HISC 22nd Annual Change of Command Raftup

 We're rafting up in Lake Boca

This is a similar trip to what we have done every year since we joined the club.

In 2015, we joined the raftup aboard 'Joint Decision' our Catalina 250 just a couple of months before purchased Eximius.  

Getting the boat out, even if it's only for a two hour motor up the ICW from the dock to the anchorage in Lake Boca. As they say 'You get there quicker on a Power Boat but you're already there on a sailboat'.

Plan is to prep the dinghy for the Saturday evening Dink Drift and dine inside the closed raft up circle. It needs cleaning and putting on the foredeck of Eximius. We purchased a couple of Yoga Mats to cushion the deck which was only refinished a couple of months ago. We'll do that on Wednesday.

Thursday we'll load up the boat, put the food on board, fill the fuel tank and put a spare can of diesel on the deck. Our Fuel tank holds 23 Gallons of Diesel and we typically use 3/4 gallons an hour at 5+ knots. So we carry plenty, but we're hoping to be able to actually go sailing on either Sunday or Monday.

Over the past few months, we have stowed several dinners for the boat in our Freezer at home. It's easy to just defrost the prepared meals, Chili, Stew, Shepherds Pie, etc. etc. This makes meal prep on board really easy but it does not fill my desire to cook aboard the boat, so we'll take eggs, ham, tomatoes for a nearly English breakfast. We've been very happy with high protein Oats for breakfasts too, so we'll take enough for at least 3 breakfasts too.

We'll take some wine, rum and non-alcoholic drinks, lots of cheese chunks, grapes and crackers to share with anyone that comes aboard at the raft up.

Friday morning we'll complete the loading and leave the dock sometime around 10am, arriving at Lake Boca sometime after noon. Some of our buddies are already planning to be on the lake by Friday evening, so we'll probably have a few cocktails or Sundowners before turning it Friday night.

Saturday is the big day. Most of the boats will arrive before Noon, some by 2pm when the plan is to close the raft up into a circle. We have had as many as 72 boats rafted in the past, but it's typically abour 20 boats. I have a feeling that we'll blow past that this weekend. Folks are eager to get their boats out and enjoy the opportunity to join with other sailing nuts.

After the raft up closes, around 5pm, the club holds it's annual Change of Command Ceremony where the outgoing Commodore passes his flag to the current Vice Commodore who passes her flag to the incoming Rear Commodore. There's bound to be a great article and lots of photos on the club's website at https://www.hisc.org

Sunday morning the raft up breaks up around 10am, we may stay on station at anchor or we might head down the ICW to Hillsboro Inlet and get a chance to raise the sails - I really hope we do get the chance.

Of course, we have the option to stay at anchor on Sunday and take the boat out to the Ocean on Monday then back to the dock.

I'm talking up a storm here, but hope that it will be a great weekend and that we can get the boat sailing on the Ocean.  Keep your fingers crossed.

See you out there!

Paul

Fellowship Cruise 2025

Planning to go sailing ( again, 2nd time this year )

Getting more of my work done ( Canvas work ) and time to get the boat out again, this time it's a weekend with other sailors.

The Hillsboro Inlet Sailing Club ( HISC for those that don't know me ) is joining the Palm Beach Sailing Club ( PBSC ) and the Castaways Sailing Club ( CSC ) (ok, enough initials ! ) over the weekend of February 15th & 16th. 

HISC is racing from Hillsboro Inlet up to Lake Worth on the Saturday, then Back to HI on Sunday. There's a party at the PBSC Saturday evening and a Chili Cookoff Sunday by Lake Boca. For us this means we'll anchor or Moore on Saturday evening close to the PBSC and anchor in Lake Boca on Sunday evening, returning to the dock on Monday.

Ok, that's the overview, some of the details....

It takes us about 90 minutes to get from the dock to the start line with enough time to practice the start which is at 10am Saturday, so we'll leave the dock at 7:55am, be at Atlantic Bridge for the 8:30am opening and then the 8:45am opening of the 14th street bridge, that should get us to be ready for the 9:00am opening of the Hillsboro Inlet Bridge, 9:30am should put us at the start line, sails hoisted and a couple of practice start line ups.

