Authors Note: Any spelling or grammatical errors in the following log are the fault of the editorial staff, but since we can't afford to pay them, we let it slide.

04/29/07 - Happy Birthday!

Today was Betsy's birthday and she decided that we would go sailing no matter what. Given that it was a Sunday and during season, that meant that the yahoos were going to be out in force in their powerboats.
It turned out to be a great day for a sail; sunny, nice breeze (mostly) and not much company out on the Gulf (evidently they were all anchored or docked at the bars). After 5 hourse or so of nice sailing we decided to head back in. Now, of course, is when all the wingnuts also decided that they had enough brainjuice and that they too would head home (or to the next watering hole!). We managed to get back without getting hit or hit any of them, even though a few tried thier best.
There was the one guy who, upon losing his hat overboard, decided it was a good idea to have his buddy come to a stop in a busy channel (full of other yahoos in fast boats) and jump overboard to retrieve it. Then there was the guy who stopped right in front of us in the middle of a narrow, busy channel to let his girlfriend jump over the side to relieve herself!.

Just another day in paradise!

06/02/07 - And so it begins......

Hurricane season officially starts on June 1. Obviously "Barry" reads the papers because he showed up right on time! Though only a tropical storm, it's enough to remind us of what time of year it is down here. One good thing is that he brought some much needed rain with him.

Of course someone forgot to get the message out to "Andrea". She showed up too early to the party (early May) dressed as a subtropical storm but still managed to get herself a name.

06/24/07 - Weekend on a mooring:

Betsy had one of her long weekends from work so we packed up the cat, loaded the boat with beer & food and headed on down to the Fort Myers Beach mooring field for a couple of nights. This time we managed to take the correct dinghy motor tank so we were able to explore the bay by dinghy. The folks at Matanzas Inn got us all settled on a mooring ($13/night - showers avail.). From Matanzas you can easliy walk to the beach and all the waterfront shops and bars. On the second day we went by dinghy over around the coast guard station to the back bay and visited the Channel Mark restaurant. Betsy met "Betty Boop", a lovely bartender who is just turning 80 and the folks at Channel Mark are pitching in to get her a trip to Alaska (we put in our donation too). Later on, Boomer and his friend Bert dropped by via boat and joined us on a trip over to Bonita Bills (our favorite haunt down that way). All in all it was a fun weekend (but boy was it hot!).

06/28/07 - Goodbye drawbridge!

As of tonight at 6:30, the Sanibel Causeway drawbridge ceases to be! The new 70ft high fixed span bridge opens for traffic and the drawbridge will be permanently left open until it is demolished later this year. No more waiting for openings for us!

07/01/07 - Slow boat to Naples

Betsy decided that we should spend a nice weekend on the boat in Naples, so of course we entered the 42nd annual Summerset Regatta. This is the oldest and biggest race in these parts. It's put on by the club we belong to (CMCS). The first day is a destination race from Ft. Myers Beach to Naples. The second day consists of buoy races just offshore in Naples.

Betsy & I decided to short-hand the race to Naples and forego the buoy races the next day. Oh, and of course we were the scratch boat in our fleet (new rating needed!). We got buried at the start but there was nice wind early on and we were doing ok at first, but then the wind dropped to about 5kts and the folks with the racing sails took off on us. Even the small cruising boats were creeping back. Did I tell you that this was a 22 mile race? It was looking like we would get there in the dark but then the wind finally reappeared and we got into Naples in the late afternoon. We managed not to take last place but we weren't far from it.

Had a slip at the Naples Boat Club (nice place). We were within walking distance to downtown. Oh, forgot to mention that this was one of the HOTTEST weekends of the year! I thought I was going to melt into the pavement. So while many of our fellow racers were out sweating through the buoy races, we decided to use the marina's pool - NICE.

Sunday evening was the awards dinner at the Naples Sailing and Yacht Club. We didn't win any trophies but we did win one of the better door prizes - a free haul out at our local boat yard!

10/13/07 - Even slower boat to Captiva

We seem to be stuck doing really long races lately. The annual Kayusa Cup race was this weekend. This is a pursuit race that starts off Ft. Myers Beach and ends at South Seas Resort at the end of Captiva Island - about 20 miles or so. Most participants spend the night there and then come back on Sunday. We, of course, did not make reservations, so we would have to sail home the same day. At least we had our new "True Cruising" rating that should get us a few more seconds.

Had a full crew for this one. Larry, now a Pine Island resident, joined us and we borrowed a couple of crew from a local Henderson 30. I should have known that things were not going to go well when we were late for our start time. Then the race turned into a downwind run up the coast of the islands and we couldn't fly our chute (rating prohibits it) and we don't have a whisker pole for the jib. About 3/4 through the race, it became obvious that finishing was not an option if we were going to get back home before late night, so we turned around and headed back. At least it was a beautiful day to sail and we had plenty of beer!

10/27/07 - Lifestyles of the rich and plastic

Betsy & I decided to do a day trip over to the Ft. Lauderdale International Boatshow. This is described as one of the biggest shows of the year. I think they mean that the boats are the biggest. The in-water portion of the show is dominated by quite a collection of Superyachts with all their toys (helicopters, sports cars, submarines, etc.). The displays are mostly geared toward large yachts (engines the size of my car). The people watching was fun though. Lot's of trophy wives walking the docks in very high heels next to their old, rich hubby (who's probably shopping for his next trophy along with his next boat). There may have been more plastic in the wives than in some of the boats.

Oh, and we did manage to pick up a couple of bargains along the way.

11/30/07 - Bottom job:

Kokopelli returned to her home dock today after 3 weeks at the boat yard. The main reason for the visit was to get the bottom done (it's been 2 1/2 years since the last paint job). This time we're going to try out the new Interlux Micron 66, it's more expensive than the Micron extra but is supposed to work better while the boat is sitting at the dock. We also decided that it was time to replace the two 4D house batteries and replace the stock alternator with a higher output (Balmar 100amp) model. Little did we realize that this was going to also cost us a new inverter (turns out the stock inverter from Beneteau in 2002 was not marine rated (at least according to the ABYC and Underwriter Labs) and the boatyard would not reinstall it once it was removed. Also, since the 2nd house battery that was installed with the inverter was mysteriously placed at the bottom of the port lazarette (and therefore impossible to maintain), we decided to move it to the centerline next to the existing house battery under the aft berth. We also needed to replace the thru-hull fitting for the engine raw water intake (the ball valve would not close completely).
This all turned out to cost alot more than originally planned and take more time than we thought. However, this should cover most of the big items needed before the next long cruise.