Tuesday May 13, 2008. 14:30hrs CDT. Lat 29° 41.23’ N, Long 94° 10.41’ W

Well yesterday was a washout. After our great Bon Voyage party and then our trip to Galveston we were feeling pretty good so yesterday morning we finished a few more chores and left the Yacht Basin at 10:00am to head out the jetties. Our first problem was a strong 3 knot current against us: we were making less than 3 knots over the ground and sometimes only 2 knots. It took us three hours to get out past marker 7A when we raised the #2 genoa and started sailing. Minutes later it came down on its own. At first I thought our halyard snap shackle had come undone but when I went forward I realized the ring at the head had pulled out where the wire luff line had corroded. We had our local sailmaker check the sails but this was hidden under leather chafe protection so it was not obvious. Well, we turned around to head downwind and I climbed up the mast (thanks for good mast steps) and retrieved the halyard. By the time I was back on deck we had lost a lot of ground with the 3 knot current then with us!

We started back out the channel and hoisted the #3 genoa and eventually, around 2:00pm we cleared the south jetty light. And it was then that we really started sailing. We engaged the Aries wind vane, sheeted in the sails and got on our best course. But it was not good: Our best course was heading us for Tampico, Mexico and not Key West. We had known the wind was from the Southeast but we had hoped to at least be able to head south (180°) but our course over the ground was more like 200°. Then we began looking at each other and the brown rust stains on the luff of the #3 genoa. It too had been checked but we were now concerned. If we lost that sail too we would only be left with a #1 genoa and a storm jib. Somewhat reluctantly we turned around and headed back to Galveston. Once tied up again at the Yacht Basin fuel dock we folded the #2 and #3 genoas and contacted our friend, Pam Rice, who readily agreed to drop them off at the sailmakers in Clearlake the next morning (ie this morning).

So, this morning we left Galveston at first light and are now motoring down the ICW towards New Orleans. Our sailmaker friend is going to repair the sails and ship them ahead (at present Mobile, AL) where we can pick them up and then, once again head out into the Gulf of Mexico. But it is not all bad. We are having a good time motoring down the ICW, watching the wildlife and fixing things aboard including a preventative repair to the leach of the mainsail.

One interesting event has been the use of our Simrad AIS. Although we are only using to receive at present, it has enabled us to see all of the tows coming towards us and it gives us their name, call sign etc. It has been easy then to communicate with them and to negotiate our passing. The last time I traveled extensively on the ICW, AIS was not around and it was always difficult to know if the tow coming towards you was the one you were speaking to on the radio.

Our plans are to stop around 9:00 pm tonight and commence again early tomorrow to try and make as much Eastward progress as we can until we can meet up with our repaired sails. So, it’s back to the helm for me so Janet can take a break.

Jeremy

I finally decided to write something so it wouldn’t sound like Jeremy was the only one here. Thanks so much to everyone back home who sent us emails or came to the party or did little or big things behind the scenes to help us get here. You all know who you are. It has been a few years since I did an offshore trip, so yesterday was interesting to see if it felt the same. There is always the anticipation: some butterflies, lots of going over checklists, making sure you have what you might need, stowing everything in it’s place so it will stay put and you can find it in the dark, etc., and then a rush of adrenalin. So it was a bit disappointing to have to head back in, but that’s part of a voyage, making the right decisions to be safe. And seeing that the wind hasn’t changed today, we are making more progress towards our destination right now than had we been offshore. A dolphin stayed 2 feet from our cockpit for several miles this morning, splashing me with water and a scarlet ibis just flew across our bow.

Janet