Final Trade Log

Disappointing News/Medical Glitch

2011-04-30T08:30:00.001-07:00

While in Ocean Springs, MS, we found out that Jan's cancer had returned and she developed another tumor. So on April 1st we turned the boat West and headed for Clear Lake, Texas. Our dear friend, James Pierson, had joined us for the sail. It was an easy ride back and on April 7th we arrived at the Blue Dolphin Marina in Seabrook.

We will stay here for as long as it takes for Jan to receive chemo, surgery and recover; she's being treated at MD Anderson. We are determined to head east again at the first possible moment and continue our gunk holing.

The Mississippi was up 14.5' and running about 5 knots so we thought it best to travel the Algiers Locks on the return trip. Here we are locked in with two barges and a light tow with James manning the bow.

Morgan City to Ocean Springs Feb-March 2011

2011-03-19T12:21:00.000-07:00

The city dock at Houma is a great place to spend a night. We had a cruiser stop by who lives in the area and he gave us a quick tour of the downtown and dropped us off at a very nice Italian restaurant. A couple in the restaurant overheard our cruising conversation with our waitress and they gave us a ride back to the marina.

We had a smooth ride over to the Boomtown Casino. As you can see by the picture, this is not your choice spot to tie up for the night but it's only 4 miles from the Harvey Locks. Being that close allows us to plan our time easily for the next days transit of the locks and various bridges.

Here we are with the tugs in the Harvey Locks

New Orleans from the water coming down the Mississippi River

New Orleans, the party town--we stayed here a couple of weeks and toured the town and enjoyed the Mardi Gras. Ray & Beth, our cruising buddies, arrived just in time for the big event.

Sand Island--What a beautiful anchorage overlooking the white sands beach and old Fort Massachusetts.

Ocean Springs, Mississippi

A beautiful, sunny, clear day for our short run to Ocean Springs. Here we'll dock the boat while we make a quick trip to Houston & Dallas for some medical follow up, business and to see our new granddaughter, Elora Claire, who arrived on March 6th.

It's only 1.8 miles to the grocery store and here we trek with our backpacks enjoying the quaint shops along the historic Washington Street. We found an old timey drug store and we just had to sit at the counter and have a ice cream with Ray & Beth.

Freeport to Morgan City February 2011

2011-02-27T16:42:00.000-08:00

February 13th—Finally got a weather break so we headed out to Offatts Bayou in the Galveston area. Great place to anchor; plenty of room, walking distance to stores and you can dinghy up to a restaurant.

February 14th—Our plan was a relatively short sail to the Bolivar Peninsula but we didn’t like the anchorage so we pressed on to Taylor Outfall Bayou. It’s a beautiful area in the middle of the Big Bayou Wildlife but loaded with mosquitoes.

We circled two hours waiting for the Ellender Bridge to open.

February 15th---We had a sunny, clear day with Force 3 winds as we crossed into Louisiana. We anchored in a very serene Oxbow off the Calcasieu River. An oxbow is a U-shaped body of water formed when a wide meander from the main stem of a river is cut off to create a lake.

February 16th---A short trip to the Bow Tie Marina for diesel & water. It’s 10.7 miles up the river in the Contraband Bayou. It’s a beautiful ride through the swampland; lots of Cypress trees and knees with moss hanging everywhere. The marina owners were wonderful and we decided to spend the night so that we could go to the L’Augerge du Lac Casino. Great food but not much luck gambling.

Calcasieu Locks

February 17th---A cool, cloudy day as we headed east 49.7 miles to the Mermentau River and stayed in an oxbox just north of the ICW.

Leland-Bowman Locks

February 18th---We spent the next night at Bayou Petite Anse which was close to our destination, Avery Island.

February 19th---Since we were not comfortable leaving our boat for the day at Bayou Petite Anse due to the lack of swing room, we headed up the Bayou to Delcambre where we fueled up at LeBlanc’s and tied up to their dock. We then had an 8 mile dinghy ride over to Avery Island where the Tabasco Factory is located. We enjoyed the day getting a tour of the factory and having very tasty Crawfish Etoffue for lunch.

