Bamboo Adventures

After posting on a thread at the Catalina International Association web site A guy by the name of Bob Jack emailed me and told me how much he enjoyed the post/pictures and that the Ponce Inlet area was his old stomping grounds. Upon further discussion we discovered that both of us had owned C-22's in the early-mid 80's and actually knew of one another's boats at the time. He and my dad used to race the Sunday regattas.

We talked about various adventures on our 22's and how much fun they were. He also told me about meeting his wife here and that they were coming to Daytona for her 30 yr. reunion. "Funny", I said, "mine's coming up too". You guessed it, we were both going to the same reunion. I asked how long it had been since he'd been out Ponce Inlet and he told me he hadn't in a sail boat for a long time. So I invited him to go with me the 21st of July while they were up for the reunion.

So I met Bob at the reunion, drank a few beers and shot the breeze, it was a good time! I was a little worried about the next day's sail though, the weather man called for a 60% chance of showers and thunderstorms. It didn't look to promising.

We met at Adventure Yacht Harbor Saturday (7/21) morning at 9am and readied the boat. Here's a pic of that. You can see Sugar overseeing the operation:)


On our way to the inlet. No messing around with sails, we put the pedal to the metal (OK the plastic to ..... the other plastic) and didn't waist time so as to hopefully get out before it started clouding up


Soon we rounded the last turn, raised the sails and out we went! Here's Bob at the helm


The cool thing was, the sky wasn't showing those early signs of an impending thunderstorm. ALL the fisherman were out fishing the rocks of the north jetty as you can see behind Bob. Please excuse the washed look of some of the pics, my camera was set wrong



Here's a pic of the east end of the north jetty


It was the perfect day, nary a cloud in site, 5 to 1-0 kt. winds, 1 to 2 ft. seas. The bell-buoy (picture) was clanging very mildly. I'll bet it makes a racket on a 6 to 8 December day!


Oh, also on the way out I took a pic looking south and again it's washed out a bit but all those little dots in the water are surfers at the New Smyrna jetty. Probably 50 of them!


Here's a pic looking south west at New Smyrna Beach from a mile or two out.


Ahh, it was a great day but was time to head back in. The fun wasn't quite over though, we were able not only to sail OUT but also to sail back in the inlet and even all the way north back to the marina, a rare thing! Here's a picture sailing back in the inlet


A pic of "Disappearing Island" PACKED with boaters (and the Marine Patrol cruising by keeping an eye on everything)


A pic of the Ponce Inlet Beach Park


A picture of the marina as we approached, my slip is last on the right, next to a Catalina 30


And lastly a pic of the dock. I'm going over tomorrow to take Bamboo out and back to the private dock where I normally keep her, I'm going to miss having her at the marina, it was great to go down on a week-end night, get a bite to eat at Boondock's and then go sit on the boat with friends, etc. ....... sigh ...... but I'm sure I'll do it again next year.

Three Days and Two Nights

October 26 thru 28th, 2007

It may not sound like much, but it was a much anticipated slice of heaven for me.
The plan was to sail about 20 miles south to Edgewater the first day, Drop the hook at "Blue Hole" and Dinghy in to my brother's for dinner and a few beers.
I got to the boat at 8:30am on Friday 10/26, got Sugar aboard and off we went. It was a cloudy, there was a 15 to 20 mph NNE wind and a medium chop on the ICW. We rounded the #46 red marker to enter the channel, raised the working jib and shut the Tohatsu down. If I would have raise the main it would have just covered the jib and I was moving a lot of water so left things alone. Here's a pic looking north at the South Daytona area.

Because of a pretty swift incoming tide I was only making about 2.5 kts. but was in no hurry. By 11am we were nearing Ponce Inlet and I snapped a pic of the "Inlet Harbor Restaurant".

In a few minutes we were crossing the inlet and headed for New Smyrna Beach.

The North bridge is a bascule that opens every 20 minutes and of course I got there as far away from an opening as possible (I guess Murphy was aboard). The South bridge is a 65 footer so no waiting there. There were some boats moored just past it that I took some pics of, and one sunken, sad to see....


But onward and southward! Here's one of the many million dollar homes that went in a few years ago

Quite a few Catalina's in the area, mostly 22's

Several folks passed me up in there stink potters headed away from the cold I'm guessing


Got to Edgewater about 3:30pm, found a nice out of the way spot to anchor and relaxed for a while. By the way I'm using a fortress (aluminum) anchor and it did a wonderful job in the sand.
Now on to the Dinghy test. I'd been wondering how Sugar (60 lb. Golden) would do getting in and out of the inflatable and had considered making some sort of step for her but someone on the forum was saying their dog pretty much jumped in and out of their's without much problem. When I took Sugar to shore for a pee break this proved to be the case. A little later we got back in the inflatable and headed to the bro's for dinner.

That's a C-25 in the background there, looks to be an 89 or there abouts. Later that night we motored back to Bamboo and Sugar took her spot on the bow and marveled at the 10-15 dolphins that were frolicking/feeding until it started raining and I called her in. Kind of nice, a moderate rain at night. Nice and cool, no bugs and I had this fan I bought from Wallyworld w/ built in battery. went all night! I think I like a fan I can stow verses one anchored somewhere, even if it is a slim line style.

Saturday morning we got up around 8am, made some coffee, had a bacon and egg breakfast and were heading south by 10am. As we neared the Mosquito Lagoon we passed a fish camp with some folks out fishing on the seawall and some odd boats, which really aren't odd around here. Here's a pic of one ....... what was he thinking? Also a Cat 22 where the owner should be slapped! Clean that thing up man!



And then on to the lagoon. Pretty place. great fishing, camping and cruising. Here's a guy in the distance push poling the flats for Red Fish

and a guy clamming. They feel them with there toes.

As I got closer to Haulover canal I could see the Shuttle Launch pads through the haze

A half hour later I was at the canal. Cranked the Tohatsu, raised the bascule and headed out the west end into the Indian River Lagoon, where for the first time I was on a beam reach and raised the main!


At this point I look to my north and east to see rain headed my way and also there was a storm ahead of me headed away from me but looked like I could still intercept it. BUT missed both. Dropped the sails after a while and motored in to the Titusville Marina where the stiff east wind was causing quite a ruckus! Rented a slip and proceeded to cook up a 1 lb. lobster tail with asparagus and a baked sweet potato on the side. Ah, this is the life!


The BB-Q did have it's difficulties in the wind ............
Frank Hopper should be proud of the way I stowed that jib, eh?

Had a great nights sleep, woke early Sunday morning, bought a cup of coffee and left for home. Didn't waist any time because I knew there was a lot of motoring against the wind to be done! Here's a pic leaving the Marina and of the prevailing winds


Had an uneventful cruise home, got back just after dark. Wow, that was great! Can I do it again next week-end?