Association Forum - BEER Cruise 07 - review (+ links to pics)

Assn Members Area · Join

Home.

Association Forum

Ships Store

Cruising

Racing

Technical Tips

Photo Gallery - New

Boat Search - Updated

Manuals & Brochures

Swap Meet

Links

Officer Flag Line & Staff

Bylaws & Constitution

Members Area

Join the Association

Notice:
The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.

Association Forum

Username:	Password:
Save Password
Forgot your Password?

All Forums

Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

Cruising Forum

BEER Cruise 07 - review (+ links to pics)

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Author

Topic

britinusa
Web Editor

Member Avatar

USA
5404 Posts

Initially Posted - 06/14/2007 : 12:26:17

Initial review of our participation in the BEER Cruise 2007.

Drive to Pensacola was 644 miles, really without incident, although we did experience our first 'Bug Storm' which resembled black snow as we drove through Love Bug Territory just south of Orlando. We left home at 11am and motel-ed at 6pm just west of the I75-I10 junction. Arrived at Pensacola Shipyard Marina Complex before noon and were greeted by 'Cajun John' et. al. Tom Potter had arrived the day before. We launched and slipped as one of the early arrivals.

Thursday night, Tom & Cindy and son Kevin, suggested we go to Lulu's quaint little restaurant for the best crab cakes around... 40 miles later we found Lulu's (sister of Jimmy Buffet) was now a mini Disney and they had stopped taking names for dinner with a 2 hour wait!!! We headed back and stopped at a really nice place which sat us within minutes. Great food, but even better company! Tom & Cindy & Kevin are a pleasure to share time with.

Friday we washed the bugs from the truck and helped a few of the arrivals get sorted out. Tom's dingy motor mysteriously fell in the drink, but with only 5' of water and Tom experienced in engine mechanics got the engine running again in about an hour. Probably lost a few pounds in the process.

Friday night skippers meeting, anticipating 99 participants, we figured about 50 were already there/on their way. Cajun John prepared a feast of Jumbalya (??) pork, rice, beans, sausage, worth a trip around that buoy! A storm passed by and an awesome double rainbow showed over the marina, then sheet lightening delighted everyone watching. Shore power allowed us to run the A/C aaaaaahhh!

Saturday we set off around 8:45ish. out of the marina and into the bay then southeast to the IntraCoastal which is almost 2miles wide at that point. Very light wind from the East, we put up our new (to us) spinnaker and left most of the traffic behind. Tom had headed further south hoping to find wind, his tall rig caught us up as the wind rose and we met up under the first bridge at the eastern end of the IC. The wind picked up during the afternoon and we had some great sailing as we progressed along the 28 mile route to the Navarre Bridge area. The wind shifted to come from the south, picked up a few knots and three of us were dueling it out as we headed on the final section eastwards, smallish channel, we were neck and neck, lots of fun.

Peggy noted that the wind was picking up rapidly and we agreed to douse the sails and go to motor for the last part before the storm hit. Only just did that in time, the storm hit hard! fierce winds, heavy rain, hail stones, and vis down to about 100 yds and less. Tom dropped his sails a little later than us, so he was astern of us when he got hit with a micro burst out of our sight, we could see him going about, but didn't realize the reason and vis was so bad we didn't see him get knocked over to 45d. The surface was now pretty flat due to the heavy rain, the GPS told us where the buoys were, but we were within 50' (two boat lengths) before we could see them.

We turned in for the motor into the anchorage, lost sight of Tom and decided to go back to check all was ok. Another boat was dropping anchor to wait out the storms passing. We continued back and found Tom doing ok, under motor and taking his time to the turn for the anchorage hoping vis would improve. It did, and we arrived off the beach where several other boats were to nudge up to the shore. We stayed at anchor and quickly had a visit from Tom & his family.

Tired from the long day sailing, we dined on board, secured the halyards and turned in. Woke at 6:50am!!! Slept pretty well. No need for A/C so we didn't run the genny, the cool breeze through the open forward hatch kept the temp down to bearable.

Sunday we docked to empty the PP and grab some ice, then off back on the westward leg of the journey towards Quietwater Beach Anchorage. A great days sailing. Started off with the Spinnaker but the wind soon moved forward of the beam and so back to jib and main. With the wind coming from the S/SSW at around 9+ knots, we made pretty good progress. Had to tack south across the IC a couple of times, but finally we close hauled to the QBA and really enjoyed the speed over water, full sails, and that sweet sound of stern gurgling as we aimed directly towards our destination. Tom was on the north side of the IC, many of the smaller boats (Sea Pearls, West Wright Potters, etc.) were hugging the south side of the IC) a hunter with fancy Mylar sails was cruising off wind and we beat them to the anchorage despite their better speed. Great day!

Tom, Cindy, Kevin, Peggy and I went ashore for dinner. Tom towed our West Marine dinghy with his Baltic, have not seen Peggy laugh so much as that trip in our rinky dink! Met with a bunch of the others on the cruise, and got back to the boat before dark. Another night without the A/C, but it was a lot stickier and we didn't sleep well.

