Sailing Louisiana

Goodbye Hobie

Today 5/31/2011 I sold my Hobie 18. I am going to miss that boat. We had so many adventures together and threw it all the boat never let me down. This was the first sail boat I have ever owned and the boat that I learned to sail with. We have been to Horn Island, Ship Island, Deer Island, Grand Isle, Dolphin Island, and Lake Pontchartrain. We have turned over several times, ran ashore, been bounced around on some very, very, large waves…….we have seen sharks, dolphins, jelly fish, star fish……and much more. This boat was always there ready to go and never gave me any problems ……unlike my Nacra but that is another story.

So you are probably saying, well why did you decide to sell it if it was that great. Well, it is very simple, I needed the money!! My Nacra 6.0 na needs new sails, new ropes, and a few other items. The Nacra is a much larger boat and cuts thru the waves easier than the little Hobie 18. So I decided to cut down on the number of toys I have and just concentrate on one boat. I am also in the process of selling both three wheelers, all three motorcycles, my lathe, my four wheeler, and a few other toys. It has become to difficult to keep all of those items working, so they all must go.

With all that said, I am still sad to see it go and I hope the kid that bought the boat will take good care of it. So long and you will never be forgotten.

Slip To Ship Race

Today 5/28/2011 the Slip To Ship Island race took place. The weather was great and the wind was consistent. We made it to the island in a few hours and then beached the cats and ate lunch. We decided to drop out the race and sail to the west side of ship island. On the way back, something crazy happened. I was just pulling away from the island, and was building up some speed when two dolphins pop up on my right side. Everything was fine until three more popped up right in front of the boat. I had no where to turn and I did not know what to do. They suddenly see me and make a dash to the left to get out of the way, but they were not fast enough. They run right into my front left pontoon and I think one was extremely unfortunate and ended up below the pontoon and I ran over him. It was like hitting a speed bump with the Hobie 18. The boat stopped, then bounced up and down and the dolphins banged into the side with there tail. After I passed over them I looked back to see if they were alright, but was not able to see much. I doubt that I seriously hurt them (thank goodness) but I am sure they had a headache after it. Looking back on the situation, I should be faster on letting the sails out to slow myself down, but there really was no time for it. I also realize that my left rudder is broken and I have to sail all the way back with one, which is a large strain on my arm.

After we got the boat back under control and processed what happened, I jokingly said out loud……HEY watch were you are swimming…..it is a big ocean you know…..try opening your eyes…… LOL. Fortunately the remaining of the trip was safe and normal and we made it back to the club right as the sun set. It was a long trip but it was still fun.

Slip To Ship (SOLO)

Today 5/21/11 I decided to sail from Ocean Springs to Ship Island. The wind is great and steady at an average speed of 16 knots. I have never been to ship island before so I was not exactly sure what direction to sail in, but as always I was sure I could make it up as I went along.
I am on my little 18 so I am being bounced around on the waves like a bucking horse. I seemed to manage to balance out the angle of wind to the waves and make the smoothest ride as I could. I look to the horizon trying to get a glimps of of the island to make sure I am sailing in the right direction but can only make out a small image that I think is some structure…maybe the island so I adjust my coarse and sail in that direction. It is not until thirhty minutes later that I figure out that the image I think is the island is a tanker ship and it is sailing away. I have a gut feeling that I am going in the right direction so I stay on coarse. Eventually the shore line behind me is about to disappear and a small tree line is just becoming visiable that I know for sure is a island…..just not sure which one.

It is not long before I can start to make out what looks to be the round fort and boats. There are plenty sail boats around. The water is also starting to clear up a little. I can actually see about a foot down in the water. The wind is perfect and I am able to sail directly to the fort with out having to tack. When I am about twenty yards from the beach I decide to beach the Hobie about five feet from the end of the fort. Just as I begin to tack to line myself up, here comes a motor boat and he is not giving way. This is nothing new, 99.9% of the dumb ass people who have boats don’t know that sail boats have the right of way. I am able to pass a few inches from the back of his boat and then tack again since he thru my angle off. I thought he was going right however he slows down and turns left, thus messing up my tack again. After some very skillful sailing on my part I am able to get pass the dumb ass and beach the cat. After several hours on the water in the hot sun I am excited to walk around and stretch my legs.

This is the first time I have ever been here so I am trying to figure things out. I looks like the fort is open free of charge to walk around and then there is along deck that goes all the way across the island to the other side where there are unbrellas and chairs along with a snack stand. Since I am by myself, I can not leave the boat unwatched because I don’t want the boat or my gear to disappear. I would, however love to have a snow ball…..I mean this is like the perfect place to have a snowball stand. I instead settle for a bottle of gator aid.

I decide to get back on board and sail around the island. When I get to the end, I notice something really cool. There is a small sand bar that strecthes out under the water and I noticed that the waves are coming in at two angles and break into one large wave. This to me is my own personal wave pool. I beach the Hobie again and spend the next 45 minutes playing in the waves. I get back onboard and continue my attempt to sail around the island. I see several monohull sail boats sailing off the cost. I point my boat in there direction and I am making good progress until I see a boat headed my way with lights blinking. I am thinking, oh hell, what did I do this time. I tack away in a different direction hoping he will just go away, but I hear him come by me and shout out…”THIS IS A RISTRICTED AREA!!!!”……I look at him and give him a express of WHAT? Then he screams at me again “THIS IS A RESTRICTED AREA!!!” …….then I could not help but be a smart ass and say…..”I HEARD YOU THE FIRST TIME, WHICH WAY AM I SUPPOSE TO GO ?” !!!!!!!!!!. Then he shouts back again and points “BOUY 26 IS RESTRICTED, LEAVE THE AREA” !!!!!! Ok, by know I am pissed, If I could reach the cock sucker I would rip his throat out with my bare hands. I reply back in a smart ass tone “I AM GOING, I DON”T HAVE A MOTOR YOU KNOW” !!!!!. I am not sure why I am getting run off but the other big boats further out are not be told anything.

