Sunday, April 28, 2013

Sail to Isla Mujeres - The Journal of Yucatán

Sail to Isla Mujeres - The Journal of Yucatán


Sail to Isla Mujeres

Start the Regata del Sol al Sol in St. Petersburg

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And the sea party started.
The 25 boats in the Regata del Sol al Sol departed from St. Petersburg, Florida, bound for Isla Mujeres, in the middle of a good environment.
Two of the yachts are Mexican, the "Serenissima" and the "Giralda", whose delegation was at the meeting.
Three of the state of Louisiana and Florida has 20 boats, from 17 different clubs.
There was a farewell dinner at the Yacht Club of St. Petersburg, attended by Commodores Sandy Schoenberg, the host organization, and Esteban Lima Zuno Yacht Club Isla Mujeres.
Like Bruce Watters attended and Jopie Helsen "Jade" who participated in the first race in 1969. - Gaspar Silveira Malaver

Docking a boat


<iframe frameborder="0" width="480" height="360" src="http://www.dailymotion.com/embed/video/xq8kx2"></iframe><br /><a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xq8kx2_docking-a-single-engine-boat_sport" target="_blank">Docking a Single Engine Boat</a> <i>by <a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/yachtingmag" target="_blank">yachtingmag</a></i>

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Cedar Key Small Boat Show Saturday and Sunday May 3 and May 4


The 29th Cedar Key small boat meet will be Friday, Saturday and Sunday, May 3rd 5th, 2013, the first full weekend in May. It is completely informal. Tides and weather are still the only organization. There are no planned events, signups, or fees. 

Cedar Key is on the Gulf a hundred miles north of Tampa, a dozen miles south of the mouth of the Suwannee River. It's an isolated cape of offshore islands separated from the mainland by miles of oyster flats and salt marsh. The great logs of the cedar forests went to pencil makers before & after the Civil War. During the War it was an active Confederate port & railhead. Now its sea and shallows attract fishermen and naturalists, artists and writers. There are no traffic lights, fast food, or golf courses.


 

All shallow draft boats are welcome: canoes & kayaks, catboats & catamarans; trimarans, rowboats & sailing dinghies; scows, sharpies & sampans; punts, pirogues, prams---& pirates' yawlboats. 

Over the last 26 years, weather has usually been mostly sunny, mid to upper 80s in the day, water temperature upper 70s. If it blows, even at lower tides, it's splendid for rowers & paddlers. For sailing canoes Cedar Key is sublime. 

Wildlife observers note the food chain at Cedar Key is complete in the water & ashore. The nutrients flowing out with the clean Suwannee mix with oxygenated water riffling through the cape's islands & channels. Birds, bugs, fish, shellfish, turtles, alligators, marine mammals---all thrive. 

For information call the Cedar Key Chamber of Commerce, 352 543 5600; Dave Lucas, 941 704 6736, skipjack@tampabay.rr.com, or me, 586 215 7060,huhorton@gmail.com.

Meow


Meow is a 39 foot Leopard catamaran sailing in the Regatta del Sol. I took this pic before its departure for the race. Currently, it is in about the middle of the pack for the race and is quite a bit to the starboard side of the rhumb line. Based on the wind, I am wondering why the skipper has taken a line that far off. 

Regata del Sol 2013 - Race from St. Pete to Isla Mujeres, Mexico

Great Story. Compelling and rich.

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

New slip neighbors -and they are partying!

Great. 10:30 - I have a job and they have to make an EBT swipe.

Plus, windy as h3ll and 3Sums lines ar being tested. So, can't sleep and watching Miami Vice to Genesis. Guns, girls, drugs and great music.

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Boat in the Fog, New Zealand - from Trey Ratcliff at http://www.StuckInCustoms.com

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Lynx - the Tall Ship that is Difficult to Get to or See

Check out the hours on the calendar. This ship is buried somewhere in a marina hidden by numerous barricades, buildings and bushes. I think I saw its mast, however.


Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Dunnell, MN - Home of Guy who circumnavigated 3 times or more


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A Conversation with Roger Swanson | Sail Magazine - One Tough Minnesotan

A Conversation with Roger Swanson | Sail Magazine


Cruising

A Conversation with Roger Swanson

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Roger Swanson at the helm, a position he mastered during his thousands of offshore miles  Rare is the sailing resume that boasts 217,928 miles, three circumnavigations, multiple voyages through the Arctic and Antarctic and the first east-west crossing of the Northwest Passage by an American-flagged sailboat. Pretty impressive for a Midwestern-born pig farmer-cum-electrical engineer-cum-entrepreneur, but no one ever accused Roger Swanson, of Dunnell, Minnesota, of mediocrity.
Swanson, who sadly passed away at the age of 81 on December 25, 2012 after a battle with cancer, became enamored with oceans during his three-year stint as a Navy officer; afterward, he raced Midwestern scows and began chartering in the Caribbean. In 1976 he bought a CSY 44 and five years later upgraded toCloud Nine, a 1975 Bowman 57 cutter-rigged ketch. Swanson sailed 207,428 miles aboardCloud Nine, including 80,000-plus miles with Gaynelle Templin, his second wife and consummate first mate. SAIL spoke with him shortly before his passing, and we extend our deepest condolences to his many friends and family. 
What were the hardest miles you’ve sailed?
My second trip to Antarctica…the goal was to cross the Antarctic Circle, and we got hammered on our way back, with a constant 35-75 knots on our nose. We were trying to re-enter the Antarctic Archipelago, but the high winds and constant ice forced us to remain hove-to for three days before the winds
subsided.
Have you ever been scared?
In an emergency, I never had time to be scared. One time we were sailing in about 35 knots, 250 miles from Land’s End, England, and at 0400 hours, we lost steerage—we had broken the quadrant casting. We struggled to fix it, but the winds increased to 55 to 60-plus knots. A rogue wave hit us and dropped us on our port side, shattering our portholes. We were at close to 90 degrees, and we took on 500 gallons of water before she righted herself. We used cabin locker covers, a hand drill and sheet-metal screws to cover the opening, drilling right into the fiberglass. Hypothermia was a problem, but in the morning we fixed the steering and continued on.
You were run down by a freighter while at anchor, no?
It was at Rarotonga in the Cook Islands. The incoming freighter failed to drop a stern anchor and couldn’t stop. She ran over our anchor rodes and dismasted us. It was a tangled mess, but we jury-rigged the boat—turning her into a schooner—and sailed 2,000 miles to New Zealand. We got a lot of interesting comments as we entered various ports en route!
Cloud Nine contended with plenty of ice during her high-latitude sailing  
From the deck of Cloud Nine  What about ice?
On our first Northwest Passage attempt in 1994, a massive ice-pack started closing in on us. We tied up behind a huge grounded ice flow to protect ourselves from the closing pack, but for three or four days it was looking pretty grim, with the danger of both our ice barrier and ourselves being pushed ashore by increased pack pressure. We finally got a wind shift and escaped through five miles of five-tenths ice concentration. 
Was the NW Passage your Siren’s Song?
After our failed 2005 attempt, I said “never again,” but I’m a stubborn Swede from Minnesota. I got a call from Cambridge Bay [Canada] saying that [2007] might be a good ice year, so I called my 2005 crew and they were game. This time, we made it.
Is this your biggest sailing
achievement?
It’s probably more like my most unique experience, but completing my first circumnavigation with my sons was a pretty memorable accomplishment.
Any advice for other cruisers?
If you want to go cruising, do it. If I had waited until I had the time and could afford it, I wouldn’t have left Minnesota.
Photos courtesy of Roger Swanson