In July we joined several members of the Bremerton Yacht Club for 2 weeks on the 2022 Commodore Cruise. Our 197nm cruise included: Blake Island, Port Townsend, Roserio, Sucia, Friday Harbor and Kingston.
We encountered our first rough crossing of the Strait of Juan de Fuca surrounded by fog as we headed to the San Juan’s. Great sailing from Sucia to Friday Harbor as well as Friday Harbor to Kingston.
Food, crafts, beer, bands… and fireworks!
Although rare, it does snow occasionally… making things a little more challenging.
Today’s project is installing an auto-start for the generator…
With COVID restrictions easing, we planned a flotilla to Port Gamble along with 3 other liveaboards on C-Dock (Terry, Caitlyn, John, Karen, Steve, and Nicola) and our guests Nate and Kris.
We hosted the arrival dinner and drinks, had a shore excursion into Port Gamble, flew the drone, enjoyed fireworks set off on the beach by a local first nations tribe, and enjoyed dinner and drinks hosted by Karen and John our last night at anchor.
After being unsuccessful in repairing the Virtifrigo DW210, we replaced it with the Isotherm CR-200. The unit uses less power and does not ice up - making deicing as easy as wiping the freezer walls.
We hauled out 18-July-2020 at Boat Haven in the Port of Port Townsend Marina.
Living on the hard in a dry yard during COVID was a challenge… but we were able to get the bottom sanded and painted and install underwater lights. When we were back in the water we worked to reseat the skylight window and found a rigger to inspect our rigging and replace our halyards with stronger line (dyneema).
We enjoyed our time in Port Townsend. The mates enjoyed walking the docks and riding in the wagon to provision at Safeway, get treats at Pane D’Amore Artisan Bakery, help with laundry at Mom’s Laundromat, help the captain search the shelves at West Marine or take in the breeze at the Sunrise Coffee Company.
Before the COVID lockdowns we were able to get out and explore the San Juan’s.
SV Counting Stars arrived in Nanaimo British Columbia, CA on 7-June-2019. Larry Meyer met us to help offload her. Larry owns the local Leopard Sunsail charter company and sailing school branded Island Cruising as well as the Deep Cove marina in Sydney, BC.
After clearing customs, we headed south to Sydney to drop Larry and were asked us stay overnight in his marina. Early the next morning, Bob borrowed Larry’s e-bike and went to a nearby market to pickup water and food as we had not provisioned. We departed mid-morning crossing the US boarder using the CVP Roam app and anchored in Port Ludlow. We dropped the dinghy by hand as the winch switch disconnected during transport and the corrosion needed to be cleaned before a solid connection could be made. We made our way to the Resort at Port Ludlow for dinner.
The following morning we continued on to the Port of Bremerton. We arrived in Bremerton to find new faces at the dock offering to grab our lines. It was a wonderful welcome to her homeport!
Then the work began to check lines for chaffe, put the forward sails back on and clean the dirt accumulated during the last month on the cargo ship.
The journey to the PNW involved stops in Panama, transiting the Panama Canal, Golfito, La Paz, and Ensenada before arriving in Nanaimo, British Columbia, CA
We prepared SV Counting Stars to be loaded onto the cargo ship… with the help of Andy (SV OliLuki) and Pat (SV Chapter Two), the enclosures and all-weather cushions were removed and stowed; the sail bag and main sail were ratcheted to the boom, the forward sails were removed, folded and stowed in their sail bags in the saloon, all lines except for the main halyard and topping lift were removed and stowed in their line bags in the cockpit.
Bob and Pat navigated SV Counting Stars to closely pull along side the cargo ship, Kraszewski. The loading dive team dove to ensure the lifting straps were properly placed then she was lifted onto the cargo ship.
With the refit completed, it was time to set sail for Ft Lauderdale to prepare SV Counting Stars to be shipped to the Pacific Northwest. For this passage, we invited friends we met at the Miami boat show to crew with us: Andy Temesvary (SV OliLuki), Mike and Sue Pail (On A New Tack).
ASFL – Days 1-2: 0935 (20-April) departed Burnt Store marina fuel dock for overnight passage to Boot Key. Our crew of five bobbed around in Charlotte Harbor for 3 hours while identifying the cause and repairing a rigging issue with the main sail. 1326 the Gulf of Mexico welcomed us with 8ft seas as we exited Charlotte Harbor. Once clear of the channel, we set course for Key West channel on a downwind sail with following seas. 1000 (21-April) entered Key West channel. Dropped anchor in Boot Key 1800. By the numbers: 5.8kts average/9.5kts max speed; 1 day 8 hours; 189.7nm. Winds 5-15kt/12kt average downwind to beam.
ASFL - Day 3: 0652 departed Boot Key anchorage; 2255 arrived No Name (Key Biscayne). With winds on the nose we motor sailed Hawk Channel dodging the plethora of crab pots then fishing boats before passing the lovely Lady Susan (Leopard 58). Reached max speed as we turned to enter Biscayne Channel, navigating the unlit markers in the dark to set anchor at No Name. By the numbers: 5.68kts average/8.85kts max speed; 16 hours 11mins; 91.9nm. Winds 10-20kt/ 15kt average on the nose.
ASFL - Day 4: 0940 departed No Name anchorage at Key Biscayne and at 1800 arrived Ft Lauderdale - completing our 328nm ASFL passage. By the numbers: 5.5kts average/8.9kts max speed; 8 hours and 30 minutes; 46.5nm. Winds 15-20 close reach. We learned more about the feature rich the Raymarine Axiom MFD - heavily using the "auto-tack" and "to windvane" features - and were impressed with how close to the wind we could sail (close reach, 45 deg).
