Fun in the big town of Panama City

Last night as I was talking to my mom about Spinnakers, the place Ryan’s Friend Scott manages, and about how crazy it is going to get over spring break. I started looking at their website. And while I was looking I found pictures and in those pictures was a good one of Ryan, Marilyn, and our new Scott friend  when we went out for Mardi Gras (other Scott not Ryan’s Scott). So I thought that I would post the link on here and while I was doing that I thought that I would post the marina’s webpage too. So that you can see where we are.

http://spinnakerbeachclub.com

http://www.sunharborpc.com

We are doing good here, hope you are there.

Lots of love,

The Wells Family

A week in Panama

Man how time flies.  It seems like just yesterday we were refugees of the sea. We have spent the last week fixing everything that we broke on our trip here. We have seen a little of Panama City, but still have not had a day of sightseeing, maybe this coming week. We have finally had some great weather and saw 66 degrees and sunny skies today, it was a welcome sight. Unfortunately it is suppose to take a turn for the rainy side sometime tomorrow. Not much else going on here. Going to go out and eat with Scott and Beth and some of the other locals tonight then maybe hit some clubs. Not sure. Other than that it has been pretty boring around here. Just enjoying the sunsets and the relaxing atmosphere.

Hope all is well you.

The Journey Continues

Okay, so things started falling apart after our last blog entry.

Shortly after posting we listened to the weather report and got bad news. The nice weather was going down hill and in a hurry. So after some discussion we decided to go around Tiger pass. Nobody wanted to be in 30 kt winds with land on both sides of us. So we sailed out a little ways, started our engines, dropped and secured our sails, and everything on deck. I thought about for a little bit and then decided that I should check the oil and antifreeze in the engines while the weather was still good. I learned that in Tucumcari, New Mexico. So I killed one engine, checked fluids, then started it back and repeated the process on the other engine. Great! Then we thought while everything is calm we ought to eat real good too. Perfect! We are so proud of ourselves we are ready for this storm. Umm NO! 7:30pm the fuel transfer pump has quit and we can’t transfer fuel to our day tank. The solenoid has gone bad. So after bypassing the solenoid we are back on track.

Around New Orleans

Winds are directly from the North the seas are rough and we can’t head into the waves and definitely don’t want to be in between them. Jen is getting sicker and the swells are only getting higher. With the sails down and the engines in neutral we run with the swells doing 5 kts in a SE direction. The auto pilot was able to steer just fine even though we had no propulsion other than the winds. It was a comfortable ride going with the wind and waves.

Seas are roughly 10-13 feet. Winds at 40kts. Jen is on the floor along with most everything that was on the cabinets, bunks, or even in some cases in cabinets. Still heading in a SE direction.

More trouble. We had a hydraulic fitting on our Port transmission break and under some miracle we were able to find the correct fitting, fix it, and had enough transmission fluid to fill it again. Once again we find ourselves at an unexpected distance from land; any land, 172 miles away from land to be exact and at this point we are thinking that Mexico sounds nice (why not already half way there).

Some Time Later. Both alternators on both engines failed, and the generator won’t start, so now we are down to wind and solar power. We have plenty of wind, but it has been overcast everyday not good if you need solar power. We start conserving power. I steer the boat as much as I can. We turn the GPS on every 4 hours and get a Lat. Long and check radar. We turned the fridges off.

We are losing power out an alarming rate. By the time we get to Panama City we had to find our first channel marker, around 4:30 am on Friday, with no GPS using only spot light and paper charts. We got to our marina around 6am only to wait until 8am for them to open. We pulled up to the fuel pier and charged our batteries before we put the boat in our slip later that day.

We like the Marina, and have already met lots of fun people. One of the couples on the dock was having a dock sale and I got a new aluminum bike with travel bags and a trailer and Jen got all new foul weather gear. We were pretty excited about both. Around the marina there is a laundry mat, a restaurant, some trinket stores, a canvas repair store, and a bar all within a 100’ of the boat. There is also a Trolley system that will take us pretty much anywhere we want to go in Panama City. We haven’t got to explore any more of the area yet, hopefully this coming week we will be able to.

My friend, Scott, took us out to eat then to his bar on Saturday night. Had a blast, there was a great band playing (Mom wanted to adopt them all). Although it was a little chilly standing outside watching them play.

Otherwise we have been cleaning, doing laundry, and working on the boat.

I Lied!

I just found out that we are going to go out and celebrate Mardi Gras tonight sooo the “official blog” that I am suppose to be posting has been delayed. I am really sorry….okay not really. But I do apologize that this is not the post you expected. Maybe tomorrow afternoon I will get the rest of the story on here. :) No really, I will get the rest of the story on here tomorrow.

Until then…Happy Mardi Gras everyone!

Our Great Adventure – Leg 1

Captains Log

Behind schedule from the beginning.

