Gary' s Goodbye & Night Crossing

We motored South down the Inter Costal Waterway about 24 miles to Clearwater yesterday. There is a lot of activity here because of the Super Bowl being played close by in Tampa this Sunday. A lot of big yachts are starting to arrive here for the rich & famous. The largest we have seen so far is the "Big City" a new Trinity 140 foot motor vessel that charters for $195,000 a week. The delivery crew was working on it all day (cleaning & polishing) and we are anxious to see who the special guests will be tomorrow. Weather is warm (high 70's) and very pleasant. We enjoyed a morning walk on the beautiful white sand beach of Clearwater and a fun dingy ride to town to do some needed provisioning. We will be staying here for a few days while our wives (Susan & Linda) are traveling from the North country to join us. We miss them a lot and are looking forward to our reunion with them this Friday.

Today our dear friend and Poet Laureate sailor, Gary Gaudreau departed Northern Light and is heading back home to Michigan. We are sad to see him go. Before he left, he was inspired to write another great poem about our perfect night crossing of the Gulf of Mexico a few days ago. We would like to share it with you and hope you enjoy as much as we did!

Night Crossing

On a warm winter morn in St Joe Bay

Northern Light caught the tide running out for the day.

She fetched her marks on the rollers with ease,

Gently turning to course, softly kissing the seas.

We three that sailed her, she knew of our dream,

Of a swift sea voyage, fifteen knots on the beam.

So she served up a ride, the best I think now,

With dolphins and sea birds swiftly passing our bow.

Now light fading fast, we’ve sailed well all day,

Crossing the Gulf toward Anclote Island’s bay.

Northern Light knows our needs, she coaches us on

Thru a sea of stars, brilliant sunrise at dawn.

We’re tired and damp but our spirits renew

Over praise for the yacht and her love for the crew.

Sailing on to the docks, we’ve seen many great things.

Raising our Margaritas, three embrace Tarpon Springs.

Gary T. Gaudreau

1/27/2009 1500 Hours

Gulf of Mexico at Tarpon Springs, FL aboard Northern Light

Eating our way through Tarpon Springs

It was nice to sleep in and stay put for a day following our previous five days of travelling. After a morning walk through the historic district of Tarpon Springs, we found something to do along the sponge docks……EAT. The Greek restaurants and bakeries along the docks offered so many irresistible options we simply couldn’t decide which to choose, so we tried them all.
Yes, these pictures were all taken on the same morning!
When word got out of our gastronomic overindulgence family members came from far away to restrain us. My parents, Bob and Therese, and my sister Denise came from North Port FL to save us from our feeding frenzy. We enjoyed their attempted intervention but alas they failed. They soon joined us for the final meal of fresh local shrimp and fish, grilled on the boat.

Perfect Day/Night for Crossing Gulf

After enjoying a great day in Port St. Joe Marina and a great dinner of oysters on the half shell and Grouper sandwiches we studied weather and wave conditions on the Gulf of Mexico for our crossing and it looked like we had a very good window in the next few days.
Northern Light departed the dock at 10:15am on Saturday, Jan 24th heading Southeast (126 degrees) for our crossing to Tarpon Springs. We had a fresh breeze after we cleared the harbor and rounded Point San Blas.
We were able to deploy our full sails and motor sailed all day and night in high seas at first (8-10 foot rollers) receding to calm by morning. We were escorted at times by frolicking Dolphins and sea birds. It was a starry, starry night since we had no moon the sky was brillant with bright stars. The time went by quickly, we had an excellent watch schedule of 4 hours on and 2 hours off maintaining 2 crew members on deck at all times. The sunset was beautiful but the Sunrise this morning as you can see in the photo was awesome! We encountered several shrimp boats working at night and a lot of crab pots when we got near the Anclote Key North entrance to Tarpon Springs.
The entire crossing took 28 hours from dock to dock and we traveled 231 miles. Our average speed was a little over 8 mph which is great for a sailboat.
Glad to be here in Tarpon Springs were it is warm and sunny. It was a perfect crossing!

Gulf Waters

Thursday morning we left the Palafox Pier Marina a half hour before sunrise for our first ride in the open waters of Gulf of Mexico. We had a great introduction to the Gulf with a 108 mile trip to Panama City,FL. We motor sailed all day in bright sunshine and fair wind arriving at an anchorage behind Shell Island just inside the Panama City inlet at around 21:00 hrs (9:00 PM.). We were treated to dolphin escorts several times throughout the day, a real treat for freshwater sailors.

