BEER Cruise 2009
June 5, 2009…
The cruise officially began on Friday the 5th, which consisted of an awesome meal prepared by the GRITSters (Gulf Regional Interstate Trailer Sailors) and the skipper’s meet.
June 6, 2009…
We pulled out of the marina around 7am and headed in a Northerly direction to take a morning pass by the Juan Sebastian de Elcano which is in port as part of Pensacola’s 450th Anniversary Celebration.
The day started out beautiful with forecast calling for clear skies and max of 8 knot wind.
After we went by the tall-ship, we turned South to head to our first destination at Redfish Point.
BEER Cruisers at anchorage…
More BEER Cruisers…
More Beer Cruisers…
The wind actually picked up to 20 knots at one point, which made for a very choppy anchorage.
It still ended up a beautiful evening as we ate our grilled steak and shrimp…
More sunset…
June 7, 2009…
We woke up around 5am, fixed coffee and breakfast, then headed out around 7am with a plan of making it to Navarre. There was virtually no wind, but we were in no hurry.
Here’s a pic of the Portofino along the way.
Sailing…
The Bay was flat…
We stopped off at Big Sabine for lunch. Carol tried her luck at fishing while Pogo enjoyed the sun.
Pogo hanging out…
Once other BEER Cruisers started passing by Big Sabine we pulled anchor and followed along.
After a bit of sailing toward Navarre, there was indication of shoaling at the entrance of the channel to Juana’s, so there was question of where we could anchor. We decided to turn around and head back to Big Sabine for the night.
Turns out there were a couple of other BEER Cruisers with the same idea.
After we set the hook, had burgers for dinner, and swam, Blake enjoyed a movie in his quarter berth.
The moon coming up was gorgeous…
June 8, 2009…
After breakfast/coffee we pulled the anchor and set sail for a bob/bake session with virtually no wind.
The sunrise was nice…
Bay was flat…
Where’s the wind?
Our view along the Intracoastal…
Still no wind…
We arrived to Quietwater around noon…
A fellow Catalina sailor ran aground at the pier, so Ben took off to see if he could help.
Carol suggested to Ben that he mention for the Catalina sailor to raise a sail for extra momentum, so that’s what Ben did. It worked.
BEER Cruisers…
We grilled chicken for dinner, then Brice and Chris drove over to the boardwalk for evening cocktails. Ben picked them up with the dink.
Carol and Pogo watching the sunset…
Sunset was gorgeous…
More sunset…
June 9, 2009…
We pulled anchor about 5am and headed back.
Nice sunrise…
We made it back to our marina about 7am, packed up a few things, and headed home.
It was a fantastic weekend!!
