Chapter 7

I had a five gallon fuel container and they had two, so I took my electric pump and pumped them full. We passed them over they emptied the containers in their boat's fuel tank and then did it again. I filled their two cans one more time and sent them across.

We still had fifteen or twenty gallons of fuel left in our boat's fuel tank. I thought that was more than enough for our needs until we got to Sarasota.

We invited them to stay for supper and they gladly did. I got their cell number and gave them mine. We had drifted a bit during the day, but thanks to GPS navigation it was no real problem. We untied the boats and I told them to be careful and not expose themselves to mosquitoes. They started their boat and headed north. We raised the mainsail and headed southeast.

We were running through some fairly heavy seas, so everyone wore their life jackets and a safety harness if they were topside alone, including me. I knew that anyone could accidentally get thrown overboard, and if no one were with them, they would be gone.

Our pair of "dinghies" traveled right along with us. Their boat covers kept waves from filling and sinking them, so we were in fairly good shape from the heavy seas.

The weather calmed and we raised the jib and continued to Sarasota. The marina was actually located on Longboat Key and I needed to lower the sails and motor into the manmade harbor.

I instantly saw the boat that Mama had described. It was a catamaran around fifty feet in length, rigged like our boat with a mainsail and jib utilizing a single mast.

We tied up in the marina and looked around for anybody else, no soap.

We checked out the big boat. It was brand new and had been destined for one of those "take a sailing cruise vacation" companies. It had been in the process of outfitting and was nearly finished.

It was unusual in that everything on it was electric. I was used to gas appliances and such. There was a room that had batteries arranged in neat rows, all hooked up to solar chargers to keep them fully charged. I began reading the books, and found out that it was powered by two twenty-two horsepower electric motors that turned into generators when underway sailing. It wouldn't be speedy, but it wouldn't take much fuel.

The boat had three big staterooms with big beds that could be separated to make two smaller beds if desired. There were also two smaller staterooms with double beds, as well as the captains quarters and two crew cabins. There were five full sized bathrooms and two half baths. There were also two 200 liter per hour distillation units for making fresh water.

There were snorkeling and scuba supplies and two air pumps for filling the scuba tanks, as well as four jet skis and water skiing equipment.

This was a super boat. My main concern now was whether we had enough crew for it.

We quickly found a pickup truck and Mama and Connie went on a supply run to the local grocery and drug stores. Elaine and I began moving my navigation and captain's equipment over to the big boat.

I had Jeanie search the marina for anything she thought we might need for the boat. I made sure that Mama, Connie and Jeanie wore their armor and carried their pistols. Mama took her rifle along too.

I was wearing my pistol and armor, as was Elaine, but she always kept her shotgun in reach. Jeanie came back in an hour or so and got Papa's fishing boat and said she found a boat with a big library of books and charts.

Jeanie got back around two and indeed had many books and charts as well as a laptop computer and several CD's. She also brought a sextant and a couple of chronometers. I thought that was a good idea, since the GPS system may not keep working.

She also brought back a cat. I wasn't very happy about that, but I wasn't going to make her leave it behind.

Mama and Connie got back around 3:30. We quickly loaded their haul into the big boat's galley and one of the smaller suites. We got underway around 5:30 in the new boat with Papa's fishing boat as the dinghy.

This boat was significantly bigger than Papa's boat. I liked the fact that it was really quiet even when under motor power. We got out to where we could sail and raised the mainsail. I had to laugh; printed on the mainsail was www.windcruisers.com.

I shut the motors down and changed the motors over to be generators. Elaine began cooking supper and said the Galley was wonderful.

We moved out around 5 miles and anchored on a shallow spot.

After supper I took a shower. This boat had fresh water showers, very cool. After my quick shower, I stood the first watch while the girls made the sleeping arrangements.

Mama was in one big bedroom and the rest of us were in the other. Elaine said, "Oh, Master, I am so glad that we can all fit on this big bed." The other girls giggled at that.