sittononthebeach.com

Happy New Year!

Strange Christmas presents this year…..  My love got me a tricycle and I bought her a gun…  Now this tricycle is actually a souped up wheelchair with pedals.  I’ve enjoyed riding it, so far I’ve clocked about 20 miles.

Linda’s present was fun for me too.  I shot it for the first time into the ground… from the porch rail on New Years eve.  It’s a nice little 9MM auto.

New years resolution:  This year I’m hoping to promote a more”normal” lifestyle.   Now….. I guess that means we need to define normal doesn’t it?  Some people perceive Norman Rockwell as the quintessential picture of “normal”  while other folks really enjoy Slavador Dali……  I’m hereby promoting the Norman Rockwell variant.

Not that I feel we can achieve such a lofty goal.. but who’s new years resolution isn’t a stretch!

We haven’t been posting much lately, as you can see….. Not much fun boating news to pass along, but that is about to change….

Our close friends know, but many that keep up only via our blog don’t know, we have plans to make a SYL Bahama cruise in 2016!   Our timing is regulated by that dirty 4 letter word.. WORK.  I’ve committed to work a turnaround near New Orleans, we are preparing for it as we speak….  I’m working regular hours in the planning phase.  Things will start heating up on the job after new years, working more hours as we get closer, but the main event isn’t supposed to occur until April.

Our fluid departure date will more likely be May, given it’s driven by how quickly a fabrication shop can build a new 200′ tower.   Our turnaround includes erecting a large piece of equipment that hasn’t even been designed yet, much less manufactured.  We probably won’t know when that equipment will be available until the second month of 2016.  I’ve committed to the effort so I’m kind of stuck.  At least it won’t be cold when we cross Lake Pontchartrain heading out into the Mississippi Sound…..

The worst part of the trip is behind us, now that SYL is here in Louisiana.  It’s exciting to know we don’t have that week and a half of ICW travel  facing us from Kemah to New Orleans!  In fact I just checked how far it is from here straight to Marathon non-stop… 700 miles.  Hmmm that’s less than 6 days if we go direct!  Only 4 days if we go directly from here to Tarpon Springs…!  I always do that.. I see how fast I can get to the Bahamas to maximize our cruising time before we are forced to head home to avoid the summer storms.  I go fast fast… in order to stay in the Bahamas as long as possible.  I probably shouldn’t do that.  It actually makes better sense (given our departure point) to see some of the Florida panhandle before striking out.

It’s 70 miles from my dock to Cat Island…. just offshore from Gulfport Mississippi, so that’s the first day.  On a long second day you could make it 90 miles into the mouth of Mobile Bay, there’s a dock at Fort Morgan with an easy entry and full protection.  If you pulled up anchor by 4AM off the Cat Island coast and struck out, you could get to Fort Morgan by dark.  The 3rd day you could make it to Destin, but that would be two big days in a row.  It might make better sense to go non-stop to Destin, that’s 48 hours of straight sailing at a 5 knot average.  A friend and I actually did that one time, it’s not a bad run.

So to Destin in 2 days, stay overnight and see the sights, 2 more days (48 hours of sailing at just over 5 knots) to Tarpon Springs, probably 3 overnighters from home, depending on what time you started to put a considerable portion of the trip behind you.  That puts you almost 1/2 the way down the Western coast of Florida.  Another 48 hours of sailing gets you to the channel 5 marker,(the first tall bridge you can get under at the overseas highway) that gets you to the keys, and your staged to cross the Gulfstream.  So.. if you pushed hard, sleeping tied up or on anchor for two of the 7 nights, you could make it all the way to the keys from Madisonville Louisiana is a week.

Sailing is fun in Madisonville Louisiana, we love the sleepy – old school charm of the place.  Main street runs right along the river sporting massive oak trees reaching out with limbs the size of a mans body.  Moss filled trees provide shade for the grassy shore, the city maintains 30 amp hookups all along the bank…. it’s a neat place to keep the boat.  From our marina we break out onto the Tchefunte River – heading North we have 10 miles of cypress lined river to run, heading South it’s only 2.5 miles down the river to Lake Pontchartrain.

