Great time on the water!

What a fun weekend!  We had planned to sail to Ft. McRee and raft with friends, but had some who wanted to go to Little Sabine.  We all decided in the end to head to Little Sabine.  We had a really nice sail over and six of us rafted while two anchored nearby.  Rafted were: s/v Keeldover with Tammy, Aaron, Aja, and Carl – s/v Sea Wench with Joey, Lacie, Kaleb, and Kaleb’s cousin – s/v Monomoy with usual crew – m/v After Five with John – s/v Dream Maker with Jeff and Beth – s/v NoName with Mark.  Anchored: s/v Private Stock with Ken – s/v Mistress with Steven and Leigh.

The kids enjoyed the weekend kayaking around and some of the adults paddleboarded around Sabine.  A few had to depart Sunday to return home, but a few stayed behind for another day.

It was a great time with friends on the water!

Trimaran on the bay.

Trimaran on the bay.

Pogo on m/v After Five

Pogo on m/v After Five

s/v Dream Maker

s/v Dream Maker

Budder

Budder

Aaron, Carl, and Tammy

Aaron, Carl, and Tammy

s/v Mistress

s/v Mistress

Aja

Aja

Joey and John

Joey and John

Mark

Mark

Sailboat on the bay.

Sailboat on the bay.

m/v After Five

m/v After Five

Dinghy cruising the bay.

Dinghy cruising the bay.

s/v Private Stock

s/v Private Stock

Pogo the Pirate

Pogo the Pirate

s/v Private Stock

s/v Private Stock

Sailing!

Sailing!

s/v Private Stock and another cool boat.

s/v Private Stock and another cool boat.

Sailing the bay.

Sailing the bay.

Sailing the bay.

Sailing the bay.

Sailing the bay.

Sailing the bay.

Sailing the bay.

Sailing the bay.

Boats of all sorts were on the bay.

Boats of all sorts were on the bay.

Blake and Pogo

Blake and Pogo

Pogo

Pogo

Cars on the bridge.

Cars on the bridge.

s/v Dream Maker

s/v Dream Maker

Ken

Ken

Daysailing the Bay

Carol took the day off work on Friday, April 26 and it was just too pretty of a day to sit at the dock, so we headed out for a couple hours of daysailing.  Turns out we weren’t the only sailors with the idea and ran across a few friends out sailing the bay as well.

We attempted another daysail aboard Monomoy on Sunday the 28th, but our exhaust riser had an issue, so we returned to port and went out with Jim on s/v Another Chance instead.  We obtained the parts for Monomoy on Tuesday and had her running by that afternoon.  So we are ready to sail the next pretty weekend.

Just 5 weeks till BEER Cruise 2013.

s/v Monomoy

s/v Monomoy

Sailing on Pensacola Bay

Sailing on Pensacola Bay

Pogo

Pogo

s/v Private Stock

s/v Private Stock

s/v Private Stock

s/v Private Stock

Pogo watching for dolphins.

Pogo watching for dolphins.

Pogo watching for dolphins.

Pogo watching for dolphins.

s/v Pan Dragon

s/v Pan Dragon

s/v Pand Dragon & s/v Monomoy

s/v Pand Dragon & s/v Monomoy

Sailing the Bay

Sailing the Bay

Blake enjoying the sail.

Blake enjoying the sail.

Weekend at Sabine

It was a beautiful Saturday to be on the water, so we sailed over to Little Sabine.  On our cruise over, Lee and his group on m/v ‘Blue Runner Too’ passed by.  We also noticed a couple of sailboats steaming along, but the wind/waves were perfect and we were under full sail at 4.5 knots.

We passed Tow Boat U.S. working salvage efforts to recover a speedboat that broke apart  after jumping a wake a week earlier.  The stern with engines sank in about 12 feet of water.  Unfortunately the operator/owner of the vessel was killed in the accident, though his passengers did survive with various minor injuries.

