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Melora on the bow

With light south east winds, the good ship Cool Change head out of port on Saturday morning for a pleasant June sail. With the whole family aboard, we enjoyed ghosting along the coast for the morning. At one point we brought our bow into the wind, dropped the head sail and stalled the boat so GC could jump overboard for a swim.

Swimming a few miles offshore…from where we live

Later,  when our sails were up and we were making a good clip south, a helicopter came in and circled us twice. On closer inspection we could see “BOATPIX.COM” on her pontoons. Don had a feeling he knew he was about to be hit up for some serious bucks for a nice picture of his boat from the air. Sure enough, after getting back ashore he looked up boatpix.com.

GC Pepper at the helm

In a couple days he could submit his sail number and for the minimum charge of $250 he could have a 16″x 20″ poster of his boat from the sky. These folks know the egos of their clients well. But, not well enough. Don might pay $100…maybe (this was decided while sailing after the helicopter passed by) but he had a feeling it would be $250. And he was right. An Irish-scot always knows the right price to pay and the right price to avoid.

What we ended up with was the memory of sailing with our family off the shore of our neighborhood. As the commercial would say…priceless. And we like GCP’s photos better.

Don, enjoying the moment

We worked the boat through her paces, even though the winds were light. She responded very well. While the boat is larger than out two previous boats (the Anonymous and the Calypso) her longer keel and her well balanced rudder made handling very easy. At one point we tacked without issue while only having two knots headway. Two knots.

Dad at the wheel, backing the sails for the swim

The sailboat slices through the water. That’s what we want in a boat. Some pound through the seas …but we like a boat that ’slices,’ and that’s the reason we like the Beneteau Oceanis series of boats. Yes, a full keel would be nice, and we’ve owned one…but for our type of sailing, and cruising, this is the boat.

Pepper took this from her camera and it’s underwater case when she dove overboard, note the line off the starboard stern…we didn’t abandon her out there! Main sail backing, head sail stowed.

As is often the case, we did have a bit of ‘drama offshore.’ As required by a boat of our class, we monitor the emergency channel, 16 on on the marine radio. It seems that somebody fishing on the shoals, about 20 miles east, had some kind of ‘episode’, perhaps a stroke or heart attack. So while we sailed, we followed the events. We held off entering the channel until the small fleet of response vehicles and a doctor out fishing for the day, plowed through the port’s channel. We hope the best for the fisherman and respect all those who came to his need.

On our return, well after the emergency flotila passed, the winds were just right, allowing us to sail back into the port under full sail for a good show of seamanship in a tight channel.

A great day out on the water. Both the craft and the crew performed well.

Very well indeed.

Cool Change gets hauled

Our boat, Cool Change, needed a new bottom coat and a new boot stripe. So today we moved her to Scorpion Marina at the port and had her hauled. Unless you own a boat, it’s hard to describe to someone what it’s like having your ‘baby’ picked up and moved around. It usually happens every couple years when you need to have your hull cleaned and painted…but for a boat owner it’s an anxious moment.

Stern veiw

Normally we’d splash the boat again in a few days, but we’re re-doing the boot strip, which will take a few additional days to dry, so she’ll be out of our slip for about a week. The extra days have something to do about a mega-yacht coming into the yard, at which point they are going to ignore the Cool Change for two or three days. Don’t blame them, Cool Change would be a dinghy to that thing. Such is the price to going to a yard with the biggest marine lift in central Florida.

Don’t worry, Don will be OK. It’s only a week. He’s splashing the Osprey to fill the void.

Don at Helm, about to head out

We closed on purchase of Cool Change on December 3rd and on the 4th we slipped the lines at Harbortown and made the harrowing journey across the Banana River to bring her home into her new berth at the Port Canaveral Yacht Club. It took about 20 minutes.

Heading out from Harbortown

Brothers Richard and Ted Katsaros helped Don crew the Beneteau Oceanis 390 through the locks, drawbridge and into the port around noon. The boat handled just fine in the light 10-knot winds.

Cool Change in the barge canal

Jean Katsaros documented the expansive journey ashore (all these pics are hers) jumping to waypoints such as the barge canal and the locks to capture the historical event.

Ted and Richard on deck as the boat goes through the locks

The Beneteau Oceanis 390 came in a few different varieties. Ours is called the ‘Owners Version” meaning that it was layout out for a boat owner, and not for the charter industry. So instead of having two cabins aft, it has one, on the starboard side. This allows for a larger single cabin, and a roomier aft head (bathroom). There is a forward head as well, but on our boat it’s been converted to a shower, which is GREAT. The boat has 145 gallon capacity for water, so that means guilt-free showers inside the boat. Very nice.

Cool Change arrives home

Port side view

Interior, looking forward

Interior, looking aft