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Our Sailing Hideaway Blog and YouTube videos will remain active. Join the HideAways as we tell, through blog stories and videos, what life really is like on a small, 23' Com Pac sailboat. We'll show the joys, thrills and chills of the sailing life, but also what it takes to maintain a boat, trailer and truck. You are just as likely to learn how not to do something correctly as to do it right. That's important too! New! The Hideaways take to the road! Follow Traveling Hideaway: Winds of Wanderlust Transitioning from Sailing Hideaway to Traveling Hideaways as sailors learn to travel without heeling, well, not much, anyway. The Paint Wasters Society unlocks the art of paint squandering with sheer delight, free from the shackles of remorse or guilt. Trust me, a century down the line, nobody's going to bat an eyelash, so why not indulge in some paint splattering shenanigans today? Let's turn those pricey pigments into a canvas of laughter and joy.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

St Pete Beach Gunkhole Cruise - The Movie

Here's the latest on the Thanksgiving weekend gunkhole cruise to St Pete Beach -





                                                     SMALL BOATS ROCK!

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

St Pete Beach FL Gunkhole: A Small Boat Sailing Cruise

Once north bound HideAway sailed on with a bone in her teeth joyfully tossing waves this way and that while her crew grew smiles from ear to collective ear. Only a radio alert from Miandros kept HideAway from trying to make Anclote Key before dark. Seems we had over shot the skinny little white church steeple that marked our anchorage.




Sailing HideAway off St Pete Beach, Gulf of Mexico Thanksgiving Weekend



By the time HideAway had gained the safe haven Miandros had set two anchors close to shore in calm waters six foot deep at lower tide. Both crews piled into their respective dinghies and rowed for shore surfing along the way in the gentle swells. Once on the beach a crowd of people met us as if we had just sailed in from Texas or some such. Well I may have told them so, but it surely is not often sailors are treated as rock stars.

Mihrandros & HideAway St Pete Beach Fl Gulf of Mexico



Frank Hurley Park with its modern flushers and showers is a short walk along the sandy street. A longer, but certainly doable stroll to the Hurricane is possible for those without chicken to grille. Those with longer legs and deeper pockets would find the Don Cesar a bit further the other direction and of course on the way the Nancy Markoe Gallery is always a fun place to visit. With chickens calling both crews reluctantly rowed back to supper.



The base of the Off bottle seals the Solar Shower and repels bugs! 

The HideAways are pretty much low tech when it comes right down to it.    So it should be no real surprise to find a jar of sun tea brewing at the stern.  No need to bring a stove to heat water when there is a perfectly good, hot celestial body to do the job.




A fine cup of fresh brewed tea is a satisfying way to begin the day especially if it is sun tea made the old fashioned way in an aged pickle jar. Apparently the former residents of that particular jar were quite flavorful. Thus the invention of Dill Pickle Sun Tea came to pass on a sunny morning in November. DPST is an acquired taste for the sophisticated palette with an interesting bouquet and a long finish. Gulpable, perhaps a bit coarse, Dill Pickle Sun Tea has an aromatic nose that leaps out of the glass. Some say it’s a real knock out. Did I mention it is an acquired taste?

Thursday, December 29, 2011

A Thanksgiving Cruise - St Pete Beach Florida

HideAway along the ICW near Tierra Verde Florida
The last impediment on Boca Ciega Bay to the Gulf of Mexico is a bascule bridge designated by a particularly uncreative bureaucrat simply as Structure C. Motor sailing south from this relic from a slower time the HideAways began to have doubts as to the wisdom of anchoring for the night off St Pete Beach in the Gulf of Mexico. Dan and Steve following us in Miandros expressed the confidence sailors have after spending too much time ashore insisting that the easterly wind would keep the Gulf calm close to the beach.



The definition as to what constitutes a calm anchorage depends upon the boat you are sailing. Miandros, a Pearson Wanderer, is about two feet wider, seven feet longer and has more than twice the displacement of HideAway, a Compac 23. Add to equation the HideAway seems to be a magnet for wind that drinks scotch whiskey while howling at the moon all night and you can understand our concern. Noting that Miandros was flying a reefed main did nothing to comfort the HideAways.


Mihandros Reefed  ICW St Pete Beach Fl

For now though, the sky was sunny, the wind was up along with the unusually warm temperature of almost 80.  At Thanksgiving!  To the relief of everyone the usual white knuckle portion of the ICW between Tierra Verde to port and St Pete Beach to starboard was nearly devoid of traffic.  Gybing into Pass-A-Grille Channel revealed one cabin cruiser eastbound on the correct side of the channel well out of harms way.  The waters north of the channel, close to the proposed anchorage, give even the shallow draft sailors the willies. Although a cut is rumored to exist just off the rip rap and pier neither Capt. desired to explore this possibility and held course offshore to the last marker before heading north

HideAway in Pass A Grille Channel
Once north bound HideAway sailed on with a bone in her teeth . . .

(To be continued)

SMALL BOATS ROCK!

Saturday, December 10, 2011

A Florida Gunkhole Raft-up - - - Stern To?


Rafted near Indian Key St Petersburg, Florida



There must be somewhere in this big world, a snug little gunkhole as calm as a mirror. The HideAways in contrast, are quite successful at finding bumpy anchorages with 20kn winds especially when rafted next to a larger boat.


Rafting two sailboats of dissimilar weight and lengths is something of an art form. A balance must be maintained between boarding access and preventing the respective standing rigging from an expensive entanglement while keeping in mind the motion of a 5 ton boat is considerably different than a two ton.

Add to the equation, the fact that a Compac 23 does not have a hull liner and that the crew sleeps on the settees conveniently located at the beam. Also located on the beam are a series of fenders deployed to keep the boats apart. These fenders love to sing and squawk all night inspired as they are from the wave action.



A 2 x 4 Separates the Cushions for a Quiet Night



The book “How to Raft Up the Boring Way”,  A double anchor has been set and six fenders positioned to cushion the boats on a calm night.

The addition of a 2 x 4 eliminates direct contact with the opposing boat and guarantees a silent night.





SV HideAway Rafted Stern-To


Always innovators, the Stern-To Raft Up Method was invented when HideAway’s bow line untied itself in the aforementioned 20kn air. The HideAways now have a deficit balance in the Bank of Good Luck after rescue by strong stern cleats with good wraps.

It took all five of us plus a Marine Scientist who happened by in his kayak to pull HideAway’s bow back around in the strong wind. Marine Scientists are good to have around, especially if they bring a kayak. This one stayed for supper, told some fascinating stories of the BP oil spill, and then shoved off into the night with a flash light strapped to his head. (A phone call later verified his successful bay crossing.)

The HideAways had a peaceful night’s sleep dreaming of reefed main and storm jib configurations.


Anchored off St Pete Beach Florida
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