Sunday I was up and even Peggy awoke before 6:50am! Tom headed out and we followed shortly. Tom saw some rays around his boat on the north side of the IC, so he just hung out a while. The really light wind left most of us motoring towards the western side of the Pensacola bay, but it picked up by lunch time and more good sailing. We met up with Eddie and Becky on Minnow (WWP) and decided to go visit Fort Pickens on the south western end of the IC barrier. About six boats pulled up to the beach. JD is not ever going to intentionally get beached, so we dropped anchor and took a second ashore in the dink to make it easy to pull the dink to and fro the boat to the shore. It was a very hot afternoon, refreshments in a back tote and we joined the others at the fort. By the time we got back to the beach, some of the others had left. That's when Dragonfly was spun on it's keel in the sand, and the fin snapped off!
At that point, a wake hit the beach and threatened to push us towards the sand. The strong current along the beach to the west made it difficult to keep the boat off but we managed. I had put the shore anchor in the dink so we were hanging of a single line. The wind was pushing us off the beach, but the wake was pushing us on and the current was dragging us towards the west. That was a bit hairy. Early action with the outboard and heaving on the anchor line allowed us to stay clear of the beach, pull up the anchor and follow the Mac out of the current. Phew!

Great sail across the bay to the sand pile on the western edge just south of the Naval Air Base.

We anchored only to find that our dink had a leak, deflated within 5 mins of reflating it.

Tom dinked over to us, and we enjoyed a visit to Knotty Cat for some yarning. Back on our boat after sunset, we could really see the difference that the new LED anchor lights made, really good value!

Tuesday morning, up at 5:50am yep! 5:50am, coffee brewed and breakfast. Tom decided to leave ahead of the Blue Angels Practice Display and we headed out about 15 mins later. Good decision. We had an awesome view of the Blue Angles and at one point we were fortunate enough to be within about 150 ft of a fly by .. 'We Were Buzzed' yelled Peggy with delight. Fantastic end of a great weekend sailing.

Motoring all the way back to the marina hoping to get derigged before the heat of noon, we pulled in to the slip as Tom was motoring his dink to the ramp while the family prepared knotty cat for the pull out.

We quickly got JD ready for the ramp, and fetched the truck and trailer, no lines at the ramp yet. Glad we got back early.

A few hours later, JD was snugged down for the long journey home and we were showered and made parting handshakes and hugs just before the anticipated rain arrived. Then it was back on the road and the end of the cruise.

During the trip home we reflected on many of the aspects of the cruise. Would we do it again .. Yes, would we do other similar events .. Yes, did we enjoy it. Absolutely. Made some new friends, met with some virtual friends, and enjoyed new experiences on our boat that will make future trips even more pleasurable.

Wish you were there.

Paul & Peggy on Joint Decision.
<s>Pics and videos coming shortly.</s>

[url="http://www.helloworld.com/members_myworld.aspx?ID=britinusa&target=pictures"]Pics here[/url]

Edited by - britinusa on 06/14/2007 15:01:10

DaveR
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
2015 Posts

Response Posted - 06/14/2007 : 20:37:47

Great Pics Paul, Thanks for sharing!

Edited by - on

delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

Members Avatar

USA
4479 Posts

Response Posted - 06/15/2007 : 08:53:48

Nice write up Paul, sounds like you guys had a great time. Wish we weren't 3k miles away.

Edited by - on

britinusa
Web Editor

Members Avatar

USA
5404 Posts

Response Posted - 06/15/2007 : 20:08:30

Updated the online videos to include the fireworks display after the skippers meeting.

[url="http://www.helloworld.com:80/members_myworld.aspx?ID=britinusa&target=video"]Click here and select the 'Lightening at Pensacola' clip[/url]

The broken dragonfly is the video of Dragonfly breaking it's keel on the beach.

paul

Edited by - on

Tom Potter
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
1913 Posts

Response Posted - 06/15/2007 : 20:45:50

Here's some more [url="http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8CYtWLVs3cMMO&notag=1"]Pictures [/url]from the trip.

(I think the password problem its fixed now)

As usual another great cruise. Its hard to beat the sailing in Santa Rosa Sound. It seems every year it gets better.

However, I could have done without the bare pole knock down!

Edited by - Tom Potter on 06/16/2007 07:29:41

John Russell
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
3444 Posts

Response Posted - 06/16/2007 : 06:31:39

Tom,
Your photos require a password to see them.

Edited by - on

atgep
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

1009 Posts

Response Posted - 06/17/2007 : 00:54:53

Congrats on the successful cruise. Sounds like a "normal" Beer cruise. Lightning, broken keel, underwater outboard retrieval. I am sure even with all this not a single BEER was spilled! I missed it and will be there in 09!

Tom.

Edited by - on

sweetcraft
Admiral

Members Avatar

USA
816 Posts

Response Posted - 06/21/2007 : 23:41:30

Great write up. Hope to have a good cruise with some of the Forum members. San Juans Cruise in 9 days and counting. Thanks for the reminder to safety cable the outboard.

Edited by - on

Tom Potter
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
1913 Posts

Response Posted - 06/30/2007 : 22:15:03

Little [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGRXoDKKeVs"]video[/url] I put together from the BEER cruise pictures.

Edited by - on

britinusa
Web Editor

Members Avatar

USA
5404 Posts

Response Posted - 07/01/2007 : 06:59:59

Nice one Tom. Our next trip is on the 20th, how about you guys?

Paul

Edited by - on

Tradewind
Admiral

Members Avatar

USA
531 Posts

Response Posted - 07/02/2007 : 13:25:50

Great pics! Thanks, that' my old cruising grounds. I hope I can join you next year.

Edited by - on

Topic

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Jump To:

Association Forum

Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.