JeffAndJanice.com

Thursday, July 07, 2005

{this post was originally posted on the TSBB board. If I reference people you don't know, get over it}

The Redneck Riviera Cruise from the deck of Skittles (NB: I finally have a name for my boat: "Skittles")

What a great time! Charlie and Laura are wonderful hosts, and they make you want to move to the Texas Coast. They live in a quaint little beach community that hasn't been discovered by the millionaires yet. All of the camps look like real camps, not like the mansions you see in most coastal communities these days. We felt very much at home by this beguiling place!

I had never met Wolf or Arfon and our first meeting was, appropriately enough, on the water, as we were headed for the marina. Even though they had never met us, they knew us on sight. “How are Jeff and Janice doing today?”, Arfon called out, as he was being towed by his buddy's boat. “Better than you!”, I hollered back. We had watched them deal with being grounded, and were ready to assist, but by the time we caught up, they were on their way again. Fortunately, Arfon's outboard problems were temporary, and he was good to go for the rest of the weekend.

At the marina, the band was setting up for the concert, and we were getting hungry, so we all walked down to a Mexican restaurant for dinner. It was a good opportunity for us to get to know our new friends, and get re-acquainted with old ones. We also got a glimpse at the gallery that sells Laura's paintings... and they do sell. Laura ran into the owner at the concert. He told her he had sold several prints that week. She's really on fire!

Larry Joe Taylor was a lot of fun, and we bought a couple of his CDs after the concert. We also bought some coral rings from the Port Lavaca Yacht Club for fifty cents each, and wore them for the next four days. I left mine on the boat, and it will be part of my regular sailing garb from now on.

As Wolf said, the night in the marina was hot. We were pretty sweaty, and happy that there was a real shower available in the morning. Not a single TSBBer skipped the opportunity for a good ablution before heading down into the wilderness.

Wayne and Connie were the first to leave in the morning. We also left early assuming, naturally, that we needed a head start, since we're a little slow on the water. It didn't take long for Tehani and La Vie Dansante to catch us and pass us, much like we were standing still. Wolf is apparently a pretty competent sailor, because he left us, and everyone else, in his wake. We expected to be passed by Tehani first, but Wolf blew by us like there was a sale on Corona at the end of the channel.

ARFON'S BOAT

WOLF'S BOAT

Our sailing buddies for this trip were Wayne and Connie. We passed them, they passed us, we passed them. It was a nice teeter totter day. We knew there would be someone close by if we got into trouble, and we could see, at least two miles ahead, that Tehani and Wolf were still screaming through the bay.

But what about Arfon? Well, we could see he was about a mile behind us, and then farther, and then he wasn't there at all. I figured he'd catch up with us by midnight, and I felt bad that he had fallen so far behind. As we approached the end of the channel, Charlie hailed us on the VHF and told us he'd anchored to wait for us to catch up. “We're anchored with Wolf, and Arfon is just getting here.” Huh? Arfon was miles behind us! I was blown away when I arrived at the jetties to see he was there, at anchor, waiting on us slow-pokes to catch up.

We all got to sail the last mile to the anchorage together. That's where Tehani got into trouble. With the deepest draft, they were feeling out the shallow spots for us . They grounded themselves pretty good, and were heeled over without even moving! That's a neat trick! Charlie told us to keep our distance, as he was pretty sure he could get Tehani off the bottom without assistance. We all weaved back and forth watching his efforts, which included hoisting the sails to heel her over; getting into the water to push; and hanging on the end of the boom. It took time, bu he got her out! We were in business again, and we all got anchored at the pass a little while later.

Wolf gave a pretty good description of the evening in his post. The current was stronger than anything I've been in, so we were leery of going ashore. I suggested rafting up, and we all agreed that we could get together for a few hours, but the wind was strong, and the current was wicked, so we knew we couldn't spend the night like that.

Janice and I had roast beef, mashed potatoes, and asparagus for dinner. Charlie and Laura had roast beef, mashed potatoes, and asparagus for dinner. Wow! Do great minds think alike! What were he odds we'd pack the exact same dinner?

At sunset, I finally got to blow my conch shell horn. It's a tradition to welcome the sunset in this manner, but I had never done so before. Of course, Charlie had to out-do me by taking out an even bigger conch shell and making a deeper, louder blast!

After we all went our separate ways, on our separate anchors, the fireworks displays started onshore. They were impressive, but not as impressive as the great stargazing they have there. It was dark enough that the Milky Way was as plain as clouds in the sky. Venus and Mars were lined up next to each other. It was great.

We were a little nervous about the weather conditions, since we'd never anchored in strong winds and currents before. When I got up at night, it looked like we had dragged anchor, because the anchor lights from the other boats were just dots, and it's hard to judge distance on dots. I kept an eye on it, but in the morning, we learned that we hadn't drifted an inch!

The next day was for beach combing and socializing. I learned that Wolf and Arfon are really white, and they intend to stay that way . They remained covered from head to toe as long as the sun was out. Wolf made the mistake of exposing his skin to the sun briefly, and had paid the price. He was burning quicker than Chicago. Some people have to stay out of the sun, no matter what. Now honestly. How many sun-sensitive people do you know who sail? How cool are these guys, to get out and risk their health to be on the water? These are die-hard sailors!!! We liked Wolf and Arfon for a lot of reasons, but their resolve to screw with Mother Nature was one of the main ones.

Speaking of which, I was screwing with the old broad myself. In these modern times, with modern prosthetics, it's hard for an amputee to be a good pirate. We have to stay away from salt water. It was bound to happen, and of course, it did. I stepped onto my kayak at one point, and all of a sudden I was in the water! I don't know what happened, but before I could get situated, I lost my balance and the water came up to meet me. I was wearing my PFD, so I bobbed like a cork, but I knew my leg was soaking up seawater like a sponge. I climbed aboard, and squeezed out all the salt water I could. Then I cut through the “life-like” cover and squeezed out the salt water, then rinsed the mechanism with fresh water and sprayed it with WD-40. Today I put the knee in the shop, and they gave me a loaner (I'm not making this up), and the salt-laden one is headed back to the factory.

Sunday we spent the entire day on the beach. Not all of us, since Wayne and Connie were itching to sail, and cast off to do so. Later, we all gathered for a cookout on the beach.

The sail back was a real gas! We hit record speeds, higher than our hull speed, since we were sailing downwind, which O'days apparently love. Later, Charlie announced that he'd made it back in record time, yet he never caught us!!! We did pretty good.

When we got back, we had the opportunity of watching Wolf and Arfon go through their packing ritual. It was very involved. Janice and I just leave everything in the boat .

Charlie and Laura inflated a mattress for us to sleep on, and while I could still feel the rolling boat, while on solid ground, I slept very well in their air conditioning.

Tuesday I got to see Charlie's workshop in Victoria. If you haven't seen it yet, you'd better hurry, because he's re-locating to be closer to home (actually, to be home).

The trip was a good time My only regret is that the TSBBers who couldn't make it, couldn't make it. They missed a great little cruise.

Edit: Here's a little video I made on my digital camera.

another hasty insight by Jeff on 7/07/2005

Thursday, July 07, 2005

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