Shrimp - broiled and live in a baggie

We headed out Saturday at 9:00 am, North to Titusville for the Dixie Crossroads cruise. On board were Chris, Susan, Park, and her friend, Jamison. Winds were light and from the East at about 9 knots. We motor sailed all the way. Past the Addison Bridge we picked up a couple of dolphins and they played in our wake for about an hour. The girls hung their feet over the side and let the dolphins splash them as they went by. It was fun listening to them giggle. I think the dolphins enjoyed it too. They would turn over on their sides in order to eyeball the girls, then they would splash them with their tails. I am sure that there splashes were intentional.

We got to Titusville municipal at about 1:00 pm, tied up to C dock and plugged on the ac. Whew! It was hot, hot, hot. There were 7 other ECSA boats that were staying in the marina. We helped them tie up as they arrived, chatted a bit, then showered and headed to Dixie Cross roads for dinner. Chris and I both ordered the usual: two dozen rock shrimp, broiled. Yummm, just like baby lobsters. We walked back to the marina, stopping at a bait shop on the way. There we picked up 1/2 dozen live bait shrimp. The girls took turns holding the shrimp baggie. By the time we arrived at the marina the shrimp were nearly dead after being poked and prodded by tsquealinging ten year olds. We baited the girls' poles and after 1/2 hour of catching/releasing catfish they tired of fishing and we decided to go for a dingy ride. The water was lit up with fairy dust (bioluminescencense) and the girls hung their heads over and watched the sea life scatter underneath them. The trip back to Harbor Town on Sunday was uneventful. We gave the iron genny a workout by motoring the entire way. Our engine hours are now up to 11!

Trip to Eau Gallie

This last w/e we took the lovely LaLeLu from Merritt Island down to the Eau Gallie Yacht Club. Our friends, Ron and Pam (and kids Kristen and Lauren) who are members, invited us to a shrimp feed thingie. We left Harbor Town at 9:15 am and made the 9:30 am opening of State Road 3 Bridge. This is the first bridge hailing we have made since Easter weekend when all of our boat woes started. It marked the official start of being 'back in the saddle' or make that, back in the helm seat. We are gun shy about breakdowns now - every noise we heard sounded ominous. We found ourselves quite on edge at the start of our trip. The winds were light on Saturday morning, out of the East, North East at about 8 knots. The wind changed a bit more North and we thought about flying the chute. However, just about then the wind picked up to over 10 knots and we decided against a spinnaker. (It's a very light chute - really more of a drifter sail). We did pick up some speed and were going about 6 - 6.5 knots the 2nd half of our trip. Not an edge-of-your-seat sail, but fun just the same. We were just glad to be back on the water. We got to the Yacht Club at about 1:15 and end tied to a really nice transient dock. Our boat was front and center on the most prominant dock. Our friends were on the dock for our arrival. The kids went swimming in the club's pool while the adults chatted in LaLeLu's cockpit. On Saturday night we enjoyed all you can eat/drink shrimp and beer and then danced until midnight to 70's disco. We regretfully left the dock at noon on Sunday, and headed back up the river. Winds started out right on the nose (from the North). After about half hour of motoring, we got a bit of East wind and were able to raise sail. We were sailing really close hauled and still making 5.5 knots. Not too bad considering we were sailing at about 25 degrees off the wind. We left Eau Galle at about noon and got back in our slip at about 4p. It was a great weekend!

Flying High

Due to a little mishap that occurred while taking off the foresail in preparation for a hurricane, Susan had to go up the mast in the bosun's chair to retrieve the wayward jib halyard. She was the best choice for the job since she is lighter and not afraid of heights. Not to mention the fact that it takes quite a bit of muscle to haul dead weight 56' in the air using what is essentially a rope and pully.

Life is Good (again)

LaLeLu was splashed (again) on September 1, 2006 - just in time for the ECSA cruise to Banana River spoil islands. Marine Pro had two guys present for the sea trial (what's this, service after you pay - what a foreign concept!) and everything worked great. The new engine gets us to 8k WOT with at 3000 rpm's. We were actually throwing a wake! After the sea trial, we packed up the boat and headed out to the islands Saturday morning. 24 ECSA boats anchored out for the event. We had a wild storm come through Saturday night, causing two of the boats to drag.



Things calmed down around 9:00 pm and we ran around in our dingy for a bit marveling at the amazing phosphorescene. The dogs enjoyed hanging over the side of the dingy and watching the outlines of the fish as they scurried away from us. The rest of the weekend was calm and beautiful. We had the Vandaveers staying with us on our boat, and the girls had a blast playing in the water and hanging out.



It is such a weight off of our shoulders to have the "break down from hell" behind us. We are looking forward to making up for lost time.