February 20, 2011---Morgan City, 59 miles east, is a “must see” according to our cruising guide. It has a small quaint historic area but the huge hardware store is what got Joe interested. Unfortunately, it was Sunday so it was not open. We spent the night at the city dock.

February 21st---One normally gets disappointed when fogged in but if one gets to go to the hardware store, it’s okay. By the time we got through all the aisles, the fog had lifted and we were on our way east to Houma.

Rockport to Freeport February 9, 2011

2011-02-09T15:42:00.000-08:00

We had a great sail from Rockport to Matagorda enjoying a sunny clear day with cool temperatures and breezy. The wind on the stern helped us make the trip in 11 hours. We saw lots of birds including 9 sets of whooping crane and my favorite, Ibis. We also saw our fare share of cattle grazing. We enjoyed the sail from Matagorda to Freeport. Extremely breezy up to Force 6 but clear sunny skies. We are docked at the city marina to wait out the cold front which arrived today. The picture shows the guillitone flood gate; it's an strange feeling to sail underneath it.

On our way

2011-01-12T12:18:00.000-08:00

800 hours, Sunday, January 9, 2011 we cast off for our cruising adventure. Heading north towards Rockport part of the time the tide was in our favor and we exceeded 8 knots. It was a smooth ride up the ICW. We are so thankful for our enclosed cockpit as we stayed warm even though it was blowing in the mid 20's and the temperature was cold. With the oncoming cold fronts we plan to stay in Rockport for a few days.

Thanksgiving Trip

2010-12-13T15:11:00.000-08:00

We drove to Tucson, AZ in our motor home for Thanksgiving and enjoyed visiting with relatives. We then continued the trip to San Clemente, CA and spent several days with friends and seeing the area.

Harvest Moon Regatta

2010-11-07T13:59:00.000-08:00

Joe raced the Harvest Moon Regatta again on John Bradford's 44' C&C out of Kemah. Out of 280+- boats signed up, approximately 100 boats did not complete the race. The race started with no wind and ended with 30+ knots. The average swells were 10' which made for a wet ride. Unfortunately, 2 of the crew got sea sick early in the race, leaving Joe and his two friends, James Pierson and Danny Shaffer to complete the race. They managed to finish the 150 miles in less than 24 hours.

Padre to Port Aransas Race

2010-09-07T04:43:00.000-07:00

Thanks to our crew, we took First Place in the race from Padre Island to Port Aransas on 9/3. Since the race started at Padre Island and we are located 105 miles north, we had to sail our boat to Padre Island. We left on Tues, 8/31 about 2 pm. Our long time friend and sailing buddy, James Pierson, joined us for the sail down. It took just under 19 hours and was a great sail with a little help from the motor when the wind died. We docked at the Sea Ranch II marina in Port Isabel and enjoyed the area for a couple of days. On Thursday evening Dan & Sandy Shaffer flew in from San Antonio and on Friday Craig Bovee drove up from McAllen to join us. We had a reverse start at 4pm on Friday and arrived 29 hours later in Port Aransas. The wind was on the nose the entire trip so between the wind and the waves is was difficult to make a good headway. We survived several squalls but the big storm we were able to sail around and avoid. We had wind up to 24 knots but we hear the big storm clocked 40 knots. It was long and tiring but everyone says they are ready for the next race.

Back on track

2010-07-05T15:24:00.000-07:00

Jan completed her chemotherapy and is doing well. The boat repairs were completed and Final Trade is back in the water. Joe is doing well and has been busy checking out all the systems on Final Trade. We’ve decided to spend the hurricane season at the Bahia Marina, Ingleside On The Bay, just north of Corpus Christi.

