Relief for the "Nowhere Man"

Here is WS with All the Sun Covers On.
Dan is giving some on the land fundamentals before we take it to the water.
Wendy is getting the hang of it, it is a challenge even on land in the 10-15 mph winds.

We walk the board, sai, and anchor out past the 1-2' water to the waist to chest deep water. The anchor is used to moor the board while you rest or come back to land for re-hydration.
Dan gives a lesson on how to get on board and raise the sail.
Then a quick demonstration in wind surfing and tacking.
This is about as far as I got. After getting the sail up I coasted a bit but as soon as I tried to bring the boom in and sail away I crashed.
Wendy was the best of the three newbies, she actually is passing the other guy!

Pete was succusfull in getting on board and raising the sail, then the cumulative effect of maintaining balence with the forces of wind, water, and gravity takes over. We all found relief from the heat though each time we crashed....

No Where Man

He's a real nowhere man,
Sitting in his Nowhere Land,
Making all his nowhere plans
for nobody.

Doesn't have a point of view,
Knows not where he's going to,
Isn't he a bit like you and me?

Nowhere Man please listen,
You don't know what you're missing,
Nowhere Man,the world is at your command!

(lead guitar)

He's as blind as he can be,
Just sees what he wants to see,
Nowhere Man can you see me at all?

Nowhere Man, don't worry,
Take your time, don't hurry,
Leave it all till somebody else
lends you a hand!

Doesn't have a point of view,
Knows not where he's going to,
Isn't he a bit like you and me?

Nowhere Man please listen,
you don't know what you're missing
Nowhere Man, the world is at your command!

He's a real Nowhere Man,
Sitting in his Nowhere Land,
Making all his nowhere plans
for nobody.
Making all his nowhere plans
for nobody.
Making all his nowhere plans
for nobody!

I was out in the traffic of Corpus Christi and the Beatles "Nowhere Man" came on...I sang the lyrics and thought to myself... I am the Nowhere Man! Here we are with a boat that is all ready to go and we are stuck waiting on the 2011 Hurricane season to fade away like Jimmy Hendrix's Sand Castles. Hum...Jimmy even said "There must be some kind of way out of here?" well I do not have any of Jimmy's friends with their magical herbs so what is this Nowhere Man to do??? We are experiencing the hottest and driest summer ever in the history of Corpus Christi, TX. and we have the boat with all the sun covers on to try and stay cool down below with our two AC's running and our little fan. We last sailed in the bay a week ago and declared that would be it till we got through the August heat.

Tropical Storm Don

TS Don developed quickly and the Texas Gulf Coast and in particular Corpus Christi went on High Alert. Friday it looked as though Corpus would definitely get some part of it. By 1100 hrs it was predicted to hit Corpus directly and could develop into a Category 1 Hurricane. I stayed at the marina preparing WS and helping others get their boats ready. This usually involves taking off all sails, getting any canvass covers down and dodgers and/or Bimini's down. Putting double dock lines on every cleat and adjusting all the boat fenders to take the load. I was going to delay taking our bimini and dodger down until the last minute since it was so frigging hot. The Admiral was doing some last minute errands and checking the internet for a hotel room if we needed one. Then later in the day Don turned South and it was forcasted to just be 20-30 mph winds with 40 mph gust in Corpus. That is everyday stuff here so I forgot about taking down any more canvass and just made sure our dock lines were all good to go. It came in around 2030 hrs and we went to bed, the boat rocked for about an hour but just a little more than usual. We both slept soundly.

Bottom Job

We will have the boat hauled out for a bottom job (bottom paint) the 15th and inspect the hull and all related parts to make sure all below the water line on the exterior of the boat is ready for some long distance cruising. I am down to making list of little projects that take little time to accomplish, these are either cosmetic things like waxing,gel coat repair, or preventive maintenance things. It is interesting though even doing these little things you still learn new stuff that will pay off somewhere along the way. I added a bit of plumbing to boath AC units to make it easy to prime the system since we have water cooled units. It is not unusual for a jelly fish or some other indescribable bit of sea life or just floating plastic to clog the seawater intake requiring a quick flush of the system and thereby a need to re-prime the pipes with seawater for the AC pump.

Relief for the Nowhere Man

So where is the relief for the Nowhere Man just waiting for the last Gulf or Atlantic Hurricane to run out of fuel? Well today it was Bird Island. Yep, Dan who owns a 31' Southern Cross just two boats down invited me, Pete, and Wendy (both live-aboard's on our dock) to go with him to the Padre Island National Seashore where one of the best Wind surfing spots in the USA is located near Bird Island. Dan was very patient with us as he gave us some on the land instruction, and some fundamentals in the shallow waters of this incredible spot. All three of us actually got up and sailed a few yards or more before losing our balance and finding the cool Gulf waters a welcome relief from the heat. We all left happy with our first experience knowing this was something we could all learn to do. The Admiral was off birding.