One Year Ago Today

Dear TideChasers,

     Well, I've been talking about doing this blog for almost a year. People have often stopped me and asked me about our journey of a lifetime bringing our TideChaser from New Orleans, Louisiana to North Carolina. Some have heard about our story through other friends or family and some people just stalk my facebook page and see all our great adventures we have had all spring and summer long on a catamaran off the east coast.

     So here is our blog with my original journal entries and some pictures from our trip.  I will be adding more pictures to my posts but really wanted to get this up and running for November 20, 2015.  During our trip a year ago these entries were emailed (whenever we got into internet range) to family and a group of our friends actually known as the "Tidechasers".  As word got out of the stories being sent by email my list grew to about 25 followers. It was amazing the emails I got in return with questions, great comments and well wishes.  Everyone wanted more and wanted me to start blogging our adventures.  I do have to admit I'm not that great on a computer but have been working hard to get this out to all our TideChaser followers from the past and those I hope will start to follow our sailing, fishing, crafting, and diving trips. 

    Here we go with many stories to come.........stay tuned to become a TideChaser follower! 

P.S. I'm working on the S/V TideChaser facebook page as well for you to stalk us for tons of picture FUN.

Please scroll down to the bottom of the blog and start from the beginning of our story "Leaving New Orleans"

TideChaser Followers  Day 13 and making it Home

December 3, 2014

Walt and Gary got up at 6:00am to start our trek home. The fog was still as thick as it was last night but at least it was becoming daylight. When I got up at 9:30am it was still really bad. Slow and steady. Now we are in the ICW no telling what is floating around in here and are there any other crazy boaters like ourselves out there? Gary had the fog horn, flashlight, and binoculars when I went to check on things outside at the helm. Cold, cold ,cold was the air outside. I bundled up, got coffee, and went out to help watch. The water was like glass and the trees along both side of us hung with Spanish moss that gave an eerie Halloween feeling mixed with the fog. On and on this went until we hear a horn in the distance. We blow our fog horn back two times to make sure they heard us. The next thing we know a big white cabin cruiser comes out of the fog to our port side and passes us going south down the channel. YIKES! That was a bit scary.

11:15am the fog lifts it’s gone. Anyone want a breakfast burrito? More like Brunch I suppose. Now it is beautiful here. There are still some trees with fall leaves on them along the shore. So pretty. 4:10pm we are passing Myrtle Beach area only 47NM to Southport. Super excited now.

5:00pm we stop in at Grande Dune Marina in North Myrtle Beach to get diesel. Thank goodness we do because we are almost out. Once we start talking to the guy who manages it he offers to take us any where we want to go. We decided to go pick up some supper and of course celebratory beer for when we arrive at our home port. We were so happy or maybe it was just me because I didn’t have to cook supper. I wish my dad was here on the intercostal trip. He would love seeing Myrtle Beach from this side……….waterfront all the way baby! And he would toast me with a beer!

As we travel down the ICW the tide begins to change. You can really feel us moving fast as the tide was coming in but once the tide changed and started going out it was a whole different story. It was against us pushing us away from our destination and on top of that the water became shallower and shallower. Yes, we did have a couple of close calls with sandbars but nothing permeant. This night was beautiful with an almost full moon but not quite. That did help but every once in a while a pier from the shore with no lights on it came mighty close to our beautiful TideChaser.

We arrive in Southport, North Carolina at 2:30am. Tired, dirty and cold but very excited to think that we had really done this. We really made it all the way! Walt and I talked several times about if we had to stop the trip where would we stop and go back to easily to get her and start again. We don’t even have to think about that anymore. Home, she is home. Nicki, our daughter, will be here around 11:30am to help us take things to Hope Mills, take Gary to the airport and do general clean up. Kyle, our son, will be here soon too. He is just down the road at UNC-Wilmington. If I know Nicki she will bring a measuring tape and start in on decorating ideas to turn TideChaser into our home away from home.

