Day 3 The Texas 200

Day 3 The Texas 200

Day 3 of the Texas 200 has dawned. I didn't sleep all that well last night. First the dogs were restless. Cruiser kept talking in his funny little way. Hearing him Jazz then chimed in. I don't know if it was the full moon, or the fact that the boat kept bumping the bottom with a light thud but fter listening to them and to Gene snoring I got up gave them a treat and some water and they finally settled in for the night.

After getting up we prepared for he days sail. Today will be our longest day at 40 miles, but we are used to sailing for 5 days at a time without stopping so this doesn't present a daunting task. We're looking forward to stopping at Snoopy's in Corpus Christi for and finally having some cell phone service.

We leave well behind the pack of boats, but we really prefer being slightly out of the crowd. With a faster boat we usually catch up any way. As we take off we have a good breeze and enjoy the sail and the seeing some different sights.

Our rudder situation continues to be a bother. Every time it pops up the auto pilot has a harder time controlling our path, Gene has to either jerk on the rope to move it into the correct position, or get on the swim ladder and physically push it down with his foot.

We make good time, get into Snoopy's about 11:30, are ready for some good food and to replenish the ice box with ice. We easily slide into the dock and are ready to go ashore when we find out the health department will no longer let dogs at the outside tables. This means Jazz and Cruiser will get limited shore time only for a potty break.

After a great lunch, in air conditioning we grab some ice and a six pack of beer for me. We take the dogs for a walk and shove off to cross Corpus Christi Bay. Gene has decided to take a slightly different route from the rest of the group knowing that it will provide a little more protection.

With the wind steadily increasing Gene puts a reef in the main sail (ties it down to have a smaller wind surface) and also reefs the jib as best he can. The jib on this boat is not as sophisticated as many boats and its limits become obvious. When there is a smaller surface for the wind it gets slightly back winded and causes the forestay to snap back and forth with a loud banging sound.

As we cross the bay we are in a very large open area of water. The wind has picked up and sailing has gotten more labor intensive. Even with the reefs in the jib and main we almost have the rail in the water. For people looking at the boat it appears that we are about to tip over. Although a “knockdown” does occur once in a while when the wave and wind act in concert to push the boat over we are in no danger of that at the moment.

We're soon in a cut that will take us past Ingleside and the Aransas Pass Area. We go under a bridge that leads out to the island of Port Aransas. We've crossed over it hundreds of times in our car and under it a few times in our sailboats. As we move along we pass the huge complex in Ingleside where they make oil rigs. It's quite an impressive operation. They fabricate the multi story structures on land by welding together large pipes. The structures are built on their side and even in this position are about 3 stores tall. When the structure is completed it is slid onto a floating barge and moved through the bay and the Gulf of Mexico to tis final resting place. We've seen them move one before and it's pretty amazing to see a multi level structure on it's side floating through the water. I've always wanted to see them uprighting one, but we've never been in the Gulf to witness the event. We have sailed enough in the Gulf at night to see the finished product all lit up. Areas of the Gulf look like small cities because of all the rigs. We would often use them as a way point to sail towards. The goal is to sail towards it but always sail around it.

As we pass the construction site we move along an area that is populated with sea side homes. We recognize the area because we have driven parallel to the area on the highway. It's always fun to see the houses from the water perspective. We see a series of of houses that are a quarter of a mile from the highway. We now get to see them up close and personal from the water. They are far larger than they look from the highway. What surprises us is that there are 2 multi-million dollar homes sitting within a few yards of one another. We agree if we had the money to build such a home we would prefer to have some privacy and not have line of sight into our neighbors bathroom.

We continue sailing and with the wind blowing hard the rudder is now popping up with increasing frequency and the jib seems to be pounding much harder. Both are inconvenient, but the forestay stability is what is starting to bother me. If the forestay were to break we would loose the mast and all control of the boat. With the high winds and rolling waves this would be a catastrophe.

We're now getting into even more familiar water near Rockport. Suddenly the rolling waves have increased to about 3 feet. Gene is straining to hold control of the tiller and we are nearing a point at the far end of Rockport. There is a long pier into the water from the land and Gene suddenly says “I'm not sure we are going to get around the pier”. This is not at all what I want to hear, and I'm mildly concerned. I put the dogs down below and consider putting their life jackets on.

As Gene fights the waves he sees the rudder has once again popped up. He has no choice at this critical juncture but to hand me the tiller so he can push the rudder down. I've watched Gene, who is considerably stronger than I am, fight with the tiller for the last 45 minutes. Now it'm going to be on point for keeping control of the boat. Gene soon realizes that because of the size and push on the waves he can't pop it up with the rope and decides he has to go out onto the swim ladder to get control of the rudder. Now, I'm beyond concerned, I'm scared. Seeing him go over the rail out onto the ladder with these rolling waves and knowing that I have to control the tiller is just short of terrifying. Thankfully Gene is able to hang on, go over the rail and stomp the rudder with his foot. Just as quickly as he climbed over he comes back and is once again safely in the cockpit and again at the tiller.

Gene now says, “ If we want we can take a left turn and just go to our slip.”. I had been thinking this for a while but I didn't want to be the one to bring it up. I say that this is really his decision. We continue on for a short period and I ask how confident he is that the forestay is going to hold with the beating it's taking. Gene says that he is really worried about that and says “this is no fun and we have nothing to prove. I would rather go in and be safe rather than continue and have something happen. Safety is most important.” The decision has just been made by the Captain. We will drop out of the regatta and head for our slip in Rockport.

As we slowly turn the boat we are now sailing downwind and it's like night and day. The wind is still heavy but we have so much more control over the boat. I have mixed feelings about not finishing the regatta, but as Gene pointed out he has fixed every manner of problem on our boats and boats that he was delivering and he has nothing to prove. For example, on one delivery as he was sailing into Louisiana at night he heard chatter over the radio warning other boaters there was a boat with no lights on sailing down the channel. As he looked around he realized they were taking about the boat he was sailing. Soon after that the helm actually came off in his hand. Funny to think about later, but not so funny in that moment. In each situation he was able to correct the problem and conitnue on. If our fore stay broke, there wold be no such fix.

So as we sail in Gene has promised me a nice meal and reminds me we get to sleep in our own bed with air-conditioning on Sun Chaser. Suddenly my emotions aren't so mixed. There is always next year!