I come around the point and start sailing back to Ocean Springs. I am about 100 yards off the coat and I am sailing paralle to the shore. I am screaming along and I have one pontoon in the air and I suddenly see a dark brown object in front of me about a foot below the water. I am thinking it is a log and I am thinking of how I can make it around with out breaking my boat however by the time the object reaches my front beam, my eyes and my brain catch up to each other and I realize that it is a six foot sand shark just sitting below the water. Just as I realize what it is, it takes off in a blink of an eye. It is at this moment that while I have only one pontoon in the water, I should be very, very carefull not to turn over.

I continue on coarse and in a few hours I am back at the club safe and sound. I left the club at 10:00am and made it back by 6:00pm. I had a blast and the wind was perfect because it was consistent. I can not wait to do it again. Here are a few photos I took of the fort.

Camping on Horn Island

Well…….what can I say…….I love camping……and when you mix it with sailing………all I can say is LET’s GO !!!

We plan to sail out around 9:00am in the morning. Since it is a three hour drive for me to get to the club, I had to leave the house around 4:00am. Since I am not a morning person……this is a extremely difficult task for me. I have since decided going forward, I will always drive down the day before and get a hotel room. Then I don’t have to wake up so early.

Anyway, I make it to the club on schedule and I have my boat put together by the time the other two arrive. I have all my gear for the boat……..but did not know what to bring for camping. I went into this with the mindset that it was going to be a learning experience. The whole time I am putting a mental list of things to bring the next time I go. The other two guys are more experienced with camping and they end up bringing all sorts of great things that I have since added to my mental list. One of which is chairs. I have no idea what the hell I was thinking when I made the decision to leave my folding chair at the house ………. Maybe I thought sitting in the sand with sand flees and mosquitoes was cool…….This is just one of many things I will kick myself about thru out this adventure.

In order to bring all the gear (and beer) we are going to use the new club mono-hull boat. I can’t think of the model boat it is, but I do believe it is a 26 foot boat. It is slow, but it can carry all of our gear so we don’t have to carry it on the Hobie’s.

With all the gear packed on the mono-hull, we set off. The wind is not much more than maybe five knots. It is not fast, but at least I am moving. I actually managed to point the boat well up the bay and was making great progress, even if two shrimp boats and a very large crane barge almost run over me. I mean, what the hell, I am glad I have a great life insurance policy. At least my daughter will have her college paid for out of the deal. LOL

With that aside I finally break free of the bay and I can barely make out the island. The problem now is that the wind changes direction so I change coarse and sail towards the other hobie cat that is exactly the same size as mine. I figured I would match his direction and we could sail to the island at the same time. If you noticed I used the word “Thought”……..the wind changed direction yet again and then just died. He and his crew had a paddle………and guess what. Yep……I did not……just one of those things that I never thought to bring……yet is now on my mental list. Oh, I forgot to mention that the mono-hull boat has a out board motor on it. So when he got tired of the NO WIND situation……he just fired up the motor and cruised toward the island. It is kind of frustrating to see the other two boats making progress, while I sit there ……not moving…..

Well, the hours go by and the wind picks up a little then it dies completely. By this time it is now starting to get dark. I am thinking, ok…….no matter what……I am going to stay with it and I will eventually make it, even if I have to tie myself to the boat and swim. (considering that I am out of shape….that would have lasted all of ten minutes ).

Just when I mentally prepare for the long hall…….a miracle happens. Here comes the mono-hull boat coming to tow me to the island. He had already made it there…..but then turned around and came back for me. All I can say is THANK YOU !!!!!!!! ………. And even with him pulling me in…..it took what seemed like 45 minutes to get there.
Once we arrive, we throw all of the gear on my boat and he gives me a paddle that on the sea kayak so I can paddle my way to shore. Let me just say that during the process of paddling to shore……I thought of a great workout plan I could sell online…………I can see it now…….. a commercial saying “You can lose 100 pounds in one week with my easy weight lost plan. Just grab a paddle and paddle those pounds off. No drugs, no dieting, no gym fees……..just grab a paddle and jump on a catamaran and try to paddle 100 yards. Guaranteed to lose 100 pounds in a week or your money back.”……….

Ok, it was not that bad………I finally get to shore and BAM ……….a face full of mosquitoes……..and I scramble to find my dam bug spray. Yes, this is one thing that I did manage to bring myself……..after all I leave next to a swamp…….I use this stuff all the time.

Once again I am new to all this camping stuff so I keep it simple. I unload the boat then drag the boat on shore and take the sails down. I get the boat safely stored and secured and then I find a spot to put my tent up. This in it self is a chore since this is not my tent. I borrowed it from my nephew……so I have to figure out how it goes together. Luckly it is a simple process and I have it up in about 15 minutes. I noticed it had some extra material with it………so I figured it either went under the tent or over it. Since it had the name of the manufacture on it……I decide it must go on top. It is a good thing I put it on top because with in about 30 minutes……the entire top of the tent was covered in water…….as if it had just rained…….I am thinking what the hell is going on………it ended up being the dew.

Now the tent is suppose to be a two man tent. Mind you that I used the word “Suppose”……because it is very obvious that the person who calculated the size was a product of our public school system. There is no way in hell that there was enough room for two people. It also was made for someone who was four foot tall………my feet was poking out the bottom of the tent.

Anyway moving on………the other guys were now unloading their gear and then we decided to light a fire. This is to both cook on and to keep the mosquitoes away. Once again……..it would have been a great idea to bring a LIGHTER along with me to light a fire………….but guess what…….yep……forgot that. Luckly one of the guys had a hell of a lighter……..it was a freaking blow torch of some kind. I sooooo have to get one of those things. I could see how it could come in handy for wet wood……cooking………or even welding if something broke on the boat.

…….more to come shortly.

Oh HELL NO !!!

