Gulf Coast rowing and sailing

Dear friends and family, It is time to reflect on the Texas Nonmotorized Gulf Coast adventure sail. I am out of Texas and on my way back to Port Townsend, boat in tow. When I look back on the entire trip and plan I could easily say that it was a colossal failure, a giant […]

Dear friends and family,  So, I took the advice and set my path for due north, back to Palacios. The fog showed up early, just as forecasted. I took a leisurely breakfast in the cockpit, allowing the morning sun to dry some of the moisture on the tent.  And I realized that by the morning

Dear friends and family, One of the routines every day for me is listening to the weather forecast and making a sailing plan for the next day, or two. With no cell coverage,the only source out here is the VHF radio , which I find pretty accurate and also specific to which Bay you are

Dear friends and family, I am sitting still today at “anchor” (to be explained later) The forecast is for less than five knots of wind, from the north which would be a favorable direction, but one finds that when there is no auxiliary motor, that if the wind stops altogether it takes rowing to get

Dear friends and family, As you all know, the weather in almost the whole country has been cold this last week at least and Texas has not been spared. It dropped to about 21 degrees F last week for a couple of nights, making it a tad too cold for a fair weather sailor to

Dear friends and family, I am still waiting. Waiting in Port Aransas for at least two days of wind that isn’t from somewhere in the north. It’s been ten days already and I haven’t found that yet and the forecast for the next week gives little hope. A limit I have found in my psyche. 

Dear friends and family, I am writing from Port Aransas, Texas. From a hotel room in that city. Comfort, ease, warmth, and no wind (in the room). What a change from: I had one day of a weather window to get from my “open from the north” berth at Clem’s to sail across the open

Dear friends and family, Sunday Jan 4 departure I was extraordinarily nervous and glad that Mark came to take departure pictures as I was too nervous to bother with the camera I had no trouble rowing out of the channel, but was surprised as my progress as it felt like I was doing about two

I am writing this on Dec 29th, what will be either three or five days before my departure. Now i am in Port Isabel, the wind is gusting to 40 from the north, the water is filled with whitecaps, even in the very protected waters on the inland lagoon.  I have now told a lot

Dear family and friends, I sit here in my room waiting for another day postponed start as the wind today is forecasted out of the north (my direction) and tomorrow should be out of the east and then southeast. All you sailors of course know how the wind always finds ways of frustrating us, but