Shakedown cruise to(wards) Beaufort!

At dawn this past Friday, Cait's brother Hunter and a good friend of ours, Adam (and his Jack Russell "Ringo"), set sail for Beaufort to feel out the boat and have a good time. We had some excellent sailing weather! Warmer than usual temperatures and steady 15-22kt winds combined for fantastic offshore sailing.

The plan was to sail offshore to Beaufort, anchor up off of the waterfront park, and spend the weekend on the anchor and in the pubs. Unfortunately, the steady winds and seas directly opposed us, so we spent all day tacking towards our destination. We covered lots of miles, but by the time the sun set, we were still only about halfway there. We had been running the engine intermittently on alternating tacks in an effort to make more headway. As we neared St. Helena Sound, the engine began sputtering and dying. The pressure indicator for the Racor fuel filter was giving readings that were entirely out of spec. Although the filter appeared to be clean, it was obvious that the engine was starving for fuel. Hunter, who has tons of experience on fishing charter boats, went down below and changed out the filter. The problems continued. At that point, we decided it wasn't prudent to attempt entering Port Royal Sound at night with a balky engine, so we aborted and turned back for Charleston. We arrived back at our marina about 24 hours after we had departed. Despite the fact that our trip was cut short by a day and that we didn't reach our destination, everyone on board had a great time. I think all of us spent Saturday and Sunday recouperating.
Today I went back down to the boat to further investigate the fuel delivery problem. I first checked the inline fuel filter, which was perfectly clean. I then removed the Racor filter, and drained all the fuel from the bowl. There was a ton of sediment in there! After the bowl was cleaned and refilled, I started the engine. I ran it at 2800rpm for 30 minutes, and it didn't falter once. While the engine was running, I paid close attention to the pressure gauge, which remained constant at the proper level. I feel fairly confident that the problem has been resolved, and will pay much closer attention to the Racor and the fuel pressure from now on.
All in all, I think that our trip was a success. It was intended to further feel out what is still a pretty new boat to me, and it was good to discover, diagnose, and fix a problem that could possibly occur on our Bahamas trip. I now feel even more secure about the boat and our ability to maintain it. Special thanks to Adam, Hunter and Ringo for an enjoyable day and night spent offshore sailing!

Sailing Lessons!

So, I was feeling less than confident in my sailing abilities (I have been out countless times but never really responsible for knowing anything) and was mildly freaking out about this big adventure. I was maybe 50% thrilled/50% terrified. I did a little research and signed up for sailing lessons the first week of December with Captain Will Miller of Charleston Sailing School. I am seriously grateful for his patience and sailing expertise! It was awesome. Before we met, I read a lot of material about basic knowledge, terminology, skills, etc. We spent the days on the water, practicing maneuvering, docking, rescue drills, the rules of sailing, and everything else. Since then, I have been dreaming of knots and sail trim! I immersed myself and feel like I learned an amazing amount of vital information. And also, like there is an amazing amount of things to learn still. I know enough now to at least ask intelligent questions and have an opinion. Knowledge is power! I feel better since, probably 87% thrilled/ 13% terrified. I have a good base, I just need some experience! That's right around the corner...
-Caitlin

Wanna see the boat?

Lots of our friends and family here in Charleston have been out to the boat. For those of you who live too far away to stop by, here are a few pictures of Tranquility in her slip at the Ashley Marina.


We couldn't be happier with the boat. Of course we still have some decorating and tweaking to do, but this is the slate that we're working with.

And the excitement continues (kinda)

One of the things necessary for our trip is that we are familiar with the boat's equipment. So with that in mind, I tackled the job of changing the engine oil for the first time. Yanmar recommends changing the oil every 100 hours. We were only at 80 hours on the current oil, but there's no time like the present for figuring everything out. When we bought Tranquility, the previous owner left her in great shape with tons of extra gear and replacement parts. One of the things he left was a nifty little electric oil extractor, which would let me easily pull the oil up from the pan through the dipstick tube. I figured that it couldn't get much simpler than that, so I hooked it up and went to work. As it turns out, that little pump wasn't as nifty as I thought it was. In fact, I couldn't get it to draw the oil out at all. No problem, though. The nearest Westmarine is less than three miles from the boat, so I headed over and picked up a nice manual pump-type extractor. This time it worked like a charm.
I also had some old running rigging that needed to be replaced. Almost all of the running rigging is in new or good condition, but there are a couple of lines that need immediate replacement. In particular, the topping lift for the staysail boom and the running rigging for the mast-mounted whisker pole.
I wasn't able to find anybody to winch me up the mast in the bosun's chair, so I grabbed a can of Budweiser and called it a day. I'll get to it this weekend, and then it will be on to getting the autopilot working again.

Autopilot update:

Well it turns out that the autopilot's computer is fine after all. That means that the problem is likely related to the wiring, and may be as simple as a bad fuse or loose connection. That's pretty good news, really! Now I just have to reinstall the computer and chase the ghost that keeps the unit from working. Doesn't sound like a lot of fun, but at least it isn't going to cost us a ton of money.

The autopilot that wasn't...

Our autopilot has lost its mind. It's a rather dated Autohelm7000 unit that worked perfectly until two weeks ago. The drive motor is good, the compass/gyro are good, but the "brains" of the system seem to have failed. My options are to either buy and install an entirely new autopilot, or send the faulty computer back to Raymarine in the hopes that it can be repaired. A new autopilot would be really nice, but I'd rather not spend that kind of money. Soooo... I'm sending in the faulty unit and hoping for the best. Anyone out there have a used AH7000 they want to get rid of?

So, here's the plan...

We bought Tranquility, a 1990 Island Packet 35, in September 2008. Our plan is to sail her to south Florida in mid-January of 2009. After final preparations and resting, we'll cross over to Bimini, and then head down to Great Inagua. From there, we'll creep our way northward from island to island as the weather warms. We will return to Charleston from the Abacos in late May 2009. Below is a picture of Tranquility during her survey.