Waltzing Matilda don't do fast

I recently had a crew on-board Waltzing Matilda, a crew that could actually assist with deck duties instead of just laying around and pooping on the bow, this crew didn't poop on the bow and were much better conversion. A lady and two girls from Arkansas came to the keys for 18 days, we spent the first week and a half playing around at Casa Valenecia in Islamorada. We went snorkeling out on the Atlantic side, played with a friendly manatee that swam up the canal and spent make hours lounging in the air conditioning. Capt. Steve took us all out on his fast boat and made sure that we had a good time, he really enjoyed himself spoiling the girls.

After we pulled everything out of Waltzing Matilda and cleaned her insides we loaded up and headed out for Miami. Our first stop was in Tavernier near the Winn Dixie to get food stuffs, we dropped hook in Community Harbor and got our shopping done. The local bilge rats were quite happy to see a boat full of cute girls show up in the harbor, so excited that they showed up early in the morning with a dink full of beers and showed off their belly flopping skills. We left at noon and sailed to the Jew Fish Creek area where US Hwy 1 crosses from the keys to the main land. After anchoring overnight we headed up into Biscayne Bay,We had to do several hat overboard drills until finally one crew member was ordered tie her hat to her head, she never dropped another one overboard. I felt completely safe and comfortable but was cautious to follow the channel carefully and make the trip as smooth as possible, once the crew got used to sailing we heeled the boat over and made 7kts for a while. by this time every one on board had taken a turn on the tiller and I could actually relax and not man the helm, all the crew knew how to tack and the girls got very good at rope handling and tacking. We had a wonderful day sailing, we got becalmed right on schedule(14:00) and much swimming was done, with little breeze we played “shark bait” and the crew was able to feel how fast we were still moving. Darkness fell as we dropped the anchor near some other boats just outside of Miami, it really is a beautiful city from 5 miles across the bay, the electric jungle back light by the sunset was a grand sight but very hard to photograph


The next morning the girls were extremely excited to see the city in the sunrise and after a fast breakfast we motored Waltzing Matilda into the south channel of Government Cut, the industrial port side of the channel. We waltzed right along side huge moored ships looking up over 100' to the tops of the container stacks, it was pretty cool to see. There were 4 cruise ships loading tourists on the north channel but I would rather see the container ships unloading, the girls thought it was really cool and I think Lady took several pictures of the big cranes and ships..

We headed out to sea through Gov. Cut and turned hard North just after we cleared the jetty, we got as close to the swim area markers on the beach and anchored in 15' of water. The girls had cabin fever and were excited to see a place with more boys than buoys as buoys were boring by then. I told them to grab their towels and get to the beach, the girls both got my single man kayak and raced to shore. It was much easier to get everything prepared for a day at the beach with half as many people in the tiny cabin.

I got the dinghy ready while Lady was getting lunch, sunscreen hats and the usual mom stuff. The dinghy is a really good loaner but one of the oars is really crappy and there are no oarlocks, actually the crappy oar is just a mop handle, and no oarlocks. I rigged some simple rope oarlocks and loaded the lady and the dog aboard hoping to be able to control this little thing through a light surf, we didn't flip but we shipped plenty of water and slightly bent the mop handle. We flipped the dink on it's side on the shore with the wooden oar as a brace made a lean-to with a grass mat floor and towels to sit on, it was a great little hut and the day flew by. The girls had a blast playing on a beach for the first time, finding tiny shells and surfing the kayak in the 1 foot breakers.

After playing on the beach all day we found a really cool anchorage near a spoil island, we dropped hook about 50 yards off the island in 6' of water about 300 yards out of the ICW in a no wake zone in the dark. We were in the lee of the island and aside from a loud late night partier on the beach and the constant sound of jets leaving MIA it was peaceful enough to sleep, best of all there were no mosquitoes. The next day I was able to tie Waltzing Matilda up Tahiti style, stern to shore, with an anchor out and wade to the beach. I walked the shore line and found a spot on the beach where I could get Waltzing Matilda about 6' from the shore and still be floating at low tide, we used the dink as a gangplank and stepped from the deck to the shore. We spent the better part of the next two days camping on the spoil island, there was a family on a power boat that had set up tents on one part and they had kids the same ages as the ones on our crew.

