Part One - Part Two - Part Three - Part Four

Sailing in the 2014 Texas 200

Friday, June 6th, 2014
My daughter and I packed the boat last night, hooked it up, and checked out the trailer lights.  Since it is a relatively early wakeup to start the 18 hr drive, I go to bed early and sleep well.

Dad and I changed travel plans some.  Instead of him driving all the way to Magnolia Beach we met instead in Boutte, LA at a friend’s house where we park his truck.  Not long after 11am we are on our way to Port Mansfield. 

Luckily, there are no driving hijinks on the trip although it does take hours longer than we thought.  Mapquest estimated 16 hours … it was more like 18 hrs with us arriving in Port Mansfield at 11:45 pm.  Luckily, Matt and Chris, our roommates for the weekend in the condo were still awake to help us find the door.

Saturday, June 7th, 2014
Matt and Chris have some boatwork to take care of and drives the 20+ miles back to the nearest town.  My Dad and I decide to go ahead and get the boat into the water during the morning while it is relatively cool (as much as South Texas can be in the summer).  After scouting the various ramps and the town, we get the boat rigged without any issues and launch from the south ramps.  A short motoring trip around the corner and the boat is docked snugly at the condo. 

That pretty much leaves us with little to do for the rest of the day.  The boat is already loaded sans our personal bags.  So we decide to take a trip to the nearby town to augment our food supply.  One of the smartest things we pick up is a bunch of fruit cups for quick snacks.

Returning to Port Mansfield, we spend the rest of the day relaxing and wandering around.  Down at the south ramp, sailboats are lined up to get launched including the more recognizable ones like ChevyDuck and EC Duck.  Already in the slips are other nice boats such as the Sweet Pea, a Victoria (love the lines of that hull!), a Sea Pearl, and a host of other small sailboats all getting ready for the trip.

In the afternoon Pehr arrives with his neat little Piccup Pram.  It needs some rigging work so Pehr ends up working all afternoon and well into the late evening to get the boat ready to sail.  I got to say that the small Piccup is not only well made but cute too!  Four of us simply picked it up and carried it to the water for launching. 

Sunday, June 8th, 2014
Up early and out to the Captain’s Meeting across the street from the North Ramps.  Here is the first time we actually see nearly all of the people in this year’s trip.  Wow!  There are a lot of people!  Chuck calls the meeting to order and quickly outlines what to expect (and not to expect).  All told, the meeting is relatively short.

By 8:30 am I’m on the road with empty trailer to Magnolia Beach. Sometime early in the trip another Tx200 captain and I join up for a small convoy.  The trip is again without driving hijinks though the border immigration checkpoint is different.  As I pull up with window down the agent asks, “Are you a US Citizen?”.  “Yup!” is my answer.  He doesn’t say anything.  I ask, “Is that it?”.  All he does is nod and off I go.  He didn’t even shift positions from the podium he was leaning against.
I arrive at JT’s sometime around noon and get the truck parked.  Really needing to use a bathroom, I head towards JT’s only to find a sign saying no restroom.  Ugg.  Welp, the beach is about a quarter mile away and where there is a beach there should be public restrooms.  So off I go on a walk …

…. and walk … and walk … and reach the beach to turn right … and walk … and walk … turns out those public restrooms are well down the beach.

Boy I am happy to finally find them!

All told, it is a 1hr 40 minute round trip walk from JTs to the beach and back.  Along the way I get acquainted with the beach, the boat ramp, the pavilion area where the finish will be, and the route to and from the beach.  All good useful knowledge that may be handy on the last day we sail in.

I arrive back at JT’s with 20 minutes to spare and find out that not only did they indeed have a bathroom someplace but are also giving out lunches paid by the Tx200 group.  Nice! Though the bathroom would have been useful earlier.

The bus trip is a hoot with stories and chatter all the way back.  I take a short nap, do some reading (Game of Thrones, book 5), and finally arrive back just in time for dinner at the Windjammer.  The rest of the evening is spent in the condo’s comfortably air conditioned living room chatting with the others.

