Winter to Summer in Two Weeks

As I’ve experienced so many years in Florida–this time amplified by living on a boat with no heat or air conditioning–there seems to be only a two-week period of truly wonderful weather in southern Florida between cold, jackets & jeans winter temperatures and hot, humid summer conditions. Wonderful meaning when it’s about 75 degrees during the day with low humidity, followed by mid-60’s overnight. Just like so many other years, that weather lasted about two weeks here in Stuart, and now both the temperature and humidity are in the mid-80’s. Bam! Summer is here already!

Now, I’m not complaining. I love these temperatures (if not the humidity). Sooooo much better for me being too hot than too cold. Sleeping with the windows open (or on deck), only having to put on shorts, T-shirt, and flip flops again, beautiful sunshine and clear skies…it’s wonderful, and long-awaited. I also am so much more motivated by both the warmth and the sunshine. Add some Raggea music to the mix, and I’m ready to knock out boat projects or go for a long bike ride. When it’s cloudy, windy, and cold…it can be a challenge just to get out of bed sometimes! So, I’m very happy this week to be stowing all my winter clothes and the electric blanket, hopefully not to be needed again for a long time.

Yesterday I knocked out a small project that’s been on my list for a long time: How to hoist an American flag on Serendipity. The extra equipment I received with the boat included an American flag, a short wooden staff, and a mount. The mount was meant for the transom, and before heading for the Dry Tortugas with Gretchin back in the winter of 2022, I had mounted it there. We flew the flag on the way down, but by the time we got there, it was gone; the mount and everything had ripped out of the transom somehow. I didn’t want to repeat that and had never really wanted to mount the flag on the transom, anyway, as it can get tangled up in my mizzen sheet (which is probably what happened). I may also get a wind vane someday, which mounts on the transom and would make a flag there troublesome.

The alternative “appropriate” place for a sailboat to fly the American flag is from the leech of the aft-most sail (or its topping lift)¹. This is much harder to mount, of course, especially if one wants to be able to hoist and lower the flag routinely. But, that was my plan and my project for yesterday. Using a prusik knot I suspended a small block about 2/3 up the mizzen topping lift then rigged up a halyard loop to run from it to the end of the boom. Add in some flag clips and a line in between them to keep them perpendicular to the topping lift (so they would slide easily), and voila! Three hours later, I have a nice (and appropriate) way to show the colors!

I had a scare with my dinghy a couple days ago. When returning from some live outdoor music late at night, the water was flat calm as I headed back to the anchorage on step. Everything was much smoother than normal, and I could feel what seemed to be the engine surging. It seemed to be doing the same thing after coming off plane when approaching Serendipity. It was too late to do any troubleshooting, so, as is my tendency, I stressed about it all night.

The dinghy is a critical piece of equipment for a life at anchor. It has been called the cruising-family station wagon (okay, mini-van for you non-boomers), essential for getting to and from shore daily for errands and exercises, transporting provisions, parts, and even bicycles. Or to visit other cruisers’ boats. This particular anchorage is 0.6 miles from the closest dinghy dock ashore, half of which is across a stretch of fairly open water with a current. It would be a very arduous and time-consuming task to row the dinghy across each time I wanted to go to shore (inflatable dinghies are notoriously poor for rowing), and it’s quite far even for the paddle board, not to mention often too choppy. So, having my outboard engine once again acting up was making me very anxious, especially since I know nothing about troubleshooting or repairing outboard engines. (Yet?)

So, first thing the next morning, when it was also very calm out, I ran the dinghy at different speeds around the anchorage for about 15 minutes to troubleshoot the issue. But to my (pleasant) surprise, the engine ran fine! Not sure what the deal had been the previous evening. It might have been a factor of the number of beers I had consumed listening to the live music. Regardless, I was very relieved that the engine on my “car” was still working.

I also had a disappointing revelation yesterday: My semiannual freshwater system purge is due soon. I have 100 gallons of freshwater in three separate tanks from which I take water for drinking, cooking, showering, etc. About every six months (a bit shorter in the summer, a bit longer in the winter), it needs to be purged to keep stuff like algae from growing in it. The purging process I use has proven successful at providing me with clean, odorless water for the last four years. But, the process is a lengthy one and uses up a lot of water (500 gallons!). It also requires a gallon of bleach, five gallons of vinegar, and four days to complete. My spreadsheet says is coming due in February but, since it’s winter, I might be able to stretch it into March. But regardless, this is not something I can do at anchor simply because of the volume of water I have to pass through the system, basically filling and flushing my system a total of five times. So, I need a marina. And this is not something I want to do in the Bahamas (with its questionable, and sometimes costly water), or even in the Keys where marina costs are even higher than here. So, before departing here, I’m going to try to get a slip for one day to start the process, then go back three days later to finish it up. For those two days, the slip fee will be almost $500–just to purge my water system! There’s always something unexpected robbing the boat kitty. 🙁

1. The leech is the back end of a sail (short for “lee edge”). The topping lift is a line which goes from the end of the boom to the top of the mast. Its job is to hold the boom up when the sail is stowed. ↩︎