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Corpus Christi, TX Fast track 101, 103, & 104

May 12-21, 2006
Corpus Christi, Texas
27º 49 N
97º 23 W

By: Scott Stillman

Once again we left after work on Friday and drove down to Corpus Christi. Chaney, our youngest, we left at the house with our neighbor to look after her for the week and a half. Eventually we will start bringing Chaney with us, but not until we get our own boat.

Chaney and Coach are our kids. Everywhere we go people ask us about our kids. I just started telling them we have a 3 year old daughter and an 8 year old son. When I take out pictures they make noises. We love kids. We really enjoy our time with our niece, nephews, and friends kids, but that's as close as we're ever going to get. I'll probably get into a philosophical discussion later, but for purposes here, we won't ever have any kids. We might borrow some, but never for too long.

Coach, Jennifer, and I arrived at the house Friday night late and promptly went to bed. Saturday morning Coach and I went body surfing at 6 am. I don't know what it is but whenever I'm at the beach I'm up just before dawn. After a nice swim we went back to the house and woke everyone up. I really don't know what they were thinking sleeping in past 8. There's nothing nicer than being woken up with a wet puppy. That's my favorite.

Port Aransas was having an art fair, so we went to look at the art. On the way to art we got side tracked and went to a couple garage sales. I love going to garage sales, sigh. All this is just killing time until we can leave. I had the hardly waits and wasn't being very pleasant.

The big day finally arrived. After one last trip body surfing with the puppy we were forced to say bye to him for a week. We dropped him off at the vet for a workup and puppy sitting, and headed off to Corpus Christi.

We showed up exactly at 9 am ready to shove off. Something was wrong. I noticed it first when I walked in and they said "Something's wrong."

Someone broke the boat. It was out on a sail for the weekend and well, they broke it.

For those of you who don't sail Captaining a sailboat is not like driving a car. First of all you have this big thing sticking out the middle of the boat. Oh it's got wires and sails and all kinds of stuff sticking off it. Well what that does is power the boat. Hence the name "sailboat." In a car there are a certain group of drivers that when they turn their head turn the wheel. Well when you are in a car they drive off the road. You see them all the time on the news. Ruin enough cars and they learn to drive down the road with out turning their head. When you do this in a sailboat to go into different points of the sail. I've talked about this before. There's lines to be pulled and lines to be let out. Lots of fun. If you aren't paying attention bad stuff happens. They broke the big pointy thing and ripped out all the lines and such.

For those of you who do know how to sail. They did an accidental jibe. Which isn't so bad unless the winds are approaching 40 knots which they were. They bent the boom and damaged the main sheet & traveler.

They called to cancel our class, and called, and called. Since we were in Port Aransas instead of at the house where they were trying to call, and they never got a hold of us. I'm glad they never got around to calling the second line that was on our registration form under the heading of Cell phone, so they found us another boat.

While we waited for the boat to be cleaned and the mess to be straightened out, 5 hours, Capt. Chris, you remember Capt. Chris, tried valiantly to keep us entertained. Waiting is not something we do well, especially if were not told how long were going to wait. Actually, we do it poorly.

We went over knots. Surprisingly, when you deal with rope, knots are kinda important. Who'd a thought? We trespassed on another boat that we kinda sorta had permission to play with and went over all the jargon.

Knowing how to talk like a sailor is very important. When someone yells "Port, For the love of god turn port, Port, PORT...", it might just be important to know that that person means steer left. When you are on a boat you are not aloud to say Left, it's against the law. It's also important to know when someone yells Jibe Ho! they are not actually talking about my wife. They are letting you know that the boom, the big bar that swings back and forth, is, in fact, swinging back and forth. If you stand up, affronted for your wife, you get to practice man overboard drills from the water. There's a cute scene in Capt Ron.

So around 3pm we are ready to go. Thoroughly exhausted from 5 hours of waiting, practicing knots, and learning, we are ready to go. I needed a nap.

Our boat was Miss Lilly.

	Specifications Year: 1999 LOA: 37'3" / LWL: 32' Beam: 12'7" / Draft: 5' Mast Height: 56' Displ.: 16,000 lbs. / Ballast: 5,900 lbs. Sail Area: 719 sq.ft. Bridge clearance: 59'6" Engine: single diesel 36HP model 3JH2TE Yanmar Fuel: 30 gal. / Water: 75 gal. Holding: 35
"Miss Lilly " (Hunter)	Equipment Radio / CD player with inside and cockpit speakers, flat screen TV, DVD player, air conditioning, leather seats, two bedrooms, wind and depth meter, stove, oven, microwave oven, refrigerator, lots of storage room, wheel steering, diesel inboard, roller furling jib. Autohelm ST 5000+ autopilot.