Ok, by now you will have noticed that something always happens to me on the weekends. This time, is no different.

I am selling my 18 foot boat and there is a person I meet on the beach by the club that wanted to take a look at the boat. So I decide to bring it down Saturday and meet the guy and take the boat out for a sail. We emailed each other a few times and we agreed to meet at the club house around 10 am Saturday morning. I get there, get the boat setup and it is now 10:30am and the SOB did not show up. So I suit up and launch the boat. The wind is perfect, it is consistent 8 knot wind that is at the perfect angle for me to sail down Casino ally and make my way to the beach with in about 40 minutes.

The wind is perfect and I sail up and down the beach and then around deer island. I head to the club for lunch and then back out to sail some more. By this time the clouds are getting dark and it looks like it is going to rain, but I continue to head out thinking it will blow over. It is not long until the wind picks up around 25 to 30 knots and my little 18 is doing all it can to stay up. What really scares me is that I let out the main all the way, until there is no more rope and the traveler is all the way to the end………and I am still sailing extremely fast. It is at that point that I decide to roll up my jib and head to shore to let this storm blow over. About an hour later, the wind is now down to about 23 knots, so I climb on and head straight for the club.

Once there I load up the boat and get ready to head home after I take a shower.

Even thou most of the day was wasted waiting for the jack ass that was supposed to come look at the boat, I still had a great time sailing the 18. I don’t take it out much since I now am in love with my 20 foot Nacra. It is a three hour drive back to my house from the club. I stop off at a local barbecue place for some food, then I am off.

I am now about two hours into my three hour trip when it happens. I am in the right lane, going about 65 – 70 mph and a small pickup truck comes up on side of me that is going to pass me. I have my windows down because here in LA it is HOT even at night and the truck is even with my door when I hear a very high pitch noise like the fan belt is broken or something then all of a sudden there breaks lock up and the truck veers to the left and then quickly to the right. I make the mistake of letting off of the gas, but quickly punch it when I see what is about to happen. The truck quickly shots over to my lane and hits the back of my boat on their way into the ditch where all I see if dust and what looks like the truck turning over.

At first I did not think, or I wanted to make myself think, that they did not just hit my boat. It takes me about a quarter of a mile to get the truck slowed down and pulled over to the side of the interstate. Luckily there was a weight station that was closed so it gave me plenty of room to pull off so no one could hit me. I get out and inspect the damage. I can see that the boat was pushed off the side of the trailer and the left rear transom was tore off. I immediately say “Oh HELL NO”… Luckily the boat was lose enough on the trailer to move sideways that allowed the damage to only be in a little area. I quickly look over the boat to make sure nothing fell off that would have caused the other truck to wreck. Thank goodness everything was accounted for……….I then go back to my truck and decide if I am going to call 911 or am I just going to continue home and fix the boat myself. I weighted the odds, then I decided to call 911 and hope there insurance would pay to have the boat fixed.

Within about four to five minutes a state trooper shows up. He gets out and ask me what is the story. I told him what happened then he says he did not see any car in the ditch on his way over. As we are standing there I see some flickers of light and maybe fire in the ditch about a quarter of a mile away. I tell the trooper, “hmmmmmmmm, I am not sure, but I think that is the truck”. He then ask me for my license and registration, and insurance. I of course go back to the truck and hand him all the paperwork and he says to stay here and I will be back. He gets in his car and backs up down the interstate back to the accident. Long story short he comes back on about a hour and a half. By now all I want to do is wrap this up and get home to bed. I have been up since 4:00 am and I am sick to my stomach.

He walks over and the first thing he says is your insurance is expired…………I am like WTF!!! ………..I look at the card and sure enough, my proof of insurance is out of date………..I am like…………hmmmmmmmm…. I promise you the policy is up to date, I just don’t have the right card because I am horrible with paperwork. I quickly try to change the subject by asking if the other person was ok, and if there is anything I can do……..blah, blah, blah………trying to come across as concerned and make him forget about the insurance issue………He then ask for registration on the boat………..and I respond, I can not find that either. By now I feel like a STUPID ASS because I do have all of the paperwork some place……..just not with me at the moment…………….all of my stuff is legal, I just am horriable with keeping up with paperwork and stuff. He goes back to his call and calls in my license plate……….everything must work out because he walks back over and says ok, here is the accident report, and insurance information from the person that hit you. Just call this number and work with their clams department. We both then walk over to the boat, and he takes a look at it to make sure I can drive home safely and then he lets me go. I immediately jump back in the truck and say HELL YEAH ……………Wooooooooooo Hoooooooooooooo !!!!! He did not give me a ticket for not having proof of insurance.

Once home I crash and then wake up at 4:30 to hook on to my other boat and head back to Mississippi to sail some more. Before I go, I searched threw my mail and dug out the current proof of insurance and placed it in my truck so this time I will be ready. I don’t know what I am going to do about fixing the boat. This is the first time I have ever had to deal with a insurance agency and I am hoping they will get this fixed up for me with out any hassle.

Now even if someone calls me and wants to buy the boat, I can not sale it until I get this dam thing fixed.

Are We There Yet?

A group of us got together to sail to Horn Island Saturday. I arrived at the club around 8:30am and noticed that there was NO wind. I decided to take the opportunity to walk about and take some pictures of the boats that were on the beach to waste some time. During this process I was able to take some valuable photos of how two other Nacra’s have their spinnaker setup. Now, hopefully I can get my spinnaker installed correctly so I can use it.

By this time it is around 9:00am and I am thinking of going home and say to hell with it since there is still NO wind, however right at that time a few members drove up and said they still planed to saile to Horn Island. My gut feeling says to stay on shore, but I decide to start setting up the boat and go with them.

About an hour later I have the boat setup, and ready to go. There are two people that showed up that wanted to sail and needed a ride, so I of course gladly volunteer to take someone. It is always much more fun to sail with someone, than solo. We gather our gear, I park and lock the truck, and then we are off. This time, I freaking brought and put on sun lotion…….but I forgot to bring a hat.

