May 2018 - svIslandSpirit.com

..We sailed back from the Bahamas on April 28, 2018, and returned to this dream marina and wonderful town of Stuart, Florida in Martin County. This place more than any other place we have travelled has our attention. We even rank this location above Annapolis Maryland and you all know how much Radeen and I like Annapolis. Why do we like Stuart, Florida? First, Sunset Bay Marina and the way it is managed. The staff focuses 100% on customer service and take great pride in the facilities, from the coffee bar, wine bar, varnished teak furniture, gas grills, patio furniture, captains’ lounge with sofas and TV, air-conditioned laundry and bathhouse and the many special events they plan. Add to this a boardwalk around the water’s edge to the old town of Stuart and we have a dream boating location. Mooring balls are $175/week or $400/month. Where can you live for $400/month and have all this? Sunset Bay is our #1 USA marina location.

What are we Doing?

The other question we are hearing is, “What are we doing” waiting in Stuart? Everyone thought we were sailing home. We usually do sail north the first week of May. One year, we waited until June to sail north and that put us in crazy thunderstorms and severe weather and we said never again. This year, we came back to Stuart because while we were in the Berrys we were working on yacht sales. We had three active deals we were working on. So, we came back, rented a Chevy Impala and drove north to Brunswick, GA for a survey on one boat, then back to Stuart. Then we turned around and drove to Palmetto Florida, on the west coast to show our listing there. Next we drove back to Florida East coast. In all, we drove 1,150 miles in 6 days! During this same time, we were working a yacht closing in Nanny Cay, the British Virgin Islands. These deals were difficult to secure from the remote Berrys and we knew they would be impossible to continue to service. So, we sailed back to Stuart for our yacht broker work. We work as “buyer’s brokers” and only focus on Island Packet Yachts. We fit best with anyone looking to buy an Island Packet Yacht. We will help buyers decide on a model that best meets their cruising goals and then we will shop and evaluate the market helping to find the best yacht. We will write offers and counter-offers, attend sea trial and survey, and we will help our customers buy their dream Island Packet. This is why we are back in Stuart and this is what we have been working on for the past 3 weeks.

Our Hertz fun ride, Chevy Impala, yacht broker car

Hayden and Radeen, yacht broker team at survey for our customer

We work with Ed and Debbie Whiteaker our of their office in Palmetto, Fl www.WhiteakerYachtSales.com

Having some Fun

While working on these three yacht broker deals, we also have been working with Mack Sails on our new Code Zero sail. This new sail was fitted last week and we have sailed it in the creek here around Stuart. Last Saturday, Colin Mack and his photo and video man, Ed of Starboard Films wanted to get photos and video of our boat at sea with the new code zero flying. Out to sea we went. The winds were 12-15 knots true and Colin and Ed came out on their chase boat with cameras and a drone. As we sailed, they shot photos and video. Ed will be using this for marketing of the Mack Sails company. How exciting, Team Island Spirit is a new advertising yacht. This will be great when the post-production work is all finished. Here are some photos of the sail.

Dolphins arrive every time we hoist this sail, they love it

Sailing the code zero in 12 knots on the beam doing 6.5 knots

We are told this will be our most used sail

Crazy Weather in Florida

While we have been sailing the new code zero and working on these yacht sales, emailing and supporting our buyers, we have been dealing with crazy weather. There is a low pressure developing in the Gulf of Mexico off Tampa area. This low has been spinning counterclockwise, as lows do in the northern hemisphere, and with that spin, it has been pulling in tons of moisture from the south and driving it to north. We actually thought about sailing north on this great SE 20-knot wind, but the unstable weather brings with it thunderstorms, waterspouts and high winds nearly every day. Small craft advisories offshore are calling for seas 6-9 feet and 5-6 seconds! If you know the ocean, that is ugly boating. So, we are simply waiting here til we rent a car and drive back up to Brunswick GA, 5 hours to survey a boat with our buyer. We thought we could sail there, but with this crazy weather, no way, we will drive I-95. Look at these WX photos.

Trying to sail to Brunswick for survey and sea trial

Sun Halo over Island Spirit

If there is a good sign, this has to be one of them. While out daysailing with new Island Packet buyers on board and sharing the cruising life with them, this sun halo appeared over our yacht while under sail. How cool is that? This happens when ice crystals form in the atmosphere and the sun refracts thru the ice. Very interesting image.

