Retirement: Pensacola-ish...

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by ranger42c

If it matters, Miami and south Florida in general presents a much more Latin multi-culture. We enjoyed our years there when we moved south for that work transfer....

-Chris

Pensacola if it matters presents more of the Redneck Rivera Culture of southern Ala-BAMA (think Forrest Gump) at least out toward Perdido Key way

A good example would be the multiple bars at the Flora-Bama. Many of the other establishments along there were destroyed during Ivan 2004

https://www.florabama.com/

[Tayzach]

Originally Posted by thomm225

I'm not sure what you mean by this. Ivan came right in Pensacola Pass in 2004 with it's 14' - 18' surge. It dropped from Cat 5 to Cat 3/4. We had no power for 2 weeks and there was a curfew. Everyone off the streets by 4 pm.

Ivan was totally different than the other 6 hurricanes we had while I was there. it was one of the new type we see now.

Also some of the weather forecasters were really "proud" of Ivan the way he "hit the hole" like a running back between Cuba and Mexico and didn't lose any of his strength

The point is when a hurricane gets into the Gulf it's time to stand the blank by

Katrina hit a year later further West with it's 26' surge. I was on the dock at my old apartment complex (I still kept my beach cats there) when Katrina was 180 miles south of Pensacola and the water was almost as high as a Cat 1 passing right over. I then knew it would be bad for who ever was in it's way when it came ashore

My apartment before I moved in 2001 was maybe 3-5' above high tide level. I almost moved back in August 2004 to a lower floor apartment but decided not to. My old apartment complex pictured. (after being condemned and rebuilt after Ivan taking two years) That apartment received about 8' of water inside.

Sailing in Pensacola and the surrounding area is either Pensacola Bay which is maybe 7 miles across and the ICW or you can sail out into the Gulf to no place and sail back

Sorry for being so blunt but the Gulf gets hot in the Summer and even more so now

It's nice to look at all the touristy pictures through rose colored glasses but it's still the real world down there and it's a scorcher in summer. Then there's the beach traffic.....

They do have a lot of nice festivals in downtown Pensacola though at the park near Hub Stacy's Bar

https://www.google.com/search?tbm=is...=1578438283667

We live in Pensacola, actually Perdido Key, when we are not on our Beneteau 473 sailing. I have to differ with the comments on the type of sailing there is here. The bay is a great day sailing venue. I keep my boat at Pensacola Yacht club and I can be underway and have the sails up in about 15 minutes. There are several clubs in the area that have bouy racing if that is your thing. For short weekend getways there are multiple anchorages within a few hours where you can drop the hook and spend the day beside the most beautiful beaches in the world. If the restaurant/bar scene is your thing, there is everything from Juana's Pagota in Navarre, to Little Sabine anchorage right on sound side of Pensacola Beach, to Pirates Cove, etc. For longer trips you can go west to Mississippi or east to Destin, Panama City, Apalachicola, and the Forgotten Coast. We just returned from a race we did to Sarasota. We made the trip to Tampa bay in 39 hours. Returning we went to Tarpon Springs, back across to Apalachicola, then to Panama City, Destin and back home to Pensacola. We were gone for about 18 days. My point here is that there is any kind of sailing you want around Pensacola. Also to add one more point about the sailing here, New York Yacht club is using Pensacola for their winter training base for American Magic. This is their second winter training on the bay. They tell us it is one of the best sailing venues they have ever been on. If your mast height is greater than 50 feet you will have to go outside going east, but west all the bridges are over 70 feet. There are multiple yards for work on the boat, a great rigger, a top notch sailmaker all located right here. I could go on and on but I won't. thomm225 evidently doesn't like the heat, and it does get hot in the summer but you said doesn't bother you. It doesn't bother us either. Hurricanes are definitely as issue you have to consider, but that is the case from North Carolina all the way to Texas. I would be glad to talk on the phone with you and answer any questions you have. We will be here for a few more weeks before heading to the Bahamas. Good luck.

[Tayzach]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

The only thing about sailing for Pensacola it that its a long way east/west that a larger sailboat can get in/out. But i enjoyed my 2 stays this year in Pensacola.

