Something to ponder about, some oysters, a little open Gulf.  Four days of fun, the Apalach120.

Monday, January 21, 2013

As my dad always says, "Aim at nothing and you'll reach it."  So I gotta set some goals.  Here's my sailing goal.  To sail in the Water Tribes North Carolina Challenge on the last weekend of September, 2013.  It's a kayak/small sailboat 100 mile expedition race around Cedar Island and Beaufort, NC over three days.

Here's the link.

http://watertribe.org/nc-challenge/

I like how their warning page tells you that you're on your own and that you could die.  Now that's sailing!

Here's the link.

http://watertribe.org/warning/

Here's the route.

Big doin's in NC this coming September!

Monday, January 21, 2013
It's been awhile since I last posted, several months.  I've been kind of busy with life and I just haven't made time to sail like I should have.  Stupid, huh?

To catch you up.  Last Saturday, I went up to my sailing partner Scott's house.  I'm helping him build his newest sailboat.  A Normsboat by Jim Michalak.  It's a cut down version of his earlier design, the AF2.  It's a flat bottomed sharpie with a cabin.  The cockpit is six feet long and the cabin is 7 1/2 feet long.  The boat's length overall is 18 feet and it'll weight in around 600-700 pounds when finished.  Here's a link to where you can get more info and plans.
http://www.duckworksbbs.com/plans/jim/normsboat/index.htm

We're planning to have her done in time for the FL120 in May.  Later this summer, I'm going to build one and Scott's gonna help me.

We're also planning some weekend adventures later this summer.

Here's some pictures of last Saturday's build.

 The cabin bulkhead.

All the bulkheads and temporary frames piled up.

 Scott making the first cut.

 All the frames and bulkheads stood up to give an idea of how big a boat this is gonna be.

 The shipwrights standing inside the bulkheads to give the picture perspective.  Scott is in the cabin and I'm in the cockpit.

Boilt p-nuts 'cause Iz likes me some p-nuts!

The best to my discrecion whiche is fyshying called anglyng with a rod, and a lyne, and an hoke, and therof to treat as my symple wyt may suffyse, both for the sayd reason of Salomon, & also for the reason that reason maketh in this wyse.

Excerpted from A Tretyse of Fysshynge wyth an Angle, from the Wynken de Worde edition, 1496.

Yesterday was an epic birthday fishing trip for Jacob and Amanda!  We went out with my friend Capt. Hal, and here's his website http://www.shorethangfishing.com/  Capt Hal and his dad have the oldest fishing charter company in Port St Joe.  These guys are in the know when it comes to fishing and the trip won't break the bank.

We went out on an eight hour trip and had the best time.  We targeted specs and redfish.  We had the best time sight fishing the reds.  We had to work hard to put fish in the boat.  We ended up fishing the low tide and those fish just didn't want to bite.  Just the same we did put some fishing the box.

Here's Jacob with some of the fish.

Here's two intrepid anglers trying to get the angle on the fyshys.

A well angled black drum.  He was set free after he asked to pose with me.

You might notice that I failed to get a picture of the most beautiful woman in all of Wewa.  Yeap, it's true, I was too focused on fishing rather than get a photo of my bride.  That'll probably cost me something shiny and sparkly before it's over.
John Boy

An afternoon sail

We finally got Looney Toon out last Saturday 9/15/12 for an afternoon sail.  When we got to St Joe State Park, it was raining cats and dogs.

There wasn't any thunder so we let Summer dance in the rain.  There isn't anything finer than to be able to sing and dance in the rain and splash in mud puddles!

Finally, the weather moved east and we rigged and launched.  The winds were Force 4-5 from the SE so it meant for a moderate chop head seas and some light white caps.  We enjoyed surfing on a down wind reach hitting speeds of 7 mph.  Even Handsome T. Dog was smiling.

After a few passes across Eagle Harbor, Summer announced it was time to go swimming.  We headed in and swam in the warm shallow water.  The water temperature was in the low 80's.  A grand adventure for us all!

I'm having sailing withdrawals!  I need a fix.  Gonna go this weekend!

Amanda and I couldn't get out yesterday as planned but we did get to sail today.  Today Amanda "Cowgirled up" and took the helm for most of the day!  She's really developing more confidence and wanting to do more.  I'm so proud of her!  Anyway, I was sitting in the hatch on the cooler and had a look up the mast from a different perspective.  I noticed it seemed to have an unusual bend to it.

Is it me or is there something dangerously bad about this bend?  Post up your thoughts please.
John Boy