It’s has been 1450 miles from start to finish and I want to thank my best friend Chris Beaman for going as far as she could with us in the beginning to help make the journey so much easier for me.  Thanks for all the TideChaser Followers that we had also. I hope to have a real blog-site soon because this is not the end of the Walt and Julia 2.0 story on TideChaser It is JUST the BEGINNING!

This journey of a lifetime is just the start to many journeys we have planned with family and friends in our very near future. Stay tuned for Savannah, GA and Bahamas here we come!

Love Juls

      

TideChaser Followers     Day 12

December 2, 2014

Yesterday was Day eleven we were still in the Gulf Stream enjoying warm breezes, quick current and calm seas. We turned off all motors hoisted the sails and were sailing along at 8kts.  At 11:30am we were 250NM from Southport. We have been discussing our strategy for when we need to head to shore and how the weather will be. We definitely decided to head to an ICW opening as close as possible to Southport and go home that way.

NOW FOR DAY  !@ oops I mean 12. Hold on let me get a beer, yep; it has been one of those nights. It all started out innocently enough. Tuesday’s am was beautiful in the Gulf Stream still warm and the moon was ½ full. At 2:15am while on watch I got my first close encounter with a Barge. I saw it for miles all lit up with white, red and green lights a huge mass moving parallel with us in the Stream. When the next thing I know it is turning to cross our path.  I got a little nervous and seeing it was Walt’s watch in just a few minutes I woke him up. We motored back to slow our pace forward and let him pass way out in front of us. Wow, that was a first for me. The bigger boat gets right of way every time especially in the dark. He probably didn’t even know we were out there compared to him we are like an ant.

On this morning we had to make our turn out of the Gulf Stream and head toward the shore. It was about 9:45am and the closer we got to shore the colder it got.  Around 12:43pm we were 96.7NM from home. Now imagine that Walt has been without cell phone or Wi-Fi for almost 3 days now. Not a pretty picture. Just ask Mark and Stephanie Hines how that went over on a Mexico trip one time. L Then apply winds in our face, we were barely moving 4.4kts, the closer we got to land the colder and wilder the waves became yes a little freak out moment may have happened! OH but that was nothing compared to what happened next. Approximately 7:30pm totally dark, we still have an hour or so to go before entering the intercostal waterway at Georgetown, South Carolina a fog falls around us. We can barely see a hundred yards in front of us. We prepare for other boats coming by getting out the fog horn, spotlight and of course restocking our ditch bag (survival bag to real sailors). I’m getting real good at restocking the bag. It was so scary. All three of us were on watch. Eyes wide open listening for other boats and watching for the channel markers into the ICW where we can hopefully find safe haven for the night.  At 8:30pm we see the red and green flashing channel markers. OMGosh we are going to make it and I’ll see the kids again yea. I’m so happy! 9:00pm we are heading into the ICW slow and steady wins the race is all I can think of. The fog is getting worse and worse but the water is getting calmer.

Calmer water means ‘Hey lady (that’s me) aren’t you going to cook us up something?’ Sure it’s going to be a Mexican. Chicken quesadillas, refried beans and salad with salsa. We are running out of supplies what do you expect? They loved it.

This night ends with a unanimous vote to anchor here near Georgetown and wake around sunrise to continue our journey. The fog is just terrible. We are all so tired but the guys especially because they do let me sleep in each morning after my last watch. Our last day together……. Stay tuned so fun.                 LOVE Juls

             

TideChaser Followers    Day 10        

November 30, 2014

This morning looks good. Originally this is the day we were supposed to arrive in Southport, NC where TideChaser will be for the next year coming and going to mysterious destinations or basically cleaning her up and repairing the things we now know don’t work. The mysterious destinations sounded much more fun and romantic don’t you think?

Anyway we have looked at weather, nautical miles to home, 434NM and make our final decision to head out of Ft. Lauderdale and go to the Gulf Stream which is a current about 25 or more miles off shore that has a current heading north. This may help push us forward if the winds are not in our favor and help us pick up time we have lost. At noon we go for it. As we pass the cruise ships people on their decks and balconies wave at us. I feel like a celebrity and I wave back. But I realize that we are just a tiny vessel in the ocean where these huge ships sail night and day. We will be sailing night and day too. Always keeping a watch so hopefully they won’t run over us.

