I'm back...

Although I'm no longer on the boat -- unfortunately she's still rotting away in a marina in Baytown -- I hope no one minds if I continue to write about my adventures.  I really missed it.

I'm currently living and working in Newport Beach, California, having moved to Huntington Beach back in September and over to Newport Beach a couple months ago.  Now, I'm close enough to walk to work, though I don't often do so.  I never liked driving that much.

I lived in San Diego for a couple years over a decade ago, but Orange County is really different.  A friend from LA likes to talk about the orange curtain -- evidently it's pretty conservative here.  However, I've been so busy working and getting settled that I haven't really noticed, but it does seem to pop up from time to time in conversations.  

Hopefully I'll be able to provide some entertaining examples, but for now, I'd just like to reopen the blog and say hi to anyone who might still be following -- don't you have anything better to do?  I'm also going to make a concerted effort to add more photos.

Oh, and for those of you who know, or care, I broke down and bought a flat screen tv last weekend, and even got cable -- want to be able to stay home and catch a baseball game now and again without having to go to a bar.  It's actually only the second tv I've ever bought.  The other being a small set I got in France to help me learn french.  At least I won't have to pay a tv tax here in California.

Finally, I live alone in a 2 bedroom townhouse about a mile from the beach, so come out for a visit, you're all welcome...  

...

It's time to end this blog and move on. I've enjoyed writing it and will start a new one soon, but don't expect a link because I plan to write the next one anonymously.

I'd always intended on making a final post, but wanted to wait till I had a job and got settled. Unfortunately, that's proved more difficult than crossing the Gulf, so I decided to go ahead and write the final one without any clear resolution concerning my future or that of the boat.

I'll leave it to your imagination, but I'm pretty sure ....

Houma to Galveston

The trip from Houma to Galveston turned out much better than I'd expected. There wasn't much going on in Houma -- the only places within walking distance were the hospital and a couple gas stations -- and I didn't want to wait around, at $25/day, till the new documentation certificate arrived, so after verifying the USCG had my application, we left. (the certificate didn't arrived until four days after we made landfall)

We got a late start, so I decided to go directly out to the gulf from Houma instead of going through Morgan City to the much bigger channel. Bigger channels are normally easier, but the Houma Navigation Channel is heavily used, so I figured it would be fine if we could make it out into the gulf before it got dark. We stopped for fuel about halfway, which meant we didn't lose much time, and had plenty of fuel for the trip. We made it into deep water, after a bit of drama, right at dusk -- well, relatively deep water at 20+ feet.

While motoring down the navigation channel, I made a few calls to the USCG and a couple of friends who were helping me with the renewal application. Everything was going pretty well until shortly after I got fuel. After a few texts and a call from Paul, I noticed the navigation software had stopped updating. It turned out to be a problem with the GPS software on the phone, and cleared up in less than an hour, but it happened right before dark in a narrow channel as we met a bunch of service boats coming back in. At that point, I figured we were already committed, so I kept going, all the while trying everything I could think of to clear the phone.

Nothing I did worked, but I could still use the charts in the phone -- didn't have any paper charts for this area. It all worked out okay, but I could feel my stress level rise a bit. Luckily, it started working again as we approached deep water. I'm still not sure if the calls or texts had anything to do with it, but it's only happened one other time, so who knows. However, we left on a Friday, which is supposed to be bad luck, so maybe that was a gentle warning for next time.

As soon as I raised the sails and cut the engine, I looked around and all I could see were rigs everywhere, lit up like christmas trees. It got better the next day, but there were always multiple rigs in site the entire trip. We had good wind on the first night, but were becalmed most of the next day. The forecast called for relatively calm conditions for several days, but since I was ready to get the trip over with, and had no desire to just sit out there, we motored most of the second day.

The winds picked up again in the late afternoon, but died again for a few hours the next morning. We motored till noon, then made pretty good progress sailing the rest of the day. Luckily, we were on a reach almost the entire time, so even with lite winds, we did pretty well. The waves were 2-4 feet on the first day, then less than 2 feet the rest of the trip.

