Monday, October 18, 2010

Waltzing Matilda Makes Key West

October 17, 2010

Nathan pulled into the harbor at Key West this afternoon, although he landed nearby Felmming Key, the next inhabited key to the east. I think the $80 per month landing fee at Key West discouraged him (“I’ve heard they nickel-and-dime you down here,” he said).
Tonight he told of sailing to the Keys from Marco Island, Florida, where he spent several nights waiting out the weather. Friday night he went to a thrift store next to a classy Italian restaurant. Looking at the menu posted outside the restaurant he saw that no dish on the menu was listed at less than $50. He was behind the thrift store to do some dumpster diving when the Italian restaurant closed and someone threw away the items from the make table. Nathan went over and had “gourmet cheese, chicken noodles and bread, all hot, just out of the kitchen. Considering their prices I probably had a $200 meal.”
Saturday he motored out of Marcos into the Gulf of Mexico. He hoisted sail, but there was no wind to speak of – it took him ten hours to go just 7 miles (“Really, really annoying”). Wind picked up at sunset and “I did not go to sleep. I’ve been to college – I’ve pulled all nighters – so I sailed all night long. I made 68 miles in ten hours of darkness.”
His overnight sailing was amazing, he said. “The water is crystal clear and loaded with phosphorus. After the moon sets at 3 a.m. it’s completely dark. My pupils are probably huge – I can see everything. In fact, when the moon was up I didn’t look at it so that could keep my night vision. Between 3 a.m and 6 a.m. I see thirty-two shooting stars. I’m now far enough south that I am hitting tropical waters. The color is amazing. There are 3- to 5-foot waves, the sea is glowing green, the sky is glowing blue.
In the distance, he could see light. He thinks they were the lights of Miami, which, depending on where he was between Marcos Island and Key West, were 80 to perhaps 100 miles away.
“I navigated all night by the north star. I went below to make a sandwich and when I came back up I noticed there was something wrong with the north star. It didn’t appear to be quite right. I’m looking at it, trying to figure out what’s wrong. Then he turned on his landing lights!”
Wrong north star!
“Sunrise,” Nathan said, “Was amazing. There was a flame-shaped – not grey, not blue, not green – flame-shaped discoloration of the sky. I had been awake long enough to where everything was surreal. I’m in 65 feet of water with no land in sight and there is an aqua-marine blue sea.”
Coming into Key West harbor the wind was good. “I came through the channel so fast even though I had the current against me, the wind was so strong I dipped my head sail in the water. I was making 6 and ½ knots, which is as fast as my boat will go.”
Arriving in the Keys, Nathan docked next to the boat of a friend of some friends (Rick and Cathy Morrell – there’s a post about them on Nathan’s March 7 blog).
In sight are two docked cruise ships: a 300-foot Disney ship and a 400-foot Carnival ship.
Calling it a day, Nathan said “I’m going to sleep in and work on the boat tomorrow.” Having pulled an all nighter and having a grand sailing trip “I’m trying to wind down.”
--Posted by Official Correspondent Dad Landry

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Waltzing Matilda Gets Bugged

October 15, 2010

Nathan suffered an interruption on his trip toward Key West, Florida. His boat was invaded by tiny no-see-um flies (also “midgies,” “sand flies,” “punkies,” or, if you must, ceratopogonidae [Thanks, Wikipedia!]). Although he put screens up to ward off the pests, they are small enough to pass through the screen. “They drove me nuts. I could not sleep,” he said. Finally, to get relief, he sailed into Marco Island, Florida, a place he describes as very affluent. “I’m in Factory Bay, but I don’t see any factories. It should be called ‘Condo Bay.’ Lots of mansions and marinas.” Not willing to pay high rates for a marina, Nathan docked the dinghy under a bridge (“It’s public right-of-way”) and went ashore.
Again he’s holed up due to weather: the last vestiges of Hurricane Paula mixed with a front moving through have resulted in small craft warnings and 7-foot seas. If he was sailing, he would have a strong wind from the stern, which makes for difficult sailing, “After six hours of it I’m worn out.”
“I know my boat, I know my capabilities, and I know what’s safe and I’m not going.” He hopes to cast off for Key West, about 75 miles away, on Sunday.
Meanwhile, in the course of an hour long conversation tonight, Nathan regaled us with stories:
--Western Florida, he says, has a lot of transplanted Louisianans. When he approaches people about working on their boat, he uses a Louisiana accent. (He reeled out a sentence in pure Cajun to demonstrate). Having a typical Cajun name like Landry doesn’t hurt, either.
--On repairing boats: “One guy wanted me to work on his boat – the starter on his generator wouldn’t work. ‘How much you charge by the hour?’ the guy asked me. I told him I charged by the job, not by the hour. The guy looked at me kind of funny then told me to go ahead and look at his generator. ‘I’ll need your help,’ I told him ‘Got to have somebody press the starter button.’ Then I climbed down in the hold, wiggled the starter solenoid, sprayed some W-D 40 on it, and told him to hit the starter. ‘Vrroom,’ the generator immediately came to life. I popped my head up out of the hold and said: ‘That’s why I don’t charge by the hour!.’”
--Nathan has developed an automatic pilot for Waltzing Matilda. He’s got a line attached to one of his sails that he strung in various ways until it eventually makes its way to the tiller that controls the rudder. When the wind moves the sail, it moves the tiller in the appropriate direction, pulling against a bungie cord. When the wind dies down, the bungie cord compensates by pulling the tiller the opposite way, adjusting the direction of the boat.
--He wants us to get him a good, well-made Arkansas flag. I forget how many Arkansas flags he said he’s worn out on this trip. One of the flags he signed and gave to somebody. Recently he told us about a Coast Guard boat that came by. The crew looked at him with stony faces until one of them, apparently an Arkie, saw the Arkansas flag and got excited, he calls to a fellow sailor, "Look, that boat's from and Arkansas!", the other sailor replied, "I know, I can read, I'm not from Arkansas.