The Finish mark is on the East side of Red Buoy #2 outside of the Lake Worth Inlet, but there is typically a Southerly current that flows just off the beach, a couple of knots is quite normal. Whereas, there is the Gulf Stream pushing North at over 2 knots, we've had the benefit of a 4 knot flow in the past. So it's worth heading off shore a couple of miles. I'm planning on heading from the Start line on a bearing of 45ºM until we see the edge of the Gulf Stream. At that point the Chartplotter should start to show that our direction of travel is nearer to 40ºM and the water temperature should rise a couple of degrees. At that point we'll turn due North. Of course, all of this is wind dependent, but typically, the wind is from the SE this time of year unless a Northerly is heading down our way, we're not expecting that to happen - at least not in the long range forecast.

Dependent upon the wind, we'll turn towards the Lake Worth Inlet when it is about 45º off of our Port bow. We have to pass within 150' of the R2 Buoy on it's East side. We'll try to take a pic with one of our phones showing the Buoy and the Jetty Pump House directly to the west. We'll send that pic to the race coordinator.

Once past the finish line ( we will finish by 16:30, right! ) we'll drop the sails and motor into the inlet and then turn South on the ICW down to the PBSC and anchor on the East side of the waterway. Party time is 6pm. So we have to finish on time, it takes about an hour from the finish line to the anchorage.

Partytime!

Should be a great party, the PBSC is a great club and they hold great parties and they are always well attended. If we lived closer to them we would join, as it is, we only get up there once or twice a year.

Back on the boat not too late as we have an early start Sunday Morning.

Here's our plan: If the weather is grotty ( not expected ) then we'll just stay in the anchorage until Monday and reassess. If the weather is good to go, then we'll leave the anchorage at 7:45am heading to the Start line which is about 1/2 mile South of the inlet. There will be a Race Committee boat and an Orange Buoy marking the line. Start time is 9am.

The start time at 9am is partially due to the Low Tide Time at Hillsboro Inlet being 4:46pm.

The course, measured using Aqua Maps, is 31nm and we have from 9am through 4:30pm, that's 7.5 hours. That means we'll need to maintain a speed of  4.13knots. BUT that would put us at the inlet a low tide and it's skinny enough that is there are any waves, we'll possibly hit bottom. So our goal is to get there by 14:30pm when there should be 1' of water below our keel during most of the transit of the inlet.

That's 9am till 14:30pm, 5.5 hours. So we'll need to maintain a speed of 31/5.5 = 5.6 knots.

'If' we're unable to maintain that speed, Wind, etc. , then we'll retire from the race and motor to the inlet to make sure we're not trying to enter at low tide. We can easily maintain over 6 knots under motor.

Mind you, the course is Southerly and we might get a tidal current of at least 1 knot, so we should not have any issues. 31nm at 6 knots is only 5 hours or 2pm

As always, it's critical to be close to the start line on time! We're registering for the 'Cruising' class which normally is the first class to start as they are also the slowest. Our goal is to get in the mix at the start line just seconds before the actual start.  Fun!

So we'll probably sail off shore trying to stay in the Southerly current all the way down from Lake Worth to the HI Buoy, then we'll drop the sails and motor in through the Inlet and turn North on the ICW heading for Lake Boca. The Chili Cookoff starts at 5:30pm.

UPDATE    

Well, that didn't work out! 

We had the skipper's meeting via google Meet on Friday at noon. The organizers reported on the anticipated weather and it was generally accepted that it would be a rough Ocean, winds from the SE and waves in the 4' to 6' range.

Peggy & I discussed the options:

• Cancel now and drive up to Lake Worth for the Party on Saturday
• Get out on the Ocean and then Cancel if it was too rough for just the two of us. Again, Drive up on Saturday.
• Go for it.
• Motor up the ICW just to get out for the weekend, but that would require that we head back down the ICW on Sunday and the weather was actually looking worse for that day.

We took the first option and left the boat at the dock and we drove up to the PBSC late Saturday afternoon.

Of course, it was a great party, it always is! Food was really good  -  I even ate mini meat balls, risky, but they were really good.

We drove home in the dark.

Sunday I baked some Corn Bread Muffins to share with all the other members of the HISC, PBSC and the Castaways club. 

Another great party, about 50 people turned up and there were about 11 chili entries, 1st place was Barrie Soloway - he really outdid everyone.

As always there was plenty of food and deserts, more than needed so most of us that brought food had to bring some home.

Getting the chance to sit and chat with the other members is golden! We got to talk with members of the PBSC and especially, the Castaways club. One member in particular owns a C42 and has written several articles for the Mainsheet magazine. We got share some of our CIA history and I'm hoping we can meet again. Chatting with other Catalina owners is always a pleasure.

