Kacy & Larry on S/V Providence--"little-boat" people
One beautiful fair-wind weekend in October, four sailboats from C-dock at Regatta Pointe Marina set sail for northern shores.
Destination: Gulfport, Florida, which is 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 and 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, which wasperfect, for our small flotilla. After all, 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
Thereon the shore lies a favorite watering hole --- O'Maddy's Bar and Grille.
O'Maddy's ------ O'boy, here we go
O'Maddy's is the famous loud bar offering karaoke until 3 a.m., when it gets really bad by then. But contrary to what you're thinking, our particular "old" group of revelers starts early with happy hour and finishes early, tucked cozy in their berths by 9pm, listening to discordant karaoke versions of Jagger's "Satisfaction" wafting across the water to our boats and in through our fresh air portals. Memorable.
After three nights in Gulfport, we began our return trip back across Tampa Bay, motoring into 3- 5 ft 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 about whether to rig this small sail back on, making it a true "cutter rig" with two 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 expat with expertise and a 50-year history of rigging sailboats. Two 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 four 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 salonupholstery, long overdue. New foam with interior Sunbrella fabric, replacing the 25-year-old original cushions.
Port settee
Flag replacement after 9 months in the Florida sun
Took time out for a smoked Mullet fest-----yum.
Two soul brothers
Veterans 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 thana 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.
