The Cruise Begins

The "Big Day" has finally arrived. The crew is made up of Cameron, fellow KP '72 grad Bob Schmidt and his son Jason, and Chris Parrish another Kings Pointer and veteran multihull sailor from Houston. Nancy decides that "Nothing goes to windward like a 737" and flies to Baltimore to visit her Mother & sister Gayle & family, while we bash our way to Key West. We shove off about 0900 and head out with strong NW wind. As we are about to round Red Fish Island, Cameron decides to go on the internet and check the weather forercast one last time while we still have phone service. Bad Move. The winds that had been predicted to subside to 20 knots offshore are now predicted to increase in strength to 25-35 with possible gale force winds later in the week.

After a short discussion with the crew, I decide to turn the boat around and head back to Kemah to wait out these winds. The current good weather window looks like it will only last for about 2 days before the Gulf of Mexico becomes very dangerous. We dock later that afternoon and decide to look at the forecast the next day.

Thursday, the wind goes light in the Kemah area which makes it doubly frustrating. There are over 150 boats leaving today for the annual Harvest Moon Regatta to Port Aransas down the Texas Coast. This makes sitting at the dock even tougher. The next morning we have a couple of phone consultations and it is agreed that we will head out into the Gulf but instead of striking straight across the Gulf , we will head due east along the coast and if the wind increases as predicted we will head for the nearest inlet and proceed along the GIWW until things settle down outside. Unfortunately this means that Jason will have to skip the trip since he will run short of time off from his job.

We head out from Kemah a little after lunch and have a good sail in light wind down Galveston Bay. As luck would have it we are bucking a strong flood tide caused by the full moon later that night. We have a glorious sunset as we pass through Galveston and head out into the Gulf of Mexico. We dodge oil rigs all night as the sea turns calm and we motor east.

As morning arrives the wind is increasing from the ENE and we begin motor sailing. It looks like the expected stronger winds are filling in and we head for Calcasieu River Inlet at Cameron Louisiana. The current running out the inlet is against us and running between 5 and 6 knots. We are motoring at 6.5 knots but getting another 2 knots from the mainsail, so our actual speed in the inlet is only 2-2.5 knots. If I do not keep the bow directly into the current the boat goes sideways at 6 knots. Yikes.

Once through the inlet, we settle down and let the autopilot take us up river. We have a four hour run north until we find the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. This is where the real fun begins because we have to contend with many commercial vessels. Everything from huge tugs with tows made up of 6-12 barges at a time, to high speed crew boats and supply boats coming in from the oil fields. Also, there are many twists and turns with shoals lurking around every bend. We also have to go through many locks, built to deal with the hurricane winds that often come ashore in this part of the country.

We anchored the first night in the Mermentau River just after dark and fixed more of the chicken and dumplings that Nancy cooked for us before we left. The next morning we get under way just as the sun is rising and head further east. This is strictly a motor boat ride as the winds are howling out of the east and there is no way to sail in this narrow waterway. As darkness is appoaching we search the charts for another good anchorage but there does not seem to be anything that looks like a safe place off the waterway. We certainly do not want to be run over by a tugg and tow during the middle of the night. We have a tug come by us going the other way and we ask the Captain if he can recommend a place to anchor. After several minutes he comes on the radio and says "Why don't you just pull into the Sheraton which is about 5 miles ahead." We think this guy is a comic and is giving us a hard time. AS it turns out there is another canal crossing the waterway called the "Cheraton Outlet" about 5 miles ahead. We get there just before sunset and see a Louisiana State buoy tender with a small barge already moored just off the waterway. We pull up alongside and ask if we can raft beside his barge. This turns out to be a great place for the night.

The next morning we shove off early and head for Morgan City and then on to Houma, LA. We see several bald eagles as we pass thru a large area of cypress trees just east of Morgan City. It is the first time I have seen a Bald Eagle flying in its natural habitat. As we approach Houma, Bob Schmidt calls some of his friends in Houma to see if we can borrow a car to stock up on food and ice while we are there. Bob lived in Houma many years and has a lot of contacts. One friend insists that we spend the night tied to his dock behind his house just off the waterway. Another friend generously lends us his pickup truck and insists that we all go out for dinner that night. This is a real treat because we are now tired of cooking and cleaning up after ourselves.

The next day we find that the weather is subsiding somewhat offshore and decide that we will head south out the Houma Industrial canal. We find a place to spend this night tied to the dock in front of a icehouse and gas dock in a little fishing village about 10 miles from the Gulf.

THe next morning we head for Cat Island Pass. THe wind is NE at about 18-20 knots but we have had enough of the motoring in the GIWW. As we approach the pass which is only a bouyed channel along a wide break between barrier islands we see 10-12 foot breaking seas on both sides of us. We have the wind and a 3 knot current pushing us out the pass so turning around is not an option. We enter the Gulf of Mexico to find 8' seas and a close hauled course to pass just off the Mississsippi Delta. The boat is handling the seas pretty well but as we work our way offshore we find that green water is constantly breaking over the bows and spray is coming back over the entire boat. We set the auto-pilot and head for Key West.

It takes 3 1/2 days to make our landfall with winds almost always 20 knots or more. The angle started out close hauled and gradually backed so that by the final day we had a beam reach. We sailed mostly with a double reefed mainsail and a rolled in jib, but had to go to a triple reefed main on the second night when we were averaging over 9 knots to windward and were beating the boat up pretty badly.

We arrived in Key West just before sunset on Saturday just as the many sunset cruises were coming out of the harbor and we sailed right by Mallory Square as the crowd on the dock was waiting for sunset.

The first leg of the voyage was over.

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