Motor Sailing

One last hurrah for the summer before the kids go back to school on Monday. My wife wanted to do something as a family and the Sea Pearl 21 is our family boat. I looked at the weather for Titusville. Things were not that promising. I really didn't want to go to the Indian River or Mosquito Lagoon on a wind that was starting out of the NW and turning NE. I couldn't think of a boat ramp and sailing destination that would work with those winds.

Instead I took a look at the west coast. Tarpons Springs and Anclote Key looked promising. The weather service aka liars club was saying WNW 6 - 8 all day. That sounded pretty good. Its a 3 1/2 hour drive to Anclote Park boat ramp but it was an area that my wife liked so what the heck.

We left at 7:00 AM and on the way I started seeing several flags just lying there. No wind. I didn't worry about it too much because we were still inland and it was still early. I figured that a light sea breeze would eventually kick in.

Nope. We ended up motor sailing all the way out to Anclote Key. We had a great time out there. Tommy Jr enjoyed snorkeling which is going to lead to a Sea Pearl Keys trip one day soon. When it was time to leave we actually had wind for about 15 minutes which allowed us to sail from the middle of the island over to the southern tip. When it was time to turn around and head for the ramp it immediately dropped to 2 - 3 MPH. We were making no progress so I fired up the little 2 HP Honda again. At least the little motor did its job flawlessly. I would estimate that I used around 1/4 of a gallon to get out and back. Sure beats rowing. Especially in the inlet with the weekend big boat clowns running you over every 2 minutes.

Overall this was a great trip for the Sea Pearl 21. Sailing up to Anclote Key there was a big sand bar with about 2 feet of water. The center board kicked up a little indicating that we were shallow. It took a second to pull up the centerboard and sail into the beach. The first pic is in 6 " of water. The whole family could jump in and out of the boat with no problems. When returning to the ramp the tide was ripping from low to high. There was a good 3 - 4 knot current ripping past the ramp while several boats were trying to pull in at once. I let a couple of the big motor boats crash into the dock then motored into the current and eased into a spot with no trouble at all. Another nice feature of the Sea Pearl 21. Very stable and predictable while motoring. The shallow draft can make for a lively ride but when docking you are not overly affected by the current.