It took us awhile to get out here to the Stream, but we couldn’t believe how warm it felt and how calm the seas were. We’ve put the sails up and have only one engine going now. We are moving along at 8.5 -10 knots the guys are really happy about that and figure if we can keep this pace we will be home by Wednesday, December 3^rd. YES!   The depth here today is 215 feet. I pray this weather holds out. It is perfect and now we have no contact with land except through our VFH radio which would only be to another ship within range of us, not land people. So as the guys put on our auto pilot and yell yehaw they crank up the music and get the party boat started.

Supper was breaded chicken strips in the oven on buns, seasoned pinto beans and a fresh salad. I’m getting pretty good at this propane stove and oven. But I’m NO gourmet cook.

Night watches are real important now with all the huge ships that travel this route. Once again we have 2 hours watching and 4 hours of sleep. Tonight was the first beautiful night on the Ocean that we have had this whole trip. As night came I started to worry that things would get bad like in the past days. But thankfully it was just like the day very calm and the moon and stars are out so clearly it was so beautiful. I put my iPod music on and I had fist watch from 10pm-midnight. I may have been losing it , mentally by the end of this day because I sat outside singing Queen and Prince. Hey, ya gotta love Prince. The guys stayed up in the salon watching a movie or something.

Love Juls  

TideChaser Followers           Day 9

November 29, 2014

Woke at 7:00am Walt was already up making coffee which is hilarious because we have a Keurig coffee maker but we can’t use it while sailing because our generator is not working. We can only use it when we are docked and hooked up to shore power. We could not find instant coffee at the stops we have made. So we take a coffee filter fill it with Folgers regular ground for a coffee maker wrap a rubber band around it and put it in a pan of boiling water till we get the color we like. You think I’m kidding but I’m not. We were desperate. Any suggestions are welcome from our followers!

So moving right along all hands are up and ready to get started. The guys check the engine. It looks good from the engine room. Remember I told you in our last blog how one of the engines was making a weird sound?  Walt starts it up again this morning and that same deep rumbling sound. Not like usual. After talking they come to the conclusion that maybe we did run over one of the crab pots and it got caught around the propeller. Gary puts on his wet suit, snorkel and mask jumps into the water to check out our props. YIKES! Gary comes up from diving under TideChaser and says ”get me a serrated knife the prop is wrapped tight in that cussing crab pot ropes”. The other prop had a bit of rope on it too but nothing like the first. The engine sounds fine after all the ropes are cut off. What a relief we really thought something was wrong with the engine itself. God is really watching over us.

It is still cold outside I thought for sure it would be warm as we traveled through Florida. We are all wearing our coats, hats, warm clothing and then at night I wear my gloves

So here we go past the port of Miami to our west. It’s funny seeing the big cruise ships from this angle and knowing that we are heading out the same channel as they leave out of.  Huge barges line this channel with the big tall loading cranes to lift the boxes onto the barges. Tourist speed boats go past us with their rooster tail wave flying out behind them. Fishing boats, tugs moving barges, our cousin (another catamaran) comes in from the Atlantic as we pass by each other and wave good luck. Radio communication is also very important in this part in case you’re not sure what another boat is doing you can hale them and ask or they ask you. I can see the ocean up ahead. It looks a little rough. I’ll be okay though I know it is only for a few hours till we reach the ICW at Fort Lauderdale, fl. Here we go again. We have to smile now because we see the smaller fishing boats go out and immediately turn back around and head back into to safe waters. Bye Miami.