After dropping the hook at Little Sabine, we put Sandy Cheeks (our dinghy) into the water and cruised over to Quietwater to hang out with family/friends on the beach for a bit and enjoyed meeting some new friends over there too.

Tammy, Aaron, and Aja joined us later and rafted next to Monomoy.  Ken on s/v Private Stock anchored nearby, as did Jeff and Beth on s/v Dream Maker.  We enjoyed good company and a few cocktails Saturday evening before calling it an early night.

Sunday was predicted to be even nicer than Saturday, though the forecasters were wrong as usual.  Steven cruised over on his big dinghy to join us Sunday at Crabs on the beach for brunch.  John and Chris cruised over on m/v After Five as well to join us for brunch.

As we all sat around eating and enjoying the company, Tammy noted the dark clouds rolling in.  We finished our brunch and headed back to the boats to get underway.  The wind picked up to around 20 knots and it began to rain.  So much for Sunday being better than Saturday.

We arrived back at the dock, secured the lines, and relaxed the rest of the afternoon.

Although it did rain on us Sunday, it was worth the enjoyment we had on Saturday and brunch Sunday.  This coming Saturday is looking good for at least a daysail, so we hope to get right back out on the bay then.

 

m/v Blue Runner Too

m/v Blue Runner Too

s/v Splendid Adventure

s/v Splendid Adventure

Ketch steaming along.

Ketch steaming along.

Sails Up!

Sails Up!

Beautiful Day

Beautiful Day

Beautiful Day

Beautiful Day

Tow Boat US

Tow Boat US

Tow Boat US

Tow Boat US

s/v Keeldover

s/v Keeldover

s/v Dream Maker

s/v Dream Maker

Beautiful Sunset

Beautiful Sunset

Pogo at the Helm

Pogo at the Helm

Pogo

Pogo

Captain at the Helm

Captain at the Helm

Maintenance up the Mast

It is a good idea to routinely inspect your standing and running rigging on a sailboat.  Periodically Ben will get out the binoculars, lay on the deck, and proceed to stare intensely at the rigging.  Routine inspection allows you to discover and address issues before bad things happens.  The binocular inspection works well in most cases, but you should still visually inspect up close on a routine basis as well.

After our heavy wind sail a little over a week ago, Ben inspected the rigging and noticed a bolt had backed out on the end of the top port spreader.  Carol went up the mast to get a better look and determined a bracket was missing that covers the shroud on the end of the spreader; the bolt was loosely hanging, because it was supposed to thread into the missing bracket.  Ugh!  Of course that will be a hard to find part and would most likely require removing the starboard bracket to have a new one matched/fabricated for the port side.  We decided that we could sail in light air as we researched the issue and took friends sailing last Thursday.

As Ben prepped the boat for our sail, he rolled up the shore power cord and was surprised to find the missing bracket.  We don’t have that kind of luck and usually pay for such good luck in the form of something bad happening.  Hopefully we paid up for the luck when our truck transmission temp sensor failed shortly after getting on the Interstate as we headed to Louisiana on Friday.  We were able to limp the truck home and rent Carol a car, so she could make the trip to Louisiana the following day while Ben spent the morning repairing the transmission.  The culprit was a $15 sensor, but it is located in the transmission, so by the time the new fluid and filters were purchased, the $15 part required about $200 to fix.

Back to the story…

Now that we had the bracket back in hand, it was bothering Ben every day having the bracket on the nav station and not on the spreader where it should be.  We were waiting for a good weather window during a time that we were both available to send Carol back up the mast.

Though predicted to be ugly, it turns out that Monday was a beautiful day.  Our friend Nate needed to go up his mast, but didn’t have a bosun chair or anyone readily available to hoist him up.  He offered to go up Monomoy’s mast to re-install the bracket in exchange for Ben hoisting him up the mast of his sailing vessel Skycatcher for an inspection and steaming light repair.  Nate is a pilot and enjoys being in the air.  He once went up the mast of s/v Sea Lilly with a pair of binoculars while anchored outside a Blue Wahoo’s baseball game.

