Sorry I sort of fell off the updates. We had a couple minor misfortunes. I took my phone swimming,
and ended up shutting it off and letting it live in a bag of rice. It seems to be fine.
Where did I leave off? Navarre I think. We had a nice dinner at Juanna’s Pagoda and took a bit of a walk. The next morning we humped it up to a gas station and filled the gas tanks and got ice before setting out about 9 am. The winds were forecast to get up the next couple of days and boy did they. We elected to motor to Quietwater and get in before it got bad. Being one of the early boats in we secured a nice spot about 20 yards off the beach and helped the other boats in as they showed up. The gathering spot for social time was right off our bow.
Dinner and drinks at Flounder’s in Pensacola Beach is always nice.
And we spent too much money buying stuff for the kids at the tourist shops on the boardwalk.
The next morning I pulled to a dock so we could dispose of trash, empty the head and get more ice then we set off intending to sail. Knowing the wind was already up 15 to 20 I set a reef on the main. We pulled out of the channel, Jess got up on deck and hauled up the rags. And we tacked. And tacked. And tacked. Basically making no headway. Seeing the whitecaps in Pensacola Bay, and with the wind continuing to increase we finally gave in and dropped the sails.
Pensacola Bay was tough that day. The crew gave up on me and settled in the cabin for naps and videos. I paired up with Sea Wind (the other X) and we slogged across the bay at 4 to 5 knots. Ballast in, rudders down and sort of “tacking” under motor to take the worst rollers on an angle instead of stuffing the bow all the time. It was a long and wet ride, but not too unpleasant.
I think everyone motored except two of the big boats. Watching a forty footer Catalina sail through it did make me jealous and had started a case of “bigger boatitis”
Original plan was for all the boats to anchor at a place we call Sailboat Cove, but with the wind and thunderstorms forecast for the evening the organizers changed the meetup to the more sheltered cove at Fort McRee. I don’t have any pictures of this due to my phone incident. My 16 year old was supposed to take a bunch, but he’s at scout camp so I haven’t seen them.
The two 26M’s were already beached when we arrived and there were several people around to help us beach. Honestly, this was probably my proudest moment on the cruise though. I had talked to my oldest son and Jess about what I wanted to do to get the boat anchored and beached on the way in the channel. With a plan in place, they got the bow anchor ready with the right amount of rode ready to let out, and prepped the stern anchor as well.
With the wind astern, I slowly motored through the anchored big boats past my intended spot (which I think confused some of the people on the beach a bit), found a little open water and turned the boat into the wind slowly working our way back up.
Now one of the curses of the Macs as many of you know is the large amount of freeboard. The wind will push you around. But after a while you learn to use that to your advantage. And I did. At the appropriate moment I kicked the rudder hard over, the wind helped the bow turn to the north and my crew dropped the bow anchor. Straightened up the rudder, gave the motor a little throttle in reverse to get the boat moving backwards. Maybe 15 yards off the beach I shut the motor down, tilted it up, and Wind Song settled nicely at the waters edge where the men on the beach were waiting to grab the stern line. Turns out we really didn’t need them but it was a great comfort knowing they were there to help.
One of them told me we came in with the least amount of drama of any of the boats. That’s when I realized my family had become a crew and it made me quite proud.
Sea Wind came in right next to us and we all helped them get settled as well.
My crew played while I put the boat in “camp” mode rigging up sun shades, throwing snorkel gear and toys on the beach etc. Officially this was the last night of BEER Cruise but we intended to stay two nights and set up camp.
That evening a line of nasty thunderstorms rolled through. The plan was to have a bonfire on the beach and some of the crews did. But many of us stayed in our boats. Prepping for bad weather I pulled Wind Song off the beach and let her float in deeper water.
The wind howled, and the lightning show to our north was quite beautiful. Thankfully it stayed north and all we received was a bit of wind and some rain. And my crew slept the sleep of the just.
Next morning I slacked the bow anchor, tightened up the stern and beached the boat again. The kids swam, we watched the Blue Angels practice, and had a good time. BEER Cruise was officially over and most of the boats headed for home. Sea Wind and her crew (with kids) stayed through lunchtime so they could play and swim with our kids and then they headed out.
I took my boys and we went to explore the ruins of Fort McRee while mama napped in the cockpit. I’ve been up there several times but never gone very deep inside. We took flashlights intending to explore. We walked all over the top, around the edges, and eventually wound up at the entrance. It’s littered with graffiti and beer cans. I imagine the local kids go up there to do teenage things. We pulled out our flashlights and checked out the inside. Not much there, a lot of concrete. But it’s neat and the boys were fascinated. We stumbled across a copperhead snake inside and had a bit of a stand-off with him. He made it clear he wasn’t leaving. So we choose another path and worked our way back outside and down to the boat.
More swim time followed by dinner cooked on the cockpit grill. We ate like kings. We took too much food, and being our last night why not eat it all? At sunset we built a small campfire on the beach and hung out until the noseeum’s chased us back on the boat.
The next morning I once again intended to sail. But the two year old got into the medicine cabinet and took something he shouldn’t have. Jess got on the phone with poison control while I got the boat ready to get underway and started heading west. Thankfully the pill he took wasn’t toxic and we were told to monitor him, and take him to our primary care pediatrician when we got home. Long story short we motored back to the ramp at the Big Lagoon state park, derigged and headed home. The baby is fine but did give mama and me quite the scare.
I do wish we had been able to sail more, but that’s ok. We have all summer.
I’ve decided that 6 nights in the X with a family of 5 is too much. We either need to plan shorter trips or get a bigger boat. So I’m exploring a bit. Jess and I are already planning a couple weekend trips for this summer on Wind Song. But we also went and looked at some 30-40 foot boats this week. Which is also why I haven’t posted. I’ve been researching various options and looking at Marina costs, annual maintenance costs etc etc.
BEER Cruise final thoughts. It’s a great event and we will attend again next year assuming it’s an organized event again. Even if it’s not we’ve already made plans to do it with friends. Attendance has dwindled which is kind of sad. In years past we’ve had 30 or 40 boats at times. This year I think we maxed at 13 or 14. We had two X’s and two M’s along with an array of other small and big yachts.
If you read this and think “that sounds great” I encourage you to check out the BEER cruise Facebook page and make plans to join us next year. It’s more a social event than a sailing event with lots of beach time, beautiful water, and meeting great people from all over the US.
and ended up shutting it off and letting it live in a bag of rice. It seems to be fine.