First Sail with Crew

Friday I had a first: took a short sail on Disciple Ship and for the first time with crew.
Tiffany was home for a week with the grandkids since they were on spring break. She loves the outdoors, the weather was right, so we took off for a short sail. I had her sit in the floor forward of the thwart to keep her weight low and center. We had a couple good puffs and saw a little speed.

My wife drove over and met us afterwards for a picnic lunch at the pavilion beside the ramp. Tiffany decided she had not had enough fresh air and decided to ride home in the convertible.

A nice little outing on a beautiful day.

Overnighter on Chickamauga 2/25/25

I was able to pull off that overnighter I mentioned last week. I know some sail often. I do not; so, when I do, I usually do a write up about it here, on my blog or both - unless it's just a quickie sail near the ramp. So here's my account.
I planned to sail Monday-Tuesday. Monday came with weather as forecast. I waited a little too long to start packing. When you don't sail often, especially a longer trip, stuff gets scattered. As the afternoon wore on, I couldn't find this, couldn't find that, took longer than expected for this task and that. Ugh! I was getting frustrated and losing daylight. I eventually gave up and called off the trip. Sheesh! I unhitched the boat but left all my stuff either still packed or out.

Tuesday came and I went to church for a while. As the morning wore on, I decided to make a go of it. I don't normally sail on Wednesdays because we have Bible study in the evening, but I made the exception with the intent of getting back in a timely fashion.

Most was done, so just a wee bit more prepping. By 2:00 I was headed for the lake. Around 3:00 I was in the water. It was a beautiful afternoon - sunny, temps around 70 with a wind forecast of WNW at 7-8 mph. Should make for a nice reach up the lake.

Setting up the boat and getting her in the water. Ain't she got a pretty look from the stern.

As the afternoon wore on, that forecast proved a little off. The wind were sporadic and stronger than expected. I had full sail up and some of the gusts were significant. Here's the record from two sources. Gusts to 21 and 18 with steady wind speed up to the mid-teens. I had to really stay alert. Besides the wind speed, it was shifty too which left me pinching some. When I got a steady blow off the beam, it got quite exhilarating. With the big gusts I had to let the mainsail out to nearly flogging. I sure didn't want to capsize!

I had a destination in mind, but wasn't making the progress I had hoped and needed daylight to set up for the night. I opted for a cove on the western/north side of the lake. That would give me the most sun early in the morning and I knew it was going to be chilly. The sun would help!

I had sailed a little past the cove when I made the decision, so was able to tack back and get close even though it was dead into the wind. As circumstances would have it, the wind was the strongest right at that time. I dropped sail and started rowing to get into the cove. It was a hard pull!

Here's the distance I covered:

The cove gave me protection from the wind which ultimately died not too long after I anchored. After a bout with the tent (it's a little tricky setting up when actually in the water and one of the poles gave me a fit), I was finally ready for the evening.

Best pic I can get while on the boat:

In the process of setting up, my shoes began to crumble! LOL. They were an old pair which I figured I couldn't hurt. They're in the trash this evening.

I got in the tent shortly before dark and enjoyed my evening. The boat is stable enough and the tent high enough that I can actually sit in a medium height beach chair. Makes for a comfortable time. I had a good supper, read from a couple books I took along, talked with my wife some, and watched a video or two. Turned in around 10:30.

The night temps were forecasted to be in the upper 30's. I went prepared: several layers of clothes, an insulated sleeping pad (Agnes Q-Core) and a mummy sleeping bag.

I took my Coleman catalytic heater in case I needed it. I knew it produced moisture and did it ever! I ran it for a couple hours I guess and, boy, did it get damp inside that tent.
The night was long and cold. As I have aged, I can tell I don't tolerate the cold as well as I used to. Even with the layers and a decent bag and pad, I fought the cold. Tossed and turned and dosed some. The temps got down to the mid-30's. My search says 37 but I'm guessing a little colder on the water.

