So: Here we are in Vero Beach, Florida; good ol' home of the Piper Navajo, and assorted other fine airplanes. Kind of wonder why they named all the planes after American Indian tribes; ah, well. Interesti
ngly enough, you apparently cannot anchor here in Vero Beach. Frankly having seen the number of abandoned boats along the waterway, I can understand. Instead, you hang out in the city owned/operated mooring fields. One picks up a short line attached to a float, which, you hope, is securely attached to a large weight ; this effectively limits the area the boat needs to hang out, or, in nautical parlance, swing; thus enabling the city to cram more boats into the area. What they call a win win situation.
ngly enough, you apparently cannot anchor here in Vero Beach. Frankly having seen the number of abandoned boats along the waterway, I can understand. Instead, you hang out in the city owned/operated mooring fields. One picks up a short line attached to a float, which, you hope, is securely attached to a large weight ; this effectively limits the area the boat needs to hang out, or, in nautical parlance, swing; thus enabling the city to cram more boats into the area. What they call a win win situation. The trip from Titusville was long, altho' the weather could not have been any
better; sunny, very little wind and not too hot(neat word, huh). Unfortunately, the weather looks like it may get wet tomorrow. Perhaps it will wash the salt off the boat. Not much in the way of photo ops. This was the view early in the trip; probably around mile 910 or so. Great sand 
and water colors, but.....: and on the left we have the view 30 miles later. granted, things improved as we closed the distance to Vero Beach; more trees, narrow channels, but, I have to to tell you, it was a long day.
better; sunny, very little wind and not too hot(neat word, huh). Unfortunately, the weather looks like it may get wet tomorrow. Perhaps it will wash the salt off the boat. Not much in the way of photo ops. This was the view early in the trip; probably around mile 910 or so. Great sand 
and water colors, but.....: and on the left we have the view 30 miles later. granted, things improved as we closed the distance to Vero Beach; more trees, narrow channels, but, I have to to tell you, it was a long day.I must confess to getting yelled at today by some flaming &*#@ on a sailboat. Since my hearing (or possibly, the selection thereof), is not as acute as it was, I could not hear all that was said. But the manner in which the guy's gold chain was flapping around did not leave a lot to the imagination! Comfortable travel on the waterway depends a great deal on the courtesy & common sense that each boater brings to the table, or channel. Some boaters don't care and will roar by leaving a 4' hole for you & your boat to drop into. Other operators will use the radio to advise you of the intention, or desires, as the situation may require. Scooter is a semidisplacement hull form; basically that means it is fairly flat in the aft sections. In motion, particularly at slow speeds, the hull, squats down and pushes water aside, creating a wall of water moving away from the path the boat is taking; hereinafter known as a wake. At 8 kts, which is where Scooter spends most of its running time, we kick up about a 2' wake. Not a terrible thing to run thru, but annoying at times. Where possible, we always slow down to minimize this effect. Particularly if the oncoming boat requests a slow pass. If they don't we assume that they won't have a problem with the wake action & keep on trucking. Anyway, I guess these guys felt wronged in some terrible way. Sorry, fellas; sure glad the other 10 boats did not get as upset. Done venting; long day; low on beer. A question came up today regarding the fuel use, mpg, etc being generated as Scooter thumps along. I'll work up some of the numbers and post them at a later date.
Have a good rest of the week; we'll be parking here tomorrow for some boat maintenance, laundry, etc. Catch you later
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