MAY
2006
Preparing to Leave Tampa Bay PART ONE
Good
Day All~
So
it has been months & months with nary a word from the S/V WindigoIII. No
reports of storms; not a word about bike crashes; and any cultural, scientific,
or navigational stories have been lacking. The World Wide Web has been
completely devoid of nautical adventures from the crew of Windigo. The reason
for this is that for the past many months (since the incredible encounter with
Charley) we have lived as landlubbers. Working the same jobs, fixing the same
boat.
Sure,
we have gone sailing, but no more than the local yacht club member. I know that
the intensely interested reader of the Windigo Travelogue Catalogue does so to
live vicariously through us until (s)he is able to work up enough fortitude to
break away from the mundane and seek complete fulfillment. (Or until you cry
out, ?I mad as hell, and I?m not going to take it anymore!) We have lived a
life about as adventurous as we did prior to moving aboard.
O.K.,
so I?m told that my life before sailing wasn?t exactly complacent, what with
cycling adventures, the KL van, extended travel to extreme locales ? but the
past year-and-a-half just was not worthy of a weekly, monthly, or semi-annual
dissertation of its highlights. But the gluttons for romantic sagas suggested
that perhaps a biennial report would at least fill you in on the highlights [if
not the details] of life at a dock aboard Windigo. It will also warm you up for
the forthcoming ?True Adventures of the Crew Aboard the S/V WindigoIII, 2006
Edition?. So here ?tis: PART ONE of the ?Preparing to Leave Tampa Bay? emailio
? ?Getting Windigo Ready? ~
After our visit with Charley
(http://www.ciekurzis.org/Charley/Charley.htm)
there was a bit of work to be done to get Windigo back in cruising condition.
Obviously, the mast needed repair. It was bent 90?, 14 feet from the top (see ?Charley?). Upon
examination, I determined that 4 feet of the mast had been distorted, and since
a new mast would cost in excess of $20,000, I commenced to repair the existing
mast by cutting out the bad piece, manufacturing a new four-foot section and inserting into place.
This procedure was expedited by two factors: I carry an AC TIG welder aboard
Windigo which can join aluminum (http://www.ciekurzis.org/
Coast Hopping & into the Gulf/Coast Hopping & into the Gulf.htm) and I had a shop available
in which I could accomplish much of the manufacturing
process [there was also sufficient room
on the dock along side Windigo the do the final assembly of the mast].
Since Windigo is almost 40
years old, the mast extrusion is no longer available, so I had to make one from scrap aluminum. Using another mast
(which was damaged beyond repair in Charley), I fabricated a section of the
exact dimensions of our mast, including an inner sleeve that extended a foot-and-a-half beyond each end.
This was fit into the remaining usable sections of the mast and welded. Now that part of the mast is
double thickness and much stronger. If Windigo should ever encounter another
bridge, I fear for the bridge!
The new
masthead is much improved with plenty of room
for navigation lights, antennas, instruments, lightning protection, and
complete access to the halyards and rigging inside of the mast. The masthead
nav lights were upgraded to newly-approved solid-state LED units, along with
deck-level lights. These lights are brighter, use an incredibly small amount of
electricity, and will never burn out. Increased room at the masthead allowed an
addition of a weather station in addition to a normal wind instrument and
elimination of two
bulkhead-mounted instruments.
After final assembly of the
mast, it was necessary to get it aboard for the trip next door to the
Clearwater Yacht Club where a crane would lift it onto its step. So I lined Windigo with the dock
and invited several dock friends and most of the mechanics from the local bike
shop to walk the 500# beast off the dock and onto the boat. It was a human
accomplishment second only to the building of the pyramids. Another amazing
sight that evening was the last launch from Cape
Canaveral of a Titan IV rocket ? fully visible at our location from liftoff
to orbit (more on that in PART TWO).
Complete replacement of the standing rigging (the guy wires that hold up the
mast) was accomplished, with a doubling of their size. (Windigo already had
over-sized rigging ? now it?s huge!) The foresail furling foil (the spindle
that the front sail rolls up onto) had struck the bridge, but was repaired by
simply using a five-foot section left over from the original installation seven
years ago and was still in ?storage? at the boat yard in Sister Bay, WI (thanx
Jon & Russ).
