Ft. Lauderdale to Nassau - November 16-25, 2000

To go or not to go - November 15, 2000

A tough question for a new captain eager to get going on his new boat after 2 weeks of getting ready and 10 years of anticipation.

It wouldn't be the last time this question would come up, but with a Gulf Stream crossing as the first leg, and a deadline to meet, I felt some stress. I had read many times about how schedules and deadlines did not mix with sailing and I didn't want to repeat my experience of 10 years before (see To the Bahamas). But we were one week late already and Isabelle wanted me home and Joanne and Robert's two kids were flying into Nassau, and ….

Cinderella has landed - November 6, 2000

Our first week in Ft. Lauderdale went as planned. Arrived on Nov 6th with Robert who would help me sail Cinderella to Nassau. On Nov 8th we hauled out Cinderella to have the anti-fouling done (i.e. painting the bottom of the hulls) and it would give Robert and me time to do some routine maintenance on the boat , do our food provisioning and add any equipment, spare parts, etc. et felt we needed.

By Monday Nov 11th, Cinderella was back in the water and all the planned work completed. Was it fun ? In retrospect, maybe. I mean if your definition of fun is :

• spending the week running between West Marine, Boat U.S., Sailorman, Boat Warehouse, engine part stores, Costco, Publix, etc.;
• stressing because while just checking the engine impellers (preventive maintenance they call it) we found 2 of the first 3 screws were corroding, then hurried to find a Volvo parts dealer in an obscure part of Ft. Lauderdale who happened to be doing his paperwork at 9:00 AM on a Sunday and who had just the stainless steel replacement screws we needed;
• finally figuring out 2 hours before the boat was going back in the water how to get the propellers off (you hit them hard with a hammer while unscrewing them) so we could clean and grease them and change the zincs.

Now the unplanned. The radar and depth sounder were defective, and being on warranty, were sent back to the manufacturer for repair on Nov 6, who was moving, who forgot to ship back express, who shipped the 2 packages separately so FEDEX could lose one ! But in the end everything arrived and was installed.

At least I had the opportunity to raise the Ft.Lauderdale 17th bridge for Cinderella. It's something we did on Robert's boat, Blue Suede Shoes, 10 years ago, and I had promised myself I would do the same with MY boat someday.

By Friday Nov 15 noon, after 5 days anchored in Hollywood, just 2 bridges south of the Ft. Lauderdale ocean outlet, we had a working radar and depth sounder. It's now Friday Nov 15, do we go or not go ? The winds are coming from the NE again, the worst for crossing the Gulf Stream, but forecasted only at 10 knots, and another stronger cold front will be here in 4 days. If we don't go now, we'll have to sit out another week.

We go tonight.