In September, when my wife, Carole and I decided to buy a 1983 Ericson 38, going across Florida on the Okeechobee waterway was the last thing on our minds.  We were after a cruising boat in preparation for doing some long term cruising in the Bahamas this year and who knows next year.  The main criteria was a boat that sails pretty fast, shoal draft, offshore capable and comfortable for two with a possibility of entertaining maybe two or three guests on a short term basis; oh yeah don’t forget affordable.  Mast height was not even on the list. 

First of all the boat we chose was in Essex, Maryland near Baltimore and it needed some catch up on several items of deferred maintenance mostly having to do with engine.  

We moved the boat to Annapolis for the engine work and of course hurricane Isabel showed up just in time to delay our plans.  The original plan was to make the essential repairs (enough to satisfy the insurance company), add a few major items like an autopilot and then head for the Bahamas.  Then came Isabel; we were on the hard at Port Annapolis Marina and the yard there did an excellent job of securing the boats.  Even though we sustained no damage from the storm, work in the yard was delayed probably 10 days over yard and dock damage plus a few emergency haulouts. 

Change plans….ok, we’re flexible, we’ll just get a late start out of the Chesapeake.  No problem. 

Then came a job offer from an interview I had done about a month before and because I hadn’t heard from them since, I had assumed that the job had gone to someone else.   Well, we decided to take the job mainly because the job sounded like fun and the pay would help the cruising kitty. 

 Change plans .…again … but ok, we can be flexible.

 Now the cruise had turned into a delivery trip.  We had to move the boat from Annapolis to Clearwater, Florida by Thanksgiving....  and by now it’s mid-October…so much for the Bahamas.  Cruising will have to wait. 

 Just to complicate matters, while the boat was on the hard, Carole slipped on the cockpit seat and smashed her foot on the cockpit sole, breaking a couple of bones.  Change plans yet again… now it’s a short-handed delivery trip of over 1300 miles in less than a month.  No problem, Mon, we flexible folks….except for Carole’s foot that is.

 All our great cruising plans came down to a quickie delivery trip with one and a half crew. 

 The boat was finally launched in mid afternoon on October 20^th, giving us just five weeks to move our new and basically untested, boat to Clearwater.  The semi-wounded crew feature of our adventure meant no offshore sailing.  This would be strictly plow the ditch, daylight only, 50-75 miles a day of mostly motoring. 

Still we made good time.  We lost one day due to cold front weather in the Chesapeake.  Then we had a two-day delay in North Carolina because the fresh water circulating pump on our ancient Universal diesel let go and spilled coolant everywhere.  (The pump was FedEx’d to us from Florida by the service-oriented folks at Coastal Power Systems in Sarasota). After that we had a two day layover in Savannah for maintenance, refueling, clothes washing, shopping, etc. (Savannah’s  bus systems are great).  Then motor, motor, motorsail, the ditch to Florida. 

When we made it to Jacksonville or so we began thinking about taking an offshore route around the “Gold Coast” and  the Keys.  Our confidence in the boat and our capability as crew had grown a bit over the preceding three weeks.  But then, the further south we got, the worse the weather forecasts got.  Cold fronts started coming through in early November on a regular schedule as is typical.  As we approached Vero Beach the forecast was for yet another front and four or five days of Northeasterly winds in excess of 20knots.  Combine that with a north flowing Gulf Stream that gets within yards of the beach off Palm Beach and you get mighty nasty seas in the near coastal zone.  We decided to stay in the ICW.   

Then someone suggested that we try the Okeechobee Waterway, a route that we had taken several times before albeit in smaller boats.  We had ruled out the route earlier because our mast with antenna and wind birds is about 55 feet above the water and the Port Myacca Railroad Bridge is only 49 feet high.  Not only that but there is a 54ft bridge and several power lines with 54, 55 and 56 foot clearance.  The last thing we need is to touch one of those with a stainless steel VHF antenna. Still with the weather forecast, we reconsidered.   

I decided that I could remove the windbirds and VHF antenna and that should get us down to 52 feet or so, assuming I could find help to haul my lard butt up the mast. 

Next we called Indiantown Marina to inquire about their heeling service to get boats under the RR bridge.  They referred me to their “limbo-master”, Billy.  No problem, he said, we can do it Saturday morning.

Then, I called our son, Chris, in Largo, Florida and asked him to come down and meet us at Mariner Cove Marina in the Manatee Pocket on the St Lucie River just a bit south of Stuart, Florida with the idea of hauling dad up the mast.