When the sun rose, so did I. Had a breakfast of instant oatmeal and a couple cups of hot chocolate. Sure warms a fellow up.
There was no wind. The forecast was for very light wind which I figured would fill in. Since I knew I'd be rowing some, I decided to hit it early - especially with church in the evening. Discipleship rowed nicely and I was back to the ramp by 10:00.

Ramp in view

Back on solid ground

Distance rowed:

It took me a while to pack up. Two separate guys came along admiring my boat: not an unusual experience. She's a beaut and not too many around these parts like her.

Got home, had lunch and was able to get to church to study by early afternoon for a couple hours. then home, took a brief nap, had supper and then a good church service.

I do feel the affects of age. But still very doable. I was sore upon returning, but a couple ibuprofen and I did fine.

A nice trip.

Oh, yeah: one more thing. When I got out of the tent in the morning I about broke my neck - literally! I have to crawl out, of course. As I reached forward to stand forward of the thwart, my hand slipped off the centerboard case and I fell forward into the bottom of the boat! I landed squarely on the top of my head unable to break the fall. OUCH! Got up, rubbed my head to make sure there wasn't any blood and went about my business. All's well that ends well (as they say).

Seven Three on Two Three

 Monday, February 3, temperature 73, skies - sunny, winds SE 5-10 mph

Sounds like good sailing weather!

So I took the afternoon off and headed to the ramp. I hadn't sailed since the Pensacola trip back in early October - 4 months ago. Living in the south affords these winter-time opportunities to go sailing in relative comfort.

I uncovered the boat and hitched it to my new-to-me 2018 Kia Sorento with its newly installed hitch (first time to use) which cost me over $500! I have installed four hitches previously including the one on my 2008 Sorento. I figured I could do this one. I watched the video and looked easy enough. Kia is genius in that they pre-drill the holes in the frame and even pre-wire for the trailer harness. Luke and I spent an afternoon in an attempt to install the hitch. The exhaust hangers were a bear but finally got them loose. We position the hitch and tried "dry-fitting" it. We could not get the bolts through the exhaust side of the frame. There was a heat shield that was keeping the hitch just slightly too low for the bolts to go through. It was heavy and quite awkward so I gave up. $240 later, I had a hitch. Ugh!

With the boat hitched I headed to the ramp. What a gorgeous afternoon. 

When I arrived at the ramp there was a huge house boat at the ramp. They had the boat half in the water, half on the trailer and were working on the engine and who knows what all else. The boat was named Nauta Big Deal. It was actually pretty big! 

 I rigged the boat with no issues. It all came back to me. (Can't even remember when I was out on it last.) The only issue I had was with the mizzen. Seems a line was the wrong way around the mast. I untied the line from the clew and sprit boom, unwrapped it and retied. Once I got to sailing I realized that I tied it incorrectly and I had a fold in the leach of the sail. I didn't bother with it. I'll need to remember that and correct it before going out again - or, at least, I should. LOL

Just as I was finishing up the rigging, a fellow came by and began admiring my boat. That happens frequently: you don't see many wooden boats around these parts nor do you see a lot of sailboats at the ramp, even though there is a sail-only marina a couple miles down the lake. He talked for probably 20 minutes. He was from San Francisco where they sail a lot, so he was impressed to see a sailboat here on the lake. I tolk him about Serena, the girl who bought Little Bit.

I launched from the ramp as usual and sailed for an hour or so - just back and forth by the ramp. As usual for inland lake sailing, the wind was fluky: swirling, up and down; but I did get some good steady blows. In fact, there were a few puffs that were probably in the low teens. I got a good feel for the boat. With no ballast and cold water, I was extra careful. I sat in the floor most of the time. If I saw a good puff coming, I sat up on the seat, constantly pulling in and letting out the main as the wind dictated. It was quite the workout.

I estimate I sailed about four miles total. 

Time to get back in. The house boat was still there. I wound up having to wait for a runabout to get in and a jet ski to launch before I could take out. 

The runabout folks were slow, but I just relaxed in the wind-shadow of the shore and enjoyed the peace. No rush. 

