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It has been blustery lately….  Yesterday was no exception.  Sunday morning we got up early and visited Linda’s brother 30 miles away then returned to the boat for a spirited evening sail.

Linda’s oldest (Stuart) came to visit Sunday evening with a friend.  Most of the TMCA group had left when we got back to the boat after lunch, so I got busy rigging the boat for an afternoon jaunt.   I minimized dock lines.. which was easy because the wind was holding me against the alongside dock.  I left one spring line and the power cord on to make departing quick and easy.

Since we are on the boat a lot, I toss my main halyard around one spreader to keep it from clanging against the mast in the wind… so I shook out my wrap and cleared the halyard for use, rolled the aft biminis up so I could travel the main either way and we were set to go.  I like to warm up the engines a bit before guests arrive so I won’t have to manage chokes and throttles with extra people on deck so I did that…..  After settling the engines I had some time to relax before our guests arrived.

All aboard and I hit the keys.. the motors fired up all loose and ready to go.  I walked the shore power and single spring off, added forward throttle to the port and aft power to the starboard engine to pin my stbd bow against the soft dock and peel the stern away… after rotating my stern 80 degrees out into the previously broadside wind we backed into the basin then we were off.  Exiting Bayland is normally into the prevealing breeze, and today was no exception.  I lifted the main into the wind just outside of the Houston Ship Channel with ease and we were set.

Motoring into the wind showed the heavy air’s speed, but when we layed off 30 degrees to starboard the main popped full it was a whole new ball game, the power of the wind against the sails was awesome.  We motored out at 5 knots but quickly spun up to 7 on the close hauled main.  I backed off on the throttles and switched off the motors, after taking 3 wraps on the jib sheet I released the roller furler.  In this kind of wind you better have a good hold on the sheet before you release the furler or you’ll burn a hand.  With a tight jib sheet we were bumping 8 knots… I lifted the motors and her ears were laid back as all hatches closed quickly amid the quickening bow spray, SYL was sailing! 

I freshened my drink and sat at the table with my guests as we spanked sharply into the wind against shorter than expected waves.  I got up regularly stepping outside to check traffic and depths…. I didn’t have to adjust the helm the full length of the windward leg.  As we approached Baycliff, I turned to port into the wind and quickly dropped the main mid tack.  Of course single handing, the jib backed….. but with our fine forward speed we went thru the wind  nicely.  The follwing seas and still brisk wind kept me moving down comfortably so I left the jib alone until I discussed a fairly true course home with “Otto”.  We agreed on a direction and he took over the helm once again.  Everybody has their pet name for the aurtopilot right?  Mine is “Otto”.

After the first stab at a compass point home, I took up the main sheet slack to steady the loose boom then the jib enjoyed my attention.  She smiled and filled up quickly flexing her muscles while pulling me homeward proud of her singular duty…. gloating to the main over her power (for once)   We eased down wind at 5 to 6 knots under the small headsail alone.  I drew out the evening a bit by lowering both engines as I didn’t intend to tack again.  The crew had enjoyed the brisk upwind, so I knew an extended downwind leg should finish the evening out nicely and I wasn’t that ready to get back….

Checking my breadcrumbs on the gps, me and Otto tweaked in our channel entry point and my duty was done…. more ice, a few jaunts outside to check traffic now and then… double check the depth guage and it was back to the lively chatter inside the cabin.

We love to entertain and be with friends, Stuart and Shea’s visit was truly special.  It capped off a wonderful weekend.  We discussed everything from empathy for the downtrodden to evolution and levels of sential beings….  litterally solved the worlds problem in one fell swoop.  We really like Shea, I hope to see her around some. 

I guess in summary.. after boiling down the whole wonderful evening discussion.. the best quote may have been “kids don’t know what they don’t know”    it was mine of course…. lol.  It’s true too, most kids generally know what to do.. but don’t always do it, right?         Then there’s that realm of knowledge we as adults know that they don’t even know they don’t know…….. We (as adults) know that 5 years down the road she probably won’t even remember that jerk’s name that just broke up with her…. emotions pound at their little hearts way too hard and we know it.  But they don’t know …  the most important thing in their young life is always much too accute, emotions that are so strong they even end some of our children before they have a chance to realize…  “things” will be totally different in a few months.. but we do!   Sometimes it’s hard to remember how emotional and personal things are to our kids because we know…. what they don’t know.  It will all be OK, life goes on and probably gets better than you ever dreamed….

With age and experience comes revalation… remember when your kids decided you are now somehow way smarter than you USED to be when they were 16?… happens every time.  If kids automatically knew that vast amount of knowledge they “don’t know they don’t know”… we could all start out life as grandparents.

