Feeling stuck in a puddle! Can you relate?

[Born to Cruise]

So this one time a little over a year ago I bought a sailboat on a whim late one night on ebay. The boat was in Jacksonville, Florida, I was Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Boy that was an education. So... I did it again, bought another boat in Fort Myers, Florida, this time I sailed it home to Lake Pontchartrain. The problem now is my little shallow brown lake feels more little, brown and shallow. So now I am looking at maps and globes and google earth and wind patterns, currents etc - planning my escape. My first inclination was to sail to the Cook Islands via Barrow, Alaska. As you can see I am still in the very early stages of my planning and there are some obvious inefficiencies and naive beliefs about my own and my boats abilities. Second thought was to ease over to Alabama and get a mudslide at Pirates Cove and wait for hurricane season to pass. My question is - Are these feelings normal and where can I find people who share my pain?

[Born to Cruise]

or do they call them bushwackers?

[Pblais]

Well some place between 1 and 2 there appears a grain of sailing truth. A change in geography seems to be your problem. Sea Sprit 34! Hmm, my neighbor has a Sea Sprit 35 as does the lady that did all our canvas. I'm quite Sea Sprit'ed with excitement. You sure don't win ugly boat contests with those boats. Polish it up and just go where she lies. A shallow lake is still an ocean in the mind. Brown or blue you get what ytyou find. You sail where you are or you don't sail at all. You can sail from there but not much else at the moment.

It all goes away when you get out there again. An extended trip usually cures the disease and saves the Cook Islands every time from inundation. A night on the hook cure the discomfort.

Your plan is clearly your own. While some may have similar ideas you plan is of your design and the illusion more clear to you than any one else. When you are on the boat you are already there. Going many thousands of miles to find yourself where you already are seems an unrequired maneuver. There may be good cause to sail off into the sunset, however the sun does set everywhere equally.

I dare say a stiff drink can be found in short distances from almost everywhere so that idea may have merit so long as the connection between the drink and the sail is remote or at least considered.

[Born to Cruise]

I am interested and unfamiliar with the Sea Sprite 35. Is this a CE Ryder built boat?

[Born to Cruise]

I like and agree with your sailing philosophy. I read a quote once about the camparison between motorboats and sailboats, something to the effect of "a motorboat gets you where you want to go fast, on a sailboat your already there". The source escapes me but your post kinda echoed that notion in my mind. Thanks for the advice, my agnst is waning but my longing for bluer waters remains. Perhaps one day I will long to idle back up in the narrow bayou's and watch the nutria and the alligators slipping into the muddy waters from the banks and see the moccasins and snapping turtles basking on cypress stumps. And thanks for the complement on my boat, I am rather fond of her looks myself. I have read that it was Alfred Luders last design.

[Danceswithsails]

Ahoy Breaux,

New to the forum. Im from that village north of the puddle, Covington and Folsom. Man, we share the pain of the isolation blues though your more ready to bolt than I. My commutes to waters edge is via blacktop as I trailer my tub around. These shorter fetches have got me singin out to big blue. Ive dipped my dinghy in the pontchartrain. No business doin that w/a day sailor. LMAO I was shy of sense.
Ha, I have Pirates Cove on my myspace friends, never been there though, but yer comment about evac'ing for a mudslide reminds me of something I did when Rita followed Katrina...I ran for Austin to a girlfriends, but not without first stoppin at the local pub and shootin my self in the face with concoctions of what I called a Cat 5. MargaRITAS with double Patron. WHHHHHWWWWWWW!
Man I just wanted to chime in and introduce myself to everyone, say HOWDY and help ye feel like you aint the lone ranger stuck in a puddle somewhere waitin for the ditch to crest. Ye gotta head start over me.

Sail on!

___/)

[Pblais]

I am interested and unfamiliar with the Sea Sprite 35. Is this a CE Ryder built boat?

It's odd. I did some research and there isn't a 35 but these folks all said it was. In any case if you have not found this web site this is something you would like.

