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| SAILING DOWN HILL |
Not all sailing voyages have to include screaming, rigging wind does it?
Cruise To Your Dream- Sorta
You finally leave on your dream cruise with the full realization that you must reach a mark on the chart before dark or you will not see the sun set under the yard arm while you sip an exotic drink and your adoring crew fans you with fresh cut palm fronds.
Why is it that a cruise to your paradise of choice is fraught with all this stressful planing and goals? Sailing in modern times has little to do with practically anyway so why have a plan in the first place?
So I Ask You --
Is a 200 yard cruise as satisfying as a 200 mile voyage?
Is it more stimulating to run from a storm as it is a competitor chasing you around a triangle?
Is a lazy drift among zephyrs as fullfilling as a hard battle to windward in big seas and dense fog?
Shoulder Forecast
Many people travel the world during the "shoulder season" to avoid crowds and higher costs.
A good shoulder season for the sailor is a day when the weather looks questionably unstable enough to keep the less risk inclined ashore, but not so fearful to keel and sail to give you pause. Of course everyone has a different pause threshold, but you get my drift, I'm sure.
Night On A Shoulder Sail
On a steamy Fourth of July night on Boca Ciega Bay we lay at anchor in the gathering darkness to wait for the fireworks to start. Well over a hundred lost souls of kindred spirits, many of whom had insufficient knowledge of anchoring, made entertaining efforts to throw, rather than drop, the heavy anchor overboard. Some of them had a rope tied to it, but several anchors were tossed lacking that accessory.
Not that we were any better. Upon pulling the anchor a miscommunication and a lazy outboard nearly had us in the custom boat business, narrowly missing a expensive fiberglass condo.
The fireworks preshow began with an impressive display of loud explosions that lit up the sky and strong gusty wind and rain that made our bow disappear. A normal Florida summer storm with a 20 minute duration. After it passed a third of the hardly anchored boats were gone and another third were untangling their rodes with the clear intention seeking land. After an hour's delay, the city of Gulfport (FL) lit the match with only a precious few boats left to enjoy the show, the HideAways among them.
With these thoughts in mind we present our latest video Sailing to the Moon via the Sun- In Light Air
Whew! Who thought that one up? Oh....
SMALL BOATS ROCK!