One of my canvas clients brought his Bimini to the meeting. He had told me about that it had developed a couple of fingernail size holes, I had given him some repair patches and was a bit surprised that he brought the Bimini to the party. Turns out that the twist lock fasteners I had installed on his window covers had corroded. I mean 'really corroded', I have never seen such rusty fasteners and nothing at all that only survived 3 months aboard in the salt water environment.

I brought the canvas home to my shop ( Garage ) and gave them the Magnet test, yep, they were definitely not stainless steel.  I looked up the supplier, Amazon, and realized they were 'Polished' but not stainless.

New 316 Stainless steel fasteners are on their way from Sailrite. I'll sew the repair patches in a humble attempt of apologizing for my error.

Meanwhile I'm continuing to work on my most difficult project: A Bimini that has 3 splits and is only 36" from front to back! There's no stretch in such a short Bimini and the 3 splits are all at the back end of the canvas. It's taking many trips to the boat to make sure that the latest changes are moving in the right direction. Should finish it this week.

See you on the water.

My 7 Galley Must haves on the Boat

My favorite galley 'Must Haves' on the boat?

I enjoy cooking on the boat! Breakfast can be an easy Bowl of Cereal and some fruit with Toast PB&J and of course Coffee and a side of OJ. Or it could be a full blown English Breakfast of Eggs, Sausage, Toms, Beans, with Blood pudding ( Black pudding ) if I can find it. Eggs Scrambled or Benedict, Florentine, Royale or Eggs Neptune if there is Crab meat available. But my cooking is not limited to Breakfast, although it is my favorite meal on the boat, just gets the day off to a good start.

I also like to bake Bread - ok, I love to bake bread, two loaves at least every week.

Deserts - of course.

So I need tools on the boat. Mixing Bowls and tools for whisking, frothing, vacuum packing, Blender and that is where I start my 7 must haves for my Galley aboard S/V Eximius.

#1 Blender

 Need to make smoothies or blend up a delicious sauce? We have plenty of 110v power on the boat but do I really want to run the inverter just for a minute of using a blender? Nope! In fact I prefer Rechargeable USB powered tools both in the galley and in the tool chest(s) . 

This blender is one we gave out for cruising gifts a few years ago, it's great. We don't make margaritas for a lot of guests but it's big enough to cope with ourselves and a couple of guests.

It fits in a galley storage cupboard and does not need to stay out on the counter.

Link to the Blender

#2 Vacuum Sealer

We nearly always prepare some packed meals and Freeze them, vacuum sealing is best. This rechargeable USB Vacuum sealer is great, we use it at home and on the boat when we go out for a week or more.

Again, easy to store, USB rechargable, the bags are easy to get and it works. 

Like all vacuum sealers, it's best to freeze the contents before sealing as the juices can impair the seal. 

Link to the Vacuum Sealer

#3 Hand Mixer

I have a Kenmore Bowl mixer at home, honestly, I rarely use it, heavy, awkward and definitely not one of my favorite kitchen tools.

After purchasing this in August 2023, this beats my Kenmore hands down. OK, I do not use a Stand Mixer for my bread dough, I knead it the old fashioned way, but if I'm making a Pavlova Desert, you can bet I'll pull this hand mixer out and whip up some cream in just a couple of minutes. It has 7 speeds, the mixing wands are easily washed and it's USB rechargeable. Love it

Link to Hand Mixer

#4 Milk Frother - USB of course

When I'm up for a nice Frothed up Milk in my Coffee - I'm ready for this tool.

I'll boil some milk ( ok, not actually 'boil' the milk ), pour it into the Stainless Steel jug and Froth it perfectly to add to my coffee.

Because it's USB rechargeable, and it takes up so little space, this is a must have on the boat.

I'm careful not to bend the twizzle, that would probably ruin the workings. It's 2 years old already and used frequently.

Link to the Milk Frother

Ok, enough of the USB Rechargeable kitchen tools. Now

#5 Bowls

At home I have two sets of mixing bowls but these are my favorites.

The pic shows a set of 6, it was only a set of 4 when I purchased them.

They don't slip around on the countertop, the lids are very secure. I use the largest two when rising bread - with the lids fully closed.

These are particularly useful on the boat as the contents stay inside in the event of, you know, a bit of boat movement.

I use the smallest size to make the Hollandaise Sauce by simply holding it in a pan of boiling water for a few seconds between stirring.