Hello Ft. Lauderdale we arrive about 4:00pm. This is Captain Gary’s home town. He takes us to 15^th street fisheries which is also a marina and we fill up our diesel tank and freshwater tank . No time to waste we have a long trek down this ICW all night and we have been promised the best chicken wings ever by Gary. Bad thing about ICW’s, ? bridges! There are lots of them and they usually only open on the hour or ½ hour. Some every 20 minutes so this comes down to timing. Getting there at that time but not too early where you have to hold your position till it opens. The currents can push you toward the bridge or pull you away. Twenty-one bridges total! I even got good at haling the bridge tender and motoring TideChaser through. The bridge tender, which is the person who opens the bridge, has to know who is coming and going so you have to say “Royal Park Bridge this is the North bound sailing catamaran TideChaser requesting an opening”. Then they answer back with the time that they will open and ask us our name again. I say” Roger that” and keep heading for that bridge where other boats are waiting too.

As we headed out Captain Gary who also does Endless Horizon Charters.com from this area gave us the grand tour of the rich and famous people. Who owns that yacht or this yacht and giant homes that look like a hotel. After picking up our chicken wings order from BoKampers waterfront restaurant that Gary had phoned in for a carry-out order, off we go. Traveling this waterway was so strange because houses lined both side. I felt like I was on a paved road just driving along. Houses had Christmas decorations up and it was so beautiful. Restaurants and bars with people outside waving to us and loud music blasting. It was lite up all the way through till morning.

Today is my Grandma Penn’s 90^th birthday. I tried calling her twice this evening. I figured she was out partying with her girlfriends or something. If you see her tell her I said Happy Birthday!

Next Blog to go to the Gulf Stream or not with the oceans that we have been through so far

Love Juls

Check out Gary’s website, Endless Horizon Charters.com I told him I‘d give him a commercial plug!:-)                 

TideChaser Followers  Day 8

November 28, 2014

We can’t always stay in the intercostal waterway (ICW) mainly because there are fixed bridges that are not high enough for our mast to fit under. It has to be at least 60 to 62 feet high or it has to be able to be opened. That is why we have a good sail for a time. That is when we are in the ICW where it is nice and calm, but then we must come out again to the mighty winds and seas to find our next ICW entrance. That’s what happened on Thanksgiving. It was time to head out into the Gulf of Mexico and head south to the Florida Keys. We charted a course that would take us to another opening into the ICW. The beginning of that day was beautiful . It even got up to a decent temperature for us to change from long underwear and turtle necks to t-shirts and shorts. Fun in the Sun. The whole crew was sitting out on TideChaser’s trampolines enjoying a brewski and taking naps. Our auto pilot is working great thank goodness. Then…….Night came I just don’t understand why the nights have to be soooo windy and crazy. Once again it turned cold. We all had to get our long underwear, sweat shirt, jeans and coats on to be outside during our watch. The wind started to howl coming across our beam rocking her one way and then a huge wave would come barreling into and under the front of her causing a huge smashing sound against the inside hulls. It was knocking us around inside every time we tried to go from one room to another. We were taking a beating. It got so bad at one point when it was my turn at watch Walt stayed up in the salon resting to keep an eye on me. He didn’t want me to go overboard . I guess he does love me.:-) Well, Chris was next so I stayed up to make sure all went well on her watch too. Finally at day break we make our way into the ICW in the keys. That helped calm us and the boat again.

No rest for us. Chris needed to get home and found out her brother Billy could come pick her up at Gilberts’ Marina near Key Largo and he would take her to Ft. Lauderdale airport to fly out the next morning. We kept sailing and moving to our destination so we could get her there on time. Billy was so nice he even went to the store and picked up some supplies I needed for our continued journey. So Chris is gone and I’m sad, but also glad that she came as long as she did. She really learned a lot of boat terms and even surprised me by using them. She certainly is good at the helm as well. She does boating like driving……You might as well let her drive because if you don’t she’s just going to tell you how to do it. J I love ya Chris! See ya in Southport.

