Happy New Year Ming and I

The picture is one of many attractions (only 1500ft from Ming) Here in Cape Coral. What a nice spot, a near by park with a free dinky dock, many banks and stores that you can walk to. I am getting over a cold (it does happen) so I have not been ashore but three or four times. Jack and Nikki came by car and there parting works were don't tell anyone about this place. Does that mean they don't like it or just keep it for a few of use. There is room for a dozen boats or so.

A friend of Bill and Sue works in the Ice-cream stand and I have been invited over to there place, should make it in a day or so. They have a power boat.

If more than 6 months go by and you don't hear from me Send me an e-mail so I can check your address.

The weather has turned cold and it is way pass time to go. With good luck I will leave in the morn and go down the west coast of Fl and on to the Keys. First time for me in the keys so I don't know how the email will work. The only thing that I know for shore is it will be warmer no rain and just the right amount of wind from the right direction. Plenty of room to drop a hook etc.

After the Keys I hope to take in the Miami boat show and than head north With a must stop here and there Vero Beach, St Augustine, Hilton Head, Wrightsville Beach, and on to Oriental NC. I might have to stay a little while in Oriental to to take care of my dock problem and to do some work on Mings keel, and repaint the bottom.

With luck I will make NH by June, I think the ice will be out by than. The new PC and I are starting to get along and should do better with the emails if the cell phone doest it things.

After Moore Haven I stopped at LaBelle for three day, and the boat ( Go My Way) next to me was a friend from a couple of years ago in Vero. it was off to Cape Coral for a week or so This is where the Icream Lady lives. I had been there for a few days when (Go My Way) came in what a surprise( remember that name)..

It was time to to go, so I headed down the West coast of Fl to the Keys. Stayed a couple of days in Key West and I got a call from another boat that I had meet in StAugustine spent a few hours with them and know it is off to the Dry Tortugas. Did you remember that name Go My Way well there she is big as life, Her and another boat that I had meet in Cape Coral. I got together with them a couple of times. We went to sea the Fort together and I met some people from NH.

About 230 am a small boat (18ft) passed with in 700ft of Ming and I. It had 11 Cubans all men about 20 to 30, very fit. It was a 90 mile trip for them, it took them 3 day of very rough seas. Most likely 5 to 7 ft seas. They have to reach land or they will be told to turn back. If they make land they can ask to stay etc. I took pictures of the boat as well as a couple of others Cuban boats. Will sent them to Peter for the web page.

Back to Go My Way I told her my last name and she replied that we might be related, Get that June. I gave her a recording of the Whicher History and she said she would look it over and get back to me. It was time to go which I did and have made it back to Key West where the cell phone works as well as email.

On the way to Fernandia a couple of tug pushing barges would not respond to the radio but I got by any way. It rained and stopped, the wind and current was with me so I made good time. At lease 5kts most of the way.

Got to Fernandina Fl dropped two anchors and thing look good for a while than the rain and the wind and more rain and more wind came. About 60mph of wind and buckets of rain enough so I could not see the bow of the boat. It was a good check on leaks, which were the seals on the sliding windows the wind just blew the rain passed them and a good bit of rain made it passed the door. The engine room vents let water in the bilge. The dinky would have filled up with water if I hadn't pulled the drain plug. I could do that because the dinky ride on davits out of the water.

I rained the engine to take the load off the anchors as they had not had time to really dig in. All of us on anchor made out ok, but looking at the docks I saw that one boats head sail had come lose and tore in half, other than that things looked ok.

I have been traveling with another boat off and on (Jeff and Susan my neighbors in Oriental)When I left Vero Beach they were three days behind me but they did get to me and pass me in Jekyll I. Ga. They waved as they went by. That night they were in Turner Creek (Savannah GA). It was dark when I got there, I called them on the radio and they talked me thru the channel which was about 50ft wide and 10ft deep at the most. But if you didn't keep in the middle 2ft was more like it. I made it. The next day was not a good day to go so we went ashore and saw the town. Good hardware store.

Hilton Head was our next stop and we went in together they had to have there motor looked which took a day so they left and I stayed two day one to see Don a friend from NH ( at last I met his wife) and the next day I saw Ellie and Jerry from NH This was the best stop ever in Hilton Head. Not shore why.

About this time I got a call from Fred Littlefield (from NH) Wanting to know if we could meet around Charleston Sc. When I got to Charleston I was moving and when your boat is going over 7kts you just don't stop. I didn't oh dam I forgot about Fred. I was now 10 miles North of Charleston and Fred called.