Lake Pontchartrain is 28 miles across and about 30 miles long, we have sailed the main lake twice now.  Both trips were highly satisfactory…. the wind filled in just after noon providing enough pressure to surpass 8 knots on both outings.  The morning was calm so there were no “left over” waves on the lake.  Waves only formed as the wind filled in…… making for a very pleasant sea state.  

Madisonville has several water front boating options; several bars and a few restaurants that offer very fine seafood and drinks.  We like to call in a seafood platter to go, and snack on it as we cruise around.  Weekends are great on the river…. there are lots of boats yet it’s not too crowded… the best of both worlds.  There’s a sandbar to wade around on..  you can chat with your neighbors in waist deep water or flop down in a short legged lawn chair, sipping on a nice cold drink……

At some point we will take advantage of our geography and make a run to Destin Florida, we are now only a day and a half away!  Half the Gulf of Mexico run that we used to dread so much is no longer a factor heading toward Florida.  Soon we plan to make a trip across the lake to New Orleans and stay for the weekend.  There are many options yet to explore here in Madisonville on the North shore of the Pontchartrain.

Sea Yawl Later !!   Rusty

This is one of my favorite sailing pictures.  It “puts me back there”  No matter where I sailed, this is what I saw most often…..  My “action center”.  This particular organization of equipment morphed over the years until I developed THE most efficient means of navigating “SYL !!”  This is how you sail a Seawind 1000; the big Explorer chart laid open to the current location on the big shelf beside the helm with the computer’s GPS hockey puck holding the page down… with the spot transmitter riding loose beside the rope clutches (that exact location provides the best signal)

The first green line is the mainsail down haul, the white and blue it the spinnaker halyard, the orange fleck line is the main halyard, the outside green line is the jib sheet… so in this picture I’m on a port tack because the jib sheet is on the starboard winch.  The white / red line going thru the standing pulley is the starboard spin sheet.  When I first got the boat I tied off the jib halyard at the mast, it was previously run to the winches but I did not see the need.  That also frees up a rope clutch so if something breaks I have a spare… I can restring a line to an open spinlock.

In light air I only take 2 wraps around the winch with the jib sheet so it will pay out easier… that means I’m in a descent amount of breeze in this picture.  The only line I wrap more than 3 times is the main halyard.  My main halyard is a single purchase line so it’s quite a hard pull to get her up.  Most mornings…. that orange fleck line gets my heart pumping like a mad man!  I don’t think I have ever winched her all the way up without stopping at least once.  That line is why I lose weight every time I go sailing… my heart is definitely pounding every time I raise the main by myself.  The best way to raise the main is to catch Linda before she starts breakfast and have her help me.  I go to the mast, reach up and grab the main halyard before it goes inside and haul down  on it while Linda holds my slack.  I can raise it by hand until it starts lifting the boom.  When that weight hits…… it’s winch time.  That leaves me about 5 feet of haul to manage with the winch.

Good memories recalled.  I’m looking forward to going back.  

SYL!!  Rusty

How are you going to beat this?  Life in the Bahamas is about pretty water… Georgetown and having the right guests show up at the Exuma Market!

I have been looking at some of the you tube videos on the Bahamas.  There’s some good stuff out there that really brings me back.  I recognize all the places because my wife and I have been there on our catamaran.. most of them many times.  Some of the video should be sponsored by the people that sell boats…lol!  It almost made me want to buy a different boat and “go bigger” but I really love my Seawind 1000.  I might trade even for a lagoon 440 or a Leopard 47…. but that’s about it.  I second what most of the videos relating to cruising say regarding the cruiser community.  There is no other group in the world like cruisers.  Think about it…. if you meet somebody on a boat 400 miles from nowhere.. that guy pretty much qualifies… right.. he did what you did so you automatically share a unique commonality.

