Sundown Sailing Adventures

When you live in a land-locked state, it’s a great opportunity to have all your expenses paid to captain a sailing vessel. I had that very opportunity when a friend asked me to move a 1978 Morgan Out Island 41 from Islamorada in the Florida Keys, to New York City last June.

My friend, Larry, and his son, Sean, had purchased the above vessel in Florida and arranged with a local marine electrical engineer, Tim, to be our mechanic and get the vessel ship shape for the passage. I volunteered my son, Kyle, to come along as an able hand and we set a departure date.

Kyle and I arrived several hours later than expected due to airline mishaps, but we found Larry and Sean waiting for us in Fort Lauderdale. Our ideal plan was to purchase provisions on our way to the boat and then maybe, after an inspection, leave the next morning.

We stopped at a local grocery store and began provisioning. I tried my best to explain provisioning for off-shore cruising, pointing out the benefits of fresh vs. frozen vs. canned vs. boxed or jarred food and also found examples of food that, on shore in the U.S., we regularly keep refrigerated, but that can be stored without refrigeration (e.g., butter and hard cheese). We left the store with a reasonable supply of food.

We arrived in Islamorada to find s/v Elusive docked at Lorelei. Elusive presented as a classic example of an older blue water ketch that had fallen into the “slip life,” where 120v AC air conditioning and refrigeration are a necessity. She had symptoms of being in this state for several decades with no cruising upgrades evident in any of her systems.

As the appointed captain of the ship, Larry and Sean said, “we would leave when I said it was ready.” So I began a stem to stern survey.

I found the main salon full of random equipment. Visible through hulls and sea cocks appeared to be in good condition. The engine room was a 30+ year aggregate of classic 60hp Perkins Diesel, Onan Generator and systems to support a 41’ dual head with raw water cooled air conditioning. There was a hydraulic steering and auto helm system with  signs of minor wear and leakage. Four batteries – two for the house and two for the auto-helm – were identified with a Xantrex charging regulator and multiple battery switches. I noted a 1,000 -watt inverter mounted to the aft cabin companionway bulkhead; it wasn’t operational. There was a single burner alcohol stove, a two burner 120v hot plate, and an isolated refrigerator and freezer both running off a 120v generator. I determined that below deck most doors, drawers and equipment was not ready for sea.

Above decks, I found a roller furling head sail, a mainsail with lazy jacks/sail cover set up and a mizzen sail with the same. There were several recent halyard upgrades with bowline heads. The running rigging was otherwise unremarkable – a bit outdated, but ready to go.

The standing rigging on deck wasn’t tuned, but was acceptable, with some cotter pins in the turnbuckles and no rigging tape to protect pins visible in chain plates, turnbuckles or at outboard spreaders. The main backstay was a split backstay and there was a triatic to the top of the mizzen mast. Larry had already replaced the mizzen side stay chain plates after noticing cracks.

Wind vane, VHF antenna and non-operation wind speed/direction sender were identified at the masthead. There were two four-triangle halyards and one main halyard. The mizzen mast had main and staysail halyards with a TV and radar antenna.

I found Tim, our mechanic, and asked him about the lack of a 12v system for the refrigerator/freezer; whether he had inspected the through hulls and seacocks; why the charging system was so heavy (120v); and whether or not the electric bilge pumps were tested and operational.

Tim responded that all systems, through hulls, sea cocks and electrical systems were in working order except for the wind vane sender. The through hulls were inspected prior to launching. Charging was fine with a new heat exchanger in the Onan genset. The air conditioning was working in both the aft and forward cabin (but I noticed neither was set up for off shore transit). Basically, Tim felt we were ready to go and that the electric system was not unusual; he said he had installed many systems just like the one on Elusive.

Regardless of Tim’s report, critical issues Kyle and I identified included a non-operational manual bilge pump, a disconnected VHF antennae, only “coast guard” life jackets on board with no man-overboard device and no hand-held VHF. So we went to West Marine and purchased a VHF, EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon) and two off-shore auto-inflating PFD’s (personal flotation devices or life vests). Larry upgraded the chart plotter, and purchased an operational outboard motor and brand new dinghy.

Kyle spent the first two days simply stowing gear and miscellaneous stuff that cluttered the cabin to make us ship shape for off-shore sailing. I spent that time rebuilding the manual bilge pump, and cleaning the bilge of discarded wire ties, garbage and other flotsam and jetsam.

After working 12 hours in 100+ degree heat with matching humidity and no air conditioning, dinner time was a welcome break. We headed for the nearest local joint, the Lorelei Restaurant & Cabana.  Kyle and I easily polished off two fish sandwiches each! We agreed that Lorelei is a destination MUST, with excellent anchorage to the northwest and cruiser friendly staff.

On day three, I told our crew to be ready to cast off at 1100 hours…

Stay tuned for the continuation of our adventure, because we’re just getting to the good part!