As I was loading the boat onto the trailer, I overheard the workers call it a day and saying, "See you tomorrow!" Well, sadly, not me. 

While I was derigging the boat, I noticed the jet ski guy make a couple very quick passes by the ramp and then he came back to his truck, went back to the jet ski. Not sure what he was doing but he was gone before I was.

Got home and put the CIY back to bed just as darkness was closing in. A nice afternoon!

New Boat?

The plan was to make the P'cola trip a last hoorah. Trouble is, I had too much fun, even with the trials. 

And now a Hunter 19 has come on the market at a reasonable price. They are not very plentiful and they often run in the $6-7000 range. I've found one for less than $4k. It's 700 miles away, but, hey, you can't have everything. 

Robin and I looked at one 20 years ago. She liked it. It was just a bit too much money for the time, though it was only 10 years old. We bought the Macgregor 26S instead. 

It's water ballast with a swing keel like the Mac. Should be a little easier to launch and retrieve than a keeled boat, though the 18.5 is not too difficult. It also has a cutout transom which should make boarding from the water much easier (if Robin can even get up). 

Is it too late in our lives????? I don't know. We are both slowing down and Robin has never been fully sold on sailing (too many stories to add  as well!). But I have to try! I think I'll always wonder if I don't.

The seller is 75. He seems a little mixed up on his timeline. He says he bought it 5 years ago. I found the same boat in an ad from 10 years ago. In any case, he seems honest enough. 

Here are a few pics. The clean ones are from his earlier use and the previous Sailing Texas ad. The dirty ones are those he took a couple weeks ago. The boat has been in a barn, so he says, for a couple years. I'm assuming that means a covered barn. The boat could get dirty like this even in a barn.

If all works out, I'll go pick it up when the weather breaks. We're currently getting ready to get hit with a "polar vortex"!

Pensacola 10/6-15/24

 The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly!

In short: 

THE GOOD - Tiffany and I had a good time. With hurricane Milton offering pretty consistent wind, fair skies, and warm weather we had 3 good days of sailing. We totaled about 43 miles. Monday we sailed from Navarre to P'cola Beach, 18 miles under reefed main with winds NE at 10-15 mph I'd say. We moved along at 4-6 mph consistently. A very comfortable sail on starboard tack the entire way. Spent the night in Little Sabine Bay. Tuesday we sailed about 11 miles to Sand Island. We began with full main, added the jib and finished with motor sailing the last hour. Winds NE around 10 mph and dropping through the afternoon to low single digits. We moved along at 4-1/2 to 2 mph until motor sailing at 5 to 5-1/2. Again starboard tack the whole way. Had a neat encounter with a dolphin. Anchored with two other sailboats in the middle of the "bay". Wednesday was the highest wind day. Sailflow indicated winds in the mid-teens gusting to mid-20's. We sailed the nearly 8 miles under jib the entire sail to Holiday Harbor Marina on Perdido Key. We averaged 4-5 mph. Sea state got a little lumpy as Big Lagoon narrowed at the western end. We sailed on a starboard tack most of the way but had to do two gybes as we neared the end of the Lagoon. That evening we took a Uber back to Navarre to retrieve our tow vehicle. We made our way back along Rt 399 and stopped at one of the free beach access parking lots and walked down to the Gulf to watch the sun set. In P'cola Beach we met up with some of Tiffany's friends who happened to be spending the week at a condo on Little Sabine Bay and enjoyed visiting over some ice cream. Spent the night at Holiday Harbor Marina. 

We were able to visit with Luke twice. We went to church with him Sunday night and took him to Cheddars afterwards. Tuesday we went ashore at P'cola Beach and took him to Crabs. Besides those two great meals, we also enjoyed lunch Wednesday at the Sunset Grill at the Harbor Marina. 

