Part One - Part Two - Part Three - Part Four
Day 2, Bob and Bake followed by longest day ever!
So as agreed before, we all got ready to leave sharply at 6am… and at 7am we launched! After this day I start taking my time and stop listening to Andy trying to get us ready by 6am. I mean, it’s smart, and a lot of bad things wouldn’t have happened on this day and the last day if we actually left on time, but what are you going to do? We think it’s more important to sail as a flock, which I also agree with. This day we are heading to a camp we have never been to. In years past this is the camp where we stop at PIYC but there are 68 boats on this year’s trip, which is way too many for them to handle. The duckers have had long conversations about this day with Andy saying we have to push on and try finding a camp ground beyond Snoopy’s or around the PIYC. You see day 3’s sail is about 50 miles and ends at Paul's Mott. 50 miles is a lot. And day 2 is a 35 mile sail. So if we keep sailing we will make day two a 45 mile day and day 3 a 40 mile day. Seems a little bit more reasonable right?
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Dolphins where everywhere on day 2! |
Anyway, no decisions have yet been made and we start sailing as a flock down the cut. It’s a glorious site to behold. Much fun is had by all as we pass each other and practice sailing abreast. Did you know that the 15 of us (Sean Mulligan in Paradox and Scott Windermere in Blue Dog) did pretty well keeping together. It’s especially hard work for sailors who are of the independently minded strain. We finally make it out to the bay and the wind just stops. Sometimes it picks up to 3 mph. Just a whisper really. Guess what? Perfect weather for a PDR to sail faster than the Big Boats! Although we had left before everyone else most of the boats had passed us before the bay, and now we were passing them! The look of shame on their faces will always be a fond memory cherished by us all.
By this time in the trip I am discovering that the most comfortable way to sail the boat is by laying down with my legs up on the port side air tank and my arms and head resting on the starboard side air tank. It’s very comfy for up to an hour when I have to shift. Jason Neighbors spends most of the day sailing his PDR while standing. Even in the heaviest of winds. The man is a machine. And very funny. And he brought two rather large bottles of Tequila. For the rest of the trip we refer to each other as “new best friend forever.” So I am sailing along, talking to the other PDR’s and even though we are bobbing and baking it is very enjoyable. I have a shot of whiskey and a beer and all is right with the world.
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I spent most of the trip sailing like this. Looks more comfortable than it actually was. |
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Josh chillin' for another long day of sailing double reefed. |
We get most of the way across the bay and the wind picks up and we start heading into the land cut again. At this point though the cut is very wide. We start going fast and the waves are big enough that we put in a reef. By this point it has become obvious that Bill has become Chuck the Ducks main partner in staying together and I am kinda wandering all over the place but mainly in front with Josh Colvin or Andy Linn. Josh, Andy, and I make one of the ad hoc teams for the rest of the trip and I get to know Josh very well and end up camping with him too. We finally get to camp after 12 hours of sailing and it’s late afternoon and all the other boats are there already and have taken the best camping spots and best places for their boats. This annoys me as it will annoy me the rest of the trip. I like to tell myself that if I was in one of the large boats I would save a nice place for the PDRs, but in my heart I know this probably isn’t true. Anyway, still annoyed. We all land and Andy is pushing us to take off and continue. But it’s getting very late at this point and sunset is imminent. I am not so sure it’s a good idea to carry on but will go with the group. Finally, when I see Andy isn’t going to give up on this, I implore everyone to leave right away! Mount up boys we got some gorrom rough riding to do.
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In order to not come down with “cracked ass” Jason stood for the whole trip. Crazy. |
Permanent extra cracks in the ass have developed at this point. We get out into the water and I drink more whiskey, which makes me feel better. We decide to head to the small beach across the water from the PIYC. It turns out to be a really very beautiful sail into the sunset. Just gorgeous. We head between some islands instead of heading right for the buoys and Bill ends up getting caught in shallows here and then he flips the boat. I didn’t know this until later. Josh Colvin also had trouble and stayed with him so they finally got out and followed a little behind. We sailed another 3 or 4 hours. Wow, what a long day. Chuck the duck is supposed to show the rest of us the entrance to the PIYC and so we follow. It’s officially getting rather dark towards the end. Chuck L. hits ground and starts waving over to starboard and I see channel markers so I head into the land. I see a local a fisherman heading out and ask where the PIYC is and he points at a building up ahead and so I end up leading the way in. We all make it in except Chuck L. and Micheal Jackson. Michael takes a lot of time to do anything and he was so far behind that he missed the entrance to the club but saw Chuck and landed with him. Chuck just didn’t want to beat up into the wind and shallows to make the entrance so he found a nice sand bar to make camp on.
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The sun goes down as we sail on ahead. Turned out to be one of the best sails of my life. |
We all pull up to the docks instead of the beach and thought we would press our luck with the club. There was a meeting of the coast guard auxiliaries, or maybe it was a party because that is what it sounded like. But they were all upstairs. Anyway we all pull up to the docks and setup for passing out with Andy telling us to be nice, don’t make a mess, keep the docks clear guys, geesh. We frantically try calling the commodore of the club, who knows us, to no avail. Chuck the duck is the one who really knows him and he is trapped on a sand bar with no reception. Finally, the head of the coast guard auxiliaries comes down and gives us the stink eye. Andy and I tell him our story of woe and ask if we could please just pass out here please. Please. Oh and could you let us use the bathroom? Well he doesn’t let us use the bathroom but he does let us stay. But really, even though it’s only been two days, we look like homeless people and our PDR’s have an air of grocery cart to them. It was Rick’s idea that we were homeless guys pushing our shopping carts around and it’s an image that stuck. Because that’s really what we had become. One of the live aboard boats a ways down the docks has the combination to the PIYC and opens it to use the bathrooms and must have taken pity on us because she left the place unlocked. So we all took really fast showers and passed out. I slept in the bottom of my boat for the second night in a row. It was rather comfy and the wakes didn’t bother me a bit. I woke up in the middle of the night and was able to easily see Andromeda with the naked eye. The Milky Way shining bright.
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Isn't that paradox a fine looking boat! |
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