--Posted by Correspondent Dad Landry

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Waltzing Matilda Hides Out from Storm

October 13, 2010

Nathan spent the last several months in port, waiting out a hurricane season that produced nothing.
Last week he went back to sea. And now there’s a hurricane.
Or not.
Hurricane Paula grazed Mexico, coming within 60 miles of it and at this writing threatens western Cuba. However, by the time Paula reaches land it is expected to be downgraded, perhaps to a tropical storm or Category 1 hurricane.
But Nathan is taking no chances. He’s heading for Rookery Channel between Naples and Marco, Florida, where he plans to hole up in the mangrove trees “until Friday or until I’m comfortable with the weather.”
Nathan believes in being cautious, which is a far cry from his motorcycling days years ago when it seemed that every week he had a story for me about avoiding a close call on the bike. Eventually “I lost my nerve with the motorcycle,” he said. “And I’m a cautious sailor.” Good. I was glad to see the motorcycle days come to an end. And today I quoted for him an altered version of the old saying about airplane pilots: “There are old sailors and there are bold sailors, but there are no old, bold sailors.” “That’s right,” he replied.
Nathan did face some stormy weather last night. There was no wind to speak of, and he was just drifting on a glasslike sea. Suddenly, within ten minutes, the wind came up and he found himself in 4-foot waves. But it apparently was uneventful as he had no further comments on anything other than the sudden change in the weather.
Visiting Naples, Florida, he met some people in a trawler that is named the same as his boat, Waltzing Matilda. The man was a Key West local who told Nathan about hiding places from hurricanes. Also, Nathan got from the man some contacts which may provide him work in Key West, where he’s thinking of spending the winter.
For now, Nathan is heading for his Rookery Channel hurricane hideout and says he may be out of cell phone contact for awhile.

Monday, October 11, 2010

“Dum DUM Dum DUM” -- Waltzing Matilda Hears Theme from “Jaws.”

October 10, 2010

Nathan called today, his birthday (and the day before my birthday – he was my birthday present 35 years ago). He’s enjoyed the last few days at Cayo Costa State Park near Fort Meyers, Florida. He’s glad to essentially be underway again, says he has more to talk about. Indeed. Some of is it funny. Some of it is ominous.

"I had an interesting event happen and got a little money in my pocket from it," Nathan said. "I was a little bit concerned about getting all the way down to Key West and being flat broke.”

While camped on the island containing Cayo Costa State Park, Nathan met four middle aged people who were excited about journeying on the water. They were in a 14-foot boat similar to the “johnboats” used in Ozarks fishing float trips. The boat had two gasoline motors: a couple of ancient Johnsons from the ‘60s: one 40 horsepower, the other 5 horsepower. Eventually, after having a good time camping on the island, the people (two couples, I think) shoved off. The johnboat, or whatever it was, was overloaded: with the people, their sleeping bags, their coolers. “They decided not to bring an air conditioner or a microwave, but that was about it,” Nathan said. Nathan, too, went sailing. “About 100 yards out, their engines quit. That’s why I hate gasoline engines. A million things can go wrong and it never runs right (Waltzing Matilda has a small diesel).” At this time Nathan was cruising at about 3 knots and he spotted the johnboat dead in the water, with the people waving at him. “Need a tow?” Nathan asked them. “Oh, do we need a tow!” was the reply: in their overloaded boat with dead engines they only had one paddle among them and they were 8 miles from where they had first launched.

So Nathan begins to tow them and there is a problem: he can’t find the channel markers. He has no idea where he is going (with them in tow). The water gets shallow: the depth gauge reads 2 and ½ feet, which is not possible because Waltzing Matilda draws 3 feet; then Nathan realizes that the sea grass is high and the depth gauge is reading the sea grass.

