For those of you wondering, this is the journal of Scott and Teri Siewert's new adventure on the Great Loop cruise. We've been planning this for 4 years, ever since we ditched the idea of sailing to outer islands after a couple of years vacations on our previous boat, a 41 foot Freeport Islander sailboat. That's a whole nuther story. We went boatless for a little more than a year to find the right boat to get us around the circumnavigation of the eastern half of the US known as "The Great Loop". Friends think we're a little crazy, family worries about us, and Scott's former coworkers have bets on how long it will take for us to call it a day .... but we think it's going to be the wonderful dream we've looked forward to and talked about for years.
First day shakedown stuff included 3 trial runs with a little to deal with each time. Scott's friend from high school, Rob Kirschner, came over to help us and after a nice breakfast at Cafe Chocolat and a gas and bread run, we started out.
First time out Scott discovered an exhaust hose leak, so we turned back and docked at the T-dock for a quick fix with a clamp. Second run out was a little more serious as he found the starboard engine's transmission (installed the previous day) had some fluid on the drop below. Back in our slip our neighbor, Gary, anxious no doubt to see us on our way (he gets our prime slip at the marina!) graciously came aboard and helped Scott check out the problem. Feeling good that it was just a matter of too much fluid in the tran to begin with, we tried a third trip out. This time all seemed fine until the port tachometer quit working. No huge thing, but it is frustrating. Back in our slip we decide to call it a day as we are looking at a 5 hour trek to our first stopover in Daytona. A rum and coke later, Scott is dozing in the zero gravity chair and I am signing up for this blog so no one misses a thing!
First day shakedown stuff included 3 trial runs with a little to deal with each time. Scott's friend from high school, Rob Kirschner, came over to help us and after a nice breakfast at Cafe Chocolat and a gas and bread run, we started out.
First time out Scott discovered an exhaust hose leak, so we turned back and docked at the T-dock for a quick fix with a clamp. Second run out was a little more serious as he found the starboard engine's transmission (installed the previous day) had some fluid on the drop below. Back in our slip our neighbor, Gary, anxious no doubt to see us on our way (he gets our prime slip at the marina!) graciously came aboard and helped Scott check out the problem. Feeling good that it was just a matter of too much fluid in the tran to begin with, we tried a third trip out. This time all seemed fine until the port tachometer quit working. No huge thing, but it is frustrating. Back in our slip we decide to call it a day as we are looking at a 5 hour trek to our first stopover in Daytona. A rum and coke later, Scott is dozing in the zero gravity chair and I am signing up for this blog so no one misses a thing!
