Sunshine Bay Yacht Club members Floyd and Fran Mansell left in September with their C&C 27 Windlass
Hampton, Virginia. September 28, 1999
We finally got away from home on September 14th, but just west of Saskatoon the clutch went on the truck. Although delayed for only one day, we were mildly anxious to make up for lost time. Fortunately, the remainder of our trip was uneventful. Along the way we stayed in truck stops (they have showers), rest stops (they do not) and then finally in campgrounds around Annapolis, Baltimore and Washington. Of course, we got our share of strange looks along the way.
On September 24th we arrived safely in Norfolk, Virginia. In West Norfolk at Nautical Boat Marina, we painted the bottom and prepared a launch for the next day. Directly after the launch we took a 300-mile trek to Wilmington, N.C. to put the truck and trailer into storage, returning to the boat in a rental car. The following day was spent rigging Windlass before setting out on the ICW. Norfolk Harbour was very busy, but we managed to survive that, and a grounding, and finally anchored upon reaching mile 26.8. The second day was better; we reached mile 56.6 by the end of the day and had no surprises.
Savannah, Georgia. November 2, 1999
Greetings from Jekyll Island. Tomorrow we will pass the 700-mile mark on the ICW! We estimate that in a couple of days we will be in Florida. We have seen beautiful, historic towns and cities such as Oriental, Beaufort, Georgetown, Charleston and Savanah. We have met wonderful fellow cruisers along the way and are treated very well in every place that we stop. Many places have provided rides or complimentary vehicles for shopping and sightseeing.
Oh yes, we must include that we had the hell scared out of us by Hurricane Irene; we waited that one out in North Myrtle Beach. We stripped the boat clean only to have the storm bypass us.
The channel (ICW), for the most part, is narrow and shallow. Many of the sounds that we have crossed compare to the Strait of Georgia in B.C.
We have decided to cross Florida through the Okeechobee. That will make our passage to the west coast of Florida much faster.
Captiva Island, Florida. December 12th, 1999
Most of our days have been picture-perfect. The temperature ranges from the low 70's to somewhere between 50 and 60 at night. We have made many friends along the way and been treated royally everywhere. Right now we are staying at the Sarasota Sailing Squadron. We have been in this area for a couple of weeks but will soon head south to the keys. The kids will be down for the week of Christmas. Our plans are vague after that.
Merry Christmas and best wishes for a Happy and Healthy New Year.
Marathon, Florida Keys. January 6th, 2000
We have been in Marathon (Florida Keys) since mid-December. Heather and Dave were here from December 18-27th. It was a God-send to have them here at Christmas, for they brought news of their engagement and their happiness is so prevalent. So, we will be planning another wedding for the fall! On New Years Eve we decided to stay clear of the madness in Key West and enjoyed a quiet celebration with many of our cruising companions. We have also decided against extending our travels to Cuba or the Bahamas, and we will reserve that one for future dreams to come true. We will begin heading north after mid-January, where we can look up old friends and meet new ones. We will also be looking at bigger boats.
Best to all. Fran and Floyd.
Well, that's all
we heard from Floyd and Fran. The next time we saw them, they showed up at the
Sunshine Bay Yacht Club Annual Meeting in Edmonton at the beginning of March,
2000. They had retrieved their boat trailer, and brought "Windlass" back from
Florida behind their truck. A wonderful adventure...
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