It's been infrequent to say the least, and I haven't had much time to think about updating the blog, but we did make it out on the water over Thanksgiving. It was a beautiful day with a steady breeze, or so we thought. While the day remained beautiful, we should not have been fooled, as the gulf coast of Florida is not particularly well known for its steady breezes, and after having our fun sailing up and down past the lighthouse at St. Marks with a lunch break shared with fiddler crabs in the marsh grasses, as soon as we were ready to set our course for the canal, there was no longer a breeze. Plus the tide was rushing out, maliciously pushing us away from the canal and out to sea. Plus the oyster bars were becoming quite a nuisance, forcing us to maneuver delicately.
So, making absolutely no headway, we dropped sail and began to row. We didn't have that far to go to reach the canal and Andy was pulling like he was in an Olympic regatta when we heard a craaaaaccck and Andy pulled a mangled oar from the water. The bamboo shaft of the oar had snapped and there was no way it was going to be pulling us towards shore any longer. Rather than just drift back out to sea (as we were already running late to get back to Tallahassee for dinner!), we then improvised with our one remaining oar. Andy took up position on the bow and began to paddle while I steered from the stern. It turns out that paddling a sailboat as if it were a canoe, and with an oar, is not exactly comfortable or easy, but it's functional enough to move the boat forward. Finally we hit the canal where we no longer had to fight tidal currents and avoid oyster bars, and we made it home for dinner before the parents called the Coast Guard!
Every day sailing is a new adventure!
So, making absolutely no headway, we dropped sail and began to row. We didn't have that far to go to reach the canal and Andy was pulling like he was in an Olympic regatta when we heard a craaaaaccck and Andy pulled a mangled oar from the water. The bamboo shaft of the oar had snapped and there was no way it was going to be pulling us towards shore any longer. Rather than just drift back out to sea (as we were already running late to get back to Tallahassee for dinner!), we then improvised with our one remaining oar. Andy took up position on the bow and began to paddle while I steered from the stern. It turns out that paddling a sailboat as if it were a canoe, and with an oar, is not exactly comfortable or easy, but it's functional enough to move the boat forward. Finally we hit the canal where we no longer had to fight tidal currents and avoid oyster bars, and we made it home for dinner before the parents called the Coast Guard!
Every day sailing is a new adventure!
