Waltzing Matilda

Waltzing Matilda arrived on Monday.

2011-12-22T01:23:00.004Z

It's been quite a change from surviving off the sea and having the moon & tide as my most dominant timepiece, once one hears the siren of the sea her call is constant. I've been four months away from her, Waltzing Matilda arrived on Monday. Mr Yazzettie, my 1st mate and comrade in insanity who assisted in the first restoration as well as navigation duties, original sailing instruction, scared skipper encouragement and all around damn good hand to have aboard towed a trailer from NW Arkansas to Casa Valencia, Islamorada. The first time we pulled her out of the water the trailer had never held her, this was a similar situation but at least this time is wasn't 40F outside.

While she was at the dock a small leak went untended, since the automatic switch in the bilge pump didn't exist she took on water, just a bit of water, every day, for four months. Luckily it was not enough water to sink her and the stain is only 4” above the floor boards, just high enough to soak my cold weather gear half of my tools and all of the dry food stuffs. She sat about 4” lower in the water too so she has an ugly stain around her hull, currently Waltzing Matilda smells worse than the dog.

I was not on this tow from Islamorada to NILA, but it sounds like Yazzettie had quite the adventure, and I now know how much she weighs! (about 30% more than the trailer should hold). Yazzettie suffered minor mechanical difficulties and a bit of fatigue but just after dark on Monday, Waltzing Matilda was parked in my driveway. Even on a trailer she looks so grand. I made sure that Yazz ate a good local po'boy, I even let him taste my gumbo-n-mashed taters. I got some rum and with the green coconuts that came with Matilda we had a dandy time hauling stinking anchors and gear out of his truck.

There is plenty of painting and haul out work to be done, after all she was in the water for all but 24 hours of two years. The adventures are on pause, perhaps Matilda has had her last grand adventure and will be a daysailer for the rest of her life.

The end of a chapter

2011-09-05T17:53:00.005+01:00

EDIT: there is one more chapter coming, moving Waltzing Matilda to her new home, look for and adventure coming in November.

After almost two years vagabonding in a day sailer I've taken a great job in New Iberia Louisiana, I am writing this as my final dispatch in the tales of Waltzing Matilda. I set out with many goals when I sailed from Ft Smith, AR, I've achieved most of those except for making the Great Loop, not every goal has to be met on the first voyage, I still had a great adventure. I have taken Waltzing Matilda far beyond what she was designed to do and learned a huge amount about myself, about the sea, about weather and about people.

I couldn't sail Waltzing Matilda to her new home, neither she nor I were prepared for a 700 mile open water voyage. I had to leave her behind at a safe dock until I can ship her to my new location. It will be close enough to the gulf for me to get out for an occasional day sail and the marina's are much cheaper here than in the Keys. Waltzing Matilda needs to be hauled out and have her hull repainted, lots of other things too, I need a break and a larger boat, I met some wonderful people in Louisiana and have wanted to live here since I first traveled through.

So I am shore based, the noise of cars driving by wakes me up at night, the kids all like the bumping bass stereos and the resonates the floor of the little house I am in, I don't care for the street lights. Last night a friend took me to a zydeco dance out on the Atchafalaya basin, neat little bar in the middle of nowhere with muddy pick-up trucks all around. I saw several houseboats moored there and that was enough to cement my decision to build a house boat. I have to be on the water and in this area houseboat makes sense, plus it will get me away from the BOOM BOOM BOOOOOOOMM BABBA BOOM of these kids cars.

You kids, get off my lawn!

Thanks to all of you, my dear readers, for your comments and support on this grand voyage, please take a moment to make a comment on this post.

Edit: thank you for the kudos, especially the anon visitors, I had no idea so many followed. I've just re-read the posts and am amazed at the change in my writing, to sum it up.... condense, it makes a better read. view all the photos

Waltzing Matilda don't do fast

2011-08-09T19:47:00.002+01:00

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.

Summer time, and the livin' is HOT!

2011-07-15T22:08:00.003+01:00

After traversing the Mississippi River in the coldest of winters I promised myself I would never again complain about the heat , so I am not complaining, but I will say .... it HOT.... really hot. So hot the water is hot, the dock burns my feet, it gets up to 90 degrees sometimes. I know those readers living in other climates are thinking to themselves "I wish it was only 90 around here", but this ain't there, this is the Keys, it's supposed to be sunny and cool in the summer too.

Some Arkie friends are visiting for the next few days, they have never been to the ocean before and got a chance to stay with me for a bit, the owner of the house is really enjoying their company and insists on spoiling them. This gave me an excuse to pull everything out of the boat and clean her throughly, it's the first time since Oct 2009 that she has been this clean, I also slapped a coat of fresh paint on her so she looks sharp. There have been lots of firsts for my guests, first time on an airplane for one, first time at the ocean for two and first time sailing for all three of them. The shake down sail on Waltzing Matilda was more of an exercise in ghosting in 5kt wind, but that is better than taking them out during high wind and bouncy seas. Today they got to see their first manatee, a young manatee with no screw marks on it's back swam up the canal and hung around for a while, we took photos and swam with the creature in the canal. It was a first for me, the first time I have swam with and petted a wild manatee. Such docile and playful creatures, I would dive and roll over, it would dive and roll over, it was curious about me, one of the girls swam above it and petted it for a bit then hung on while it took her for a ride around the canal. I think the manatees are very empathic, it knew we meant it no harm and was completely at ease with humans touching it and playing with it, and unlike fish and sharks the warm blooded eyes look warm and friendly.

It was good to take Waltzing Matilda out for a sail, Ive been on power boats too much lately, I miss the simplicity and peace of cruising slowly along with no worries. I hope there are no big storms coming here, I don't want to worry, but I do have a hurricane plan.

till next time dear readers,
Nate and Mattie

Bobby and Whitey in the Forbidden City Part 2

2011-06-17T14:19:00.004+01:00

Ahoy again dear readers, here is the conclusion to the tales woven by Bobby and transcribed by Nathan, again I encourage you to not assume the two sailors are the same and enjoy the tales for what they are, a work of fiction told by a drunken sailor over the course of two days.

My notes were fair and now I believe this tale is complete, next month we will return to the regular story of Nathan and Mattie on Waltzing Matilda, till then enjoy

Here's some pretty pictures
Bobby and Whitey in the Forbidden City, Part 2

Bobby and Whitey Visit the Forbidden City

2011-06-13T15:17:00.006+01:00

Ahoy hoy my dear readers! I have a tale worth telling but it is not proper to tell said tale on the side of this whale.Due to Waltzing Matilda not being involved I have posted it elsewhere and invite you to come live vicariously through the Adventures of Bobby and Whitey

Here's some pretty pictures

The Adventures of Bobby and Whitey

Back in the Keys

2011-05-29T02:39:00.002+01:00

I left Morgan's Bluff early Thursday morning and headed North to the channel across the shallow bank, I could see a squall building above Lowe's Sound and hoped I could outrun it. The wind was from the East at about 10kts and the thunderhead was to the West, as the top of the clouds came over the sea and shaded Waltzing Matilda I thought about reefing my mainsail, just in case. the "rule for reefing" states "If you think you might need to reef soon, do it now". Never being too good with rules I decided I could outrun the squall since it seemed to be hovering over the island and not able to push out to sea, as I sat pondering this decision the clouds opened up for just a second to reveal the biggest water spout I have ever seen about 5 miles behind my lee side, but I still didn't reef. My gamble paid off and I was able to get a good deal North of the thunder head, as I turned West the winds picked up to about 15kts and I launched my spinnaker at about 13:00. I didn't drop the spinnaker until 22:00 when I turned to the South-West. I got my tiller lashed in a good position and laid down to sleep. I wasn't too worried about anyone being out where I was sailing and there wasn't anything to hit for many miles in every direction, before the moon rose the stars reached all the way to the horizon, there was no light pollution to diminish the view.

I sailed all night and day Friday and most of the day Saturday, around 15:00 Saturday afternoon I reached a place named "Castle Rock" and decided it was a good place to take Mattie for a walk as well and sleep on the anchor before I ventured out into the gulf stream. Castle Rock is a series of coral rocks that poke up out of the water marking the edge of the gulf stream, the one I landed was so small that I could stroll around it in about 10 minuets. The charts listed the terrain as bushes, there wasn't anything grown taller than 4 feet but the bushes were very thick and there were thousands of brooding seagulls nested there. Never one to miss an opportunity for an easy meal I set about collecting gull eggs from the bushes. The seagulls weren't too fond of my intrusion and would either run from the nest dragging a wing or stubbornly sit there and bite me when I picked them up, turns out that seagulls can break the skin when they bite. I collected 18 eggs and got 3 minor cuts on the backs of my hands, when I got back to Waltzing Matilda I heated up the skilled and made some scramble gulls eggs with pancakes. Seagull eggs taste a bit fishy and don't need to be salted, several of the eggs contained embryos so the fish around my boat got a nice treat too.

I slept from sunset till 02:00 and after a cup of coffee hoisted sail and continued on bearing 240° in 10kts of wind, I reached the Eastern edge of the gulf stream at 10:00 and turned to 330° as the wind picked up to 15kts gusting occasionally, I had a nice beam reach and a fast current under me, I flew North at 7kts, at one point my GPS showed 9kts! About 13:00 the winds died completely and the sea flattened out, I dropped to 4kts (the same speed as the current) and decided that I'd rather fire the motor than try to make an unknown entrance in the dark. I motor sailed the last few miles, at 15:00 the skyline of Miami came into view, by 18:00 I was in Biscayne bay headed south under sail in the ICW.

I made it back to Islamroada on Monday afternoon and took Mattie to a much needed shore walk, with beaches and fresh water, and cars, and traffic noise, and T shirt shops, and rude people.... after the silence and solitude of the last few days I felt a bit overwhelmed. Eating the biggest juiciest burger that the Lorelei restaurant can provide helped me feel a bit better about being back in civilization, but it ain't Red Bays, and I can't find any seagull eggs, and I'm not allowed to fish these waters.

pictures will be posted soon, I didn't have an underwater camera, but next time I go to the Bahama's I will, the reefs were amazing.

Social sailors

2011-05-16T17:39:00.002+01:00

I've had some great experiences since Waltzing Matilda and I first set out, most have been brought about by the wonderful people that I have met and who have befriended me. Recently I have crossed paths with folks that I have met before. A big fancy yacht came into the anchorage and hailed me on the radio to ask how intense the bugs were at night, we got to chatting a bit on the radio and the next day they came over to my boat to introduce themselves and get some tips about local services. They invited me to join them in a rented car and drive the length of the island to see the sights. I readily agreed and was able to point out interesting things until we got further south than I have been. We drove about an hour south and stopped at a yacht club in Fresh Creek for afternoon drinks. I mentioned that I was a member of Harbor Landing Yacht Club out of Ocean Springs Mississippi and the car was filled with laughter, turns out one of the crew members is from Ocean Springs and a member of Poor Boys Yacht Club, located right next to Harbor Landing. We got to chatting about Mississippi and the great folks in Ocean Springs, I was sad to learn that the folks that treated me so well and rescued Waltzing Matilda are closing their business.

Matti and I went to greet a ketch that sailed into the harbor and before we could get close the crew yelled out “Mattie!”, turns out they were a young couple that I met in Key West, they remembered Mattie and me as “the guy that walks Mattie”. They invited me on board for and we chatted about people we both knew, keeping up on other friends whereabouts. I knew that they had kin in Pensacola and they mentioned that they were going to meet up with his dad who was in the Bahamian Islands on his boat Valkyrie. I put things together and knowing that the first cruising couple I met sold their sailboat of the same name in Pensacola I asked if Valkyrie was a Pearson-Rhodes ketch, turns out this Valkyrie is a 75 foot power yacht that I first encountered in Marathon FL. I noticed it then not because of the gleaming bright work but the cute woman covered in sawdust working on it. When Valkyrie arrived in Morgan's Bluff we were invited aboard to cook the mess of fish and huge lobsters caught from the most amazing reef I have ever snorkeled. I caught a lobster that was so big I couldn't swim with the weight of it, the tail was longer than a beer bottle.

I've finally gotten better at spear fishing and found that snappers have blind spot directly over their heads, I wait above the hole that they are hanging out in and when they stick their head out to look around, WHAM, I spear them through the top of the head then get them out of the water and into the boat before the sharks notice the sound and smell of a dying fish. I haven't had to worry about the sharks too much, they usual aren't very big and fairly docile, but there was one big 15 foot shark that got into a staring contest with one of our fishing crew

I recently needed to get some metal work done on a winch that I salvaged from a wreck and I was directed to the Mennonite farm about 10 miles south of where I am anchored, I easily found the farm as it was the only one that didn't have piles of dirty disposable diapers and trash all over the yard. They had a great shop set up capable of automotive, truck and tractor repair as well as a small machine/welding shop. The work that I needed should have only taken a few moments but things never work out that way, it took about 45 minuets and the smithy only charged me $15. I've found that when metal workers discover that I am in the same guild they cut me a good deal, professional courtesy I suppose.

I really enjoy Morgan's Bluff but I need to be heading back to the states soon, hurricane season is starting in just a few weeks, Skatopia is beckoning, finances are dwindling and Waltzing Matilda is feeling smaller than ever. I'm quite proud to be the smallest boat in the anchorage and the other cruisers are amazed at my stories resulting in many free meals but I want to go further, deeper, into more remote areas and Waltzing Matilda is a day sailer. I'm starting to tire of single handing as well, so many things would be so much easier with a crew mate aboard, but the type of crew mate I want usually doesn't like using a bucket for a toilet and standing upright in the cabin would be an amazing feature to have. Waltzing Matilda is in such good condition now, lots of gear and good sails, but the amount of modifications I would have to do to her to make her blue water ready is so extensive that I feel it would be easier and more cost effective to get a larger boat that is closer to an ocean going vessel than this cute little day sailer.

Bahamanian Bohemians

2011-05-06T15:03:00.001+01:00

I'm still in the Bahama's, Morgan's Bluff to be exact. There could be worse places to be stuck, the wind is not co-operating, I am ready to be underway. The krew I've been traveling with has headed to Nassau, it's been wonderful traveling with them, the Capitan cooked so well, and they always scored lots of fish. I still can't catch anything, even with my spear I'm a lousy shot, although on another cruisers boat with his rig and tackle I caught a 3 foot barracuda, I traded it for a nice BBQ chicken dinner, barracuda can be poisonous. The locals all trade fish for goods, I am amazed at the lack of shame they have in begging, the kids will walk up and demand that you buy them a soda, then demand a dollar, then start asking you for sunglasses. I taught a couple of the kids to make the things they need rather than rely on the US dollar to get anything, I did give those kids some fish hooks and line. I do understand that they think white skin means walking ATM but they have it wrong with me, I have already proved to several that I have less than them. Despite not having dollars I am good with my tools and there are fishermen around, fishermen always need things fixed and always have fish, which explains why I am craving beef, the other night I dreamed of eating steak.

The cruisers here are wonderful people, very friendly and kind, very bohemian too. I met a great couple from St Petersburg on a 27' catamaran, he is a retired theater teacher, she an actor. I went to dinner on their boat and when it was discovered that we were all theater geeks we began to tell jokes that can only be appreciated back stage. A few nights later we were all on a 47' power catamaran for a dinner party, using the fore deck as a stage and the ship's searchlight for illumination we were treated to a one act play. I've been missing theater and it was great fun to sit on the louvers over the cabin windows and watch a show. It makes me think back to the days before canned entertainment, I feel we have lost a great deal by industrializing our entertainment and not being able to make our own.

I scored winches for Waltzing Matilda! A cruiser and I went to a wrecked sailboat that I spotted and found that the winches hadn't been stripped off, everything else but the mast was stripped. I haven't sailed her with winches but it will make it much easier for me to trim my head sail now. According to the locals this sailboat showed up on the bank about a year ago with sails up and no one on board, there was blood on the deck and no sign of the skipper. I don't know if that is true, the locals are all fishermen, and fishermen don't have a reputation for honesty. Another interesting find was on a coral head near where several of us were spear fishing. I was getting tired and spotted what looked like a suitcase on the beach. I swam over and on a deserted island found a very rotted suitcase packed with rusted cans of corned beef, rusted away Vienna sausages, soggy ramen noodles, packs of new under shirts and shorts, and a Haitian passport. The passport was stamped for entry in Nassau in December 2004 with a mariners visa, the visa has been expired for 5 years, the passport expired in 2009. As much as I love a mystery I decided it was best not to poke my head into this business. I know that a mail ship went down a few months ago and the locals all went fishing for luggage, I also know that some Haitians were involved in some dirty business related to a stolen boat loaded with stolen drugs. Rumor has it there are more Haitians in the tongue of the ocean than in Haiti.

Mattie is quite popular with some of the locals, whenever we walk into Willy's Water Bar she gets greeted and given a bone to chew, I have to pay for beer and don't get such a boisterous greeting. Willy's wont take fish as payment.

Alive on Andros Island

2011-04-13T19:54:00.002+01:00

Waltzing Matilda is handling this part of the adventure quite well, Mattie is enjoying it and I am happy to be out of sight of the Miami lights. I am thrilled to be in the Bahamas.

After our Gulf Stream crossing we landed in Bimini exhausted from being underway for more than 24 hours. Matilda clogged a fuel filter 4 miles off the Bimini harbor channel but I got it fixed and rafted up to Gnar Krust an hour after they landed. We cleared in at customs, returned to our boats and hoisted hook bound for Gun Cay. We found a nice anchorage in the lee of Gun Cay and dropped hook, went swimming and snorkeling, I went to bed before the sun set.

I awoke about midnight and the wind had shifted 90 degrees, we were taking a little bit of wind but pretty big swells hitting on the beam, I let out more anchor scope and dropped my big #55 anchor, I wrote in my log that “I am not dragging into the rocks my first night here”. I got a few hours of rolling and banging that might be called sleep but as soon as I had gray light I got ready to split, I looked out to see if Gnar Krust was awake and they were gone! I popped my head out of the companionway and looked around spotting Gnar Krust about 300 yards offshore on anchor. I got underway and got on the radio, they had dragged overnight and slammed the coral razor rocks shearing off their rudder at the waterline, they used the outboard engine to motor off the rocks and dropped hook to wait for me to wake up. I suggested we run 1.5 miles to a marina and take shelter at the jetty to have breakfast and get a plan.

After breakfast the GK Capitan came aboard Matilda and we went back to Gun Cay to trey and find the piece of rudder that broke off, it wasn't till we were standing on the ricks that we realized how dangerous the situation had been, it's hard to see danger in the dark. After a few minuets of searching we found the rudder piece and took it back to the jetty wall. We rafted Matilda and Gnar Krust together and using material left over from my rudder build last summer we were able to fix the broken rudder and get underway.
We crossed Elbow Bank in NNE 15kt winds that clocked to the East and increased to 20kt, we coulnd't hold the course that we neeeded to make the North West side of Andros Island and wanted to get far from civilization and camp on a beach so we let the wind push us to the South East. We stopped at dawn 8miles off shore in 10' of water, dropped hooks and slept till noon, then turned NE and found creek that made it deep enough for us to get within kayak distance of shore. Mattie was thrilled to be ashore and we had a campfire and sat on a beach, no lights and no people in sight.

After a day of rest we continued North, Waltzing Matilda left at first light, Gnar Krust is 3 times my speed so I left early allowing them to catch up. There was no wind, I made 8 miles in 10 hours and spotted an island I wanted to spend the night at, I radioed my Lat and Long to Gnar Krust and they informed me that there was a town right where I was called Red Bay. Gnar Krust motored to the bay and took a hook closer to shore, I took Mattie to the island and had a nice evening walking along the beach of a wonderful uninhabited key with pine, palm and mangroves, sponges washed up on red sand beaches and a wonderful sunset.

The Capitan of Gnar Krust went to shore to do some reconnaissance and meet some locals, the next day the four of us from both boats went to shore and spent a day hanging around in the village, buying out all the beer in the little “convenience” store. The locals were really cool and the village reminded me of some of the poorer neighborhoods in Pueblo, like Dog Patch and the West Side.

We took a local on board with us as a guide and headed north, we wanted to find away through a bank to avoid having to sail all the way around it, one of the guys came along assuring us “Ya mon, I know de way true”. We departed Red Bay at high tide and spent the night laying on our sides in 1' of water, stuck in de mud. Our guide knew that there was a way through, he just wasn't so hot at keeping to the channel. Gnar Krust made it through and Waltzing Matilda got stuck in the falling tide, when Gnar Krust came back to pull me out they got stuck. So we made dinner and went to bed. At 02:00 the tide lifted us off and we ran the last mile to the North West Channel.
The next morning I left at sun up and Gnar Krust followed an hour later, I had just crossed into the Tongue of the Ocean basin when Gnar Krust called me on the radio and told me to warn them if I got down to 4', I looked at my depth gauge and watched it go 40, 55, 90, 200, 515, blink, blink, blink. I radioed back that I only had about 600' under the keel and the water had turned purple again.

We sailed until we lost wind, then 4 miles from Morgan's Bluff we began to motor sail in, Gnar Krust ran out of gas and I passed them 1/3 of a gallon that I keep on board for back-up cooking fuel, just as we made the anchorage they ran out of fuel again, I pulled along side and we rafted up while I dropped a hook. We cooked up the barracuda that our guide caught, gave him half of the fish and $20, plus I gave him a small bag with soaps, fish hooks and first aid stuff. We took him to shore and his cousins were at the local watering hole and was able to get a ride home, half the island is his cousin. I'd really like to gdt some goats to these folks, the environment is perfect for them and the people's diet is mostly chicken, fish, wild boar and conch. They use dogs to hunt the wild boar then pen them up and fatten them before butchering them.

We are headed to the Exumas next, not going near Nassau, no need to go to a big city where we will get robbed (or worse) when there are plenty of beautiful cays to visit. We've only met a few cruisers since we landed at Morgan's Bluff, we have been traveling just the two little boats so far.

There will not be much contact from me while in the Exhumas, there is not much civilization there, but lots of fish and conch to eat.

(Post Script Gnar Krust is a 27' Balboa sloop that is buddy boating with Waltzing Matilda)

Mangrovia, Marathon and Mom

2011-03-10T14:43:00.003Z

This is my first winter without snow, even when I was home for Christmas I didn't see snow. I was hoping to make last winter the first sans snow, but I got snowed on in Biloxi MS, I a bit further south now. Mattie and I are not on the dock anymore, after many weeks we are on the hook again, I took a few short trips in a big old trawler and learned that I am not a stink potter, I need sails to be comfortable.