The only problem we had the whole time was from a service boat that crossed our bow within a couple hundred yards at 20 knots. The wake was over 6 feet. I should have slowed down, but I didn't realize it would be that bad, and we crashed through the wake at a relative speed of over 25 knots, which wasn't too bad for me because we were motoring and I was ready for it. However, it really upset Zoe. She got bounced around a bit down below. Anyway, I learned my lesson and didn't let it happen again. Mainly because I called every service boat I saw after that and asked them not to wake me. Most of them were pretty nice, but I also took pretty drastic evasive action to stay as far away from them as possible from then on.

We lost the wind again on Sunday morning, but it picked up again shortly after noon. We had to point a little lower to keep up boat speed, then lost the wind again in the late afternoon. By then, we were still too far out to make Galveston before dark, so I was content to slow down a bit. However, after loosing the wind completely, I decided to motor toward the anchorage south-east of Galveston.

The wind picked up again just before dark, so we started sailing again. We were so far north, we could easily pick up the weather forecasts for Cameron and Port Author, but had trouble picking up Galveston -- they kept getting covered by other broadcasts further east. I was pretty sure the current conditions would hold, but we were heading directly toward what looked like either fog or haze, which wasn't in the forecast. I don't have radar, so I avoid fog like the plague. Luckily, I was able to speak to one of the service boats -- the fast ones, 20+ knots, that look like el caminos -- and got a current report. He confirmed the good weather in Galveston would continue for another couple days.

With that out of the way, we continued to close with the coast overnight. I had a lot of trouble with all the lights from rigs, ships, and shore. A little after 0400, we got close enough to make out a bunch of big ships at anchor waiting for a pilot just south of Galveston. We came on in and hove to in the lee of the closest one, then I set my alarm and took a nap. Actually, I took several 30 minute naps.

At a little before dawn, we got underway again and followed a cruise liner into the inlet. I doused the sails once we got inside the jetties and motored the rest of the way in. We stopped at Harbor House Marina for a few days before continuing on to Baytown a few days later. We're currently staying at Bayland Marina on a month to month basis, but hope we can reevaluate our situation by the end of the month and either move or sign a longer lease. Hopefully, I'll have some good news to report later this week. I still need to send in my taxes and get a Texas driver's license, but other than that, all options are on the table.

Galveston

We finally made it to Galveston. The trip was good, but not much wind; We were becalmed a few times and motor-sailed. This was normally in the mornings, but it always picked back up in the afternoon.

We're beat, so a detailed report will have to wait.

Stuck in Houma

I should have mentioned earlier that we arrived in Houma yesterday afternoon, and will probably be here through Monday. I would have continued this morning, but found out yesterday that my USCG documentation renewal was never faxed, so I can't move the boat till that's taken care of. The USCG is very active here and all the way down to the Mexican border, so chances of getting stopped before we get to Galveston are pretty high. I'll call again tomorrow and find out when to expect it by fedex.

Paw watch:

After posting the last entry from New Orleans, we walked around the French Quarter for a while, but didn't stop anywhere, and finally started heading back to the boat around 1800. My iphone told me it was just under 6 miles, and since it was so nice out, I figured we'd just walk.

However, Zoe was worn out by about halfway -- she'll just stop in the middle of the sidewalk and rest whenever she gets tired. A short time later, I got a blister on the top if my right foot, and had to start walking barefoot. Neither of us had done much walking lately, and we weren't making very good time at that point, so the short 2 hour walk was looking more and more like 3 or 4.

My phone was almost dead, so instead of trying to find and call a taxi, I decided to carry Zoe and continue on. I carried her across my shoulders sorta like you might see in a nativity scene. It wasn't bad, and she didn't mind, but it wasn't long before my bare feet started get sore too.

I had no way to treat the blister, but needed to find a way to cushion it for the next mile and a half so I could wear my shoes. Other than some receipts and a few dollar bills in my wallet, I had nothing on me -- I'd forgotten I had my bandana around my neck. I thought about using the paper receipts, but figured they'd get destroyed pretty quickly and I'd end up with a shoe full of spitballs, so I tried a dollar bill.

