Sunday, November 26, 2017

Finally in Texas

WE MADE IT.  Docked, safe and sound in Kemah.

The second leg of the trip was a little more "spirited" with wind, waves, and weather.

I took foul weather gear but didnt need it till we got just south of Louisiana and a cold norther blew through.  (I was comfortable in 45 degree Virginia wearing shorts) The lovely perfect calm of the first week down the East coast from the Chesapeake was the opposite of what we got in the Gulf crossing.  When the front blew through we got 30+mph winds (with some big gusts) along with 10 foot seas.  One night the seas were breaking over the top of our cockpit roof.  In the distance you can see the many bright lights of an oil rig standing a hundred feet tall above the Gulf.  Then a massive wave rolls up and everything goes black as it blocks your view.  Next it either lifts the boat up and rolls it on it's side as it passes under her, or crashes down on the deck.  One particularly massive wave hit the top side of the hardtop roof and sent a 'bucket worth' of water inside all over me.  An eye opener in the pitch dark at ten pm.








 
This photo is our radar when we got close to Galveston.  Each blip is another boat we had to dodge.  It got a little intense for a few hours.


note:  I apologize for the batteries dying on the SPOT during our crossing.  I replaced my 4 triple AAA's before this trip and they just died.  The 'funny' thing was that Rod's (second spot) had his batteries die the day prior.  Rod's spot died and I watched him change batteries.  (I 'knew' I was ok because I had fresh batteries.)  then the next day my spot started blinking funny and we figured out MY batteries were dying.  what we didnt realize was, mine died for two days.  So, EVERYONE I am now aware it was a time of tension ashore while you all figured it out.  On the boat, there was zero tension and a calm blissful ignorance throughout.


3 comments:

jane said...

Glad you are back safe on land!

Ryan said...

I can only imagine what those rough seas felt like. Glad you're back safe. I worried a little when your SPOT lost battery south of AL.

Anonymous said...

Skip was a great crew and I was fortunate to have him on board for the duration of the 24 day trip. Cousin Rick and Captain Dave covered​ the north Atlantic and gulf crossing respectively. I could not have asked for a better crew. Thanks to all, Captain Rod😀