[Bushwacker]

Last Wednesday we crossed our wake, arriving back at our home port marina at Nettles Island, off A1A in Jensen Beach, so we now get to replace our White Looper flag with the Gold flag, signifying completion of the Great Loop! Adjustment to life back in our dirt home after living on the boat for 8 months has been a little strange, as we discovered we?ve forgotten how to program the coffee maker, TV and AC system, but we?re glad to be back in warm weather!

A couple days before Thanksgiving, we had a great weather window and were fortunate to make the 180+ mile Gulf crossing from Carrabelle to Anclote Is./Tarpon Springs in nearly flat seas for 12 of the 20 hr overnight trip. We left Carrabelle about 3 pm on 11/25, ran due east for a couple hours to avoid the Gulf Loop current, and then headed SE to Anclote Island, staying out in deep water during the night so we wouldn?t run into crab pots in the dark! An E wind started to pick up about 3 am, but we were headed SE in 2-3? seas off the port bow, which barely even slow down the 30 ton DeFever! (It rolls a lot in beam seas, but it loves head or following seas - we?ve been in 5-7? following or head seas and not even had spray on the windshield!) We made the crossing with a 43? Marine Trader and a non-looper 38? Bertram (who had the power to run 20+ kts, but couldn?t afford the associated 80 gph fuel burn!). Since I was the slowest boat of the bunch, the other boats adjusted their speed to match my 8 kt pace.

I discovered an interesting characteristic of a heavy displacement hull during this trip. When we left Carrabelle, I set the throttles at 1750 rpm which gives me 8 kts in still water, and I never touched them for over 19 hrs, when we got into the speed zones in the Anclote River. Once the wind and seas picked up, the other boats started falling back and had to increase rpm to keep up with me! It takes Dream Seeker a minute or so to reach full cruising speed after I advance the throttles, but once it gets going, it has so much momentum that it takes a lot to slow it down. However the planing hulls of the Bertram and Marine Trader, which were as much as 10 tons lighter, appear to be much ore sensitive to rough seas.

Our last ?big water? crossing was shallow Lake. O, which can build up a nasty steep chop with big winds, but we were again blessed with 10 kt winds and a light chop, so that trip was uneventful, although water depth was on the thin side with less than 2? under the keel for much of the area around Clewiston!

The Admiral want?s to make some cosmetic improvements to Dream Seeker, but after that?s done, future plans include a trip down the St. Johns river and a trip to the Bahamas, maybe the Berry?s and Eluthera next spring & summer. Denny