It's been a month of Arkies on the Ocean, friends and family from the Ozarks found reasons to get out of the cold an down to the Keys in February, a temperature difference of 70 degrees was convincing.

I worked on the clean up and painting of the trawler Just Because at the house on Valencia St while staying in the apartment on the ground floor. She's a great old boat with a big comfortable stateroom, two heads and a bath tub, yes, a bath tub on a boat. She needed her bright work restored and needed a paint job, I gave her both. In the middle of February it was cold and snowy in Arkansas and I convinced mom to come visit Florida, it wasn't hard to convince her, while it was snowing there I was in shorts and 75 degrees here. The owner of Just Because loaned her to me to take mom out, Waltzing Matilda is not terribly comfortable for overnight trips with more than one person. A few days before mom was scheduled to arrive I still had lots of painting and a bit more sanding to do and knew there was no way I could get it done by myself. I contacted the crew of Ginger and they came to assist. After having been on the hook for 3 months a chance to get to a dock, take showers and sleep indoors was a real treat for them. We sanded, painted and scrubbed and got Just Because shining in time to take her out for a shake down cruise.

Ginger's crew and I motored six miles to an anchorage known to locals as Mangrovia, a funky little anchorage community that has some really great folks around, the local fishing charter captains hang out there and share the excess fish and beers donated by the tourists. Ginger was anchored there, we stayed the night and motored back to Valencia St. the next day while taking lots of photos of Ginger under sail, it was my first time piloting anything larger than Waltzing Matilda and I am proud of how well I brought her into the dock.
When mom got to the Keys she was quite tired from flying all day and a bit bummed out that she missed the sunset, I assured her that there would be more sunsets. We had a nice little jaunt down to Marathon, we only hit one crab trap! Actually mom hit it but is wasn't her fault, some inconsiderate crabber had placed his trap in the ICWW channel, and somebody else's prop had cut the float off of it so it was just a block piece of black line floating in the water, nearly impossible to see. Despite being cross waked at 04:00 by a very inconsiderate crabber, (they are ALL inconsiderate) we had a very nice night anchored out on the north side of the island. We motored under Seven Mile Bridge and through the Marathon anchorage to Sister Creek. I took mom kayak exploring the mangroves and taught her how to sail a kayak with an umbrella, I found a geocahce by chance and signed the log book, left a lighter but didn't feel the need to take anything. When we left the next day I though we should run the ocean side of the keys half way then cross under a bridge to the bay side, that way mom could get both sea and bay experiences. The weather had other ideas. As we headed out to sea I could see the 3' waves were not a big deal, at least not in a sail boat, but we weren't in a sailboat and 3' waves in a power boat are no fun at all. Mattie got sea sick, things began rolling and banging around and in less than a mile I turned around and went back into Marathon. We had a nice calm day returning Just Because to Islamorada, no crab traps were hit and mom got some photos of dolphins dancing along side us.

Upon return to the dock mom and I went out to eat a nice dog friendly place on the ocean, it was a great visit and mom had a good time, I made sure she left with a coconut in her carry on, I hope it wasn't more than 3 ounces of liquid.

With Just Because painted, a few dollars in the cruising kitty and all of my minimal responsibilities fulfilled the only things left to do were stock up with food and go to the Bahamas. I sailed Waltzing Matilda to Mangrove Marina and anchored out intending to spend two nights, the weather had other ideas. A huge high pressure front was coming across the Gulf of Mexico and I like being well protected in nasty blows, Community Harbor is well protected, shallow but has really poor holding. The harbor is 4.5' deep and surrounded 360 degrees by mangroves with a small marina and very few anchored boats. I was concerned about dragging anchor (I'm really good at dragging) and was going to move close into the mangroves to be sheltered from the wind. One of the locals that I met a few weeks ago in Islamorada offered to give me a 50lb danforth anchor, 50lbs is a lot of anchor for a little boat like mine but dragging into a marina and possibly scratching a fancy yacht is never a good idea, so I ran out the big anchor attached to 40' of heavy chain and 20' of rope just moments before the winds began to gust 40mph from the north. It's amazing what too heavy of ground tackle can do for a sailors sleep. I've read in plenty of sailing books the proper scope ratios to use in anchoring, these guidelines often come with disclaimers, one should be “anchoring anywhere in the keys is not easy, get 5 anchors that are too big, use too much chain, run too much scope and hang on, you're going to drag eventually”.

The weather has cleared, my boat is stocked, I am going to head up to Cape Sable to redevouz with a buddy boat and cross the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas. I've wanted to go to the capes for quite some time but avoided it in October as that is the height of “mosquito season”, there are 17 species of mosquito in Florida, they are represented by the millions near the capes but this time of ear they aren't as thick.

I plan on being back in the states before the beginning of hurricane season in June, but I've never been south and I could island hop far enough to get under the hurricane paths, I've never seen the Southern Cross and am not opposed to crossing the equator. We'll wait and see, Waltzing Matilda is not the right boat for doing long journeys but I've made it this far.

Rats, Skating and Marina Communities.

2011-02-04T21:29:00.005Z

The rat has jumped ship, I guess it wasn't up for the cruising lifestyle, either that or being surrounded by food with no water got to it but I havent seen it since I dropped hook in Key West, of course I bought a rat trap, that may come in handy if the Fun Police come aboard.

I have returned to Islamorada from my week in Key West, I was planning on staying a week but only made it six days. Key West seems to have the moto of "Leave your dollars and GTFO", not a very hospitable town down south there. I was lucky not to be boarded by the Fish and Wildlife Commission (aka "Fun Police"). Two nights in a row they were out in the anchorage with three boats boarding everyone that had interior lights on and writing tickets like it was the end of a fiscal period. FWC is basically park rangers without jurisdiction so they take it upon themselves to be general water cops, in my few dealings with them I have yet to be questioned about fish or game. Fortunately Waltzing Matilda has black out curtains and red lights inside, so I went into stealth mode and they left me alone. If i were to get boarded there is nothing they could write me a ticket for but I have an aversion to black soled jack boots on my white deck, shoes aren't allowed, guns aren't allowed, thugs aren't allowed on board, neither are rats.

The trip back to Islamorad is always slower than the trip to Key West, Hawk Channel has a 1.5kt current heading SW and the winds tend to be from the NE, combine the two and you get to tack, lots and lots of tacking. My first day away I towed a nice vintage British bilge keeler to the northwest channel and hung around till he got his sails up, the owner was sick of getting tickets and despite a broken motor headed to better cruising grounds. I tack back and forth in Hawk Channel until an hour before sunset and took refuge in between Stock Island and Boca Chica Key in a well protected channel bordered with mangroves and inhabited by a few derelicts and one very (drunk) friendly live-aboard.

When I finally made it to Marathon I had been at a 20 degree heel all day, motorsailing with a dog that was unhappy as she kept falling out of bed and sliding across the deck, I was planning on going to a little gunk hole I learned about but it was 5 miles more, I was tired and the sun was setting in an hour. I stopped at the same friendly fuel dock-marina that I've frequented and met a pair of couples looking at charts on the dock. We struck up conversation and I was able to point to some great anchorages as well as warn some evesdropping sailors that were headed to Key West about the Fun Police. The younger crew are new to cruising, mid 20s with a really neat steel hull, junk rigged, mono hull that has a greatest motor of all time, a Sabb type G (same as me!). I towed their dinghy back to their vessel, Ginger, and rafted up with them, new cruising friends were made by the 2nd bottle of wine.

I was planning on leaving the next day but since I don't like to be in a hurry or make plans the skipper of Ginger and I decided to go skateboarding since we were anchored right by the city park. We took our boards to the Marathon skate park with high hopes, especially since I was so disappointed with Key West's skate park, turns out Marathon offered the exact same disappointment. Both parks are closed most of the day, they open at 3PM (presumably so kids will not ditch school to skate) and are surrounded by high fences, they have more rules than ramps and seem to be managed by the baseball commissioner. I guess they don't realize that grown ups skate, we don't want to do it when it's hot or when there are loads of little kids around, some of us like to hit the park early in the morning. Some of us have been skating fro years without some park's commissioner (Fun Police) lording over the key to the park, some of us might even have a good time.

I left late the next morning via Sister Creek out of Boot Key Harbor so that I could see if it is passable and make a waypoint on my GPS to find it again, Ginger's crew took the long route with another couple they met and we planned to rendevouz at a gunk hole I had read about, that is until the wind died. I spent an hour drifting sideways at 1.5 kts until I finally fired the motor and got into the channel entrance. Ginger and their friends went back to Boot Key Harbor.

It was a nice gunk hole, it would have been nicer sans no-see-ums, but I got a good nights sleep and was out with the crab boats before sun rise. The wind was still not co-operating, there was NO WIND! and hot, really hot, but I don't complain about the heat after the Mississippi River passage. As I passed the bridge on the north end of Long Key I watched the water change from mucky brownish green to the beautiful azure blue of the Atlantic, I finally made the bascule bridge in Islamorada at 15:30 and after docking Waltzing Matilda at the 104.9 Beach House I stowed her gear and dove off her starboard side to take a swim..... Ahhhh that feels good, afte two weeks of afraid to get in the water it was nice to see clear water again.

Stow away on the Waltzing Matilda

2011-01-26T15:04:00.001Z

I have a stow away of the rodent variety aboard, not a cute little mouse or a squirrel. I have a smallish black rat that chews things up, has been into the dog food and tried to chew a hole through the companionway drop boards to get out. One night while sailing the rat came up on deck and ran right into Mattie's head, Mattie woke up and just sleepily looked at the thing as it ran back inside. My first trip to shore in Key West I went to a hardware store and bought a rat trap. It was odd looking at the trap section, they had all kinds of “humane” and live animal traps, there was even a selection of electric zappers but the good old fashioned spring one were stashed in the corner and hard to find, but they only cost $4 each. Since I set the trap I haven't seen or heard the rat, hopefully it left my boat and swam to some other place.

It was good to get out sailing again, I hadn't been sailing for two months and I missed the sea. The day I left Islamorada there was no wind at all, the Straits of Florida were mirror smooth and I had to run my motor all day, the only wind was after dark when a squall moved through. I dropped hook I the open to spend the night then headed into Marathon the next day, I knew a cold front was coming in and I don't like nasty weather. Boot Key Harbor is well protected and I stayed there for 36 hours. When I left I had a 6-10kt following wind, not much speed could be made with that so I decided to put up my spinnaker, I've only used it once and want to learn how to use it more. That big sail made a big difference, I was making 4kts during the day then as the sun set the winds picked up and with the tail current I was making 6-7kts! (very fast for Waltzing Matilda). I had already decided to sail in the dark so I had the tide to my tail as I entered Man of War Harbor,as I approached the Key West channel the wind had picked up quite a bit and I realized I had to get the spinnaker down, as I stared slacking that clew lines the spinnaker began to flog and then POW! I broke a halyard, the head of the sail dove into the water and the sail wrapped under my keel. That happened last time too. The moon came up as I made my final turn into the harbor, that made it easier to see the water taxi that almost ran me down, I had the right of way but he had a steel hull and was much heavier, rule of tonnage is one never to break.

I have a much better attitude about Key West this time and am having better adventures because of it. After buying the rat trap I went to Simonton Park beach and drank beer with the homeless guys, I bought the beer and they keep and eye on my bicycle and kayak, it's like the neighborhood watch program. While on the beach I spotted a really cute girl by herself on the pier, well she wasn't by herself when I spotted her, some guy was making really pathetic attempts to hit on her. Mattie was running around like crazy getting covered in sand and kept jumping in the water then rolling in the sand, the cute girl noticed this and as she was leaving I made certain that our paths crossed to get a closer look, she commented about my dog having boundless energy. I spotted her again later at an open air restaurant dining alone, I stopped for a moment and told her to find me when she got done eating and with in the hour she was sitting next to me on my favorite boardwalk bench. This woman was wonderful, recently graduated with a electrical engineering degree and was a great conversationalist, plus she hadn't heard any of my corny jokes. We wound up drinking $1 PBRs at a “No Dogs” bar with Mattie secretly on my lap. I wanted to show her this really funky little locals spot that got surrounded by hotels. We wound up wandering around in the courtyard of the Hyatt looking for the funky place but couldn't find it, we did find a really nice big swimming pool and I was feeling pretty sticky and dirty so swimming was in order. We spent the rest of the evening noisily hanging out on the finger pier near the fancy yachts, the security guard stopped by and asked us to keep our voices down but never kicked us out. We parted ways for the evening and made plans to meet up the next day. I took her for a sunset sail on Waltzing Matilda the next evening and she flew home to start her new job.

Temporary romances are a dandy thing to have and something that has greatly been lacking in this voyage, fond memories of grand adventures should have plenty of romantic interludes.

I'm here for a week then headed back to Islamorada.

Back in the Keys

2011-01-09T18:13:00.003Z

Oh my, am I ever happy to be back in the Keys! Despite how wonderful it was to be back in Arkansas and see family, friends and dirty bicyclists I am really fond of warm weather, clear water and the laid back atmosphere of the Keys.

I am once again at the 104.9 beach house in Islamorada, Waltzing Matilda is still bobbing happily on the dock and the sun is shining, the fish may be biting (I'm still not much a fisherman) and I am bare foot in shorts. I went to Key West via automobile yesterday and found that I have a bit better of an attitude about the place now that I am not as homesick and lonely as I was in October. I rode down with the program manager of 104.9 to install some new gear in the radio station and we walked about the water front, went to Turtle Kraals for dinner then, yawning at 8PM, drove the 88 miles back to Islamorada.

I think it is getting time for me to upgrade my sailing experience, I love Waltzing Matilda and I have done things with her that no one thought possible, but she is a day sailer, I am a cruiser and need a slightly larger vessel. Sea comfort is very important to me as is enough room to stand upright, storage for the plethora of tools I carry and deck wide enough to walk about.

I know exactly what I want so I am going to employ my tried and true method of getting it. Despite my lack of superstition I have found that a series of actions has consistently resulted in achieving the impossible and I will share these methods with my faithful readers, please keep in mind that the following method does not work for gaining money or women.

Step one: Write down exactly what you want.
Step two: imagine having what you want
Step three: ???
Step four: profit?

This has worked for me several times, it's how Courtney and I found PlanB and how I lived there for three years without meeting the landlord, it's how I found the school bus (wow that thing was fun) and it's how I acquired Waltzing Matilda in the first place. I know exactly which boat I want, not just the type but specifically which boat. I spotted her in Treasure Island in the summer of 2010 and fell in love the moment I laid eyes on her.

Time will tell, I am not changing my course or lack of plans but I am ready for a larger vessel, one with accommodations for myself, Mattie and an adventurous woman as I don't think I can carry on alone much longer. Applications to join me may be sent with a $20 application fee to:
Nathan Landry
General Delivery
82801 Overseas Highway,
Islamorada, FL 33036-9998

Please include height, weight and your rational (or lack there of) for joining the ranks of the impoverished, homeless and free.

Arkansas invades the Big Sleezy

2011-01-05T01:48:00.004Z

Ahoy from New Orleans, better known this week as South Little Rock, I think half the state of Arkansas is here. After a few weeks in the Ozarks I am en-route back to Waltzing Matilda and temporarily delayed in New Orleans due to a football game. I like NO, despite all the bad press this town has gotten it is a really unique area with a wonderful culture and great people. Last time I was here was spent bicycling about and looking at the sights, this time I have no bike and I'm more interested in watching the people. I really wanted to get a pass and spend the day riding the electric trollies but little dogs aren't welcome on public transportation.

I spent most of the day hanging around the waterfront watching the barges navigate the hairpin turn in the heart of the city and enjoying the sound of the steam whistle aboard the Natchez. The Mississippi River is extremely low and there are sand bars exposed near the park, even with the water so low I can see the current moving. The current is deceiving when one is looking out over the water, it seems to be moving slowly, but the speed in which the vessels move downstream is a good indication of how mighty the river really is. After being spoiled by the clear water in the keys the Mississippi looks like viscous mud.

It's funny the way people in NO drive, in NYC or Chicago the instant a light turns green horns begin to blare and tires begin to squeal, here life has a little bit different pace. When the light turns green the driver finishes the text message they were sending, puts their cocktail back in the cup holder, waves a jay walking pedestrian across then leisurely motors on a few yards only to stop in the middle of the lane in order to chat with a person on the sidewalk.

Bourbon St. is touristy crap selling the same Chinese trash as Duval St. in Key West, I felt sorry for the tourists lined up to get in the Hard Rock cafe, surrounded by culture they retreat to the homogenized lest they step too far out of their comfort zone.

Heading back to the keys tomorrow, I miss Waltzing Matilda, this is the longest I have been away from her in a year and have worried a good deal about her, I will feel a lot better when I see her again. It was good to visit Fayetteville, nice to see old friends and meet some new ones, really good to see my family.

Post Script: I'm back in the Keys, Waltzing Matilda was waiting for me with about 3" of water in the bilge and the batteries at 12.5VDC, she fired up on the first rotation of the motor and blew a bit of brown water out the exhaust but is none worse for the wear. She doesn't seem to mind the temporary abandonment, unlike a certain little dog that I cannot leave alone for 5 minutes.

Ahoy from the Hills

2010-12-21T14:47:00.003Z

I got a lift from Islamorada FL without having to stick out my thumb, we drove straight through swapping drivers and only stopping for fuel. We weren't even inside the Fayetteville City limits yet when we got pulled over by FPD on the interstate for a random search, I forgot how much police presence there is in this state.
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Mattie and I are in Fayetteville AR catching up with old friends. It's nice to be back home for a visit, even if it is a bit cold up here. It's nice to see familiar faces and really nice to be around Arkansas women again but I've had to schedule my time and make appointments to see everybody. Since I have been home I've been eating very well (almost nonstop) and haven't paid for a beer yet.

Nothing much changes in Fayetteville, I compare it to ground hog day, a few changes I have noticed is the emptiness of Dickson ST, another parking garage and more bicycle trails. When I started out on this voyage I was happy to get away from all the sounds of the shore, the engines and car noises, and most of all the sirens, train horns don't seem to bother me too much.

I made a masthead light and hope someone else may benefit from my learning experience. There is not a lot of power to spare on Waltzing Matilda and I have wanted LED running and anchor lights for some time but $150 bulbs are not in the beer budget. In true cruiser fashion I have fashioned some lights myself and run into a few small difficulties I would like to share.

My 1st attempt was pitiful but free, I discovered a bar in Key West (Fat Tuesdays) sells these goofy light up plastic mugs with red, green and blue LEDs in the base, I scored a few from the dumpster, pulled them out of the original circuit board and soldered them parallel to a DIY board (used a safety pin to drill bits from the mugs) with some foraged white LEDs to make a tri light. I used a automotive cell phone charger to drop 12V to 4.5V, and viola..... not bright enough.

The second attempt was not free but less pitiful. I went to SurplusGizmos.com and purchased 16 70ma Piranha LEDs, after shipping it was a total of $20 worth of beer money. Since I am home for the holidays I have better tools to use than I can carry in the boat including a great adjustable power supply from a model train set.

I soldered 4 red, 4 green and 4 white in parallel arrays and powered them up to test. The red was nice and bright, the green and white, not so much. If I disconnected red the green and white lit up. Once the red was on it sucked all the power, so it seems, the red array draws twice as many amps as the green and white combined. Using a multimeter as an adjustable resistor I found I could get all three arrays to light up by limiting the power that went to the red array on the negative line but had no way to see how many amps were being used (I only have 1 multimeter).

I found a resistance calculator for LEDs online and according to it I need a 30ohm resistor to solve my problem and make all 3 arrays light. If anyone that reads this and knows more about LEDs than me I'd appreciate if you can contribute some info, I don't know much about electronics. I know what the markings on a the resistor I need look like, I'll just have to find a toy in the dumpster to find the right one.

I haven't encased the new lights in epoxy yet, but they will be before I climb the stick

I'm heading back down south in early Janurary, a few weeks recharging my internal batteries will be nice.

Land Lubber Dog

2010-12-03T12:41:00.007Z

It's been nice to be on land, I haven't left the property except to go grocery shopping and get beer, the bike has recovered from the flat tires acquired in Key West but I just haven't gone anywhere. There is a big old trawler that needs TLC and I am sanding the teak to refinish the bright work. Waltzing Matilda hasn't been getting any work done on her, but she isn't breaking anything as she is just sitting at a dock.

I've had several people have asked about Mattie lately, yes, I am fine, and so is the dog. She is currently snuggled up in a big comforter on a big bed refusing to get up since the temp has dropped to 65F. She is quite happy to be ashore after 7 days without a walk when we left Key West. She cannot seem to figure out that I don't have to take her on a walk for her to pee here, she can just go outside and go pee. Peeing has been a problem for her as long as she has been with me, she pees when she is happy, or sad, or hungry, or full, or wants to play, or is scared, she pees all over herself all the time. Not sure why but I know that when we get to Arkansas to visit home she will have to stay in a crate rather than pee anywhere in my parent's place. Did I just write a whole paragraph about my dogs urine habits?.... I cannot believe how much of my life has been taken up by the dog's toilet.

The laptop donated by Map Oil Tools a year ago is dying, I have to keep the case off and wedge my fingers between the main board and case to get it to boot, the keys y,u,r don't work, nor does the zero key, it makes typing very tedious I cut and paste missing characters in. I've removed ever non-essential bit in the machine, only a HDD, WiFi card and main board are left, I need to get a small net book and modify it to handle the rigors of sea life.

Headed home for Christmas, looking forward to seeing some familiar faces.

Photos

How to fix a broken fuel line

2010-11-24T21:00:00.005Z

I didn't make it as far south as Key West, I sailed all day and into the night and was headed to Marathon when I ran aground. It's been quite some time since I've been aground and it was time for it to happen.

