Category: First Person Account

First person present tense works best for this catamaran sailing story. It allows me to think and try to feel what I was thinking and feeling then.

Background: Port Aransas, Texas (on Mustang Island) Hobie Fleet 99 annual Sand Dune Regatta, after sailing the last race on Saturday

It's been a frustrating day. Wind 10 to 15 and gentle swells, but the courses were set with very long upwind and downwind legs, and very short reaches. Upwind, cross current and almost broadside to the wave action. Downwind about the same but with a few sleigh rides. All races were course VIIs.

My wife and I took a beachcat sailing trip to Belize in February 2003. The trip was such a disappointment we decided to share the experience with as many people as possible, hoping we would help others avoid our misfortune.

I thought it would be a good idea to share our "long weekend" vacation adventure last Dec 5-9 with you all. However I need to set the stage. To do so I have started our story with the E-mails traded at the Beachcats Mailing List that led to this story.

Bill Cash" Date: Sat Nov 9, 2002 9:01 am Subject: Re: Charters
Katherine and I are planning a vacation around our 30th anniversary in February. One thought is to go to Belize and do the "Under the Sun in Belize" trip. Sounds like a fun trip... 8 days on an 18 going from Cay to Cay and lodge to lodge, BUT its expensive. $1950 each plus 750-1000 each for airfare. And since we don't know anyone who has done this trip we have some reservations about dumping 6K on a vacation.

My second thought is to do a bare boat charter, BUT the vast amount of our sailing experience is on beachcats or very small monoslugs. IM not sure a charter service is gonna allow us to bareboat a 30+' catamaran with beachcats as the backbone of my sailing resume... Can anyone point me to a "more relaxed" charter service, in the Keys of the Islands?

Bill
From: "Damon" Date: Fri Nov 8, 2002 9:08 pm Subject: Re: [beachcats] Charters
Do it! Do it! Take lots of pictures and write an article for TheBeachcats.com, you can be the reporter for the Central America desk while your there. <grn> The pay will be low (0), the work will be hard, but the honor will be great!
Damon

Katherine & I raced in the area C Eliminations for the Alter cup, October 26 & 27 2002. This was only our 3rd race since we began sailing beachcats.

I knew when we decided to do this race that we would be out of our league, “Sailing with the BIG BOYS”. However, it seemed like a good way to end the sailing season. For those of you who may be new to the list, Katherine & I started sailing beachcats in June of 2000. Our first boat was a H16 that we rebuilt and named the Purple People Eater.

This is the story of my trip from Memphis Tennessee, to Navarre Beach Florida to attend "Juana's Good Time Regatta". It's just over 500 miles from Memphis to Navarre. I had never gone that far in just a weekend before, but I couldn't resist the opportunity to sail the Emerald coast one more time this season. My boat, a Hobie 18 Magnum was in good shape for the trip. Although it's an '81 model, pretty much everything on the boat has been replaced or upgraded in the 9 years I've owned it. Everything that is, but the standing rigging. As far as I know, the shrouds, forestay, and bridal wires are original equipment. The original plan was to leave early Friday morning and rendezvous with Lee (aka Capt Teach) with a Hobie 18 and Gill with a Prindle 18-2 and caravan on down to Florida...