The wind is not great, but at least we are moving. It is around five knots or so and we managed to sail a somewhat straight course out of the bay. I thought I was making good progress until I see the other boats catching up with me. They are on the other side of the channel and seem to be moving pretty good. I decide to tack there direction and see if I can catch up with them and sail together. We managed to sail almost to there location, however was not able to maintain their heading. All of them were sailing dam near directly upwind. I tried and tried and cursed and cursed but was not able to even come close to staying up with them. I finally said to hell with it and tacked to the left and sailed 35% to the wind. I had to zig zag my way to the island because the wind was coming directly from it. Each time I tacked back towards the other boats, I noticed they were sailing further and further away, thus leaving us behind. It is very frustrating to see the island, but can freaking sail directly to it like the other boats. We amused our selves by joking around and saying, “I can swim there faster than we can sail there”……..or “Are we there yet”………and then look over our shoulders and say “NO!!” …….. LOL…….. Tthe other boats made it to the island two hours before we did. Yes……..you heard me right……..they were there two hours before we were.

When I finally made it close to shore, I lifted my rudders because the water is only two feet deep, and turned on what I thought was my final tack, however I realized that there was one of those dam oil bumpers that is stretched out and I have to freaking sail around it which is messing up my whole angle of attach here. After a few close calls and some more tacks, we finally beach the dam thing. I can hear someone clapping and saying, “wooooo hooooo, you made it…….where have you guys been, we thought something happened to you”. I was to anxious to get off the boat and onto land to even answer the question. I then immediately jumped off the boat and walked over to the guys sitting on their boats (who have been there freaking two hours already) and ask “How the hell did you guys sail into the wind?”. ……….. They both laughed and said, yeah, we were watching you as you sailed up and noticed that your sails are not flat. I am like………hmmmmmmmm……..this is news to me…..so how am I suppose to flatten my sails (valuable information here people). They go thru the process of explaining it and it all sounds easy…….but, actually doing it may not be so easy. They asked if I was paying attention to the tails on the sails. I replied “I try to but I think they are broken, …..or it could be that I am not sure I am reading it correctly”……… That is when they said, hmmmmmm…….I really think it is the second option there because the tails are very simplistic devices……they are just ribbons glued to the sails………..and then we all bustt out laughing because I obviously need to practice sailing more.Sailing, just like any other sport is something you have to learn by doing. Because of weahter and work, I can only manage to sail about ten times a year. So I value optertunites like this to learn from people who have a lot more experiance and are willing to take the time to explain to me what and how to do something.

When we were sailing to the island I noticed several large and some small black patch’s in the water. I immediatly think it is oil and I am freaking out. The last thing I need on my boat and my ropes is OIL, however we found out later that those were just algae growing on the bottom of the ocean. After some boat talk we sit around and drink a few beers then we decided to head back. I am the second person to pushed the boat back into the water, thinking I need all the room and head start that I can get. I thought I had the boat ready to go, but when we jumped on I realized that my hiking stick was wrapped around the dam main sheet and my rudders were all the way up. This would not have been all that bad until I realized that we were headed straight to another boat that had pushed off earlier. Luckly, they were not on their boat and were able to push it back as we struggled to sail around them with limited control since the rudders were not all the way down. My day was already going bad enough, I am glad I did not hit them or their boat.

Well, everyone pushes off and they all go right while we go left. Yeah, once again I went the wrong way. We then turn right and it is not log before I catch up with the boats that do no have spinnakers. The boat with spinnakers are by now so for out that we can barely see them. They will be back at the club drinking beer long before we ever get back……..( I so need to get my spinnaker setup correctly ). Heaven help me I might actually be able to keep up with them one day………..LOL

The trip back is much faster and more exciting because I stay a lot closer to the other boats. The wind has also picked up so we are moving faster. The person that was sailing with me actually had the chance to trapeze out a few times. I almost turned it over also because I was trying to fly the hull to high. Anyway we managed to sail back in about an hour and a half. Over all, the trip was great and I learned a lot and I realized that I need to practice my up wind sailing techniques. The only true way to see if you are making any progress is to sail with other boats, then you will see if you are sailing faster, and on a better tack than the other boats. Once on shore, I quickly start the task of taking the boat down and getting it on the trailer.

I am looking forward to this coming weekend…….it is suppose to be the Slip to Ship race where all model of sail boats get together and sail from the club to ship island. I think we are going to have a great time. I am going to try very hard to setup my spinnaker before then. I will also take plenty of photos and write a how to on setting up a spinnaker for a Nacra 6.0 na boat.

Did You Turn The Engine Off ?

Ok, another story about my pilot lessons.

This time I am in Bremerton Washington flying solo and practicing my landing technique. It is a beautiful day and I am excited to be flying by myself, even thou the instructor is on the ground with his radio watching me as I land, then take off, make a full circular and land again. Landing is actually one of the most fun and exciting parts of flying. What most people don’t realize is that once you are in the air, it is quite boring. Kinda like driving a car on a long trip or such. Yes, it is fun when you are just learning, however after you have been doing it awhile it gets a little old.

Anyway, I am on my sixth or seventh circular and I am about mid field when all of a sudden my engine dies. Keep in mind here that I am only about 400 to 500 feet above the ground. In English, 500 feet off the ground in a airplane with no engine is BAD. This is because, with out a engine to pull you forward, there is no lift, so you immediately have to go into a glide path. This means you have to fly towards the ground on such a angle that the pull of gravity pulls you along and gives you enough wind over your wings to keep the plane from just dropping out of the sky. It is however still falling, just in a “controlled” manner……LOL

Ok, my instructor immediately calls me on the radio and says “uuhh, did you turn the engine off?”….. I reply back “NO !!!” ……..he then says “OK, pull out your check list and prepare to start the engine”. I did not reply, I instead pulled out the check list and started going thru it. It was not long until I came across the item to check the exhaust heat throttle. I am suppose to push it all the way forward. I look at it and realize that it is about three quarters out. This means it is running hot……..which is why the dam thing died in the first place. I am not completely sure how the hell that happened, but I think I pulled it out earlier by mistake. While this was going on I am working hard to keep the plane on its glide path because I can feel the plane slowing down. This once again is not what you want, because slow means no wind across your wings, and you will just drop out of the air like a rock. I quickly correct my coarse. The goal is to try and quickly turn the plane and align my self with the runway so I can make a emergency landing. Reality is that I have to turn twice, and I am only 400 feet off the deck, there is no way in hell I am going to be able to do that. It is a good thing that I don’t lose my cool and I can think things threw like this.