It took 10 hours to back track four days of NE travel, I was running fast, 7-8kts on a broad reach and enjoying the surfing (didn't hit any crab traps!) as I approached Marathon I got the early morning lull in the wind and turned a bit. I'm not sure if I fell asleep or was just punch drunk from being at the tiller for 20 hours but I misjudged the shoal and didn't have my depth sounder on (DOH!). Due to battery problems I've been trying to use as little power as possible so aside from my running lights I had on a single red LED in the cabin, no VHF, no GPS and no depth gauge. Coasting along at 3kts I heard a soft swish and Waltzing Matilda slid to a stop. Earlier that evening I had had listened to the tide forecast and remembered something being said about 3AM, I assumed I was at high tide and guessed I was in a protected area, there are big fines for running aground in protected areas. I launched the kayak and rowed out '125 of anchor line and was able to get Waltzing Matilda turned 180 degrees before she stuck really hard, even with lots of sail up I couldn't get her free. I turned on the radio and the tide forecast told me that LOW tide was at 03:15, so I went below and made something to eat. She rolled all the way to rails underwater before the tide lifted her then; exhausted; I sailed to an safe anchorage outside the harbor and dropped hook before dropping to sleep.

I planned to head back to Key West to see if I could get work at the shipyard there, I called and left a message but still have not heard back (and don't expect to), meanwhile I texted Steve Butler, owner of 104.9FM in Fayetteville, AR whom I had met a few days before in Islamorada, FL. Steve invited me to come dock at the 104.9 Beach House and stay for a few days to take break (Fayetteville folks are great!). I turned back to the NE and with a nice East wind headed back tracking on my back track. That wind lasted until I made it into the bay, I set a course for 57 degrees and the wind began to blow at 15kts from 60 degrees (DOH!). After 3 hours I had made one mile and fired the Sabb to run closer to the wind, even with the motor running I had to tack as she didn't have enough power to fight it.

On and on and on I motor sailed, about 2 am the motor began to bog down and I assumed I had yet another crab trap in the prop, I killed the engine and opend the engine bay, thats when the smell of diesel hit me. I shined a flashlight into the engine bay and saw fuel, lots of fuel, everywhere. Immediately I shut the fuel tank off and assumed I had just lost all of it in the bilge, fortune was with me, I only lost about a gallon of fuel, that equals eight hours of run time. I then learned a valuable thing that I will share with you all, How to Fix a Broken Fuel line:

Step 1: determine why the fuel line broke; I didn't notice that the primary filter had vibrated loose from its mounting, but about two inches fore is where the fuel line broke.
Step 2: be in bouncy waves
Step 3: drop the tool you need in the bilge, the bilge that is full of fuel
Step 4: remove broken fuel line section (in this case it had compression fittings on both ends of a 1.5ft piece of copper)
Step 5: get sea sick.
I've heard of mal du mer but never really experienced it, in my zeal to solder the fuel line I hove to and tried to solder the copper back together, this consisted of filing the pieces clean, flaring one piece, pressing them together and using a torch to heat them up to soldering temp. The torch caused the residual fuel in the line to evaporate and fill the cabin with fumes, that combined with the bouncing and I got sea sick for the fist time ever, there was that time on Mississippi Sound but that was nothing like this.
Step 6: remount fuel line
Step 7: break fuel line while remounting it, this determines if it will handle vibration

I found some rubber fuel line left over in a can of junk from the infamous school bus that happened to be the right diameter and with a pair of hose clamps sleeved the fuel line and remounted it, bled the system and got ready to start the motor. Remember my earlier statements about the batteries being bad? I had to prime the motor via hand crank, fortunately I can spray WD-40 directly into the cylinder and that fires the engine fast enough to make starting very easy.
I finally made the channel entrance to Islamorada after 18 hours of motor sailing to cover 35NM, I waited for the sun to rise over the Atlantic before I had enough light to enter the channel and by 10:00 was docked at the 104.9 Beach House. It's been a long time since I watched the sunrise over the Atlantic and it brought back fond memories of Myrtle Beach with a crazy girl and great sand dragons.

I'm going to take a break, I like this part of the keys very much, 30' visibility in the water, less traffic, more mangroves.

Waltzing Matilda: Back Toward Key West

2010-11-23T00:23:00.001Z

November 22, 2010

A year ago today, Nathan set out on his journey, launching in Western Arkansas, sailing the Arkansas River to the Mississippi, heading into the rivers and bayous of the Intracoastal Waterway in Louisiana and continuing on the Intracoastal to Western Florida, then across the open Gulf of Mexico to the Tampa area. After spending hurricane season there, he sailed to Key West. Last week, he set out sailing with another vessel up the Florida Keys, with an intention of heading east to the Bahamas. But he called yesterday from Key Largo to say he was turning back toward Key West.

The other craft he was sailing with has been using its motor a great deal, while the wind and current have prevented Nathan from keeping up. “He’s a good guy, but he’s not my kind of sailor,” Nathan said. As a result, he decided to part ways with the other craft and do what he had originally intended: winter in Key West.

Nathan had a job offer near Key West to work in a boatyard and he’s going to see if he can still get that job. Besides the different travel philosophies between Nathan and the captain of the boat he was sailing with, Waltzing Matilda has battery problems and Nathan said there are a lot of little things that need to be fixed on his boat.

Heading back down the Keys, the wind was more favorable: “It took two hours to backtrack what it took ten hours to cover,” Nathan said.

Actually, Nathan plans to winter at Stock Island, the key just east of Key West, since that’s where the boatyard is and Nathan has little good to say about Key West.

Thus ends the first year of the voyage of Waltzing Matilda. Nathan hopes to make it a three-year event, eventually ending up sailing the Atlantic seaboard, then into the Hudson River-Erie Canal-Great Lakes-Mississippi River and back down to Arkansas.
--Posted by official correspondent Dad Landry

Tally HO!

2010-11-11T15:29:00.003Z

Forget all the advertisements you have seen about Key West, it aint like that at all. I am rather disgusted with the filth, lack of litter control, plastic bags in the ocean and general un-sustainability of this island. I can imagine what will happen when fuel becomes scarce.

This weekend is super-boat races, kinda like nascar on the water, fuel smell, oil slicks on the water and obnoxiously loud speed boat zipping around. I need the peace and quiet, I like the mangrove swamps (aside form the no-see-ums) and less light pollution.

Early next week I am headed out, sailing in tandem with We Don't Neaux out of New Iberaia, LA. The captian, Sterling Dore, has a crew of noob sailors that want to learn the ropes and have a sense of adventure. I am just ready to go. I have found some used peanut oil and amd stocking up as much as I can carry, fuel is only going to become more expensive, my finances are at $3.26 so fuel purchases are out of the question.

The exhaust line on Waltzing Matilda finally blew out, I knew it was going to eventually and with a wet exhaust it is important to not leak. I traded some labor for material and replaced it while only cutting the crap out of my hands about 20 times. Today I am climbing my mast to install the rest of my "new" LED running/anchor lights, I've been dumpster scoring lighted toys and things and have built my own lights that use very little power, the mast is now at 4.5VDC using a cell phone charger as a converter. Speaking of dumpster scores, I have stocked up some food gleaned from the fat of the land, I have to dry some of it but I still have a small stock of beans, rice and peanut butter. I need to go to the local charity and stock up on dry goods. I have been catching little fish lately, it takes 4 of them to make a meal but I can catch them on peanut butter and a small tri hook.

Waltzing Matilda Makes Key West

2010-10-18T04:27:00.001+01:00

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

Waltzing Matilda Gets Bugged

2010-10-16T02:15:00.004+01:00

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

Waltzing Matilda Hides Out from Storm

2010-10-13T18:56:00.000+01:00

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.

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

2010-10-11T04:36:00.002+01:00

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

Waltzing Matilda Back at Sea

2010-10-08T19:39:00.001+01:00

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

A Nasty collision

2010-09-22T15:26:00.004+01:00

Saturday the 18th was a nice day and Mattie needed some beach time, she and I walked the three blocks away from the fishing pier to the beach and sat out on the sand watching the gringo bake. When I left the anchorage it was nice sleepy afternoon, Grounds For Divorce was anchored about 60 feet from Waltzing Matilda, lots of families were on the pier sight seeing and fishing, another pleasant day in paradise.

When I returned about an hour later everything was in an uproar, Grounds for Divorce was damaged and lots of people were talking about the collision. Some drunken jerk in a 270HP jet boat was racing around in the anchorage (a posted Manatee/no wake area) and buzzing the pier, He had pissed off and soaked a lot of folks and he went flying up the ICW through a bascule bridge, turned 180 degrees and shot back into the anchorage plowing into the bow of Grounds For Divorce snapping her anchor rode and knocking Sailor John down the companionway stairs. The Coast Guard was standing by in the ICW about 400 yards away but were unable to respond.
Coast Guard: "Whats your GPS coordinates?"
Concerned Mariner: "look out your port window and you'll see the vessel speeding around in the anchorage"
CG: "do you have a life jacket on?"
CM: "are you going to stop that vessel?"
CG: "What's your GPS coordinates?"

After slamming into Ground For Divorce the drunk jerk sped around in the anchorage a bit more, got his photo taken by a witness and took off north, he was arrested for a BUI when he tried to load the speed boat on a trailer, forgetting to get the tailer and launching the boat up the concrete ramp.

Florida Fish and Wildlife commission responded after about 90 minuets and took statements from Sailor John and other witnesses, I had already contacted the witnesses on the pier, gotten a photo of the perpetrator emailed to John and we had the vessel's registration number. FWC hasn't filed charges yet, (it takes 5 days), Bradenton Beach PD wasn't aware that there had been an accident till Tuesday. The owner of the speed boat has no insurance on the thing and claims that it was his son operating the vessel without his permission and claims no responsibility. Even in a non-boating state like Arkansas, any vessel with more than 10hp is required to have liability insurance. John has holes on either side of his bow, the forestay chain plate is ripping out, a bent chain roller and cracks running length wise along his gunwales.

Sailor John finally found a lawyer willing to take this case, his journey is halted until repairs can be made, the crack all the way to the waterline makes his craft un-seaworthy. Fortunately Waltzing Matilda was not hit, the weight and speed of the drunk jerk craft would have ripped her in half. It's a really good thing I was not onboard when this event was taking place, I might be in jail for firing a safety flare into the offending vessel.

Anna Maria Island

2010-09-17T01:12:00.003+01:00

After months in the same dirty bay I finally sailed south, I had a great time in Gulfport but was afraid of getting too comfortable, when I walked the dog too many people stopped me to say hello so my and my friend from Panama City sailed south. I met Sailor John a few months ago and he met up with me again in Gulfport, he sailed the 30' Morgan named "Grounds For Divorce”, he has been a transient sailor for 9 years and knows these waters well.

Yesterday was the best sailing I have had in a long time, the wind was from the East for the last few days and the Gulf of Mexico was as smooth as it can get, a nice 15kt wind and full sails we made great time, John made better time, I had my new anchor fall off the bow and dragged it through most of Tampa Bay, I didn't notice until I hit shallower water, then I noticed in a hurry. The entrance to this channel was narrow and hard to spot, once inside the channel it snaked about with 1' depths on either side, the statement “stay in the channel” was well heeded.

We arrived in near Cortez on Anna Maria Island just after dark, John had motor trouble at the last bascule bride and had to clear the bridge under sail, very impressive due to the fact that the bridges take away all wind. Once through the bridge he headed towards my vessel and promptly ran aground. If you decide to come to the this anchorage via the ICWW here is some local knowledge to assist, heading south pass under the Bradenton Causeway and take the channel that runs parallel to the bridge that is just on the south side of it, follow that channel to green marker #3 and turn south, stick close to the fishing pier and the anchorage is easy to wander into, otherwise you will run aground. I didn't know this but Waltzing Matilda rarely runs aground, it pays to have a shallow keel boat.

The anchorage here is grand, clear water, nice little town, free showers, water on the floating dock, poached wifi, and an awesome pier, almost like a marina, sans fees. There are the usual anchor rats but they seem friendly enough, every free anchorage has “live aboards” that are not the most upstanding citizens. Many derelict boats here, but a very laid back atmosphere on the shore, a really nice island and (dare I say it) great surfing. I need to find a surf board! Not a $300 used one from a shop, more like a $25 yard sale score, I am going to beat up the board and it will be my first one, so spending a bunch of money does not sound like a good idea, but I need a surf board.

Tomorrow, clean the hull, replace the prop shaft zinc and catch some fish, the fishing here is dandy, too bad I am a lousy fisherman.

lots of new photos

Updated From Boca Ciega Bay

2010-09-10T14:01:00.000+01:00

It's been a while since I have written and I apologize for that, there hasn't been much going on so I haven't had much to say. I should correct that statement, there has been plenty of stuff going on, just none of it traveling via Waltzing Matilda so I haven't felt it worthy of posting in the travel blog.

I will touch on some of the highlights of interesting things that have occurred. I got blown ashore in a storm, again, no Coast Guard this time. There was a stiff SW wind blowing for three days and I was up early when the 3/4” anchor rode was sawed through by what ever nasty piece of junk it wrapped around. I was alerted to the issue when my kayak began banging against the side of the boat and I realized I was drifting sideways into some mangroves. I bumped the ground softly once and was able to get an anchor out and stop the drifting, I fired the motor and backed off of the shoal narrowly missing a crab trap with my prop. (I hate crab traps!)

The next day I took a small grappling hook to the approximate area that my anchor was set and fished around looking for it, the visibility in the bay was down to 1” and the amount of garbage, old 55 gallon drums, sharp chunks of iron and other things that would rip my hands open as I felt around dissuaded me from any more exploration and I gave the anchor up for lost. Thats three anchors I have lost since I left Arkansas, at a rate of one every three months this journey is getting expensive.

I did get a new anchor on trade, a #20 plow, haven't gotten any chain for it yet, plus I'll need shackles, a thimble and a swivel. Chain or solar panels.... hard choice to make.

Hurricane season is almost over, I've been working a bit, trying to get enough money to score some solar panels from harbor Freight tools, I was at the closest store (an 18 mile bike ride north) and the solar panel kit I want was on sale for $150, I had $100.... dang it. 'll bet by the time I get back up there with enough money they will be back at their regular price.

If only I didn't have to do laundry or eat, I'd have so much more gear!

Key West for Halloween?

Musical Anchorage

2010-08-06T15:37:00.004+01:00

when the winds blows, everyone change places!

Every evening we have storms from the east build up and collide with the sea breeze coming in from the west, this produces everything from a light drizzle to brilliant displays of electrical power in the sky, there are lots of rainbows and the news is full of stories of who or what was struck by lightning. One of these sumer evening storms was building as I paddled back to Waltzing Matilda the other evening, they are usually preceded by strong gusts of wind and will often rotate the boat 360 degrees in the course of the rain.

I battened down the fore hatch and sat in the chair in the bow while the winds began to build, I felt something strange, moment that wasn't the usual. I looked out my companionway hatch to see my canoe that was tied to the stern about 10' off the bow of the vessel anchored downwind from me. It only took a second for me to realize that I was drifting, and another second for the lightning to illuminate the concrete fishing pier that was in the near future. I took time to put on my life vest and fired the motor, by the time I got to the bow and dropped another anchor I was nearly on top of the 30' vessel anchored near me. I had fenders out so as we swung beam to beam there was no chance of too much impact or damage, I still fended off collision and made the decision that I had to move and needed to get as much room between me and the fishing pier as possible.

I bounced off the 30' vessel one more time as I lashed the tiller one direction, put the engine in gear and went forward to pull anchor, I found a milk crate fouling the tangs of one of them, thus the drifting. By the time I had the anchor on deck and was back at the tiller the winds had built to a very high rate and I was able to motor into the wind and out into the bay, Waltzing Matilda was heeling just a bit and my radio began to crackle with others in the anchorage asking where I was since they couldn't see my vessel in the spot she lad the last two weeks. I got out 300 yards and upwind of the main body of vessels and dropped a 25# danforth on 100' scope in 10' of water. The storm continued to grow and began to dump rain, I took the opportunity to take a shower on the bow.

After a little while I heard my radio crackle again as another vessel hailed a 56' that was drifting down on him, I looked out and could see the silhouette of the 56' heading towards another 30' and the fishing pier. Someone overhead the radio call and called the captain of the 56' on his cell phone to wake him, in the lightning flashes I could see him on deck running out more chain and finally getting his vessel under control. He came to rest lying almost exactly where Waltzing Matilda had been. I'm glad I moved.

Anchor stories are easy, but I'm ready for hurricane season to be over so I can get underway and exploring again.

Some Arkies are coming to visit today!

Bye bye Bonnie

2010-07-25T15:13:00.003+01:00

The first tropical storm of the season blew through this week, the media made a big deal out of nothing (as usual). I've already been through much worse storms than Bonnie and had no problems, other than my SSB radio stopped receiving anything, no AM, FM, LW, or SW... just funky fuzz. I fixed the radio by taking the case apart, rising it in vinegar then rising the vinegar off with 90% rubbing alcohol. Salt air does terrible things to electronics.

I've had a re-occurring dream on this voyage, the basics are that Waltzing Matilda gets destroyed and I have to find a way back to Arkansas, I am frustrated and wake up inside my berth to discover it is a dream. I've laughed out loud several times when this happened. Last night the dream was extremely realistic an with a bit of a twist. This time Waltzing Matilda and I were riding out a hurricane at anchor, the sampson post ripped out and the fore began to fill with water. Despite my best efforts the mast was ripped off, and we began to take on water. I started the motor to have some control and was able to choose where we were washed ashore, we wound up between buildings in an apartment complex. There were people there that helped me get a few things from the boat and put me up for the night. I awoke and thought, "whew, it was just a dream" but I found myself in a strange apartment sleeping on the floor. I started to make my day and noted that the clock on the microwave said it was 5:00am. By 8:00 I was almost done salvaging what could be from the boat.

We burned the remains and I started to hitch hike home, after a day of catching lifts I stopped to sleep under a bridge, and woke up in my berth, safe and dry in the Waltzing Matilda

Whew, it was just a dream.

Another anchor story

2010-07-06T05:14:00.003+01:00

Anchor stories are easy, they happen so often!

The city of Gulfport posted notices that all vessels had to be 300 yards away from the fishing pier for the fire works show. I wasn't interested in getting hot ash rained all over Waltzing Matilda, nor do I want another bullet hole so I was quite happy to relocate further out in the bay.

I motored out and dropped hook in a good spot and after cleaning and maintenance things laid down for a nap. I was in the middle of a bad dream involving my dragging anchor when I was awakened by the sound of a motor close to me. I popped my head out of the hatch to see a local "sailor" (I use the term lightly) having his vessel towed to anchorage about 100' off my bow. Seems that his engine wasn't working correctly and he was out of 'sail fluid'.

I had 75' of anchor rode out and this should have given plenty of clearance, except that the other sailor dropped a bow and stern anchor out so that his vessel could not swing, he then boarded the tow boat and left his vessel.

I moved rather than tangle with another vessel

I got my Uniden radio back from the factory last night, it was sent in for warranty repair after it quite working. The customer support was fair , nice people on the phone but I was on hold an average of 20 minuets each of the three times I called them. I had a note on the returned item telling them to contact me for shipping address but they just shipped it to the address it was ordered to. Mom shipped it to me in a box with some sweet goodies.

When the unit got back to me the invoice showed that the main board, mic and faceplate were all replaced, leaving only the original shell with all new guts. This is nice except that they did a poor job re-assembling it,the rubber gasket that seals the faceplate to the body was pinched out so I had to take it apart and assemble it correctly.

The radio works fine again, I hope it lasts more than 6 months this time.

Waltzing Matilda is a Foulmouth Gypsy

2010-06-19T17:36:00.003+01:00

I have learned a lot on this voyage, little things like how to sail, to important things, like how to call the Coast Guard for help. One of the coolest things I have learned so far is what kind of vessel I am sailing. I don't mean what style or how she sails, I mean who made her, when and where.

I had been led to believe that she was a Robert Tucker designed boat but none of the sketches of his boats really matched up. I recently ran across a photo that looked exactly like my boat, and began to follow the URL trail until I found real data about Waltzing Matilda (not by name/serial number)
Medium displacement fibreglass / wood cruiser / racer
LOA 24ft 0in 7.3 m
LWL 19ft 0in 5.8m
Beam 8ft 6in 2.6m
Draught 2ft 9in 0.8m
Sail area 244 sq ft 22.7 sq. m
Displacement 1.85 tons 1900kg
Ballast 1000 lbs 454kg

I began to dig deeper and found her builder's history and discovered that she is considered a racing boat. I know that she was originally a twin bilge keeled boat and seeing the conditions the British owners harbor in I can see why, I am very happy with Waltzing Matilda being a single keel, it makes it easier to get her off the sand when we do run aground. All this information came from a group of Brits that sail together in Falmouth Gypsys, looking closely at their photos I could see that several of them had the same style rigging that I have, a couple had modified theirs to both cutter and yawl. I would love to put a bowsprit and another fore sail on, I've been thinking about it now that I have more sails and am planning to re-rig anyway.

I still want to head down to the Everglades before hurricane season really sets, and maybe cruise back through Key West, I've scoped and plotted a course and want to get that done soon, so I am working on raising some cash and re-stocking the boat with months worth of food. After Key West I will run back up to the St Petersburg area for the storm season.

I finally figure out how to follow the track my GPS makes in Google Earth, now you can play it too and see how close I anchored to shore, how deep the shoals that I ran over were and how slow I moved in 5kt variable winds, I posted the kml file in Google Docs, and I put more pictures up at Picasa

On Board the Waltzing Matilda

2010-06-14T20:39:00.015+01:00

I went to a pirate festival, imagine Silver Dollar City meets a renaissance faire, add some Disney costumed douchbags, mix in plenty of cos-players and add one dirty hillbilly pirate for flavor and you have the John Levique festival. For some reason any man that dresses up like Johnny Douche's pirate character immediately walks, talks and behaves like a flaming queen, there were at least seven of them, and a few tourists that were wearing the head gear recently acquired from Rat World ( Walt Disney Hell). I was quite disappointed that there were no Somali's represented.

I don't know who or what John Levique was but I am guessing that the name "John's Pass" may have something to do with him. I sailed in and noticed a bunch of slack jawed locals pointing and staring at me, apparently they had never seen anyone 'sail' their boat through the shoals, everyone motors through and runs aground frequently. I sailed through Friday night and did reconnaissance to see where I would drop my hook the next day, I made certain to come in at low tide so that the shoals were exposed.

