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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.

Friday, December 6, 2013

2014 BCYC Christmas Lighted Boat Parade Gulfport Fl

Boca Ciega Yacht Club will hold its 29th Annual Lighted Christmas Boat Parade  Saturday December 13th starting around 6 pm.  

The best viewing is along the Gulfport channel, downtown Gulfport and the neighborhoods.  The course below has not changed for this year.  

Here's a video of a past year's parade - it's a bit long but has a nice ending: BCYC LIGHTED BOAT PARADE VIDEO  


SV HideAway All Decked out for Christmas
One of the finer traditions here in the south is the annual Christmas Lighted Boat Parades.  The season swings into action in mid December all along the Gulf Coast.  Our favorite, of course, is sponsored by Boca Ciega Yacht Club on Boca Ciega Bay near Gulfport, FL.  You do not have to be a member to enter the parade but it helps if you have a boat.  To enter call the number on the chart below or follow this link 


2013 BCYC Christmas Boat Parade Route Gulfport Fl
This year's parade is December 14, 2013 starting around 6 pm, touring first the Gulfport Marina then out into Boca Ciega Bay towards downtown, the beach and the Gulfport Pier then on to Town Shores, Pasadena and a long course across the bay to Isla del Sol.  A party for participants follows at Boca Ciega Yacht Club.

Here's a video of last year's parade I shot while standing, and at one point falling, off  a ladder- HO! HO! HO! OW!


SMALL BOATS ROCK!!

Monday, November 18, 2013

2013 St Petersburg Power and Sailboat Show

 DECEMBER 5th - 8th  

St Petersburg Fl Power and Sailboat Show
You know when fall arrives in the south-the boat shows bloom just across the street from melting clocks and the surreal world of the Dali Museum in downtown St Petersburg FL.  Somehow it all comes together in harmony.  After all, surrealism and sailing, at least on HideAway, are often the same. 

 Sea Pearl and the Dali Museum
  Not to be out done, our very own sailing club, Boca Ciega Yacht Club of Gulfport Florida will be at Booth 133 in Tent 1 near the large fountain which is fortunately outside.  

Boca Ciega Yacht Club St Petersburg Sailboat Show


Here you can watch videos and learn all about  the many BCYC programs from a whole fleet of happy sailors.


Cruising, Racing, Youth and Adult Sailing Classes, Oh my!

Bruce Bingham visits with the SV HideAway Admiral


Be There or Be Keel-Hauled!


SMALL BOATS ROCK!
   

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Leading a Sailor to Water Garmin GPSmap 640



Garmin GPSmap 640 on swing arm aboard SV HideAway
Garmin GPSmap 640 on SV HideAway
We were navigating to my son's house in Tampa last weekend using the road mode of our new Garmin GPSmap 640 in an effort to become better acquainted with the high tech device. 

I was growing more upset with it because it was taking us the long way to our destination along all sorts of back streets that were not of our choosing instead of a more direct route using major roads.  

I was about to mention my concerns to the lady in the GPS when all of a sudden she told me to turn right and we found ourselves at a beautiful park right on the Hillsborough River.  

All is forgiven, my son's house was nearby.  

A GPS that knows how to lead a sailor to water is OK in my book.  


Sailing HideAway near Honeymoon Island
Sailing HideAway  anchored near Honeymoon Island FL

Friday, September 13, 2013

Thoughts On Sailing Home


Birds fading light
Sailing HideAway
In the failing light the HideAways headed up, dropped sail, and urged our aged outboard to consciousness.
Linda worked the sails into their resting places while I, unable to see through the downed sails, stood on the stern bridge deck steering a course to the channel the tiller at my side. 

Bruised, battered, soaked and tattered the HideAways crept into the Gulfport Channel with a fairly well shredded main sail and a dingy splintered. 

SMALL BOATS ROCK!
Gulfport Florida Channel

As HideAway, a Com-Pac 23, surged home running before the swells I stood taller than the bimini watching our little craft below. 

The outboard  gurgling as it pushed us along, a Fish Hawk cried, the splash of a fish somewhere, the roil of a wave. I sensed a sailor’s connection with the mariners of the ancient world.

I Could See for a Thousand  Years

 The boat rolling now, homeward bound, as the wind reached her broadsides running free my tiredness vanished. 

All was at peace –

Only the sea, the wind, and we.

I slowed the engine to idle…