THE BAD - late afternoon Monday as we neared P'cola Beach, my rudder developed some play in it. At first I thought my lower pintle was getting ready to break. Upon closer inspection it appeared that the screws were just loose. I feared losing the rudder so we attempted to dock at Quietwater to tighten things up. Big mistake. Immediately upon tying up to the dock the boat got repeatedly slammed against it. It actually cracked the gunnel. Bad, bad, bad! As quickly as I could we motored away from the dock and dropped anchor.  We tightened the screws/nuts and thought about the evening. We were bouncing a lot and decided we didn't want to spend the night like that. My original plan was to anchor in Little Sabine since it offered 360 degree protection. We figured we had enough time to get over there before dark. What ensued was the first of three anchor challenges. I was on my 21 lb bulwagga with 24 lbs. of 18' of chain. Along with a steady mid-teens wind and incoming waves it turned in an ordeal getting that anchor up. It took two tries and literally all the strength I had!!! But I finally got it aboard. Whew! We proceeded to Little Sabine and anchored (after removing the chain!) in the SE corner just out of the channel. Second anchoring challenge - we attempted to anchor stern-to at Sand Island. I missed my drop of my anchor and wasn't satisfied with burying anchor on shore. I just had the fear the wind would push us ashore. That was very frustrating since I had successfully done this on my previous trip to this location 11 years earlier. I pulled the anchors and went to the middle of the little bay. When it was time to weigh anchor the next day, it too turned into a test of my will and strength. The wind was stiff. I instructed Tiffany to motor towards the anchor. She is completely unfamiliar with any outboard let alone my motor (I'm still learning it). First attempt failed. Second attempt with great difficulty was successful. Amazing how much strength can be zapped pulling up an anchor! 

THE UGLY - time to retrieve the boat from the water. Holiday Harbor Marina is right across the narrow ICW from Galvez ramp. Easy-peasy, right? All was going according to plan until my winch post gave way! Turns out it had rusted out at the bottom where it's welded to the plate that attaches to the trailer tongue. No pulling that boat out of the water without a winch. 

DAY BY DAY ACCOUNT (with pics)

I've been thinking seriously about selling the Hunter. I've only sailed it once each of the last two years. None this year til now. Some years I haven't sailed it at all. My wife is not interested in overnighting on it anymore. I told her I wanted to take one more "big" trip on it before I sell her. She's ready for that so she arranged to keep my daughter's kids on fall break so that Tiffany could take that "big" trip. We decided on Pensacola since I have another grandson in college there hoping we could see him while there. My goal for this trip was not necessarily a lot of miles like the Georgia coast trip 5 years ago: just good sailing and some fun.

Here's a report on our trip. If I told the whole story, it would turn into a book. Here's the "cliff's notes" version.

Saturday, October 5
All day, morning to midnight prep. I mean - when you have to take even the kitchen sink, it takes a while. I was pooped! I had washed the boat a couple weeks earlier, but the days leading up to departure were busy so final prep had to wait.

Sunday
Travel. Listened to a.m. church service live on FB while traveling. Went to church and dinner with Luke (my grandson) at Cheddars in the evening. Overnight at the Pensacola Christian College Campus House.

Tiffany had already been to the store!

ready to leave Lehon Estates

meeting Luke for church and supper

Monday

Winds were forecasted to be NE 10-20 for most of the week due to Milton, so I decided on an east to west trip. We launched from Navarre. Sailed on a reefed main alone. Was a very comfortable sail of 18 miles to Pensacola Beach. On the way my rudder developed some play in it. Was a bit concerning. We attempted to dock at Quietwater Beach to check it out. Big mistake with that easterly wind and long fetch (I let my concern for the rudder cloud my judgment re the issues at Quietwater). Quietwater wasn't so quiet; the waves pounded us into the dock. As quickly as we could we motored away from the dock and dropped anchor. All we had to do was tighten some screws/nuts. Wind and waves made it very bumpy so we decided to pull anchor* and motor around to Little Sabine Bay which was my original intent. Very protected from the wind and waves. Beautiful night. (*note: pulling the anchor under those conditions was very difficult. I was using a 25 lb bulwagga with 18' of heavy chain. It literally took all the strength I had to pull that anchor up.)