I headed a bit north and anchored near a dock operated by McDonald's, went to shore to get beer and food and since I used the McDonald's dock felt it was only right that I spent money there, my stomach reminded me that night "don't eat McDonald's"

there was some pretty neat things to see at the festival, but it was difficult to get to shore, they weren't prepared for boats to attend, they were more prepared for bus loads and autos. This fellow made himself a set of really cool goggles, it has a movable iris and look pretty darn cool. It's hard not to like bag pipe music and there was a bit of that too.

I did pretty well for myself, my little dog rode around in a cloth shopping bag and made plenty of friends, when people discovered that I wasn't "in costume" but was the real deal they bought me food and drinks in exchange for stories of the high sea. When beer is served on the street and a thirsty pirate walks by, the beer may disappear, I learned at Skatopia how to poach beer.

Here are a couple of clips of idling and steaming aboard the Waltzing Matilda out of John's Pass,FL.

After all the excitement I needed to get out and do some sailing, I slept in Sunday, I have a knack for being invited aboard other vessels and the hospitality of boaters is unmatched, thus my hangover. After I made it through John's Pass at high tide I headed out to the end of the channel and turned due south. I arrived at low tide and threaded my way through the shoals to anchor on the West side of Egmont Key. I got right up on the beach since I knew which way the wind was coming and knew that I was in 4' at low tide.

It was a beautiful evening, there were thunder storms rolling out to sea and watching the lightning was awesome. The 2' waves lulled me to sleep but being able to hear the beach kept me awake, bad dreams of Horn Island when I did sleep.

When the sun rose I took a dive before setting out, thanks to many kind folks I have a great set of snorkel gear, I didn't need my wet suit as the water was 88F and the water was 10' visibility. Mattie got upset because I was off he boat when she wanted her morning walk, but Egmont Key has big signs all over it forbidding pets and the rangers were doing morning patrol in their little electric golf cart.

Crossing Tampa Bay Channel was like playing the old video game "Frogger", I saw no less than six large vessels using the channel, these are big things that make the lil' boats I dealt with on the Mississippi and Louisiana look like toys. The rules are simple, these vessels take 20 miles to stop and are moving way faster than it looks, stay out of their way.

Egmont is not far enough out for me, I've had all the karaoke and bright lights I can handle. I'm planning my route for the next time I go out, living at the hook sucks but living in the blow rocks. Next destination?
24°39'37.18"N
81°44'01.42"W

News from Boca Ciega Bay, Fl

2010-06-08T03:41:00.004+01:00

*Jerry recently acquired his first boat, a 27' ft sailboat. It's missing a few things, like an engine, sails, interior, but he only paid one dollar for it and is enthusiastically acquiring needed things. He convinced Sam, a live aboard that has been at anchor for about a year here in Gulfport FL, to take him out in his sail boat to show him the ropes.
The two sailed south out to Egmont Key and were unable to make it home before dark so they sailed into some shallow water and dropped hook for the night.

The next morning they awoke to rough seas with a strong current and wind pushing them towards the key. There happened to be a Coast Guard vessel nearby that could see that they were struggling with the current. The CG radioed them and asked if they were in need of assistance and advised them that they were being blown into a shoal. Sam replied that they were under control but struggling to make way, I'm not exactly certain about the content of that conversation but the CG decided to board him.

Jerry is watching the CG dinghy approaching through the glasses saying "Oh shit, they're coming" over and over, Sam at the helm informs Jerry it is a good thing they are about to be boarded because it's very rough and he is afraid of running aground in a bad place.

When the CG boards Sam tells Jerry to take the helm while he goes down for his papers and goes below, one of the guardsmen stayed on the deck high enough to be hit by the boom. Jerry has only sailed the day before, the seas are still rough and the vessel is still caught in the current, so of course he makes an accidental jibe and swings the boom hard across. The guardsman caught the boom and hung on as it swung him and was able to hook his boots into the top life line. Sam runs topside when he hears the guardsman yelling "get this vessel under control" and took the helm back.

Jerry is still kind of freaked out about sailing, but knows he'll never forget the surprised look on the coastie's face on his first time out sailing.

*obviously not their real names

Life on the hook ain't fun

2010-06-01T15:53:00.004+01:00

I have been at anchor for almost a month now, longer if I count the weeks in Vinoy Basin. I am really sick of being in the same place, Gulfport FL is a great little town with one major drawback, karaoke seven nights a week. Sound carries extremely well over water and even though I am about 150 yards off the shore where the loud bar is I can hear everything, and the bar has the "over-amplified is better" attitude. I hate karaoke.

I really want to be underway, but with storm season coming and my dis-trust of my mast and standing rigging it may be best that I stay where I am for a few more weeks. I need to re-rig but finding a place to do so is not easy, it makes it even harder when I don't get paid for the work I do, when the things cost so much (2 peaches and a pear for $3!) and when things on Waltzing Matilda are wearing out faster than I can keep up. In just 7 months time I have rusted completely through a piece of 3mm galvanized cable.

My stress level has been extremely high for the last three days, between the power boats and jet skis, the morons getting dragged around behind gasoline fume belching sport boats and karaoke singing idiots, I understand why Einstein built that bomb. Some loud drunk chicks caterwauled until 02:00 this morning, when they finally shut up and the bar shut down I couldn't sleep. I stayed up and read until 05:00 then napped for 2 hours till the sun came up and the heat began to rise.

I need to be underway, I need to be in a less populated location.

BTW Geek Love is a great book

Free fuel from BP

2010-05-18T13:19:00.002+01:00

Sure am glad I got to see the bayous and keys before the great oiling of '010.

I've been working in the hold of an old '84 powerboat, big stinky GM 671 power plant, monstrous twin 200 gallon fuel tanks, stinky silge in the mucky bilge. The owner is going on ~~vacation~~ a missionary trip "some place tropical" and the old trawler is to be his base of operations and home during said "missionary trip". The vessel may be capable of living comfortably but traversing 1,000Ktm is a bit of a stretch. I hate power boats.

But free fuel is coming, (brought to you by BP).

I went to the biggest flea market I have ever seen and got some good tools. Most of the vendors there were selling crap henco en China but the guy with the white tarps had real tools, lots of old tools and bona-fide hard files. I picked up a used hoof rasp since I learned what a great tool it is for rough working wood and fiberglass. Waltzing Matilda looks great with white tarps instead of the ugly blue ones, and she's cooler too.

Almost done with the rudder, the final fiberglass coat set up overnight and will be getting a good sanding today. I am going to epoxy fiberglass rods into the wood where the new lags will hold the mounting hardware, that way the wood is completely sealed with 'glass.

100% organic, whole oil is coming soon, free for the collecting (brought to you by BP), rumor has it that a couple of tar balls have washed up in Key West, but it might be resin from somebody's pipe, can't tell till the lab results come back.

Crew member wanted needed

2010-05-02T14:17:00.005+01:00

It's been a long time since I sailed with anyone else on board, I've done the last 1,300 miles alone and forgot that it is really much easier to sail with another set of hands around.

A friend from near New Iberia called me a few weeks ago and wanted to come learn to sail, rather than go to one of those nice (expensive) sailing schools he called me. On Tuesday morning Jake showed up with a cooler full of great food, real coonass food, the kind of food that Florida can't offer, he also supplied a sheet of 3/4" fir plywood. First thing on the list, we cut out my new rudder. Waltzing Matilda has needed a new rudder since I bought her but I cut corners and didn't replace the rudder during the restoration, while crossing the Gulf of Mexico I realized that it was past time to replace the rudder.

With the new rudder on board we headed out early and set sail for Egmont Key. We got becalmed at one point in the afternoon and just tacked back and forth to the East and West until the wind came back, then with the current at our stern and on a nice beam reach we hit 5.5 knots and landed at Egmont Key about an hour before sunset. Jake had never seen such clear water and spent some time stooped over with his camera filming hermit crabs in the surf. Mattie wasn't "allowed" on the island since it is a wildlife refuge but she ran on the beach and swam in the surf.

The next morning we hoisted sail and got underway the old fashioned way, without firing the motor, Jake was at the helm most of the day as we came under the skyway and back into Tampa Bay. Around 15:00 the winds died and the whole bay got smooth as glass so we fired the motor and puttered the last 6 miles into the Vinoy Basin.

We had a great time sailing, Jake took to it like one of those round pegs and holes and discovered the peace in sailing, he was asking what kind of boat he should buy when he got back home (I recommended a MacGregor 23'). Jake left early on Friday morning and kicked some money toward voyage expenses, I spent the money on the fiberglass supplies for the rudder.

I've been working more now that my reputation is getting known, been doing lots of carpentry in tiny spaces, yesterday I built a frame for new fuel tanks in the belly of a 46' trawler, it was dirty, smelly, greasy and hot, but the owner liked my work despite my dog crapping on the his poop deck I've got more work to do on that boat.

Waltzing Matilda has new sails, new rudder and is about to get re-rigged and have a new mast, new tabernacle, all new standing rigging and as much new running rigging as I can afford. She will be a very stout little sail boat, capable of ocean crossing. After the new rigging the next to things acquire, decent solar panels and good batteries. I will be moving my anchorage next week from downtown St Petersburg to Gulf Port.More photos

Pirates don't wear eyeliner

2010-04-25T13:27:00.001+01:00

It's been a hot week in St Pete, but a very productive one for me and very beneficial for Waltzing Matilda. This week I have acquired several things I have needed since the beginning of this trip, if things continue to go well I should be able to get Waltzing Matilda fitted for ocean crossing quite well, not that I am ready to cross an ocean but it would be nice to have a vessel that is. I will be taking on a crew member next week as well, a friend I made in New Iberia, LA. is driving out to learn to sail, and to help me build a new rudder.

New gear this week, I have a new mainsail (hooray!), the new main is a storm sail, slightly smaller than my primary main with reef points and a leech line, I have a new Genoa (hip hip hooray!)and am working to make the rigging to be able to run a twistle yard. I traded a donated hand held GPS for a 12.5' fiberglass canoe, now I can get my bike to and from shore without having to rig lift lines to palm trees.

I've made friends with Capt. Nikko, Capitan of the 1929 cutter Quest and Commodore of a local band of pirate pretenders, I call them pretenders because they like to dress up, drink and shoot cannons but don't really pillage or loot anything, about the most dastardly thing I have observed is trash pickup en-masse. I will be sailing next week with the Quest and Magic to a local hurricane hole to get ready to ride out the big blow season.
There is a triathlon going on around the pier today, lots of fancy bikes and tour de pants riders about, just to fit in I made a "race number" for my beach cruiser and tooled along the race route with my little dog in the basket and my "Axles of Evil" banner flying proudly.

It's been nice to be anchored downtown, it enabled me to get some work but I am ready to get someplace quiet.

I don't know if it is homesickness that I am feeling but I miss all the good folks in Fayetteville, I miss the Axles of Evil, I even miss not being able to go anywhere without running into 6 people that know me. This journey is great but I am only 1/3 of the way through it.

Don't anchor so close to me

2010-04-18T16:49:00.001+01:00

I am still in St Petersburg, really enjoying this town, great bike folks (sans a few numb nuts on fixies, but thats expected everywhere), great bike paths, cool bikes everywhere, even the post office delivers on bikes. Lots and lots of sailboats, I was recommended St Pete as a "blow boat community" and it definitely is, unfortunately just because someone owns a sail boat doesn't mean that they can operate the thing.

When I first dropped anchor in the municipal north yacht basin I got close to the west sea wall, rigged a line to a palm on shore and a block on my bike, hoisted the line via my topping lift and the bike zipped to shore, I stayed anchored near the west wall hoping that no one would want to come near me since there was a nasty shoal nearby. I awoke the third night there to some yelling and discovered that some people had come in at 01:00 in the crappiest McGregor 22 that I have ever seen afloat and dropped their anchor line right over mine. They were the proud new owners of said McGregor and the guy they bought the boat from explained to me "well I always park here". I'm not one to be a grammar Nazi when t comes to nautical terms but the use of the word "park" instead of the correct term "anchor" was a clue. His lack of nautical knowledge was confirmed when he told me that he removed the swing keel from the McGregor and used "rocks an stuff" as ballast to sail her, he commented that she would only sail downwind and relied on an outboard to move in the other 350 degrees.

I moved my boat away from the McGregor.

The wind began to blow from the east, pushing me closer to the sea wall and shoal, and it continued to blow, and blew harder getting the water choppy and made for uncomfortable sleeping. On the advise of several other sailors who had spent time anchored in the "snake pit" I decided it was time to move Waltzing Matilda away from the west sea wall and get into a better spot to ride out a storm. It was dark when I got her underway and motored across the snake pit, it is hard enough to judge distances on water but in the dark I find it nearly impossible, I made sure to steer clear of all other boats. I got her to a good spot, laid anchor and ran out 8:1 scope, then left the engine running for 2 hours to recharge the batteries and stood watch (in between watching "The African Queen") till 04:00 to make certain that she hooked up and held. Sleep had a lot less rolling and I felt much more comfortable in my anchorage.

Yesterday I was up a mast in the marina when the wind changed, after coming from the East for over a week it started to come from the South, I checked on Waltzing Matilda when the wind shifted and could see she was just fine but a 40' sailboat had anchored to the north of her, I thought that a vessel that big the captain would surely run enough rode out to swing free and wasn't too worried about it.

This morning that boat was gone and when I got to shore another sailor asked me if my hook had dragged, I assured him I was dead on the same spot I had been for 4 days and he informed me that Waltzing Matilda collided with the boat that anchored next to me. I didn't see the collision but when the wind changed and she swung Matilda got her motor mount tangled in the chain of the larger vessel.

They moved their boat.

Still looking for more work, got a little bit of paying work washing boats, but I need more. I am going to rebuild my rudder while here, she needed it when I bought her in '08 and now it is becoming dangerous. This is the best place to do work on my boat, lots of sailors and people are very interested in my stories. On a side note, I finally scored a SSB radio on trade, I listened to the news out of Belgium last night.

Jet Skis in range will be fired upon

2010-04-07T21:48:00.002+01:00

When I first started this journey I had a few very relevant fears that included: sinking before I made it to Little Rock, running aground, getting rescued by the Coast Guard and crossing the Gulf of Mexico.

Although I didn't sink before Little Rock, I have run aground more than 100 times and the Coast Guard is really pretty cool, (just remember to take money and dry socks into the helicopter with you).

I finally crossed the Gulf of Mexico, and it was all I expected it to be, maybe more. I motored through the ICWW to Apalachacola and stopped there for a few days to do laundry, top the fuel tank and wait for better weather, the wind was headed to my destination but there was way more wind than I was comfortable sailing in. I have learned that the wind comes in two speeds, too much and too little, usually when there is to much it is coming from where you want to go, this wind was headed towards where I wanted to go but sailing downwind takes a lot of attention and can cause plenty of trouble, plus there was too much wind so I waited a few days and met some great folks, even met some folks from ocean Springs, MS.

Early in the morning on a bright Tuesday the wind was just about the right speed, I was ready to sail and face one of my big fears. As I crossed the bay to the barrier islands the water was very choppy and the wind was from my stern, I thought to myself, “if the bay is this rough the Gulf is going to be terrible”. There is a difference in the waves between a bay and the Gulf, the bay waves are close together and going in all directions at once, the Gulf waves are much more spread out and fairly predictable. The buoy twenty miles out was telling me that the waves were 6 feet high with 15 seconds in between them, I guess that 6 ft is an average because the waves were much higher at times and much lower too, but with them so spaced out it wasn't difficult to navigate. I got to use my spinnaker sail for the first time (the big colorful parachute looking sail) but discovered that I could make the same speed running a Genoa, plus it is much easier to jibe with a Genoa. I also learned that when trying to jibe single handed with a spinnaker the spinnaker makes on very effective sea anchor, and getting said sea anchor unwrapped from the keel is pretty difficult to do and involves spinning circles while the dog gets sea sick.

All day long I ran with the wind, I had made a big pot of beans and rice the day before so I didn't have to cook, the winds and waves built to about 20 knots and 10', about sunset they began to calm down a bit and in the dark hour between sunset and moon rise I had the creepy experience of hearing the wave breaking behind me but only seeing the foam that occasionally splashed up over my stern. Since there was no one else out there and I was more than 12 miles off shore I had no lights on, I was using no power at all except turning on my GPS once an hour to check my heading and speed. Finally about 04:30 I hove to and slept in the cockpit floor for about two hours, I turned on my anchor light while I slept just to make myself more visible, I could hear another vessel and saw lights on the horizon but for the most part I didn't see anyone until I was with in 30 miles of the shore.

Finally after 44 hours I came to shallow water and dropped anchor to get some much needed sleep, I only slept 4 hours then headed to the closest key and took Mattie for a walk on the most amazing beach have ever seen, there were sponges and coral washed up everywhere with large sand dollars and thousands of perfect seashells. The anchorage was too close to a channel for comfortable sleeping so I sailed a few more miles south and laid anchor at a place I though looked like a nice quiet cove with a little strip of sand. By noon there were over 100 boats in that cove, and then the jet skis showed up.

I have never really hated jet skis before, I've actually thought they looked fun, but I have learned “instant asshole, just add Jet Ski”. The fender that I rigged on my anchor to mark where my line ran was what some kid decided to use as his racing buoy on his jet ski, there was plenty of room to play on the thing but he had to circle my boat and see how tight he could turn, then there was the girl that was coming so close she was spraying hot exhaust water on me and fouling the air with gas fumes, I wanted to string a line between myself and another vessel to yank one of those idiots off. Fortunately the weekend parties left and the cove became a nice quiet anchorage again, the next morning I sailed for St Petersburg. I took a channel to the Gulf but had to run the motor to get through it, the cylinder head began spraying water into the alternator, the alternator quit about the same time the bilge pump stopped working, and there were jet skis, lots and lots of jet skis.

I finally made it into the Gulf without running aground, and got the mainsail hoisted, it was a nice day sailing except that the traveler broke and I had to stop to fix it (this is the piece that holds the boom in position), then the boom vang broke. I was making 3 knots when the wind died and after sunset it began to blow again, from the direction I needed to go. I was getting close to the channel to enter Tampa Bay and had hardly any wind when I ran aground on the point of Mullet Key, I put up all sail possible to heel the boat over and finally after about an hour of banging around in the sand she broke free, thats when I noticed the current was so strong that I was sailing backwards. I crossed the main channel (deep with lots of current) and got into shallow water, dropped anchor and slept for a few hours.

I knew there was going to be a shuttle launch the next morning and wanted to see it, I set my alarm for 06:00 and stayed awake till 06:15, the shuttle launched at 06:20 (doh!). The tide had risen and I was able to use the current to get into Tampa Bay, then the wind died, when it returned it was coming from the direction In needed to go. There wasn't much wind and I was just creeping along when I heard “POP” and my main sail fell off the mast, seems I broke the main halyard.

Finally made it into St Petersburg, this a great town, the new head gaskets are coming in via USPS and Waltzing Matilda is at anchor in the city's municipal anchor cove. I climbed my mast this morning and retrieved the main sheet halyard, the homeless people are treating me royally and I am going to hit the bike shops to see if I can get some work.
I recorded my crewmate giving me a wake up call, enjoy

Waltzing Matilda near St. Petersburg

2010-04-05T04:32:00.000+01:00

Sunday, April 4, 2010

“I’m in 6-inch seas, with about 30 seconds between waves. There’s not a cloud in the sky.” So said Nathan as he was sailing about 15 miles out of St. Petersburg, Florida.
He had laid up for two and a half days near Tarpon Springs to rest up after his long open sea crossing on the northeast portion of the Gulf of Mexico. While anchored, Waltzing Matilda was aground during low tides, but did not keel over. As a result, it steadied the boat and helped Nathan get rest. “I didn’t realize how exhausted I was.” He had spent most of the several days of open sea crossing awake at the tiller.
Nathan is planning on spending at least two weeks in St. Petersburg, maybe more. “St. Petersburg is a sailing community and they don’t believe in power boats in this community,” he said. He needs to work on his boat: a cylinder head is leaking cooling water and it may have ruined his new alternator by spraying salt water on it. But he’s got the funds to do it. “Earlier I had been down to 15 dollars but when that got posted online, I got $185 in donations.”
Since hurricane season is only eight weeks away, Nathan is considering staying in St. Petersburg for a few months until the season passes. He’s thinking of trying to get a job in a sail shop to learn sailmaking so he can modify sails he salvaged off a wrecked boat to fit Waltzing Matilda. “I have the material, but I don’t have the knowledge or the machines.”
He’s become a judge of beaches. “The first beach I stopped at was nice. It was a nature preserve. The next one was obnoxious: it was a beer drinking preserve.” He saw one beach covered with what he thought were rocks, then he realized that it was a crowd – a big crowd – the beach was covered with people. Today, Nathan described what was before him: “All I can see is condos and condos and condos. I can see 20 miles of condos. It’s kind of disgusting.” He said he met a couple of teachers who told him that the population in the part of Florida he was at was very dense. “That’s your fault,” Nathan said he told them. “You’re teachers. The population shouldn’t be dense.”
Also, “I learned now why everyone hates jet skis. I’m thinking of putting up a sign: ‘Jet skis within range will be fired upon.’ I had put out a pylon to mark my anchor and some kid in a jet ski comes and uses my anchor as a racing pylon and goes whipping around it. A girl on a jet ski comes by and sprays exhaust all over me. It’s hot and it smells like gasoline. Then they go and start doing donuts in front of big tour barge. The boat is honking its horn at them and the jet ski people just flip it off. They don’t realize that boat can’t stop.”
However, “the flora and fauna here is just amazing,” Nathan said, and he’s seen things he can’t identify. He found a dead jellyfish and saw a starfish and was delighted with the live sponges washing up on the beach. Yet, there was the foul smell of a mangrove swamp that even “made the dog gag.”
“I was on one beach and I heard a rustling in the grass,” he said. “Then I saw these little crabs that had one big claw. Fiddler crabs! Millions of them! They covered the entire beach and as they ran for cover there were all those little crab feet making noises. They were really pretty, too.”
Nathan said the local water temperature was 72.2 degrees; 200 miles offshore he said the water is 84 degrees. And he was able to look 15 feet down into clear water. Later, when he sails further south, he said the water is clear to 50 feet down.
“The weather down here for next week will be just awesome: 10-knot winds from all directions, and 2-foot seas. Typical of spring in this area. After all that rough Mississippi Sound weather, this is nice. There are biting fleas, flies, mosquitos and bugs but no mosquitos on islands with no fresh water.”

