First Practice Races

Dave had his first racing experience with his R.C. DragonFlite 95 sailboat yesterday. He and the boat were charged up and ready to see how competitive he was compared to the other sailors. 

He is still getting used to how it all operates, and luckily there weren't quite as many boats out sailing as usual. Although he had some rough starts and DNFs (did not finish), towards the end of the day he actually finished in the top three in two races. In one of the races he would have actually won, when he flew by the other boats on a downwind finish, but unfortunately he had fouled another boat at the windward mark, so that disqualified him. However, the other sailors were amazed, and when he passed them all, one of the guys had everyone laughing when he said, "Hey, where did that white boat come from?!"

Dave sure had a great cheering section with myself, Barb and Barry, and our neighbor John (who is considering getting an RC boat of his own). We had fun giving him advice and keeping him on the right course. The 'Flyin' Fish has now officially been named and is ready to go out and get more experience...along with its owner of course! 😉

Wings & Wheels

Yesterday afternoon we attended Vero Beach's Wings & Wheels show at the local airport. It was a different kind of venue out on the airfield, with some very interesting planes, cars, and trucks to see. The planes were unique and something totally different for us. This is a Rotax driven float plane...

"Boomer"

This is actually a jet! It is a Cirrus G2, and carries 5 passengers plus two kids and a dog. Base price is $2.75M.

A 2012 RV 7...

Some of these are so tiny!

A different kind of Yak than we are used to. 😉 It was made in 1983 in Russia and was fabric covered.

'Miss Q' is another kit float plane. The four cylinder Rotax engine was uncovered for all to see. It had a turbocharger and was 130 h.p. The owner built it himself during the pandemic, hence the name.

Then there were the cars. Our good friend Chris was there showing his MGB that he restored himself...

 

The headlights are huge on this beautiful Dodge Senior Roadster...

It must be fun driving this Jaguar resto-mod with modern American running gear.

Wild in red...This 1933 Willys 5 window coupe was tubbed and ready to wheelie!

Then there was this 1951 Ford Country Squire Woody Wagon...

The most unusual vehicle in the show was a 1970 Fiat Jolly car with rattan seats. It was barely bigger than a golf cart.

What a perfect day for this Mercury Monterey convertible.

The paint job on the truck was extraordinary, but Dave really liked the Excaliber in the background.

My favorite of the show was this 1951 resto-mod Nash. It was the only car in the show with curb feelers!

It looks like this will be another new annual event to attend. We are so glad we have more diverse things to do on land when it's not boating weather. I just hope Dave doesn't decide he wants an airplane! 😉

Waiting For Better Weather

It definitely isn't as cold as it is up north, but we have had lots of rain, wind and some cooler temps lately. Next week looks to be much more promising, so we can hopefully have some more good adventures. We haven't even been out in our power boat or sailboat yet. Soon though! Have a great holiday weekend!

RC Sailboat Races

Yesterday we went to observe the Dragon RC Sailboat Races at Poppleton Park. There were only 6 sailboats there, but soon Dave will join them with his boat. He joined their club and the men were so friendly, although they really concentrated during the races. One of the best racers, Chris, walked over and handed Dave the remote control to his boat and said try it out! Dave got the hang of it quickly and now he has more incentive to get his boat set up and race ready. Chris even gave him tuning tips. What fun to be sailing with the gators and snakes (according to the sign), but yesterday all we saw was a cormorant that kept landing on the markers to dry its wings. It was really funny when the boats sailed close and chased it away. 

The starts were really close (run by a countdown recording), and some boats even started on the opposite tack, which ended up being an advantage. 

We have a bunch of rainy days coming up with a stalled front, so by the end of the weekend Dave will most likely be set to join in the fun next Monday. He needs some practice before the big regatta with other clubs in December. That event usually draws in about 40 racers which should really be exciting! 

Where's The Remote?

Dave has a new toy. He is building a radio controlled Dragon racing sailboat. It was a kit and Dave is taking his time putting it together, because he says he is really savoring the experience since everything is so quality. His 'boat shop' is quite tiny so he uses every available space at the moment. I hope I don't need to laundry in the near future though. 😉

This sport has become popular and our friend Bob also just built one. The guys plan on joining other sailors with this model, so we have been looking for groups and ponds that they race at. We read that there is an RC club that has gatherings at a local park about 5 miles from us, but it wasn't specific if it was for sail or power boats. Today was one of their dates so we rode over to check it out. Although there are race markers in the pond and a sign saying when the sailboat club meets (yay!), this group was actually for power boaters. However, what a fun morning we had watching these boats and owners. There were all sorts of different boats on the water (the triple cockpit with the Barbie driver was really fast).

