Rags to Riches

Thursday I was getting pretty discouraged. One can only do what one can do, but it was looking like this trip was going to be less than stellar. Then Fred showed up yesterday morning with a head sail in his truck and plans to anchor out.

So this morning we were all up and about around 0700. Gusting winds and bands of low clouds and rain flowing overhead greeted us as Deb brewed up some morning coffee. With the anchor holding steady we all cheered the wind meter as the numbers built in the gusts; Force 5 was easy (17 - 21 knots) and Force 6 (22 - 27) went by as well. We rang up a Force 7 (28 - 33) gust and the winds held there for a while. (Force 7 is officially a "near gale.") Another band of low clouds blew by as the meter climbed again and then, there it was, "34.7" Force 8 and officially a "gale force" gust. All while sitting warm and dry in the salon, sipping a cup of coffee without even holding on. (Okay, so properly anchored this big old Cat can handle some weather after all.) The low that had bedeviled us all week was going ashore around Biloxi, putting us (finally!) on the back side. We all knew that the longer we sat the better the weather would get.



A few hours later the weather started to ease so we hauled in the anchor (Deb is getting pretty good at driving Lady Marian up the rode) and, since the winds were directly out of the direction we needed to go, made like a motor boat back to the slip. The seas were interesting and while Deb took care of the helm I worked the charts and GPS to keep us on course. (It was pretty easy to do, Lady Marin is equipped with GPS, electronic charts with position reporting, and RADAR. In addition Fred had his hand held GPS and there is a full set of paper charts on board. I don't think we could have gotten lost if we tried.)

I tried taking a video over the bows that showed the spray flying and the pitching deck, but as usual the vid doesn't do the seas justice. But here is the view between the hulls as we worked our way past the inlet to the Gulf.



This time around I got to try my hand at docking, though I got the easy one. With the winds blowing us onto the slip all I had to do was back Lady Marian down the dock, then bump an engine or two to keep us lined up as the winds gently pushed us home.

So tomorrow morning we will head out one last time for a few hours, hopefully in the first nice day they have had around here for a week, spend a little more time under sail, and then start the two day drive to St. Louis. It has been a really good trip after all.

(Oh, and just for the record; Deb and I both missed just one question on our last written test. Alas, the one I missed was worth two points, the one she missed was worth just one. Outscored again.)