Real Time update and 3 Day Sail Exploring Gulf Islands

 It has been a little over a month since I have written in this blog. It seems that we have been very busy while we were at the marina in Gulfport. Hanging out with new friends and working on our boats. Then we went on a great 3 day trip out to the islands, which I will write about in this entry. We then had a short window to get in the truck and head north to see our son, Michael and his family before he went into an outage at his Nuclear Plant, which seriously limits his availability. We then continued on up to Missouri to see the rest of the grandkids and spend some time on the ranch. We have an event here at the ranch on May 16, which we will assist with, and then we are hoping to attend our grand daughters college graduation before heading back to the boat. 

I am sitting here today and it is snowing! Yep, snowing on April 20. I have been watching this crazy Cardinal all morning flying into the windows on the RV thinking he is attacking his adversary, while in fact he is attacking his own reflection. 

Crazy Cardinal attacking our window.

Back at the end of March, we noticed a new boat had arrived on our pier. Not just any boat, but an Island Packet, the same brand as SHIFT. Her name is Moosetracks from Houston, Texas. She is a 45, making her 10 feet longer than SHIFT. Her owners are Brian and Gill. They sail with their two Blonde Golden Retrievers. I didn't get many shots of them, but here are a couple:

Moosetracks in the marina. She is immaculate. You can see Gill along with Winston and Henley on the dock.

Gill taking Winston and Henley for a walk

We had a great time getting to know these two. They have recently retired and are just starting their sailing life. Brian has much more sailing experience than I do including a trip from Hawaii to California, so it was great to talk sailing with him. We also spent some time going over the charts to discuss their options for their upcoming trip to Florida and the Bahamas. We also spent a couple evenings playing dominoes and cards. We got together with another couple, Bill and Annie, that sail on an Island Packet in the marina and went out to dinner. Yes, we actually went to a restaurant and had a sit down meal. We all commented on how much we had missed that over the last year during these crazy COVID times. 

Here is a shot I took of Bill's beautiful IP 485, Sea Cloud.

We had some rough weather for a couple of weeks, so we just stayed in the marina and got some boat projects done. Brian and Gill were waiting for the right wind to go East to Pensacola and then off shore further east. We had also been waiting for the right wind to go east along the Gulf Island National Seashore. We had been watching the weather and we found a good day on April 4. The wind was predicted to start out from due East, which would allow us to go south  to Ship Island and then clock around to the south, which would allow us to head east up the chain of islands. Much to our delight, Brian and Gill decided to go with us.

April 4th dawned a beautiful day, with light winds. We got going and once we got in the sound, we raised the sails and shut off the motor. The wind filled in and we had a nice sail out to Ship Island. I took a few shots of Moosetracks under sail. She is a beauty. 

Moosetracks an IP 45 under full canvas

So pretty! and Fast.

Moosetracks sailed right past us making about a half knot better than we were. 

We were hard on the wind all day trying to make the best angle we could to get east. When we got to Ship Island, we tacked back and headed to Pascagoula, Mississippi. The wind did clock around as predicted, but not far and fast enough for our plans. We ended up sailing about 45 miles to make 40 miles East of Gulfport. We ended up motoring the last 3 miles to make our anchorage at Petit Bois Island before the sun went down. It was a 10.5 hour sailing day, but it was sure fun sailing alongside our new friends. 

The wind died down over night as predicted and we had a very nice sunset and calm night. 

Beautiful sunset at Petit Bois Island

Brain and Gill had a little trouble with their windlass, but finally got set. The problem would cause them more issues the following morning. 

We awoke to a beautiful morning, but were sad to see Brain and Gill head out. We went on deck to waive goodbye, but that took longer than we both expected. The windlass was giving them trouble again and they ended up running aground. We dropped our dinghy and installed the outboard. I was able to push them into deeper water and they were on their way. Fair winds, Brian and Gill, we can't wait to see you again. 

We then headed to shore to explore this uninhabited island. It is a beautiful sand spit with some fresh water lakes. It took us a while to find our way across to the gulf side, but when we did, we found a beautiful pristine beach that we had all to ourselves. It was one of our best experiences yet!

SHIFT at anchor off of Petit Bois Island

Our dinghy, "Zoom", tied up on the sound side of the island.

Just another Kim on a beach photo. She spent a bunch of time picking up trash and putting in in Zoom. We later took it back to the marina to discard. 

This is a shot of Kim on the gulf side beach. It was one of our favorite beaches we have been to in all of the years we have been traveling and we had it all to ourselves. 

Lots and lots of shells. 

