the fog lifted i motored in to the pier. I will be heading over there this noon, and then hanging out on the beach, waiting for the wind to swing around to a favorable direction. South and southeast winds forecast for the next three or four days.