I am sorry for the delay in writing and finishing the log. The week after posting the last installment I was at the boat, the date was 23 September, and I suffered a ruptured appendices. I drove 4 hours home then suffered all night long till around 11:30 Monday when I called for a friend to come get me and take me to the hospital. I was in too much pain to drive myself. When I arrived they gave me some pain meds, then after a while, hustled me off for a CT scan. That was at 1600, shortly after the scan, I was on my way to surgery. It was all a very surreal experience, no one was really being honest, but there was an urgency that I could detect, but was unable to pin down, I guess it was the pain meds that had mellowed me, I was so thankful to be free of some of the pain. The next thing I know I am waking up in a hospital room, hooked up to an IV pump and morphine pain pump, wow, I remember being on the other side of this set up dealing with Brenda, never thought that I would be sitting here. Thank God that I had learned so much from my experience with her, it helped me deal with this new place that I found myself in. My greatest concern was for my kids, they had been through so much dealing with years their mother had been sick and then eventually passing. I didn’t want them to go through that all again. I was blessed by a close friend Dan who took care of the kids getting them food, and distracting them from this new situation we found ourselves in. After I was awake and somewhat alert I ask Dan what all had happened. He told me that I had been in surgery for 4 hours, 4 hours for typical short surgery; he also mentioned that the Dr. said I was tough guy to have driven 4 hours with such incredible pain. I was a blessed man that is for sure; he also said that if I had waited 3-4 more hours I may not have made it. WOW, that’s crazy, I had never been that close. Something like that wakes you up, makes you appreciate life and all you have around you, family and friends. Well I have now recovered and thought it was time to set down and work on finishing my log from my Galveston Trip.
Friday, 31 August, 2012. 0600- Departure day for our return home to Mobile Bay.
The morning starts with a bit of strife as the skipper and crew are not on the same sheet of music just yet. Rob is in a rush, while I am waiting for more light before we head out into the shipping channels. This breakdown is compounded by the events that follow, I will let Rob take over from here…
Friday, 31 August, 2012. 0600 hrs: Awake; beginning the day. The skies are still dark, but appear partly cloudy with variable winds out of the east-northeast gusting up to eighteen knots or more.
0700 hrs: The skies have lightened enough for us to cautiously motor out of the marina, and we are underway.
0900 hrs: We’ve already encountered a number of trials. First off, we weren’t even out of the channel when Captain Bear discovered that the cockpit VHF (emergency) radio mic is not working right. Then, not long after he opened the hatch atop the forward head, in an effort to air out the cabin, a large ship crossed our bow and when we hit the huge wake wave it produced, Surprise nosed right into it. Seawater poured in through the open hatch drenching the Captain’s cabin floor, bedding, etc. While Captain Bear ran on deck to close the hatch, I went down below to begin sopping up the seawater. The trials were not quite over, however. Once we were well out into Galveston Bay, sailing quickly in strong winds through rather choppy seas, we went to secure the fenders into their place the dingy. As we did so, the oar farthest from us suddenly, and without warning, came dislodged from its mount and plunged into the billowing sea, rapidly disappearing from sight. Captain Bear quickly turned us around and we circled around in search of it, but there was no sign of it, and after a short while we resumed on our course.
0930 hrs: after what has seemed like one trial after another, things appear to be looking up. Captain Bear was able to get the cockpit VHF mic working again using some duct tape and a touch of ingenuity.
0940 hrs: We took the time to lift up a heart-felt prayer to the Lord for our safety, the safety of our loved ones, and for favorable winds and passage.
Our position, at present: 29 degrees 18’.746 N by 94 degrees, 24’.172 W; course: 93 degrees’ speed: 8.5 knots through the water, (8.0 knots over ground); wind: out of south at 12 to 20 knots; depth: 48 feet, in 4 to 6 foot seas.
Late morning: we’ve passed out of the shipping lanes now – there were dozens and dozens of big ships anchored out waiting their turn to enter Galveston Bay. We’re now sailing along nicely under sunny blue skies, with a few white, puffy cumulus clouds.
1300 hrs: we’ve already traveled some forty nautical miles from the marina – well ahead of schedule – thanks to the 8 and 9 knots we’ve averaged since leaving Galveston. We had a treat just now. A very small, beautiful, sparrow-like bird landed on Surprise’s rigging. She is obviously exhausted from a long flight. As we are presently more than thirty nautical miles from the nearest land, it is likely that she was blown out to sea by the hurricane’s winds. She seems perfectly content to stay with us.