Monday, June 9th, 2014, Day 1
I’m not an early riser.  My Dad is.  Between the two of us somehow we manage to split the difference and get up around 5:30 am.  After the morning routine (our last “routine” morning for the week?), we sit on the deck to watch the Ducks get ready.  Their goal is to be sailing by 6 am every morning.  One Duck captained by Jason N has sails up by 6 am and makes circuits in our little harbor area while the rest of the Ducks get ready.  Finally, the Ducks manage to get under weigh as a group a little after 6:30 am.

Dad and I linger.  Knowing we have a fast boat we are in no rush to start.  So we watch other boats trickle out over the next hour to include Pehr in his Piccup Pram.  Pehr will sail with the Ducks for the trip but gets a later start this morning.  No doubt he will catch up to the slower Ducks.

Sometime around 7:30 we decide to get ready to leave.  Our clothing bags are packed into the Holder and l do last checks around the boat.  I procrastinate.  This morning will be a lot of firsts for me; first long expedition trip in the Holder, first time sailing in wind this strong, and first time sailing with my Dad.  I sincerely hope trouble passes us for a safe adventurous trip even with all of the unknowns and inexperience.
Wisely on Saturday morning I docked the boat on the downwind side of the dock which made it easy to launch.  Let loose the bow line and the wind weathervanes the boat to point the bow straight at the narrow channel out of our little watery cul-de-sac.  Mindful of the strong wind, I decide to raise the jib only.  During the FL120 some of the boats ran jib only on the first day and reported making good time and an easy sail.  Having never sailed in wind this strong I figure running jib only is prudent. The jib fills and the Holder tugs at the stern line like an eager greyhound ready to be loosed.  The keel lowers and the water is deep enough for it.  The rudder flips down with a good tug on the downhaul.  Finally, there is nothing else left to do other than let loose the stern line.  So we do just that.

I would like to say the Holder jumped forward like a greyhound but really all the boat did is just glide forward smoothly.  Even so, that moment marked the start of our trip.  Huzzah!

Since the wind is behind us it is easy getting out of the little harbor.  Midway in the Mansfield channel we make the starboard turn like all the previous boats.  The Holder is doing well on a close reach with only the jib though some effort is needed to keep the tiller straight on a course out towards the ICW.  Halfway to the ICW we angle to the northeast to “cut the corner” until finally turning to sail down the ICW.

With the turn downwind, the wind seems to slack off a bit.  Although there are waves slowly overtaking our stern, the ride is smooth.  I relax, feeling more comfortable now that the wind felt less and the boat isn’t heeling.

In fact, after about 30 minutes I feel comfortable enough to raise the reefed main and pole out the jib to the opposite side.  The Holder’s speed noticeably increases with the wake lengthening out behind the boat and the waves no longer catching us.  We are catching the waves now!  Dad comments that the tiller pressure is far lighter than it was.

By the way, Dad is going to be our helmsman for the trip while I handle the sails, keel, and navigation.

Well behind us, I see tall sails.  Looks like Matt and Chris in the Mariner 19 are finally under weigh.  They elected to leave after us (maybe they are not so early risers like me).  The Mariner is fast but the Holder is faster and their sails recede on the horizon.

As the bay starts to close in on the sides with the Land Cut ahead, we pass a few boats that had left earlier.  Pehr is cruising along nicely well out of the ICW.  That Piccup Pram looks great with a main and mizzen sail.  We also pass the Pilgrim, a nice looking boat.  The captain and I shout a conversation across the water but it is difficult to hear exactly what he is saying for the wind and distance.  I think he is questioning why we are running so much sail in this wind. 

He might have a point.

We see our first dolphins.  A small pod swims over to investigate the Holder.  I grab the camera to try to video them and JUST catch seeing a dolphin surface within arm’s length of the stern quarter.  Of course by the time the camera swings around the dolphin is gone.

The waves diminish and disappear as we enter the Land Cut.  Just like the Tx200 veterans said; the boat smooths out and runs fast.  Unfortunately, speed checks are impossible because the phone (the one that got saltwater dunked in the FL120) with the nav software refuses to turn on.  Oh well.

We pass the Merlin taking a break.

Shortly later we catch the Ducks.  They are stopped along shore.  With the Ducks are the two Mayflys and the Paradox.  I call out to see if they are ok.  The resulting thumbs up is a cue for us to continue the trip.

