Fun, upgrades and repairs....a cycle

Kacy & Larry on S/V Providence--"little-boat" people

One beautiful fair wind weekend in October, 4 sailboats from C-dock at Regatta Pointe Marina set sail for northern shores.  


Destination:  Gulfport, Florida---often confused with the one in Mississippi, but a far cry different.
This one is located south of St Petersburg--west of Tampa.


 It was a lovely 4-5 hour sail across Tampa Bay---out into the Gulf of Mexico, north up the west coast a bit and then inland up the Florida Intercoastal Waterway (ICW) to a tucked away bay called Boca Ciega--translated Blind Mouth ....hmmm.  

Four renegade sailboats from C-dock

This particular bay has not only a good anchorage, but a small quaint town----with several loud & loaded bars that proved to be quite the party destination....perfect, for our small flotilla-----afterall, it was Steve's (from S/V Footloose) 60th birthday----yep, 6-0!  not to be taken lightly mind you.  

 

Steve----60 years young----rub a dub-dub

O'Maddy's

  

















There on the shore lies a favorite watering hole---
Omaddy's Bar and Grille.

O'Maddy's ------ O'boy, here we go

O'Maddy's is the famous loud bar offering karaoke until 3am.....yep, it gets really bad by then.  But contrary to what you're thinking, our particular "old" group of revelers start early with happy hour......and finish early.....tucked cozy in their berths by 9pm.....listening to karaoke versions of Jaggers  "Satisfaction" wafting across the water to our boats and in thru our fresh air portals.  Memorable. 

After 3 nights in Gulfport, we began our return trip back across Tampa Bay motoring into 3-5ft waves with stiff winds on the nose.....it taught us one thing AND it caused a major repair for another thing.

First, it taught us that we need a smaller jib (sail).  We have a large genoa sail, but we came back determined to re-install our staysail. A staysail is a smaller second jib on the front of the sailboat especially good for use in high winds. We had been sitting on the fence for a year whether to rig this small sail back on, making it a true "cutter rig" with 2 front sails...all older Island Packet sailboats are cutter rigs.  Our boat had all the parts, but had been de-rigged by previous owners for some reason. Introducing Collin....a British ex-pat with an expertise 50 year history of rigging sailboats.....2 hours later, it's done.....cheers to Collin (and Mike)!

Collin--an ol' salt

Assembling furling extrusions for staysail

"Vanna" showing the smaller staysail---the large genoa sail is furled up in brown on the bow

  The hard jaunt across Tampa Bay that day also revealed a breakdown of the motor mounts on our 35HP Yanmar engine.   The engine is suspended by 4 legs to absorb vibration & shock.....and like all things on a boat floating in salty water, they were deteriorating and collapsing.  So.....two weeks later.....we have new motor mounts...whew, we're glad that's all it was.

New and old motor mounts

Starboard settee

And finally, our new salon upholstery.......

.....long over due.

New foam with interior Sunbrella fabric....replacing the 25 year old original cushions.

Port settee

Lashed to a board on the starboard stanchions, we'll carry 2 (maybe 3) jerry can jugs for 10-15 extra gallons of diesel....   

Flag replacement after 9 months in the Florida sun

Projects and more projects....

Took time out for a smoked Mullet fest-----yum.

Two soul brothers

Vetern's Day brought old Navy friend Bob Hooke in for good times and farewells....and a sharing of the crossroads of life that we have found ourselves in.  
We all agreed....it's time to just "shove off" and go.

"Bones" hanging out looking for some action

 Now, it's less than a week from Thanksgiving and with hurricane
 season almost over at the end of November, we're starting to watch the weather reports for the west coast of Florida.  We're aiming to depart between Thanksgiving and Dec 1st heading south back to Marathon in the Florida Keys.  It'll take about 3-4 days to transit the 213 nautical miles (245 standard miles) depending on how many stop overs we take. Stay tuned.....

 One more fun thing.....Tim also continues to make videos----here's a link to an entertaining video about our friend and local marina diver----Tom Watson...watch this...