I immediately put two and two together and realize that I was the cause of the engine to die so logic ditates that the engine should start back up if I push the chorborator heat mixture all the way in. With this done, I turn the key. The engine turns over…….you know the sound of a engine starting………and nothing happens. My instructor come back on the radio and says “watch your air speed”. I am saying to myself “watch this dumb ass crash a plane !!! ” …..I then turn the key again and the engine turns over again and it does not start. I am thinking at this point, that it would suck if the battery would go dead and I could not start the engine……LOL……ok, that is just how my mind works…… I maintain my composer and try it yet again. This time I keep the key turned longer to keep the engine turning over, and over and over until finally, it starts up and roars to life.

At this point, I laugh and say, “well that was nothing” ……..LOL …….. ok, once again this is how my mind works. I immediately pull the throttle back and correct my course to gain some altitude. Altitude is that space between you and the ground……you know the ground that your plane can crash into if you cause the engine to die. Anyway, my instructor comes back on the radio and says “great job, now turn on your final approach and land that thing”. I responded simply by saying “ok”. I was actually bumbed out because I wanted to continue to practice some more. What can I say, I was only 23 at the time, life is so much more simple at that age.

Once on the ground the instructor comes over and asks me what happened. I told him I had no idea ( i was not about to tell him I caused it to die, this was back when I was not as hard core honest that I am today ). He said he was going to have the mechanic look at it today. I said great, let’s book another lesson tomorrow.

The next day I show up for my lesson and the instructor told me they had the mechanic look at the engine, but he could not find anything wrong. He continued to say that they put on a new corroborator just to be safe. I felt bad about the situation, then I realized that I was paying two hundred dollars an hour for the lessons, and that bad feeling went away.

Who The F*! Put That There?

Ok, This story does not have anything to do with sailing, but It is still very funny.

While I was in the military stationed in Seattle, I decided to take flying lessons to obtain my pilots license. Flying in Seattle is beautiful with Mount Rainer in the back ground and flying between the valleys and lakes. I actually took off and landed at a small airport in Bremerton Washington. This small airport was mainly used by private airplanes so it was very low key. I like to say I am a great pilot as long as I am in the air and I don’t have to land in a cross wind.

I was about 65 % complete on my lessons when I chose to go home on leave. While on leave I thought it would be a great chance for me to finish up my lessons at the Baton Rouge airport since I could devote every day to flying. I made a few calls and meet my instructor. He took me the day I got home and we did a check ride to see how much I had learned and what he needed to teach me. All went well and I came back the next day for another lesson.

It was not long before I was allowed to do another solo flight. I had done several in Washington, but this was my first here in Louisiana. I decided to fly to Jacksonville Mississippi and back. I file my flight plan, I perform my preflight check, then I taxi to the run way and await permission to take off. It is not long and I am told I am clear for take off. I pull up on the runway, apply my breaks, power up engines, and away I go. I climb to 500 feet and turn to the coarse directed by tower.

The tower calls out to me to turn to my appropriate coarse and releases me. I make all the necessary radio station changes and follow my flight plan and settle back in my seat for a nice flight. It only takes about 45 minutes or so and then I find my self approaching my destination. I adjust my radio and call the tower for permission to land. In a few seconds the reply back that I am clear to land. I then ask what run way would you like me to land on? They reply back, it does not matter. Well, I have to say that this is new to me, I was expecting them to tell me exactly what run way to land on and also give me strict instructions on my approach. I just shack it off and decide to land on the run way that is facing me. I straighten up and start my landing approach precdures by putting my flaps down, idling back the engine and align myself with the runway. There was no wind so I land perfect as always. I can honestly say, that you can drink a cup of coffee while I am landing and you would never spill a drop. All of my instructors have always complimented my smooth landings.

Once landed, ground control ( the same girl that also works tower control. it is a very, very small airport) gives me directions and clearance to cross the other run way and told me where to park. She also sent over the fuel truck to fuel up the plane. While the guys topped off the fuel tanks, I went inside and as I walked in, the air traffic control lady ( same girl as above ) handed me the phone. It was the department that I filed my flight plan with calling to make sure I arrived on time. I confirmed everything was fine and that I was about to fly back in about 20 minutes. With that, I handed back the phone and walked around the office a little to stretch my legs and flirt with the air traffic control girl, and of course pay for the fuel with my instructors credit card.

I soon walk back to the plan, do a quick once over of the plane and climbed inside. I started up the plane and then it hit me. Dumb ass !!!! you forgot to take the wooden chalks out behind the tires. They were put there by the flight crew when I arrived and parked the plane. I quickly kill the engine and climb out of the plane and try to look cool as I walk around and climb under the plane to remove the wooden tire chalks. I am sure who ever noticed, had a good laugh at my expense. I then climbed back in the plane, started the engine and called ground control. They gave me clearance to taxi out.

