Posts from ‘October, 2008’

Big Lagoon State Park is one of the best available base camps for small boat sailors along the NW Florida coast. Located on the far edge of the state, 10 miles west of Pensacola, this uncrowded and well-run park gives sailors access to some of the prettiest unspoiled wilderness remaining on the Gulf Coast.

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One of the best things about going cruising is getting back home– no matter the length of the cruise. You might enjoy returning from a circumnavigation a little more than you enjoy the day after you’ve spent a night out on the lake, but it’s all good. It’s particularly good if you go [...]

Friday morning I woke late, to find that the biting flies had emerged from the marshes and found me again.  I ate a hasty breakfast, took a few pictures, shot a little video of the fascinating sea gardens that surrounded Slider where she rested on the beach.

 There were porpoises herding mullet out in the little [...]

This might be a little out of sequence, because I have more to tell you about that solo cruise I took week before last, but Saturday night my wife Nancy and I took Slider out for a sail, and we had a wonderful time. I want to tell you about it while the moment is [...]

We had a great sail today.
When I got up Thursday morning, after sleeping late, the weather was bright and clear, with winds from the north.

Small craft advisories were in effect for this section of the coast, but Slider handles heavy air well, and we were going to be sailing mostly in a relatively narrow waterway [...]

“Staging” is the eminently sensible idea of starting a cruise with a baby step. It’s a notion most eloquently proposed by the notable cruising writer Bruce Van Sant, and it’s truly a good approach.
If setting out on an ocean passage, the prudent mariner may stage to an anchorage convenient to the first big jump-off point– [...]