sittononthebeach.com

Pre- Party

The Hamshire/Broussard Historical Home

Erin, the bride, and Sara, the Maid of Honor

For the last few years Rusty and I have not been home for crawfish season…..well, not this year!!  We are spending this cruising season planning a wedding.  Erin, my youngest, got engaged at Christmas and that changed everything.  We spent the first quarter of this year getting SYL home from Brunswick, Ga.  She is comfortably docked at Bayland Marina in Baytown.  Bayland just reopened after being destroyed by Ike. There are some issues so we may or may not make this our home for this season.

But on to important stuff.  When deciding what kind of engagement party to give Erin and Michael it took about 3 seconds to decide on a Crawfish Boil.  We had the party Saturday and it was great fun.  A dear friend of mine allowed us to hold the event at her families historical home which was built in 1852 and has been lovingly maintained by the Broussard Family.  It is like taking a step back in time. You walk into the home and it is like they just stepped out for a moment.  We had the boil on the grounds.  Two days before the party the forecast was bleak.  40% chance of rain Friday night, 80% on Saturday ( the day of the party) and 40% Sunday.  I had a lot of prayer request out there and God was faithful…..we had beautiful weather…..a bit windy, but bright and sunny.  Erin’s dad got the crawfish from a local restaurant called Juju’s and it was delicious!

I am now back on SYL and plan on spending this week getting settled in.  No major wedding planning for a week….:)

Sea Yawl Later!!

Linda

Last Monday we brought my Daddy Joe home for his final journey.   He was in the log house he and my mother built with their own hands, near the pond they dug, the apple orchard he planted and nurtured and the literally hundreds of blooming plants and producing fruit trees that he and mom have spent their life loving and caring for.  He was surround by all those who love him and he peacefully went to his heavenly home at 1:00 am Friday morning.  The last few weeks have been hard but especially the last week and 1/2 when we knew the fight was over.  Daddy Joe was first diagnosed with thyroid cancer 17 years ago, had surgery and treatment and for about 10 years life went on as normal.  Normal for Daddy Joe and my mom meant lots of traveling, painting ( my mom is V. Hollan Swain an American Impressionist) and caring for their 13 acre property.  About 6 years ago, the thyroid cancer reappeared with another blood cancer which causes the thyroid cancer to be very aggressive.  Daddy Joe had to have a laryngectomy and chemo but again after treatment and adjusting to life with a laryngectomy life was good again until about a year ago.

Daddy Joe and Mom and been married for 30 years and I couldn’t have loved him more.

Rusty and I have been getting SYL in shape and we are almost there.  It is good to be on-board again.  For the first time in a long time, maybe ever, I am not preparing to leave for an extended cruise or am I working.  I am really enjoying SYL. She is so much easier to care for if we are not having to take 7 – 8 months worth of supplies with us.  Rusty cleaned the main salon with comet on his hands and knees yesterday and it is beautiful.  I don’t think she has ever been soooo white.

I have been reading a book, Simply Sailing, which I thought I was going to enjoy.  However, I find myself getting really annoyed by the arrogance and downright snobbery of the author.  I will finish it but I have a feeling I will have to add my two cents once it is done.

More later….

Linda

My sweet Linda is back on the boat…. SYL is no longer a man camp.   She has been off the boat since Destin.  We arrived back at the boat last night, fired up the XM radio and enjoyed the sunset at Bayland Marina together. 

Linda will spend her day visiting her dad 45 minutes away, before she goes I’m sure she’ll be organizing and cleaning up the man camp…… 

I slipped into Bayland Marina almost out of everything… the stove wouldn’t work this morning because the propane is out, both motors need oil changes, I have about 4 gallons of fuel on the whole boat, the only thing we have plenty of is water.  This evening I’ll change the propane bottle and replentish some of the systems.   We were on a purpose filled mission to get SYL to Texas and did so quite sucessfully.

Houma to Baytown in summary: I got 20 more miles than I expected the first day out of Houma so I had a leg up to begin with.  I made two 100 mile days in the ICW… the second of which included 200 miles of shore travel as well.  That’s what I call driven.   One day I only went 75 miles.. I felt like I was slacking some how… lol.

So we are “on station” here in Texas but still quite unsettled at the moment.  There are at least three different locations I might be stationed for work, each in a different city.. which one is yet to be determined and Linda’s dad.. being at the end of his life is understandably unsettling.  I think we are handling it quite well but a tiny bit more stability might get me back down to one Prilosec a day.

Last night Linda and I really enjoyed being back on the boat together. 