A beautiful day crossing the bridge to the Navarre ramp.

boat rigged and we're ready

motoring out from the ramp

Tiffany at the helm. couldn't hardly pry her away

just getting started

entering Little Sabine Bay

pic taken from condo by Tiffany's friend (the same friend she did the marathon with) whose family just happened to be staying at a condo on Little Sabine Bay. Sunset - if you look closely, you can see Anago anchored in the bay.

night in the bay

location

Tuesday
We moved closer to shore and waded onto land. We walked to the boardwalk, met up with Luke and enjoyed a wonderful seafood lunch at Crabs. When we returned to the boat, the tide had gone out a bit and she was grounded. With some effort the three of us were able to push it to deeper water. We said good-bye to Luke and headed for Sand Island just south of the NAS, an 11 mile sail. The winds were light so we put up full sail and actually motor-sailed the last hour. On the way we were visited by a dolphin (we saw numerous ones throughout the trip) that breached several times including once right beside the boat!! We could have almost reached out and touched him! Once at Sand Island we anchored by the shore* and walked around the whole island. We then moved to deeper water and anchored for the night. (*I wasn't happy with my stern-to anchor job at the shore and got pretty frustrated).

waded ashore; Leanne and family were there

walked to the boardwalk and waited for Luke

                                       

lunch with grandson

tide went out while at lunch, we were able to push it into deeper water

we boarded and were off leaving Luke to wade ashore

company along the way

that same dolphin kept getting closer until.... 

walk around Sand Is

anchorage

 

Location

Wednesday
Winds were forecast to be the strongest of the trip. Forecast was right and we saw winds in the mid-teens gusting to the mid-20's. We pulled anchor (I had removed the 18' of chain, but with the wind blowing it was still quite the chore getting up that big anchor - like the previous day it took two tries to get it up). We set out on our 7 mile sail and hoisted our headsail. Was very comfortable sailing. As we neared the western end of Big Lagoon the waters piled up and it got a little lumpy but was great fun. We entered the narrows at Perdido Key and motored into the marina, enjoyed a lovely lunch of Po-boy sandwiches at the Sunset Grill. It was early so we decided to get an Uber back to Navarre to retrieve our vehicle and trailer. On the way back to Perdido Key we drove along Santa Rosa Island and even stopped to catch the sunset with the gulf waves crashing on shore. Then we got some ice cream where we enjoyed some time visiting with Tiffany's best friend and family who just happened to be vacationing in Pensacola Beach. I slept the most soundly of the trip that night. Tied up at a dock is a little more relaxing than being anchored out (at least in my mind).

Tiffany in the morning breeze

the sail

victory lunch

after retrieving vehicle

Location

Thursday
The plan was to take out at the Galvez ramp right across the water 1/4 mile from the marina. As we were winching the boat up onto the trailer, the winch post failed at the base! Ugh!! Not gonna get the boat on the trailer without that. What to do? The Lord provided! A guy at the ramp recommended a marine service which in turn recommended a trailer repair guy just a few miles from us (Hammerhead Trailer Repair if you ever need one). We took the boat back to the marina, dropped the trailer off and came home boatless.

Galvez ramp from Sunset Grill

broken winch post

headed home with no boat or trailer

Return trip
Monday and Tuesday I returned alone and picked up the trailer, retrieved the boat, met Luke for lunch at Burger King across from campus and came home.

Takeaways
Had a great time! Tiffany loves the beach and water. Some hard work involved. The trip actually left me exhausted. Anchoring was difficult, tricky, and tiring. The rudder thing was a bit concerning but turned out to be quite simple. Really enjoyed time with our freshman college student, Luke. Sailing was really nice with mostly steady winds. Skies were clear and sunny, temps perfect. Trailer mishap was a shock but not too surprising really when you have old stuff.

I undertook the trip with mixed emotions. I felt strange enjoying a vacation knowing Milton was going to pound central Florida. But there wasn't much I could do about it. I have several friends in the Tampa area. Turns out they all faired pretty well all things considered.

Milton's track

What's next?
I'll likely put her up for sale and stick with the CIY. We'll see. I told folks it might depend on how much fun I had.