I shot more video than still images, which I plan to make into a vlog entry. We could sit on the beach and watch the surf roll in and then turn and see SHIFT at anchor on the protected side of the island. It was perfect. 

We went back to the boat and had lunch. We then decided to head west 18 miles to Horn Island. We had light winds when we started, but then it dropped off to nothing and we had to motor about half the way to make it before it got dark. I wanted to try something that I have not done before. We left the dinghy in the water and used the bow line called a "painter" to tow it behind SHIFT. It worked very well and made it easy when we arrived at Horn to go ashore.

Here is Zoom behind SHIFT. 

We went ashore after we arrived and stayed until sunset. We could not cross the island, it is a much bigger island than Petit Bois, but still very beautiful and uninhabited...by humans

SHIFT at anchor about a quarter mile off shore. The chart showed shallow water, but I think it was wrong. 

We walked down the beach a ways.

Right after we landed the dinghy we noticed some tracks that looked a bit strange. We later confirmed our suspicions that these were in fact Alligator tracks. The creatures leave the inland marshes and go hunting on the sound side. We never saw a live one, but we will think twice before swimming in these waters. 

That is an Alligator track

Kim's hand for perspective

 We took a few shots of SHIFT at anchor with the sun setting. 

Cool shot

SHIFT at Horn Island

SHIFT has a very wide beam, which you can see from the stern. 

We finally got our sunset over the water.

We had a weather forecast for increasing winds the next day out of the Southeast. We decided that we would raise the dinghy and head out early to do the downwind sail back to the marina in Gulfport.

A beautiful sunrise at Horn Island.

We had good wind directly on our tail as predicted. We put the Genoa on the Starboard side and the main on the port and attached a line called a "preventer" to keep it from accidently gybing (or swinging across the boat).  We had an awesome 25 mile sail. As we neared the channel the seas were building in the 15 knot breeze. We dropped the sails and headed in. That is when I noticed something that has bothered me since. I powered up the engine a little more than I normally do, but still way below the recommended RPM to get into the inlet in the rough seas. The engine exhaust was putting out more white smoke than I have ever seen. We did not have time to get it checked out by a mechanic before we left, so that will have to wait until we head back to the coast next month. 

That will be it for this entry, I have a few more things to write about, so there may be some more entries in the coming weeks. Thanks for reading. 

Sail out to Ship Island

 When we first arrived in Gulfport, we knew we wanted to sail out to the barrier islands that make up the gulf side of the Mississippi Sound. We had sailed along them on our trip to Gulfport from Mobile, and they looked beautiful. We have made a number of day sails out to the water around the islands, but the conditions have never been right to drop the hook and spend the night. 

We have been warned by many sailors in the marina that the islands can be treacherous. They offer no protection from the wind and waves other than a south wind. I have been waiting for warmer weather, good wind during the day that would drop off overnight, and out of the south. The forecast for March 12th and 13th, was for exactly those conditions. The only problem is that Ship Island is directly SE of Gulfport. That was the direction of the wind, which meant we could not sail directly there. We would have to make a number of tacks to get to our target. 

We left the marina at 10AM. I almost made a major mistake as we left, by getting in a hurry and missing a major item on my checklist. I forgot to open the raw water through hull that provides cooling water to the engine. I caught it in time and all was OK, but it still bothered me all day that I would make such a significant mistake. I have since added some additional safeguards to reduce the chance that I would make such a mistake again. 

As soon as we were in open water, we had the sails up and headed out in the direction of Cat Island. The wind was strong at about 15 knots and we were moving at 6-7 knots under full sails. We made it to Cat island in less than 2 hours. That anchorage looked a bit rolly with the strong wind, so we tacked and headed in the direction of Biloxi. That was a long leg at over 2 hours and almost 15 miles. The conditions were perfect. That is when I recorded the first part of the video below:

Click this link to see a short video about our trip: Sail to Ship Island

Sometimes video just captures the scene better, but here are a few shots of our sail:

We are showing 6.8 knots on the GPS. We saw over 8 a few times this day.

Cat Island off the port bow.

SHIFT in her element! Cruising along with good wind.

As we approached the beach in Biloxi, we could see people on the beach and tell what brand of car was on Beach Blvd.. We then made another tack and headed back SW. We sailed all the way out the pass between Cat and Ship island into the open Gulf of Mexico. We then tacked back two more short ones and then motored the last half mile to the anchorage. The wind was dying off throughout the afternoon, so the anchorage was reasonably calm. We dropped the hook in 24 feet of water and settled in for the night. 