The time in Miami was fun but extremely expensive, it a very modern downtown with canals and drawbridges, light rail on rubber wheels running on concrete paths overhead as well as heavier elevated trains similar to the kinds seen in Chicago and New York City. I was able to take Lady and the girls all the way up the Miami River, through a narrow industrial port to a tiny swing bridge. Many thanks to [company link needed] marine supply shop that was kind enough to let us unload the passengers on their dock. It was a great store and the staff had just made stout Cuban coffees, the manager of the store was kind enough to give them a ride to the airport. I headed down the river back to the bay after they went on their way happy that I had been able to get them safely through vacation and they had a great time.

I anchored out near a bridge and at dawn headed South under sail only firing the motor to clear the two bridges and headed south hoping to make Jew Fish Creek before dark. It was a wonderful day for sailing and running the inside channel into the keys is always so much fun with an east wind. I was making good time and it looked as though I was going to make my target anchorage a bit early. The wind picked up and began gusting as I entered Barne's Sound, I should have reduced sail but I was trying to go as fast as I could. Waltzing Matilda don't do fast, feet on the tiller sitting downwind side of the heel and dipping my lee rail in the water, I had her over steeply in a big gust pushing the tiller hard trying to keep her in a fast line when POW SNAP ….. the rudder ripped free, the pins holding the tiller into the rudder kept the assembly attached to the boat. I didn't hit anything, I put too much pressure too many times on fatigued metal and it finally gave up. I ran forward to drop my big head sail as Waltzing Matilda hove to in a hurry, while I was forward I heard another POP SNAP as the goose-neck broke free and the boom sheared off the mast causing the main sail to sag. Waltzing Matilda is not easy to control without a rudder, fortunately I had the wooden oar from the borrowed dink, it didn't work well but I could make her sail under a head sail. I got her as close to the channel as I could and with the wind and the tide drifted her into the channel before another boat came along, I hailed the passing power boat and they towed me into Jew Fish creek to a shallow spot where I could stand on the bottom and work on her. The guy who towed me was a former Tow Boat US Capitan and knew the area very well and knew how to tow a sailboat. He had me tie a 5 gallon bucket to a rope and tow it off the center of my stern to keep Waltzing Matilda from fishtailing under tow, it worked wonderfully and he was a really nice man.

On Saturday I was able to rig up a fix to get the rudder operational, at least enough to get to Islamorada, as long as I wasn't too rough on her. By the time I got it rigged it was mid afternoon and traffic had increased on the ICW, traffic had also increased on the beach and I decided to relax on deck with a book and binoculars. It was a good thing that I had binoculars, aside from the fact that there was a beach full of pretty girls across the ICW, I was able to ID the skipper of the boat that crashed into the anchored sailboat. Later that evening I found the owner of the impacted sailboat and gave him my name an number to be a witness.

I headed out on the ICW at dawn the next day and didn't have to fire the motor until about 10:30 when I turned around to help another small sailboat that strayed out of the channel and ran aground, they were really nice folks and having been towed by a stranger recently I felt that I needed to make a deposit in the black box. I cruised with a nice tailwind and as the winds began to die I decided to run my spinnaker. Those that have been following my tales may recognize that when ever I mention the spinnaker it's often preface of bad things happening, this one wasn't too bad just stupid, I think I am getting the knack of single handling a spinnaker sail. This time I got cocky and figured I was running fast and could beat the falling tide over a shallow grassy spot that showed 3' on my charts. Waltzing Matilda don't do fast, just like two days before when I tried to sail too fast she reminded me of that rule. It was two hours before low tide when I ran aground, it was just grass and mud but due to the sail pattern I had up we were not heeled at all, the rudder wasn't in the mud but the bow was buried into a bank in water so shallow that the water only came up to my knees at the bow. I spent the day tinkering with the Blackberry that was given to me and cooking good meals since there was no movement. FWC stopped by to ask me about the accident but couldn't get close enough due to the low tide, he asked me if I wanted to call for a tow and told him I would just float off at high tide. I did finally get her free 30 min before high tide.

I made it back to Islamorada and anchored in my favorite spot, called a friend to see if I could get a shower and paddled to another sailor's boat to say hello. I'll be anchored out here for a few days then I might be sailing about again, but I have to fix my rudder (again). Where am I headed next? The whether will determine that but wherever it is, Waltzing Matilda don't do fast.