Link to the bowls

#6 Induction Cooktop

We're working our way towards eliminating the Propane on the boat. ( see the blog post about that plan, just search for it on the blog page ).

This single burner Induction cooker is a good start. Very efficient, does not heat the cabin like the propane cooker does all to often.

Energy efficient, heats the pans quickly and is easily stowed out of the way ( I put it below the oven)

Check it out via the link below.

Link to the Induction cooker

#7 Induction Pans

We had a full set of Magma pans, great but not Induction pans, gave them to the club's flea market program.

Found these on Amazon, and they are amazing. I'm obviously impressed by the Induction cooking option and these pans fit the boat needs.

The Lid only fits the smallest pan, but I found additional lids ( see below ) so now we can cook in a skillet and not worry about splashing the area around the cooktop.  The bag probably won't last 4E4 but for now they fit in the bag and it stows with the Induction cooker below the oven in the Galley. Oh! The handle is really solid does not slip on the rim of the pans. Love it. 

Link to the Induction Pans

Ok, that does it. Are their more things I really like in our Galley, of course! I'll post those later.

Meanwhile, I hope to see you on the water.

Paul

Rough day on the Ocean

Rough day on the Ocean off of Hillsboro Inlet

Lots of water under the bridge already this year, work is stacking up - need to get it done - boat projects are taking up space inside the boat, but the boat is back together and able to get away from the dock.

Our new dock is much closer to the Ocean, only 3 bridges and none of them are Railroad bridges. We have left the dock once before, last year, and then life got in the way. So we decided to just take the boat out to shake off the cobwebs. Could have chosen a better day!

Sun shining, balmy 70º (F), Sunday - not a day we would have left our old dock due to the crazy boat traffic on the New River. Forecast was for 10-15knts of wind from the N-NE, should be a nice sail up and down the coast, put in a few practices of heaving too, and make sure all of the lines that have been reconnected after the deck refinishing work. 

We have figured out the best time to head North from our dock is 55 and 25 mins off the hour. That puts us easily at the first bridge in time for either the 00 or 30 minute openings. We didn't leave the dock until 9:40 but we pushed the engine up to 3,200 rpm and surged towards the Atlantic Blvd Bridge. Using the Auto Guidance feature on our chart plotter, we determined we would arrive at the bridge at 10:02am, cool! The bridges normally don't start their opening procedure until the set time, so we should get there just as the bridge opens. I called the bridge on #09 and confirmed that we would be there on time. We continued our hustle along and frequently checking our arrival time.

As we approached the bridge, not yet ready to open, we slowed so that we could stay outside of the fenders, those big wooden fences that protect the structure of the bridges, and when within about 200 feet of the bridge, the bridge tender called on the radio telling us we were too late! Frustrated, I foolishly bantered back and forth but the bridge was not going to open on the hour!

That meant we had to practice doing donuts for nearly half an hour, during which time I relaxed a bit and completed some of the preparation for when we hoisted the sails: Unzippered the Sailbag, Released the dog-bone restraint on the Genoa Furler, checked all the lines were ready to hoist the sails and that the boat was prepared for Sea.

10:25am I called the bridge just to make sure they knew that we wanted the bridge to open - if no boat calls for an opening, they don't. The tender replied and just before 10:30am, the broadcast that the bridge was about to open.

It did! at 10:32am -- hold it in Paul! worse things happen at sea.

As we passed the bridge, I gave the usual 'Thanks for the Opening' call to the tender and we pushed our way towards 14th street bridge, due to open at 10:45am. We made it easily and waited for the bridge to open.  Now we're just bridge away from the Ocean.

The Auto guidance reported we would arrive at the Hillsboro Inlet Bridge at 10:55am, 5 minutes before the 11:00am opening. HI bridge opens every 15 minutes if boats request it.

We hung around well away from the bridge and could see several large vessels waiting to come through the bridge from the Ocean side. The tide was heading in towards the ICW, so it's curtesy to allow the downstream vessels to come through first as the tide is pushing those boats towards the bridge, it's not a huge wide bridge so there's not room for two boats at the same time, certainly when the tide flow is heavy, it gets a bit washy then.

Once the incoming boats were through, those of us waiting to go out started our maneuvers, it's a bit of a mad rush as some of the outgoing vessels were commercial charter fishing boats and they want to get out to the fishing spots.