Waltzing Matilda Completes 70-Hour Open Sea Voyage‏

2010-04-02T19:02:00.000+01:00

Friday, April 2, 2010
Received some phone messages from Nathan yesterday indicating he had successfully made his first open water trip in the Gulf of Mexico and was anchored near Tarpon Springs, Florida. During his 70-hour crossing he was at the helm for about 65 hours. After making the trip he got some sleep and he and Mattie the Dog took a swim: 80-degree air temperature; 67-degree water. He wasn’t sure of the exact name of where he was at, but based on what he told me and by consulting Google maps, I believe he’s at Anciote Key a couple of miles offshore.
--Correspondent Dad Landry

Waltzing Matilda Prepares for Two Days in Open Sea

2010-03-28T05:09:00.000+01:00

March 27, 2010
Nathan called today from Apalachicola, Florida (he can’t pronounce it, either). It’s southeast of Panama City and southwest of Tallahassee. He’s docked along Water Street. While we talked, I told him I was looking at where he was at on the Google Street View and told him I couldn’t see him. “That’s ‘cause it’s dark,” he replied. Oh. It’s dark. Of course.
“It a nice little town,” he said. “Very friendly. A lot of people come by and talk to me.” I can’t remember if he said he arrived in Apalachicola yesterday or today but when he arrived the weather was chilly, and he said he was cold, sunburned, and wind-burned.
He said he spent his last $15 on diesel fuel and has about 80% of his tank filled. The weather forecast is such that Monday he plans to join three other boats at nearby Dog Island and together they will sail for more than two days in open water, heading about 140 miles southwest to Tarpon Springs, near Tampa. Besides fueling, he has been doing other things to get the boat ready for the open sea voyage. He’s got plenty of water and a month’s supply of food.
While the four boats may not always be in sight of one another, they’ll be in constant radio contact, which, I believe, is prudent.
He had last reported to us from Panama City. Either there or on the way to Apalachicola he went to a food pantry at a Baptist church where he met a woman who had just moved to Florida from, of all places, Springdale, Arkansas, about five miles from our house.
One of the boats that he will travel in open water with hails from Fort Smith, Arkansas, very near where Nathan began his journey last November 22. On the 22-foot boat (about the size of Waltzing Matilda) is a couple in their 60s. They told Nathan they had read about him in the newspaper and Nathan speculated that one of the Arkansas papers might have picked up the news story written about him in Louisiana. Unlike Nathan, they did not sail down the rivers, but rather had their boat hauled by truck.
While sailing this week, Nathan passed a shipyard and saw a lot of commotion surrounding a new ship: tugboats, flags, tents. Later he learned that he missed a ship launching that occurred two hours after he passed; but when he saw all the activity he decided not to stop because he didn’t want to sacrifice the good wind Waltzing Matilda was in.
While on the Intracoastal Waterway he stopped at a free dock at White City, Florida. He went ashore to see if he could find a laundromat but he said there was nothing – nothing – in White City. He did see an odd sign there: “No golf carts, skateboards or horses.” Man, in White City you can’t do anything!. Also along the way he saw a sign that on one side told boaters to control their wakes. On the other side, the sign was intended to say “Resume normal speed,” but the sign had broken to where the word “speed” was gone; as a result the sign said “Resume normal.”
“What does it mean to resume normal?” asked Nathan.
At White City he was cruising along and saw an unusual cloud. Or so he thought it was a cloud. “And then I sailed into the mosquitoes,” he said. They were everywhere and he quickly put repellant on himself and some small amounts on the dog to protect her. Actually, I believe he later described them to us as nasty little bugs that dwell around oceans called noseeums. I guess that’s because they bite you and you noseeum.
In other news, Nathan now has a pipe dream of what he would like his next boat to be. He’d like to take a pontoon boat and outfit it with a steam engine. “Then it would be African Queen meets Mark Twain,” he said.
And the journey continues…

Posted by official correspondent Dad Landry

Waltzing Matilda at Panama City, Florida

2010-03-21T16:00:00.001Z

March 21, 2010

Hadn’t heard from Nathan for awhile and was getting ready to text or call him when he phoned this morning from Smack Bayou across from Panama City, Florida. He had a hodgepodge of things to talk about:
--He laughed hard when we told him we were celebrating spring in Northwest Arkansas with 9.5 inches of snow and that it was still coming down.
--He was amazed at his first experience with luminescent bacteria in the water. “I’ve read about it but reading about it and seeing it are two different things.” He said a cove he was in came aglow when raindrops stirred up the luminescence. At one point he scooped seawater up in a bucket and the luminescence was so intense that the bucket lit up his entire boat.
--Waiting out some bad weather now (rainstorm with 30mph winds), he’s planning on taking the intracoastal waterway to Bay St. John. There, at Dog Island he will make preparations for running 89 miles in open sea across Appalachie Bay. There will be no oil rigs or commercial shipping to worry about, so during the 24-hour voyage (that amount of time depends upon the wind) “I can just lash the boat down and go to sleep – I’m 90 miles away from anything.”
--While it seems isolated where he’s currently anchored, that’s dispelled at night due to the lights of Panama City. Also, a nearby Air Force base makes a lot of noise. Land where he’s at consists of sawgrass, palm trees and cactus. Also, big oak trees covered by Spanish moss like bearded old men.
--He’s down to his last 35 dollars. He’s hoping to get some work in Panama City for about a week, perhaps as a bike mechanic. He’s been hanging out with members of the local homeless community. Consisting mainly of Vietnam veterans, their ranks swell in Florida during winter months. “The homeless people have been taking care of me. They fed me a meal they had gotten from a dumpster. I intentionally wear rags when I’m ashore – no one robs me, no one bothers me.” The economy is depressed in Florida where he is at. “No work here – it’s really bad.” Nathan informed one unemployed but not yet homeless man about South Louisiana where there is a lot of work based on the oil industry. The man took the news enthusiastically for himself and for his son-in-law, a certified welder. One 35-year-old homeless man Nathan met was from Pueblo, Colorado, where Nathan grew up. And, of course, as the “You Know You’re From Pueblo If…” Facebook site describes how ex- Puebloans greet each other around the world, Nathan and the homeless guy asked each other where they went to high school. I guess it’s how ex-Puebloans size each other up. Youse guys from Pueblo know what I’m talking about.
--Pueblo, of course, is not the only home tie Nathan has. He flies an Arkansas flag on Waltzing Matilda. At Fort Walton, Florida, a man on a pontoon party boat wearing an Arkansas Razorbacks t-shirt yelled at him: “Wooo, pig, sooey!!!!!!” Y’all from Arkansas know what I’m talkin’ about.
--The Valkyrie that Nathan had earlier been sailing in tandem with has dropped out of the trip due to health problems of one of the people aboard.
--Sailing conditions have been mixed. “Had some good sailing the other day; had some bad sailing the other day – had to run the motor all day. Sea conditions were so calm that I could see my reflection in the water.
--Mattie the dog continues to adjust to the Adventure of Her Life. She got a new squeak toy and “freaked out when she first bit on it and it squeaked.” Mattie then barked or growled at it “but when she figured it out she loves it. She also discovered the unpleasant realities of stickers and cactus.” On shore, she got a cactus needle stuck in her paw and while wrestling with it, she also got it stuck in her stomach. Trying to extricate herself, she decided to lie down in – a cactus! Nathan had to rescue her and pick her clean. Mattie wants to chase squirrels, but Nathan keeps her close while ashore due to the threat of alligators. “As far as the gators are concerned, I’ve nicknamed her ‘Morsel.’ That’s all she’d be to a gator – one quick bite and she would be gone; nothing left but for the gator to spit out her collar.”

Live from Pensacola

2010-03-11T15:27:00.000Z

Surfing is not as easy as it looks, I'm not kidding it is really much more difficult than skate boarding. A friend I made in Ocean Springs called me up yesterday to tell me he was right near Pensacola and wanted to know if I was up for surfing. We headed down across the bridge to Pensacola Beach and stopped at a surf n skate shop so I could rent a board then off to the beach. The wind was coming in from the South West and making a very choppy sea with 4' waves. I couldn't get out past the breakers to the good waves and kept getting my ass handed to me, at one point I got tumbled almost all the way to the shore. It wasn't the best day for a beginner to learn to surf, I have only been out on a board once before in California and that was 1-2' waves, this was just pounding me mercilessly and freezing cold, even with my wet suit on I couldn't feel my feet. The life guards had the red flags out indicating dangerous currents and surf but even using the rip tide to my advantage I couldn't get past the breakers. It was fun, great fun!
I am at a small marina in Chico Bayou just off Pensacola Bay and may be leaving out soon. The trip here was fun despite having to motor all but 8 hours of the way. Next stop is someplace further East, the water is getting clearer and a bit warmer but I really need to get to warm clear water. I really need to find a used surf board too, and a used dinghy.

Waltzing Matilda: setting sail after a month.

2010-03-07T19:41:00.000Z

March 7, 2010
“Oops, there goes a dolphin right next to me,” said Nathan in a mid-afternoon phone call from the Intracoastal Waterway on the east side of Mobile Bay. He’s planning on making Pirate’s Cove at Pensacola, Florida, by tonight. He set sail from Ocean Springs, Mississippi, at noon yesterday. “I was doing my captain’s log and realized that I had been in Ocean Springs for a month,” he said. Indeed, it was the weekend of February 6-7 that he had been shipwrecked on Horn Island, was rescued by a Coast Guard helicopter and had his boat towed to Ocean Springs.
After casting off yesterday, Horn Island was his first destination. “If you fall off your horse or fall off your skateboard you have to go back to where you took the fall.” He anchored at Horn Island for the night, along with new friends Rick and Cathy who are sailing in tandem with Nathan in their boat the Valkyrie. Although secured by the new anchor he bought while ashore at Ocean Springs, Waltzing Matilda broke loose and began to drift, but Nathan said he only ended up about a mile offshore. Another problem he encountered was his second bout with snagging a crab trap. The trap line or lines tangled with his propeller, meaning he had to proceed under sail until he could put on a wet suit and go overboard to untangle the mess.
Being back at sea after being ashore made Nathan philosophical. “When I’m ashore I get very lonely but when I’m at sea, I’m fine. I don’t understand it. Being around other people makes me feel alone but when I’m isolated at sea, I don’t have time to get lonely. I’ve heard other sailors say the same thing.”
His month ashore was a great experience, Nathan said. “I had a lovely time in Ocean Springs. A lot of people regret me leaving. I’ve made some good friends there.”
Upon arriving in Pensacola, Nathan is considering more shore time there, perhaps working in the local shipyard or in the hospitality industry due to the upcoming spring break for colleges.
A personal note from Official Correspondent Dad Landry: Thanks to our longtime friends Carol Moore and her daughters Shawn and Jay who showed great hospitality to Nathan while he was in Ocean Springs. Recently Carol’s husband and Shawn and Jay’s father, Fred, passed away from Alzheimer’s disease. Nathan’s mother and I have been friends with Fred and Carol since before Nathan was born and Fred always thought highly of Nathan. When very young, Fred also had some wild sailing adventures – including a shipwreck or two – on the Great Lakes. I’m sorry he was not able to share in Nathan’s trip.
And an editorial note from Nathan: “I have discovered that the alpine hitch is the greatest knot ever. Anybody who takes the time to look that up will discover what I mean by that.”
And that’s the report from Ocean Springs, the Intracoastal Waterway, and soon Pirate’s Cove at Pensacola.

Post script by n8, follow the progress of the Valkyrie and know that I am nearby, they have a SPOT device that updates their GPS positin via the innernets, also I have posted more photos

A drinking village with a fishing problem

2010-02-28T15:37:00.001Z

I awoke about 1:30 the other morning and was taking a leak off my bow when I heard a noise like a little dog yapping and observed a sea otter swimming along the surface of the harbor barking like crazy, not far behind it was an eight foot gator. The sea otter swam between Waltzing Matilda and the neighboring boat on my port side, the gator on the starboard and both out of sight under the dock, I haven't seen the sea otter since but the gator is still hanging around stalking my little dog.
I am still in Ocean Springs MS, still waxing boats and ready to get back underway. The weather has not been co-operative at all, it's cold and nasty one day, sunny and the wind in the wrong direction the next day and cold again the following day. The locals all say this is an unusual winter, it's not supposed to b this cold all through February. There are daffodils sprouting, birds chirping and a nice westerly breeze today, but a nasty storm with gale force winds brewing for tomorrow.
I've made myself handy with the locals, from hanging out at the cheap PBR bar to ascending masts to fix rigging. Bicycling is quite easy since there are relatively few hills and lots of signs indicating that the rode is a bike route, the cars are very respectful, no honking, spitting upon nor flipping off the bike riders. It is a quaint little town with all the trappings of small southern town politics, the local folks are really great and compared to Biloxi this is paradise.

I went to Biloxi via a buddy's boat to see the Mardi Gras parade, I got all of two steps off the pier when two thuggish teenagers with guns and badges approached me and yelled “Sir, dogs are not allowed on the parade route”, I was two blocks away from the parade route but decided this was a sign of what to expect. I began walking away down the beach and the thugs followed me for a bit then lost interest, I toured the remains of neighborhoods, just daffodils in rows up to concrete steps leading to nowhere for blocks, we walked across the HWY 90 bridge back to Ocean Springs. The next day while comparing notes with others I found that the local law had a heyday busting heads and stomping on folks, all in the name of “Law and Order”, good thing I didn't go to the parade, even better that I didn't spend a dime in Biloxi.
I got some skating done, a local took me to a DIY mini ramp that was nice and mellow, 4' high with 10' tranny, 16' wide out in the woods with dogs and mud. All of the local skaters ride surf boards in the summer and wheels in the winter, I need to find a surfboard soon and start catching waves, I hope that Pensacola provides the surf board as I know it has the surf.
Rick and Cathy of the Valkyrie are ready to sail as well, we will be leaving together and traveling East in tandem, we have to anchor at Horn Island at least once, I am a bit apprehensive of returning to Horn Island but when you fall down you have to get up and drop in again or you'll forever be afraid of the ramp.

I've got a digital camera now and have shot a few images,there will be plenty more to follow. I have set up a photo hosting account with the google, check em out here Capt N8's photos

Post Script: I received this email from a former college roommate and got his permission to share it

So I had this dream last night that your spirit was like jumping around on book shelves. It was a completely rambunctious spirit, wild and untamed. You were jumping around and I was trying to talk to you about school. I was telling you that you were right to not go and that it is basically an institution to tame your mind. And not even the professors, even the cool one's are going to do anything but because the very nature of the fact that they are teaching means that they have been tamed in their way of thinking. It was this long explanation to this wild spirit jumping around on bookshelves above me. It wasn't so much you as it was your spirit. Its kind of hard to explain, but I totally woke up and made myself remember the dream. I know it was much more vivid than this description, but I did good remembering that much. It might have been the Mexican food and the margarita I had before bed, but I just thought that it was interesting...
Lee

end Post Script

Snow on Biloxi Bay

2010-02-16T13:49:00.000Z

(Pre Script, I wrote this a few days ago, the innernets is still a new invention here so not as wide spread as in the rest of the world)

It's snowing in Ocean Springs Mississippi, not the most likely place fore snow but as I sit here sipping coffee there is sleet and snow mix coming down. School was canceled before the snow started but the Mardi Gras parade is not, carnival has priority. The snow is not going to stick in this part of the state, not even on the bridges. The man that I've been working for is driving his 4 year old daughter north to build a snow man, she's never seen snow before.

It's cold on Waltzing Matilda so I am inside Harbor Landing Yacht Club nursing cold fingers and a bit of a headache from bashing myself on the companionway hatch, or maybe it's from all the beer, the locals have been showing me the watering holes. I wanted to get out of the winter weather but I haven't made it far enough south yet, by the time I hit southern Florida it may be mid summer. I have no schedule or itinerary, my only time table is the weather and my health. This has been a strange voyage and a great adventure, definitely the most exciting and dangerous I have attempted.

After my near disaster I am happy to stay ashore for a while, I'm not scared of heading back out but I am not ready to tackle the Mississippi Sound again just yet. Waltzing Matilda needs some gear to be ready, a decent dingy, a heavy Bruce anchor, new solar panels, an extra bilge pump, lots of little things. Part of the plan for restoring her was to get down south near more boats and water to find used gear, I am surrounded by boats and marine supply so it is time to take a break and outfit better. I got very lucky when we got washed ashore and don't want to push the luck or tempt Neptune any more than needed. The sea is a harsh mistress, she will punish any foolishness with suffering and death, I am not to adverse to dying, it's suffering till then that concerns me.

Internet access is difficult to come by in this little town, Harbor Landing had access when I first arrived but I haven't seen it since I got rescued. The library is very sad, it is a tiny facility with very few books, their information technology is locked down a with encryption, password access, EULA's and very hard to access. I counted 15 computers running Vindoze XP, a horrible waste of money considering the machines are only allowed to access port 80, they even had the word processor programs removed. The library is situated right next to a very large police department with lots of shiny new cars and plenty of very expensive motorcycles, there seems to be a lot of police for such a small town, but this is the deep south. The library in Houma LA was great, large and well stocked with wide open access on all ports, I believe they were running Ubunutu on their public access machines, that saves thousands of dollars, and they had the theory of open access to information. There is a coffee shop that I have visited twice but the proprietor is very curt and snobbish, their network is password protected and disallows access on most ports so I am looking for a different place to get my bean juice and data.

I need to make some money and get insurance with towing, I heard that one ceases running aground once they get towing insurance, I learned via the bus what a good idea it is to have a tow package when one adventures in antique vehicles

I have some work at the dry storage marina, this time of year everyone needs work done on their boats so that when it warms up the vessel is ready to head out. That makes for some cold weather work for shipwrecked sailors like myself, I spent the last 8 hours waxing a boat by hand and feel like the karate kid, wax gets hard to wipe off when the temperature drops.

My first helicopter ride

2010-02-08T03:20:00.000Z

Two years ago during Bikes Blues and BBQ there was a company giving helicopter rides, I had never been on a helicopter but am too cheap to pay the rates they charge to ride in a dinky little aircraft, besides, Coast Guard helicopters are way cooler.

After being anchored near Horn Island for almost three days I had gotten sick of waiting to get to shore, I really wanted to see the island and Mattie really wanted to run on the beach. The wind has shifted again and I spent another night in 6' waves with 25kt winds, the howling of the rigging was getting annoying. I awoke on Friday morning to slightly less winds and weather reports of another storm coming in. Since the winds had shifted and I was more exposed and wanted to get to the lee side of the island but thought I should avoid the gulf shore and stay in the Mississippi sound so I motored 2 miles around a small point and laid anchor near the ranger station's pier. I anchored in 10' of water and ran out 150' of line on both anchors, rigged a heavier chain on one of them and got ready to ride another day of pounding waves and wind.

I spent all day cleaning, reading and stitching on sails while listening to the radio and the howling winds, in the evening I texted dad to let him know that all was well but I was still off shore trapped in Matilda by the weather. I went to bed around 21:00 and was not too concerned about my anchorage as I had not moved more than 10' all day and I had 2 very heavy anchors out.

I awoke with a start at around 01:00 to the strange “crunch” sound, I thought to myself “Matilda never goes crunch” then I felt a big “BOOM”! I yanked open the companionway hatch and even in the dark I could see that the beach was close, way too close, I felt another BOOM and realized we were being pounded into shore stern first. Part of my storm anchorage procedure is to plan for getting pushed into the beach so I had already pulled the tiller and put a leash on the rudder so that it could break free. I quickly pulled the rudder into the cockpit to avoid damage to it or the stern . There was another big BOOM and Matilda began to roll on her side, the side that is open towards the waves. For you readers that are non-sailors this is bad, for you that are sailors this is very bad. I went forward to heave on the anchor lines hoping to pull her out of the surf, the anchors still had plenty of tension but just dragged through the weedy bottom as Matilda continued to get beaten and take spray through the open companionway. When I realized that there was no way to get her off the beach getting her keel pointed to the surf became very important, even without a rudder I fired the engine and tried to power her despite being aground and hoping not to damage my screw. This worked, she moved ever so slightly and the anchors made just enough drag to swing the bow into the wind and she took the next wave on the port side and rolled over. Now I was not taking on water anymore but I was still just as stuck on the beach, and thats when the waves and wind REALLY picked up.

As the moon rose the waves began breaking over the port rail and Matilda rolled harder into the beach, Mattie was freaking out, I was getting soaked and had the brilliant thought of rowing an anchor out in my kayak, this was one of the dumbest things I have done in a long time but fortunately the water wasn't deep, I got 10' out in a 9' kayak before it capsized. I rolled with it once then waded back to the boat. Mattie was really upset by this time and I decided to use my radio to call someone for help me get off the beach.

There are not many folks monitoring the radio at 01:30, the Coast Guard was the only one that responded to my radio call, I explained the situation and they launched a rescue operation. I told them that I really didn't think I needed to be rescued but they responded that there were vessels en-route and they couldn't let me get killed. I still wasn't grasping the seriousness of the situation because I was right at the shore. Matilda continued to take a beating and I grabbed my “bail out” bag and took my little dog into the kayak, I thought about Chapman's statement that one never steps down into a life raft, always step up when abandoning ship, since it was a kayak and the boat was aground I didn't think that statement applied. I got all of 10' from the boat when the kayak capsized again and I waded to shore with my wet and scared little dog.

The CG boat captain was in contact with me via cell phone and the water was too shallow, the waves too strong and the wind too much for them to get their boats near me, they had a helicopter nearby and it was headed my way. By the time the CG arrived I had walked to the ranger station pier and was hunkered down in a little wooded box that is used for gear storage, even though it was not that cold by Arkansas standards with the wind and wet clothing it was still pretty cold. A USCG swimmer was lowered from the helicopter and found me on the pier, he was very concerned about my health and asked about any injuries and then briefed me on the procedure of getting lifted into a helicopter via basket suspended by a cable. I had never been on a helicopter before and if I wasn't so cold and miserable I might have been excited, but I was worried about my boat and still feeling very stupid for needing a rescue. I felt a less stupid when I saw that the air speed indicator on the USCG helicopter was reading 45 knots while we were hovering to get the swimmer back aboard.
The USCG couldn't raise Gulf Port on the radio so flew me to Mobile, AL, I was getting really worried about being so far inland and wondering how I was going to find my way back to my boat, on the other hand Mattie was quite happy and was a hit with the CG guys, even when she peed on the floor of their station (we really have to deal with the pee problem). The USCG liaison came to get me, escorted me to a waiting taxi and wished me good luck. I asked the taxi driver to take me off base and let me out as I didn't have a whole lot of money, she was a very nice a turned off the meter and drove me to Waffle House. Even though I had hardly any money and was still soaking wet, it was 04:45 and I figured it was about to be a long hard day, better to start it with a hot meal than wet cold and hungry. I smuggled my little dog inside in my bail out bag but she wouldn't stay so I held her on my lap then after eating smuggled her out under my jacket.

