Enjoying our boat and a little about cooking aboard.
Over the years we have gotten a lot of enjoyment out of our boat. We have gone sailing too many times to count. We have tubed and explored areas on the lake when there was no wind for sailing. And we have over-nighted on the boat many times, both at anchor and beached. We have towed the boat to Pensacola twice now with many future trips planned. We have also taken many of the kids friends sailing and tubing. Here are just a few random pictures of the boat fun.
A winter sail
One thing about over-nighting on a boat is that food just tastes better at anchor than it does ashore.When we overnight I typically cook dinner on the Magma grill out in the cockpit.Burgers, steaks and chicken never tasted better.However the grill is not the easiest place to cook breakfast food.So I’ve got a cheap Coleman propane camp stove that I use out in the cockpit for breakfast or frying pan type foods.
Propane is heavier than air so I always cook out in the cockpit for that reason.I don’t want to create a fire/explosion hazard.The only problem with my current cooking method is that if it is raining, or cold it is a pain to have to be outside cooking.That is why one of the mods, I’ll make soon is an Origo alcohol stove.They are safe to use inside the cabin and on cold mornings it sure would be nice to brew coffee inside.
One of our favorite places to stay as a family is beached down at Sand Island.It is a nice sandy island just north of Watts Bar Dam.It is typically a weekend hangout for all boaters and is sort of a laid back party cove, with a great little sand beach.One of the funny things is that most of the boats are power boats.When they see me coming in with sails and a tall mast, people start frantically yelling and waving me off, as it is very shallow on the beach side of the island and people just assume I have a deep draft keel.It is so funny to yell back, “I’m good, I’m gonna beach her right next to you!”It always amazes people that the sailboat can be beached. Now the regulars who know us don’t bat an eye, but they like to watch those who don’t know about our shallow draft capability freak out a little as we idle in.
Well it had been five years since our first Beer
Cruise and so we decided to do it again.
May 29-June 5th, 2013
Preparation:Since I slip my boat year round and I haven’t wanted to put on bottom
paint, the crew (family) and I strip and wax the bottom of the boat
annually.Being in freshwater this
approach has worked well for seven years now.Anyway as my slave labor …err children have grown up the enthusiasm for
this task has waned.Also I find I’m not
so enthusiastic about the work myself.Bottom paint may be in my future yet.Anyway this year I just had my marina haul the boat out, clean and wax
the bottom for me.It was much nicer
than laying on my back in the driveway doing it myself.
Bottom cleaned and waxed the boat was hauled home.
I was able to coerce two of my family to help wash the
rest of the boat.
But turn my back for an instant and my youngest helper
had disappeared.
Once the boat was all clean and packed for the trip we
headed to Pensacola.
Wednesday June 5, 2013:
In 2008 our crew was six
people and we stayed on the boat the whole time!Of course the kids were younger and
smaller.This year however my son
couldn’t make the trip, so it was my wife Michelle, daughters Jessica and
Kaitlyn and Jessica’s friend Megan. We left early and drove with Jessica and
Megan following us in their car.The
trip down was fairly uneventful except for an hour or so traffic delay south of
Birmingham.However next year I will brave
the Atlanta traffic and take I-75 down to I-20 and over.Interstate 59 was like a washboard.We felt like we had been beat to death.
We arrived at our condo on Little Sabine bay and I
decided to wait until the following day to launch the boat.Although not in the true spirit of Beer
Cruise we had decided to get a condo while in Pensacola.In 2008 we did the Beer Cruise and aside from
one night in a hotel room we stayed on the boat the entire trip.However this year we decided to stay longer
in Pensacola, so I got a condo with a slip.This turned out to be a good thing.
In my best Dumb and Dumber voice: “We’re there!”
The view of the gulf from the condo parking lot.
The view from our condo
The big white building to the left is Jimmy Buffett’s
new hotel on Pensacola Beach.
View of the boat and little Sabine Bay from the condo.
Later that evening we celebrated our arrival with
dinner at a Beer Cruiser’s favorite
place, Flounders.
Thursday June 6, 2013
The girls headed to the beach and I drove to Pensacola
Shipyard & Marine Complex to rig and launch the boat.I didn’t mind rigging the boat myself as I
had a few things I wanted to fix and add to the boat.
At the shipyard ready to rig.
And just a short 15 minutes later she’s ready to
launch!!! *
*Ha ha, yeah right!Actually I can have her ready to launch in a little less than an hour,
but this day it was about 95 degrees and humid so I took my time.Additionally I replaced a few small items,
installed my new Lowrance transducer and installed a flag/burgee pulley.Overall the rigging and extra tasks took me
about four hours. Shout out and thanks to Andrea for the cold Lime Rita, I really needed it. While the wife and our
youngest swam in the condo pool relaxing, Jessica and Megan drove down in the
other car to help me launch.Beer
Cruisers are a friendly helpful lot so we had no problem launching.The ramp at PSMC is really nice and deep with
finger docks on both sides.
