Snowbird Fall Migration: Morehead City to Clewiston Express

The Morehead City pit stop had gone very well.  By Tuesday at 2:15 PM, we were back on the water after a rather efficient fueling process that had taken only an hour and 45 minutes.  Now we were headed southwest along the North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia coasts with following seas and winds that were predicted to stay that way all the way to Florida.  Time to fly (relatively speaking) and we did.  Some highlights (remember at 1400 RPM we cruise at 8.4 knots and that's our average speed from the dock): 

• Cape Fear, Wednesday at 1:00 AM - Avg speed 8.4 knots
• Charleston SC, Wednesday at 1:00 PM - Avg 8.7 knots
• Savannah, GA, Wednesday at 8:00 PM - Avg 8.7 knots
• Brunswick GA, Thursday at 5:00 PM - Avg 8.7 knots
• Fernandina Beach, FL, at 6:00 AM - Avg 8.7 knots

Our planned destination for Friday was Stuart Florida with an expected arrival around 2:00 PM (based on last year's log data). The plan was to refuel, wash the boat (to get rid of the caked on salt and to "Cruise Like a Gentleman" along the Okeechobee) and have a nice dinner at Sunset Bay Marina's lovely restaurant. Then depart early for a full day run from Stuart to Moorehaven on the west side of Lake Okeechobee.

Explanatory Note: The 1,227 nautical mile run from Hingham to Stuart requires 7 days and six nights.  With our boat's size, range, navigation equipment and good enough weather we can justify running 24 hours a day.  The final 222 NM segment between Stuart and Sarasota requires three days as you cannot run at night and have to deal with bridges and locks.

A full 24 hours from Fort Pierce Inlet, the chartplotter showed an arrival time of 6:00 AM.  The extra .3 to .4 knots of average speed (which soon after indicated an average of 8.8) over 3 days had accumulated an approximate saving of 4 hours.  We were going to get to Stuart before well noon.  Bottom line: We would waste almost 6 hours of good weather.  

That begged the question could we go further and reduce the length of the entire trip by one full day.  Last years' log book to the rescue.

Explanatory Note: I maintain a detailed log when cruising long distance. On the ocean the log notes location, weather (wind direction, speed, temperature, barometric pressure, and wave heights,) efficiency (RPMs, speed and fuel consumption) engine temperature along with comments on weather conditions.  On inland waters I am interested in "obstacles" such as bridges and locks.  I record weather data only if I'm concerned and want to follow trends.

The data from last year showed that we could reach Clewiston, which is just off Lake Okeechobee an hour before sunset (5:37 PM) at 4:30 PM. The key variable are the two locks, St Lucie and Port Myaka at the east end of the lake.  Last year we made it from Stuart to Port Myaka in 3.5 hours.  Once past the Myaka lock it is clear sailing to Clewiston.  Estimating two key ETAs, arrival at Stuart and Port Myaka, showed that the Clewiston destination was doable even if with delay, as once on Lake Okeechobee we could run at night if necessary.  

Explanatory Note: Arrival after to nightfall in an unfamiliar marina is not a problem. Readers will recall that last spring we pulled in close to midnight to stop the beating Tropical Storm Anna was afflicting.  This required negotiating the Cape Fear River and the ICW in the dark to dock at Southport. Not my preference but doable with our equipment.

Add to this the fact that sunset is not instant darkness.  Civil twilight at 6:03 PM added 26 minutes of light.  All told with a 6:00 AM arrival at Fort Pierce and an ETA in Clewiston of 4:30 PM, we had an hour and a half margin for an arrival in the light.

A bonus for going to Clewiston over Stuart was a 45 cent difference in fuel price.  Given the fact that we would need close to 700 gallons the $.45 saving would add up to $300.

We actually used up all but 10 minutes of our "make it before the light fails" margin before we got to Fort Pierce.  But again, arrival at Clewiston in the dark was not a problem especially since I had been there before and had the option of increasing speed if needed.

Bottom line:  Running at 1400 RPM (8.4 kts) we made it to Clewiston and docked at Roland Martin;s Marina 18:08 PM.  It was a lovely trip and I particularly enjoyed the what ifs of predicting estimated time of arrival.

Meanwhile, I had contacted Roland Martin's Marina and arranged for fueling on arrival.  Roland's dockmaster, Sam, was SUPER accommodating.

Now to refueling.  Readers will recall that I have been trying to come to grips with the fuel remaining / fuel consumed puzzle.  The Cat engine monitors were grossly understating fuel usage by a margin of around 20%).  Working with Outer Reef and Caterpillar we used my data from last years' fall cruise from Morehead City to Stuart to reprogram the ECU's.  The run from Morehead to Clewiston had the potential to confirm the accuracy of the new ECU settings as the distance (597 last year vs 635 NM this year) and average speed of 8.4 knots were comparable.

I predicted that we would add 347.9 gallons to the port tank and hit the prediction within .6 gallons.  WOW!.  The starboard prediction of 375.6 gallons was way off.  It took only 348.2 gallons (a 27.4 gallon difference).  OOPS! (Did I mention the fuel spill?)

16 gallons of the difference relates to fuel consumption between the two engines. Port indicated 323.3 while starboard showed 339.2. The other factor may be overstating the fuel used by the 16 KW generator although I am skeptical.  In any case, I'm going to have Cat reprogram the ECU to equalize fuel consumption.  then I'm going to get Northern Lights to verify my generator fuel use for the 12KW (1.2 GHR)and 16 KW generator.

Morehead City to Clewiston Data

> Engine Hours: 75.9

> Time Enroute: 3.5 days and 3 nights

> Average Speed: 8.4 kts

> Diesel Fuel: 696.8 gallons

> Cost per gallon: $2.26 + 7% tax

Written by Les.