My dad and I headed down to St Marks today with the Swan. The weathermen said a cold front was headed down south, and the wind would be picking up. We beat the wind down to the coast, though, and spent the first leg of the journey rowing furiously to avoid oyster bars and the shipwreck as we were almost carried out to sea by the river current.
One design flaw is readily apparent: our rowing seat is too close to the too-long tiller, making it impossible to steer with the rudder while someone rows, unless you have something against the rower and want to bash their knuckles on each stroke. Instead, the rower must steer with the oars.
After we made it to the shelter of a sand bar, out of the river current, we were able to float around and enjoy being becalmed.
Finally, the first wisps of the cold front started making their way down from the northwest, the water started rippling towards us, a breeze appeared and we started to sail. We experimented with tacking, letting the sail out some before each tack. We sailed up to and past an old, algae-coated buoy, and when I looked back and noted that the buoy was far behind us, I realized we were speeding right along. Daddy took the helm with the tiller extension while I took pictures.
Later in the afternoon we had enough wind to get the pennant flying.
One of the hazards of gulf coast sailing - oyster bars waiting to ambush the bottom of your boat when the tide is coming in or going out just enough to cover them. We only had to pull over one today.
Of course, just as the wind was picking up and the sailing was getting good, we had to head back in. You can see the lighthouse in the distance, just off the starboard bow. We were able to beat up into the wind enough so that we had a straight shot back into the canal, avoiding oyster bars, the shipwreck, and the jetty with plenty of room to spare.
On our last tack, Daddy noticed bubbles on the surface of the water. As we approached, I stood up to get a better look, thinking I might see a sea turtle. Instead, I could make out the broad, scarred back of a manatee. The manatee didn't like our presence and with a huge flap of its tail, it swam away. I had never seen a manatee move so swiftly and so decisively. It left a wake behind it, and had we been in a canoe we would have been rocking perilously. I had also never seen a manatee this far off shore, so that was an interesting sighting. I hope it stays clear of all the motor boats zipping up and down the channel.