Safely in a slip.
Friday June 7, 2013
Friday is the “official” start to Beer Cruise.The girls hit the beach and then went to the
grocery store to provision the boat for the cruise.I spent the day puttering about on the boat
and socializing with the other Beer Cruisers on the docks as they showed
up.Friday evening was the official kick
off dinner, which was provided this year by the shipyard.It was really good and the band they had
playing was great!Oddly enough I didn’t
take any pictures of this night.
Saturday June 8, 2013
The weather was fantastic for the first days sail from
the shipyard out Bayou Chico and onto Pensacola Beach.For this first day, just my wife and youngest
daughter sailed with me.The wife and I
decided to give our daughter and her friend a parent free day, as this was
their senior trip.And there’s nothing
worse than having mom & dad along for your senior trip, LOL.
Motoring out to the bay
1st days sail
Kaitlyn, my youngest was playing down in the cabin
while we motored out and got a little seasick.So she came up into the cockpit and lay down for a while.It didn’t take her long to start feeling
better though.
While the rest of the fleet was headed to anchor
behind Flounders the admiral decided that we should use our slip at the condo
since we were paying for it.Her
decision turned out to be the correct one as the weather turned nasty late
Saturday night, all day Sunday and most of Monday.I felt bad sitting in my condo watching
baseball on the big screen knowing the rest of the Beer Cruisers were holed up
in their boats bobbing in the wind and rain, LOL. Seriously I did feel like I
missed out on the adventure and the camaraderie of shared misery that make for
good memories and good stories.However,
Michelle and the girls were happy and are willing to do another Beer Cruise
with me so I know it was the right decision.
Our slip at the condo
Saturday evening we did walk down to Flounders for
dinner and spent time with all of the cruisers anchored there.
Cruisers anchored behind Flounders.
Sunday June 9, 2013
Today we were supposed to be sailing from Flounders at
Pensacola Beach to Pirate Cove in Alabama but the weather just wouldn’t
cooperate.So I, feeling a little guilty
about not being stuck on my boat like the rest of the cruisers, watched
baseball while the girls went shopping.It was a rainy dreary day, but the beer was good and cold.
Monday June 10, 2013
Today started out much like Sunday but by afternoon
the weather was clearing.It was late in
the day when we decided to head out, so we motored to Sailboat cove past the
naval base to anchor out for the evening.
Kaitlyn looking for dolphins and our destination
Jessica and Megan just enjoying the ride
Most of the Beer Cruisers had hung in there through
the weather and made it to Sailboat cove.We were treated to some much-needed sunshine.Later we sat around the campfire talking with
everyone, drinking rum and making some new friends.It was a wonderful evening.
Jessica and Megan happy to see the sunshine
Tuesday June 11, 2013
This morning dawned bright and beautiful.It was going to be an excellent day
sailing.We relaxed on island time and
eased into the morning.
Kaitlyn and I were the early risers and decided to
explore the dunes, after I brewed my morning coffee.I use a camping percolator pot on my Coleman
propane stove out in the cockpit.It was
a beautiful relaxing morning.
Around 10:30 or so we decided to raise anchor and head
back toward Pensacola Beach.Most of the
Beer Cruisers were headed back to the shipyard to haul out and get ready to
head home, but we were staying until Thursday so we sailed all afternoon and
then went back to the slip at the condo.Today was the best sailing day of the trip!
We got back to the slip at the condo around 6:00pm.
I dropped the girls off and decided to sail back to
the shipyard to get the boat ready to haul out.I intended to single hand back to the shipyard, but by late evening the
wind had really come up and being single handed with no autopilot and not even a bungie cord handy to lock the wheel and quite a
bit of chop, I couldn’t keep the boat into the wind long enough to raise the
sails.I really wish I’d had someone
with me, because I think that evening would have been some incredible sailing.Oh well, I motored on to the shipyard
arriving just before dark where Michelle met me.We tied the boat off, unloaded a few items
into the truck and then headed out to dinner.
Wednesday June 12, 2013
After a lazy morning sipping coffee on the deck
Michelle, Kaitlyn and I headed back to the shipyard to haul the boat out and
get it ready to travel.
Boat back on the trailer just about ready to roll.
After we had the boat ready we went back to the condo
and spent the rest of the day on the beach.
Megan, Kaitlyn and Jessica outside Margarittaville
Pensacola
We never can resist these silly things!
The girls and I
My all girl crew, am I a lucky guy or what?!
And thus ended our second Beer Cruise.It was a wonderful trip with wonderful
people.I highly recommend the Beer
Cruise.They are great people and there
are usually a lot of Macgregor boats there.This year there were Macgregor classics, swing keel and dagger board,
several X’s (as one of the Beer Cruise founders and soon to be world famous
chef, Cajun’ John sails an X) and at least two other M’s besides mine.
