Sailing the Pass

In addition to breaking in La's SUP, I dragged the Weta out to the beach. We picked the boat ramp just East of the Walmart in Pass Christian - it offered a shorter run to the water and deeper water with the tide.

I made three separate runs on Sunday - the first two were solo with 13.8 mph being the fastest I got (out of 13-18 mph gusty winds). I had all three sails up and out - but the reacher didn't unfurl all the way. At the end of the first run, I went back in and reworked the reacher furl (I can't win with this sail).

I tried to bribe the kids to go out on the second run, but they weren't having anything to do with the boat - more interested in building a sand "water park". That's okay too... so the second run was solo. 13.8 was the most I could get the second time around. Russ Seignious with Lauren, Mike and Max stopped by the beach. I told them they needed to go home and change into beach clothes and come back. Low and behold - they did.

I had already taken down the jib and I heard La saying "they're here!" Up went the jib and off Me, Russ, Max and Mike went to the horizon. We got 15.8 out of the wind and one of his kids would always be on the leeward tramp (getting sprayed hard from the side-on waves that were being torn apart. Nearly capsized the boat once, but got the weight properly again.

This was our last day on the water down here in Southern Mississippi. We will miss this place for the secluded beaches, the mellow traffic and the short commute to the beach. You could not have paid money for the beautiful weather!

Another Sailing Day

The forecast for yesterday called for marginal kiting winds so I hooked the boat up. I started telling the kids that we were going sailing and they asked to SUP instead.

I told them that they were going to go sailing and that they would like it - but that I would also bring out their SUPs and they could have fun with them too.

We ended up going to Henderson Point (last spot of land before crossing the Bay of St Louis Bridge here in Southern Mississippi).

Getting the boat down to beach level from the road was not too bad (swung the ramps over) but the drop height looked to be challenging for the return trip.

We got the boat rigged and I took the kids out for a run - 10.7 mph under jib and main alone.

From there, I did another 3 runs shuttling friends back and forth. The wind backed down for the second run, but slowly picked up for the third and forth runs. I used the screacher on the last three runs and by the last run with La, we hit 13.7 mph - there were barely whitecaps on the water.

Meanwhile, the kids on the beach were all over the place on their SUPs. Put them in wetsuits and their fear goes away - they were way offshore at times just buzzing around.

Fun Saturday!!!