Well, Last night had many "Firsts" for us. They occurred on our TMCA Cruise to Nowhere.... It was our first venture outside the jetties and our first cruise at night and our first cruise in a storm... Wow a triple whammy!
Diane and Curtis Eddington were along as crew and we were ready for an overnight adventure.
The day started with a forcast of calm, boring weather. It was suppose to be a boring cruise without wind and many actually opted out of the trip.
We headed out with 3 other boats and under light winds and full sail we headed down the HSC taking time along the way to sail around the moored ships at the crossroads in Galveston.
We exited the jetties just before dusk and we could see clouds building up in the east. We headed west toward the flagship along the Galveston coastline.
About 3 miles out we started getting heavy winds and about the time we decided to lower the sails all hell burst loose.
We were already a day late and a dollar short. Curtis got out his computer and started to look for weather reports.
As Al and Curtis, all tethered to jack lines, went up on deck to fight the wind and get the sails down, Diane was holding on tight and Kay was at the helm. And the storm is coming! With Galveston in the background the sunset as the weather approaches is spectacular.
Kay tried her best to keep the boat into the wind... but with little success as the boat listed port... she says 45degrees... and almost thru Al off the boat... only to slam to port causing everyone to shudder. Al shouting "keep the boat into the wind"...Kay of course doing the best she could... until Al realized that she did not have enough throttle going to hold it into the wind and ordered her to 'give it more throttle'.... Having headed his command... the boat settled down and they were able to lower the sails and get back into the cockpit. No time was lost then for Kay to throw up her hands and abandon her post!
When the other boats decided to abandon the trip we were none to disappointed. We thought we had had enough of our first storm. Actually it did not even rain! Thank goodness. I can't imagine how horrible it would have been in rain.
We made our way back into the bay. Taking a detour around a dredger who blocked the Galveston Channel passage, but make it safely back to our slip in the wee hours just before dawn.
The most positive thing I can say is that we made it... and lived to sail again. I've been told that we will look back on that and say "That was nothing".... I can't imagine now what could possible take its place!
