There are some days that move you. Some times when all the pieces just seem to fit together right. Some events that you will always remember in fine detail. This year's ECSA Memorial Day Weekend cruise was one that fits into each of the afore-mentioned catagories.
When we departed from Harbor Town on Saturday morning we would never have guessed that it would end up being a trip we'd fondly remember. It started out plain awful. We awoke early in order to make the 7:30 am opening of the bridge. We figured it would be an eight hour sail down to Sebastian, so we wanted to get an early start. All was well until half way down the barge canal when we throttled back to look at an alligator and the engine died. Turned the key - nothing. Turned it again, again, again - nothing. We dropped anchor (but were too close to the bank to really help) and Chris messed with the manual fuel pump while I held the boat off the bank with a boat pole. An hour later, we figured it out and, after a breif grounding, we were on our way.
La Le Lu and her crew brought up the rear of an orderly progression of ECSA sailboats headed down the Indian River. The wind was out of the south west, a bit light and fluky at times, but was quite sail-able for most of the day. Just to keep us on our toes, we were treated to an angry thunder cell that passed right over the anchorage, as everyone was setting their hooks. Other than that, the Saturday evening cocktail hour was a relatively boring spectator’s event. No boats ran aground, no boats drug anchor, and we all were rocked gently to sleep. In fact, with the exception of the sound of some howling wolves (courtesy of the Conrads calling for the Windsors) and the hum of a dingy motor circling the anchorage, Saturday night was calm and peaceful with a lovely light breeze.
It was so nice to have an extra day to play – every weekend should be three days long. On Sunday some folks fished, some went to the beach and tide pools, and other chatted in the pavilion with those arriving via land yacht. The weather was pleasant as was the company of fellow sailors. In total, by Sunday I think we had about 22 boats in the anchorage. A club BBQ/Potluck was followed by another good night at anchor, and Monday morning arrived with a brisk east wind. Before my eyes were even opened I heard the wind outside, smiled to myself and thought BEAM REACH! The wind was blowing almost directly out of the east and fairly steady at 14-17 knots. We all had an exhilarating sail up the river. I saw boats with their rails buried, and their captains at the helm wearing Cheshire grins. We flew up the river making 6.5 knots most of the way and even hit 7.1 for a few minutes. Chris enjoyed the sail so much that he said it more than made up for all the times in the past we have had to motor into a headwind.
At one point when we were really healing, Chris went to check on Park down in the cabin to see if she was scared. Quite to the contrary, she and the cats had found a comfy spot on the leeward side and had settled in for a little cat nap.