So Nate went up Monomoy’s mast, re-installed the bracket, and close inspected the other three brackets (one on the end of each spreader).  Afterwards he went up his mast, repaired his steaming light, and discovered that his topping lift is in need of replacement, so that will be the next task.

Sometimes people can’t understand what the attraction is to boating and why hang around the marina when we’re not using the boat.  The boating lifestyle isn’t just about boating, but is also about a sense of community.  Marina neighbors aren’t just neighbors, but become your friends…  Friends who are willing to lend a hand at a moment notice.  It doesn’t matter if you are a sailor or powerboater.  The boating community ignores age differences and career choices.  We all love boating and boaters are almost always kind people.  All while working on the masts, our friend Steven was cooking up a huge pile of chicken wings on 4 different grills for a great gathering of friends under the marina gazebo at dinner time.

We may have strayed on the topic here and there, but hopefully you enjoyed reading about working on the mast.

Carol up Monomoy's mast.

Carol up Monomoy’s mast.

Nate up Monomoy's mast.

Nate up Monomoy’s mast.

Nate up Skycatcher's mast.

Nate up Skycatcher’s mast.

Daysailing with Friends

The entire week of Spring Break has been cold and windy, so we haven’t head the chance to sail since last Sunday (well Ben did get to sail with Jim on s/v Another Chance for a few hours Wednesday afternoon).  Thursday was looking too good to pass up though, so we invited some friends aboard Monomoy and headed out for a few hours of daysailing.

Jim and Leila, Steven, Savannah, and Savannah’s mom Donna all joined us for a beautiful day on the Pensacola Bay.  We enjoyed watching the military practice parachute maneuvers and the United States Blue Angels practicing their skills.

It was a great time and we appreciate our friends joining us for the cruise.

Rough life!

Rough life!

Blue Angels

Blue Angels

Blue Angels

Blue Angels

Blue Angels

Blue Angels

Leila (Pogo photobombing)

Leila (Pogo photobombing)

Leila

Leila

Savannah and Leila

Savannah and Leila

Carol, Donna, and Savannah

Carol, Donna, and Savannah

Military exercises.

Military exercises.

s/v Nemo

s/v Nemo

Jim and Leila

Jim and Leila

Jim, Leila, and Steven

Jim, Leila, and Steven

Savannah and Donna

Savannah and Donna

Pogo checking in.

Pogo checking in.

Ben at the helm.

Ben at the helm.

Budder joined us back at the dock,

Budder joined us back at the dock,

A day of sailing…

Sunday, March 24…

What a beautiful day it turned out to be.  The wind was predicted to be 20-30k, so we weren’t sure we were going sailing, but when we woke up to find 74 degree temps and 7k wind, we decided to head out.  We watched several boats heading out on the bay and tossed our lines about 10:30am.  It didn’t take long for the wind to build and we were averaging around 22k wind.  We reefed the headsail and still sailed at 6.9k; we were cruising!!

We sailed till around 2pm before deciding to head back to the marina and fix lunch.  We normally would have had lunch already, but it was too windy to fire up the grill, so we had to wait.  Back at the dock we shared a few grogs with friends and decided to take Stacey, Amber, Jim, and Dave over to Joe Patti’s to pick up dinner.  We tossed the dock lines again about 4:30pm and headed out under headsail alone, which still took us around 5.5k.

It was a great day of sailing!!

Regatta on the bay.

Regatta on the bay.

Sailboat on the bay.

Sailboat on the bay.

Captain at the helm.

Captain at the helm.

Blake hanging out.

Blake hanging out.

Another Chance and Private Stock

Another Chance and Private Stock

Blake hanging out.

Blake hanging out.

Sailboat on the bay.

Sailboat on the bay.

Pogo enjoying the sail.

Pogo enjoying the sail.

Sailing the bay.

