Not a good start

[sailaway78]

Left Slidell on Thurs. morning, and now it's Saturday, and have gone a total of approx. 60 miles. Quite a trip huh. Made the 40 something miles over to Cat Island on Thurs. no problem, except basically no wind. Made it in there around 4:30, and got anchored up. Around 2 in the AM this latest front came through, wind clocked around to the North. I had anchored a little close to shallow water, and had out a bunch or rode. So, don't ya know, wind shifts, we swing around, and are bumping the bottom. Guess it's a good thing it happened when it did. By the time we pulled anchor and moved out a little bit, it was whistling pretty good, and by 3AM was blowing 30+. Most of the rest of the night was spent on anchor watch, was to rolly to sleep anyway. Friday morning the wind started to lay down, and we had a friend behid us we were gonna buddy boat with, over into Fla., who had got caught in the fog getting our of New Orleans, so decided to just hang a day and wait for him. A little after lunch the wind started kicking up again, this time out of the West. Was blowing 25 to 30, with gusts that were probably 40 or so, and forecast was for the same or more, the rest of the day, and all night. Discretion being the better part of valorl, decided to just get the hell outta there. Made a run from Cat Island over to Biloxi, 16 miles, under a 50% furled jib, no mainsail, and did it in less than two hours. Running about 15 degrees off DDW. Was a fun sail, but a lotta work controlling the boat. Were averaging over 8.5 knots, and saw a SOG once of the GPS of 11 kinots. Over 10 was pretty frequent. Nice day for a fun short day sail, but waaaaaaay too much work for an old fart to be traveling. All day today, has been more of the same. Buddy boat decided he wanted none of it, and headed back to the dock. Probably be out of here in the morning, and if the forecast holds, going to make a long run over to Ingrams Bayou. May get beat up some, but I just hate sitting and waiting. Besides, as they say, If you can't take the heat, get outta the kitchen.

 

[MrBee]

Sounds like an exciting start to your adventure.

Bee

 

[Ross]

Where boating is concerned I don't like exciting, semi-boring is better.

 

[Bad Obsession]

I agree Ross. Why stress the rigging and do a green faced run? This IS supposed to be fun. Wait for your weather if you have the time to do so. Boating this time of year is made a bit more bumpy and complex because of the numerous fronts!

 

[zeehag]

i think we are doing ok--we beat the fog and we didnt get hard aground lol....wind pushed us at 11 mph and averaged about 9 -10--we doing great..LOL...hopefully the rest wont be so much work!! i promise not to whistle for the kat anymore ...LOL

 

[Dick Dixon]

After you pass the Dauphin Island Bridge you'll get a short reprieve from the seas...unless the tide is outbound at the time you come up to the bridge. The ride across Mobile Bay will be exciting but once you enter the Alabama Canal on the eastern shore it will be real nice. Wish I was sailing with you but got to go to work Monday morning. Good luck.

 

[zeehag]

mississippi sound and one pissed cat..lol....got more scared after the travel bag he was hiding inside fell onto floor when it was really rough--i havent pix of that....lol:

 

[RussT1950]

Glad you guys are having such a good time. Maybe will'll see yall for our Memorial day trip with John and Rachel and Mike & Martha

 

[Stu Jackson]

The cat? Looks more like an owl! Have a safe journey, enjoy.

 

[Ed Schenck]

So I am following along here on Yahoo Maps. I am unfamiliar with the south coast. What happens after you cross Mobile Bay? I assume you go inside but for how long? I do know there is no ICW where I am north of St. Petersburg.

 

[MrBee]

Keep the location post coming as you go. I have started a Route in my SeaClear II Nav software just to follow along.

Bee

 

[zeehag]

So I am following along here on Yahoo Maps. I am unfamiliar with the south coast. What happens after you cross Mobile Bay? I assume you go inside but for how long? I do know there is no ICW where I am north of St. Petersburg.

at the other end of mobile bay from mississippi sound there is an entrance to a part of icw that goes thru alabammy---wolf bay and ingrams bayou are there and lulus..lol --it follows to pensacola and empties into big lagoon...then we go to sea..lol....is alll goood----look really close on the alabama charts and maps and you will find it....is going east from the sound....we are now coming up on ingrams bayou, where we will anchor for the night..was a gas sailing across mobile bay--took all of about 3 hours with a tailwind and following current --lol only the jib in use for this one..was fun--phillip got to sleep a bit while i sailed his boat....LOL.....

 

[Benny]

I agree with not unnecessarily over stressing the riggin and you can accomplish that by reducing sail area. I always profess to sail the weather not the schedule, but when you get caught out there and you have got to sail whats out there then make it the less strenuous possible. I mean for the boat not necessarily for yourself. Your guts don't really provide much flotation.

 

[zeehag]

lol we try not to stress the rig--but last summer we found all the thunder and lightning in florida for a few days--we were sailing along at about 10 kts then---at night--whew===his boat is a fast one---but the lightning was a bit scary..lol..this was soooo much nicer!!!! was fun!