Where the Boys (and Girls) Are!

We spent a wonderful week in Fort Lauderdale at historic Cooley’s landing and enjoyed all the fun things to do there. Even though we had a few days of rain we were able to take advantage of the down time to get some things done, boat projects, laundry and needed provisioning. We also took in a couple of movies, went to the famous Fort Lauderdale beach. Yes, the Elbow Room is still there and it looks the same as it did in the 1960’s when we spent time here from college spring break. We spent much time on the River walk and enjoyed the restaurants and scenic beauty.

St. Patty’s Day was celebrated with our Looper friends Hank & Ann from “Queen Ann’s Revenge”. It was a great time visiting with them. We met them back in January in Mobile and it was nice to see them again.

Departed Cooley’s early Monday morning and headed north along the Intercoastal Waterway and enjoyed viewing the opulent homes, fabulous landscaping and mega yachts along the way. We needed a lift from a lot of bascule bridges but the schedule matched our travel time well. There was only a short wait for a few of them and all the bridge tenders had their own unique personalities which made it interesting.

Found some great anchorages along the way. Monday night at Lake Boca Raton, Tuesday in Lake Worth next to Peanut Island where we explored a beautiful park. An interesting fact about this island is that it housed the presidential bunker for JFK during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Waved at Donald Trump when we passed his home. Wednesday continued our journey north to North Palm Beach and found a special anchorage in the NE corner of Lake Worth.

We are all looking forward to having Andy Light come aboard this evening!

Gary' s Goodbye & Night Crossing

We motored South down the Inter Costal Waterway about 24 miles to Clearwater yesterday. There is a lot of activity here because of the Super Bowl being played close by in Tampa this Sunday. A lot of big yachts are starting to arrive here for the rich & famous. The largest we have seen so far is the "Big City" a new Trinity 140 foot motor vessel that charters for $195,000 a week. The delivery crew was working on it all day (cleaning & polishing) and we are anxious to see who the special guests will be tomorrow. Weather is warm (high 70's) and very pleasant. We enjoyed a morning walk on the beautiful white sand beach of Clearwater and a fun dingy ride to town to do some needed provisioning. We will be staying here for a few days while our wives (Susan & Linda) are traveling from the North country to join us. We miss them a lot and are looking forward to our reunion with them this Friday.

Today our dear friend and Poet Laureate sailor, Gary Gaudreau departed Northern Light and is heading back home to Michigan. We are sad to see him go. Before he left, he was inspired to write another great poem about our perfect night crossing of the Gulf of Mexico a few days ago. We would like to share it with you and hope you enjoy as much as we did!

Night Crossing

On a warm winter morn in St Joe Bay

Northern Light caught the tide running out for the day.

She fetched her marks on the rollers with ease,

Gently turning to course, softly kissing the seas.

We three that sailed her, she knew of our dream,

Of a swift sea voyage, fifteen knots on the beam.

So she served up a ride, the best I think now,

With dolphins and sea birds swiftly passing our bow.

Now light fading fast, we’ve sailed well all day,

Crossing the Gulf toward Anclote Island’s bay.

Northern Light knows our needs, she coaches us on

Thru a sea of stars, brilliant sunrise at dawn.

We’re tired and damp but our spirits renew

Over praise for the yacht and her love for the crew.

Sailing on to the docks, we’ve seen many great things.

Raising our Margaritas, three embrace Tarpon Springs.

Gary T. Gaudreau

1/27/2009 1500 Hours

Gulf of Mexico at Tarpon Springs, FL aboard Northern Light

Perfect Day/Night for Crossing Gulf

After enjoying a great day in Port St. Joe Marina and a great dinner of oysters on the half shell and Grouper sandwiches we studied weather and wave conditions on the Gulf of Mexico for our crossing and it looked like we had a very good window in the next few days.
Northern Light departed the dock at 10:15am on Saturday, Jan 24th heading Southeast (126 degrees) for our crossing to Tarpon Springs. We had a fresh breeze after we cleared the harbor and rounded Point San Blas.
We were able to deploy our full sails and motor sailed all day and night in high seas at first (8-10 foot rollers) receding to calm by morning. We were escorted at times by frolicking Dolphins and sea birds. It was a starry, starry night since we had no moon the sky was brillant with bright stars. The time went by quickly, we had an excellent watch schedule of 4 hours on and 2 hours off maintaining 2 crew members on deck at all times. The sunset was beautiful but the Sunrise this morning as you can see in the photo was awesome! We encountered several shrimp boats working at night and a lot of crab pots when we got near the Anclote Key North entrance to Tarpon Springs.
The entire crossing took 28 hours from dock to dock and we traveled 231 miles. Our average speed was a little over 8 mph which is great for a sailboat.
Glad to be here in Tarpon Springs were it is warm and sunny. It was a perfect crossing!

Back on the Loop in Florida!

Northern Light is back on the Loop but in very cold weather. Departed Turner Marine at 9:30 am Tuesday morning with a great sendoff from the friends we met during our stay there. We crossed Mobile Bay under sail to our destination, a beautiful peaceful anchorage at Ingram Bayou off the Gulf Intercostal Waterway were we saw a variety of wildlife (deer, dolphins, pelicans and loons) and several barges hauling jet fuel to the Pensacola Naval Air Station. We woke up this morning to 32 degrees in the cabin and 22 degrees outside. After a breakfast of hot oatmeal and coffee and waiting for the frost to melt off the dodger, we headed to our next stop at a marina in downtown Pensacola. From here we go out into the Gulf for the first time on a long sail (80 miles) to Pamama City. We hope weather will be warming soon.

Back in Bama!

We are back in Mobile, Alabama. Brad and I drove down on January 8th & 9th, stopped overnight in Nashville. Good drive and good weather after leaving snow and cold in Michigan & Ohio. Arrived in Mobile late afternoon on Friday and went straight to the marina and Northern Light. Worked hard all weekend getting the boat ship shape and ready for launch. We had to sand the bottom for new salt water bottom paint, apply bottom paint, wax the hull, varnish the teak and check all boat systems.
We moved from our hotel to the boat on Sunday and it is nice to be back on board even though it is like living in a tree house since it is still on jack stands in the boat yard and it is a long ladder climb to get aboard. We don't have heat or water but it is still very comfortable on the boat.
Today we were able to finish all prep work for launch tomorrow. Northern Light is ready and looking good!!