Day One Friday February 5th, 2010 7am

Jen and I get up early to get Sandy ready to set sail. We left Offats Bayou by 9:30 am and motor out on the Port Engine to get to the Galveston Railroad bridge to find that they are closed until noon for repairs. So we throw anchor just west of the bridge and wait till noon. Jen made Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner during the 2 hours we were waiting. Once the bridge was opened it was pretty crazy getting through, with all the boats that had been waiting on both sides. Once through and past all the traffic we raised the Jib and main sail. We are sailing at 6.2 kts to the Intercoastal and the Texas City Channel, then back to the Houston ship channel. We raised the stay sail, and lost wind by the time we were out in the Gulf, we were only doing 3.5-4 kts. 3pm saw 8 or 9 dolphins 4pm lowered medium sized jib, and raised our largest jib. 6pm By night fall I had my beautiful sunset I have been waiting for then billions of stars came out to perform just for me. The North winds picked up to 13 kts, which gave us a speed of 6.1kts. By midnight we running about 7 miles offshore and had speeds over 8 kts. We are seeing lots of rigs.

Day Two Saturday February 6th, 2010 4am

Getting too close to land so we tack out to sea. new heading 165 degrees. 6:30 am we are 27 miles offshore tacked to port new heading 105 degrees speed 7.4 kts, wind 20 kts 9:30 am clear skies a little chilly. Auto pilot quit, it has been working real hard, we have 4-5 foot seas and the wind keeps shifting more to the east. Fixed auto pilot, it's a permanent magnet motor, and it got stuck in a sweet spot I guess. I gave it a turn start, and it started working again. We still aren't making enough electricity. we are having to run the generator 4-6 hours a day to keep batteries charged. Starting to have problems with generator. It's raw water pump is leaking sea water in bilge. Can't fix under way. Alternator bracket sheared a screw, and now alternator belt won't stay on, but I can still charge batteries with battery chargers. Jury rigged alternator bracket. working great now. Battery chargers wouldn't keep up. Went to start generator and the glow plug switch stuck and ran it's battery down. Fixed switch and jumped batteries off the engine bank. 4am fishing boat on collision course, wouldn't answer radio calls. let it get within 1/4 mile, then tacked to the port to avoid them. didn't want to change course behind them because they were dragging nets.

Day Three Sun February 7th, 2010

Unfavorable East winds keep us going further and further off shore. At one time we were 78 miles off shore. A tack toward shore doesn't help and we actually lose ground and are pointed in the wrong direction. Our big Jib won't point into the wind enough. 12pm The Abigail Claire (about a 250 foot rig boat) on a perpendicular course to us, passed behind us, turned parallel to our course, then followed us maybe a 1/4 mile to our starboard. Then they came out on their deck with their binoculars. We were worried if maybe we were in an area that we weren't suppose to be in or something. After a few minutes Jen hails them on the radio. They said they wanted to watch us sail for awhile, and said that she was some boat and was envious of us. Made us all feel Proud. 1pm tired of still going farther out to sea, and working on the generator, so we dropped the forward jib, and motor sailed with staysail, mainsail, and port engine. (Port engine has 2 huge alternators and will run entire boats electricity) Now we can point a little more to the east. 5pm Beautiful blue water and calm seas. Jen is finally not sick she even went down below for a shower (about time) and ate two sloppy joes for dinner instead of her normal piece of bread. 6pm Beautiful sunset, only about 7-8 knots of wind so we lowered all sails and motored straight into the wind. Only lost about 3/4 of a knot, but gained in the right direction. Motor speed: Port engine only 1400 rpms 4.2 kts roughly about a gallon an hour. 7pm Watched the 1st movie of The Pirates of the Caribbean. (mom hadn't seen any of them) It was a nice treat for all of us after the stressful last few days.

Day Four Monday February 8th, 2010 4am

20+ kts wind right on the bow still motoring 2.5 kts now only 25 miles off shore. 5:30am Sissy wormed her way out of the cockpit without her life jacket. Jen was on watch by her self and said it made her a nervous wreck trying to keep an eye on her and steer the boat in the dark. Sis stayed outside about 15 minutes pottied, watched the rig we were passing and then got close enough for Jen to grab her. 9am Still motoring 4.8 kts 22 miles from shore. Sissy and Mom went outside for about an hour just to enjoy the sunshine and fresh air. 11am Jen's phone buzzes. We are close enough to shore to receive text messages! Jen quickly sends out a couple before the signal is gone. 3pm Mom works on the computer for a couple hours and I am sending this off.

Notes: Raymarine Chart plotter and Radar working great, huge help avoiding rigs. Centerboard down and working, helps the side to side motion and windward pointing. Nobody has been to sea sick and everyone is finding their sea legs. Sissy was scared at first but seems to be in good spirits now. I am glad to be motoring, and not worrying about the generator/electricity, and the water leaking in the bilges. Engine is working great now. I am really glad that I figured out the problem before we set off.