Glitch month--February

2010-03-13T08:13:00.000-08:00

We enjoyed our 1 1/2 month stay in Port Isabel visiting with all our friends at the Circle L in Rio Hondo. But it was time to move on. Our plan was to head east, however, we ran into our first glitch. When Jan went in for a simple outpatient sinus surgery, the ENT discovered cancer cells. Same cancer cells as before and relatively the same area except a very small amount compared to 2007. After visiting with the Doctors at MD Anderson, it was decided that she needed 6 weeks of chemotherapy. Okay, so we'll head north and spend some time at Seabrook. We left Port Isabel on 2/23 at 6 am. Bubba, Joe's long time friend, had joined us for the sail. We sailed all night and by 5 am we were entering Corpus Christi Bay when we ran into our second glitch. We ran the ditch the entire way and when we hit a section of the ditch which is extremely narrow the wind was blowing gale force (40 knots) and the waves were making the bow bottom out. We lost steerage due to the waves and the wind turned us sideways and ran us aground. We were hard aground on sand and oyster shells. We finally got towed and were headed for an anchorage when we started taking on water. Our bilge pumps couldn't keep up and we couldn't determine the source. The tow boat made arrangements for a larger bigle pump to be brought out and that allowed us to keep up with the water intake. We were towed to the nearest boat yard which happens to be in our old stomping ground, Ingleside On The Bay. It turns out there's a crack along the hull by the rudder and a bent rudder post. We ended up with 1-1 1/2' of water in the boat. Now we sit on the hard at Northshore Boat Yard while they put our boat back together. We still had to make our appointment at MD Anderson so we flew to Dallas, retrieved our motor home and settled in San Leon which is 8 miles from Clear Lake. Hopefully the boat will be ready by the time we are through with chemo and we will continue our journey.

Ingleside On The Bay to Port Isabel

2010-01-06T15:05:00.000-08:00

On December 30th, we left Bahia Marina bound for Port Isabel. We had an easy cruise down the ICW and made the trip in two days stopping overnight in Port Mansfield. The only things you will see are birds and fishing huts. We enjoyed our 6 months at Bahia and made some very good friends. Our new home for the next month or so is Sea Ranch Marina II. Our close friends, Jerry & Virginia are in the area for the winter and we look forward to spending time with them and enjoying their favorite restaurants.

65 & Holding

2009-11-14T14:46:00.000-08:00

We got together with our Bahia friends and celebrated Joe's 65th. It was a beautiful evening and we feasted on all sorts of goodies from the grill and delicious side dishes. Ever wonder what a cake would look like with 65 candles? With the breeze and that many candles it was hard getting them all lit at once. If you wonder if the candles are coming out the sides of the cake at a 90 degree angle you are right; there simply was not enough room on the top. Besides the top of the cake says "65 & Holding"

Boat Improvements

2009-11-09T14:18:00.000-08:00

We needed more storage room topside so we had a deck box built. It sits right behind the cockpit and fits in nicely with the design of the boat. We decided to go with a StakPak for the mainsail system and Joe made the new mainsail cover. We now have an inverter and another windlass to handle the 275' of anchor chain. Luckily we found one used but with a little rebuilding and paint, it looks good as new.

Harvest Moon Regatta

2009-10-08T13:43:00.000-07:00

This update is dedicated to our dear friends, Jerry & Virginia who were getting warm by the fireplace as we strutted around in shorts and tank tops. Overall the Harvest Moon Regatta was a great success. But as is the norm, the guys had a few glitches during the race on their C&C 44' boat. They broke two halyards, weathered two storms and had two seasick crew. They did finish which is an accomplishment in itself as many did not due to the storms which yielded heavy wind, rain and seas. The awards dinner was excellent with plenty of rum drinks and delicious BBQ. While the guys were on their 29 hour sail, Susan & Jan enjoyed a little sightseeing in Galveston and good conversation on our drive down to Port Aransas.

2009-09-13T10:10:00.000-07:00

All is well from South Texas.; we are enjoying sailing the gulf waters. Finally got some needed rain. Joe & Steve will be participating in the Harvest Moon Regatta from Galveston to Port Aransas Oct 1st. Susan & Jan will be watching the start and finish. Joe has redone the bow so we can now accommodate two anchors and is in the process of installing a manual windlass for our all chain rode. We are whittling the lists but still have many projects to get done.