The New Main Goes On

April 25, 2015

We anchored at our favorite spot in the St Augustine harbor in site of Fort Castillo de San Marcos next to mark #6 (mile 778ICW).  Also next to Sandy who lives in her little sailboat right at this spot with her little dog – Mighty Hercules. Sandy gets up every morning and, in the company of Mighty Hercules, takes her dingy to the Augustine town dock where she works. She is somewhat of a legend in these parts and well known around town. She is about fifty years old and has lived in Augustine for about fifteen years, much of it on boats. She stopped by Flicka on the way in and told us she lives in an imaginary boat with her little imaginary dog and she was on her way to her imaginary job and she told us all this in a most chipper and happy manner. Maybe we are all imaginary.

We woke up to a beautiful morning with west light winds and after much contemplation decided to stand down from going off shore because of a not so favorable weather report which called for SE winds 15-20 knots (which actually would have been good) but strong storms moving in with high winds, lightning and hail.

In light morning winds we decided to put the mainsail up which turned out to be a major job lasting a couple of hours. The sail, as mentioned previously, is brand new and we have never deployed it. So now, complete with newly patch rat holes, we can get it going. Our mainsail deployment system includes the sail and a bag referred to as a “stack pack” which is a very convenient contrivance for receiving the sail when you take it down. The sail drops into the pack nicely instead of falling all over the deck. It eliminates having to flake the sail on the boom and use “sail ties” to secure it – a task that can be daunting in high winds and seas.

So with new main secured in its pack, at 10 AM away we went “inside” north along the ICW. At about 2 PM the weather finally arrived in the form of a wide front of thunderstorms, moderate gusty winds and lots and lots of rain and fog – not the kind of weather to be in out in the Atlantic – so good stand down decision. 

From Augustine we traveled north on the Tolomato River past Point Vedra and Jacksonville Beaches, crossed the St. John’s River at Mile 740 ICW and reentered the ICW in Sisters Creek. The St. Johns is a major shipping route from Jacksonville, home of the Jaguars of course. At mile 735 ICW we entered Sawpit Creek and passed Talbot Island to the east, crossed Nassau Sound and finally anchored at mile 725 ICW next to Harrison Creek on the South Amelia River after a fifty-two mile run. On both sides of the rivers and creeks in this country there are extensive and very productive marsh wetlands, lots of birds and the delightful and ever present bottle nose dolphins.