We meet our first barge coming the opposite direction.  Neither Dad nor I have ever encountered a barge so there is some apprehension.  Darn those things look big!  Urging Dad to sail closer to the windward side of the channel, I keep an ear alert on the VHF.  Without fanfare the barge passes by in good shape and we are relieved that it wasn’t too bad.

Finally, the pier marking the channel for Camp 1 quickly appears.  Hauling the mainsail down, I start the laborious process of cranking up the keel.  As a drop keel with a 300 lb torpedo bulb on the end it takes a winch to raise it even with the help of multiple pulley blocks on the line.  By the time I get it raised we overshoot our intended landing point.

Deciding that we better motor in versus trying to sail in with a raised keel, I drop the jib and get the motor started.  Taking over the tiller I turn towards shore … and the boat goes nowhere.  That “mild” wind we had downwind feels like a gale now that we are turned into it!  The 3.5 hp outboard tries valiantly to push the Holder against the wind but the it is too strong and we start going backwards.

Now if there is one thing I learned from the Fl120 was that you never ever beach on the lee shore when the wind was blowing.  So here we are with the motor running flat out and the wind is pushing us slowly backwards towards the lee side of the channel where one of the other production boats had already grounded.  

No way are we going to go through that again!  Pushing on the tiller, we turn downwind and angle across the wind to beach well down from the group on the windward shore.

Deciding to drag the boat upwind to where everyone else is at, I hop out and find that the mud is everything all the Tx200 vets say it is: mucky, sinkhole soft, and slippery.  It is serious effort to pull the 1,400 lb boat against the wind with slippery mud underfoot.  By the time we reach the lone dilapidated fishing shack near the camp, I’m breathless, shaking with exhaustion, and done hauling.  Dad ties up the bowline to the fishing shack’s rickety dock while I catch my breath.

Also moored at the dock is the Victoria.  What a pretty boat that is!  Reminds me of some of the most beautiful R/C sailboats in the hobby.

As the only shade within a ½ mile of anywhere, the fishing shack quickly becomes social central.  Dad and I set up our folding chairs in the shade to get out of the brutal sun.  We are soon joined by other captains who come and go on and off for the next few hours. That is where we learned of the Ducks troubles, sailing adventures, and general stories of how the day went for the Tx200 boats and crews.

Boats trickle in over the next few hours.  The Ducks flock in led by the Paradox.  A few captains (5 or 6 perhaps?) decide to press onward to Haps Cut where there is supposedly more shade and to get a head start on Tuesday’s sail.

The sun finally starts to go down and give us a break.  Dinner is simple: bread rolls with chicken spread with fruit cups for desert.  We pitch tent in the wind shadow of the shack.  The wind is still blowing a brisk 20+ mph.

The dusky sunset is gorgeous with purples, pinks, and shades of blue from the fading sun sketching beams of light through the clouds.

We turn in shortly after dark to rest up.  Tomorrow will be a long day.

Tuesday, June 10th 2014, Day 2
I am not an early riser.  Given the choice to get up before 8 am or sleep, I sleep.  Yet somehow without any alarm, I wake up around 6 am.  Dad is already awake.  We break down the tent and pack the boat before going to help some of the other boats get unstuck from last night’s low tide. 

Like Monday morning, we are in no hurry to leave.  The Ducks get on the water at what is becoming the usual 6:30 am time.  Grabbing the hardcopy maps, I look over our course for the day.

Each day on the Texas 200 is a challenge especially for someone that has never sailed it before.  Without firsthand knowledge only the maps, gps, and knowledge imparted by other veteran captains are all we have to go on.

Tuesday is supposed to be an easy day with the entire trip in the ICW except for the last couple miles.  It is those last couple miles that concern me the most.  The NOAA and local fishing maps show less than 2’ of water between the ICW and Camp 2 (Bird Island?).  The Holder draws 3’ 8” – 10” (loaded weight) with the keel down and 18” – 20” with the keel up.  Never having sailed the Holder with the keel up, I am reluctant to try it now with the expected strong winds in unfamiliar waters.

Dad and I discuss options.  One of the other captains (forgot your name, my apologies) chips in with the suggestion of bypassing Camp 2 and pressing on to Padre Island.

