Category Archives: Extended Cruise

Tuesday, June 11 – Nemo rafted to us Monday night and enjoyed a fun evening socializing on the beach with the rest of the BEER Cruisers. Unfortunately, Tuesday was the final day and time for the cruisers to get back to reality.  Monomoy had intended to sail the Gulf for a bit, then return to McRee.  As we departed around 0800 Tuesday morning, we were making little headway at 2.5k into the Pensacola Pass, then hit the incoming tide.  We quickly realized we were drifting backwards at .8k, so we came about and headed back into the bay for sailing.  The wind was barely evident, so we deployed our spinnaker and gained some speed.  Of course the wind picked up right after deploying the spinnaker, so we didn’t run long with it before deciding to douse it and deploy the genoa.  We enjoyed sailing around the bay till around 2:30pm when we found ourselves near the Pensacola Bay Bridge, so we decided to return to port rather than sail back to McRee.  We were all pretty tired from the weather and figured we needed a good night of rest and some time to re-provision before heading back out.  Carol’s birthday is Thursday, so we plan to head back out for the beach and spend a few days working from an anchorage.  We enjoyed seeing all of the great people who we refer to as our BEER family and look forward to next year’s gathering.

Sunday, June 9 – As we mentioned at the closing of our previous post, the rain came and it came and it came. We were supposed to depart Quietwater and head to Pirate’s Cove in Josephine, AL on Sunday, but with the huge amount of rain coming down, we all stayed another day at Quietwater. We didn’t make it off the boat hardly at all and spent the day socializing among our raftup. Keeldover did have to depart late in the evening and made it back to port around 9:30pm Sunday evening. Sea Wench’s crew caught a cab for the marina, while Captain Joey stayed behind to single-hand Wench on Monday.

Monday, June 10 – Today the plan was to sail from Pirate’s Cove to Redfish Point (sailboat cove), but we were still at Quietwater. Around Island Time A.M. we all pulled anchor and began our trip to Redfish. Just as we went under the Bob Sykes Bridge, the Coast Guard announced a notice to mariner’s to take safe harbor. Monomoy and Zelda Marie ducked into Little Sabine to wait it out while the others continued on through some of the worst weather many of them had ever witnessed. Sea Wench headed back to home port. The storms finally subsided just after noon, so Monomoy was on her way. Zelda Marie returned to home port. As we approached Ft. McRee we noticed a lot of sailboats in McRee. After rounding the island, it was evident all of the BEER Cruise had taken safe harbor in McRee, rather than be exposed at Redfish.

Friday, June 7 – The BEER Cruise officially kicked off with the Skipper meet, which occurred at the Pensacola Shipyard and Marina Complex.  Their customer appreciation party was to take place on Saturday the 8th, but they moved the date back to Friday, so all of the BEER Cruise group could enjoy the festivities.  We were treated to an awesome dinner catered by Cajun Specialties, live music, and giveaways.  We all truly appreciated the efforts provided by PSMC and really enjoyed ourselves.

Saturday, June 8 – We all departed on Island Time with the destination of Quietwater at Pensacola Beach.  After a fantastic sail over, we dropped the hook just outside of Flounder’s dock where the other BEER Cruisers began to congregate.  Sea Wench, Keeldover, and Zelda Marie rafted for the duration.  Private Stock initially rafted, but departed Saturday evening for quieter anchorage in Little Sabine.  We spent the rest of the day goofing off in the water, then headed over to Flounder’s for dinner.  Then the rain came…

We had a great weekend sail over to Quietwater where we enjoyed hanging out with friends.  We departed Saturday with a nice sail to Quietwater.  After rafting up, we headed over to Surfburger for appetizers and cocktails.  Sunday we had brunch at Flounders and shopping on the boardwalk.  We returned to the dock on Monday, but not before getting in a few hours of sailing at 7.6 knots.  The weather was perfect!

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!

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.

 

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.