A Week Aboard S/V Sabado: 5/15/2022 – 5/22/2022

Happy Sunday! Have you seen our latest YouTube video? I think it’s my favorite one yet.

Last Sunday, we re-visited our favorite diner in Cape Canaveral before stopping by our storage unit, washing the boat, throwing in a load of laundry, and ordering groceries. We treated ourselves to a nice dinner out that night, with appetizers, wine, and dessert- the whole 9 yards.

Monday afternoon, we fueled up and headed out. 

We had some light- but useful- wind, so we got to work. We raised the main and brought out the jib but were only going ~3kn. So, we decided to bring out the gennaker. Without starting an engine, we brought the jib in, ran to our stations, and unfurled the gennaker. This more than doubled our speed! 

We were happily cruising along until we heard a strange thud. Ray walked around the boat to investigate before realizing it had come from the helm. Our main halyard had slipped through the clutch. It looked like 4 inches or so of the line (the portion that is usually in the clutch when the main is up) had flattened out, allowing it to slip through. This is obviously not supposed to happen, so we reefed (putting a less frequently strained portion of the line in the clutch) and looked into it more. Our new mainsail is significantly more powerful than our old one, but the line we have should, in theory, be able to handle it… unless the line isn’t actually what we think it is. 

After cutting into the end of the line, Ray realized he’d been scammed! He had purchased this line in the Caribbean a few years ago and was told it was dyneema core, but it turns out it was some polyester blend that is significantly less durable.

Oh well! We were still making good speed, and it was a beautiful, sunny day. We added “replace main halyard” to our to-do list, changed into swimsuits, and spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying ourselves! 

At sunset, we switched out the gennaker for the jib and continued until the wind died later that night. 

We motored into St. Augustine the following morning, picked up a mooring ball, checked in to the marina, and walked around until we found some tacos and margaritas. We called it a night pretty early, considering sleeping in shifts does not make for the most restful night’s sleep…

The next day we visited the oldest pub in the oldest city in America and did a little exploring. St. Augustine is an adorable town!

Thursday morning, we called the marina office to see if we could stay on the mooring ball until the wind picked up for the next portion of our trip. They politely said no, so we had to leave a little earlier than planned. Unfortunately, that sort of screwed us over. We had 3kn of wind but raised the main (still keeping in a reef) for fun. We motored all morning in the sweltering heat. The wind picked up a bit in the afternoon, so we brought the jib out, but still had to keep an engine on. 

The sun began to set, and we were still hours away from our destination. Rather than try to navigate a new place in the dark, we decided to anchor for the night about 25nm South of Brunswick. We made our way into the anchorage and were surprised to see a massive paper mill appear after a beautiful state park/nature preserve. This is a new backdrop for Sabado, that’s for sure! 

We set our anchor, made some dinner, and fell asleep to the sweet, mulch-y smell of the factory. 

We left at sunrise the next morning and motored to Brunswick Landing Marina. 

We plugged into shore power, cranked our air conditioning, and wandered to the local pizza place for a late lunch! So far, we like it here! It’s an odd, small town, but the marina is right in the center, and we’ve been amused with the quirky local shops within walking distance. 

We’ve got a pretty substantial to-do list while we’re here, so it might be a while before we move Sabado again, but this doesn’t seem like a bad place to hang out! 

I hope you had a great week! ❤️