And the adventure continues!!

Lack of Updates

Sorry everyone for the lack of updates, It's all Jen's fault. Now that we are married she keeps giving me honey-do's, which leaves me no time to play on the computer or blog anymore.

So where to start?? On Jan 21 we hauled the boat out of the water. We got everything done we set out to do. Installed two new through hull fittings and instruments, got the centerboard working, washed the bottom, and put new zinc's on. Thanks to the guys at Seabrook Marina, You did a great job.

I also got most of my Raymarine toys working, and I can tell I'm going to be real spoiled. It is pretty amazing. I don't know how I ever went anywhere before. We have finally discovered the cause to our fuel problem and currently have both engines running smooth as tops. Apparently although the fuel filter numbers crossed in the parts store computer, our engines know the difference and they do NOT work. Yea another mystery solved.

Then on the 25 of Jan. We took off on our last road trip for awhile. Jen drove her truck, while I drove my I-Haul. (which I still love) We started with an 11 hour 30 min drive to Woodward where we left the pickup and have dinner with most of Jen's family. Then we spent the better part of Tuesday with Jen's Grandparents before going to OKC to drop off the I-Haul. Then on Wed, before all the snow and ice hit hard we rented a car and took off back to Houston. But not before making an elaborate plot to catch the UPS Guy before leaving town. Thanks for another night at the Hotel Grenzebach, the continental breakfast was yummy, and we will definitely miss you guys. We just barely made it out before the ice settled in, we ended up driving through about 70 miles of it, but lucky for us it wasn't sticking to the road yet. We got some good pictures of our LAST ICE STORM EVER!!!

Friday Night some our our dock friends had a little going away party for us. Mom and Deb ended up playing their guitars and singing until late in the evening. They played like they have been playing together for years. Very entertaining, I think they sang every oldie ever written. It was a blast. Thanks guys! We hope to see you "on down the river"!

We are excited for the beginning of our adventure and yet at the same time are not quite ready, and the boat is not completely finished but Tristan Jones says it best....

"For the average small-craft voyager three things are certain: if he waits until his boat is one hundred percent ready, or if he waits until he has enough money, or if he listens to most "sensible" people, he'll never get away from the dock."

-Tristan Jones "The Improbable Voyage"

Houston we have left the Marina!!!

"And now the moment you all have been waiting for".... Saturday Jan 30, 2010 9:30 am we cast off our bow lines seeking adventure in all the uncharted islands of the world asking for nothing more than perfect sunsets and fair winds Oh! and rum lots of Rum.

We left the safety of South Shore Marina Dock 17 at a low tide; thanks to the Northern winds, but that just means we won't hit our mast on the bridge on the way out, I also think that I need to send a bill to the marina for dredging the channel. The way is clear for you now Al!

Once out of Clear Lake we headed to the Houston Ship Channel it was a perfect day for sailing, we were running with the wind at an average of 7 1/2 knots, ship and barge traffic was light. Once we hit the Intercoastal Waterway and had the wind on a beam reach we hit a top speed of 9.2 knots. WOW! We may make it to Florida quicker than estimated. Once we got close to the Galveston bridge we tried to roll up our roller furling, and the dang thing wouldn't roll up again! This is the second time I have had to pull it down like a conventional sail, I am NOT impressed. So with just the main we finished out the leg; we still made about 5 1/2 knots. We were also able to sail into Offats bayou right to where we anchored.

So now, here we are... Still in Offats Bayou, waiting on the offshore weather to be more favorable, since last Saturday. I have gone to shore several times to walk Sissy, I have taken the bike to shore to go to O'Reily's and Home Depot, We have dinghyed to shore to eat. What else is there to do?!

We have had a really bad windstorm. The radio said gusts of 40 knots, but the highest we observed on the boat was 34 knots, with an average of 25-28 knots. Even with two anchors out we still drag in this slick clay and have had to reset the anchor several times. Our electricity rationing hasn't worked out quite so well either. The wind generator will run one fridge and one computer; if you turn anything else on we go backwards. We haven't seen any sun since we have been here, so we don't have a good feel for what the solar panels will add. But we will probably add some more panels in Panama City. We have been running our generator 2-3 hours a day. Instead of the one hour every other day like I had hoped. On the plus side our water is lasting great. We have been good about conserving and have been able to catch rain water, so we haven't had to use our water maker yet.

We still had date night on Wed. I made Spaghetti and we watched a movie on the big screen. Hopefully we will be leaving Friday morning for Florida, that is the plan anyways depending on weather, right now the forecast is looking good.

Well I better get off here, there is a line forming for the computer and Internet.

Until next time,

Ryan and Family

Oh and I promise (again) to keep you better updated on where we are and what we are up to.

PS: This is a video of how our props work. I have had several people ask.

They are feathering props. They turn so there is no drag when we are sailing.

And they rotate 180 degrees so that they have the same pitch in forward and reverse.