establishing a new club...."Slow Cruisers of South Florida"

Earl34Mainship
BandB
OCDivers
Windmill
DonnaBabb
and any others?

Guys
There appears to be enough interest in forming a club of slow cruisers in South Florida, so lets do it!

DETAILS:

Purpose: To promote a slow cruising club in the South Florida area for cruising and social interaction.


Club Name: Slow Cruisers of South Florida ( SCSF )

Mascot and Flag: Turtle

Requirements: A trawler or other vessel willing to cruise at 8-10 mph.

Dues and initiation: None

Commitments: None. Pick up and leave the cruise fleet, where and when you want.

Arrangements at the Marinas: You make your own bookings.

Schedule: Will use my local clubs schedule. First cruise Nov 7-11, Boca Grande marina, Gasparilla Island, FL. Then to Venice Fl Area. Crows Nest and little Palm Marinas. More details for signed up club members to follow.

If interested in joining the club E-Mail me at Nevestarj@comcast.net
I'll put you on the list will get back to you with information, news and a year schedule ( when made around early Dec ) Note: no cruised currently scheduled for Oct or Dec of this year.

Regards
John Nevelus

I make about 7.5 Knots and won't be in the water till December. But I'm going to try and catch up with you guys somewhere along the line!

Greetings,
Mr. j. Tentatively but not until the new year. You realize, of course, I'll have to swear you all to secrecy or my cover will be blown. Any possibility of extending cruising range to the Bahamas? Anybody, anybody...Bueller...

Great idea....I'd look around at your marina too asking for joiners. We might even have joined in, although couldn't promise to go slow all the way, but we'll be in San Francisco at the time so a bit far to come.

My normal cruise is 6.15 knots.

What's slow .. 5.5 knots?

Doesn't MTOA have the turtle? Maybe something like the manatee.

Greetings,
Mr. M. Indeed, MTOA does have the turtle as a burgee symbol. How about...


Or...



Or...



Hey, NEW contest! SCSF burgee design.

Consider joining MTOA. They're a great bunch of people. Check out the web site and think about attending the MTOA Southern Rendevouz in April 2015..........lots of fun!

Dotty aboard CoolBeans cruising the Florida Keys

John... I live near Daytona, and you might have some cruises that I could join... I'm guessing that you'll be primarily cruising SW FL waters - maybe the mini loop and taking in Key West. The east coast has some nice places to visit - Miami, Ft Lauderdale, Stuart, Vero Beach, Cape Kennedy, New Smyrna and Daytona, Marineland and St Augustine. My cruises to the SW coast might be limited, but I'd like to know the plans for your cruises. There's nothing saying I couldn't take in SW FL cruise occasionally.. Please keep me in the loop..

manyboats said:

My normal cruise is 6.15 knots.

What's slow .. 5.5 knots?

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Eight to ten knots is slow? ... For a boat (like yours and mine) with a cruising speed of six knots, 8 knots is fast. Seven knots doubles my fuel consumption, and 8 knots is impossible.

Buddy-boating has advantages. At six knots:

I think the OP said 8-10 mph & 8mph is about 6.9 knots - still not terribly slow, but less than 7 or 8 knots.

As RTF's avatar would say, I wouldn't belong to any club that would have me as a member...

Or as a Cub's fan would say: Wait 'til next year!

In the meantime, have fun!

Just a mention of the Social Groups pages here at TF. We have one set up for the San Francisco Bay/California Delta Cruisers to coordinate trips together and discuss local issues. There are others for other areas of the country, but none for Florida yet.

markpierce said:

Buddy-boating has advantages. At six knots:

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But not always for your buddy

I'm more for near-buddy boating. To match speeds exactly and stay right together doesn't appeal, but leave the same place and go to the same destination does. Then you communicate along the way, stay as close or separate as things work out. Faster boat may get there first and make sure they are ready for the slower boat. Not long ago we were going from Carabelle to Apalachicola and a family we'd met along the way were on their boat as well. We helped them depart, then passed them, talked along the way, got to the marina first. It worked out well too as the marina had misplaced their reservation and was confused over what size boat. But all was well before they got there. And we had a great time that evening. We grilled burgers and hot dogs and chicken and had them over and then ended up in the floor of our salon that night playing board games with their kids. It had all the social aspects and the aspect of looking out for each other (had either had a problem, the other would have quickly come to their aid) but not trying to proceed like a parade.