Sailing a boat to a remote location isn’t something you do by accident.  That being said… I like to tell folks that the picture perfect moments only constitute 10% of what you get as a cruiser.. but they make the other 90% well worth it!  And… the very worst of the 90% get burned into your memory forever.  If you were meant to be a cruiser those scary moments eventually become the highlight reels, a life reference that grounds you rather than being a deal breaker.  So often.. the wild times of an adventure become the best part.

I contend that the bad things that always happen (given time) become a life base, a steak in the ground that keeps you from worrying about the stupid stuff that truly doesn’t matter. While cruising you may discover more than pristine beaches, you may find out who you are.  You may discover that happiness is more about reducing how long it takes to smile after the bad times, than it is about what color shoes to wear.  Go fill your eyes with the memory of baby blue waters, I promise it makes you see things differently.  I contend… your about as happy as you make up your mind to be.  Especially if you understand that the outcome of the really bad stuff was settled before you even left the dock.

99% of the bad stuff is handled up front if you chose a great boat, it will take care of your learning curve without bloodshed, you can smile about your presumed “near catastrophe” much sooner if you have the “right stuff”.  You would be amazed what a boat will handle, normally much, much more than the occupants…..  How many reports have you heard where the sailors are rescued from certain death in a storm… then they find the boat happy as a lark on the open ocean all alone… without a skipper.  It makes you realize that the skipper and crew are certainly the weakest link in a bad weather survival situation.  Any “failure” during a storm is more often related to the human element, if his first decision was a good one.

If your living life with no chance of your day to day activities making a scab or at least a sunburn… your not really living.  I’m not saying be dumb and dangerous, but go… throw off your lines with the best boat you can afford because you’ll probably need it.  Here’s the apparently secret “key” to the all important and much debated question of “whats the right boat”…  here it is… free of charge…. if you learn quickly buy a light fast boat.. if not buy something big, slow and heavy so you will be able to smile quicker after the storm.  Some folks need more “training” than others…..lol.

That’s it.. that’s the golden rule of boat buying.  You don’t need to know how to do it all before you go… all you need to do is buy an appropriate vessel, arrange to get good weather information and get out there!   Getting good weather data these days is a snap.  You might not know how to sail when you leave.. but you dang sure will when you get back!!!  and remember, the 10% on both ends of the “amazing scale” are what life is all about.  The middle 80% just gets you there…..

sv Sea Yawl Later !!

I have been following the Volvo Ocean Race of 2014-15.  It’s an amazing 39,000 mile 8 month race around the world on identical 69′ carbon fiber sail boats.  You can find the site at www.Volovooceanrace.com   I highly recommend watching the 5th leg that’s happening now as they transit the Southern Ocean, the most remote location on earth.  There is enough information and video online that you can mentally put yourself there.. so much so that in the back of my mind I keep find myself wondering who’s leading all day long……  I can feel myself speeding over wave after wave… watching that main so we don’t jibe in a crazy overpowered downwind run… but I’m doing it from the air conditioned comfort of my office…lol.

Having almost two trip around the world’s worth of ocean miles on a sailboat, it’s great fun to place myself in their shoes…. with the great coverage and graphics available on the VOR, I find it easy to “witness” the race in as much of a personal way as I ever expect to.  I have NO desire to make non-stop passages across the open ocean.  I can guarantee you that less than 10% of my sea miles were sailed at night.  The short videos of the VOR boats managing those large southern swells interest me to no end.  I can’t get enough of trying to catch some hint of what these highly skilled professional sailors are doing at the helm…..  how they attack the ocean and angle over the giant waves.. not for best angles of comfort… but for the best speed!!!  I feel like I am very adept at steering fast at sea.  I understand and have tested the physics of it for many years……  most of it on a catamaran.  That being said…. I am seldom in the company of anyone to learn from when it comes to ocean steering.  Any scrap of information I can find on the subject is of supreme interest.