The replacement of
electrical generation system ? wind generator and solar panels, which were
completely lost, allowed for the installation of panels a teeny bit larger with
TWICE the output of the original units. The wind generator was also upgraded; I
stuck with a Fourwinds unit, but replaced the lost Fourwinds III with the new
three-bladed Red Baron (with a custom tail section I designed to improve
efficiency and appearance).
The steel Danforth anchor
lost between the bridges in the futile effort to stop Windigo has been upgraded
to a beautiful aluminum version; a lighter model much easier to handle with
greater holding power ?cause it is bigger. A 70# Bruce anchor is in place of
the custom stainless steel anchor which was stolen after being recovered. It
shares a completely redesigned bow roller
with the 35# CQR that allows much easier deployment of either anchor at any
time.
That bow roller is mounted
on a redesigned bow cap (mini-pulpit?), which improved the integrity of construction of the stem area and
provides a foothold for working at the very front of the boat. Removal and
remounting of this much hardware allowed access to clean / repair / improve and
otherwise inspect many nooks and crannies everywhere. It also facilitated the
repainting of many areas, including a complete touchup of
the topsides of the entire vessel and modification of the keel fins during a post storm
haulout last year.
Another ?interesting?
discovery during that haulout was a crack in the area
where the hull bends down to become the fin keel. Windigo has an ?encapsulated
keel? wherein the ballast is simply placed inside the fin that was molded as
part of the hull. The damage discovered there
consisted of a four-foot long crack which was and inch-and-a-half at its
deepest. Good thing Windigo is a thick old boat, with at least three inches of material in that spot! There was no
indication prior to the haulout of any damage - it did not leak one drop! What
might have prevented the crack from going all the way through was a ?dry? layer of laminate found after grinding away
at the crack. It is considered a defect to have fiberglass not completely
saturated with resin during hull construction, but this ?defect? might have
saved Windigo from certain doom. The offending material was removed, and
repaired with 20 layers of glass & epoxy, faired out to be even stronger than before.
The engine got and entire
rewire after the electrical fire. I now can say for certain that I have replace
each and every single wire aboard. A ?? drive socket has been fixed to the
crankshaft and linkage installed to the decompression lever for access to allow
the starting the engine by direct cranking with a drill motor. Besides carrying
a spare alternator, we now carry a spare starter also.
The raw-water pump on the
engine, which has been troublesome for a few years with a tiny unsolvable leak,
was replaced and is 100% clean & dry. The electrical panel has been
completely rebuilt, with improvements and replacements of protective devices
expired by the lightning strike of 2003 (http://www.ciekurzis.org/Autumn
in Florida/Autumn in Florida.htm).
Everything
was soaked in the storm, so when new computer equipment was purchased, a unit
able to withstand the rigors of the sea was deemed necessary. Now on Windigo,
and when on deliveries, I carry much more reliable navigation gear. An AIS unit has also
been added to the system ? this small inexpensive radio receiver presents
information required to be transmitted from every commercial vessel. This data
appears on the screen of the navigation software, revealing position, speed
rate of turn, past course and projected course. The name of the vessel, its
digital radio call number, and even its next port-of-call are all displayed and
updated. More accurate and definitive than radar, with a greater range and much
less power consumption, this additional system provides a great deal of safety
from a close encounter with a freighter.
The
preparations aboard Windigo to leave have included redesign of the mainsheet
system, evacuation and recharging of the refrigeration system, engine and
auxiliary battery replacement (the Surrette house batteries have been 100%
reliable), polishing and refinishing of all the wood and metal on deck,
complete rebuilding of our dinghy, ?Pedigo? including new sponsons, rebuilding
and improvements to our bicycles, overhaul of the autopilot hydraulics, and
last but not least, the restocking of our victuals (provisions) for cruising,
including 444 cans of food.
When
it gets closer to our departure date, I will send out an email with a quick
overview of landlubber adventures and cultural observations of the past couple
years.
Our permanent and EXACT address:
Capt.KL & Karin Hughes
S/V WindigoIII ? PMB 365
88005 Overseas Hwy. #9
Islamorada, FL? 36033-3087
We have a phone: 272.458.2536
Text-only Email addresses aboard Windigo, checked often:
W3IGO@winlink.org
Email addresses checked when at a land-based computer:
Boat@Consultant.com
Windigoiii@Netscape.net
And of course, the Windigo Travelogue Catalogue:
http://www.ciekurzis.org