Now that is an idea that quickly takes root!  It would be a long day of sailing (49’ish miles) but we could eat a fish dinner tonight at Sonny’s.  Mmmmm!  And with how fast the Holder is, we should easily do the trip with daylight to spare.

With our course planned, we load the boat and make ready to launch.
The Sea Pearl cruises by 15 - 20 minutes before we get moving.  I mention this because for the entire day the Sea Pearl’s two sails are in sight. And you know what they say if there are two or more sailboats moving in the same direction … it’s a race.  Heh.

Before we cast off, I shake the reef out of the mainsail.  The boat behaved very well running downwind yesterday.  Well enough that I felt comfortable trying full sail in the mild morning wind.

We push off around 7:30 am and the current takes us down the ICW.  Sails go up easily and soon enough we are cruising with the jib poled out opposite of the mainsail.  The morning is pleasant without the furnace heat that will come later, a mild breeze keeping us cool, and a fruit cup in the morning to break our fast while sailing.

We catch the Ducks and chat/video with them as we slowly crawl through their fleet.  As we are passing Jason N, he angles towards the Holder and makes Dad nervous enough to bear away.  I ask Dad, “Why are you veering away?”.  He replies, “That boat is heading towards us.”  Jason was close enough to hear and comments that he is just trying to get in our wake for smoother sailing.  We chuckle over that.

While making our way through the Ducks, I’m trying to get video of each one in turn.  From personal experience it is always cool to see yourself doing something and I figured the Duck captains would be of like mind.  Besides, this is the Texas 200 … with Ducks!  How awesome is that?

Up near the front of the Duck fleet is Scott W in his self-designed Blue Dog.  He is kicked back in the cockpit with an opened umbrella keeping the sun off.  He looks rather comfortable.  We chat back and forth about sailing plans for the day.  He mentions that the Ducks are planning on bypassing Camp 2 and press onwards towards Padre Island.  Phew!  That will make for a long sailing day in those slow 8’ boats!  We bid fair winds as the Holder starts to pull away.

Remember the Sea Pearl?  It takes couple hours to catch up and pass him.  He has reefs in his sails (while we don’t) and he is still moving well. Eventually we get about a mile ahead (guestimated since neither Dad nor I is a good judge of distance on the water) when the mild wind falls away to bare puffs.

With the merest wisps of wind teasing the sails and a slight current upon the hull the Holder barely makes enough headway to steer.  I play with the sails trying to catch those little tiny wind puffs that give little relief from the sun.  Until now the wind has been keeping us from being broiled by the Texas sun.  Now, we just sweat, bob along, and bake.

Remember the Sea Pearl?  She starts slowly closing the ground lost earlier to the Holder.  The twin sails grow larger as the minutes tick by until we can see that the captain has shook out the reefs.  With full sail and a lighter boat, the Sea Pearl was making better use of those tiny puffs than the heavy Holder was.

Luckily the “bob and bake” only lasts for a couple hours before the wind starts to freshen again.  Soon enough the Sea Pearl’s sails start to recede as the wind speed picks up more to the Holder’s liking. The miles pass almost timelessly in the ICW.  Occasionally a barge passes by.  One barge captain contacts us to request we stay close to the green markers in a narrow section of the ICW.  We oblige of course.  Last thing Dad and I want is to become fiberglass foodstuff for a hungry barge.

Other than the boats that sailed onward yesterday to Haps Cut, we are leading the fleet.  That doesn’t leave us with much to keep us distracted other than the passing scenery, barges, fishing boats, etc, and each other.  Interestingly enough, Dad and I never get into a deep conversation about anything.  I’m thinking that sometime during the trip we would start talking about things that happened in the past or things that may happen in the future.  Instead, there are periods of quiet interspersed with comments and brief talk about things happening now such as the birds walking the shoreline, or the shallow water fishing boats cruising by, or the barges, or how well the boat is moving, or just how relaxing it is to be sailing in smooth water with good wind and no worries. 

I’ve always been like that.  Quiet on trips never bothered me.  It is a time to let the mind wander as it wishes and watch scenery pass by.  Thoughts flow fluidly from one thing to another like the water under our hull.  It is somewhat surreal at times.