We made McClellanville our meeting place. This turned out to be great, I was able to get fuel and they let me tie up Ming for free for a couple of hours while we ate. A good stop. Georgetown Sc and than Barefoot landing where I spent the next three days because of the weather. I was real mean and rotten. Now that the tool store is gone the place has lost some of its zip. Wall mart for food and a meal or two and a lot of talk with other boaters that were sitting out the bad weather. A lull in the weather and I took off. Things were great and the miles just keep slipping by, (5 and 6 kts). @ in the afternoon found me face to face to the Cape Frear River and max tide on the nose. The river was calm and the wind was broad side so it was a go. With the help of the wind we never went slower than 1.7 kts or faster than 4 kts.

Around 6 pm I was in Carolina beach dropping the anchors. It took 4hrs to go 11miles, but it is better to go when it is calm than with the tide when it is rough. I will see my friend Bill while I am hear and pick up my spare dinky and take it to Oriental which is only a few days away. Jeff and Susan are already there as well as Paul. My dock and lift, some other time.

And now for the real bad news. My friend John Bunker passed away. And I was not able to help or anything. This is the bad part about boat, You help others all the time but when your under way you get the new when it is too late or there is no place to leave your boat so you can help. This really bothers me and I don't know the answer. John has helped many people and will be missed by all. Myself I like to remember the muffin day when I would made muffins and take they to John and Maggie Have some tea and pick Johns brain (I was not done). John liked boats and Maggie made silver jewelry and they both like old thing. They made you feel more than welcome.

As you know the dock thing is still the same.

I spent some time in Ship Creek helping Jeff take down his brand new 10 by 12 art room 8 ft above his dock and putting it on land.

He took the sheet metal and the ply wood off the roof and than we took the roof frame down in one piece using rope.

The sides were down the same way, but the floor had to come down piece by piece. Once one it was taken down Jeff had new poles set 8ft in the ground and 8ft above the ground to rebuild the art room on.

As luck would have it my grandson , my Wendy and her Tom came down that week end. Jeff already had the floor done so the three of us put the frames for the sides up on the platform and before the end of the day we had the sides in place. That Mon Jeff had the roof all done but on the ground. Instead of doing the rope trick he had a crane put in place. Looks good.

In my spare time Ming was making a noise or two. It was coming from the outdrive and the transmission so I changed them both. Had to pull the motor and it was a mess in general. Now I don't wear ear plugs.

It was time to go NORTH so I took off and did 60 miles that day. That night I check the oil in the outdrive and found it to be 1 qt low. Not good so back to Oriental, it was a cup low when I got there. No water had gotten into the oil. The oil didn't look right to me,

I showed it to Paul and Jeff and it looked too thin. Replaced the oil with a different brand which look heaver and took off. It's ok now. The wind is right and I can make 75 miles, wrong I went some 60 mile only to find the bridge would not open because the wind was blowing 40 kts with gust up to 45kts. Found a spot with some shelter from the wind and dropped an anchor. It dragged one mile before it stopped. When the wind die down to 35 kts I was able to reset the anchor in a better spot. Next day it was calm and the bridge open for me about 630 am. Looking good.

I was in some fog but could see well enough to travel. The rain stopped and the fog lifted. I was able to fly the jib and making tracks for E. City. Around 10am the sky clouded up a bit but that was ok.

I am now doing 6.7 kts and heeling, time to take in some sail.As I was trying to pull in the sail a 40kt gust of wind took over. The flying jib sheets broke my mirror, and the plastic on the dodger, at the same time the jib was ripped up a bit. I needed about 70ft of repair tape to hold the sail in place so I can repair it. I only had 30ft with luck I found a store that had some, I now have it.

I will stop at the rest center tomorrow and start my repairs. During that blow the engine died, I changed the fuel filter and got going. Now for the real bad news. During that mess I lost my toe ring. I any one fines it let me know.

It has been a shot summer and Ming was out of the water for a couple of weeks. Repairs were done and she is now back in the water where I am still working on her but things are looking good and slowing down. Should make a go the frist week in sept.

All in all it was a very good summer and I am very pleased with it.

Had the transmission repaired in Ma, the injectors cleaned in Maine. Stanless anchor chain as well as new anchor rope (600 ft), 6 fuel filter and all that is left is food and fuel.

Both keels, both rudders and the transmission were repaired.

Bottom paint, new dodger, stainless steel anchor chain and anchor rope.

Flat screen TV (15"), DVD player.

