First Sail

We took out Jus' Now for its first sail yesterday, a shakedown cruise, joined by my old friend Jim Patterson.

We went about 15 miles across the bay to Gasparilla Island, south end, where the tony resort of Boca Grande is located. Boca Grande, for those of you who don't follow society, is where the Current Occupant vacations when he is in Florida. Oh well, it is a nice place anyway.

Our first attempt to anchor in an open bay where there was a breeze (trying to get away from the bugs) was a grand failure . Weeds on top of mud, hard stuff to anchor in. After three tries we went into a small anchorage up a creek, and about 50' from the bar

So we went into the bayou to anchor. Ran aground, but no harm done. We got on up the creek and anchored stern to the mangroves right across from the docks on the left - and the bar, the Pink Elephant. Rowed over ( the dinghy motor wouldn't start - remember this was a shake down cruise).

The golf course on the right in the photo is the nicest, greenest course I have ever seen. I suspect that is as close as any of us will ever get, too. The whole area reeks of Eastern Establishment. We sat on the deck, but the dinner crowd was all dressed, sweaters over the shoulders of the gentlemen - or blue blazers (the yachting crowd), expensive dresses for the wives. The drinks were strong, though, and not too expensive - about $6 apiece.

We rowed back to the boat and had a steak dinner accompanied by asparagus and lots of good french red wine. We all slept well even though there was no breeze to run off the bugs; the boat has screens on the windows, after all!

Today we sailed back to Punta Gorda on a glorious 15 knot south wind. I have found a nice computer program to forecase tides, so we had no problem getting into our anchorage even though the water at the entrance is very skinny.

Mike and Sue

Loading up the boat

We are heading out! We have a 43' Perry Catamaran and are loading it up with enough food, beer, and wine for several months.

Our sailing friend Dutch is showing up on Dec 6 to help us get ready and go. Our plans (which in the sailing world are NEVER firm) are to head over to the northern Bahamas about the middle of December. The area we are going to is called the Abacos.

To get there we will head down the west side of FL past Naples and down to the Keys. We haven't decided whether we will cut through the Keys (there is one bridge tall enough for us to go under), or around by way of Key West.

We may leave directly from the Keys, or head up to Miame, Ft. Lauderdale, or West Palm Beach. We will wait there for good weather, then cross the Gulf Stream and start real cruising.

We have three staterooms and two heads (bathrooms), air conditioning, two refrigerators, one freezer, autopilot, watermaker, radar, and generator; basically all of the toys one can imagine on a sailboat.

Punta Gorda

We arrived in Punta Gorda Wednesday, September 13th, at about 9 p.m. The liquor stores were closed so my buddy Jim Patterson came up empty-handed trying to buy beer. I guess that's what happens when you go to geezerville.

It has rained almost every day--at least sometime during the day-- today being an exception. It seems hot, but it is seldom over about 85-90. The humidity makes it seem a lot hotter.

We have been unpacking since we arrived; we are now on the downhill stretch. Fortunately, this not-so-pleasant task is punctuated with dips in two beautiful pools and enjoying gorgeous sunsets.

On the way down we viewed a Fontaine Pajot 42' Venezia catamaran, seemed like a nice, but really big boat. Today we looked at a Voyage 38' cat and it seemed very cramped. We are scheduled to look at a couple of more cats and a couple of Island Packets in the next few days.

We're on our way

We closed on the house August 31 and moved to a motel Sept 5; took Brooke to dinner and got ready to get on our way the next day.

Lunch on the 6th was at Hank's diner in Goodland Kansas. If you have any romance in your soul about the small town country diner, forget it; or at least not here. The closest thing I could find to eat that wasn't designed to turn me into the middle American farmer was soup, and it wasn't very good.

That night (9-6) we spent the night in Hutchinson KS (Hutch) to the locals, and had an excellent dinner at a nice restaurant called the Blue Duck Bistro; nice ambiance, good food (although the steak was a little tough). Made friends with the chef who says he will come sailing at the drop of a hat, and bring his knives and stove along to boot so he can cook some proper meals.

Next day (9-7) we drove on into Edmond OK to visit our old friends the Robinsons. Great salmon on the grill and lots of visiting with both Dave and Bev laughing about all of our previous misadventures together. We got out of town about 1pm headed to Houston to visit Sue's niece in the morning, then have dinner with my great friend Jim Hines. We actually got to Huntsville TX where we spent the night.

Saturday (9-8) was spent with Heather and her husband Ryan in an area of southwest Houston that is now very upscale; when I was a kid that area - Sugarland - was populated with sharecroppers. Now it is big homes on small lots for lots and lots of money. Later we went to see Jim Hines and have dinner with him in Kemah TX on Galveston Bat.

Getting Started

We have our home under contract, scheduled to close the end of August '06 - we move Sept 5 '06. We will head to our condo in Punta Gorda and start looking for a boat. The goal is to be sailing early to mid November, although there is a weather class in Annapolis in early Nov. that may interfere.