I headed south, intent on getting to Pascagoula MS and from there finding my way back to the boat. I started walking south and continued to walk until about 07:30, I had covered only 8 miles and was getting a bit tired already, I haven't been walking much lately. I stopped at a gas station for coffee then started asking patrons if they were headed towards Pascagoula. Unfortunately no one was , even though I didn't ask anyone for money I was given a total of $15 by sympathetic strangers. The gas station employees were sharing the story of my misadventure and folks couldn't give me a ride but figured a few bucks would help. After 2 hours I made a sign that said “Shipwrecked, Pascagoula” and started walking again. I made 5 miles to Highway 90 when an older man hailed me and told me he would give me a ride. He took me all the way to Pascagoula, turns out he was a 50 year veteran of the commercial fisherman trade and was upholding the tradition of the sea, assisting other mariners in need.

I found my way to a marina in Pascagoula and encountered a couple sitting on their sail boat with engines running and sipping wine, I asked if they were headed out but the weather was too rough for them. It would be such a shame to waste a good picnic so they were charging the batteries and enjoying lunch. I explained my situation and they were wonderfully hospitable, they gave me a sack lunch and drove me and Mattie all the way to Ocean Springs, back to the marina we had left four days before.

I found Dave, the owner of the local tow boat operation and explained my situation to him and that I really needed to get back to my boat, the weather was still not co-operating and dave told me not to worry about anyone salvaging Matilda, no one was going out due to the weather. Dave and his family own the Harbor Landing boat storage, restaurant and part of the marina and they were great folks, they put me up in a boat so that I didn't have to sleep outside and made sure that Mattie and I were well fed. Some marina operators are a bit snobbish and rude but these folks are awesome, I've rarely met such generous and hospitable people.

On Sunday the weather was cold but not as windy, no one really wanted to head out to Horn Island in the cold so the restaurant became the most popular place to hunker down and watch super bowl pre-game stuff. After lunch Dave loaded up his boat and we headed off to recover Waltzing Matilda. Through out this whole ordeal I had kept a pretty good sense of humor but as we neared the location I began to worry about loosing my boat and everything in her. As we got closer to the beach I could see a small black dot that slowly began to take the shape of a hull, Matilda came into view still where I left her, lying on her side with drift wood tangled in the mess of anchor lines hanging from her bow. I have never been happier to see her, there was no damage to her hull or rigging and very little water inside considering what a beating she had taken. Dave attached a line to her sampson post and motored out a bit, with a bit of a tug she swung off the sand and into the water. I was elated to see her float again I realized that my voyage was not over, Matilda had survived one of my biggest fears. I motored the 11 miles back to Harbor Landing and on my way home saw more dolphins, I still suspect they are not good luck, it seems to me that they are more like gangsters warning me to stay out of their surf.

I am staying put at Harbor Landing for a little bit, there is a lot of cleaning to do aboard and there is another storm coming on. I've had enough storms lately and I don't feel like challenging the dolphins for territory again so soon.

Waltzing Matilda is proving to be a tough little boat, she is still patient with my inexperience and has shown that she can take a beating. I learned a lot in this most recent adventure, always keep clean socks in your bail out bag, never underestimate the power of a fully charged cell phone battery and the most valuable thing a person can possess is a sense of humor, plus I got to ride in a helicopter.

Post Script, I made the news, again Coast Guard helicopter crew rescues boater & dog stranded in dark on Horn Island

Waltzing Matilda’s L-o-o-o-o-n-g Day; More Dolphins, More Weather

2010-02-07T14:00:00.001Z

February 5, 2010

After spending awhile in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, doing repairs on his boat, Nathan called yesterday to report that he had set sail again. But he didn’t get very far. He sailed and sailed -- eight hours to be exact – and was wondering why he could not get out of sight of the large bridge connecting Ocean Springs with nearby Biloxi. So he did an inspection of his boat. That’s when he found his rudder had ensnared a crab trap and all the while the trap had been hampering his progress. While bemused by it all, he felt bad that he had inadvertently made off with part of somebody’s livelihood.

While sailing, Waltzing Matilda was again joined by dolphins. Nathan said Mattie would bark at them and the dolphins would tease her.

About 7 this morning, I received the following text from him: “30 kt wind, 6 ft sea, lightning fog and rain, and Im still in the Missi sound. Exploring horn [island] today if I can get to shore.”

In my reply, I told him to let us know when he had reached the island.

At 8:20 a.m. I received the following text: “Im @ the isl, can’t get off boat. Anchors have held well for 36 hours, should hold 12 more. Wind reversed but decresed, low cel signal”

Located in about five miles into the Gulf of Mexico due south between Ocean Springs and Pascagoula, Mississippi, Horn Island is a strip of land about 11 miles long and no more than perhaps a half mile across.

About 1:20 a.m. Saturday we were awakened by Nathan’s voice on our answering machine speaker, calling us from Horn Island, Mississippi, where he had been riding out a storm: “I’ve abandoned ship! My boat is breaking up! The Coast Guard is en-route!”

Not the kind of call parents like to get in the middle of the night.

We immediately got in contact with him by text and voice. He and Mattie the dog were on the beach in the wind. They were 50 feet from Waltzing Matilda which was being tossed by the storm, making sickening crunching sounds. For sure it sounded like she was being wrecked, smashed on the beach.

But there’s more to the story.
--Official Correspondent Dad Landry

Matilda's Waltzing with dolphins

2010-01-29T00:39:00.001Z

In the opening chapter of “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” the author talks about the difference between cyclists and auto drivers, he states that behind the windshield the driver is looking at more TV and becomes a passive observer, thus the reality of the the environment is diminished. I have the same theory about nautical navigation, sailors are moved by the environment, all other vessels are creating their own propulsion and internal environment. To many of them the water is just another highway, the screen just more TV. Even the “outdoors men” in their fishing and hunting boats are just passive observers of the world, except the outdoors guys are there to destroy living things and have no regard for other boaters or the weather, they are the most despised by all mariners. Sailors of the faire de la voile persuasion are a part of the environment, we can hear everything (including the fishermen screaming over the motor “look at the sailboat!”) I can hear the hiss of the screws in the water long before I hear the motor of an approaching vessel.

Approaching New Orleans from the west I traveled via the Harvey Canal, the banks of which is a very industrial area with massive amounts of leftover Katrina damage still remaining. There were many factories and fisheries still in ruins and demolished docks jutting into the water. I was thinking what a fun place to explore till I saw the crime scene tape and the mobile police lab and decided it might not be the best place for tourists. The next day I heard on the radio that a couple of gangsters were found executed in one of the old factories, thus the crime scene.

I entered the Mississippi River via the Harvey lock, this is the first lock I have ever been in that didn't have floating mooring bits, the lock operator told me to tune my radio to channel 12 for traffic. As I exited the lock I made the customary navigation statement of my location, heading and destination. Traffic control came on the radio and I realized that they have a navigation pattern that I needed to fit into to get through the French Quarter bend into Industrial Canal. Traffic control has several large towers similar to aircraft control towers and they instructed me to stay close to the shore as there were two downstream barge trains and three upstream ships. I remembered why I hate the Mississippi River, because of the size of the barge trains. The one that I was following had to slide sideways through the bend while a large Army Corps ship was heading upstream. True to traffic control's commands I hugged the right shore, while passing one of the ferry landings I heard the ferry operator call TC and ask if they were aware that “there's a little sailboat out here”. I made the bend and was contacted by the pilot of an upstream oil tanker, he couldn't see me and wanted to know my location, as I rounded the bend the tanker spotted me, it was the biggest ship I have seen yet (and it's a small tanker). All of the captains were quite friendly and wished me happy sailing, I knew that they were all wishing that they could be sailing instead of in a glass booth controlling monstrous vessels.

I moored at South Shore Marina after having lunch with the crew from Texas Two Step (and leaving my rope gloves aboard) and took a much needed shower, the boatswain got her shower too but she didn't enjoy it nearly as much as I did. I took a nice bike tour of New Orleans and made a few discovery's about the town, it's nickname “the Big Easy” is close to reality, it should be “The Big whining sorry “Where my FEMA check” sleazy”. (Watch the Boondocks episode, Invasion of the Katrinians) I had some nice clothes to wear and proudly displayed my Acadian lapel pin as I went through the French Quarter to view the “Natchez” steam vessel. In getting directions I practiced my French on some local girls and they didn't understand a word of it but though it was cute. The Natchez, like everything in the FQ, is just another tourist crap, they were offering tours of the Mississippi River combined with a bus tour of New Orleans but I couldn't get a tour of just the vessel. I found a crew member and discovered that this was not the Natchez that made the historical race to Minneapolis but just some steam vessel thus named. I left the main tourist area and found lunch via following my nose to a great little cafe on Frenchmen Street. While there I met some locals who recommended a local beer and were great company. On their recommendation I went on a search for an Acadian burgee for my boat and found a funky little shop that only sold flags, lots and lots of flags. It was at the flag shop I learned a little bit of Katrina lore, it seems that the only things not looted were the flag shop and Wal~Mart's collection of country western CD's. Since they only had Acadiana flags, and none burgee sized , I purchase a Canadian burgee in case I get blown off course. Canada has a better international reputation that the United States and it could be helpful.

I departed the Marina the next morning after crashing a re-christening ceremony the evening before, once again I heard the very familiar story that Mr. Yazzetti found on the internet about the proper way to re-christen a boat. I hit on the women, drank the free booze, toasted good health and met the skipper while Mattie broke the ice and made friends. Most of the people there were yacht club members but had no boat, Katrina was the primary excuse.

I cast off early Sunday and headed out across Lake Ponchartrain, about the time I was departing the marina a USN T-34 aircraft went down two nautical miles north of my position. I didn't see the aircraft go down but suddenly there were law enforcement boats and aircraft all over the area and I got a bit worried about being boarded. When the USCG announced “pan pan pan” over the radio and notified all mariners about the search I got less worried about dealing with the law.

I sailed all day on a nice mellow beam reach and crossed Lake Ponchartrain, made it through the Hwy 11 lift bridge with no delay and found a little harbor in a private community to anchor in. There were many remains of many docks (Katrina) but I chose to anchor in the middle of the cove so that I would not trespass. I was amazed that people were rebuilding million dollar mansions on a little spit of sand between the cove and the lake, it's like they didn't learn anything from that big storm, even thousands of years ago people were warned to build their homes on rock not sand. After two hours of sleep I awoke to check the anchor, the wind had picked up and I discovered Matilda had dragged towards a sea wall. I pulled up my lines and tried three more times to make anchor but due to the grassy bottom neither my danforth nor kedge would dig in, I finally gave up and tied to a piling by a demolished dock, if the post can withstand 170mph winds it can hold my little boat.

I headed out early in the morning and motored under Hwy 90 when I spotted a sea fort at the lake entrance, since I haven't done enough touristy stuff and I was hoping the wind would calm down a bit I headed over and toured “Pike Fort” named after the same Pike that everyone in Colorado is familiar with. I have marveled at the fact that most of our monuments in the United States are war related, as one who is disgusted by war I would rather go to a museum or visit a monument to learned people than a memorial to slaughter. Pike Fort is where the Seminol's were incarcerated when they were captured in the Okefenokee swamp then deported west to “Indian Territory”, there is no Seminol reservation because the people refused to eat and all died on the trail.

I left the fort and raised my main and genoa, I marveled at my speed, I had a strong tail wind and was running in a strong current making almost 8 knots. I passed through the CSXRR bridge and headed into salty water for the first time. I like to listen to NPR's classical music as I sail and this day they were playing Beethoven, I have been told that dolphins like music, especially Beethoven. As I came into Lake Borgne I saw a dorsal fin nearby, then another, then both a bit closer until I had two dolphins off my lee rail escorting Matilda into the bay. Such amazing creatures, they would come withing 20' of the boat and roll onto their sides to look at me, then swim under the keel and ride the bow wave, as I approached the ICWW they slowed down and and faded into the distance on my stern. I thought this to be a good sign, dolphins were considered good luck by ancient mariners.

On this day I couldn't have been more wrong.

I noticed the wind had increased quite a bit, NOAA was saying 10-15kt winds but I was having difficulty already and thought that these winds were higher than any I had dealt with yet, the wind was coming from the west and I was headed east so I had a very strong tail wind. The seas began to build and the wind increased as the day went on and I began to have difficulty controlling Matilda, she has a hull speed of 6.2kts and I was averaging 6.2kts, when I would surf down the face of a wave she would hit 7 or 8 knots and then as my bow dug into the trough she would slow down and try to twist into the wind as the wave I just surfed broke. It was getting rougher and I was having more difficulty controlling the rudder when I had a large wave break over the stern and ship water into the cockpit for the first time, this didn't scare me but I realized that I might be in a bit over my head for a novice sailor. About the time that thought registered I had an accidental jibe, for you non sailors, this is when the boom swings violently from one side to the other, with a tail wind it is even more violent. I had a preventer rigged (non sailors, this is line to prevent the violent swing) but the power of the jibe broke my preventer mount and I realized that I would have to heave to (face the wind) or do more damage to my boat, lots more damage. I fired the engine to hold the boat into the wind but I forgot to turn the fuel on. I throttled up and the engine coughed and died, I think I found the fuel leak, air got into the fuel line and the little diesel refused to start.
Now I was dead in the water with main sail flapping and right in the middle of the ICWW, anytime anything goes badly there is always a barge to contend with, this time there were four of them. I quickly hoisted a reefed jib sheet and sailed about 2 miles north of the main channel with the wind still howling and the little dog puking in the cabin, poor Mattie got so seasick. I got into shallow water and dropped anchor but Matilda refused to swing into the wind, instead she wallowed in the troughs taking water on the decks and really making for a rough ride. I made certain to stay lashed to my safety lines at all times and dropped my jib, lashed the main sail but still couldn't get Matilda to face the waves. I spotted another sailing vessel in the ICWW with both sails down and radioed her to ask how to get my vessel into the wind. The captain of “Emanuel” advised to run a line from the anchor rode to the windward winch and pull some tension, that should get her to point windward. It didn't help much .she was still rolling hard and everything that wasn't secured inside was bouncing around, including a sick little dog. I got out my sea anchor (a small parachute) and rigged it on my aft main stays to catch some wind and pull her to point into the waves, that helped a little bit, so now I was rolling less and finally able to get below. I hadn't eaten much all day as I got a late start and the wind was too strong for me to take a break from the tiller, so I was extremely hungry, tired and slightly dehydrated, and that's when the captain got seasick. I didn't actually vomit but I got motion sickness and even when I went on deck the rolling was still so strong that it didn't help much. Finally as the sun began to set the wind eased up just a bit (but not the waves) and I dropped onto the floor and took a twenty minuet nap.
When I awoke I felt a lot better but the dog was still puking and not having a good time, I put her in her basket and moved her near the engine compartment where the rolling and pitching was less, she was so sick she just lay there limply, not even whining. I ate a can of chicken noddle soup and went on deck to clean up some loose lines and things. At dark the winds picked up again, I turned on the anchor light and was dismayed to find that it was out, I couldn't climb the mast in the waves and wasn't about to try dropping it so I relied on the solar powered deck lights to illuminate me. This time Matilda stayed faced into the wind and I crawled into my berth to get some much needed sleep. I marked my position on the GPS and awoke through the night to check for drift, I could see that I was drifting a bit but being ten miles off shore there are not too many things to hit so dragging anchor is not that big of a deal, throughout the night I dragged .25 of a mile.

When the sun came up the waves and wind had decreased and it looked to be a great day for sailing, I had a single empty barge passing about .25 mile to the north cutting between two channels but since it was daylight I wasn't worried about visibility. Mattie was still feeling ill but I was able to get her to drink some water, she stayed in her basket on deck and only whined a little bit. I sailed in much better conditions to Biloxi and found anchorage near the Hard Rock Casino thanks to the way points that captain Rick loaded into my GPS.

I have a lot of maintenance to do on Waltzing Matilda, we are at a marina in Ocean Springs Mississippi, the cheapest marina I have ever found (thanks to mom!), near down town with electricity and water for $10 a night, in marina terms this is super cheap.

Police after Waltzing Matilda?

2010-01-24T21:43:00.000Z

January 24, 2010
After spending some time in New Orleans, Nathan set sail on Lake Pontchartrain, the big 630-square mile saltwater lake just north of the city. About mid-day today he called us to tell of a seaplane that had been flying low overhead and that he could see flashing blue lights on a boat coming toward him. The less than stellar reputation of some members of the New Orleans Police Department initially was one of the reasons he had planned to avoid New Orleans and he called to give us a heads up that it looked like he was about to be stopped by the police. Then he hung up. About twenty or thirty minutes later called back to say that it had been a Coast Guard vessel that approached him. They were on a search mission for a downed military training jet. there were no police involved. (correction by N8, I was approached by two Sheriff's department boats, buzzed by a Sheriff's float plane and the Coast Guard made an announcement by VHF16, telephone looses some in translation)
He’s on his way toward Biloxi, Mississippi, planning to arrive in about a week (dependent, as always, upon the weather)
If you’d like to mail him anything, his next postal stop will be
Nathan Landry General Delivery United States Post Office 1581 Bienville Boulevard Ocean Springs, MS 39564

--Official Correspondent Dad Landry

12 miles from New Orleans

2010-01-22T08:35:00.001Z

This whole adventure started with a joke on the Illinois River somewhere between Siloam Springs and Hanging Rock Camp OK. We had 3 people and 60 beers (the goat came later) and one of us kept saying, "we can keep going you know, this river will take us to New Orleans".

What a long strange journey it has been, the Arkansas River and her amazing beaches the mighty Mississippi and it's nasty infections, tornadoes on the Atchafalaya and being lost in bayou for a day or two. I am a few miles from Harvey Canal, at least thats what the map says but it may be a pooka canal, only the and pure hearted can see it. Tomorrow I will return to the Mississippi for a short jaunt through down town New Orleans to cross into "Industrial Canal", (not the most romantic of names but it gets the point across) and into Lake Ponchartrain. I'd like to find a place to secure Waltzing Matilda and maybe even Mattie, she got us in a bit of trouble with the library at Houma, seems that little dogs pooping next to rusty bicycles are a "hazard". Fortunately the big evil corporate monster under the golden arches has Wifi, thus I was able to get charts on the laptop. I bought a cup of coffee from the BECM and tried not to skid on the floor, seems that the golden arch company mops the floor with grease and it was like ice skating, with less control.

I need to do the tourist thing, see museums, experience culture, I tried to win opera tickets for Friday night via radio but the host of the local NPR didn't give out the area code when he called for caller five to win, but I did meet a very nice man via mis-dialing, unfortunately he didn't know the area code for New Orleans either. I've heard a lot of bad things about the big easy but I have been fed so much mis-information on this journey that I have stopped giving too much weight to hearsay, for instance, the Mississippi does not boil mud, there are no man eating gators in the Atchafalaya in December, coon-ass is not a bad word.

I met a group of very nice coonasses on the ICWW today, four young men in a bass boat quite curious about me, I hailed them and bummed a beer. They motored along side of me for a while explaining some of the local nomenclature and telling me I should try to make the football game in N.O. on Sunday, the Saints are in the play offs. I didn't think it was the best time to tell them that I hate sports, the more organized the more I loath them. Axles of kickball are about as organized as I care to engage in and even then I get too competitive. The coonasses motored off and about an hour returned headed the opposite direction, the pull along side and gave me a 12 pack of Bud Light with instructions to tell everyone that coonass is not a bad word and are pretty good people, except for them coonasses from uptabayou.

Side note, I have used 1 roll of TP so far, thats 1 roll for 60 days, take note.

Waltzing Matilda Gets Shot; Impresses Barge Operators.

2010-01-19T01:28:00.001Z

January 18, 2010
“My boat got shot,” said Nathan in his phone call today. He hadn't mentioned anything earlier, but New Year's Day he had found a spent 9mm bullet on the roof of his boat and there was paint from Waltzing Matilda on it. This week he found a bullet hole. Damage was minimal: “It hit the strongest place on the top of my boat, where the structural members support the mast.” He surmises that someone shot their pistol off on New Year's Eve and the bullet came down and hit Waltzing Matilda.

“It's something I've acquired in Louisiana: my boat got shot.”

Today, Nathan experienced his first rough sea in open water. NOAA weather radio had predicted 5 knot winds and 1-foot seas; however winds were higher – Nathan estimated they were 25 knots and seas were 3 feet.

He had sailed out of Cypremont Point into West Cote Blanche Bay, on into Bayou Sale Bay, then up Wax Lake Pass on the Intracoastal Waterway toward New Orleans. He went through the shallow waters of one of the largest oil fields in North America over a spiderweb of pipelines.

“Today was one of the very few times the wind was going the direction I wanted to go. The wind was 60 degrees to my bow. As I made it around the point, I got a 90 degree wind dead on my beam. The boat heeled over, the lee rail was touching the water from time to time. The boom was off the water about a foot and a half.

“It's great: the foam, the spray on the deck, the waves washing the deck -- I'm having a wonderful time. Then the dog gets seasick.

“While we're rolling, I lash the rudder down (after all, I went in the same direction for four hours), and went below and needed to stow some things that were rattling around. The second I went below, I got vertigo. As soon as my head was out of the cabin, I was fine. Back in the cabin and after awhile I got vertigo again. This must be what causes seasickness.

“I had a great time on those waves and in the wind. I was a little scared when going out because I wasn't sure how this little boat would handle the waves. But it was awesome. There were waves every three seconds.”