Miss Lilly at Port Aranasas	Companion way looking into the galley	Standing in the aft cabin looking toward the bow


Standing in the salon looking aft.	Standing in the galley looking aft. Jennifer in the aft cabin.


Capt. Jennifer	Capt. Jennifer w/Corpus Christi in the back ground.	Capt. Scott

Day 1

The first day was not a lot of fun. We were supposed to leave at 9am and left at 3pm. This was not the fault of the center but we were miserable. We went out of the harbor and into the bay and did some points of sail and getting familiar with Miss Lilly. Since we left so late we weren't able to get to our first anchorage and had to go back in and sleep in Miss Lilly at the slip.

Day 1

Day 2

We woke up from one of the best sleeps we have ever had. I felt good. Ready to go. I think, to our mutual surprise, Capt Chris was still aboard. The man has perseverance. I think he was more surprised that we were still aboard. I think he expected us to skip out in the middle of the night. Day 1 went badly. Day 2 was like night and day. We not only did well we had fun.

We did our man overboard drills. We went trough points of sail. We had fun.

One of the biggest things for me to conquer was heel. To old sailors this might sound dumb but it just didn't feel right. Well I finally got it.

For those who don't know what heel is watch this little movie I made. Fun Sail

It gives you the idea of what I'm talking about. Alright. We talked about how the big stick with the sails power the boat. Well, when the wind pushes on the sails it makes the boat lean. Now it'll go over almost to it's side and just be trucking along. That's ok. I finally realize that we weren't going to die and, it is ok. This one is an Easy Sail and it shows the difference.

When we were done playing we sailed up to Port Aransas and decided to go out into the open water. We sailed out about 2 miles. There's nothing I can think of to describe the first time you leave shelter and head out into the Gulf. The swells were 5-6 feet. The power of the ocean is exhilarating. It was a nice day. We sailed for a few hours then headed back in and docked at Port Aransas marina.

Day 2

Day 3

There were two boats out doing the same class. Capt Bob, on Serenity, remember Capt Bob from 101, was the other Capt. Now Capt. Bob is a great guy, and knows everything there is to know about sailing. His clock spins differently than ours. We were up showered, shaved, fed, and ready to head out at 7am. We needed gas for the rest of the week. Capt Bob had the only check to get gas for both boats. Capt Bob doesn't ever set out until noon. Did I mention how good we are at waiting. Now if he had said were leaving at noon that would have been cool, but we were getting ready to leave at any minute until 1130 when they noticed and said "are you waiting for us?" As we started to untie to head over to the fuel dock one of those big trawlers pulled up to take on about a 1000 gallons. Did I mention how good we are at waiting.

Fueled for the week we set off. First thing we did was set off into the gulf. This tanker pulled out behind us. These guys think they are in charge. I mean just because they have a hundred billion tons coming at you at 20 knots they think you should get out of their way.

We headed out about 5 miles and emptied the storage tank. Oh, come on, where do you think dolphins go? We went out for an hour or so, practicing point of sail in the open water. Since it was starting to get late we headed back into the channel and into Aransas bay heading over to mud island. It's an island made of mud. We navigated the ICW, running wing on wing. See picture. This is tricky to maintain. I'm taking the picture facing Jennifer. The wind is coming from my rear left. Remember those accidental jibes we were talking about. This is where those can happen.

We spent 4 hours waiting. We watched hundreds of dolphins play. We went out into the gulf. Time for a nap. We pulled into a cove and set the anchor. I've heard of marriages ending over lack of communication, or too much of the wrong kind of communication, during anchoring. Jennifer at the helm, me at the bow giving arm signals, we set the hook. Jennifer revved the engine back on the anchor to see if it would hold like a pro. We never had any trouble. No yelling. No Cussing. I guess I don't understand the trouble.

Refreshed from our nap, came up on deck to find the sun preparing to set. It's amazing how short the day is when you don't leave until noon. So instead of more sailing we did the next best thing. We broke out the barbeque pit.

Jennifer and I have developed a delicate balance of division of labor in our lives. Early in our dating lives Jennifer decided to display her culinary skills. Years of tutelage and years of refining brought to fruition a culinary delight to tempt me. Jennifer made me chicken fingers. During our drive back from the hospital we made a mutual decision that maybe cooking was not one of Jennifer's strong points. I cook. I enjoy cooking. Jennifer cleans. Hey, it works.

Barbeque is a man's job any way. There's fire, smoke, beer, and half a cow. We didn't climb our way up to the top of the food chain for nothing, grunt. There is nothing as good as fajitas with friends and family.

