On Jan 30, 8:05*am, Frogwatch wrote:
On Jan 30, 12:25 am, I am Tosk
wrote:





In article 3c33adfa-d502-4371-8f8e-
,
says...

On Jan 29, 11:34 pm, "*e#c" wrote:
On Jan 29, 7:51 pm, Frogwatch wrote:

Left Tarpon Springs, Fl a litle later than I expected due to fueling
problems and when I got out in the bay it was 16 kts on the nose
building to 20. *It was all on the inside motoring down the ICW so it
was ok but this evening my face feels sunburned from the wind.

When I got to the Dunedin draw bridge, it was being painted so they
told me they could only open one side and that only part way but they
thought I could make it. *I wasn't going back to Tarpon at that point
so I agreed. *One side went up just enough for a 1.5' wide opening way
up at the top of the mast. One guy actually held onto the raised part
to guide my mast through. *Due to th bimini, I could not see what was
ahppening up there and suddenly the boat slews sideways and I hear an
awful dragging through the shrouds so I gently put her in reverse.. *My
shroud had snagged to lowered side. *I half expected to have my mast
come down it sounded so bad. *Turns out no damage and I profusely
thanked the painters for helping.
Further down the ICW, *a very large yacht appropriately named
"Bacchus" was going up and down the waterway making a huge wake making
life difficult for smaller vessels. *When he passed me and I turned
into his wake, he saw me holding tha handheld VHF and he actually
taunted my on Ch 16 saying "Capt of "Ragtime", I got you a rockin and
rollin". *I ignored him but it sure is strange boating where there is
actually traffic because I never see other boats up in N. Fl (or very
few).
At at "The Pub" in the part of the ICW called "The Narrows" trying to
decide what to do about expected bad weather tomorrow. *Maximo Marina
who I called suggested Gulfport Municipal Marina which I had
completely forgogtten about although it was "Ragtimes" home port when
I bought her 20 yrs ago.
Turns out to be a nice marina and has working wireless which is why I
can *post this.

Glad your having fun, sail on.

Amazing how an hour of rest can bring one back to life.
Unfortunately, with no way to go anywhere and it looks as if
everything is too far to walk, I am just hanging at the marina. *Ought
to do some work on the boat but am not that ambitious. *I suspect bad
weather tomorrow will give me plenty of time for that.
Where I normally sail, I rarely see other boats except maybe on the
horizon and there are no buildings or houses on the shores up by St.
Marks so seeing even the very light traffic of a windy Fri afternoon
when most people4 stay in seems extremely crowded to me. The constant
urbanization of the shoreline here is novel at first but soon I want
to have my solitude back.
My daughter has decided to drive down from Jacksonville tomorrow in
spite of the supposed bad weather. *Maybe the forecast will be wrong.

Sounds like you are having a blast! Good on you man... Take some
pictures there caveman, we want pictures!

Scotty

Pictures? *Mywife drives me crazy with her picture taking all the
time. *Not having a camera is a major freedom. *However, the ASUSee
computer does have a built in cam if I can figger out how tooperate
it.
I had thought my boat was in good condition except for needing bottom
paint however, if you spend time aboard you find things......BAD
things. *I thoroughly inspected the mast shroud connections to the
hull a couple years ago and thought they were solid. *This morn when I
woke up, looked up and saw an indentation in the wood around the
stainlesss plate attaching the main starboard shroud to the bulkhead.
I pressed it. HOLY ****, ROT. *Yikes. Gotta be fixed before any
significant sailing.
Well, weather today is gonna be 20-25 kts today and tomorrow. I have
been advised not to crosss Tampa Bay under such conditions so I may
pack it in for this weekend and return later in the week.
Gulfport Municipal Marina is great. *Very good rates $1.50/ft/night
and although I cannot remember the weekly rate I was pleasantly
surprised when they told me. *They have loaner bicycles so one can go
into town too.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Hey, Frog!

f If you're in that area, take GFretwell up on his offer. He means it.