Sea Yawl Later !!   Rusty

Currents and the wind were in my favor on Good Friday.   I expected to arrive at Bolivar about dark and spend the night there, but we not only made Baytown… my crew (Dean and Katie) drove me to Buna to my car and I drove an hour and a half up to the lake.  My day started about 6 and ended before midnight, not so unusual… but sailing 100 miles and driving 200 in one day is.

I really enjoyed the sail, but it’s nice to be home. 

Katie and Dean made a huge commitment to the day.  They had a longer run than I did….  They got up around 3AM, drove from Kemah to Port Arthur, got on the boat with me, made the 100 mile sail then drove me to Buna, then back to Kemah.  What a couple troopers.  

The morning is cool and clear, breakfast was ecellent… I’m going to put the deck boat in and take everyone on a ride.

SYL  Rusty

It’s 6:45PM   SYL is tied up, the AC is on, I have made my dinner for the evening  (a huge sandwich) I’m sitting here eating & enjoying getting to my destination before dark…..  Even though I have a day and a half to go before I’m there, I feel so much like I’m home.   I previously docked 2 different sailboats here next to the “Rainbow Bridge” so this is my old stomping grounds.  I worked in a refinery that is 600 yards away from where I’m docked for two years… I am on familiar ground… er .. water.

Today started out humid but soon cleared to a “blue bird day”.  If your a duck hunter you know what that means… no clouds and nothing but bright sun… terrible for duck hunters.  Duck hunters want a cold cloudy day so the ducks have to fly low and have a hard time seeing you in your blind… blue bird days usually mean no ducks….  but it was great for this sailor, the sun welcomed me home to Texas.

After the Ellender Bridge at the Calcasieu River, it was all gravy.   No bridges, locks or crooked narrow channels to worry about.  Tomorrow I’m picking up some crew.  Katie and Dean that own “Our Way Too” are going to meet me in the morning and ride the rest of the way to Galveston.  So far I have enjoyed the solitude of the Louisiana swamps… but it will be nice to have people on board again.  The ditch from here to Galveston is probably the ugliest part of the whole thing… but oh well…..

I’m actually going to try out a new marina when I arrive in the Houston area, Bayland Marina in Baytown reopened today after being destroyed by a hurricane.   The facility is very close to the job I hope to be working next week and is the closest marina to my house so when I go home to the lake I’ll save about 30 minutes driving time.  I love Waterford (where we always kept SYL) but the drive to work is trough the worst traffic in the area.  We will see how it goes, but I’m docking at Bayland Saturday to try it out.

I’m trying to gather up the engergy to clean the boat before my crew arrives… but so far that just hasn’t happened.   I’ll clean the bathroom and kitchen a bit.. but the end of this trip would definitely be classified as a “man thing”  Function won out over form by leaps and bounds since Linda left the boat in Destin.  It’s not horrible… but… ok, yes it is…..  maybe I’ll clean the back deck and call that good.

Man it’s nice to be settled before dark.  I now have a little time to unwind, not just lay down and worry about not getting up at daylight.  I did some long legs on this journey.  The 100 mile run to the Mermentau River on Wednesday set up the whole trip for me.   After Wednesday’s big run, that made it where I would have two 75 mile days left…. and that’s doable on these longer spring /summer days.   We have a full moon now too, so if I decide not to stop in Bolivar tomorrow night… we could have a nice moonilt sail into the bay.  I planned on stopping but I suspect it will be nice and we won’t stop short of our goal…. Bayland Marina.

Well, the ibuprophen is kicking in and the cabin is cooling down.. life is good.  I may scout around for an open electric outlet but for now I’m on the Honda.  This old restraunt I’m at is closed down so I’m sure the power is turned off.  Esther’s got plenty of my business when it was open with their good seafood and service.

7:30 and it’s still plenty light outside.  I guess I better scout around if I’m going to..  goodnight all

Rusty

Today will be a long day, but not too bad.  I’ll make about 100 miles today on my way from the 105 mile marker to the Mermentau River (the 202).   Here’s the plan… we’ll see how “the plan” holds up the rest of this trip:

Tonight I’ll motor 1 or 2 hours into darkenss to get to the Mermentau.   I would have made it earlier but the locks at Intercoastal City were closed so I either had to wait two hours then be behind 24 tug boats to pass… or take a longer alternate route to avoid the locks alltogether.  I took the alternate.. it took me into the fresh water canal then to Schooner Bayou, then through the North fork of Schooner back to the ICW.   I lost about an hour going around, but if I’d waited for the locks I’d still be in Intercoastal City.