Our view of the fort and pier on Ship Island

A view without the sailboat hardware. 

We had the anchorage all to ourselves as we settled in for the sunset. Just as the sun was going down a catamaran joined us, but dropped the hook a good distance down the beach. 

Nice Sunset at Ship Island

Our neighbor for the evening

The wind died of to nothing as forecast. We had a very restful night. When we awoke the next morning, we were in a thick fog. It was so thick we could not see the island or pier.

Thick fog, no island. 

Around 9 am the fog lifted enough for us to get the dinghy down and put the motor on and make the short trip to shore. It has been since last summer that we had used the dinghy, but I have done the maintenance and it ran perfectly. 

SHIFT at anchor shrouded in the fog

Just another shot of our home

Our little dinghy tied to the pier.

Fort Massachusetts on Ship Island.

This is the main entrance to the fort, but it was closed.

Lots of damage from hurricane Zeta, that is not being repaired.

These Redwing Blackbirds were very friendly and followed us around as we explored the island.

There is a significant amount of infrastructure on this island. There are bathrooms and rangers quarters and even a snack bar. All were damaged by hurricane Zeta. The strange thing is there is no work going on to repair the damage in preparation for the coming summer season. I am not sure what is going on, I plan to do some research to better understand why.

There is a boardwalk across the island to the gulf side beach. Much of the walkway was destroyed, but previous visitors have found planks and laid them across the supports to make it possible to visit the beach. We all know that one of the main objectives was for Kim to take a walk on the beach. On this day we had the beach all to ourselves. It was foggy, but still beautiful.

Kim is never happier than when she is on a beach.

The view down this empty beach. The only footprints were ours. There are plenty of beautiful shells, but you shouldn't take them, it is a National Park.

Nice shore break on the gulf side. I want to surf fish there one day.

There is a big cannon up there on the top, I wish we could have gone inside to look around. 

We went back to the boat and I fished for a couple of hours. I caught 4 fish, but all Gaftop Sail Catfish, which I don't eat. It was then about 1 PM and even though the wind was still light, we pulled the anchor and started our sail back to Gulfport. The good news is the light wind was right behind us for a downwind sail back to the marina. As we went, the wind picked up a bit and we had a fun sail until the fog rolled in. At one point we could not see more than 100 yards. I was able to use by instruments to make the approach. We made the channel in the dense fog and felt our way to our slip. As luck would have it, a half hour after arrival the visibility was about 5 miles. All in all it was a great trip and we can't wait to go back out see some of the other islands. The problem will be waiting for the perfect forecast. 

We have had a warm week here in Gulfport with some highs in the low 80's, but last night that all changed. We had a strong line of thunderstorms hit us at about 9 pm with 45 knot gusts. It reinforced our thinking that we don't want to be out of the marina when the storms are around. That will influence our plans over the next few months. In my next entry, I will talk about our plans.

Champagne Sailing

 For the most part we have had a very relaxed time here in Gulfport, Mississippi. We have had cool weather that makes sailing a bit cold. We have decided we prefer to have more than 70 degrees, but not more than 85. It would be great if someone would tell me where we can see a nice 10 to 15 knot breeze and temperatures in that range all of the time. Oh yeah, and nice warm water. That would be good also. 

The boat work is never done, but SHIFT is ready to sail and so are we. It had been very foggy for about 3 days. 

SHIFT in the thick fog.

No wind, but thick fog.

When we got up on Sunday, February 28th it was no different. I went for my morning walk, but cut it short when I saw the fog lifting and the sun warming the air to over 70 degrees. We had a nice 10 knot breeze. I got back to the boat and asked Kim if she would like to go sailing. Sure! was her answer, and in 30 minutes we were off of the dock.

I recorded this video after we were under way: Sailing Mississippi Sound

(click on the link to watch the video)

As we approached Cat Island, we started seeing dolphins breaking the surface of the water. Before long there was a large pod of them all around the boat. We saw birds swooping down to the water and baitfish desperately trying to escape.   We saw dolphins jumping completely out of the water. We also saw some slapping their tails on the surface. It lasted for about a half hour.   It was quite a show. It was easily our best dolphin show yet. I shot some video, but it is not that great. I will do some editing and see if I can do something with it. 

We ended the day with some sailing with two other sailboats from our marina. They say that whenever there are two boats out on the water it becomes a race. So, we all raced back to the marina. We had to make one tack, but SHIFT did very well going upwind. We did have to wait for a large ship that was coming into the commercial port. We ended up second.

Large Ship coming down the channel at about 14 knots.

We held up and let him go in front of us. 