Here is a link:

Sea Sprite Association

[Born to Cruise]

I am familiar with the association, mostly Sea Sprite 23 enthusiasts. A google of "sea sprite 34" returns 86 results. I am very familiar with every instance of that character string. I researched the hell out of this boat before I bought it. It was on ebay being auctioned by a charity, was risky because I could not inspect the boat before I bought it. Price seemed worth the gamble. I did alot of research on designer and builder. I am on a constant quest to know more though. If your neighbor has a 34 I would be very interested in their opinions/experience with the boat.

[Born to Cruise]

Dances with sails, I am wanting badly to get back over to Pirates Cove, listen to some music and drink those tastey frozen head bombs. I have never been there in my boat, I used to go there often in other's runabouts at another time in my life before sailing infected my brain. I feel drawn there more now that I have gotten in touch with my inner pirate. I am not sure how far up into that bay I can get with a 5' draft, probabaly not very far, surely the next hurricane would dislodge me right? Its only about a 24 hour trip if the wind is right. Damn tempting....

[Pblais]

My neighbor Larry does not cruise his Sea Sprite but he does Wednesday night club racing. It's pretty much a fun time for the whole club. They are competetive when his son is skippper as he was a racer. He has spent a lot on restoring the look of the boat and outfitted it with new sails and some new rigging too. He has it quite new looking. The boat tends to do best with something more than light air. I've crewed a few times and it's a nice boat to be on. I like the way it feels when you sail and it seems to handle fine other than not being a high performance light air setup. You would not choose this boat if rracing was you main desire. He does not compete in spinaker class and he has a prettty novice crew most nights. They do it only for the fun of it. The J boats tend to leave them behind but the PHRF rating is high enough that they can win from time to time with better air and a good start. He places well enough at the end of the year to not be embarassed.

As a cruising boat I'm not so sure about it since I've not spent much time below or in heavy weather. I know the canvas folks lived on theirs in Norfolk for a few years.

The age of the boats can make some parts in great need of work and the old boat problems don't have many limits of how bad they can be.

I've not seen many Sea Sprites any place else and so I noticed yours in your profile.

[sailorgal]

Originally Posted by Born to Cruise

or do they call them bushwackers?

Pirates Cove -- brings back memories of the Riff Raff Regatta. I used to be on a racing crew on a 26 ft. lift-keel sailboat. We were with the Pensacola Beach Yacht Club. We participated in the Riff Raff Regatta at Pirates Cove a couple of times. What a great place -- and great burgers too!

Bushwackers are actually a specialty of Pensacola Beach -- at the Sandshaker Pub. Another great place to listen to some music.

If you're in the area, be sure to check out the Paradise Bar and Grill right on the ICW on Pensacola beach. They have a dock and you can tie up your boat and go listen to some blues on the beach, have a paradise burger, and drink a cold one.

Cheers!

[Surrymark]

S'gal,
sorry to hijack the thread, briefly, but your signature includes the staying:
"How can I get lost?? I don't know where I'm going! "

What's the source of that? I'd like to use it for our card company. If you can, let me know at info (at) borealispress.net. (Borealis Press cards)

Thanks a lot.
Mark

As for the tread: I'm following it. Just bought at Sea Sprite 34. Wondering if I'll take her beyond Maine waters ...

[daddle]

Another quip: "Not all who wander are lost." See Wikipedia.

[Surrymark]

Actually:
All that is gold does not glitter,Not all those who wander are lost;The old that is strong does not wither,Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

We used a not-exact wording on one of our cards, because it sounded better. Sorry, Tolkien.

But let us not distract this thread further ...

[delmarrey]

This thread is too old and not technical enough to get hijacked. Be sides the fact the OP hasn't logged in since 26-2-2009. So go for it!

No matter where you go, there you are!

How can I be out of money, I still have checks.


There's hundreds more but memory bank just crashed. I have sometimers.