Tag: Sailing

April 2 – Sandy Cay.

Wednesday, April 2.

Today we took a daysail to Sandy Cay.   It was a beautiful day for it.   This is our 3rd trip to the BVI, and this is our first time to stop here.

Sandy Cay, coming from Jost
Sandy Cay, coming from Jost

Susanne and Laura are getting the hang of this sailing thing…

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We set an anchor and ate lunch on the boat before snorkeling to shore for a walk around.  Tan-a-na joined us.  Unfortunately, Maggie’s windlass was not working, so they had to sail on to Cane Garden Bay.

Tan-a-na and Jim's Dream anchored off Sandy Cay.
Tan-a-na and Jim’s Dream anchored off Sandy Cay.

We had intended to moor overnight in White Bay, but its been getting a bit stormy and the wind is really picking up and driving up big NE swells so it would be too rough in there tonight.   Instead, we all ended up back in Great Harbour for one more night.

Back to Great Harbour for the night.
Back to Great Harbour for the night.

We cooked up our first meal aboard tonight.   This is not roughing it!

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April 1 – Destination Jost van Dyke.

Tuesday, April 1.

We got up and headed out for our first snorkel of the trip at the Caves in Privateer Bay on Norman.

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Afterwards we sailed to Great Harbour on Jost and all three boats met up again.
We took the taxi-ride-from-hell to Abe’s in Little Harbour for dinner:  11 ginormous lobster, many painkillers from the honor bar, and nonstop stories and laughing.  🙂

It’s a good thing we ordered “medium” sized ones, i’d hate to see the “large” ones!

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Afterwards we spent the evening dancing at Foxy’s – and seeing some of the more bizarre sights of the trip.

Some found objects from today:

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Sunday funday.

Sandwiched between the snowpocolypse of last week and another cold front due in tomorrow night was a beautiful day with temps in the 70s and winds blowing in the 20s. We headed to the lake and Lori and Dave joined us. We sailed up and down the lake for about 4 hours and enjoyed being out in it.
Good crew!

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Upriver.

It was another beautiful day. Clear blue sky, temps in the 60s. We went back out to the lake for a sail with Teri and Jim. The lake is at 628.23′. Up about 10 feet from our low this year. Not nearly enough, but I can tell the difference.
Keep it coming!
This is a shot of the breakwater in front of Lakeway Marina as we sailed past.

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Sunday, funday.

The skies never cleared last night.  So, even though the Leonids might have been shooting across the sky, and the ISON comet should have been visible before sunrise, we didn’t get a chance to see them.  Another time.

We sailed a bit this afternoon, but the winds were slacking during the day.  Made it home in time to listen to the Seahawks win their game against the Vikings.  10 & 1, BABY!  😀

This is a shot of Dancer, today, as she dropped sail and headed for the marina in light winds.

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My Sunday.

The Good:

  • The weather today was glorious.
  • We went to the lake for a sail in North breezes that arrived behind the cold front last night.
  • We came home and cooked a delicious meal to enjoy together.
  • Keeto can now say “Go Seahawks!”
  • Only 5 more days til Friday!
  • Long sleeves and jeans on the boat means that Fall is here!

The Bad:

  • I didn’t take a photo to post (!)
  • The Seahawks lost to the referees, and are now 4-1.
  • The wind wasn’t as strong as it was predicted to be.
  • Tomorrow is Monday.
  • Long sleeves and jeans on the boat means Summer is over.

Have a great week.

Saturday sunset.

A three day weekend!  Yep, you guessed it, we headed to the lake.   Lori and Dave anchored out with us.    Here’s our favorite spot at sunset, the view off the starboard side of Nirvana.
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We layed on the deck and played ipod wars ’til we couldn’t keep our eyes open.  The breezes were light all night, so we rigged the windscoop for the first time, and it worked great.  We were very comfortable in the v-berth up front.
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Goodbye, August!

Fair breezes.

We enjoyed a fun raft-up last night.   It’s been a long time since we’ve had 5 boats rafted up overnight.   Last night it was Monte and I on Nirvana.  Nick, Isabel, Lorene and Dimitri on Kalliopi.   Wally, Kurt and Kevin on Zen.   Kirk and Lilly on La Cima del Cielo.   And Brent and Lawrence on a Catalina 27 that came in under the veil of darkness before the near-full moon rose, so I didn’t catch their boat’s name.   We played ipod wars into the wee hours.    This morning we lounged around on deck and floated behind the boats till after noon.   Then Nirvana and Kalliopi sailed down to Carlos & Charlie’s, and then turned around to make way back up to our slips.    Isabel sent us this shot that they took on our way back to the marina.