Dropped Chris off and north we continued toward Biscayne Bay in this ICW that has been full of crab pots since we hit the Florida Keys. These little white bobber things everywhere in the water holding ropes that go down to crab pots , they call them, like cages I assume that catch crabs. Gary said if you go out and mess with them or take one you could get a 10,000 dollar fine. It’s bad though for boaters because if you accidental run over one the rope can get caught in your propeller and cause your engines to burn up or just stop all together. This is one of our rare nights we can actually see the moon. Still cold we are pretty exhausted now that it’s dark it is so hard to see the channel markers. Sure some markers have flashing lights but most only have reflective signs. Walt and I were constantly shining our spotlight across the waterway in front of us looking for the next green and red marker. We pow wowed and decided to motor until approximately 1:00am then anchor out to sleep for the night. We will get up around 6:00am and head into Miami then. Our portside motor was also making a weird sound about this time. It was too dark now.  The guys would check it out first thing in the morning before moving on.

Yes, at night the waves picked up even in the ICW but nothing like out in the ocean. I think I’m getting used to them now. No problem sleeping.

Supper was chicken Parmesan with speggitti and green beans. I’m getting good at this cookin’ thing. Went to sleep at 11:00pm Gary on watch till 1:00am.      

Love Juls       

TideChaser Followers November 27, 2014         Day 7 Happy Thanksgiving

Today the crew of TideChaser is very thankful.

We started out from Marina Jacks in Sarasota, FL at 5:00am. I guess I should actually say Walt and Gary were up and motoring us down the ICW to take us out to the Gulf of Mexico at that time. When all of a sudden I feel the gentle yet terrible ramming into a sandbar feeling as the boat slides and comes to a standstill. YIKES! The next thing I heard was the motor being revved backward as the guys try to release Tidechaser from the sandbar. When that happened- 7:00am I’m up, 7:15am Chris is up.

What happened? We were turning to wait for a bridge that doesn’t open till 11:00am and as we did we got over to far into the shallow water. It was low tide. I will give him that. But as most of our followers know this is a regular event by the Warfel’s we love getting caught on sandbars, hanging out, fishing , drinking till the tide turns and releases us from the hold she has on us and sends us back to our beach house at Oceanlakes. Right Hines’s folks? OH Yeah .  We had two options at this point. Keep working at using the motor or call BoatU.S. and get them to come and tow us off the sandbar. Yes Walt had already paid for a year of Boat U.S. knowing our history in the Carolina waterways.

How did we get free? It went something like this. Gary having brought his full body wet suit runs to put it on. He then proceeds to jump into the water which has to be pretty cold this time of year. We need to know the depths around TideChaser to know which way to go. Once he has figured it out Gary says to drop the anchor so out it goes. After determining where our deepest water was he picked up the anchor and moved it out to the deeper depth.  The tide was coming in at this point and had a pretty good current going. I was told to go to the anchor locker and be ready to electrically bring the anchor in when they give me the order. Ok here we go. The engines are turned and revved as the anchor is pulled in and it proceeds to pull the bow out away from the sandbar. YEAH. We are free. WE call the bridge and they will open anytime on holidays (and it is Thanksgiving for goodness sakes) so we head that way and so it goes for 3 more bridge openings as we travel down the ICW. At 11:00am we are out in the Gulf of Mexico. It’s a beautiful sunny day and by 1pm we are in shorts and a tank tops. Now this is how we want to sail.

 List of things to get for TideChaser crew: full body wetsuit and snorkeling gear, nice spotlight flashlight and extra batteries and        Suction on cup holders and lots more to be added later.

We had a great Thanksgiving supper of garlic chicken, stuffed mushrooms and asparagus. All prepared by our Captain Gary. Very good, even though, it was going on 7:30pm the seas were starting to pick up again and my appetite was small. Walt did clean-up the dishes and took the first watch. It’s going to be another bumpy, windy night. Chris and I head to get a couple hours of sleep before our watch.

Answering peoples questions that we have gotten through e-mails:

1. For safety we have a satellite phone, a GPS epirb device and dingy with a 9 hp motor, lifejackets with tethering abilities and of course we now have our survival bag better known as a “ditch bag”.

2. Walt’s doing great not worrying about his hair. He has 2 hats a toboggan and his fishing hat. hehe  Love Juls