She said a few numbers, but I had no idea what she was talking about. You see, I have never been great with navigating my way around the runways. There is a certain pattern or method to the madness that has a combination of numbers and colors. I basically just picked a path and went down it. Since it was a small airport, I was confident that they would tell me if I went the wrong way. About fifteen minutes latter and I am still trying to find the dam run way. I notice to the right there is a tractor that is bailing hay. He is just a few feet off the side of my wing and is giving me a weird look like “what the hell are you doing”. It is about that time that the air traffic control girl comes on the radio and ask’s “Where are you going”? I respond back by saying “I have no idea, I am trying to find the dang run way”. She replys back, “turn around, go to first intersection and turn right”. I, being a master at U turns, whip the plane around in just seconds. This once again gets the guys attention on the tracktor because at one point I was headed directly to him and he had no idea that I was making a U turn. Once pointed in the right direction I make my way to the end of the runway, apply my breaks, power the plane, and I am off. I climb to 500 feet, and turn to the correct coarse. Notice that I did not wait for the air traffic control girl to clear me, and tell me to turn. This is because by now, I knew that she was not going to do that and I was on my own.

I set my radio to the correct station, plot my coarse and settle back into my seat for the ride back. Once again, it only takes about 45 minutes and I feel that I am getting close. It is hard for me to make sense out of what I see on the ground because everything is so freaking flat. In Seattle, there are plenty of rolling hills and valleys to help guide you. Here in Louisiana, there is nothing…..just flat ground……..I call out to the tower for some advice to see if he sees me and how close I am. He tells me I am flying straight to the airport and says I should be able to see it right in front of me. I reply back…….hmmmmmmmmm, don’t see you yet…..and then my instructor comes on the radio and tells me what to look for. I then reply back to the tower that I see it and request permission to land. There is a brief pause and he reply back with permission to land on the runway that is directly in my path. My instructor then comes on the radio and suggest that I fly around and come in from the other side because of the wind. Keep in mind here that I am 23 years old at the time and I am arrogant and very confident. I reply back that I got it. He then comes back on the radio and says again, ” I really think you need to come in from the other side”. I reply back sharply “I GOT IT !!!”.

Once the runway is clearly in my sights, I begin to put my flaps down, throttle back the engine and begin my decent. Everything is going fine, I am in perfect alignment and this should be smooth as always. Well to my surprise when I am only 100 feet off the deck I glance over and see that the wind sock is blowing at a almost 60 degree angle to my runway. This means that I am going to have to make a cross wind landing. Let me just say I have NEVER been able to do a cross wind landing because it scares the shit out of me. You have to turn the noise of the plane into the wind and land the plane at a angle, while still flying straight. In English, the entire plane is at a 60 degree angle to the run way and it feels like once the tire hits the runway you are going to turn over because at that very second, you have to turn the plane straight. I was freaking out and was not able to keep the plane in the center of the runway. I kept skidding to the outside because I was scared to land the plane sideways. Well, after a few seconds of that, I had to make a decission and I gave it more power and started to climb out and do a fly over. That is when the tower came on the radio and asked “What are you doing”. I calmly replied back that I am unable to land and I was going to do a fly over and come back from the other direction. He quickly came back and said “why are you not able to land” I said ” I can not do a cross wind landing”, there was a brief pause and he came back and said “you need to land” , I replied back “I can not” ………… At this time, I can’t understand why he is insisting I land. I have always been able to do a fly over at the small airport in Washington. Well……by this time someone has to make a deicsion because I am running out of runway quick. The tower comes back on cool and calm and calls out a coarse and tells me to climb to 500 feet. The coarse he called out was basically a 90 degree turn to my right. What I did not know at the time was that he was telling me to turn right in front of a 727 that was landing the opposite runway. That was why he was insisting that I land. You can not have a plane taking off in the same direction that another plane is landing, so the only solutions was for me to turn right in front of him and fly out of his way.

I then heard this guy on the radio saying “Tower Bowing xxxx 727, do you want me to abort”, the tower comes back all calm saying “maintain coarse”……..I turn my plane and give it full throttle. I am looking around and to my right I see the 727 comeing right at me. I can not for the life of me figure out why the hell my plane was not gaining alttitude. It then hit me “dumb ass !!! ” that I still had the flapps down. I quickly pull the lever to lift the flapps and I can feel the plane rise. By this time I have heard the pilot of the 727 whining to the tower again “do you want me to abort” , the tower replied back calm “maintaine coarse”. I swear the pilot of that 727 was a candy ass !!! ………..I look to my left again and I can now almost see the pilot in the cockpit of the 727. I then turn and look out the front of my plane and what do I see……….a FREAKING WATER TOWER……….I am saying to myself, who the fuck put that there ?????? I just shake my head and say, what the hell else is going to happen. I double check the dam flaps to see if they are up and I can still hear the motor slowly pulling them up……..yeah, flaps are very slow……and everything that is going on seems like a long time, but it all happens in less than two minutes………… So I see the dam water tower in front of me and by this time I can see the welds and bolts that are holding the water tower together. I quickly pull back on the controls to gain altitude, but I have to be careful not to stall the plain. If you climb to put the plane at to steep an angle, it will lose lift and you will drop like a rock………so I pull back………pull the throttle once again to make dam sure it was full power, and I turn slightly to the left. I figured the tower would give me a little slack for turning since it would be a lot messier if I hit the dam tower instead of turning off coarse.

With a deep breath and luck on my side I miss the water tower. From there I don’t remember much but I finally end up on the other side the airport. Now you are suppose to wait for the tower to tell you that you can turn right, and then turn right again to line up with the runway, but for some reason I did not wait for the tower, I just turned. I then see another 727 on his final approach to land on the next runway next to me. Now image this, He is already fliying directly to his runway, with flaps down, I just turned right so I am flying directly towards the side of him……meaning the passengers who I can clearly see face plastered to the windows on that side of the plane are wondering why a small aireplane is headed directly to them. What they do not know is that I am waiting to line up with the runway and then I am going to turn right. Well, it takes a few minutes, but I finally align myself…….granted I am suppose to wait for tower, but I turn with out there permission……….I am now side by side with the 727 on approach to land. The passengers of the 727 are all glued to the windows watching me……….and I am watching them…..I find it funny. ……. I put my flaps down and idle back and I touch down smoothly…………at the same time he does……..it is a peace of cake because the wind is blowing the right direction.