It’s a Sunday and a lot of boats are out and about and they are causing large wakes behind them. As a result, the heavy-laden johnboat starts taking water, so they have to start bailing. As the sorry parade moves along, Nathan hears a splash. He looks back to find that one of the men who had been sitting on the bow of the johnboat with his legs dangling over the side had fallen overboard. Nathan immediately stops as he sees one hand coming up from the water, hanging on to the boat. Then two hands grab the boat and Nathan determines that the man has the towline tangled around his leg. Nathan throws him a flotation device. The man moves himself to the side of the johnboat and tries to pull himself aboard. The overloaded johnboat now has an extra 200 pounds pulling down on one side, so it starts to roll over. The man then goes to the stern of the boat and pulling himself up, pulls the gunwale of the johnboat to within 2 inches of the water. Then a fast boat goes buy, 15 feet away, pushing up a big wake. “This is about to get bad,” Nathan thinks. But the man made it aboard with no more problems and they resumed the tow to the marina, with the man now wisely wearing a life jacket.

Upon reaching shore, the people thanked Nathan by giving him a much needed $70.

Also, Nathan said that while at the state park he had taken his kayak to a lagoon in the middle of the island. The water was about 4 feet deep and fairly clear. As he moved toward deeper water, he saw fish thrashing at the surface. Then he saw a large white dorsal fin. “This is a shark,” he thought to himself.” “This is a big shark. This is a big white shark. This is a Great White Shark. By now I’m hearing dum DUM dum DUM dum DUM music from 'Jaws.' This shark was as big as a dolphin. It was as big as my kayak. It cruises under my kayak. By now, I’ve got the heebie jeebies. He comes and he bumps my kayak. In the past I swam with sharks – little ones, 1 and 2 footers. But this one was 9 foot.” Apparently the shark had little more interest in Nathan’s kayak. Maybe it had its fill of the mullets on which it had been feeding. That’s good. Somehow, “dum DUM dum DUM dum DUM” doesn’t seem to be the tune one would want in one’s head while sailing in a small kayak.

Meanwhile, it’s a new day tomorrow. “I’m going to run hard the next couple of days to get on down to Key West,” he told me. “I can see the lights of Fort Meyers. I’m going to stop there tomorrow and resupply and refuel. Fort Meyers and a little place called Marco are the only towns between here and Key West. I’m going to be sailing through 100 miles with absolutely nothing (onshore).

--Posted by Official Correspondent Dad Landry

Friday, October 8, 2010

Waltzing Matilda Back at Sea

October 8, 2010
After months in the Tampa Bay area to wait out the hurricane season, Waltzing Matilda is back at sea, working her way toward Key West. Nathan called today to say he is at beautiful Cayo Costa State Park on an island near Fort Meyers, Florida. Yesterday, while coming into the area where the park is, he had a bit of an adventure. He was racing against sunset and had to choose between going through a channel or through a more direct route through the ocean breakers. He chose the breakers. Waltzing Matilda has a 3-foot draft, and the water was 4 feet deep, so he could make it. Initially, seas were only 1 foot, but as he neared shore, the waves grew to 6 feet. Cruising along at 6 knots, Waltzing Matilda was towing its kayak when the kayak flipped over, filled with water, and slowed Waltzing Matilda to 3 knots. Dragging the kayak, waves began breaking over Waltzing Matilda’s stern, and Nathan began to get wet. He tried to flip the kayak upright, but since it probably weighed 500 pounds full of water, he was not successful. Nathan has cable strung around Waltzing Matilda to act as a lifeline for him to hang onto and the kayak’s line snagged one of the lifelines and broke it. Nathan swung Waltzing Matilda 180 degrees around to face into the wind and stop. Now the waves were 10 feet and Mattie the Dog began to get scared. While stopped, Nathan managed to flip the kayak upright but attempting to bail the water out of it was out of the question. He turned back toward shore, hoping to tow the kayak, now upright but half submerged. Progressing at 2.5 knots, with the wind and waves behind him, he had problems with stern waves and with the kayak banging and snagging. Nathan had to make a choice: lose the kayak or lose Waltzing Matilda and himself. Easy decision to make, but he didn’t have to act on it as the kayak’s rope broke and the half-sunk kayak moved away on its own. Nathan made three passes by the kayak trying to recover it, Realizing it was too full of water to handle and that the sun was getting ready to set, he abandoned the kayak and proceeded to shore. Arriving in calm waters he called the Coast Guard to tell them that he was okay and that there was no alarm if a partially sunken kayak showed up. The next day he told a state park ranger of his lost kayak. Ten minutes later, another ranger showed up and said someone had reported a lost kayak. The kayak had washed ashore just a bit more than a half mile where Nathan had landed. He recovered it, but took 45 minutes cleaning an “unbelievable” amount of sand out of it.
He’s enjoying the state park he is at and indicated he will be taking his time getting to Key West in order to enjoy things he encounters along the way.

--Posted by Official Correspondent Dad Landry