As we approached one of the many peninsulas (which we can see on our GPS/ autopilot), and our distance from land diminished to about fifteen miles or so, the little bird took off exactly in the direction of the unseen land – as if she knew it was her best bet. She’s a brave little bird. Hope she makes it safely.
2040 hrs CDT: We continue to cruise along at eight knots or more. At this pace, we could possibly see close to two hundred nautical miles in a twenty-four hour period – an almost unheard of distance in a sailboat. I have the midnight-to-four shift so; I’m heading to my rack.
1930 Hrs CDT finds us at Position 29° 13’ 057N 93° 5’ 656W Course 90° mag. Speed 8.3 knts Wind 19 knts Depth 69 ft. sea state: 4-6 feet.
We have had an excellent run today despite the rough start at the beginning of the day, Surprise continues to put the miles behind her and the crew is back into the routine of shore sailing. As mentioned before Rob has headed below to get some shut eye while I enjoy the sweet sailing and another wonderful sunset. I keep watch till 000 hrs, when Rob comes back on, our run continues to good, not as good as earlier in the day but we are still making good speed. Ok, checking my memory and reading Robs log, I realize we have left out an event. As I piece things together I am left with this night as the night of the storm. We caught the edge of a thunder storm, had winds of about 25 knts max, before turning in I had reefed main and the jib down, it was mostly wet, with the rain coming in over the stern getting me a little wet and cooling things off just a bit. Things seemed to have cleared off when I went down at midnight but as I drifted off I was aware of more wind and rain and Surprise rushing thru the night. As with every night I was intently in tune with her every motion and caper as Robs watch wore on, always ready to head back on deck to get Surprise reined back in. I am vaguely aware of going on deck at one point and making some adjustments to the sail trim. All in all it was nice night I think a little nerve racking for Rob, but overall a nice run. With morning things would change immensely.
Saturday 1 September 2012 1037 hrs CDT
Position: 29° 7’ 951N 91° 21’ 881W course 92° speed 6.5 Wind 10knts out of the south Depth 21feet seas 1ft
The run yesterday was excellent we covered 186 nautical miles, that’s an average of 7.75 knts all in the 24 hr period. I am sure it would have been over 200 miles had the wind held, but still that’s a great run no complaints from the Captain or crew. We continue our run to the east, speed is not as fast as the day before, but we continue to make good speed. 6.5 seems slow compared to 8.5 but its still progress. As the day wears on, the wind continues to diminish, this becomes a trend that holds true till the next day when we have hardly any wind to speak of.
Sunday 2 September 2012 0956 hrs CDT
Postion: 28° 50’ 394N 89° 19’ 751W Course 90° speed 7.3 knts (motoring) Wind 5 knts (out of the west) Depth 249ft. seas 1-2 ft.
This will be our last full day on the gulf and will be the only day the whole trip that we have to motor. We started motoring early on today, no choice if we still wanted to make Mobile by Monday morning. This is a long hot day, made hotter by no wind; one high light is the flat seas something we have not experienced off shore the whole trip, it feels strange to be off shore with flat seas. It gives us a chance to cook hotdogs, have some guitar music, enjoy a rum punch with ice from the icemaker when it was on in Galveston, amazing how good an iced drink goes down on a hot day with little wind. We are also treated to a visit from some dolphins that race along at Surprises bow till the prospect of an easy snack happens along in the form of a shrimp boat. Outside of motoring it’s a nice day. The day ends nicely we set the watch up so that I am on at 000 hrs, we have figured that we should be making Mobile ship channel at that time.
