It was a pretty uneventful and easy flight from San Diego to West Palm Beach. Arrived late at night so spent a night in a Motel 6 because they are dog friendly and less than $100/night. Those were the only good things about it!
The next morning I swung by West Marine for the first of many many trips there. Picked up the autopilot wheel kit I had pre-ordered to replace the one that had broken as the boat was being delivered. Also stopped at Trader Joe’s to start provisioning (getting food!).
Indiantown marina certainly isn’t convenient as it is 50 minutes from Palm Beach airport and 40 minutes from Stuart for closest shopping. It’s a nice little quiet place though. It was hot and sunny upon arrival and I worked up a good sweat hauling stuff from the car to the boat and unpacking into the early evening.
My first full day at the boat I spent mostly at Walmart! Yikes, for real it took me about four hours to get everything on my list … over a thousand dollars of boat supplies, food, tools, etc. I did find a lot of things there that would be way more expensive at West Marine though!
After that I got Louie his artificial grass so he can do his “business” on the boat. (He already used it late last night! Woot!). I also made my second trip to West Marine for more parts and new genoa sheets (ropes to control the head sail).
The second night on the boat the storms started rolling in and I got little sleep due to Louie freaking out and pacing and panting. I did get him settled down somewhat though. All day today it’s been storming but I’ve managed to get lots of needed work done (or started!) such as tracing some leaks from rain (grrrrr!!!!), leaking toilet, autopilot, dinghy inflating and hole patching, checking for LPG leaks, replacing genoa sheets, etc, etc, etc. there will never NOT be something to repair or improve. The plan was to start out tomorrow but that is pushed back one day due to storms, Kim’s plane delay (my friend Kim is coming to sail offshore with me to Charleston, SC!), and a couple more things that have to be tested and/or repaired before leaving the dock. Just tonight I found out the anchor light doesn’t work! What will I discover tomorrow? :).
The goal of this blog is to inspire with adventures both planned and more often improvised. However, I know many people are interested to hear how the boat is and what I’m doing to get this adventure started. The short version… spending money, getting soaked in the rain, and working my butt off to get this ship off the dock!
Setting east along the St. Lucie Canal on Wednesday and if all systems are go(ish) Thursday morning we will sail offshore with the goal of St. Augustine (about a two day non-stop sail looking at current forecast)
SV Improvise 