I disagree. Pensacola Pass is a great all weather pass. Aircraft carriers can use it to get to NAS Pensacola. It is only about 7 miles from downtown Pensacola. Very easy in and out

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by Tayzach

We live in Pensacola, actually Perdido Key, when we are not on our Beneteau 473 sailing. I have to differ with the comments on the type of sailing there is here. The bay is a great day sailing venue. I keep my boat at Pensacola Yacht club and I can be underway and have the sails up in about 15 minutes. There are several clubs in the area that have bouy racing if that is your thing. For short weekend getways there are multiple anchorages within a few hours where you can drop the hook and spend the day beside the most beautiful beaches in the world. If the restaurant/bar scene is your thing, there is everything from Juana's Pagota in Navarre, to Little Sabine anchorage right on sound side of Pensacola Beach, to Pirates Cove, etc. For longer trips you can go west to Mississippi or east to Destin, Panama City, Apalachicola, and the Forgotten Coast. We just returned from a race we did to Sarasota. We made the trip to Tampa bay in 39 hours. Returning we went to Tarpon Springs, back across to Apalachicola, then to Panama City, Destin and back home to Pensacola. We were gone for about 18 days. My point here is that there is any kind of sailing you want around Pensacola. Also to add one more point about the sailing here, New York Yacht club is using Pensacola for their winter training base for American Magic. This is their second winter training on the bay. They tell us it is one of the best sailing venues they have ever been on. If your mast height is greater than 50 feet you will have to go outside going east, but west all the bridges are over 70 feet. There are multiple yards for work on the boat, a great rigger, a top notch sailmaker all located right here. I could go on and on but I won't. thomm225 evidently doesn't like the heat, and it does get hot in the summer but you said doesn't bother you. It doesn't bother us either. Hurricanes are definitely as issue you have to consider, but that is the case from North Carolina all the way to Texas. I would be glad to talk on the phone with you and answer any questions you have. We will be here for a few more weeks before heading to the Bahamas. Good luck.

I was talking local sailing.

Pensacola Bay is very small and most of the other places you mentioned are all along the ICW which is very narrow (except the ones on the main Florida Peninsula which is quite a ways away)

I did all the racing venes along there from Panama City West to Biloxi, MS. Hell the Pensacola Yacht Club even allowed us (beach cats sailors) to race with them a few times a year (but please where shoes inside!)

We used to watch the cruisers coming to life in Little Sabine from the Pensacola Beach Yacht Club during the Skippers meeting before races to include the two Seabuoy races each year where we on Beach Cats had to raced thru the monohulls

As far as the heat, try it without AC in July and August when the power goes out

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by Tayzach

I disagree. Pensacola Pass is a great all weather pass. Aircraft carriers can use it to get to NAS Pensacola. It is only about 7 miles from downtown Pensacola. Very easy in and out

You must be talking the one obsolete carrier that comes in there once every 5 years or so?

As far as the pass, the kids really enjoy the big waves that are sometimes on the Eastern side. They can get to 7'-8' and make good takeoff ramps for jet skis or Hobie 16's. Great fun for the young folks

[Tayzach]

Originally Posted by thomm225

I was talking local sailing.

Pensacola Bay is very small and the other places you mentioned are all along the ICW which is very narrow (except the ones on the main Florida Peninsula which is quite a ways away)

I did all the racing venes along there from Panama City West to Biloxi, MS. Hell the Pensacola Yacht Club even allowed us to race with them a few times a year (but please where shoes inside!)

We used to watch the cruisers coming to life in Little Sabine from the Pensacola Beach Yacht Club during the Skippers meeting before races to include the two Seabuoy races each year where we on Beach Cats had to raced thru the monohulls

As far as the heat, try it without AC in July and August when the power goes out

I don't know what kind of sailing you did but I guess the bay is not too small for the America's Cup folks. We also just held the Melges 24 Nationals a couple of months ago. We had sailors from all over the United States here for the event. I was also addressing the fact that there are many places to go and types of sailing you can do. It is obvious you don't like the area and that is fine. Just don't distort the facts about Pensacola. As for wearing shoes inside the yacht club, most bars/restrurants private or not require shoes in an area where food is served. I hope you have a great day today.

[Tayzach]

Originally Posted by thomm225

You must be talking the one obsolete carrier that comes in there once every 5 years or so?

As far as the pass, the kids really enjoy the big waves that are sometimes on the Eastern side. They can get to 7'-8' and make good takeoff ramps for jet skis or Hobie 16's. Great fun for the young folks

Attached is part of the quote about Pensacola Pass from Active Captain: The entrance to Pensacola Bay, 0.6 mile wide, is through Caucus Channel, a cut dredged through shoals that extend 1.5 miles seaward from the entrance. A Federal project provides for a depth of 35 feet for 5 miles from the Gulf to a large turning basin off the naval air station. The U.S. Navy provides an additional depth to 44 feet for a width of 800 feet in Caucus Channel.

