Jumanji, Wings and SYL made a fine sail from Lee Stocking. The contest of the day was a fishing tournament, we all put out lines and did our best but the only fish caught was a Little Tuney on Jumanji. However, Morning Glory caught two nice Mahi a few miles from the harbor. The coolest thing is…. All four Seawinds planning to unite in the Bahamas made it to GT this evening.
Jumanji sails out of their in harbor home at Port Aransas, Texas. She is a very nice well equipped 2001 boat, they have been sailing alongside SYL since we caught up with them in the Gulf of Mexico heading to Florida’s West coast. Mike and Laurie are avid sailors, she was the helmswoman and he trimmed sails for many years racing Farrier trimarans. Mike was president of the F24 and F28 classes for many years, he currently does the PHRF performance ratings for racing sailboats on the Texas gulf coast. This is Jumanji’s first year to cruise the Bahamas, both sailors successfully retired from Conoco Phillips a few months ago.
Morning Glory hails from Stuart Florida, she is a well sorted out ship with almost every Seawind extra or addition you can attach to a 2000 model Seawind 1000. If it doesn’t have it yet.. I’m sure it will soon…. The highlights of her many extras include extended transoms, an extended hard top with custom made sunbrella enclosures, bow sprit and screacher and front opening windows. Ted and Mili are wonderful people, as are all out Seawind friends. Ted brings a two person Hobie revolution Kayak, a single kayak and an inflatable paddle board with him. Ted is an avid spearfisherman and Mili sews all the canvas for the boat. They too (like Jumanji) are lucky enough to keep their boat at their home. Ted is a retired Miami Beach fire fighter / first responder.
Zephyros is the newest in our little fleet, she is a 2009 XL model that comes from Seawind with extended transoms and front opening windows as well as other changes SW made to their new models. Frank and Pat live in the Tallahassee area where Frank is a retired pilot and Pat was a teacher. They have never been this deep into the Bahamas. They; like Mike and Laurie are ex trimarans racers, they started with an F27 and went to an F31. It seems there is a natural progression from Farrier racer… to Seawind cruiser in the sailing community. Zephyros has a bow sprit and screacher like Morning Glory so they are both fast nice riding examples of the Australian brand.
Sea Yawl Later !! is of course the old man of the group, hull number 37, she’s a 1998 model but doesn’t look her age. When Linda is on board she stays pristine, but Jono and I have taken some liberties in that area. We don’t live for the boat. We live on it… lol. It’s not too bad this year, but assuredly not up to Linda’s standards. My little ship is the most “stock” model of the group.. no extentions of any kind or big headsails. I’m known for carrying too much weight but still being one of the faster boats in the fleet. Seawind did good when they built SYL, she’s solid as a rock and pretty darn fast regardless of her deep waterline and lazy captain. I’m loaded for cruising with a watermaker, radar, single side band radio, and the heaviest dinghy in the fleet. I’m not sure if Zepyros has a watermaker, but I know the other three boats do. We are all self-sufficient fully rigged cruisers.
SYL