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Subject: [worldcruising] Long time no see
From: thatboatguy (thatboatguy@XXX.XXX)
Date: Sun Jul 28 2002 - 10:49:02 EDT
Hey guys. Sorry to be out of touch so long. I have been doing some
cruising. Here is the first trip report. If there is any interest I
will post some of the others. I'm currently on Florida's Space
coast, back from the Bahamas and waiting for the end of Hurricane
season and also building the kitty. I may do the canal and then the
milk run begining this fall. Still single handing. Still seeking
that perfect partner in adventure.
George
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At anchor in Santa Rosa sound near the Narrows. April 19 2002
Hi Everybody!
The big news is that Lucky Dolphin is under way at last! I decided on
that name for her after hauling her and seeing the bottom for the
first time and discovering only one small blister! Also she had been
reported to have a locked up engine when I bought her but I was able
to get it running easily and she never missed a beat motoring from
Galveston Bay to Pensacola bay. But that's another story.
Thursday was a blur of final effort in getting under way. I'm not a
suspicious person but leaving on a cruise on a Friday is supposed to
be bad ju ju and I was grasping any excuse to push us off on Thursday.
John on Prudence, (an aluminum Colvin Witch), had so much work done on
her in the last month that the boat is almost unrecognizable. Very
pretty boat and the two of them are good buddies for us even given the
difference in our speeds. I've been through about every square inch of
Prudence at this point, and at the end I thought I was beginning to
take the shape of the aft lazerette. After watching me warp myself in
and out of that tight space a couple of times, John said he thought I
was Houdini! Prudence has a single cylinder Norwegian engine with a
massive fly wheel. It can idle down so low it's only hitting a couple
hundred times per minute.
To shorten this a bit I'll just say that Thursday was busy, included a
$70 fine from the Game and Fish "Barneys" for no life jacket in my
inflatable and saw the resurrection of MSgt Huffman, (one of my former
personas), for the purpose of keeping myself and others on track for
the departure.
It was after dark when I was finally able to hoist anchor and get out
of the bayou. I had run John up his main mast, hand over hand with a
double purchase, so that he could run a jib halyard and my hands were
completely shot. From some reserve, I found the energy to heft the 20
feet of 3/8th chain and 40 pound plow anchor.
Out the pass and across the bay in the dark I motored, dodging a few
trawlers, to get to a favorite anchorage on the bay side of Ft
Pickens. It's at a thin place in the peninsula near a crop of trees
with the gulf close enough that you can hear the surf while laying in
calm waters so long as the wind is out of the south or south west. I
dropped the hook again in 12 feet of water and she set well and easy
in the sandy bottom. The water was nice and clear and I could see it
ghost down to the bottom in the phosphorescing glow.
I shut the Perkins down and was rewarded by the sound of the short
surf on the gulf side and a pair of Whippoorwills calling from the
cops of trees to the southwest. Ahhh! I started stashing stuff below.
I had been so pressed for time I had just lobbed stuff in the cockpit
and deck. So there I was – cruising again at long last.
Taking stock, I found myself in the possession of a paid for Allied
Princess with a fresh bottom, good sails, a strong motor and 6 months
worth of food. It's a foothold on the adventure of a lifetime and no
less then that. A Lilliputian cruising kitty but also a tiny check
from the government each month, (thanks Sgt Huffman), a set of skills
conducive to making a few bucks along the way, a wing and a prayer and
buy God I was cruising again. The pressure and stress of the last
month came steaming off me there at anchor. I kept an eye out for
John, sure that he would be along soon. Sure enough, I picked him up
with my Steiners as he came ghosting across the bay and into the
anchorage. What a site that old gaff rig yawl made coming in like
that. Once I was sure he was in OK I took the dink ashore to visit the
gulf and let some more of that steam go. I walked in the moonlight
across the snow-white sand dunes, dodging tufts of sea grass, in the
company of a tall black man walking lock step with me. He was at a
90-degree angle to me and painted in sharp lines onto the sand by the
bright crescent moon. It put me in mind of another tall black man at
the old Jack Tar marina on Grand Bahama. That was almost two years ago
and after fueling my Nimble 30 he had asked me if I was going to cross
or stay. I looked out at the Atlantic as smooth as a millpond and this
being late afternoon I also thought about making a night entrance at
Lake Worth inlet. Finally I looked up at him, shoved my hands in my
pockets and said, "I recon I'll go". He seemed to approve then and
said, "nothin stoppin ya mon". Sage advice if you think about it and
my motto for this adventure.
I sat on the beach reflecting, trying to start sorting the two years
of life in Pensacola into some kind of sensible arrangement of memory.
To be sure, I'm leaving with a bigger better boat, having made some
wonderful friends and had some great times. But tipping the scale
heavily in the other direction, I had to consider that I had sailed in
for love of a women and I'm sailing solo now. Not for long I hope.
Onward!
Returning to the dink, I found the phosphorescent effect much stronger
near shore. I was standing and using one paddle to row out to the
Dolphin using canoeing strokes. I could see all the turbulence in each
paddle stroke swirling away behind but also the arc of fairy dust
sparks sprayed by the water slinging off the blade ahead. How cool to
see so clear in a moment that the chaos is receding and the magic lays
ahead.
Love
George
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