Once on the deck ground control gives me instructions on how to get back. I somewhat know what they are talking about because I have landed on the same runway with my instructor. I seem to have made it back and parked the plane with out incident. I kill the engine, make sure everything is powered off, and I climb out and head to my instructors office. When I arrive, I hear see that my instructor is on the phone……it seems like a very harsh conversation……..and i soon find out that it was the tower. The tower had called him and chewed him a new ass for my mistake. I assure you, if I had my license, the tower would have pulled it…….and I would never be able to fly again. I however was just a student so there was nothing they could do, besides I was only 23 and could care less.

By this time, my five days of leave was over and I had to go back to Washington. I managed to get back and I managed to take a few more lessons before my ship took off on a west pack. This was the last west pack I was going to be on because when we returned, I time was served and I was getting out and ready to return home. The west pack is six months long, so by the time I got back, I had forgotten a lot about flying and was more interested in getting back home, so I never finished my certification. I am only now just starting back. I need to study to pass the written exam and then do a check ride and I am good as gold. I will keep you posted when I get my pilots license and let you know if any more interesting things happen.

Sail To Horn Island

Yesterday was a beautiful day for sailing. I am just getting over a case of strep throat, but decided to go sailing anyway. The day started as every trip, waking up at 4:00am and driving to Ocean Springs. I made it there by 7:00am and it did not take me long to put the boat together. The goal was to setup and test my spinnaker, however I should have just left it in the truck because the wind was already at eight knots, however being hard headed that I am…….I decided to set it up on the boat and bring it with me in case the wind dies down.

I launch from the Ocean Springs Yacht Club and I am off. The winding is perfect and I am able to fly a hull in just minutes of putting my rudders down. The plan was to sail around Deer Island, however since the wind was blowing me towards Horn Island, I thought…….hey, why not go there………I have heard several people say it was a great place to sail to. So I point the boat in that direction and hang on. I end up flying the hulls the whole way there and if I am not mistaken, it only took me about an hour and half to get there. It is not very wide but it is a very long island with white sand. I end up playing around there for a few minutes then I head back to Biloxi. I wanted to make a run up and down the beach and maybe sail all the way to Gulf Port. I should have sailed to Ship Island instead, but that will have to wait until another day.

Since I was going against the wind, it took longer to get back and get around Deer Island. I so need to learn how to just sail down casino row to make my life easier. Deer island is a pain in my ass to sail around in my opinion. While sailing around, it felt like the water was shallow, even thou I was several hundred yards off the coast. The wind had picked up and the waves are now at three feet and have white caps. Perfect weather for my Nacra 6.0, however I am by myself, and I don’t have enough weight to harness the power, so I have to be very careful not to turn over.

It is not long until I reach Biloxi and cruse by the shore. By this time I am tired and need a break so I pull up the dagger boards and beach it on shore. I am there for about thirty minutes while I drink some gator aid and watch a guy learn how to kite surf. I could not figure out why he would get up on the board and then just fall back. I managed to talk to his girl friend that was walking by and she had mentioned that he was drug down the beach last weekend on it, and had lost his nerve. I tried not to laugh and just said, “yeah, that can happen”. I wanted to walk over and give him some pointers on what he was doing wrong, but I did not want to leave my boat unattended, so I hung out for a few minutes more and then made the boat ready and launched. By this time my legs are burning. I forgot to put sun lotion on…….yep I am a idiot !!!!

I sail back to Deer Island and decided to turn around and sail back up shore. Today was so beautiful, and the wind was perfect, that I could not resist, even thou it was already 3:00pm and I should be headed back to Ocean Springs and load up the boat. I managed to sail even further down the shore and play around. It is now about four thirty so I decide to head back to OSYC. This is where the problem starts, I was trapeezed out all day and I started to get a little cocky and I made a mistake. I allowed myself to lose footing and I “Peter Paned” to the front of the boat and in doing so, let go of the main and rudder. The boat slowly turned and BAM, the boat turns over on me. When the moment of no return hits, I am thinking, OH SHIT, how the hell am I going to right this thing. Mean while, to my surprise, just as soon as the boat hits the water, It starts to take off. The wind is so strong that it is pushing the boat back to shore. I mean while, am trying to find something of the boat to hold on to before I am left there with my mouth open. I managed to pull myself down the main sail back to the boat and start fighting with disconnecting the main. The DAM !!!! quick shackle that I am using will not come lose………….the whole time I am saying, when I get home I am Soooooooooo going to replace you !!!! I never manage to disconnect it so I say to hell with it and climb on the boat and start trying to put the righting pole on and making preparations to attempt to right it. It is at this time that I notice that my spinnaker rope is hung up on a dam crab pot and is being pulled out of its chute. I reach down the back of the boat and flipped the rope off the crab pot with a little luck and off I go again…….”Sailing” to shore on the side of the boat. I realized also, that I have crossed the pole markers that mark that the water is shallow. I can’t use the righting pole in water that is three feet deep since the pole is six feet long. So I tie it all back on the boat and just hang out while the boat is pushed back to shore. When I finally think the water is shallow enough I jump off and start to figure out what the hell I am going to do. The water is only three two feet deep, but the wind is still pushing the boat and almost knocks me down so I quickly move to the back of the boat and pull on the main as a handle to slow the boat down.

I notice a guy walking to me asking me if he could help. At this point, I am thinking Sure……why not…………this is going to be interesting so let’s see if we can do this without getting hurt. I notice that again, the boat is hung up on yet another dam crab pot, so I walk over and untie it from the mast. It took a few times, but I finally got it free and the boat moved forward and I begin to figure out how to right it. The first things to do is to push up the dagger boards, and release the rudders. Then we push the boat up to the beach and I get under the mast and start walking my way down while pushing it up. I have him go to the underside of the boat and pull on the dolphin striker. In only a few minutes it is back up and I immediately turn it into the wind to protect the sails and to keep it from turning over again.

