We're Off

We dropped the lines from the dock at Coco Beach Yacht Club on Marathon, FL at 8:15 AM on Sunday, March 28th. The former owners of Rock Chalk, Bill and Joy Porter, were there to help us with the lines and take pictures of their beloved boat, formerly known as Chandelle. I think they were more worried about me running the boat into the rocks than any sentiment of seeing the boat gone. They were ready to move ashore.

Charlie and Caitlyn had flown in the day before and will be with us for the first leg of the trip. They are on spring break from Tulane, and are having a great time on the boat. We are taking them up to Miami, where they will fly to LA to spend the rest of Spring Break with Cait's family.

Then there is Rock Chalk. It is in great shape right now and can only go downhill from here. So far in three days, I accidentally loosened a line on the dinghy davit that released it and broke a shackle that holds it. Then the cable got jammed in the pulley so there was no mechanical advantage to the lift and we could not get the ding back into the brackets. Oh well. Bill found a replacement part and all is well, except my pride. Then there are all the warning bells and whistles that go off, and I ask "Where the hell is Joe to fix that?"

Actually the boat is performing very well. It is very comfortable in big winds and seas, and we have been cruising at about 8 knots for the majority of these first two days. But yesterday we were trying to outrun a thunderstorm, and this is the nice part of a powercat versus the sailboat of old. We pushed the throttles forward and Rock Chalk virtually leaps out of the water and cruises at a very smooth 16 knots. You cover alot of water at that speed. It was really cool, but of course we burned half the fuel of Saudi Arabia in that 45 minute run, but we beat the storm and were safely tied up at the dock when the rain and winds hit.

By the way, in case you are coming this way never stay at the marina we are currently at. It is called Gilbert's on the north end of Key Largo and it is a dump. The dock is old with no padding, which made the high wind docking a challenge yesterday. We are literally 10 feet from a motel with 4 families of Cuban from Miami. They are really nice people, but sure are loud. Dockage is $2.00 a foot so it costs us $88.00 to stay at this piece of crap.

Today we are headed up further up the intercoastal towards Miami. We have reservations tonight at Dinner Key near Coconut Grove for tonight. Charlie and Cait will fly out on Thursday morning, and Shelley and I will continue northward. I just heard last night that there will be a shuttle launch on April, 5th. That is just about the time we will be going by Cape Canaveral. What an incredible opportunity to see one of the final shuttle launches! Shelley and I are very excited.

Well, I must go perform my preflight engine checks before we get going. I am turning over a new leave....not just trying to survive on the ocean. Hopefully they make these damn engines operable even if an idiot is checking the oil.

All the best..Marc