Check out Mike and Sue’s perspective on their blog, On A New Tack; Sailing with Bob and Melinda on SV Counting Stars
Electrician began installing Webasto Bluecool S16 AC units, additional outlets, rolling back the latest Raymarine update due to bugs, new bilge pumps, antennas (GPS, rouge Wi-Fi/GSM, Iridium satellite), and auto fog horn.
Rigger removed our sails to have a UV wrap added to our Code 0, a more hefty zipper installed on our sail bag, replace a missing batten in the main, re-rig the reefing lines. Installed and tested the smart (anchor/tricolor/strobe) mast light by Marine Beam (uses the existing anchor light breaker to rotate light type and has 2nm visibility).
Steve designed new dingy rigging for the davits; uninstalled the propane HOB and oven in preparation for induction cooktop and convection oven, and added longer and stronger anchor chain. Rub rails were installed.
Nick and his team did a great job on the interchangeable screen/strataglass enclosures for the helm, forward and rear cockpits plus matching grill and dinghy covers. They created an arm to swing the grill out when in use for more space.
Bob completed the USCG and FCC Ship Station registration so we now have our MMSI (Maritime Mobile Service Identity) so we can complete our AIS (Automatic Identification System) setup.
ASFL Day 1: With Harbour Towne Marina behind us, we took the big right turn to head Around South Florida (ASFL) on her maiden voyage to Punta Gorda, FL for SV Counting Stars first refit. Anchored at Key Biscayne.
ASFL Day 2: 0333 departed Key Biscayne for anchorage near Boot Key. 1844 anchored Boot Key (outside. By the numbers: 6.45kts average/9.5kts max speed; 15hr 11min; 105.5nm. Winds gusting to 22kt dropping to 5kt by late afternoon on the nose to close-hauled. Reset Delta anchor last night after dark - somehow snagged an old wooden crab pot and line which Bob was able to cut free... the deck light (standard option) and the Sena headsets (thank you Janet and Pat Hayes) made the task of resetting much easier. We woke a little earlier than planned as swells hit the anchorage and since our anchor monitor showed increased movement so we decided to depart. Upon exiting we were greeted with 1.5M seas which reduced to 0.5M in Hawk Channel. Increased marine traffic this morning and tons of crab pots this afternoon.
ASFL Day 3: 0750 departed Boot Key anchorage; 1342 arrived Stock Island marina in Key West. By the numbers: 7.3kts average/8.2kts max speed; 5hr 51mins; 41nm; winds 5-10kt beam to downwind. Lost count of the estimated thousands of crab pots in the channel. Good shakedown thus far with only minor items identified. Planning underway for overnight sail to Punta Gorda. Monitored weather closely due to storm cells building in the Gulf of Mexico.
ASFL Day 4: 0850 departed Key West (Stock Island marina) on overnight sail to Punta Gorda (Burnt Store marina) ETA 24-30hrs. Expecting light to moderate seas, winds 10-20kts. with gusts upward to 40kts due to developing storm cells in the Gulf of Mexico. Pulling weather via Iridium Go with limited mobile phone service.
ASFL Day 5: 1044 arrived Punta Gorda (Burnt Store marina), completing our overnight passage from Key West (Stock Island marina) - thus concluding our 5-day (342nm) ASFL passage. By the numbers: 6kts average/9kts max speed; 25h 47m; 5-15kt winds gusting 25kt; 1.0-3.0M seas. This overnight passage was quite eventful. We avoided the sea of crab pots (most often with 1ft to spare on each hull), were greeted by numerous dolphins, lost count of all the stars we saw... shutdown engines at 2000 so not to snag a crab pot in the dark (thanks Mike for the tip) and had great winds for 12 hours of sailing. At 2330 we were welcomed to the Gulf of Mexico by a large storm cell - delivering periods of lightening, heavy rain and 2.5-3.0M seas. Despite the rough and cold conditions for over 4 hours - SVCS and her crew performed well.
On 21-Feb-2019 we completed our walk-thru and test sail, did final signatures then officially took possession of SV Counting Stars. Once provisioning was completed we set sail on her maiden voyage to Charlotte Harbor to dock at Burnt Store Marina in Punta Gorda, FL.
SV Counting Stars was the Leopard 45 on display at the 2019 Miami Boat Show. We met lots of great like-minded people at the show as well as the Leopard owners party.
SV Counting Start Virtual Tour: https://vrcloud.com/?pv=1552671630&play=1
After SV Counting Stars was offloaded, she was moved to the Leopard docks at the Harbour Towne Marina in Dania Beach, FL to begin commissioning.
Decking in the cockpit and heads was installed as well as the all-weather cushions and sun pads. Next was the running rigging, sail bag and sails. Dual fresh/salt water switch added to all heads. All systems were thoroughly tested before sailing her down to her slip at the Miami Boat Show.
Early this morning, SV Counting Stars was unloaded from the freighter (Yellowstone) at Port Everglades. She'll spend the next two weeks being commissioned and prepared for the Miami Boat Show.
Read MoreSV Counting Stars has departed South Africa on a container ship making her way to Florida where she will be on display at the Miami Boat Show 14-18 Feb. These boats are all blue water capable boats that in days past would have traveled to US on their own bottoms, however it is more economical now for Leopard to ship up to 18 at a time on a single cargo ship.
A leap of Leopards waiting to be loaded on a cargo ship.