Sailing the bay.

Captain at the helm.

Captain at the helm.

Another Chance

Another Chance

Regatta on the bay.

Regatta on the bay.

Beautiful day!

Beautiful day!

Beautiful day!

Beautiful day!

Beautiful day!

Beautiful day!

Another Chance and Private Stock

Another Chance and Private Stock

Another Chance and Private Stock

Another Chance and Private Stock

Regatta on the bay.

Regatta on the bay.

s/v Another Chance

s/v Another Chance

s/v Private Stock

s/v Private Stock

Pogo the Pirate

Pogo the Pirate

Pogo the Pirate

Pogo the Pirate

Sailboats on the bay.

Sailboats on the bay.

s/v Another Chance

s/v Another Chance

Cruising!!

Cruising!!

Docked at Joe Patti's.

Docked at Joe Patti’s.

Little Sabine

We headed out around 9:30am on Saturday with a plan to sail to Little Sabine.  We had originally planned on Pirate’s Cove, but the wind was predicted to be on the bow both days, so we went with the flow and sailed to Little Sabine.  We had a really nice day of sailing.  We were able to take some pictures of our marina neighbor’s Hunter 37.5 named Saphire as they sailed past in the opposite direction.

Once we made it over toward the beach, you could see the traffic backed up on the bridge with folks wanting to take advantage of the beautiful day.  We set the hook and relaxed.  Steven on s/v Mistress cruised in a couple of hours later and rafted with us for the night.  Ken on s/v Private Stock also came in and anchored nearby.

Sunday we awoke to mostly cloudy skies and little wind.  As we awaited for the wind to pick up, Steven offered to take us to lunch at Hooters, followed by libations next door at Bamboo Willie’s.

When time to leave, we were enjoying ourselves and decided that there wasn’t much need to break free, since we wouldn’t be sailing much anyway, so we stayed tied up, weighed anchor, and proceeded slowly back to the marina.  After sailing at about 2 knots for a bit, the wind died back to nothing, so we fired up the diesel and made our way back.

It was a much needed weekend away from the dock that we’ve all been looking forward to.  Next weekend isn’t looking like boating weather, so we’ll see.

Beautiful day!

Beautiful day!

Beautiful day!

Beautiful day!

Beautiful day!

Beautiful day!

s/v Saphire

s/v Saphire

s/v Saphire

s/v Saphire

Pogo on dolphin patrol.

Pogo on dolphin patrol.

Carol at the helm.

Carol at the helm.

Rafted up under sail.

Rafted up under sail.

Carol enjoying a frozen concoction.

Carol enjoying a frozen concoction.

Ben working lines.

Ben working lines.

Blake hanging out.

Blake hanging out.

Blake and Ben

Blake and Ben

s/v Private Stock

s/v Private Stock

s/v Private Stock

s/v Private Stock

Sunset

Sunset

Rafted under sail.

Rafted as we steamed back to the marina.

Daysailing!

Sunday the weather turned out really nice.  We headed out sailing around 1pm for a few hours.  Though we were bundled up, we had nice wind and blue skies.  We sailed for a while, then headed over to Joe Patti’s in Monomoy to pick up dinner.  What a great family day on the water!

Captain and First Mate

Captain and First Mate

Captain Ben at the helm

Captain Ben at the helm

Joe Patti's Flag.

Joe Patti’s Flag.

Entering channel at Joe Patti.

Entering channel at Joe Patti.

Entering channel at Joe Patti.

Entering channel at Joe Patti.

Dad, son, and doggie.

Dad, son, and doggie.

Monomoy at Joe Patti's dock.

Monomoy at Joe Patti’s dock.

Pogo

Pogo

Carol enjoying the sail

Carol enjoying the sail

Docked at Joe Patti's.

Docked at Joe Patti’s.

Docked at Joe Patti's.

Docked at Joe Patti’s.

Another sailboat on the bay.

Another sailboat on the bay.