The Sailing Shipleys

We write this sitting on anchor near Shell Island in Panama City Beach, FL. The sky is a springtime blue, the wind is soft from the south, and Jimmy is trying to make waffles without draining our batteries.

There were lots of emotions this past week as we readied to depart, set the engine, and cast off the lines right at 730 am (as we said we would, Tom McNally!). It was 31 degrees when we left the dock, and four brave souls came to see us off, insulated coffee mugs steaming in hand. Thank you Mark, Zach, Toni, and Tom!

They say leaving the dock is the hardest part, and it was. It means leaving the security of useful amenities, a predictable routine, friends to help problem solve, and the ability to hop to your favorite coffee shop or run to the grocery store. Now, we are officially cruising, one anchorage at a time. Everything we own (mostly) is aboard Jolene and her 37 feet.

Sailing the Choctawatchee Bay one last time in near freezing weather and gusts up to 30 knots, our main sail reefed as we watched our speed hit 6.5 knots – flying for a sail boat, even the winter hats could not hide our tearing eyes. It was the near perfect way to say goodbye to a place that had taught us all we know about sailing and forgiven us for many mistakes learned along the way.

That is not to say we sailed in perfection off into the sunset without so much as a bump on the sea. We found our belt driven auto-helm would not turn on, which meant hand steering all the way from Niceville to Panama City Beach. We have since diagnosed the issue to be a power drop from the main panel to the auto-helm plug in. Looks like some wiring work is in our future.

Once arriving in Panama City, we discovered a few more problems. First, we learned we were a little rusty at anchoring. Upon setting the anchor and then deciding to move, we found it almost impossible to bring up the anchor. Our Mantus 45 is good, but not that good. Turns out we accidentally set anchor on a wreck. Oops…once we set the secondary anchor well away from the wreck, we looped a halyard around the roll bar and we’re able to pop it free.

But the challenges were not over yet. We turned the bilge on before bed, and it drained and drained and drained. It tasted like fresh water…and we realized we had a serious problem. A fresh water leak is scary to discover, especially when you cannot find the leak. It was even more frustrating for us because we had spent a full week replacing all our water lines. To top it off, it was so severe, our entire aft tank was bone-dry.

We thought the leak was originating from the fresh water pressure pump, and borrowed Jimmy’s uncle’s car to purchase a new one from West Marine. In the end, it turned out that a hose from our water heater had come loose, making it impossible for the water pump to equalize and draining all the water from the tank. We have 45 gallons in the forward tank and plan to refill both before departing to Key West.

So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring it’s own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

Matthew 6:34 (NLT)

Although we did not meet our original departure deadline, we still have managed to “Go Now!” Despite the challenges in this first week, we are still floating and living. The hardest part has been slowing down, remembering there is no rush to go somewhere or be somewhere, that projects will be done in due time, and that there truly is not expectation on how we spend the day.

We are relieved to have a day to relax and try to live by “pressing pause,” a phrase we’ve tried to embrace since we first met. Today, we will do nothing, no major boat projects or problem solving, the only concern being to remember to apply sunscreen. Even though tomorrow we will prepare for a departure south, today’s worries are enough for themselves. Tomorrow will worry about itself.