New Orleans Escape

First off, I have to say that the sailing yesterday was excellent -- by far the best day I've had. I'll write more about it later, but need to catch up first.

1130 - We're having lunch outside at a little restaurant near Shubert's Marina in New Orleans. We anchored nearby last night and pulled in for fuel this morning. They're only charging me $30 to stay at the fuel dock overnight, so we decided to stay -- best price yet.

The back of my iphone cracked during the last trip, so we're going to walk over to the French Quarter to get it fixed. Not sure how much it will be, but it will give me a chance to see New Orleans and get Zoe off the boat for a while -- not that she needs it now.

When we pulled up to the fuel dock, a very talkative older guy helped me tie up -- there wasn't any wind, and I didn't need any help, but it was a nice gesture. Well, the talking got Zoe excited, and she jumped ship. I was trying to get the boat secured so I could go after her, but this fellow just kept talking and asking questions. I should have just gone after her immediately and let him hold the boat, but I was trying to be polite.

I went after her as soon as I could and called and looked all over, but couldn't find her. Finally, someone drove by and said they'd seen her swimming in the channel. He drove me over to the dock and showed me where she'd gone in. I called and called and finally spotted her in the water on the other side. She swam right over and I pulled her out. I sure hope she'll grow out of this, I'm getting too old for it.

1515 - Lunch took much too long (not in NYC anymore), so we had to take a cab over to the repair shop. Even though I'd asked repeatedly to make sure they had the right parts for my phone, and they assured me they did, they didn't. The only upside (after a $22 cab ride) is that now I've seen how they're put together, and the cracked glass back isn't a big deal. And, it didn't hurt that the shop's on the edge of the French Quarter.

We're hanging out in the courtyard of a margarita bar (I think that's part of the name) relaxing and having a drink. It's a little hot now, but we'll walk around a bit once it cools off and may even walk all the way back to the marina later.

New Orleans watch:

I'd always thought the protagonist in A Confederacy of Dunces was a fictitious figure. However, I've already seen several folks on the streets, including the owner of the computer repair shop, who look disturbingly similar to Toole's description of Ignatius J. Reilly -- I'm wondering which came first. The way they dress makes no sense, but then again, why should it?

Trip watch:

I'd planned to write a full entry about the last attempt to head straight to Galveston, but I guess I'll just summarize it here. As I've mentioned, the winds and waves from the south-west (the direction we wanted to go) were stronger and bigger than forecast -- not significantly, but at least 20-30%. Unfortunately, I was unable to make any headway under these conditions, which I had to assume would last for the next few days.

In addition to the weather, a few other problems came up on the trip. First, I noticed the lee side shrouds were floppy in strong winds. Obviously, they'd been that way all along, and probably exacerbated the chainplate leaks -- mast pumping. I tightened them while we were becalmed Wednesday afternoon -- the really strong winds didn't hit till later that evening. However, it still concerned me.

Also, as mentioned above, the glass back on my iphone cracked on the trip. It still works fine, but since I rely on it heavily for navigation, perhaps too much so, and don't have paper charts for the Galveston approach, other than Galveston Bay, I was uncomfortable about continuing with it under those conditions. I feel better about it now, but will probably stay inside for the rest of this trip anyway, so it's moot at this point.

Finally, the luff edge of the top batten pocket ripped out on both sides. Luckily, I didn't loose the batten or sustain any other damage, but had to go without a batten till I could repair it.

I didn't get a chance to fix it till we got to Cat Island. I used some sail repair tape to fix the rips, which worked out fine, but the cause turned out to be a rubber cap from a previous batten had come off and lodged in the socket. Once I removed that, and filed the end of the batten to make it smooth, it seated and looked as good as new.

I'm tempted to stay another couple nights if we can do so for just $30 a night, but I'm also anxious to finish the trip. As Biden said about passing the health care law, taking a sailboat from Huntington, Long Island, to Galveston is a big deal (even without the expletive). I think I'd like to traverse New Orleans at night under a full moon, and just keep going -- we'll see.

It can't be any worse than Hell Gate, and since there's no tide to contend with, it's probably much better, albeit a little more crowded. However, I'm sure barge crews like to sleep too, so it might be much better. At least the amateurs won't be out.

1700- It's cooled off a lot, and a couple smokers just sat down next to us. I dislike smokers, and even though it doesn't seem to bother Zoe, we'll be leaving shortly. Until next time...