It was a great day sailing and we can't wait to go again. 

This past weekend we had our first dock party of the year. I understand that our pier is known for their dock parties. It was great! We had two live bands and plenty of food. 

I have been doing some crabbing and fishing here in the marina after I have seen some others doing very well. No luck yet, but hopefully soon. 

I have been keeping up with my daily 3 mile walks. I love to check out the birds in the area.

Four Snowy Egrets on this dock.

This Blue Heron and I have become friends. He hangs out on the jetties and is quite bold. He will stand right behind a fisherman waiting for a handout. When I walk by, he comes over and looks for food. When I show him I don't have any, he leaves to beg elsewhere. 

The featured boat this week is this beautiful little sub 30 foot Ketch. The masts on this boat are made of Sitka Spruce. The Teak is all being replaced by a master ship builder. I had a nice conversation with him one day about his project. Another labor of love.

Beautiful little Ketch.

Now that it is March, we are planning to do much more frequent sailing and some anchoring out at the islands that lay offshore. I am hoping to write about that in coming entries. 

Surviving a Polar Vortex on a Sailboat

 It has been a few weeks since I have written in this blog. To say I have been uninspired, would be an understatement. I have always said that I never wanted to feel like this was a "job", so when I don't feel like writing, I don't. 

As we all know, the week of February 8, 2021 was one for the record books. It was record setting in coastal Mississippi also, but it was very mild in comparison. We saw the coldest recorded temperatures in over 100 years. My family reported power outages in Texas that lasted a few days while temperatures were in single digits. There was snow on the beach in Galveston. It was colder than minus 10 degrees F in Missouri at the ranch where pipes burst and created quite a mess. The good news is that our son Scott was there to shut off the pump and then fix the pipes. 

We only saw one night that got down to 20 degrees. The marina staff opened all of the water spigots at each slip, so we had some icicles, but that is the only ice we had. Gulfport was one of the few places in the country, other than Florida, that had no snow or ice. We have a small electric heater that kept us nice and warm during the worst of it. We never lost power. SHIFT did fine and has no issues as long as we keep it warm inside. 

I did not have any problem keeping busy during the cold snap. We were still testing the new holding tank with just fresh water when I found that the system was leaking. I spent two days taking the tank back out and replacing the fittings with brass and using a different pipe thread compound. While I was doing that, I tried to evacuate the water in the tank with our macerator pump. Well, the pump did not work. I did some troubleshooting and determined the pump was bad. The good news is we have a brand new spare. In the process of installing the new one, I found a bad hose and clamp that could have burst and leaked a nasty mixture into the boat. I think SHIFT was just trying to tell me that I wasn't done fixing her yet. 

The brand new macerator pump on the left and the old one on the right. 

 Since this refix, all seems to be good and we now are using it again. Boat life...

After the cold front passed we were eager to find a day to go sailing. The forecast for February 22nd was for sunny conditions with 65 degrees and wind of 10 to 15 knots out of the NW. We tossed off the dock lines and headed out into the sound. We put up the sails and then as we rounded the end of the jetty, BAM! we got hit by 20 knots and gusts over 25. Hello! oh well, it is always good to get some heavy weather sailing practice in. We furled the Genoa and sailed on the Main and staysail. SHIFT was in her element. It was a comfortable ride. We stayed out there for about 5 hours enjoying the fast ride and sunny day. The cool thing about sailing here on the Mississippi sound is even with the strong wind,  there were flat seas.

SHIFT cruising along at 4.9 knots on just a staysail up front. Notice the flat seas.

Kim doing what she does. Coiling lines and organizing the cabin top.  

One of my favorite activities when we are not working on our own boat is walking around the docks checking out the other boats and talking to other boaters. There is a very special boat that is sitting about 100 feet from ours. She is a 1929 Red Banks. She was made in New Jersey and was originally a passenger carrying boat around the bays there. We have met the owners and they are in the process of varnishing the exterior, which looks like a monumental task, but it is so cool to see her survive and be cared for. 

1929 Red Banks

Those are stained glass windows on the back of the cabin.

A nice shot on a sunny day.

 It is now March and we are ready to really step up the sailing and adventurizing around this area. We had one of our best sails ever this past Sunday. I will tell you why it was so awesome, in my next entry. Maybe it will not be a month from now. 

Boat Repairs Completed and Why Are We Here?

 I am sitting here in SHIFT in the Gulfport Marina on a rainy, but warm day. It is very cold up north with high temperatures below freezing. We are very comfortable here with temperatures in the mid 60's. It was about 75 yesterday and sunny. I should have been out sailing, but yesterday was the big day. We have been waiting over three weeks for this day. This was the day our new holding tank was to arrive!

