Arrive at West Palm Beach FL

Sunday 15 Dec, St. Augustine to West Palm Beach FL day 2: Arrival to the heat of West Palm Beach, Florida, new grounds to explore.

Having rounded Cape Canaveral shoals the wind comes more aft and drops a little. I left Oana on watch with the boat sailing on autohelm on “wind”, with angle 120deg to wind, which is about as far off wind as we can go whilst still keeping the genoa full and pulling. Speed is still a nice 7 kts but, as expected with the wind swinging, we are now heading to the coast with collision course ETA 1 hour.
So it’s time to head downwind with poled-our genoa. Takes a bit to setup and once settled we are managing 6 kts in the right direction. But we are also rolling – Cloudy loves to roll downwind 🙁 Plus the sails are occasionally flogging. So ends the wonderful sailing conditions. With teeth gritted and speed dropping further I only last 1 hour like this before putting the sails to bed and starting the engine. Such conditions not only get on your nerves but also put a lot of wear on sails and sheets. Motoring puts us back to comfort and also keeps sleeping beauty happy in her bunk (the genoa car, when flogging downwind, makes one hell of a rattle right above her head!).

As soon as the sun is up the cockpit heats up like nobody’s business. Even with the windscreen open and back of tent removed, it’s hot! And the sea temperature is now a balmy 25degC. Just what the doctor ordered 🙂

At 9am the wind is back, exactly as forecast. This time an onshore wind. And we sail the last 50 miles on a port beam reach at a gentle 6kts in beautiful blue water. We are just 1 mile off the dunes backed beach, which extends forever down this Florida coast, filled with beach houses and occasional cluster of high rise holiday condos. And all around us are small sports fishing boats. It’s a Sunday and everyone is out enjoying this wonderful weather. If I were a fish around here, I’d definitely want to know when it’s the weekend!

By midday we approach Lake Worth Entrance, the channel into West Palm Beach. The high rise here are many, making it look like the Gold Coast in Australia. Are we ready for such civilization? Yes, yes and yes again says Oana 🙂

Just before the channel we furl the sails. Or more to the point, I furl the sails, using the new remote control. And I have to say I’m rather pleased with it… until that is, the outhaul suddenly refuses to move anymore. It fed inwards perfectly as I furled the main into the mast, but then stopped abruptly with just 3ft of travel left to go. I can tell you, I did utter some curses. Just as you think you are happy the way something new works, booffff! It bursts your balloon 🙁
Luckily the sail is away enough to be able to motor into the channel and anchor. I’ll sort it out there.

In the channel it’s like Piccadilly Circus, fast power boats coming from every direction, not bothered in the slightest about us bouncing around in their wake. Always tricky coming into a new harbour and this extra distraction we don’t need!

Once through, we turn sharp left into Lake Worth and anchor at the entrance in the only deep water area. But not before touching the bottom rather hard as we scout the anchoring area. Damn …. that’s the paint off the keel again and not even a month in the water :(. Trouble is, in this small deep water anchorage there are no less than 4 catamarans. Very inconsiderate really – they could have anchored anywhere in the Lake rather than take up this precious space suitable for monohulls.

Once anchored (a little too close to the biggest cat), we both dive below. Oana for a long awaited shower (which we have plenty of hot water for) and me to work out the boom outhaul issue. A few quick checks with the multimeter shows the new remote control receivers are not the problem. Then I check the big fuse for the outhaul hydraulic motor and find it blown. That’s odd. I wonder why. It was a 100amp fuse (pretty large!) but I see the other hydraulic motor is 200amp fuse. Then in the wiring file from HR I find it should actually be a 200amp fuse. I can only guess it blew for the previous owner and he only had a 100amp fuse to replace it with. Anyhow, I’m rather relieved it wasn’t anything to do with using the new remote control. And my spirits quickly climb back to where they had been at the end of the great sailing.

To find a better anchorage we launch the dinghy and head further into Lake Worth armed with our portable depth sounder. We find a much nicer place in just 3m of water and soon we are re-anchored right next to a fancy private leisure club – The Sailfish Club of Florida. And either side of it, very nice houses with immaculate lawns down to the water’s edge. It’s all very peaceful – a bit like being anchored in a duck pond, except the water is blue… and there are no ducks.

As usual after a night’s sailing we are rather mellow and a bit tired. So relaxation is the order of the afternoon, drinking tea to keep us awake and discussing how we get to see Fort Lauderdale and Miami. We could get a hire car, or a train or … the OCC Port Officer has found us a place to dock in Lauderdale. We call the guy. The dock is up the New River right in the middle of the town. The river is very narrow and only just 8-9ft deep but we get quite excited about it being docked so centrally. Until, that is, we spot on the chart some damned overhead power lines with documented maximum clearance of 79.7ft over water. Our height is 80.5ft plus antennas. What a shame. Can’t go there after all. I always said the mast on this beast is too tall! Must write to Germán Frers to complain.

It’s another wonderful sunset as we eat dinner in the cockpit, still with all the sides removed. Yes, it’s still warm. Once dark, Lake Worth looks like a candlestick park with all the anchor lights on. We haven’t been anchored with so many yachts since maybe the BVIs. So nice to be in the cockpit in the evening without shivering. I think the saloon, and it’s heaters, will be getting another long period of rest, starting today.
In the evening Christmas carols are sang at the nearby yacht club, and we find ourselves humming along.