Harvest Moon 2010
October - November 2010
By: Scott & Jennifer Stillman
http://www.harvestmoonregatta.com
The Harvest Moon Regatta is a sail from Galveston to Port Aransas, Texas. 150 miles to a party. The wind guessers say the wind is supposed to be from the North East at 5 to 10 knots.
October 21, 2010 The Harvest Moon Race begins.
There is no wind this morning. All 200+ boats are motoring down the Houston Ship Channel to the start of the race off of Galveston’s former Flagship Hotel pier. We start the race in light wind, below is the log that we started.
“10/21/10 4 pm N29˚014.284 W94˚049.868 3.3 Knots – Extremely light wind, we are definitely ahead of Randy Jo and Cabaret. The rest of our class is way ahead of us. Due to the light winds, we had to motor all the way from Waterford to the start line in Galveston. Scott did an awesome job timing our start” Jennifer
“10/21/10 5 pm N28˚052.657 W95˚013.645 2.7 knots – OMFG!!! VII C’s had her first catch! It on first glance looks like a yellow fin tuna. Of course, we’re not fish experts, but it was freaking huge!! Dad filleted the fish, and Scott is currently firing up the grill to see what it tastes like.” Jennifer
“10/21/10 7pm N28˚058.192 W95˚004.489 4.9 knots – Wind has finally picked up to 14 knots. The fish was identified as a yellow fin jack.” Karen
“10/21/10 9:05pm N28˚057.932 W95˚007.824 5.2 knots – Beautiful sunset.” Agnieszka
“10/21/10 11:27pm N28˚049.174 W95˚019.792 5.2 knots – Choppy. Made turn by Marker” Ken
Wind is from the West blowing 25-30. Lying weather bastards.
Log was severely interrupted. After the last log, everybody was seasick and logs were discontinued. We decided to pull in to Matagorda Ship channel and continue our way down to Port Aransas.
We were sailing down the ICW with no problems. We noticed (a little too late) that the channel shifted into the wind. A sailboat cannot sail into the wind. Scott was unable to get the engines started, they would turn on but nothing would happen, so he tried to tack our way through the channel. We are aground, and unable to get off. We call Tow Boat US and they pull us off. After they pulled us off, we noticed that we had no rudder control, and asked them to tow us into Aransas Pass. While the wind is high and the bays were choppy the Tow Boat people asked us to anchor so that the trip can be done during daylight hours. We agreed.
Mom had the seasickness worse than the rest of us, so the Tow Boat people graciously gave her a ride to Port Aransas. We slept overnight at anchor. First thing in the morning Dad and Scott tried to diagnose/fix the rudder problem. Eventually, Scott got into the water and determined that our port rudder was bent 45˚. The Tow Boat guys had a difficult time towing us to Mile 533 yard in Aransas Pass.
We eventually get to Aransas Pass, where Mom is waiting by the gate with the truck to take us to Port A. We take most of our food and Quinn and head to Mom’s house. This is now Saturday night, the night of the Harvest Moon award ceremony and party. So, we quickly stow the food and Quinn and head to the party. It wasn’t much of a party for us, but I had paid for the meal, so gosh darn it we were going for the meal.
I have no idea how our class fared
during the race. All I know is that
everybody was okay. We coordinated
with our friends Karen and Tony to get Agnieszka back to Clear Lake.
Unfortunately Tony had to go to work, so they picked her up at 7 am.
We had a lazy Sunday lounging at Mom & Dad’s house. We did get Mom over to the bus heading back to LYC so that she could pick up their car. During the race, temperature wise, the weather was nice so everybody had their hatches open in the cabins. All linens are soaked with salt water. We spent the remainder of the day doing laundry.
The sign at Mile 533 yard states that they open at 7:30. So, on Monday morning we arrive at the yard at 7:45. There are a bunch of guys standing by our boat and looking at the rudder. Joe, the foreman, was/is an extremely nice guy. They got us out of the water and on blocks. There was also a tug that had to be pulled out so after they blocked us, they left us alone. This was great because it gave us time to clear out the aft cabins so they could access the rudders. We also pulled out the carpet in the salon so it could dry and grabbed some additional items that needed to be laundered.
Since Mom and Dad were heading off to achieve items on their bucket list on Tuesday, we left the yard, and spent the rest of the day visiting with them. Thank goodness they had two vehicles in Port Aransas. They were able to leave for their trip on Tuesday morning, and we were able to drive back to the yard.
Tuesday was cleaning day for VII C’s. Joe advised us to use toilet bowl cleaner to clean the hulls of the boat. So that’s what we did. The rest of the week was spent lounging around at Mom’s house and cleaning the boat.
