I find Whips Sexy

Boat Whips that is!

In the ongoing campaign to keep Iguanas from pooping on Eximius at the dock, we were suggested installing Boat Whips. As it happens, a friend of ours is selling their boat and the whips were not included - She offered them to us for Free! Would not accept payment so I promised some of my home / boat baked bread when we are nearby.

Taking the whips home with about 12' hanging out of the back of our F150 was a little nerve racking, but I tied two bright flags to the end of the whips so that any following vehicle could see them, that worked! Each time a vehicle approached from behind, they stayed well back!

At home I sanded down the aged fiberglass splintered whips and applied a half dozen coats of Krylon Spray Paint  - Mahogany Red! Wire brushed the flaking paint from the base plates and sprayed them Black. For aged whips, they now look pretty good.

The bases are secured to the decking with 4" 1/2" Bolts and Nylock Nuts & Fender washers underneath the deck. I cut a piece of 1/2" thick rubber floor tile so that the bases would not cut into the deck planking.

Getting the washers & nuts onto the bolts below the deck was a challenge, but a decent amount of sweat and puffing got them done.

The line that came with the whips is in pretty good shape, but was too short for this setup, so I extended the line with some spare from the boat - all boat owners tend to have 'extra' line onboard!

The Whip line is secured to a cleat on the whip at the dock side and onto a cleat nearest the dock on the boat.

We normally have the boat facing East, but it's facing West right now as we didn't want to turn the boat upon our last return to the dock, simply because we wanted a quick unload and get home for a nice shower!

The Whips hold the boat nearly 2' from the dock unless the wind is from the North, which does happen, but mostly it's from the East. When wind is from the North, the boat moves towards the dock and then eases off again, we'll have to practice adjustment of the whip lines in order to find the optimum position.

Thanks Eileen!

See you on the water!

HISC Sailing Social 2018

Each year the HISC holds a Sailing Social, basically a bunch of members go out on their boats following a 'leader' and navigate in ever decreasing circles - ie. going nowhere.
But every boat has at least one person with a camera that takes pics of all the other boats, then we share them after the weekend.

For us, the weekend meant we had to leave the dock Friday at 5:30pm in order to miss the bridge lockdowns and get past the shallow end of our canal before low tide. So we spent the night at Lake Sylvia. We had Sausage and Veggies for dinner, we didn't run the generator, thinking that the cool breeze would last all night. It didn't!

Saturday morning, we pulled anchor, left the lake and headed out to the Ocean via the Port Everglades channel, it was a beautiful day for sailing! We headed casually North East to the 3 mile limit for a pump out, then turned towards Hillsboro Inlet's outer marker (the HI Buoy) to meet up with the other members, I think most of them came out of the Hillsboro Inlet.

Here's some pics.

After the 5pm end of the Sailing Social, we sailed towards the HI Buoy then into wind, dropped our sails and motored into the Inlet for the 5:15pm bridge opening then headed North up the ICW

We arrived at the Hillsboro Blvd Bridge just in time for an opening and then motored up to the Camino Real Bridge, but that bridge is being rebuilt and right now, it's open with both leaves of the Bascule Bridge up, so we were able to just motor through.

We met up with Paul & Leanne McKissick in Lake Boca and could smell their dinner cooking in the BarBQue on the back of Margarita.

That night we ran the Generator until 1am, I could have let it run as it ran out of gas 20 minutes after restarting it in the morning to charge batteries.

By 10 am we were heading down the ICW towards the Hillsboro Inlet, saying bye to Paul & Leanne although I don't know if they heard us.

Out on the Ocean it was another gorgeous day on the water, ideal for sailing. We had a great reach all the way down to Port Everglades, sails down, motor in and back to Lake Sylvia where we just hung out until 5:30pm. Hauling the anchor we took an easy motor up the New River, back to our slip and the quickest unload ever, thanks to taking the time while sitting in Lake Sylvia to unload the Fridge/Freezer, bedding, and all the usual stuff we bring home, including the broken flag pole for repair.

Awesome sailing weekend, we'll definitely be doing that again in 2019.

See you on the water.

Octoberfest 2018

Ok, let's make this one quick.

The HISC's Octoberfest was held on Sunrise Bay, just North of Sunrise Blvd Bridge on the West side of the Intracoastal Water Way. (ICW)

We had at least 15 boats attend and several more club members arrived by water taxi (Dink Rides), some of us arrived Friday (extra Cruising Point) but most arrived Saturday in time for the EXCELLENT cruise dinner of Brats, Red Cabbage and Roasted Potatoes followed by some awesome deserts and, of course, beers for the sailors.

Hosts were Intermission, Imagine and Wind Punk. 

On the bay that night were: 

Eximius, Diversion, Intermission, Wind Punk, Cheshire, Alebjie, Dalcarlia, Affection, Pegasus, Imagine, Lady Gray, Fandango, Haven (Cookie Monster - Eduardo's new boat), Po Poki II and Duet

Many of the club cruises include a 'best dressed' competition, resulting in prize for the best Gals Costume, Best Guys and Best Couples costumes.

Here's the winner:

Costume from Amazon, Hair by Peggy, Dinner by Cheryl, Fun by HISC.

See you on the Water.

Annapolis Sailboat Show 2018

Annapolis - Just for the fun of it.

We went to Annapolis in 2013, it rained! Every Day! But we really enjoyed the visit. On that trip we visited the US Naval Academy, The Boat Show, and local antique store and museums.

We're hoping the weather will be better this year and are looking forward to the Boat Show, the Blue Water Brokerage Show and, hopefully, the Maritime Museum and possibly the Chesapeake Bay Museum. We also hope to meet up with a few of the HISC members and even with some old 'online' acquaintances from the Catalina 25's Association. We're only there 3 full days, flying in Thursday afternoon and flying back on Monday around Noon.  

The Blue Water Brokerage Show is being sponsored by David Walters Yachts, Josh McLean, a HISC member will be there. Amanda Hyatt Haley, another HISC member, from Dennison Yachts will be at the Boat Show, so we should recognize a few people, but I'll make sure to wear my HISC Caps and Shirts just in case!

We're staying at the Annapolis Westin, and will get either an Uber or shuttle from there to the shows. That also means I'll have my cellphone charged and on for the entire trip which will help with casual meet ups with our friends also in the area.

See you there!