Sunday 24 February
With two days to cover the remaining 86 miles to Stuart we knew we could take our time and enjoy a little more of a leisurely pace. I know some of you may be thinking you can’t get any more leisurely than only traveling 60 to 70 miles a day, but hopefully by now you’ve come to understand the time and effort it takes to cover that distance each day in a sailboat.
We could not have asked for better weather for a Sunday outing. The sun was shining and the temperature would be in the mid to upper 80’s throughout most of the day. It was a great day to be on the water.
Apparently lots of other people had the same idea as we did. The waterway throughout the day was filled with lots of boats of all types – mega yachts, speed boats, jet skis, and even some other sailboats. It was great to see other people out enjoying this weather, but it did make travel through some of the narrow passages a little tricky.
When a powerboat is traveling at almost any speed other than just above idle, say 4 to 6 knots (about our speed), their movement through the water creates some pretty big waves. This is called their ‘wake’. Depending on how fast the boat is going and how big it is, a powerboat or even a jet ski can create a fairly big wake. When these larger waves reach the shore they accelerate the erosion of the shoreline and can also cause damage to docks or other boats.
In environmentally sensitive areas speed is restricted to ‘no wake’, meaning you need to be moving slowly enough that you don’t create waves. In many developed areas there will be signs posted along the shore or at the end of the docks reminding boaters that they are responsible for any damage caused by their wake. Some people have even gone as far as installing cameras at the end of their docks to record the passing boats in an attempt to encourage boaters to go slower.
Eos doesn’t create much of a wake at all so we don’t really have to be concerned with generating a damaging wake. We do however need to be mindful of the effect other boats wakes have on us. When a powerboat passes on basically a parallel course, the waves reach Eos on her side or beam and this causes the boat to roll from side to side. Again, depending on the size of the wake, the rolling motion can be uncomfortable and actually cause things to move around down below and even fall off the shelves or out of cabinets.
If the wake is big enough and we have room & time to maneuver we will try to turn Eos into the wake so that we cross it ‘head-on’. This up and down, or pitching, motion is more comfortable and creates considerably less havoc down below. So throughout the day we were constantly turning Eos off her intended course and into the wakes of passing boats.
Although not a legal or regulatory requirement, it is common courtesy for a powerboat to slow down as it passes a sailboat, or other smaller craft like a canoe or kayak. By slowing down the wake is much smaller. As with anything that is ‘common courtesy’ some people exercise it regularly while others don’t.
We always appreciated and tried to acknowledge with a wave and a smile those boaters that did slow down as they passed. For those that didn’t we tried not to expend any energy educating or reminding them of their lack of courtesy, but rather continued on just thankful that we are out making this trip as we were rolled from side to side.
This section of the ICW takes you down Florida’s Indian River. Throughout the river there are many small barrier islands. Most of these islands are not inhabited and our guide book pointed out that several of them are rookeries for various species of the pelicans we’d been seeing the last few days.
With this being a weekend, we would often see boats pulled up to the island and people fishing or camping for the weekend.
As motored along and dodged wakes of passing boats we were again treated to beautiful scenery and a generally peaceful passage.
Our destination for the day was Fort Pierce and we had booked a slip at the city marina so we could get cleaned up and fill up Eos’ tanks. We reached the marina shortly before 5. Filled up with water and ice, and enjoyed a dinner of mahi-bites and conch fritters!
We had reached ICW mile 965. Monday would be a short day with only 21 miles or so to go.
Zionsail 