Day 3

Day 4

What a day. Everything is right with the world. Capt Chris's patience and persistence has paid off. He has kept us alive past the half way point. We woke up with the sun. I made coffee and had a cup on deck watching the sunrise. Coffee is a ritual that is essential to the start of a good day. It all starts by picking the right beans. Next comes the grinding, not to0 course or too fine. Mix the grounds and boiling water into a press and let seep for 4 to 5 minutes. Lastly press and poor. Add a little splenda and cream and you have the perfect cup of coffee.

There is, of course, some controversy as to what the correct definition of the perfect cup of coffee is. Capt Chris way is wrong, just wrong. He has a perversion of the delicacy known as coffee that is reminiscent of engine part degreaser. The things that he does to coffee is just not right, and I believe in some countries could get prison time or summary execution. I'm so glad I brought my own. Breakfast after a night of barbeque is fun. I made fajitas and eggs after we aired out Capt Chris's coffee fumes from the main cabin.

Around 7:30 we were ready to set off for a day of learning. We looked over at at Serenity, who anchored about 100 yards away, and they hadn't stirred yet. It was so cool not being on someone else's time line.

Jennifer took the helm and I guided the anchor rode through the windless. Jennifer brought us forward, guided by my hand signals, while I brought up the anchor. Again, I don't understand the conflict. Maybe with more practice we can be upset at each other, and yell, like the pro's.

We took turns practicing. We did man over board, points of sail finding proper trims for the sails, navigation, you name it we did it. About noon we heaved to for lunch.

Heaving to is a way of sailing no where. If you look at the picture below we are hove to. The jib, the sail up front, is left on the wrong side of the wind and the main is let out, meaning it is just flapping in the wind. The tiller, the part sticking in the water that makes the boat turn, is turned all the way into the wind (below it is turned to the right). We are at a dead stop in irons. The wind pushes the jib away and causes the boat to pick up speed. The tiller being turned into the wind causes the boat to turn into irons and stop. Back and forth, back and forth. It's a great way to stop for a nap or lunch.

After lunch we looked over and watched as serenity started her day. Have I mentioned how we hate being on someone else's time. We sailed around for another couple of hours then headed over to Key Allegro. The key had a very nice setup, pool, showers, the works. We and the crew from Serenity tied up, cleaned up, then headed over to Big Jon's Bar & Grill for dinner. Sitting around after a big dinner with nothing better to do was a treat.

Day 4

Day 5

This morning we were up a dawn again. I sat in the cockpit with Capt Chris watching the sun come up over the water. Me with a good cup of coffee and Capt Chris with his engine cleaner. I love sailing. Again we were up, showered, fed, and ready to go before the crew of Serenity had started to stir. We plotted our course and were shoving off before anyone popped their head up.

We were making great time with a 2500 rpm wind from behind overpowering the 10 knot wind on the nose. Navigating down the ICW, Jennifer had the idea of stopping in Port Aransas to pick up the puppy. We were kind of nervous about how he would handle boat life. Jennifer called the Grandparents. They agreed to pick up coach from the sitters and drop him off a the dock. They ohed and awed over the boat and the fact that we were still alive. It was cool showing them around and Capt Chris made us sound like we knew what we were doing.

After leaving Port A we were finally able to put up the sails. Man did we put on a show. The wind had picked up to about 35 knots. We hoisted the main turned away from the wind set the jib, killed the engine, and heeled over and picked up speed. It was the best we had done so far. We found out later the grandparents had left and didn't see our performance. It's ok we impressed our selves.

Look at the map below. Once we made the turn at Port A we set the sails and kept the same tack, about 4 hours, all the way back to Corpus Christi. Weaving in and out of ferry's and shrimp boats is an ordeal. Actually, we held our course and the ferry's got out of our way, but the shrimp boats. Those guys are crazy. There pulling nets so everyone is supposed to stay out of their way, but if we sail out of the channel we run into mud. They tell me it's hard to sail with the bottom stuck in the mud. So we played a little dodge the shrimp boat.

Coach settled in and didn't have any trouble. I thought once we heel over coach would have kittens, but he just adjusted his position and took a nap.

Day 5

This was by far the best vacation I have ever taken. Jennifer had a really good time, and Coach, well Coach found another place he liked to nap. Capt Chris was very patient. Have I mentioned we are slow and stupid. He didn't yell or panic. If you ever need sailing lessons or want to go on a dinner cruise call Capt. Chris.

Day 1-5

We cleaned out our stuff and headed back to Port A. and told stories for the next several hours, ate dinner, and crashed. Coach and I went out for one last surf then we headed home. The best part of the trip was Jennifer asking when are we going again.

The retirement dream is still alive.

March Log June Log

Revised: November 25, 2007