Leaving the open seas of the Gulf of Mexico, Waltzing Matilda headed northeast on the Intracoastal Waterway, then shifted to due east with the wind cooperating, coming directly from the west. Hoisting just his forward genoa sail, and with the diesel motor on, Nathan made 6.8 knots and used very little fuel. (He likes his new GPS unit because he can tell his speed).

As Nathan has gained experience on the rivers, he is gaining the respect of the barge operators. Today, while sailing in line with barges on the Intracoastal, he was able to both meet the sailing demands of Waltzing Matilda and professionally communicate with barge tugs.

Barge radioing to another barge: “I'm going to pass at one whistle (port-to-port or left side-to-left side). There's also a little sailboat. Looks like he's at two whistle (passing starboard-to-starboard or right side-to-right side). Nathan: “This is Waltzing Matilda. I'll pass at one whistle.” Barge operator: “Waltzing Matilda – I see you at one whistle.” Second barge: “Wow. It's really unusual for a pleasure craft who knows anything about radio operations. Other barge: “Yeah. It's really surprising to see someone in a sailboat who knows anything about navigation.”

According to Nathan: “Now they not only not make fun of me, but now they give me pointers. A month ago I was a navigation hazard. Now I'm a novice.”

So busy is ship traffic on the Intracoastal that at Morgan City, Louisiana, there is a traffic controller. A barge operator advised Nathan to be in touch with them. “You go as slow as we do, so you need to be on their radar,” the barge operator said.

Even as we spoke on the phone this evening, a loud diesel motor could be heard in the background: a crew boat for an oil rig.

“I'm having a wonderful time,” Nathan said. “It's great to be back on the water. And I'm sitting here with a scrawny little dog on my lap.”

--Official Correspondent Dad Landry

Visiting Waltzing Matilda

2010-01-18T14:48:00.000Z

January 17, 2010

Barbra and I were in south Mississippi for the funeral of a friend late last week, so Saturday we drove west about four hours and met up with Nathan in southern Louisiana. Weather and rudder problems docked Waltzing Matilda for several days at a yacht club at Cypremort Port in Vermilion Bay of the Gulf of Mexico. Nathan is in territory where there are not a lot of roads, at least on the map. Google Maps and cell phones sure made it easy to find him in Louisiana swamp country. In the fog, mist and rain we arrived at where Waltzing Matilda was docked to find Nathan and Mattie the dog waiting for us. Mattie is skittish with strangers and even though she met Barbra and me once before, she did not warm up to us, preferring to be held in Nathan’s arms.

It was good to see Nathan. He indicated that instead of attempting to sail in the Gulf of Mexico, he’s going to take the Intracoastal Waterway toward Florida. He’d have to go out fifty miles to find deep enough water in the Gulf and he doesn’t want to deal with the oil rigs and their traffic.

We drove to New Iberia and met Glenn and Doris Holcomb, parents of Nathan’s college friend Ragan. Waltzing Matilda earlier had spent two weeks docked in the river behind their beautiful home. In the backyard and pictured above with Nathan is the biggest oak tree I think I’ve ever seen: it’s believed to be more than 300 years old. Glenn said “We didn’t buy the house, we bought the tree.” Indeed, it is beautiful. Doris, Barbra, Nathan, and I then went to lunch at a down-home local place featuring Cajun food. Glenn stayed home to rest following a business trip. Working internationally in the oil business, Glenn said he’s found that roads in China are mapped better than those in the swamps of Louisiana. Glad Nathan docked near a major road so we could find him! I came through this country forty years ago and was struck by the isolation and poverty here at that time. On this trip I noted people in hardscrabble conditions in the back country, but was amazed at the development of local communities and highways since I was here last. Everything seems geared to the oil business and there are billboards advertising jobs on oil rigs and in support services. No recession here for people with the right skills (machinists, marine licensees, welders). After lunch, Doris took Nathan back to Waltzing Matilda and Barbra and I headed back for Arkansas. At home the next night we found a cell phone message from Nathan saying he had set sail and that he had a story to tell us the next time we talked. Something regarding a bullet hole in the side of Waltzing Matilda. A bullet hole? Stay tuned…

--Official Correspondent Dad Landry

Wave at Waltzing Matilda?

2010-01-14T05:13:00.000Z

January 13, 2009
Nathan is finally out of the Intracoastal Waterway and is in the Gulf of Mexico. He’s glad that he can finally use his sails and not burn diesel fuel. He’s two miles offshore, but keeps getting stuck in the mud because the dirty water is only 3 to 6 feet deep. A fisherman helped him get unstuck once. Another time, he was on the radio with a barge and the barge operator said “Hey, want me to throw you a wave?” Sure enough, the wake from the barge rocked him loose.
Nathan’s larder is full, he’s loaded with fuel and food, he has a business sponsor -- Map Oil Tools -- and “a couple of dollars in the bank now” because some people are sending donations to PayPal. He said “Even $5 or $10 a month would buy him a gallon or two of fuel.”
--Official Correspondent Dad Landry

Out of the Bayou

2010-01-11T14:29:00.001Z

It has been dandy but I am headed out of the bayou today, there is a wreck that I spotted and would like to see if I can salvage some bits from it. I am in no hurry and may be headed to Cypremort Point State Park or I might skip that and head to Grand Island State Park. Either way I am rested, clean and ready to be back underway.
(edit)
Delayed for a day by the bridge that wouldn't open

Still in Louisiana

2010-01-05T16:41:00.000Z

I am still anchored in the bayou Teche near New Iberia LA, (N29°58.790' W091°45.260')having a lovely time and hosted by wonderful people. Still trying to get the boatswain to stop growling at the host!
A couple of friends were concerned about my sailing into the sunset with only a compass so we all went in 1/3rds and bought a nice little hand held GPS unit. It comes loaded with plenty of maps, road maps. I have to figure out how to get the intracoastal canal on it, and the names of all the bays, bayous and lakes that are connected without spending a whole bundle of money on the software. I was also given a decent used laptop that was running a corrupt version of Vindoze that quickly sucked the battery dry. Now it has a nice light version of Debian on it so I will be able to hit coffee shops when I come to shore.

Holed up due to a massive cold front headed this way, then off to the sea for me. I have enjoyed this break immensely but I am getting restless and ready to be sailing again.

Ahoy from 2010

2010-01-01T16:52:00.001Z

I made my journey's first step and am recuperating from the rigors of the rivers quite well. Have been sleeping indoors, eating cooked food and spending very little time aboard Waltzing Matilda, Mattie is getting royal treatment and has shown that she is easily bribed via ham. We spent NYE together in a barn napping on bales of alfalfa surrounded by horses while it rained on the locals. I am not too keen on getting my head wet in the cold and naps in the hay loft is why we invented Jägermeister anyway.

I have taken on provisions, restocked fuel, done a little bit of work and made a little bit of money and despite the wonderful hospitality I am looking forward to getting into the gulf and getting underway. Thanks to The Google I am able to browse satellite images and determine a good course as well as find interesting things to see along the way. My next destination is as follows:(subject to change via captain's whim)

In a few days I will depart New Iberia nd head back down the Teche Bayou canal to the intracoastal and into the gulf at Jaws Bay. There I will set sail and head south west (still going west) to Cypremort Point State Park on Vermillion Bay. Cypremort Point State Park caters to sailing and sailboats so even in the off season I should be able to have a good place to practice sailing in larger waters. The rivers are too tiny and narrow to really set sail and having cliffs and trees around all the time makes the wind do funny things. I am going to spend a few days learning the gulf then head east (finally) to Grand Isle State park. This will be my 1st time out in the gulf navigating via compass but I will still be in sight of land the whole time.

From Grand Isle I will be headed north east, back into the bays and bayous to the town of Empire LA, about 90 miles south of New Orleans. Once there I will take a lock back into the mighty Mississippi and travel downstream a few miles to another lock at Ostrica, LA and into Quarantine Bay. Still heading north east I will sail through Chandeleur Sound to Ship Island MS. This will be my 1st time out so far that I may not be able to see land and I will definitely be reliant on my compass. One of the largest shipping fleets in the world operates in these waters so it's not like I will be alone, there are many oil rigs and various transports, hopefully no more plethora of flat bottom aluminum boats or those obnoxious fan boats. As I near Biloxi Bay I plan on a visit to Fort Massachusetts. I have not been doing enough tourist things on this voyage and it is time to start making up for that now that I am off the rivers and (soon) out of the bayous.

Lots of work to do on Matilda, got a few things I need to aquire before I hit the bay (like a life boat).

Here are posts about the restore of the Waltzing Matilda with video and images from Hillbillyfunk.blogspot.com
Engine and float test in beaver lake
The saga of restoration
Boat moving day!
More about the boat
I bought a boat!

Ahoy hoy from the Gulf coast!

2009-12-30T15:12:00.001Z

this is Captian Nathan writing, I have reached New Iberia, LA and am currently at anchor at the Holcomb's house on the Bayou Teche. The Intracoastal waterway took me from Morgan City to "somewhere" near a little town named Landry. I ran after dark trying to make in closer to New Iberia and followed the tug "Jo Ann Marie" for several hours to avoid being run down as well as to keep my bearings. In the dark everything becomes strange and my body has no way to deal with the odd images my eyyes are recieving, so I get vertigo and hallucinations. Following a tug allows me to have a fixed point of reference as well as a big safety zone, if the tug hits anything it moves whatever it hit, sometimes it moves it right under the tug and into his wake so I run just on the starboard prop wash.

I cruised until I came to a private cable ferry that serves a salt mine and pulled into a drainage ditch, it was a nice 6' deep with a soft muddy bottom 1/2 mile from an entrance to West Cote Bay in the gulf. Little did I know I anchored at high tide. I slept in and when i awoke my 1st thougth was, "I don't remember seeing those rocks last night". Matilda was not in the mud, yet, I had all of 3 inches beneath her keel.

My cell phone was out of airtime and Regan was trying to find me, she called the ferry operator and said that she was looking for her friend "in a little sailboat", the ferry captian responded, "I'm looking right at him" and gave Regan directions to find me. I left Matilda for about 24 hours and went into town to do some much needed laundry, have my 1st indoor hot shower since I left the Arkansas and get some innernetting done. I was also able to use the google to find a route from where Waltzing Matilda was to the Holcomb's house. When I call on the radio to inquire about my position I often have to answer the question "You came from where without charts?"

Upon my return to Matilda I had to wait for the tide, she was settled into the mud rudder first as her aft anchor had been hit by a sport fisherman and was not keeping her in the canal correctly, no damage done. I had a few hours to kill and chatted with the ferry operator as his leisure time permitted, cleaned inside the boat and petted my dog. At 11:30 I was ready to move, I had risen 2" with the tide and using my little "hooker" anchor I turned Matilda 180 degrees and moved her out of the ditch into the intracoastal.

I backtracked about 3 miles to the canal that leads to the Teche bayou motored up the Teche river. It was really pretty with so many houses and lawns coming right to the water's edge, lots of parks and people out to wave hello as I putted past. I came to the 1st low bridge and had to call a telephone number to get the transportation department to open the bridge for me to pass. Despite being curtiuos and polite on the phone the state employee was nasty nasty nasty! very rude and curt and then informed her bridge operator that I was rude to her, this was relayed to me via radio from the bridge operator. When I am 700 miles from home I am not rude to anyone, especially not someone I need to open a bridge for me. I assume it has something to do with being a state employee nearing the end of a shift right before a holiday. No matter, the bridges opened and I ran in the dark all the way to New Iberia. I had to pass one barge in the dark and we stayed in constant communication in order to make it past each other safely.

as I approached the "Olivier" (pronounced O live A) bridge I radioed "This is sailing vessel Waltzing Matilda, I am approaching the Olivier bridge". As soon as I released the microphone key I saw fireworks go off on the far side of the bridge, a signal to me from the Holcomb's welcoming me to their home. I had to wait 30 min for the bridge operator to get to his location and open the bridge and when I came ashore there was cold beer, hot food and great company waiting next to a big bonfire.

Waltzing Matilda is currently anchored in the Teche with a makeshift gangplank of old packing crates and a kayak to make shore access, I am showered, shaved and in clean clothing and Mattie is quite pampered. She has adjusted to boat life after a few hard weeks and is the best boatswain I have ever had.

Waltzing Matilda in “Another World”

2009-12-30T15:11:00.002Z

December 26, 2009
This will be a long one, as Nathan had quite a bit to say.
Waltzing Matilda was two miles west of Morgan City, Louisiana, when Nathan called this afternoon. He’s gone about 730 miles on this more than month-long water adventure. Now, only about twenty miles of Louisiana swamp separate him from the Gulf of Mexico.
He’s on the Intracoastal Waterway sailing with a tailwind of about 3 knots. “It does feel weird to be going west,” he said. But he’s headed toward New Iberia, Louisiana, where he plans to tie up for perhaps a week at the waterfront home of the father of his friend Ragan. The next major checkpoint will be Vermillion Bay of the Gulf of Mexico.
Nathan and Ragan met while both were students at Northeastern State University in Oklahoma and they often partnered up for swing dancing. Ragan apparently wants them to go dancing at some place in Louisiana where the dance is from 7:30 a.m (that’s right, a.m.), to noon. So strange is that arrangement that the bar serves breakfast.
Nathan described Morgan City, which he just passed, as a petroleum center and a major port and it’s where he saw his first oceangoing ship on this trip. Although small by ocean standards, the ship he saw was perhaps 80 feet tall and 300 feet long and made Waltzing Matilda seem very insignificant. At Morgan City the ocean ships transfer containers to the river barges. And it was there that he also saw a derelict iron-hulled three-masted schooner rusting and listing.
The barges have been smaller where Nathan is now, compared to the monsters he had to contend with on the Mississippi River. “Where I’m at now, the water is as smooth as glass, there’s no current at all. There’s a barge a half mile ahead and one is creeping up behind but I’m off to the side and out of his way.” As we carried on our phone conversation, Nathan began to speak perhaps as much to himself as to us about the barge behind him “This guy’s not going to give me any room here.” Then: “You might be able to hear his tug as he comes by” (we didn’t). “He’s the Thomas E. Rollins and he has two empty liquid containers for diesel fuel.”
Diesel fuel is a problem for Waltzing Matilda. He’s very low on fuel, although he has been burning discarded crankcase oil, of which he has a half gallon. Baldwin, Louisiana, will be “my first time at panhandling,” Nathan said. “I’ll find a gas station and I’ll have my fuel can and will play my violin and have a sign that says ‘Will work for diesel fuel and dog food.’”
Colorful storytelling, but I think he was serious.
If anyone were around Nathan in the lonely Louisiana swamps where he is sailing, it might appear to them that Mattie the dog is piloting the Waltzing Matilda. In the calm water Nathan sometimes sets the sales and lashes the tiller. Mattie likes to lie across the tiller, so Nathan tells her “Okay, you drive the boat, I’m going to go below and make some coffee.” And it looks like Mattie is indeed “driving.”
“I really like Louisiana,” Nathan said, despite its marshland. “It’s a different world. For instance, in the swamp there are no pickup trucks; instead people get around in boats.” He has been in places where it’s swampland for a hundred miles in any direction. “There are some interesting characters living on the waterfront here.” In one case he saw a wrecked mobile home that was floating on 55-gallon drums. It had a sign that read: “No Trapossing.” Another sign reflected the circumstances of water everywhere: “Groceries delivered by truck or boat.”
However, there was one place where he did come across some pickup trucks; in fact, there were 5 to 6-hundred of them gathered at a hunting spot. Someone had bagged a big black boar and Nathan said he told them it was the ugliest deer he had ever seen.
“The swamp is beautiful,” according to Nathan, “Although the foliage is down due to winter. There are lily pads all over and there’s floating foliage and cypress and Spanish moss and lots of owls. I see and hear all kinds of birds. I saw alligator tracks.”
Other news of the Waltzing Matilda:
--He’s heard French spoken on the ship’s radio. And as he nears the ocean ships he’s heard Chinese.
--Christmas dinner consisted of canned ham and potatoes.
--Given the complexity of waterways and channels in Louisiana, Nathan said he got lost on the Atchafalaya River. Then he qualified his statement, indicating that he wasn’t completely lost. I guess it was like the statement by early American explorer and pioneer Daniel Boone: “I have never been lost, but I will admit to being confused for several weeks.”
Tonight, Nathan expects to for the first time start noting the ocean’s tide and its effects inland. The tidal change, he said, should be about two feet. As we wrapped our conversation today, Nathan made one more observation that reflected optimism and that was worthy of a sailor.
“Today,” he said, “The sun rose one-half minute earlier than it did yesterday. The days are getting longer.”

Waltzing Matilda’s Schedule? “Everything is Based upon Weather.”

2009-12-30T15:11:00.001Z

December 24, 2009
“The cove I stopped in has served quite well,” Nathan said in a phone call the morning of Christmas Eve. “It was eerie while I was talking on the phone with Ragan getting directions on how to go through the canals when I heard the tornado sirens go off ten miles north of me. I saw clouds but I didn’t see a tornado. On the local radio they said ‘Take cover now and if you’re in a mobile home get out of it.’” But weather in the cove where Nathan is was not bad. Today, he described the water in the cove “As smooth as glass but with raindrops.”
Quite a few raindrops, apparently. Yesterday two feet of rain fell upstream from him. As a result, the locks on the Atchafalaya River are closed and if he sets sail he’ll be unable to leave the river until he arrives in Morgan City in the south of Louisiana. But he’s not planning on going anywhere for awhile. “Everything is based on weather, no matter what my time schedule is,” he said.
Despite being buttoned up inside the Waltzing Matilda, Nathan said “I’m very exposed to the elements. Water was dripping on my head this morning – the dog was unhappy about that. But when it rains two inches in an hour everything gets wet.”
For now, Nathan said he is “catching up on my sewing, cleaning the boat a bit and doing laundry on the deck in the nice clean water.” The Atchafalaya is much cleaner than the Mississippi, “There’s fish here,” he said. And helping him to pass the time “Everybody and his brother has called to wish a Merry Christmas.”
While he says he’d like to perhaps find a church where he can have Christmas dinner, his plan otherwise is to enjoy canned ham. He says he’s only eating about 900 calories a day – he’s got plenty of food but says he doesn’t need to eat much. He sleeps eight to ten hours a night, much of it, he said, induced by stress (presumably a lot of that from being on the Mississippi River).
When the weather clears he will run toward New Iberia, Louisiana, mainly on diesel power, since the canals are too small to sail in. Years ago Nathan had an old diesel Mercedes which he rigged up to burn cooking oil. Whenever he would drive by, his car often smelled like french fries. A problem with that fuel was that in cold weather it could congeal and clog his fuel system. In Louisiana, Nathan said “It’s getting warm enough now that I can start looking for veggie oil for fuel. It is an advantage to having a diesel engine, right?”
We’ll join Nathan by telephone again tomorrow night along with our daughter, Amber, and son-in-law, Eric, flying in Christmas night to what we hope will turn into the first white Christmas Northwest Arkansas has had in 34 years.
On behalf of Captain Nathan and crew member Mattie the Dog, let me as official correspondent of the Waltzing Matalida, wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy

Waltzing Matilda: “Battening Down the Hatches” for a Storm

2009-12-30T15:10:00.001Z

December 23, 2009
It was a year ago today that Nathan put the down payment on Waltzing Matilda. After taking possession he spent much of the past year restoring her. Although solid on the outside, Matilda needed a lot of interior work. Having launched her from Van Buren, Arkansas, on November 22, tonight Waltzing Matilda, Mattie the Dog, and Nathan are tucked away in a cove on the Atchafalaya River in Louisiana.
“I’m battening down the hatches and preparing for a big storm tonight,” Nathan said. Bad weather has been building for three days and the forecast calls for 40-70 mile-per-hour winds plus the possibility of tornadoes. Nathan said he is anchored well in a small cove in an eddy in about 15 feet of water. If his anchor breaks loose, Waltzing Matilda will just go back into small trees; in fact, none of the trees is more than 3 inches in diameter, meaning they would do little harm if any blow over on the boat.
He did some damage to his mast today. He had to lower it because he was unable to clear a railroad bridge. Putting the mast back up by himself took hours and in the course of doing so he damaged the place where the boom ties into the mast. “Part of the learning curve,” according to Nathan. “I’ll have to fix it.”
He’s glad to be off the Mississippi which he said required total concentration at all times. There are barges on the Atchafalaya River, but they’re smaller than the monster water trains he had to dodge on the Mississippi. He only made 13 miles today: lowering and raising the mast took time; also, it took him an hour to get through a lock. Seems the lock operator was a colorful Cajun guy and “there was lots to talk about.”
Last night he camped with some guys and said he had a great time as they enthusiastically welcomed him to Louisiana.
Mattie the Dog is adjusting to life aboard the boat. She’s a tremendous watchdog because if anyone approaches the boat, she is able to sound like a big dog when she barks. Nathan has tried to sneak up on her in the kayak but couldn’t do it. Even while with the guys at the campsite last night, she was suspicious of the strangers.
On her first anniversary with Nathan, Waltzing Matilda is at anchor, perhaps for a day or more due to the weather. “With the big storm coming, I’m glad I’m off the Mississippi,” Nathan said. “I haven’t had a day off for two weeks.”

Waltzing Matilda: “I’m in a Small Boat and I Need Small Water”

2009-12-30T15:08:00.002Z

December 22, 2009
“The Mississippi River is just killing me,” said Nathan regarding his decision to leave the Mississippi River and sail south instead on the Atchafalaya River deep in Louisiana Cajun country. “The barge traffic is just intense and they’re always in my way. I’m in a small boat and I need small water. The Mississippi is not so big and scary and gnarly any more, but today sixteen barges went by and I had to wait on them.” Also, south of Baton Rouge, the Mississippi river traffic includes ocean going container ships.
Nathan intends to eventually end up in New Iberia, Louisiana, and tie up for awhile at the dock of the dad of a friend, Ragan. Looking at the map I have no idea how he’ll eventually end up in New Iberia from near Southern Mississippi where he is camping tonight. Earlier this week he had me on Google Maps to find the canal route from Baton Rouge to Morgan City, Louisiana, and I got lost! Tough to trace the route on the map: rivers and channels and bayous and lakes and I was glad that I really wasn’t in a boat trying to find my way. I communicated by e-mail with Ragan telling her of my problem in helping Nathan navigate; she said a friend of her dad’s is a local Cajun and he could tell Nathan how to find his way through the area.
While traveling the Atchafalaya River, Nathan said on his west bank will be St. Landry Parish (parishes, of course, are the counties of Louisiana). It’s named for a seventh century bishop of Paris and there are a lot of people named Landry in Louisiana. Although they’re of a different family line, they, like we, are descended from the Acadians, the French settlers of Nova Scotia, forcibly deported by the British in 1755. Some Acadians came to Louisiana (“Cajun” is a corruption of “Acadian”), others remained in (or in the case of our family, escaped back to) Quebec. Last summer Nathan met some of his Acadian relatives in Quebec when he hitchhiked to our family reunion on the Gaspe Peninsula.
The water on the southern Mississippi River is foul, Nathan said. “I haven’t seen a jumping fish break the surface in a hundred miles. Even the dog won’t drink it.”
Tonight he is camping on the river with some locals he met. I’m not sure if they’re on the banks of the Mississippi or if they’re by the Atchafalaya.
There is a lot of Mississippi River barge traffic and the water is bad, “But,” Nathan said, “I’m having a good time.”