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Back at the marina we checked out the boat to make sure everything was ship-shape, since our docks are now offshore by nearly a mile.   We will allegedly have power hooked up in a few weeks.  We shall see.   The lake is at about 621′.   Terribly low.   It’s no longer a lake.  It’s just a windy river with lots of new hazards around every corner.  I’m starting to think it will never rise again.

Joe came out visit with us on Nirvana for the afternoon.   It was really nice to get a visit in with him.

A boatload of kids. Seriously.

Julie joined us on Nirvana for a raftup last night in Arky South with Rory & Greg on Sapphire.  Kurt, Barbara and some of their friends came out on Dancer and tied up to us until after sunset.  Nick & Isabel came motoring into the cove on Kalliopi right before sunset to join us.  Even from a distance, we could see many people on the deck of their boat.  As they came closer, we counted 14 teenagers + Isabel, Nick and Dmitri.  Whoooa nelly, that’s a lot of people.   And they were staying the night!  It was a going away party for Morgan who is heading to college next week.   Everyone had lots of fun.  And we didn’t lose anyone!  Never a dull moment. 🙂
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Colors a-flyin’.

Gettin’ our weekend on! Happy Saturday.

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Unos momentos desde mi Cinco de Mayo.

Hola!  Happy Cinco de Mayo.  Before I forget, I want to post this shot that I took yesterday.   I took it with my waterproof camera from the kayak, so I wasn’t able to upload it until today.   This is Nirvana and Sapphire at anchor.    Pretty boats.

Rafted up in Arky South.
Rafted up in Arky South.

Today I paddled completely around Arky South cove.  I enjoy paddling.  But I like, even more, cruising along the shore for found objects.   Today’s haul: 4 plastic bobbers, 1 popper jig, 1 croppie tube jig, and 2 nice docklines with spliced loops.

Then we pulled up the anchor and sailed for several hours.  We sailed along with Kalliopi (with Nick and his kids on-board) for a while.  Then we turned around and caught a glimpse of Lori, Joe, Wally and Kelly on Camelot, with her newly raised 150 whomper jib.  I think Lori’s getting serious now, ever since Nirvana beat Camelot in a beer can a couple weeks ago. 🙂

On the way home, we saw this guy riding along 620.   Amazing.   It appears to be direct drive, no evidence of a chain.   And, I have no idea how he stops / dismounts this thing – that front tire is about 5′ in diameter.

Lance, is that you?f
Lance, is that you?

And, now back home, we are celebrating Cinco de Mayo with Julie.  Salud!

Made by the master.
Made by the master.

At anchor.

Saturday!!  This is likely the last weekend before our dock becomes disconnected from shore, power and water. Lake Travis is low and dropping.  😦    This guy was guarding E dock when we arrived.

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We anchored up in Arky south again.  Rory and Greg arrived on Sapphire and joined us after a couple hours.   We have the kayak stored in the slip now so it’s easy to bring it out with us.  This is its first outing of 2013.  Many more to come.

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Good morning.

On the hook.
On the hook.

Since the water is too cold, noone will be taking the usual photo-from-a-distance of the boats on the raftup.  This one from the cockpit will have to serve.  Port to starboard:  Zen, Nirvana & Sapphire.

Lake day.

Colors flyin.
Colors flyin.

We took friends out for a sail today.  Chris was visiting Irene for the weekend, and after a lovely breakfast in Central Austin we headed to the marina.  Irene took the helm for most of the sail and did great.  The winds were light so we were able to set up the cockpit table with nibblies for the voyage while we were underway.

Lori and Dave came out, too, on Camelot.  And we crossed paths with Wally and Kurt on Zen on our way back.

The day was overcast, and a front was on its way, but it was a really nice day on the lake.

Back at the marina we saw a bunch of our slip neighbors.  Wally, Kurt, Lori and Dave joined us for a cocktail.  Then we packed it up before the front dropped in.

Our resident ducks stopped by to say hello.  They’re all grown up now.

The boys are back.
The boys are back.