I quickly tank everyone and start assessing the damage. So for, the only thing is broken is the trapeze bungee, which I cut off and retie it back to the hook. I then start to put the righting pole back on and get the boat ready to sail. Everything is fine and is now set. I end up BS’ing with a guy on the beach who had seen me turn over, and then I drag the boat back in the water and get ready to take off. As I am pulling the boat out, I notice the crab pot that was pulled by the boat is half way out of the water. I could do nothing but laugh and hope the dam thing stays over there and I don’t hit it again while trying to launch. The wind is screaming, so I jump on the boat and lower the rudders and take off. Since I turned over, I lost my nerve so I just sat on the boat and sailed with the main sail all the way back. No way in hell was I going to trapeze out and do something stupid again. I finally make it back to shore at 6:00pm which is pretty quick considering the distance I covered.

I had the boat loaded and ready to go by 7:00pm. Once I climbed back into my truck I can feel my legs burning and I know that they are going to be Red as can be in the morning. It would have been nice to have brought some cloths to change in the club, by my idiot self, never seems to think that for in advance……so I drive home in my shorts and full of sand. I managed to pull into my drive way at 10pm ……… I don’t even bother with washing down the boat, I simply go inside and take a shower, then I hit the bed. It has been a very long night but exciting. Most importantly, I had fun and I did not break anything…….LOL

This morning I stopped off at Walgreens to pickup some burn cream. My freaking legs are burned so bad, you would think I had third degree burns. I had to have a friend of mine bring me lunch to my office because I cannot walk……….aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!! I am such a idiot for not putting on sun screen.

Race From Pascagoula to Ocean Springs

This weekend was the race from Pascagoula to Ocean Springs Yacht Club. I didn’t think I was going to make it until I received a call from a fellow member who offered to bring my boat from OSYC to SRYC for me the night before. Then, all I have to do is to concentrate on picking up my daughter in Ponchatoula get to SRYC before 10:am. It was not easy, but I made it there by 9:00am, partly because my daughter was able to meet me at 7:30 and because I drove 80 mph the whole way. This is saying a lot since I was pulling my boat trailer with me that I just rebuilt during the week.

Since we were running late, I concentrated on setting up the boat. I had to correct a few rigging errors, and then started setting up the sails and equipment. They called for a captains meeting, but I could not make it since I had to setup the boat. I did manage to run to the store to pickup some snacks and drinks. I new it might be a very long trip and I wanted to make sure the kids had something drink and eat.

We finally get everything setup and we lock the truck up and launch the boat. This is the first time my daughter and her boy friend had ever been on the boat. So I knew it was going to be interesting. The wind was only five to six knots and unfortunately, I did not have my spinnaker on the boat since they guys had already lifted my mast the night before. There was no way for me to install the spinnaker rope, so I just sailed with what i had. This is only the second race I have ever been in so I don’t have a clue of what to do. We just mess around out there until I notice everyone is headed in the same direction, and then we turn and sail with them. It was not long before we spotted some dolphins jumping. One actually jumped completely out of the water and did a spin in mid air.

We all pretty much grouped together and I am keeping up with the boat in front of me. I had mentioned to the kids that they should practice hanging off the side the boat since we were not going to fast. They had no clue what I was talking about, so since I already had my harness on, I slipped out on the side and was showing them how to do it. They both were excited and were fighting over who was going first. Since I had two harness’s, I had both of them hang of each side of the boat at the same time. I am sure the other sailors in the race were wondering what I was doing, but we were out there to have fun, not to win at all cost.

Later on towards the end of the race the wind picked up so I veered off the race course and had both of them lean off the same side the boat and flew the hull for about ten minutes. They were having a blast and loved every minute of it. This fun came at a price, because we originally had six boats behind us, but since we had to make up all of that ground we just lost, we ended up coming in something like second to last. At least as for as boats go, after the race I found out that I did not officially start since I did not sail between the starting boat and plastic pipe, and also because I did not end the race by sailing across the finish line. Oh well, no big deal. By the end of the race, the kids were more concern with going to the bath room than me crossing the finish line. They both jumped off the boat about fifty feet from shore……which was funny to watch as my boat launched forward with out the extra weight.

The race was a blast, the F’ked up part was when I got to shore. Apparently this was a unorganized race or someone had there head up there A$$ because no transportation was provided to bring the sailors back to Pascagoula to pickup the trucks so we can loud up the boats. I was furious to say the least and even today, I am extremely frustrated over the whole affair. Think about this for a minute. If everyone drives from one club and leaves there truck / trailer there at the other and sail from that club to the other, don’t you think that they will need a ride back to there truck? My first instinct was to call a cab, however I instead walked around and asked people if they knew of anyone that was going back to Pascagoula. Three hours and over 23 people later, I finally find someone. Yes, it took me over three and a half hours to get back to my truck. Absolutely F’ked UP!!!! No way in hell will I ever leave my truck again. I am still kicking myself to this day for not calling a cab. I knew better than to wait around for someone to bring me back. What is real F’ed up is that my kids were freezing this whole time. There warm dry cloths were in my truck that was only 20 minutes away, if just someone would bring me. They managed to keep warm by finding a shower in the bath room and standing under it while warm water ran over them. Yeah, this is what they had to do while I was walking around trying to find a ride back. Once again, absolutely F’ed up. Some people I asked said, yeah, I had my wife drive the truck back down, OK……….well great can you bring me to my truck since you have a vehicle here……….. NO !!! ……….. WTF !!!!!

So the moral of the story is to NEVER, EVER, leave your truck any place and trust that someone will bring you back. Always handle your own business……..because no one is going to help you. Both me and the kids are now sick. I missed one day of work and she has missed two days of school and had to go to doctors office. I think I am done with racing.

NEVER AGAIN !!!!