We're Back and Sailing North

We arrived back in Melbourne, Florida, yesterday after an Easter break visiting granny in Ohio. During our absence we arranged for a marine electrician to give Great Escape a thorough check over to determine the effects of the lightning strike. He spent a day going through the entire boat and testing every circuit and each through hull. Evidently when lightning enters a boat, it usually grounds at the water line, which in the worst case blows holes in the hull at a very inconvenient point, or grounds through metal through-hulls, with similar consequences.

Luckily for us, and, by the way, we pride ourselves on being really lucky people (that way you can bypass having to be smart all the time), the GPS was restored, and the only real damage was the fans which are now permanently fused in the full on position. It could have been drastically worse. We took the boat out and motored it around and tested everything, and, with everything apparently working, made preparations to cast off and high-tail it north this morning.

We left at 7am and headed up the ICW with a nice SE breeze starting at 10kts and building through the day. Our first education was the Eau Gaille bridge, which, we found, rejoiced in the local pronunciation of "Oh Golly Bridge". I'm not making this up. This section involves the Cape Canaveral area, and we blasted through motor sailing, and hitting over 7 kts as the breeze filled in. There was a small convoy of sailboats heading north, punctuated by the occasional obnoxious power boat with the big wake to destroy the basically flat seas of the ICW. It was a great run north, making 79 miles to past Ponce de Leon Inlet by 6pm. We tied up at Inlet Harbor Marina on the floating dock in front of their restaurant. The live music was really......loud. Butchery of the oldies classics seems to be a feature of one-man-bands supported by a karaoke machine. For anyone to have the arrogance to think that they can cover Mick Jagger, John Lennon, the Beach Boys and Neil Young, is an amazing tribute to small time ego. Actually, some of it was ok....NOT. Nonetheless, a very pleasant spot and nice sunset.

Tomorrow, the forecast is for more wind, so we will stay inside and target St Augustine.

Despite all the travails, it is great to be back on the boat and heading back home.

Rob