Most ocean sailors are more about comfort and navigation, and I get that but I like to go fast.  In 2012 I was asked to helm a big catamaran “Alternate Lattitudes” owned by a charter captain to compete in the biggest race in the Gulf of Mexico.  The race is called the “Harvest Moon Regatta”.  It’s a 24 hour race from Galveston Texas to Port Aransas.  The race is timed to sail at night under the full October moon (hence the name).  The first 1/3 of the event carried just enough wind to make it feel like a race.  Our chosen path (close to land) gave us our first advantage as we rode a nice current flow spewing out of a certain (not to be named) coastal estuary.   We did very well on the first part of the race staying very shallow.. after all we are on a catamaran!

The weather gods had fun with us that year.. we all knew there would be a pre-frontal calm 1/2 way thru the race, followed by a strong Norther.  All boats knew the last 1/3 of the course would be a fastest.  I was at the helm quite a bit during the first third of the race, when the wind died I went down to get some sleep.  Our main slatted and rattled as we waited on the inevitable wind from the North.  Some of the sailors followed the last bit of wind as far offshore as they felt comfortable in an attempt to stay powered up, that turned out to be a mistake.  They didn’t gain enough on the fleet to make a difference, and….. it did several bad things.  It brought them well off the Rhumbline.. but more importantly… now since I was hugging the shore, I would get the heavy 30 mph wind half an hour before they would.  My calm would be over much earlier!  The third negative is that they now had to fight their way back to shore in heavy seas to make the finish line.

We expected 30 to 40 knots on the beam as the frontal boundary passed.  My alarm clock was the boat itself….. the props began to windmill underneath me as we started moving again.  I woke up when I heard the bearings start to roll.  These cruiser type races are primarily crewed with invited guests, rather than professional sailors.  A big part of the event is the comrade-re and fellowship… the enjoyment of doing the Harvest Moon.  There was a Dutch gentleman on the wheel (an experienced monohull sailor) when I poked my head out of the cabin.  I asked him if I could relieve him….. the wind and waves built quickly and were already whipping.  He said no. he had it so I went about my business trimming sails to the ever building conditions.  His response was to leave it alone, that he had it like he wanted… not wanting to waste the good wind I made my way back into the cabin.  

I mentioned to the owner that I needed to be at the helm, there was speed to be had… but I didn’t want to be rude to the gentleman at the wheel.  Hints were made, minutes passed like hours… lol.  Then I tried again, but the Dutch fellow declined, this time I didn’t stop… I almost begged him to let me have the boat.  During my more than obvious begging session, I noticed were averaging about 9 knots… not bad for a 44 foot 20 ton cat, but I knew there was lots of speed in those 3 footers building to 4.  Then it happened.. he gave me the helm.

Scanning the instruments and GPS, I noted that our ETA at the jetty way point to end the race was just past 2pm.  The crew set about trimmed her like I wanted…  and I began looking over my right shoulder at the waves… hunting holes in the water behind the ever increasing waves, Alternate Latitudes immediately sped into double digits.  As the waves came around on our rear quarter and got bigger.. the fun really began!  We surfed well into the mid teens holding speed for quite a while each time we got running.  I don’t recall our best speed exactly, but we saw over 17 knots more than once, not bad for a 25′ wide charter condo with 4 bathrooms!  The owner had never seen over 14 on his boat since he owned it.  Everyone on board was grabbing leather… lol.  They couldn’t imagine a 20 ton charter boat making that kind of speed.  I told them it was easy… I’m no genius.. if you putt 22 tons of fiberglass on a long slippery slope you WILL go faster for a short time.  Eventually the waves came more on our aft quarter… and were at just the right angle, I could surf them for what seemed like minutes before the wave passed under our sterns.  The tricks to make that happen are complicated with many points to understand…..  then build on that to understand the skill of wave surfing in moderate conditions.  Anybody can surf 8 footers, but surfing 3 and 4 foot waves is quite a challenge.  I may take the time to explain my sail sets and steerage in detail on another post.  It’s a multi-faceted subject with lots of “ifs” to consider.