Joe and his crew did an awesome job on the rudders. We were very fortunate that our rudders are on pipe and not shafts. Shafts would’ve been much more expensive to replace. They also redid our sugar scoops. The paint was peeling and just looked really bad. Again, Mile 533 did an amazing job. They went above and beyond what we had expected of them.
October 30, 2010 The trip home
begins.
Due to weather issues and the paint not working properly, our departure was on Saturday morning. We motor sailed up the ICW. Scott and I were talking about where to stop for the day, and all of a sudden Scott smells smoke. He goes inside as the smoke is billowing out of the starboard aft cabin, and I find the fire in the battery box. Somehow, Scott managed to get us anchored and get the fire out while talking to a tug coming right at us and putting down the sails. OMFG, we are in exactly the same spot we were at when we were grounded. So frustrating!!!
During the fire extinguishing process, Scott was using the little fire extinguishers that everybody has on their boats. He got to the point where he was grabbing empty units. After he started doing this, he started chucking the empty ones into the water. All fire extinguishers on board were used. Scott finally had to resort to using salt water. During this process though, we did lose a bucket.
So, we call Tow Boat US again. The same crew came and rescued us, and towed us back to Mile 533 Yard. We had called Joe, and he arrived and took us to my parent’s house at around midnight. Awesome customer service, again above and beyond expectations.
On Sunday, we start the process of cleaning out the battery box of charred wire and soot. It was a messy and hot project. On Monday, we talked with Joe about the process of rewiring the battery box. His suggestion was for Scott to do the work, and he and his crew will provide adult supervision. This ended up working out great. Scott and I know now how every wire is placed in that battery box.
From the suggestion from Joe, we painted the battery box with Kilz. That helped the odor immensely. The smoke did get into our charger compartment, but it’s very difficult to remove the chargers, so we’re gently spraying some air freshener there. That area of the boat may still smell like smoke for years to come.
Mile 533 yard did not charge us for our five day stay at their yard. We used their electricity, their water, and their expertise. These people were absolutely awesome, and I highly recommend them to anybody.
We eventually get all the wiring done, and start testing the batteries and engines. All is going well. We had wanted to leave on Thursday morning, but the winds were too high, so we spent another day testing and making sure everything was going to work.
November 5, 2010 Attempt #2 to get
Home.
So, we leave Mile 533 yard very quietly. Nobody came over to help us, which was fine, as we managed okay on our own. Our plan was to anchor at lunch time, to allow the engines, batteries, and generator to rest. We did this and got going again with no problems.
After the fire, it was determined that one of our chargers is defunct. It is pulling power from the battery when it is idle. So, we decided to switch out chargers, so that we didn’t lose power in any one specific battery. On one nice stretch of the ICW, we are motor sailing, so Scott turns off an engine to change out the charger. The engine does not restart.
This is okay though, because we can
limp home with only one engine. Near
dinnertime, we decided to pull up to a fuel dock to stay the night and refuel in
the morning. In the morning we got
fuel, checked barge traffic, and were ready to get on our way.
Neither engine would start now!!!!
Hence, another phone call to Tow Boat US. These guys were not as awesome as the Port Aransas guys. They towed us over to Clark’s marina in Port O’Connor. They hit our boat, and docked us on the wrong side. But we are safe.
So, we rent a car and get our butts back to Clear Lake. We have now stretched our one week vacation into two and we both need to get back to work. Luckily, our friend Lorraine has a condo that she rarely uses during the week, so we stayed there. We had decided to leave Quinn on the boat. The weather was supposed to be mild, and he should be okay.
At dinner on Monday night, Richard, Lorraine’s boyfriend, mentions that he has a 30 hp Suzuki outboard that we could use to get us home. So, on Friday, Scott gets the motor and takes it to Meeks Outboard Repair to get her tuned up. They did some work and she runs like a champ. Scott has worked on a mount and believes that this will work.
November 13, 2010 Attempt #3 to get
Home.
It was raining Saturday morning, so we dawdled with getting the boat ready for the trip home. We finally leave Port O’Connor after lunch. We had already discussed that we were going to go offshore. The offshore forecast called for 2 to 4 foot seas and plenty of wind from the North.
We pull out of the marina, turn left into the ICW, travel about 100 yards, and the engine gets swamped and dies. Scott quickly gets the Genoa out and we’re sailing in the ICW. We are traveling in a 3 knot current and can't don't want to turn around. We make the turn out of the jetties into the Gulf. We have a wonderful sail.
Sunday evening, decision time. The wind has shifted to the North East. We are trying to travel to the North East. We are tacking back and forth and not really making any progress. We decide to go to Freeport. As soon as we have a cell signal, we’ll call Tow Boat US again to get us into the Freeport jetties and into the yard. We were unable to get Tow Boat US on the cell phone or the radio. So, Scott ended up talking with the Coast Guard to communicate to Tow Boat US.