Chris drove down to meet us Thursday night and brought our little dog, Panda, which made Carole real happy.  Of course, by the time he got there it was after dark.  But then, dark or not we needed the antennas down.  Chris elected to go up the mast.  He has always preferred going aloft to grinding the winch.  He started going aloft when he was about 10 years old and too small to grind my 200lbs to the masthead.  Of course, he’s now 24 and is well on his way to 200lbs. 

I huffed and I puffed and I hauled him up there and he got the stuff down.  Over the years he has acquired some pretty good mechanical skills.  This night he managed with just a Crescent wrench, a pair of Vice-Grips and channel-lock pliers.    We also measured the mast height (twice) at 51 ft 10 inches.  Good enough.  After a pizza to celebrate, Chris and Panda left for home.  It’s nice to have ground crew. 

The next day we motored the St Lucie River to Indiantown where we tied up alongside at the Indiantown Marina.  There we met Billy, limbo-master.  After a brief chat, we agreed to meet at the RR bridge about 8:30 in the morning.  The bridge is about 7 miles west of Indiantown  Marina on the St Lucie River end of the Okeechobee Waterway.  Of course, at our motoring speed we needed to leave an hour before that.

Next morning bright and early we were at the RR bridge waiting for Billy and his barrels.  Billy arrived about 9am with a boat full of fifty gallon blue plastic barrels and a 3 inch pump.  Billy with his wife as crew, lashed the barrels inside our lifelines along our starboard toerail, supported by 4x4 timber shims and a bit of rope. 

                                                 

Now I know you’re gonna ask, How does he know how much water it will take to heel the boat enough and how does he know how much heel is enough?   Well, he has it figured out.  He has a flag stick made of PVC pipe with a stout cord attached to each end and an eyebolt in the middle.  The eyebolt gets hooked on the spinnaker halyard and of course the cord on the south end is for adjusting and retrieving the flag stick.  The cord on the top end of this flagstick is attached to a mess of old nuts and pipe fittings that serve as a crude plumb bob. Obviously, the cord is exactly the right length. The whole flagstick is then hoisted aloft so that the top end of the stick is just above the masthead. .  The string starts out with the pipe fittings and nuts dangling about deck level.

 

The little gasoline powered, 3inch pump makes short work of filling the barrels.  As the  water barrels along the toe rail fill and the boat heels over, Billy’s plumb bob gradually reaches the water.  When the nuts and pipe fittings get wet, the boat is sufficiently heeled.  It’s like something I’ve always known, when your nuts get wet, you’re leanin’ over far enough.

                         

Anyway, we then motor slowly through the bridge with Billy and his wife hanging off the shrouds, Carole shooting pictures under the boom and me steering from the “lee” rail.   Carole and I are holding our breath, Billy’s holding a cigarette.  

Sure enough, you can get 52 feet of mast under a 49 foot bridge.  In fact, Billy says he can get 54 feet through there. He guesses that he does maybe a 100 “Okeechobee Limbos” each season.  It’s just starting to get into the busy season, he’s up to three or four a week now.

 We think we saved a minimum of 4 days over the ‘round the Keys route and maybe more depending on the weather.  Carole is happy since she’ll be home a few days earlier and won’t have endure a rocky Hawk Channel passage on her bum wheel.  All in all, we did Annapolis to Clearwater in 28 days which includes 5 down days and the “limbo”. 

If you’re interested in doing the Okeechobee Limbo to shorten your passage, contact Indiantown Marina at (772) 597-2455 or contact Billy directly at (561) 262-5200. 

Oh yeah, there’s a side note.  We’ve seen everything now.  Coming down the ICW is anything but boring.  We saw lift bridges, swing bridges, a pontoon bridge, giant aircraft carriers, a battleship, a Marine shooting gallery, wild horses, old forts, old farts, bald eagles, alligators, and all kinds of sea birds. 

 We also thought we had seen about every kind of domestic animal that grazes along the ditch until we hit the Okeechobee Waterway.  We were just motoring along the ditch somewhere west of Moore Haven, when I spotted a burro or small donkey in the front yard of one of the big waterfront homes … that’s interesting but then a llama appeared from behind a sand hill in the side yard …ok, more interesting but then I spotted the camel.  Yes, a full sized, one humped camel standing by the front porch and trying to annoy a dog sleeping on the stoop.  I swear, I was not in the sauce …. I’ve got pictures … Hey all it takes is money.  Why buy your kid a stuffed camel when you can afford the real thing?