Anyway the itenerary looks like this:  Mermentau tonight (WEDNESDAY night)   Leave the Mermentau at daylight THURSDAY and drive 78 miles down the ditch (12 or 13 hours) to the Neches River where I’ll pick up some crew.    FRIDAY we will leave the Neches River at Port Arthur for the 75 mile run to Bolivar near Galveston.  I suspect we can get settled for the night friday before dark the sail the last 5 hours to Bayland Marina in Baytown at the top of Galveston Bay SATURDAY.  That gives me all day Sunday to rest. 

Despite not having my A#1 cook on board, I’m surviving quite well on frozen prepared meals and KFC Chicken I bought in Houma.  A microwave is a certainly a wonderful tool.  This morning I heated up a big ol’ Jimmy Dean sausage egg muffin, for lunch I had KFC chicken and for dinner I had pre cooked broccoli and cheese casserole.   My meals haven’t been the fresh wonderful fare Linda throws out there but I’m doing OK.   I talked to my crew thats coming Friday… I think they are bringing pizza!  Pizza is good any time of day hot or cold.

Since all the tugs were held up at the locks.. I’ve had the Westbound side of the ICW all to myself this evening.  I have probably met 3 or 4 tugs eastbound.. but traffic has been light since Shell Morgan at Intercoastal City.  Shell Morgan is a great stop… good helpful folks and cheap gas.  I always stop there when I’m in the ditch.  The people there always help me tie up and will do anything to make my stop as good as it can be.  Andy’s the one that told me about the way to aviod the locks today. 

It’s 7:10, I have a bit over two hours to go.  The mainsail would give me a little help right now… but with only 2 hours to go I think I’ll be a motorboat the rest of the day… take it easy.   Today’s weather turned out nice after the early morning storm.   Most of the day was partly cloudy with a perfect temperature.. not too hot and not too cool.   

I’m glad traffic is light tonight, I have a little after dark work to do but not much.  I’m excited to make Mermentau tonight, that sets the rest of the trip up so I can be off Sunday.  I guess I’ll get the boat set up for night operation… plug in the Q-beam, set the instruments on low so they won’t blind me at night…. Today was a good day.

Sea Yawl Later !!   Rusty

I woke up about 5 to almost constant light flashing in the hatch above me.  I assumed it was a tug boat shining his search light over here to see what I was… but it was too “flashy” and inconsistent for that so I raised up in bed – opened the hatch and stuck my head out.

Heat lightning was making the predawn swamp look like daylight.  There was no thunder… just near constant flashes above the thick morning clouds.  I decided to get up and check the batteries.  After starting the generator I heard it coming through the trees… wind…  the predecessor to what is now a full blown rain storm.  What was vivid silence 30 minutes ago is now the sound of pelting rain on the roof and the little Honda generator barely auditable in the background.

If this keeps up I may have to rethink my ensemble… lol.  Shorts and tee shirt worked well yesterday but I may need some warmth this morning.  The wind that preceeded the rain blew in and out quickly but it was impressive.  The boat ran quickly to the other end of it’s leash and yanked to a stop.  Had I not been up already.. that would have done it, I’d have been awakened by the jolt.   

The heat lightning has become very loud full fledged bangs that rattle my now “little” boat as I sit here in the predawn / rainy Louisiana swamp.  A sleepy eyed far reaching silence has been replaced by loud bangs that get my full attention as I type… sitting here inside my small dry refuge. 

When I got up I considered hauling my anchor and following one of the Westbound tugs knowing daylight would soon arrive.  I’m glad I didn’t, the full blown rainstorm would have been more challenging to navigate through and it would remain darker for longer than I anticipated.  I’ll sit right here for a while and wait for good light.

Yesterday I had hoped to make 20 miles or so since I was leaving after lunch, but currents were with me and I ran until 8PM so Iwas able to make 45.   I considered running until 10PM to make 60, but this little canal came up on my starboard side just as I started scanning the shore with my Q-beam and called my name.  It’s less than 4 feet deep so nobody else is coming in here, I felt comfy and safe 50 feet off the ICW behind the very small island that guards the canal entrance.  The concern when picking an ICW anchorage is of course tug boat traffic.  When a tug needs to stop for anything they can’t just float around in the middle of the narrow channel so they push up against a remote (hopefully unused) canal bank and leave the prop turning slowly to hold them in place. 

The place you pick to stay at night needs to be unaccessable to the 800′ long nose of a 300 ton barge driving into the bank.  I’m pretty sure the captain would never feel the crunching fiberglass from 1000 feet away sitting on top of who knows how many 1000’s of diesel horsepower.   The tug boat captain would never intentionally put you in danger, but avoiding that wedgie is what comforable sleep along the ICW is all about. 