I am up a little early with a freshening breeze and a very crowded anchor zone with shipping awaiting its turn to go into Mobile. I take a few moments to get my bearings, I don’t like going into Mobile at night keeps running through my head as work to pick out the red buoys from the red lights on shore and pick out the outgoing shipping from the myriad of lights on shore. With one close call or what seems a close call we make into the bay where I can get Surprise to the east of the main channel and sail north to our turn to Dog River. Our close call is when I am trying to pick the channel out and stay off the Dixie bar, yet close enough to the east side of the channel that I am not in the way of any shipping that’s using the channel. While I was trying to pick the right red lights out from the wrong red lights we sail out of the channel and very close to Dixie bar. I realize my mistake, get my bearings, and turn due west to get away from the bar as quickly as possible. As I sail west, I am greeted by the huge black shadow of a ship moving across my bow, blotting out all light, it seems right on top of us. I immediately steer to the north, we are now on the east edge of the channel, we continue north, I get a good course set, and the markers are becoming easer to see as we get closer to the mouth of the bay. The lights on shore are moving more to the east and west defining the entrance to the bay. Thank God, we have made it safely into Mobile Bay; we have been blessed with a wonderful southwest wind that speeds us along to home. As we sail north I am getting tired, it’s been some long nights, but it’s almost over. Soon we will be in the marina, but 4 hours still remain to drive home.
0500 we are arriving in the dog river channel, once again fighting the glare of lights to make out the channel markers, but I have got Rob up to help me navigate into the marina. Other than being tired things are working nicely as the wind had dropped to a whisper making pulling Surprise into her slip as easy as parking your car in the drive way. It’s been a long night with a long day yet to go. All that remains is washing the salt off, unloading the boat for the trip home. I look forward to the day when I just secure the boat and go to my cabin and crash. I still have some years before Surprise is my home, so until then we unload and head home for some much needed rest.
Things in the marina don’t look much different than when we left outside of some things being bent over and the debris laying around. It has been an amazing trip, we have sailed over almost, if not over a 1000 nautical miles. It’s the longest off shore trip for Surprise and she handled it well. I am happy with her performance; I look forward to more sailing adventures with Surprise.
I will now relay a new adventure while it’s fresh on my mind. After 5 weeks away from Surprise since my close call with appendicitis, it was time to return to the Surprise. Shiana (my daughter) and planned a trip to Lu Lu’s for music and fun. We drove down on Friday, 26 October, for our little sailing trip. Upon arrival at the marina we ran into many well wishers, who were aware with my close call. It was great to be back and know I was thought of in my absence. I also ran into Keith and Stacy who were planning a similar trip to us on Saturday. So we decided that we would travel together at least staying in contact as we travelled south. This was a great boost to Keith and Stacy’s confidence, knowing they would have friends to travel with as they covered the length of Mobile Bay in 20-25 knt winds. It was quite a ride south. The wind was out of the north so we had the wind on the stern or the quarter all the way down. We only had one thing go wrong, about mid way before we made our turn to the southeast the jib got back winded, then filling again as Surprise fell off her course causing the top portion of the jib to fill on one side of the furler and the remainder to fill on the other side and in the process to somehow tangle and not pull around. I have no idea how it got tangled the way it did, but it took sailing Surprise in circles to get it untangled. I then tucked a reef in the main, this helped, we then continued on our way to the Lu Lu’s for music by Sugar Cain Jane. We had a great evening listening to music, Shiana did the haunted house called Boo Lu’s 6 times, and she got a kick out of it. I went through with her the first time, it was very well done and all the proceeds went to the High Schools that worked it and put it together.
We arose late the next morning and headed back home to Turner Marine. WOW, what a sail it would be, the wind was still blowing out the North, once out of the inter-coastal waterway we shaped a course to the North West and started sailing, the wind was blowing 25 gust to 30. We tried sailing back all the way but it was soon evident that if we tried sailing back it was going to take us much longer than we wanted so it was with a heavy heart that I started the motor and began motoring north into this wind. Now we experienced a new thing as the bow plunged into a wave after wave scooping water up that would roll down the deck and sometimes up over the cabin top. For the first time, Surprise was pounding, as we would slip of the crest of one wave we would slap the next wave with a thudding slam. I hated this, but we had few choices. Finally we made it home, but what a day of boating it was, more stories to follow about the voyages of Surprise.
Lastly as I close, I am starting the prep process for Surprise, getting her ready for long term cruising. I have a list of things that I plan to add over the next few years and as I add or make changes to Surprise I will make a post in pictures as well as writing. This will be a long process but in the end it will be rewarding. I hope you all enjoy reading.
Capt. Bear aka..Barry
big waves outside of Galveston
Big shipping out on the gulf waiting on that Texas crude
awesom sunsets
The USNS Yano, we saw her outside of New Orleans
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