It worked great. If you ever need to make a quick pad for a blister, try using a dollar -- the paper is almost indestructible. And with all the druggies using them to snort coke, they probably make a good anesthetic too -- at least it stopped hurting during the walk.

When we got back, I noticed I'd lost my last pair of glasses, so we walked down to the local drugstore the next morning to get some new ones -- I stocked up on cheap ones this time. It wasn't far, and though both of us were a little sore, it wasn't until we got back that Zoe started limping. It got so bad that she hardly got up during the trip, and couldn't climb the stairs into and out of the cabin.

She's still favoring it today, but otherwise seems fine. I gave her a half of an aspirin a few times, but couldn't tell whether or not it helped -- maybe she could have used a dollar bill too?

Best Sailing Yet

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Sunday was supposed to be just a short trip to Point Malheureux. However, we got such an early start, and had such good conditions, we ended up going all the way to New Orleans, and anchored in a little cove on Lake Pontchartrain just before dark.

Other than motor-sailing the last hour as the sun set, and a couple hours to make it through the channel and bridges around Rigolets, we strictly sailed the whole day and averaged over 5 knots. On the 12 hour trip, we sailed exclusively, including off the anchor, for 9 hours, motor-sailed racing the sun for one hour, and motored through a restricted channel and bridges for two hours.

We started the day sailing both on and off the wind as we followed the channel across the Mississippi and Borge Bays, but only had to tack or jibe about 5 times -- we made Rigolets by 1430. However, once we got onto Lake Pontchartrain, we were able to stay on the port tack the rest of the way. We even made close to hull speed part of the time on a close reach. Later, after the winds started to die down a bit, we still averaged well over 5 knots.

With good winds and relatively calm seas the entire day, I had plenty of time to try different things to see what worked and what didn't. I still don't think I'm very good at it, but I was able to balance the rig and get her to sail with about 3° of weather helm -- she definitely needs at least 10-15 knots of wind though. That amount if wind and weather helm made the wind vane more effective and kept a better, straighter, course.

Another Slip

Since it looks like we'll be here a while waiting on my documentation certificate (that's another story), I figured I'd try to catch up the blog. Instead of one long omnibus entry short on detail, I'm going to post several shorter ones, and try to keep them in chronological order as much as possible.

The day after I anchored off of Cat Island, I decided to tidy up and re-flake the mainsail. The winds had been sorta high the previous day, so I just headed into the wind and quickly flaked it so I could anchor. It wasn't pretty, but with no one around, who cares?

After looking at it all the next day, I decided to quickly re-flake it right before sundown. The wind was still up a bit, 15 with gusts close to 20. I pulled off all the sail ties and the sail unfolded in the wind. After making sure all the flakes were correctly alternating from one side to the other at the mast, I came back to the cockpit and started flaking the lower ones, which are the most difficult, especially in the wind.

I got the first couple flakes over the boom set, but couldn't reach the sail ties in the cockpit, so I tried to hold the finished flakes with my right hand and use my left foot to try to hook one of them. If you want to picture this, I'm standing on the sliding hatch facing forward with my right hand holding the flakes on the boom. In that position, there's nothing else to hold onto. I'm crouching down and twisting to my left and reaching down with my left foot.

I don't know if a wave hit us or I just slipped, but I fell over backwards into the cockpit, and hit my tailbone on the edge of the port locker hatch as I fell. I can't say I saw stars, but for a few minutes I was sure I'd broken something.

I guess that's the good thing about being in shape, you don't weigh as much, and what's there is mostly muscle. After a few minutes on my back, I got up and a few minutes later found I was fine, albeit a little sore. It took a few days, but I don't feel it at all now.

Part of the problem might be a misplaced sense of security due to the new non-skid. I hadn't done the hatch yet, but everywhere I've got it, the footing is so good, I may have let my guard down. I plan to finish the non-skid everywhere before I leave, and try to look on this as a reminder to always hang on tightly with at least one hand -- one hand for you, one for the boat, and flakes don't count.