Anyway.. the Sunday evening sail ended just before dark as we rotated in front of the fuel docks on our own axis and let the wind drift us into the alongside dock at Bayland Marina once again…. I stepped off the boat like Captain Ron himself landing at the yacht club.  I dropped the dock lines back on, plugged us in and Linda zapped some of my stand up chicken leftovers for dinner.  I wish everyone the weekend we just had.  Thanks to all involved.

Sea Yawl Later !!   Rusty

Yesterday, about 12 boats from the TMCA (Texas Mariner Cruiser Association) sailed/motored from Kemah to Bayland Marina.  Most of the boats came in around 12:00 and spent the day visiting on other boats and generally just having a good time.  We didn’t know many of them so it was good to meet new “boat friends”.   We also had some old friends come by, we put stuff we brought together and shared a great meal on SYL.  

Rusty tried out his new and improved Australian Bar-B-Q Pit.   Australian “Barbies” are really griddles not what we know as Bar-B-Q pits.  All Seawind boats naturally come with an Australian pit.  We really haven’t used ours much but remembered using the BBQ/griddle on the Seawind 1000 “Allons Y!” that we bare boat chartered years ago.   When we first got SYL we bought a West Marine stainless pit and tried to install it but it just didn’t fit our needs.  All the nice stainless grills are just too short to make “stand up chicken”  I knew if Rusty put his mind to it he could figure out a way to manage.  Well, he figured it out and had a “chicken top” fabricated for our grill, basically a taller lid that fits on top the existing lid.  He tried it out yesterday and it worked beautifully.   

He also fixed what he calls “Cajun Sushi” which is boudain sliced in 1″ long chunks then grilled to make the edges crispy.  Served with BBQ sauce and hot mustard on the side, it’s a great throw down starter dish.  This griddle works even better for the boudain because the flat plate doesn’t let the boudain crumble thru like a conventional grill surface.  We had a feast and a great day of fellowship.  Yesterday evening we showed the movie “Captain Ron” on our sail.  This is a shot from the boat as Rusty set up the projector, we had quite a crowd.  Fun day.

The vice commodore came in an outboard, so there were several people sitting on the boat, then a group of other cruisers ganged up and decided to pile on and see how many the small ship would hold.  I think they managed about one person per foot.

Rusty came home last night and put the new floor in the garage and we got everything back, cleaned, wiped and cloraxed.  Rusty got the deck scrubbed.  I just love a clean boat!!!.    Friends of ours dropped by this morning and it was such a pleasant surprise.  They were two men that Rusty and I worked with a year ago.  Good Guys!  It was good to see them.  Then Sally dropped by with cupcakes….We enjoyed the cupcakes with some coffee and visited for a while.  She and her husband will be back this evening for dinner.  It is a beautiful day though a little gusty.  We had thought about taking SYL out, beaching her and cleaning the hull but I think it would be tooooooo cold with the wind ( it has been gusting up to 30 mph) and it is a little overcast.  I think we have enough done for now.

Sea Yawl Later!!

Linda

I am currently taking a break from the unfun part of owning a boat.  I started to say cruising, except the situation I am now dealing with would have been a simple solution had we been on SYL.  Sometime after I left the boat in Destin and during the sail from Destin to Houma in which Rusty and Jono encountered some bad weather and rough seas, SYL took on water in the Starboard stern compartments.  This problem was compounded because we were not aware of the issue until Rusty brought SYL home after being in Houma, La for several weeks.  I didn’t know the extent of the problem until today.  Dealing with water issues on a boat is never fun but to let your “stuff” ferment in water for weeks makes a NASTY problem.  It is without a doubt the one thing that puts me in a foul mood immediately.  Older Seawinds have a known problem of taking on water through a thru hull that the motor steering runs through.  No one has come up with a good solution and I doubt the newer models have this issue.   It usually is not a problem because you catch it early, remove the water and it never gets into the main stern storage.  We have put a false floor in the storage so that if water does come in it doesn’t get into our “stuff” and we just wet van it out.  This didn’t happen this time which alone would not have been a biggie because everything is in open plastic containers that are stacked for easy access.  This time however, water and I mean a lot of water came in through the hatch and all of my containers had 1 to 2 inches of water and it had been sitting there for weeks perhaps a couple of months……..NASTY!!  Everything had to be separated from its box, washed, dried and in many cases scrubbed free of rust.  This area we have converted into our “garage” so it has all the stuff in it the name implies.  Yesterday I finished getting everything out and washed.  The “floor” was ruined and had to be removed and I ran bleach water through the main storage a couple of times.  Today, I looked into the farthest stern compartment and it has about 1′ of water but a least this is not nasty water.  Most everything in it is plastic.  The above pictures are the state of SYL at the moment.  Yesterday, was not a good day.  Today is better.  All the nasty is gone, and as I said I don’t do nasty well.  I have the music on, the day is cool and beautiful and everything is clean……disorganized…..but clean.

Sea Yawl Later!!

Linda

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