I guess you need more than a half mile wide and 35 feet of depth to get into a bay. Wow you must have a big boat.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by Tayzach

I don't know what kind of sailing you did but I guess the bay is not too small for the America's Cup folks. We also just held the Melges 24 Nationals a couple of months ago. We had sailors from all over the United States here for the event. I was also addressing the fact that there are many places to go and types of sailing you can do. It is obvious you don't like the area and that is fine. Just don't distort the facts about Pensacola. As for wearing shoes inside the yacht club, most bars/restrurants private or not require shoes in an area where food is served. I hope you have a great day today.

I loved the area and raced in the Bay lots of times including on Corsairs in the Nationals, on Mono's, but mainly on my own boats. I was there from 1995 - 2009.

The bay is small for folks talking cruising on Monohulls

We could run to the beach from Bayou Grande in about 30-45 minutes. My son at 15 was doing it on his Hobie 16. He also sailed my Nacra 6.0 to Juana's and back one afternoon

I raced out of Juana's at least once a year also

As far as shoes in the yacht club, were talkin 0900 for a skipper's meeting with a bunch of beach cat sailor many of which race barefooted for better traction on the hull when trapped out.

[Seapig]

We essentially did the same search as you earlier this year. We started at New Orleans and looked at every community around the gulf and up the coast as far as north Carolina.

We eventually settled on the Port Carlotte area mainly because of the cost of housing with deep water anchorage.
We were about to buy a large catamaran so we needed a wide canal. In most areas you must leave 50' for passage down the center of the canal, so in a 100 ft wide canal that means your cat beam cannot be more than 25 feet which assumes you have sufficient depth right up to your seawall. For us that meant a minimum of 125 foot wide canal.
Our thinking was that the minimum cost of mooring a large cat in a marina was about 1200 a month (some places it is twice that) Being able to tie it up in front of the house essentially reduced the cost of the house by 150,000 at current mortgage rates. Not to mention the convenience factor.
One also needs to be very careful about bridges and mast height. The intracostal is 60' but most harbor bridges are considerably lower. There are no bridges between us and the gulf.
Houses north of Tampa are somewhat cheaper than our area but harbors tended to be much shallower.
We are also roughly 2 days closer to the Caribbean which in the big scheme of things isn't much but it is still 2 days each way.
The beaches in the harbor cannot compare to Sarasota or Pensicola but they do exist. Boca Grande which is close, has lovely beaches but the cost to purchase is more than double.
It is hotter than the hobes of hell here in the summer and as they say it is not the heat it is the humidity. San Andreas gets a breeze in the summer, Florida does not. A pool and a very well stocked beer fridge are virtual necessities.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by Tayzach

Attached is part of the quote about Pensacola Pass from Active Captain: The entrance to Pensacola Bay, 0.6 mile wide, is through Caucus Channel, a cut dredged through shoals that extend 1.5 miles seaward from the entrance. A Federal project provides for a depth of 35 feet for 5 miles from the Gulf to a large turning basin off the naval air station. The U.S. Navy provides an additional depth to 44 feet for a width of 800 feet in Caucus Channel.

I guess you need more than a half mile wide and 35 feet of depth to get into a bay. Wow you must have a big boat.

I usually came through there either on a Nacra 6.0 or Nacra F-17 sometimes with the boards up so I could cut inside that first red buoy if the race rules allowed that. Both boats draw about 3.5' boards down and are about 8' wide

The 100 mile RTI race though stipulated you had to round that buoy to starboard I think so no one could take the short cut so the boards stayed down at least until heading fully downwind then they came up 1/2 way.

The 100 Mile RTi used to begin off Leeside Park in Ft Walton Beach. White Flag at 0700. Then out the Destin Pass, round the Seabuoy, back in Pensacola Pass, then back to Ft Walton Beach on the inside under all those bridges.

My fastest was in 12 hours in 1997 on a slooped rigged Nacra 6.0 when we had 82 boats finish the race. Slowest was 20 hours on a Nacra F-17 with spinnaker maybe in 2001. I did that race like 6 times. Great fun at least for the first 5-8 hours

I dealt with Hunter at Schurr Sails and knew Rick Zern also. When I did complete that RTI in 12 hours, my son and I enter the pass along side Randy Smyth on his F25C Corsair.