This morning we made a 40 mile sail to Port St Joe ,FL where we enjoyed the afternoon ashore after long hot showers at the St. Joe Marina. It's a real nice marina in an area that has the " old Florida" feel to it.The weather is finally starting to warm up, we wore shorts for the first time this afternoon.

"Today we sail the Gulf"

“Today we sail the Gulf”, the words have been spoken.

With calm anticipation she slips her dock before day has broken.

On a calm bay at dawn with an outgoing tide Skipper sets her course for the magical ride.

Northern Light has surrendered her soul to the three that will guide her to a new port on the sea.

Learning these waters for the very first time reminds one to respect the sea, wind and brine.

The sea can be calm or a desolate place, a graveyard of ships from the old human race.

With a face like a mistress, or hard, wrinkled white while deep in its heart there is no light.

But today all is well and fresh for the three, as their spirits have brought them here to the sea.

With their minds full of wonder, they’ve left the fair shore to dance on the waves with their ship once more.

Again deep love for the water is unbroken.

“Today we sail the Gulf!”, the word has been spoken.

Gary T. Gaudreau

1/22/2009 1300 Hours

Gulf of Mexico near Panama City, FL aboard Northern Light

Back on the Loop in Florida!

Northern Light is back on the Loop but in very cold weather. Departed Turner Marine at 9:30 am Tuesday morning with a great sendoff from the friends we met during our stay there. We crossed Mobile Bay under sail to our destination, a beautiful peaceful anchorage at Ingram Bayou off the Gulf Intercostal Waterway were we saw a variety of wildlife (deer, dolphins, pelicans and loons) and several barges hauling jet fuel to the Pensacola Naval Air Station. We woke up this morning to 32 degrees in the cabin and 22 degrees outside. After a breakfast of hot oatmeal and coffee and waiting for the frost to melt off the dodger, we headed to our next stop at a marina in downtown Pensacola. From here we go out into the Gulf for the first time on a long sail (80 miles) to Pamama City. We hope weather will be warming soon.

Afloat

Northern Light made it back into the water midday Tuesday. She still floats! We continued to do rigging and maintenance chores during the week while we waited for the arrival of our third crew member on Friday. As we have found in the past, there are always interesting people to spend time with while living aboard. We have met a young family of four from Arcadia Michigan that built a catamaran sailboat in their barn over the last 2 years; they launched last October and came down the river. From here they plan to start their circumnavigation the globe. We had evening cocktails several times with a couple from Indianapolis who recently retired and also were on their way around the world. We had dinner last night at the nearby Mobile Yacht Club with Clint who we had met last October aboard his trawler on the Mississippi. He’s on his way to Galveston to help out with the hurricane reconstruction. Good luck to all of them.
We picked up Gary Gaudreau at the Pensacola airport Friday morning; he came from 7 degree temps in Michigan to the balmy 20 degree nights here in Mobile. But days here have been very pleasant with clear skies, lots of sunshine and temps in the mid 50’s to low 60’s. We were planning to sail out of Mobile Saturday but a failed depth sounder altered our schedule. The plan now is to install the new depth transducer Monday then head out Tuesday A.M. We are hoping to get to the Tampa FL area in about 5 travel days plus any down time for weather or sightseeing.
We send our sincerest condolences to our friend and family back in Michigan’s deep freeze. Wish you were here! Finally if anyone sees Kathy Mills tell her we finished her fabulous cookies and and she can send some more to general delivery at the Panama City marina.
Peace….

Back in Bama!

We are back in Mobile, Alabama. Brad and I drove down on January 8th & 9th, stopped overnight in Nashville. Good drive and good weather after leaving snow and cold in Michigan & Ohio. Arrived in Mobile late afternoon on Friday and went straight to the marina and Northern Light. Worked hard all weekend getting the boat ship shape and ready for launch. We had to sand the bottom for new salt water bottom paint, apply bottom paint, wax the hull, varnish the teak and check all boat systems.
We moved from our hotel to the boat on Sunday and it is nice to be back on board even though it is like living in a tree house since it is still on jack stands in the boat yard and it is a long ladder climb to get aboard. We don't have heat or water but it is still very comfortable on the boat.
Today we were able to finish all prep work for launch tomorrow. Northern Light is ready and looking good!!