Confession

I have a confession to make. We have not been entirely good. Here's the story....

The Fort Lauderdale intracoastal waterway is also a protected manatee zone, restricting all boats to idle speed/no wake.

"Patches," our dinghy, does not have a true hard bottom and has only a 4 HP outboard motor. She rarely planes, despite Gil's best efforts to get her up there. A few days ago, another cruiser suggested we try adding fins to the outboard, as this could help to get her up to plane. Gil expended some effort in trying to source fins for a 4 HP motor. It seems they are only made for 5 HP or bigger. So, Gil purchased the smallest set he could find, and further modified them (even smaller) to suit our outboard, and installed them. He finished this job just in the nick of time, for us to go dinghy up to Jorge & Kim's boat to watch the Lighted Boat Parade last night. If you read yesterday's blog, you'll know that we got stopped by the authorities (who closed the ICW for the parade) and told to anchor, before we reached CS'ta Time :-( so we watched the parade from our dinghy.

I think we were the smallest watercraft amongst uncountable boats (in the dark). So needless to say, when the parade was over, we thought it safest to get back to our boat as quickly as possible. That, and avoiding all the other boat traffic on the ICW, was our focus. We were concerned that we may not be seen by some of the bigger boats. We do have a stern light, and I held a flashlight at the bow also. Not quite half way home, "Patches" got up on plane! That hadn't happened for at least a couple of months. Last time it planed, I wasn't in the dinghy - Kim was. Gil was driving her home from the laundromat, as I wasn't finished yet. Gil + Kim = dinghy planing. Gil + Diana = too much weight. So I remembered that. Anyway, pretty much at the same time as "Patches" got up on plane, there were flashing lights coming up our starboard side. State Law Enforcement!

Who would have thought that you could get stopped for speeding with a 4 HP outboard?? We didn't know how to feel....  proud that "Patches" could actually go fast?  or embarrassed for the State Law Enforcement staff who had to record that the speeding vessel had a 4 HP motor?

So that's the confession - we got a speeding ticket :-(
It was actually more than that. We also got warnings: our vessel is supposed to be registered; the registration numbers must be clearly visible on the side of the vessel; we must carry proof of registration with us on the dinghy; we must have proper navigational lighting, which includes red/green running lights and an all around white light at least 3' above the motor ..... we were very bad.