Course, boredom always hovers in the background.  It is during one of the quiet times that I pull out the solar charger, lay it out on the cabin-top hatch, and plug the balky phone into it.  The phone comes alive and suddenly we have navigation!  Woo Woo!

We finally get our first look at the speed … averaging 8 mph in the early afternoon.  It also shows the next waypoint a half dozen miles ahead where we had planned on leaving the ICW towards camp 2.  The waypoint is set a couple miles before camp 2 with the intention of a direct route.  But this morning we decided to pass the camp due to the shallow water and press on.  A quick tap on the phone brings up the next waypoint set at the bridge before Sonnys … and we still have 19 miles to go. 

Not long afterwards we spot sails on the horizon and hear snippets of chatter on the VHF.  Correctly thinking it is the Haps Cut boats from yesterday, I think there was no way we will catch them before Sonnys.
As it turns out we do … and then some.  The mini-fleet consists of the two Mayflys, the Blu Bayou, and a couple other boats whose names I have forgotten.  Speed wise they all seem well matched with the Mayflys easily staying with the three pocket cruisers.

Thinking to slow and join the flotilla, I haul down the jib.  By this time the Holder was averaging 9 mph.  The idea was to reduce sail and slow down.  Well, it was an idea.  What actually happens is the Holder’s speed drops to a “mere” 7.4’ish mph on main alone whereas the other boats are cruising a bit slower.  So I give up on that idea, wave, shout a conversation with the various boats until we pull out of voice range.
Even never having seen the area right before the Padre Island Bridge, it isn’t hard spotting Sonny’s.  Having learned our lesson yesterday about overshooting, I haul down the main as we turn toward the restaurant’s dock.  Dad steers us perfectly as momentum carries us in to coast to a near stop just as the bow touches wood.  Good lord, that looked like we knew what we were doing!

Meeting us on the dock is a man (forgot the name … sorry!) asking if we are Texas200 guys.  After confirmation, he explains that they are not in the Tx200 but plan on sailing back towards camp 2 to visit the other participants.  He steers us in the right direction (Sonny’s front door), bids us farewell, and leaves us to partake our eagerly awaited dinner.
Ah.  Air-conditioning … sweet iced tea … and a scrumptious fish and chips dinner is a great way to end a day of sailing.  I see why Sonnys seems to have become a “must stop” for the Texas200.  The food is grand!

As late afternoon segues into early evening we decide it might be best to figure out where to spend the night.  The Mayflys had passed while we were eating and turned at the bridge to stop and spend the night in a condo.  My first thought is, “Really?  Wasn’t this an expedition sailing trip?” and my second thought is, “Wish I had thought of that!” The three pocket cruisers had docked at the Marina 37 fishing dock.  We motor over to check on their plans and find the boats empty.  Dad and I wander around the marina asking the workers if we could stay moored to the dock (answer is no).  With that, we try to find the crews of the pocket cruisers to see what they have planned.  We finally give up and decide to motor past the bridge and beach on one of the islands for the night.

Passing under the bridge we find the Sea Pearl already anchored about a ½ mile further in shallow waters off the ICW.  He sees us and dips a paddle into the water to show us the depth.  If the water is that shallow then our chance of motoring to one of the islands looks slim.  We make a quick decision to do the same as the Sea Pearl and anchor for a night on the boat.  It takes a couple tries to get the anchor to bite and hold in 20” of water.  We can’t move further away from the ICW because there isn’t enough water to support our boat’s draft.

While the sun slips behind the horizon to give us a gorgeous show of twilight colors, I rearrange the cabin to get the inflatable beds set up.

Unfortunately, I rip a hole in one of the beds trying to move it.  Gah!  I end up pushing Dad to sleep on the sole bed in the cabin while I make do with life vests laid on the Holder’s bench seat.

We settle in to the sounds of water lightly slapping the hull and the occasional small boat and barge passing on the ICW.  The full moon is rising in the dark sky and casting a rather bright light upon everything. 
The fiberglass bench is not comfortable at all even with the life vest cushions.  Everything is damp and not drying out.  I toss and turn trying to sleep and end up snoozing fitfully.  The moon tracks its way across most of the starred sky before finally, I fall asleep.

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