These owners were so friendly and we learned a lot. We were even offered a large paddle wheeler replica to rebuild for free, but declined. Some of the boats are really big. This one weighed 30 lbs, and the superstructure top of it comes off to access the batteries and ballast.

The men even had a rescue tugboat in case one of the boats broke down. It had racks on the front so that it could push it back to shore.

It was complete with a video camera in the wheelhouse to assist the rescue.

We will return next time the Dragon sailors are at the park to see how the racing events are structured. Then it will be Bob and Dave's turn to practice and join in.

Quick Backwaters Paddle

We are still waiting for better weather and tides to take our power and sailboats out, but we had an early morning chance, between the rain squalls, to go kayaking on the south fork of the St. Lucie River. Launching at Hosford Park, we paddled with the current, which is usually negligible, but today was actually running a bit because of the king tides. We didn't see any cows or alligators along the shore as in previous trips, but did see a few turtles. I was surprised how clean this one was, considering the mucky dark water it had crawled out of.

We are always amazed to see sailboats this far up the river, which means it must be deep enough to accommodate their draft. Ironically, 'Peace & Quiet' is the exact opposite of where this sailboat is docked. The house is along very busy and noisy Kanner Road. 

There seems to be quite a few abandoned boats on this part of the waterway. Perhaps this boat's owner didn't have too many 'smart-s' after all. The name was a play on words like Dave named his Hope Town Box Cart Derby entry 'Rat Sass'. 

One of the interesting sights along the way was this homemade pontoon boat made out of auxiliary airplane wing fuel tanks.

At our turn-around point at one of the intersections of the river, we came across this gorgeous huge motoryacht. It certainly must be interesting docking it in the narrow waterway.

When Dave saw this boat, he said he wanted to buy it just to clean it up. My reply..."Uhhhh, no way Dave!" 

We saw lots more, but it was a repeat of past paddling adventures that I have posted about. We did have perfect timing this time around though, since it started pouring rain as soon as we got back home!

King Tide

Between huge swells from an offshore Nor'easter and the west winds from a cold front here, our king tides have been especially high. King tides occur when the moon is at the closest point to Earth and Earth is at its closest point to the sun. These tides usually happen at about this time of year, and we really experienced it today in Fort Pierce. The sea water was forced up through the storm water sewers and into the road. There were huge puddles on the road along the inlet, and we ended up turning the car around before the underside got too wet (and rinsed the saltwater off when we got home). Other people were flying through these salty ponds like it was no problem with water spraying everywhere! We stopped in at Jaycee Park, where we often launch our boats, and were surprised to find the ramp was totally underwater, including the docks. You can see the high water line in the parking lot, with all the seagrass that had washed up. This photo was taken about an hour after peak high tide.

Hopefully these tides ease and we can back out on the water soon!

Back In The Saddle...

The kayak saddle that is. We have already paddled Manatee Pocket to see what is new, which wasn't very much at this quiet time of year. This is still one of our favorite kayaking, sailing, and boating destinations though. We also paddled south from Sewell Point Park down to Boy Scout Island and a circumnavigation of Bird Island. It is not nesting season yet so there were only a handful of birds in the trees this this time. We will return in the spring. Today we completed the St. Lucie Inlet Preserve's kayak trail. What a fantastic time we had weaving our way through the mangroves, going with the outgoing tide, doing the trip from south to north. Once the trail opened up into a big bay with several cove options, it was a bit difficult finding the entrance to the tunnel and narrow part of the channel. Dave has a good sense about things like this, and found the way.

We saw all sorts of waterbirds on this trip, but this vulture was an ominous sign. It looked like he was just waiting for us as his next meal. 😉  It made us wonder if we were on the right trail, but then we met a lady paddling the other way (she was the only other person we saw until we got back to the ICW). 

We paddled under this bridge, which we have walked over several times when visiting the park's official trail to the beach.

The internet claims that this trip is almost 4 1/2 miles long and takes about 3 hours (you need to do this at 2 hours either side of high tide to be able to get through the shallow spots). We did it in a little over 2 hours, and we certainly didn't rush. I think that going with the tide was the key, although once we got out into the Intracoastal Waterway, the current was against us on the way back to the launching area on Cove Rd. No problem, we just paddled a little harder. We are getting our arms and shoulders back in shape for longer excursions. Another great start to the season and we are anxious to take fellow yakkers on this trip.