The Skipper Bob publication is the reference of choice for picking anchorages along the ICW, he also covers many other inland waterways such as the “Great Loop” in other offerings.  Bob wouldn’t have listed this one because of it’s depth.  Most sailboats wouldn’t be comfortable sitting in 4′ of water but SYL is quite pleased to do so.  There is no tidal action in this part of the waterway so skinny water works just fine for me.   The ICW in this part of the country is filled by the waters of the mighty Atchafalaya River, so not only is there little to no tide….. the salinity of the ditch is very low, in fact is almost totally fresh water.

Well it’s 6:30, I can barely see across the canal now.   The rains are more intermittent so maybe I’ll be able to get underway in a little while.  I changed to long pants and brought up a rain coat when I was below earlier.  It’s nice to be back on my boat….. I had a good time sailing her yesterday.  Hopefully the weather will slack and allow the same today.   Yesterday the wind was light and generally behind me, not optimum for sailing but much better than the opposite.  I had the sails up most of the trip, the power gleaned from the sails allowed me to back off on the throttles and hold very good speed.  Visibility is getting better by the minute.  My air card is miraculously working this far out in the swamp so I’m going to see if I can check weather online.

Sea Yawl Later !!   Rusty

I’m in the middle of the Louisiana swamp tonight, all alone on SYL.  I left Houma singlehanding the boat to get her stationed in Baytown for the upcoming job.  The sounds out here are amazing….  owls chatting to each other in the distance…  tree frogs and birds saying good night to each other.  I’m about 10 miles past Morgan City (where the “Swamp People” live)  I can imagine big gators swimming by wondering who that is in the big old’ boat parked in my spot…..

There is something to be said for being alone every now and then.. all to yourself listening to nature in it’s most rare and natural form.  I love friends and people around me… but tonight is one I’ll remember for a long time.  Who gets to camp out in the middle of the Louisiana swamp with the bugs barricaded out on a big fine sailboat.  People I highly reccomend it.

I threw SYL’s dock lines off the dock in Houma at 1PM,  and arrived in the middle of nowhere between Morgan City and… well… nowhere at 8PM.  I made 45 or so miles this evening, 20 more than I expected to make.   At 8 I could no longer see the banks and the mosquitos went into full attack mode so I found a wide place in the “Ditch” and set anchor for the night.

Looking at “Skipper Bob” I knew I had to make it to the 100 mile marker or better to be able to make Intercoastal City during business hours.  Shell Morgan is s must stop for gas and good food.  I’ll be there around noon tomorrow.

Good night all

Rusty

Job placement this year has been a circus so far. Originally Corpus looked like the place, then the company decided I needed to go to Carthage Texas…. then the day before I was to go on site that job was cancelled!  I had consigned myself to the Carthage job and even found a few positives to enjoy but who knows where I’ll be now…….

Carthage was close enough to home that I could spend every weekend here, I was looking forward to that.  Now I’m back on “Lake Time”…… enjoying friends and family here, running my rc boat (I clocked it at 63mph yesterday). I’ll post some pictures of the boat when I get a chance.

Pappy tilled up a garden spot this week (since we were going to be here to take care of it) but now thats not likely so we’ll see how the garden makes it with minimal care.

So today it’s wait and see what I’ll be doing and where I’ll be doing it for the rest of the year. “Lake Time” is nice, but we need a payday!

Well I went to the doc when I got home but have no results back from all the tests yet…. I’m now almost over whatever it was I had.  I guess I outlasted my belly ache.  I think being here at the lake must have fixed me all by itself…..  Without being too graphic, I have seen my toilet paper useage drop to less than 1 roll a day…. much better!

My buddy Larry, his freind Tom and I ran our RC boats today.  Larry just put his boat back together after a great paint job…. with the tweaks he made the boat runs like it was on a string….. straight and fast.   Everything we ran today worked well and we didn’t break anything….. it’s always a good day when you don’t break something when your dealing with fast boats.

It’s really nice being here at the lakehouse.  This place is more than just calming… it’s serene.  I think being on the water always does that… especially if your house doesn’t move at night.  Maybe it’s just me, but being on or around the water is always my preference.

Not much else to report, I’m looking into a job in Corpus Christi Texas.  If that pans out I’ll bring my RV for the water (SYL) down South.   Corpus might be a nice place to be for a while. 

Sea Yawl Later…   Rusty