I was in Tarpon Springs tied up at The Neptune Boat Yard next to their travel lift. Solar Wind had a fresh coat of Micron CSC and was ready to go. The 8 HP Honda Extra Long Shaft Outboard was mounted, the fuel tank connected, and I had run a 15 minute static test. The VHF radio was tested and reported fine, the main waypoints were programmed into the GPS, the cell phone was hooked up to the battery as well. I even had the phone number written down for Sea Tow in case I couldn’t raise them on the VHF if I ran into trouble. All was well – or at least as well as I could make it till I could get away from the dock and out to open water.

The one unknown was fuel consumption. I purchased a 6 gallon primary tank but I had no idea what the new motor would consume on the estimated 4 to 5 hour trip north to Port Richey. On my 4 HP single cylinder two stroke, I would have guessed that the trip would use about 2 to 3 gallons depending on winds and currents – but this was based on my experiences with a 2,000 pound Com-Pac 19. However this would have no real relationship to the fuel consumption on a 6,000 pound Flicka powered by a 2 cylinder four stroke. For safety’s sake, I bought a spare fuel tank of 5 gallons and figured that the 11 gallon total should be enough. I must admit that not having to mix gas and oil for the engine was a pleasure.

Since running out of gas now seemed unlikely, I turned my worry wort mind to the problem of bad gas – or at least some type of fuel related problem. After my previous experiences with a clogged fuel filter on the 2 stroke engine, I had installed an automotive style fuel filter in the fuel line between the tank and the primer bulb. At least this way, I was hoping to get off to a clean start. So far, my kit of motor spares includes six shear pins, four spare prop cotter pins, two replacement spark plugs, and one extra automotive fuel filter. My to do list includes getting a diagram of how to replace the cooling water impeller and having a spare impeller aboard.

Friday morning arrived and I was faced with a revised forecast – southerly winds of 20 to 25 knots, small craft advisories, seas 3 to 5 feet and building, and winds shifting northerly by afternoon as a cold front moves thru the area. This did not sound too good. The tide was high but the approach to the new marina was reported tricky due to a building shoal.

The boat yard opened up at 9:00 and I was there ready to leave as soon as the last supplies could be loaded. Departure preparations took about 30 minutes and then I was off. Undocking and backing out of the slip was easier than expected and now I was officially under way. Of course, in my rush to leave, I had forgotten some of the basics like starting the depth finder – and for that matter, checking it’s calibration, unlocking the lazarette so that I had access to the life vests, setting up the compass, etc. ! Next item on the to do list – develop a pre-departure check list!

The Honda engine manual called for a 10 hour breakin period at low throttle settings. I hoped to be able to satisfy at least part of that with this trip. Given the weather forecast, there would be no plans to sail this trip – this was a repositioning only and I needed to get to my new slip as soon as possible. The plan at this point was to motor the long channel of the Ancelote River out to the Gulf of Mexico. Then I could determine if it was safe to proceed north or if there was some reason to turn around and spend the night tied up again at the boat yard.

The five miles or so of river channel took two hours to navigate at idle speed. I could have gone a little faster but this was comfortable for me given my more cautious approach. As I departed the coastline, the waters became noticeably rougher even though I still had about a mile of channel to go before the water was deep enough for me to turn north. Solar Wind handled the conditions in stride – and even tolerated well the speed boats that zoomed by at top speed leaving me to deal with their large wake. This was a noticeable improvement over the Com-Pac 19’s handling characteristics. The additional 4,000 pounds of displacement and the much different hull shape combined for a smooth ride without the need to worry about turning to the appropriate angle to take every unexpected wave or wake. The full keel kept the vessel on course with little need for constant rudder corrections.

Having committed to the northerly course and heading for her new home, Solar Wind now had almost ideal conditions with a wind and seas running from astern. I toyed with the idea of making sail but decided that the motor breakin period was a better use of these hours. I really wanted to complete the trip before the winds swung around from the north and conditions deteriorated further. Another thought was to get to the new marina before low tide since the approach was shoaling due to constant traffic from a casino boat at a neighboring pier.

The run to the next way point at the mouth of the Cotee River took about 2 hours and 15 minutes with following and building seas the entire time. The next channel was shorter but I had been warned to be alert for shoals developing along the way and also to watch for the Casino Taxi Boat since the Channel was quite narrow. This was the perfect opportunity Murphy to step in with a brief reminder since the Casino boat did approach at top speed from astern just as I was approaching the narrowest point in the channel where the shoals were reported. The casino boat slowed down appropriately as it passed me and then resumed it’s run home leaving me to try to figure out if the 2 foot readings and less on my depth finder were real or just an artifact from the prop wash of the fast mover.

Thirty minutes later found me navigating around the shoals at the mouth of Joshua’s Landing Marina and trying to second guess my decision to make a singlehanded approach to an unfamiliar marina with an unfamiliar vessel. Fortunately, a kind soul saw my dilemma and assisted with the last turn into the slip and held the bow in position while I got a few lines in place.

All in all. this was a satisfactory and auspicious start to my next adventures.