As it turned out… we won the race by almost 30 minutes.  We rounded the turning way point I talked about earlier at 1:30pm.  We had gained just over the amount of time we won by, in the last 1/3 of the race surfing a 4 bathroom condo into the high teens.  Just before noon, we were passing some of the first boats to leave Galveston, the big mono’s.  It was almost comical how fast we went by some of them as we surfed by 8 knots faster.  I’m sure there were jaws dropped all over the big monohull’s deck…. lol.  I’m not disapproving or condescending when I say this.. but there is no physical way a cruising monohull can achieve the speeds we were making on those conditions.

Watch the Volvo Ocean Race.. it’s crazy!  When I say the monohulls couldn’t keep up with Alternate Latitudes that day……. I was correct only because there were no 69′ carbon fiber ocean racers in it!   They are 9 days into the 5th leg, and 5 of the 6 boats are less than 3 miles apart!  Those guys hold the speed I instantaneously surfed to… all day long.

Sea Yawl Later !!  Rusty

Spring officially starts tomorrow!  Last week the temps ranged from near freezing to 84 degrees.  Somewhere in the middle of that would be just fine.  I love warm weather, probably because of my affinity for water.  Lets see, I think I got 2 new boats since last post…. You can’t have too many you know……

Getting ready for lawn mowing, paddling my new canoe, bringing SYL to Louisiana, and playing on the kayak.  I got a cool kayak.. it has peddles that flap wings under the boat for propulsion… coolest man powered gadget I own.  The canoe is fun too, it’s not brand new.. in fact it was made in 1910, about the time the wright brothers invented the airplane control system.  Not many people know this, but the wright brothers didn’t patent the airplane, they invented the best way to control a flying machine!  Anyway.. my canoe is fun to paddle around, shes beautiful and handles nicely.  Great to have some nice man powered boats on the calm little Bayou.

I’m still working in Baton Rouge, only 60 hours a week now so it’s not so bad.  I get one day off a week, that makes it easier than working 7 days a week 13 hours a day.  Anyway… spring is coming… nice.

SYL Rusty

It’s the last week of February, I know it’s go-sailing time because I got the email from Chris Parker (the sailing weather guru) that my subscription is about to expire.  We always re-upped before leaving for the Bahamas to make sure we had access to his great weather information.  I guess we will be saving that $200 this year.  Last week when I got the Email, it must have commemorated the anniversary of our last departure.

Normally we leave Texas for the frosty trip toward Florida and points beyond about this time of year.  The cruising season unofficially starts with the Cruiser Regatta in Georgetown Bahamas around March 1st.  This year I couldn’t have left until the end of March due to the current job, but that’s not why we aren’t going this year.  Linda has been on the boat long enough and wants some roots.  Any off time I get will be spent working on the lake house.

The reason for this whole post is; this morning while we were saying our hellos to the night shift and talking about their night….. one of the guys jokingly said “There’s no place I’d rather be”.  Let me put that in context for you… it’s 38 degrees and drizzling here in the refinery.  His joke instantly made me think of exactly where I would like to be magically transported at that moment.  There is a little deserted island in the middle of the Exuma chain that instantly came to mind.  Somehow thinking about that little island, the shallow sand bars with ankle deep sand, baby blue rippling water and 80 degree days…. gives me warmth.   The memory of the places I’ve been on SYL can even make an oil refinery at 5AM, with it raining and 30 degrees much more bearable.

I was off last Saturday for the first time in 14 days and finally got to explore the water up and down the Bayou.  It will be a wonderful place to tour this summer.  The bayous have great big cypress trees and spanish moss everywhere.  There are nice houses lining the bayou, I can imagine the water will be a teeming with activity when it warms up.  SYL will make a great party barge up and down the river with plenty to see and wonderful places to anchor out for the night.