Tow Boat gets to the jetties and informs us via the Coast Guard that he is not going out into the gulf because the seas are too rough. So we tell them that we’ll get to them. It may take us a while, but we can sail it. On the very next tack, our rudder stops responding. It turns out that the steering wire came off one of the quadrants and the other quadrant exploded into 3 pieces. Shitty death.
We hail the Coast Guard, and they advise us to anchor. Okay, we are now anchored in 58 feet of water. No problem.
The Coast Guard comes and rescues us. We have a manual windlass on board. Scott and I take turns on cranking the anchor up. We have all 100 feet of chain out and apparently lots of rope too. With the wind, waves, and the weight of the boat, we are unable to pull up the anchor. Also, the rope got stuck in the windlass. We eventually had to cut the rope, and now we are without an anchor.
The Coast Guard takes us to Bridge Harbor marina. They do their boarding inspection. We failed only one item. We did not have the rules to navigation book on board. I told them that I think it got put in the car. Later, we found the book in the car. This book now has a permanent home at our navigation station.
So, apparently, Scott’s mount did not work. He had put it in the center of the stern. With a catamaran, the water flows in between the alma's and splashes out at the center of the boat. Thus after the first little waves we encountered in the ICW, the engine was flooded.
We’re now in Freeport. This is much better than Port O’Connor since we can commute to work from here.
Scott has lunch with our friend Tony
on Tuesday, and between the two of them, they have figured out a new way to
mount the engine. So, Tuesday night
through Friday night after work, Scott and I work on the new engine mounts. When we were done on Friday, they looked great.
We created two. One for the 30 horsepower and one for our 15 hp dinghy engine
as a backup.
Based on a suggestion from our friend
Jeremy, we manually turned the boat around in the slip.
This was nerve-wracking, but I’m very glad that we did it.
I cleaned up the cockpit on Friday
evening, while Scott went to work on the rudders.
The work he did on the port rudder was amazing.
Apparently, he just needed to tighten the wire, but the helm is so much
easier to handle now. Now that our
stern is toward the dock, Scott used a flashlight and looked at the rudders,
while I turned the helm. Port
worked like a champ, starboard did not move.
So, we clear out a space in the starboard aft cabin for Scott to get in and see what is wrong with the rudder. It’s bad. It is very, very bad. So, we’ll be limping home on only one rudder.
November 20, 2010 Attempt #4 to get
Home.
Our departure from the slip at
Freeport was very easy. Turning
into the ICW was another matter. I
turned the helm to port and the nose of the boat went to starboard.
I probably panicked a little too early, but Scott went to the engines and
revved them up to help me turn. We
were able to turn into the ICW. Apparently,
we were going against the tide. If I was a little more patient, I would’ve gotten us turned
okay. Anyway, with Scott’s
attempt to rev the engine, he accidentally dunked the 15 hp in the water.
Traveling the ICW is the most boring thing ever. We contemplated listening to a book during our travels, but we needed to keep an ear on the radio for barge traffic, so we mainly sat there with our own thoughts, occasionally sharing ideas.
We make it through the Galveston Causeway Railroad Bridge without any problems. Did you know that the guy who works the radio at that bridge has been there for 37 years? Man, that seems like an extremely boring job to me. Anyway, the wind has picked up and now we’re motor sailing!!
We get into the Houston Ship Channel, and the wind dies. But we’re going with the current. We are motor sailing 8.5 knots in 7.5 knots of wind. Super Cool!!!
We make the turn into Galveston Bay, take some pictures of the beautiful sunset and moonrise, and contact our neighbors to let them know we’re on our way. We got their voicemail, so I tried again when we were closer and I got their voicemail again, so it looks like we’re docking on our own.
Scott has lowered the throttle on the
30 hp and we’re slowly approaching our dock.
He puts the engine in idle, and it’s moving us closer to the dock.
Scott tells me it’s going to die, and it actually does.
During normal dockings, Scott steers while I jump off and secure the
lines. Well, this time I’m steering, he jumps off and ties off our
stern line. At this time, our other
neighbor (who I should’ve called) jumps out and gets our bow line.
We get ourselves secure and power plugged in.
OMFG!!! We are finally home. The date is November 20, 2010. We have been away from our marina for almost a complete month. It’s good to be home, but now we have a lot of repairs to do.
Repairs to do:
Starboard Rudder quadrant
One Charger
Two Engines
Bimini (one of the supports became loose during the sail down to Port Aransas)
Air Conditioner Water Pump (It was hot when we went aground; apparently we sucked in mud when we turned it on.)
Revised: November 29, 2010
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