My first experience sailing in the Gulf was not exactly a smooth one.
The Admiral and I had anchored in Boca Ciega Bay and dinghied into Gulfport for an evening of Jumbo Jenga and multiple beverages. So we were not exactly in prime shape the next morning, when we planned to take the boat out for her christening.
After some breakfast burritos, though, we were feeling almost human enough; and cranked up the boat and motored down Pass-a-Grill and out North Channel…
…where we ran into a significant challenge.
It seems the outgoing tide was running exactly opposite to the west wind…or maybe it was an incoming tide and an east wind. But either way, the result was what in the Bahamas might be called a “rage”…but which the Admiral, to this day, refers to as…The Washing Machine.
We had four-foot, random pyramid-shaped waves…and we did not like them. I decided to try to raise the mains’l to stabilize us, promptly losing a winch handle before doing an acrobatic maneuver whereby I was hanging onto the boom out over the leeward rail while my feet were still on the cabin top.
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This seemed to stress out The Admiral a little, because she promptly decided to feed the fish…which I implored her to please do over the leeward rail, and not to windward.
Not surprisingly, we decided to beat a hasty retreat back into calmer waters, and to wait a week before christening the vessel…this time, without the “Washing Machine”…which we haven’t seen there since that first time.