Our Plans to Sail Home

We are still planning on sailing back to the Chesapeake Bay so we can enjoy our boat this summer and sail friends aboard. We hope to make the run as direct as we can, departing this area Mon, Tue or Wed and sailing for Cape Lookout, NC, nonstop if possible. Then if weather allows, we will sail around Cape Hatteras and up into the Chesapeake Bay. One option sail would be to divert offshore to Cape May NJ to see friends there, and to go fishing, but, first, we need to start heading north. For now, we are enjoying helping others with finding their dream yachts and taking in the sunsets here at Sunset Bay. Look at these two photos…..:-)

Island Spirit in calm waters with the sun setting behind us

Hayden and Radeen strike a pose at sunset, too cool!

Remember, LIVE tracking when yacht moves

https://share.garmin.com/IslandSpirit

Thank you for sailing along…..

We added a new sail to our rig, a CODE ZERO. After repairing and rebuilding our new mast and rigging, we finally got the boat back to where it was when we stored her in Puerto Rico. Then Hurricane Maria damaged us and we came back to Stuart Florida for repairs by Mack Sails. Once finished we really had nothing to show for all this work and money, so, we bought Island Spirit a cool new CODE ZERO furling spinnaker. These sails are good with a wind angle of 40 degrees down to 140 degrees but the best angle is 50 to 110 and apparent winds up to 20 knots. The true beauty is that the sail simply unfurls and out it comes. Then when you are finished with it, you simply furl it up and it stays in place forward of the jib. To accomplish this we added a masthead crane extension and a new halyard. We welded a new attachment point between the anchor rollers and we added a new self-tailing winch to the mast. Here is a photo of the first day we hoisted the sail:

Sailing 2 knots in 4 knots of wind, Code ZERO only!

Welding the Bow

We needed to add an attachment point on the bow, so we hired the best welder in Stuart, Florida, Mike Davis of Native Welding. We moved the boat to the docks and placed the bow over the dock and Mike was able to modify our bow rollers and we added a new arch welded between the two rollers. This places the Code Zero attachment point dead center and well forward of the forestay. On the newer IPs, with the larger bow rollers, they can simply shackle to the existing roller structure. This mod, we are now pulling up on both anchor rollers which are thru bolted with larger bolts than our forestay uses, so we have no worries about strength here. Take a look at the welding process photos. Very nice work.

We docked and then lowered the anchors, then moved the bow over the dock

Mike Davis is an artist and a talented welder. We added a new arch between the rollers

This is stainless steel welding which needs argon gas and 100 amps of power

Mike’s helmet is a digital welders helmet with fans, exhaust and it records the hours welding

Mike Davis welding stainless steel on Island Spirit

The two outer bows are simply bolted on, we wanted something stronger so we welded the center bow.

The Furling Rig

Code Zero sails use a continuous line furling rig. This rig is the Profurl NEX 2.5 which has a working load of 2.5 tons, or 5,000 lbs. The idea is that these sails can be rolled out and deployed easily and they can be furled back up just like a jib. The furling line is continuous and comes off the drum back to the cockpit where it returns to the drum via a ratchet block. This helps with furling by allowing the sail to roll out easily. To see, watch this YouTube Video here by Profurl: https://youtu.be/rcgc5CnJbl4

The Code Zero forward of the Jib

The Code Zero stays furled up and forward of the jib. This becomes one of the most used sails on the boat because it has such a wide range of uses. Unlike a spinnaker, which you have to get out, hoist with the sock on it, rig up the tack to the bow, set up the sheets and pull up the halyard. Then set up the boat on the course, pull up the sock and then set the sail. With this, you get on course, roll out the Code Zero and sail. When finished, roll it back up and leave it right there. For the spinnaker, you go up on deck as the wind builds (oh great) then pull down the sock, now this big tube of sail is hanging there, now lower it to deck or down a hatch and good luck finding a place to store it. Code Zero, furl it, forget it. DONE.

Here is the Code Zero in its place, ready to go. ready to sail

Sailing Photos, Fun Fun Fun

Our second day we sailed 3 times up and down the river and sailed from 40 degrees down to 140 degrees. This sail loves 50-110 degrees. We have a whisker pole and a topping lift so we can rig this for dead downwind as well. Enjoy these sailing photos.

Our sailmaker is www.MackSails.com We really like this family run USA Stuart Florida company

Captain Photo Required

Hayden with his new code zero, way more to follow, just wait til we get to sea with this sail

Tomorrow we hit the OCEAN

.Tomorrow we will take Island Spirit out to the ocean and test this sail out in 10-15 knots with the full mainsail up. This will be very exciting. We will have a drone flying and our friend Ed taking video from a chase boat. We are working with Mack Sails on a video, this should really be fun.

Month: May 2018

Stuart FL Yacht Brokers