And a lot of other labor type work.

Now for my new PC it went back to Ca. for repairs (vac) I am just getting it back to where it was. email I hope.

I lost a lot of address but I found an old hard copy and have put them back in. I only hope that I have all the right address. My car passed inspection but the check engine light was on. The engine still runs so what's the big deal. I left it in my sisters yard full of moth balls as my friend Fred will not be home this winter he is going west. To bad it was just a short hop for me.

I left some friends in despair, Broken radar, a new 2 hp outboard motor in the bottom of the river, mooring chain on the bottom. Other people have problems also.

I loaded my spare room up with many Wal-Mart and Market basket bags and took off on 9-8-05 the same as last year. Stopped at Gloucester, Duxbury, Cuddyhunk, Block I, and right now I am in Mattituck Long I. And hope to make Port Jefferson and let the storm go by.

If you get this little note, just what have you been up to????????????????????????????????

Ming and I

Right now I am stuck in the mud at my dock , but plan to leave as soon as the water comes back.

We don't have a real tide but the wind drives the water high and low. Right now it has been driven low for a week or so time for a change.

My dock is done and looks good the lift is an other story that I hope to clear up in te spring. I had my work shop (20ft trailer) moved to higher ground just incase. Looks real good in the new location .

I had to pull Mings motor and change the transmission. It looks like I will have to do this every two year. The outdrive is also another two year problem with luck they will take turns in breaking down. They are both English made. dogs.

Jeff and Susan on About time left five days ago. They had some problem with there engine starting and left a day later than they wanted to. They are headed for Hilton Head SC where they will stay for afew day and have things looked at.

It took me 1hr to ride into town on my new bike and only 45 min on the old bike. Looking things over one turn of the crank moves the new bike 15 ft and the old bike moves 20 ft. New bike 5 speeds old bike 3 speeds. Both get flat tires from time to time.

When I got back to NH in June I put Ming on the hard for much needed work and repairs. Took longer than I wanted to but things came out great. I only got to see a few friends and my email went down as I had to send my PC to Ca for repair and when it came back I had lost most of my email address.

My hard copy was a little old and some of the address were no good. As I got emails from you I would save the address and things are looking good. Well wouldn't you know it postmark.net died a slow death and I only got a few emails in or out. This was over two or three weeks. I was able to get gmail and now I have a new address as you know. Well gmail gave me many problems and with the help of my friend Bill in TX we got gmail to work on line, which was good if I had a strong signal and most of the time I didn't. NOW YOU KNOW

Back to Aug the rush is on as Sept is in a day or two and time to go. Ming was going great and I had a weather window I took. With the help of some friends I now know where to drop the hook in Ply Mas a good stop if you can't make the Cape Cod Canal tide in the right direction. As you know it was still hurricane season which was ok but I did have to hold up here and there along the way. The push would be to make Annapolis boat show (I do it every year) I got there A few day ahead of time and was able to get my normal spot in Spa Creek. Due to a few new rule I dropped the hooks a couple hundred feet from where I wanted to. At the show I saw some friends a couple of them from NH June and Tim from the yacht club. Had a good time and moved on.

By now the transmission was making big noise. No surprise and I had my spare with me which I had rebuilt last summer, I was sure that with a little luck I could make Oriental and make the change there. Things worked out for me and I did make to Oriental. T

he Dismal Swamp was still a treat as well as E City. Where I picked up food etc. Looked around for Cpt Sea Weed and did not see him, the sad news came when I got to Georgetown SC and found out that he had passed away. He was in his 80's and lived on a 28ft boat alone, He never stayed put and had many stories to tell.

Well when I got to Oriental my dock wasn't finished and I had a go around with the dock man. The dock is now finnished but the lift is another story. I stayed in Oriental longer than I should have (cold). Saw a few friends, but Paul the guy with the lot next to mine was gone, He ran off with a lady from Ca. Jeff and Susan were at there lot but took off a week or so before I did.

Road my new bike into town (1hr some 15min longer than the old one). My friends at the Bean (coffee shop) were all well, and had a good visit with them. Ken gave me a great lawn mower/brush cutter that had been in the flood. A new used carb and some oil to the valves got things going and the more I use it the better is ran thanks Ken.

Now it is off to Hilton Head to see friends there, due to email problems things didn't work out the way I wanted. Bad weather was coming and I had a weather window which I took or stay put for a week which would mean cold cold.

Didn't see as many boats as the year before but I am now a month behind. I am in Titusville and have started to see more. Good luck to send mail