 It has been three weeks without a functional head on the boat. We have enjoyed our evening walks to the marina bathrooms, but it was time to get the boat ready for cruising again. 

I started the day by walking the 1.5 miles to the local marine store. Ken's is a local chandlery that is a candy store for a mariner. I enjoyed walking around and checking out all they had and now know if I need anything while I am here, this is the place to go. I bought what I thought I needed for the installation of the new tank and then walked back to the marina. Just as I arrived at the office, the UPS truck pulled up and had the tank. That was a great start!

I got the tank back to the boat in a dock cart and then as boat projects go, I found that the fittings I had, would not work, so back to Ken's to get the right ones. 

I spent the next two hours doing boat yoga. Getting by body into the correct position to reach the hose clamp or bolt that needed to be tightened. I have to say that even after the rough start, all went well. We then tested with fresh water and there were no leaks. Yeah!!

Here is a shot of the new tank installed. The poly tank should last much longer than the previous aluminum tanks. 

That is one major project completed. I have spent the past few weeks doing a number of other projects on the boat. I have been doing some reading about my engine and found that the valves should be adjusted every 500 hours. I had no idea when they had last been done, so I went after that project. All was going well until I had to move a coolant hose out of the way to remove the valve cover. The hose broke getting coolant all over the place. The hose was old and it obviously needed to be replaced. It was good that I found this problem while we were here at the dock with my truck ready to take me to the parts store, rather than out on the open water. It was still an unplanned part of the project. It seems all boat projects have those unplanned parts. The good news is the valve adjustment was very similar to the valves on my KTM motorcycles, so I knew exactly how to do it. I found that both the intake and exhaust on #3 were out of adjustment. I completed the adjustment and then put it back together and it seems to be running great. We will see how she runs under load on our next outing. 

This past weekend we had a beautiful day, so I decided an outside project was in order. I know you should clean and lubricate your winches about once a year. We have 7 of them on the boat. We use three of them each time we sail and the others are rarely used. I decided to rebuild all three of them. The project took me about 6 hours, but I was very happy with the result. They do work much smoother, but the best part is that I did not drop any parts or tools in the water. 

This is a picture of one of our Lewmar 16 self tailing winches. This one is used to raise the Mainsail. You can kind of see one of our Lewmar 43's in the background that is used to manage our Genoa sheet. 

I do believe that it is important to do your own maintenance and upkeep if you plan to be an offshore sailor. First, you know the job was done correctly and second you need to know and understand all of the systems on your boat. I get a great deal of satisfaction getting these jobs done and find it an enjoyable part of this lifestyle. 

 I have been asked, why are you staying in Gulfport, Mississippi? Well, the answer is a combination of many things. 

When our plans to go to the Bahamas changed due to the hassles of travel in COVID times, we started thinking about where we could go this winter. We were going to be in the Mobile, Alabama area after coming back down the river. Sailing to Florida is what most boats do to get to warmer weather. We thought about that, but we learned last year that winters in south Florida mean high costs for marinas and plenty of other boats. Staying on the hook is ok, but you will see plenty of passing storms with strong north winds. That makes for sleepless nights watching the anchor. We thought we would like to try some time in a marina along the gulf coast that will give us good protection from the north and easy access to water and electricity. The cost of the Gulfport Municipal Marina is less than half of most marinas in south Florida and one third of a marina in the Keys. Going back to Boot Key Harbor was on option. We loved it there, but we like to try new things and go to new places. 

We have seen some cool weather here in Gulfport, but there have been plenty of nice days mixed in. Sailing out of this marina is easy. You only have to motor about a quarter mile to get to open water, where you can put up the sails and then head out into Mississippi sound. That is the other thing we like, the open water just outside the jetty's is not the open gulf. There are a line of barrier islands that start off Louisiana and go all the way to Florida. These create the sound and reduce wave action significantly while still not interrupting the wind currents. So, we have the wind without the waves. That makes for some very pleasant sailing.  We have been told that March and April is a great time to visit the islands and stay on anchor. We will hold on to our slip in the marina because it is cheaper by the month and then just come back here when bad weather is approaching. So far, we really like Gulfport.

One nice thing about this marina is there are a few liveaboards here. They have been great. We spent the evening getting to know Bill and Annie last night. There is nothing better than sharing sea stories and talking about future plans. 

  I will finish this entry with one of my favorite things. We get to enjoy some amazing sunsets on the water. A few nights ago we had a special one. Enjoy!