Easily past the bridge, we headed for the inlet. Our plan was to stay to over to the South side of the inlet as we always review the latest Soundings before heading out.  We kept about 20yds off of the Green Markers off to our right and headed out to the HI Buoy. A couple of those charter boats pushed hard on their throttle just before they passed us and hammered us with their wakes. Worse was the belching of black smoke from their exhaust a true sign of rapid throttle movements causing excess fuel flow to the engine and not getting burnt efficiently. Either that or they had upcoming engine issues.

It's nearly always roughest at the inlet just as we pass the jetty on the South side, but today it was really rough. Our bow ploughed into the oncoming short period 3-4' waves probably on a few seconds apart. Not to worry, once we get out of the inlet it will calm down, hold on.

Seems I did not do a really good job of securing for Sea! I went down to the cabin to tidy up the boxes that had fallen to the cabin sole, it took a few minutes. We had just turned North to see if being off the wind would help cope with the grumpy waves.  We had been in much bigger waves several times, but the frequency of the waves were just right to make it a really uncomfortable 'fund day sailing'.  I asked Peggy if she was ok if we turned back if the waves did not easy up. They didn't, Peggy was ok with it.

So we turned around back towards the HI Buoy and just got beat up some more, but at least we were headed for the calmer waters inside the inlet.

We pretty much kept on top of our track from our departure and, as luck would have it, the bridge was open when we passed the inside end of the jetty on the South side. I recently learned that the jetty is named after one of club's past commodores - Jack Holland. I hailed the bridge asking if he could stay open for us. There were a couple of big yachts ahead of us and so the bridge had no issues holding for us. We followed the big boat but paused long enough for a couple of bigger fishing boats to come out. 

Once inside on the ICW I set the Chart plotter to Auto Guidance back to our dock - I need to document that process until I get used to it. The Auto guidance reported that we would get back at the dock at 12:22pm.    Think about that for a few seconds.

We left the dock at 9:20 am and should be back at the dock at 12:22pm  Three hours!

Due to usual delays getting past the two bridges our actual ETA changed to 12:33pm, it was an uneventful trip back to the dock. 

As we turned into the canal where our dock is located, I asked Peggy if she felt up to turning the boat as we keep the boat Starboard side to the dock. Pegs was fine if we donned our Eartec headsets so that I could give her directions.

Peggy's first time doing a 180º turn in a narrow canal was absolutely pefect! She moved over the South side of the canal, turned the wheel for a fast turn to Port, put the engine in reverse until we were turning quickly and just started to go astern. Then with the wheel still over hard, she put the engine in forward gear and gained steerage to complete the turn. Impressive, shame there was nobody near the dock to see her maneuver. Kudos Pegs!

Steering the boat towards the far end of our dock, Peggy got us so that I could reach the lines from on the dock using our boat hook. Then Peggy's headset fell off! She didn't hear my request to go astern  and we overran the line that goes from the dolphin pole to one of the dock poles and I'm struggling to stop the keel going over that line. We made the boat secure using another line and peggy grabbing the nearest dock pole. I'll have to adjust that line between the dock pole and the dolphin pole. so that it's more of a barrier.

Safely along side, we agree that we need to figure the lines out so that they are better positioned for when we come alongside. Either that or have the boat facing West at the dock. That's not the most comfortable position as we do get some rocking wave action from the end of the Canal anytime a boat creates a wake on that part of the ICW.

Time for a break, we had our Subway Sandwiches before the boat was ready to leave at the dock. We followed our usual process of preparing the boat before leaving. 

• Remove the electronics from the Helm.
• Remove the starter key and store in it's regular location in the cabin.
• Install the helm cover.
• Secure the Genoa Furler with the canvas dog bone.
• Close the Mainsail Cradle Cover zipper and secure the mainsheet to prevent mast slapping.
• Remove the Depth/Speed/Temperature transducer and install the blank plug
• Close all of the thru hulls
• Turn off all electrical devices except the Victron system.
• Pack up everything that needs to go home.
• Close up the cabin openings.
• Lock up the Cabin companionway. 
• Look around the boat to see if anything else needs tending to.
• Step ashore, adjust the lines to allow the boat to move off of the dock.

The boat needs a washdown, we had plenty of salt water spray over the bow and there's still bird poop on deck despite the light rain during our trip back to the dock.

Good day????

Yep, any day that we can get the boat out and back is a good day.  There's a lot more coming.

Oh, this was my birthday trip - made it even better.

We'll be out on the water soon! Hope to take some crew out for a day sail.

See you out there.

Keep the stick up and the keel down.

• Last loo
• Secure the boom amid ships