Rusty

So far this year has been a new experience.  A life changer….  When you relocate to a new work location there’s always that propensity to “re-invent” yourself because your always meeting new people.  This year I have been working too many hours to get a feel for Baton Rouge.. how I fit in it, much less get a clear feel for our re-invented life.  I simply haven’t been off to get to know the place.  Right now I’m working 13 hours a day, 14 days on and one day off for the next couple months, so I’m staying at the RV close to work.  I have been sick with either a cold or the flu since Thanksgiving.

Between the cold medicine and work hours my life has pretty much been a blur this year…..  I have Christmas toys I haven’t got to play with yet…   Don’t feel too sorry for me though, it’s the life I chose, but I am in the “trenches” right now.  How my life works is… I normally get a year’s worth of hours earned in 6 months, then we take off the rest of the year, unfortunately we have been buying large items, cars and RV’s so I have a couple years worth of long hour jobs to get caught up.  I have been told dreams of summer days on the Bayou, having friends over, going into New Orleans…. but right now I just can’t see that happening.  I have too much to do, too much to take care of.  Linda has been great virtually taking care of moving the house without me, we are both running pretty hard.  I need to get some things done at the lake house when the long hours are over.. so winding down takes back seat… again.  I need to get the sailboat here so we can use it to unwind.. but it takes about 4 days to make the trip and I don’t have 4 hours to spare much less 4 days.

Normally I can see a clear picture of the future… but right now I can’t see out of the ever deepening trench.  Re-reading that it sounds pretty hopeless…. in truth we have a lot to be thankful for and one day if we survive the war……. I guess there is a good shot at having what we want ….. unless it changes again.  Hope and Change…. I hope it doesn’t.

Happy New year everybody…..  The campaign slogan “Hope and Change” still seems to be our mantra.  An unpopular slogan for sure, but change can be good…. if YOU thought of it….

I have come to understand and identify three very different responses to change.  1. The first is exemplified by government edicts that have a zero chance of exciting us lower forms of humans in a positive way.  This first category of “change” is totally devoid of our input.  Making us “happy” about decisions we have no part in can take a long time (if ever) to accept no matter how good they might be.

Conversely if we have a choice in the matter these second two have more to do with personality types, than how they are served up… so there is at least some chance for happiness in them.  Changes that are personal decisions…. can be exciting for some folks, even addictive… believe it or not some people live their life looking around the next corner with great anticipation.  Often these people live in train cars, door stoops and on other peoples couch because structure is not as important as what they might see the next time they open their eyes when they wake up every morning.  Most people in this “anxious to go” category aren’t totally that polarized.  Many folks achieve at least some  structure in their life, but get tired of what it takes to maintain the status-quo and dream of unplugging.  The “Lukenbach Texas” crowd.  A small percent even come to realize that dream and go live on a boat, a cabin in the woods, or move completely off the grid.  3.  To others, change is never comfortable no matter who’s idea it is, they protect their choices and accomplishments fiercely.  Change is always a dirty word because they certainly wouldn’t bring it up and can’t believe there are people that do!  This group of folks will never understand how group 2 lives their life, but that’s OK….. nobody said we all have to think alike to enjoy our individual lives.

I haven’t met many that are totally polarized to one end of the three schools of thought.  The closest example of heavy polarization might be the overwhelming response to Obama’s decision making process, he seems to not be able to help himself, but hey.. he always knows what best for you and me right?   Hope and Change…….   it would be nice if I believed he even hoped we would like his change… but it doesn’t seem to matter to him.  Honestly though, regardless of how he swings his club, I don’t think all his decisions have been wrong.. just poorly delivered.  Even the best steak you can envision… cooked to perfection becomes inedible if you serve it on the underside of a nasty garbage can lid.  I guess there’s no time in his agenda for fireside chats or Ronald Reganisms that bring people along with him.  All I can say is you get who you vote for…  I’m not a big political guy… but I believe we missed a good chance at fine leadership last time.  America has certainly become a country run by minorities and yuppies that think they are serving some higher purpose by listening to crap like Feracon, Jackson and that other little weasel that makes his pay by enticing discontent.  If I was a black man…… I would be ashamed of that kind of leadership.  I guess you take what you can get.