There was a Grand Banks group on the Chesapeake that worked much like that visiting multiple ports. But some boats just got to just some locations and they all moved at their own pace.

Loopers may be the best group for such activities. They collect different buddies all along the way, get separated, get back together, see each other months later.

After many repetitions one realizes how small a world it is. You keep bumping into the same people along the way.

cappy208 said:

After many repetitions one realizes how small a world it is. You keep bumping into the same people along the way.

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Those actually cruising do seem to be a relatively small world. Lake boating was funny as it was a mob scene on weekends and holidays during the summer. But once labor day passed we'd see the same regulars year after year. We occasionally went out on the lake when it was snowing as well and there was one local architect and his family as the only other ones we'd see, year after year. And, yes, the view from the lake in seeing the undisturbed snow scenes was completely worth it.

RT Firefly said:

Any possibility of extending cruising range to the Bahamas? Anybody, anybody...Bueller...

Click to expand...

We'd be in if y'all make it down this way and head to the Bahamas. Also say y'all are going to Miami from FTL I'm assuming y'all will take the ditch, if so we'd probably run outside.

Greetings,
Mr. 4712. Unless the weather is really snotty, southbound, we'd probably exit at Lake Worth to either Ft. L' or Miami. All bets are off if there's any "N" in the winds and inside it would be. I'll keep you guys foremost in mind as "zero hour" approaches. I expect it most likely be early in the new year. Thanks.

Hey BandB, I agree on there being very few actual cruisers. We've been cruising for a month and are now in Key West. We've only met two actual cruisers this past month. All others have been dock dwellers. Go figure!

Dotty aboard Cool Beans
Waiting for a weather window to go to the Dry Tortugas.

CPseudonym said:

But not always for your buddy

Click to expand...

We leave early and arrive later.

RT Firefly said:

Greetings,
Mr. 4712. Unless the weather is really snotty, southbound, we'd probably exit at Lake Worth to either Ft. L' or Miami. All bets are off if there's any "N" in the winds and inside it would be. I'll keep you guys foremost in mind as "zero hour" approaches. I expect it most likely be early in the new year. Thanks.

Click to expand...

Yeah N winds suck. Were going to try and goto Bimini for Xmas break and stay at a family members newly built house, not sure if we're going stay through the new year.

RT Firefly said:

I'll keep you guys foremost in mind as "zero hour" approaches. .

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Synchronize watches!

Yeah, why not? A cruising club might be just the ticket to get us to untie a bit more often. All I have to do is to stop working on my boat and begin enjoying my boat. I'm on the hard in Indiantown right now, but should be back in Longboat Key around the middle of Nov. I'll send you my info.

coolbeans and guys

I did not know about the MTOA ( and here I thought I knew everything). Your right their symbol is the turtle....we are changes ours to the Manatee...also very slow.

The southwest florida group of the MTOA may be just what I'm looking for.

8-10 mph is just a guide line....you can go as slow as you want and meet up with the rest at the marina...lead boat will stay in communication on channel #68.

Also consider some great anchorages,
Longboat key, on the northern end
Otter Key, near St Armands Circle, Sarasota
Pelican Bay, Cayo Costa
Desoto Pt on the Manatee River

Could join you next year.

We normally cruise at 8 kts but can do 18 and will act as pathfinder if needed.

healhustler said:

I'm on the hard in Indiantown right now, but should be back in Longboat Key around the middle of Nov.

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You still going to be there in December when I come through? Isn't that where I left you last time.

Ted

O C Diver said:

You still going to be there in December when I come through? Isn't that where I left you last time.

Ted

Click to expand...

True....I just liked it there so much. I'd probably been gone if not for so much rain. Doing bottom again after only a year. Why are you waiting so late to start down? When is the engine switch planned?

Wifey B: I hate to ask this question but when you're saying "Slow Cruisers" I do hope you're referring to the speed of the boats and not the mental quickness of the captain.....?

Wifey,
What made you think of that?