[Sidney777]

Fort Walton Beach. Along icw my experience no noseeums,or mosquitoes. Haul outs & repairs yes, or take boat to Pensacola for more options. Carrabelle is pretty but remote for anything ! (Except fishing supplies).
7 miles to Destin pass to Gulf.
....We get Advance warnings of Hurricanes!
...Take your boat up River at Mobile Alabama to escape hurricanes.

[dragonblast]

I am a 61 year old Pensacola native. I have spent most of my life in Pensacola. I have seen it Go from KKK control to the hell hole that is now. If you can stay along the water and not Venture into town you are probably going to do better. This place is full of cops thieves and crackheads. I plan to do like you in a couple of years but I wouldn't do it here. I would find a place that had a smaller population. A place that's out of the way. Everywhere has problems but Pensacola has problems are just as bad as any large city. Most of the area is a ghetto and there are at least five agencies patrolling the bay and local Waters. I had a friend that was stopped five times before he went a mile in his boat. He parked the boat under a tree and hasn't touched it since. I'm just saying I wouldn't choose Pensacola for anything. Still there is an upside the bay is deep and the gulf is beautiful. There are plenty of facilities for boats.

[Tayzach]

Originally Posted by dragonblast

I am a 61 year old Pensacola native. I have spent most of my life in Pensacola. I have seen it Go from KKK control to the hell hole that is now. If you can stay along the water and not Venture into town you are probably going to do better. This place is full of cops thieves and crackheads. I plan to do like you in a couple of years but I wouldn't do it here. I would find a place that had a smaller population. A place that's out of the way. Everywhere has problems but Pensacola has problems are just as bad as any large city. Most of the area is a ghetto and there are at least five agencies patrolling the bay and local Waters. I had a friend that was stopped five times before he went a mile in his boat. He parked the boat under a tree and hasn't touched it since. I'm just saying I wouldn't choose Pensacola for anything. Still there is an upside the bay is deep and the gulf is beautiful. There are plenty of facilities for boats.

A member for close to 18 month and this is the first post? Hmmm. Makes you wonder

[tomfl]

As a life long Florida resident who has lived all over the state here are a few of my thoughts.

I grew up in Miami as a kid in school in the 1950s. My Dad was an MD who made a good living but no AC back then; it was simply not that wide spread. We moved several times to bigger more expensive houses; again no AC. Went to school at USF in Tampa as an undergrad in the 1960s and guess what; no AC for cheap student housing. Later attended FSU for law school in Tallahassee; finally got AC in the 1970s. My Seawind has no AC and I cruise it with impunity. To those who say they can't live without AC my comment is 'suck it up buttercup'. For well over 99% of the time humans have lived in Florida there was no AC. Yankees are the ones who have to have it and to many folks who have lived here all their lives the feeling is things would be better if the Yankees went back up North.

There are a lot of options for locating a place to stay while refitting a boat. But with out knowing more about the boat it is not really possible to suggest the best place. Right after I bought my boat I replaced the accumulator and water pump. It was in BKH and I had to ride my bike to Home Depot to get the accumulator and wait for Amazon to deliver the water pump; hard part was crawling into the anchor locker to replace them but I did it while on a mooring ball. On the other hand I had the bottom job and some other work done hauled out at a marina in Cortez Cove and the boat spent almost a month on the hard. Point is until you know just what the boat needs you can't really choose the place to do it.

There are some good places both on the upper Gulf Coast and places like Green Springs on the East Coast that will far and away be the cheapest. Problem with Green Springs area is you are probably not really gonna do much sailing while there are lots of places on the Gulf Coast where it is realistic to go sailing. Once you get South of Tarpon Springs the prices start to go up. On the other hand flying in and out of Tampa/Orlando is a lot cheaper and easier than flying out of Dothan, PC, or Pensacola. There is also a lot more 'organized' sailing in the Tampa Bay (and South) area; as well as a lot more crazy boaters.

Bottom line is probably rent, look for boat, and if needed relocate depending on what the boat needs.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by Tayzach

A member for close to 18 month and this is the first post? Hmmm. Makes you wonder

Looks like you aren't really from Pensacola but are actually living out on the Redneck Riviera! Ala - BAMA!

How are things out there these days since they put up all "them" high rise condos?

Speaking of Florida and rednecks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJ9twEldw_M