This Sunday’s sail was a short adventure that gave the crew a taste of almost every kind of sailing Tampa Bay has to offer. It also happened to be our first excursion on the new Morgan 32, so it was kind of a shakedown, or shakeup trip. Along for the ride was The Admiral, CannonBall, Dave, my good friend from Ohio and me. Dave is down visiting for an extended weekend of Florida fun. We gave it to him too.
The day started calm, with barely a breeze when we hit the outside channel marker of Pass-A-Grille around noon. We killed the iron wind to try and do some sailing, but as Dave put it “we’re going backwards” so we motored up again and headed for Egmont Key. Egmont is such a treasure in the area. I never get tired of this beautiful little outpost of nature. We anchored up on the protected east side, grabbed our fun noodles and swam ashore (patches, our dinghy, is not up for duty yet – more on that soon). The day was spent trudging around the beach, drinking some beverages that may or may not have been allowed on the island – considering we walked right by a guy smoking a ”cigarette” on the beach, I feel that our offenses were acceptable. We walked, walked and walked and ran out of drinks. The weather was perfect as we sloshed along in the Gulf and the breeze kept us cool even in the bright afternoon sun. For the beginning of June, being outdoors was completely pleasant. I don’t think anybody even broke a sweat. It was getting near 4:00 p.m. so we made way across the island and back to the boat.
On the walk back we heard a couple distant, deep sounding thunder crashes so the crew picked up the pace and arrived on the east beach in time to see a dark storm off in the distance over Sarasota. I didn’t feel very threatened by the far off storm, but I still thought it would be best to get underway as soon as possible. The Admiral is like a cat in water when it comes to being stuck in the middle of a lightening storm under a 40′ mast.
The sails were raised after crossing the shipping channel and the sailing was fantastic. About 12 knots of wind out of the west, right on our port beam pushed the boat along at a great clip. The euphoria of getting the new boat up on heel and plowing along was a huge reward after all the boat buying work and stress. I always go into a zen-like state of mind when my boat is balanced, sailing along in a good wind. My sailing high was quickly wiped away when another thunder squall materialized over Boca Ciega Bay, right where we were headed. Down came the sails, up went the motor, and straight into the storm we went.
This closer, more ominous squall was a healthy one, but the bulk of it was passing to our north. The crew got a great show as we caught the edge of it on the way back through Pass-A-Grille. The boat received a thorough washing along with the rest of us, and Dave saw some good sized waves that will be embellished back in Ohio, I’m sure. Most of his tales start with “…based on a true story”. By the time we passed back under structure C and were in Boca Ciega, the sun was out and it felt as if the squall had never existed. Our yet-to-be-renamed Morgan went into the slip and we shoveled off all of our wet gear in the balmy, still air of the marina. Sunday’s sail can be summed up by one of my favorite quotes “you cannot control the wind, but you can adjust the sails”. ‘Twas another great day and this is just the beginning.
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Yes, it was a great but very brief sail. Well, that’s the weather around here for ya. Truly a taste of what will be
the future. I can’t wait.