Waltzing Matilda Nears Natchez

2009-12-30T15:08:00.001Z

December 20, 2009

Reporting he was forty miles north of Natchez, Mississippi, with a nice westerly wind abeam, Nathan had good sailing today.
He spent last night at the city dock in Vicksburg, next to a sightseeing pontoon boat, the Sweet Olive. Sweet Olive’s captain took Nathan into town to buy diesel fuel. Waterfront downtowns look depressed, according to Nathan, “Nobody’s waterfront has anything to do with the river economy. They’re decrepit, stores are abandoned. There might be a few businesses downtown but everybody else has gone out by the Wal-Mart. I go ashore someplace and say ‘Where’s a grocery store?’ and they say ‘Oh, it’s out on Highway 85 about six miles out.’”
Another good thing about sailing today has been absolutely no barge traffic. Until late this afternoon: then four barge trains went by. The barge trains, of course, make wakes “And there’s a big wake when two of them pass,” he said. Also, when the river is a hundred feet deep, “weird hydrological patterns” develop. The force of the wake hits bottom and bounces back up, mixing with the wake waves already on the surface. “I’ve had four foot waves,” Nathan said. “One of them I think lifted the keel right out of the water. We seemed to just balance on top of it. It’s kind of exciting.” Mattie the dog, who earlier got nervous when Nathan had to rock-n-roll fast upstream to avoid hitting riprap, apparently is taking it all in stride. This time, in the waves, Mattie merely awoke from sleeping on her mat and lifted up her head, but did not get agitated.
Jerry Bell, the Mississippi River canoe vagabond Nathan had met in Greenville, advised Nathan not to sail into crime ridden New Orleans. As a result, upon arrival at Baton Rouge, Nathan intends to head due south on a canal that eventually reaches the Gulf of Mexico to the west of New Orleans.
Earlier today Nathan overtook Jerry on the river and invited him aboard for tea. Jerry rode with Nathan for about three hours. He enjoyed being on the Waltzing Matilda. “This sailin’ stuff is pretty good,” Jerry said, “You don’t hafta paddle.”

Waltzing Matilda Back on the River; Nathan Meets “Nobody.”

2009-12-30T15:07:00.001Z

December 18, 2009
“Rockin’ downstream” is how Nathan described today’s conditions, 40 miles north of Vicksburg, Mississippi, on the Waltzing Matilda. He’s running mostly by sail, having used the diesel engine perhaps five minutes to charge his batteries and to put more distance between himself and a barge train.
“Things are going quite well today,” he said, “They were yesterday, too.”
“It was tense the first few days on the Mississippi River,” according to Nathan. Now, the weather is beautiful, he’s flying a jib and a mainsail and high water conditions have lessened to the point of no trees or other debris in the river.
Yesterday there was intense barge traffic as the vessels are hurrying to deliver their loads so they can tie up for Christmas. Apparently he got in the same channel with a barge yesterday and made the barge operator nervous. “What are your intentions?” the barge radiod “I can’t stop this thing.”
While in Greenville, Mississippi, Nathan met Jerry Bell, an individual who lives on the river in a canoe and who was the feature of a documentary called “Nobody.” Jerry had been a tool and die machinist and a blacksmith who had been involved in building iron gates and fences (the same job Nathan had before he quit to go traveling). Nathan and Jerry hung out for awhile in Greenville, both waiting for the weather to improve. “We were both glad to have company,” Nathan said. Both were also anxious to trade books since they had each read the ones they had aboard. Jerry’s really roughing it, floating the Mississippi in just the canoe and sleeping in a tent. Aboard the Waltzing Matilda, Jerry exclaimed “Oh, wow! You got electricity! That’s awesome.”
In researching the documentary “Nobody,” I found that while living in Indiana, Jerry’s alcoholism got the best of him and one day after losing his family and his job, he got into the canoe he had won by collecting cigarette coupons and took off down the Mississinewa River. Then he sailed to the Wabash and eventually ended up on the Mississippi. Keeping his canoe afloat with duct tape patching, Jerry eventually ended up in Memphis where he met a couple of photojournalists who chronicled his story from 2001 to 2006 in “Nobody.” TV psychologist Dr. Phil got in the act by staging a televised reunion after 17 years between Jerry and his daughter, Kayla, embittered because Jerry apparently fled her life to avoid child support payments. Don’t know how the reunion came out, all I saw online was the promotional material. Dr. Phil’s people did fix Jerry’s teeth, however, to improve his appearance on television.

Waltzing Matilda's Rudder Breaks in Front of Barges; "Please Don't Run Me Down."

2009-12-30T15:06:00.001Z

December 14, 2009
“Imagine that you’re driving down the interstate and an 18-wheeler is coming at you,” said Nathan, “And your steering wheel comes off in your hands.” That’s what it felt like on the river today when Waltzing Matilda’s rudder ripped loose and three giant barge trains were coming at him.
Previously Nathan talked about Mattie the dog’s bad attitude. Mattie’s attitude caused a problem today. Talking to the dog trying to coax her aboard the boat Nathan apparently got distracted and Waltzing Matilda ran aground on a sand bar and did some damage to the rear of the boat. Also, the water on the Mississippi River is high and it has a lot of debris. Three times today Nathan hit submerged trees, one of which hit his propeller and apparently in the collision the rudder got hit ripped from its lower bracket. Bad situation—adrift without steering in a fast river. “Did I mention that three barges were coming at me?” Nathan said. They were two miles away. He got on the radio and called one of the barge towboats. “This is a broken sailboat ahead of you. Please don’t run me down.” The towboat responded: “Hey, broken sailboat, are you okay? Do you need assistance?” Nathan said he didn’t and using an oar as a rudder regained control of the Waltzing Matilda and got out of the way. He was then able to do a makeshift repair on the rudder.
Approaching Greenville, Mississippi, there were other problems: a storm was coming and Nathan had to avoid three barge trains of 45 barges each that were running a half mile apart. Keeping out of their way he noticed on the river chart that he was getting hemmed in against underwater riprap capable doing serious damage to Waltzing Matilda. He saw ripples in the water caused by the riprap. He couldn’t stop, he couldn’t go out in the main channel because of the barges. He realized he had no choice but to turn his boat upstream. While the diesel engine could not fight the current, he could use his sails to run with the 20-mile-per-hour southerly wind up the river. He came about, had two sails set wing-to-wing, ran the diesel full speed and with the boat rocking and the current fighting him and the dog crying he made it a mile upstream.
Tonight Waltzing Matilda rests at anchor on glassy smooth water between the Jubilee and Lighthouse Casinos in Greenville, Mississippi. Nathan plans to be there for a few days: he’s got to make repairs and he also plans to wait for the water level to go down.
Although parts of today’s sailing were fun, the Mississippi River gave him a bit too much excitement.

Waltzing Matilda on a "Serious River;" Crew Mutinies

2009-12-30T15:02:00.000Z

Barbra took a brief, less-than-one minute call from Nathan while he had cell phone service today. He's finally on the Mississippi River. The current is fast. Apparently something was up ahead of him. Then: "Gotta go!" [click]

Said Barbra: "Not the kind of hangup a mother likes to have."

Later December 13, 2009

After the abrupt discontinuance of his cell phone call, Nathan later left a message on our answering machine to say that he had to hang up because he had a “big dead tree and an eddy (of current) to deal with.”

Still later in the day he called to say that he was anchored in a safe place by an island in the Mississippi River and that fog limited visibility to about 50 yards.

In his first encounters with the Mighty Mississippi on Saturday afternoon, Nathan said he was “overwhelmed by the current.” The river had full control of the Waltzing Matilda – the river was too strong to even allow him to go ashore. It was even too strong for his diesel engine to take him against the current. As he got downstream to the mouth of the White River emptying into the Mississippi, he attempted to turn westward in order to head upstream on the White, but even its current was too strong. It was already late in the day and he was afraid he would have to stay on the Mississippi all night. His plan was to try to find a barge train that he could follow so he could stay on course through the night. However, he saw a point that gave him enough shelter to anchor, but only 30 yards from the fast-flowing river channel. It was an intense night. From 6 p.m. to midnight, big barge trains motored by every three minutes. Then, he said, “It rained like crazy.” He was up every 40 minutes to check on his anchors. Sunday morning he found that for some reason all three of his batteries were drained. There was no sun to provide a small charge to them from his solar panel so he was entirely dependent upon his hand-cranked diesel engine to recharge his batteries.

Sunday he made 30 miles, running entirely under sail. Although the river pushes him along at 8 mph he needs to make sail headway in order to have rudder control. He found a safe cove with a good anchorage by an island and there he tied up for the night.

“This is a serious river,” Nathan said. It’s currently 2 and half feet above flood stage and it is cold. Besides his life jacket, Nathan also wears a harness that he has rigged from an old car seat belt that serves as a fall restraint. At all times he has a line attached from the boat to his harness.

There is a mutiny in the crew. Mattie the dog refuses to come when Nathan calls. In fact, not only does she refuse to respond, but she just looks at Nathan and pees, usually on his coat or some other object of his that is nearby. At the next town he stops in, Nathan intends to find a family to take the dog.

With the state of Arkansas to his west, and the state of Mississippi to the east, at certain places where Nathan sails down the Mississippi River he will experience the results of where the river has shifted and left portions of Arkansas stranded on the east and parts of Mississippi stranded on the west side of the river. Take a look at the Mississippi River below Memphis on Google Maps and see how the state line meanders back and forth across the main channel of the river, tracing places where the river used to be. The same thing occurs north of Memphis with other states.

Waltzing Matilda Almost Across Arkansas; the Story of Goat Island

2009-12-30T15:00:00.000Z

December 11, 2009

It’s been nearly three weeks and Nathan has sailed almost all the way across Arkansas. He’s docked at a nice state park fourteen miles from the Mississippi River. Today had been a difficult day, he said, but the end of the day made it worthwhile.

Nathan diverted from the Arkansas River into a canal that eventually goes into the White River that empties into the Mississippi. Previously Nathan had docked at a place he described as some guy’s “whole little kingdom.” The man had a bar and grill and a motel right on the waterfront. Also there was a place the local good ol’ boys had named “Goat Island.” More on that later.

Nathan docked because barges were lined up to get into the canal and he needed to wait for them to disperse. As he got to know the proprietor of the “little kingdom,” the man offered Nathan the use of his car to drive a mile down the road to get provisions. “Sure, go ahead,” the guy said. “The insurance papers are right there on the seat.” “Really?” Nathan said. “You’re just going to let me borrow your car?” “Yeah,” the proprietor replied, "I figure you have my car but I have your boat.” So off Nathan went. One of the purchases he’s had to make this week was a new alternator since the British one that came with Waltzing Matilda had gotten finicky and wouldn’t charge the three batteries well.

While at the kingdom, Nathan learned the story of Goat Island. Seems some of the local good ol’ boys thought it would be a good idea to put a dozen goats on a little nearby island. That way they could sit and drink beer and be entertained just watching the goats. Out in the river the goats would be safe from the dogs and the river wouldn’t hurt them since it didn’t flood that high. Wrong. Two weeks after the goats were put on the island, the river flooded and the good ol’ boys had to go out in their duck boats and rescue the goats. When they got them ashore they couldn’t just leave them loose because the dogs would get them and they didn’t want to build a pen for them. So they found another way to confine the goats and keep them safe from the dogs: they put the goats on the roof of the motel. But that caused a problem because when a car would drive up to the motel the goats would jump off the motel roof onto the car. Eventually the flood subsided and the goats were back on the island. Two weeks later: another flood. So the good ol’ boys rescued the goats again and this time instead of on the motel they put them on the roof of the bar. But when a car got too close to the bar, the goats would jump off the roof onto the car. When the flood subsided, the goats went back to the island. Then the river flooded the island a third time.

This time the good ol’ boys had a different solution.

They had a goat roast.

True story? Don’t know, but Paul Greenberg, the Pulitzer prize-winning editorial page editor of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette says local editors are blessed. While editors in other places punch up stories to make them interesting, in Arkansas and Louisiana editors have to tone them down to make them believable.

Showing his appreciation to the proprietor of the kingdom by buying lunch and beer, Nathan then set off downstream about a mile to a park where he met the kingdom proprietor’s evil twin. Stopping to get some water, Nathan was informed by an 80-year-old park caretaker that it would be $5 dollars to buy water! Nathan was incensed and eventually the old man waived the fee. Nathan then spent several hours at the park doing repairs on his diesel engine before resuming his trip downstream.

At the end of the day he sailed into lily pads covering the water in the canal. Also there were cat-o-nine tails growing. Pelicans and swans graced the flat lowlands where he was at. Eventually he docked at a beautiful state park.

“It was the end of long day,” Nathan said. “During the last ten minutes all this beauty made it totally worth it.”

Overnight Storm; Stranded on the Waltzing Matilda

2009-12-30T14:54:00.002Z

Wed, 9 Dec 2009
“Terrifying” was about the first out of Nathan’s mouth today when describing the thunderstorm he went through overnight. He’s been anchored in sheltered waters at a park at Moscow, Arkansas, for the last 48 hours. When the storm came, the wind direction shifted 180 degrees and increased from 10 to 40 miles per hour. Nathan had three anchors out and a big cast iron coffee pot lashed halfway down one of the anchor lines to help keep the anchor line horizontal so that the boat’s movement would dig the anchor further into the bottom. Today, the wind keeps him stranded aboard the Waltzing Matilda. If he cuts the boat loose, it’ll blow into shallow water. The wind is also too high for him to take his kayak ashore, so he’s been on his boat for 24 hours.
He describes his journey as “hours and hours of boredom interspersed with moments of sheer terror.”
Nathan is 52 miles from the Mississippi River and is anxious to get there, although with some trepidation. It’s been difficult to operate a sailboat on the Arkansas River because it’s so narrow. The Mississippi River will be about a third of a mile across when he joins it.
He’s kept busy reading and mending his clothes. He’s making a little lifejacket for Mattie the dog. He’s attaching a hook to it so he can fish Mattie out of the water “when” (not if) she falls overboard.

Waltzing Matilda Gets Stuck; Crew Reduced by a Third

2009-12-30T14:54:00.001Z

December 6, 2009
“I’ve had better days,” said Nathan reporting in on Sunday, two weeks after the Waltzing Matilda set sail from Van Buren, Arkansas. “I’m stuck in the mud.”
I fully expected Nathan to have reached the Mississippi River by now; instead, he’s at Pine Bluff, Arkansas, about 25 miles southeast of Little Rock. And he’s stuck.
He had gotten off the main river and followed a channel toward the city of Pine Bluff in order to stock up on fuel and groceries. He followed the channel markers, he stayed in the middle of the channel, and Waltzing Matilda’s 3-foot keel came to a stop in two feet of water. What makes it even more frustrating is that he is right in sight of the facility of the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, the people who maintain the channel. And amazingly, he said Tyson Corporation barges are able to negotiate the 2-foot depth with no problem. But Nathan is stuck and since it’s 37 degrees there are no pleasure boats out and about who might pull him from the mud. He’s planning to fly sail in a crosswind, hoping that the wind will lift him off. He can go ashore if he has to, since he has a rubber dinghy towed behind the boat.
Also, his only crew member now is Mattie the dog. First Mate Jesse decided thirteen days on the river was enough, so he headed home to Northwest Arkansas. Jesse’s departure was traumatic for Mattie, Nathan said. Otherwise, she’s “quite happy” and was delighted to run on the beach where they camped last night. Mattie is at home on the Waltzing Matilda – too much so as she has developed an “attitude problem.” Mattie likes to lie on Nathan’s river charts and she gets mad when he pushes her off. Nathan says he’s fine with being alone on the boat and is learning to sail Waltzing Matilda singlehandedly.
Diesel fuel consumption has increased due to a line leak and Nathan’s plan was to get something in Pine Bluff to fix the fuel line.
He had me get a weather report for him from the internet, since he’s gotten skeptical of the NOAA weather radio reports he receives. Conditions in Southeast Arkansas and Southwest Mississippi look rainy for the next few days, I told him, with some thunderstorm possibility. As a result, Nathan said he’ll probably stay in the Pine Bluff area for awhile until the weather clears later in the week.
At the moment he has no choice. He’s stuck in the mud.

Toad Suck Lock and Waltzing Matilda Breaks Anchor

2009-12-30T14:50:00.000Z

After months of preparation, Nathan began what he hopes to be months at sea with the launching today of his boat, the Waltzing Matilda, at Van Buren.
He and first mate Jesse plan to cast off tomorrow down the Arkansas River, going through their first set of locks just a few miles downstream. The boat will initially be powered by a small diesel engine and an electric trolling motor. In a few days they'll be at Lake Dardanelle in central Arkansas. There, Jesse's girlfriend, an experienced sailor, will come aboard for awhile to give Nathan and Jesse pointers as Waltzing Matilda raises her sails for the first time under Nathan's ownership. After that, Jesse and Nathan will go down the Arkansas River to the Mississippi River, with Jesse staying aboard perhaps as far as New Orleans. Then, Nathan intends to take Waltzing Matilda to sea in the Gulf of Mexico heading toward Florida. He plans a trip to Cuba, then hopes to go up the eastern coast of the U.S. and Canada, hoping by next year to make it to the Landry ancestral village of St. Omer, Quebec.

Through the rivers, Waltzing Matilda will have to go through many locks and avoid giant river barge traffic, often consisting of large number of barges lashed together in front of big diesel-powered towboats. One passed by after sunset while Waltzing Matilda was docked.

Nathan will be calling us each week and using the U.S. Postal Service to update us on his trip. We'll keep you posted.

Waltzing Matilda is about 20 feet in length and was built in Great Britain in 1967.

Nathan and First Mate Jesse should be somewhere near Toad Suck, Arkansas, by now. That's right, there is a Toad Suck and they've got a lock that Nathan, Jesse, their boat, the Waltzing Matilda, and their newest crew member, Mattie the dog, need to go through.

Nathan called yesterday, Monday, and said Mattie had joined the crew. Barbra and I met Mattie Saturday when on a whim we drove to Lake Dardenelle, Arkansas, where Jesse and his girlfriend, Jamie, were teaching Nathan how to operate the Waltzing Matilda under sail. Mattie was a stray dog wandering around the dock. She was a bit scared but really wanted to be friends, so eventually she went aboard the Waltzing Matilda for the adventure of her life.
We joined Nathan, Jesse, and Jamie for a delightful Saturday morning of sailing on the lake. The previous night we brought them a Thanksgiving dinner from Barbra's brother's place where Barbra and I were for Thanksgiving.

Besides sail, Waltzing Matilda has a diesel engine and an electric trolling motor used for maneuvering. The diesel has a bad oil leak and Nathan has ordered a part for shipment to Little Rock where he intends to fix it.

We left Saturday afternoon. After sailing lessons, the Waltzing Matilda went through Lock Number Ten on the Arkansas River and Jamie also headed back to Fayetteville.
The ongoing voyage of the Waltzing Matilda:
December 3 report:
Overnight December 1-2, Nathan felt that he had to learn to run at night, so he took advantage of the full moon and headed down the Arkansas River while Jesse slept. Nathan got nervous when he came upon the lights of a dredging operation. “I didn’t know where to go,” he said. “The lights of the river confused me.” He thought maybe he should sail between the dredging units, but wasn’t sure. He roused Jesse to raise the barge on the radio to ask them where to sail. They said go between the dredging units. Had Nathan gone to either side of them Waltzing Matilda would have gotten tangled in dredging gear.
They went through Toad Suck Lock, where Nathan said the lock operator was a real Arkie: overalled and toothless, with a funky hat (I guess the kind of guy you would expect to be running a lock called Toad Suck).
Upon making Little Rock on December 2 Nathan found there were three railroad drawbridges that were too low to clear a sailboat. He didn’t know how to contact the bridge operator(s) or what the protocol was, so he anchored. But then he had a scare when the anchor gave way and they started drifting in ice and blinding rain. Jesse, in his long johns, came out of the cabin to help. They hit some rocks. They got the diesel engine started and despite 4 miles an hour of current and 20 miles per hour of wind coming at them, they were able to run two miles west of Little Rock using only 25% throttle.
They found a cove and anchored. It was right by a bike trail, so Nathan said “People ride by and stare at us.” Since the only other craft on the river are barges and bass boats, when Nathan and Jesse come along in their old sailboat, Nathan said, “The guys in the locks think it’s awesome – they think it’s great.”
Hanging out at a nearby park, Nathan spent time skateboarding on December 3. Eventually, the barge Victoria came by heading downstream, and the guys radioed the barge to learn the protocol for getting the Little Rock railroad bridges lifted. They got their instructions and hope to depart on the 4th.
Other items:
The oil leak in the diesel engine fixed itself. A cork seal swelled and plugged the leak and they’ve used no oil since Dardenelle.
They ran aground in a cove, but backed off okay because they were going slow when they grounded.
Mattie the dog is not feeling well – hasn’t eaten all day and hasn’t had much water. She got into some sweets and Nathan thinks that may be her problem. Also, while docked, she fell off their dingy, but Nathan heard her splash, so he was able to pull her out of the cold water.
Although it’s only going at 4 miles per hour, Nathan has learned deep respect for the Arkansas River: “That current is a serious, serious force.” Another 120 miles and they’ll be on the Mississippi River. “I can’t wait,” he said.