First Sailing for Tina

It is the weekend of August 8th, 2009 and we went to Palacios, TX to do some sailing on Pilgrim. I had invited a friend from work, Tina to come and go sailing as well. It would be her first time actually sailing, so everyone was excited and both Dave and I were hoping the wind would cooperate.

We had reserved a room at the The Luther Hotel, built in 1903. We had a room on the 3rd floor and the view was spectacular. I have to say you can feel the history in this hotel, very nostalgic. Once checked in, we went down to Serendipity to put some shroud protectors on Pilgrim and waited for Tina to arrive. Once she arrived we all went to The Outrigger where good food, cold drinks and casual conversation made the time go by quickly. Even Dave and Cameron got in a couple of games of pool before we retired for the night.

The next day we started out early and was out on the bay by 9:00 am. First picture is just starting out with a full main and the jib out half way.

Next picture is of Tina taking a little ride on the stern perch seats, I believe that is a smile of enjoyment, although she looks like she is

clutching the rails for dear life. We were getting close to 6 knots on this trip, zig zagging back and forth across Matagorda Bay. We were fortunate to see 1 porpoise and lots of Pelicans diving for food.




We saw a few small fishing/shrimping boats and the birds would flock like it was their last supper. Once I got my nerve up, I moved to the bow of the boat to ride the waves on the bow, Tina followed. We switched positions so she could get the full benefit of the wave action. Dave was having a good time, aiming the nose into the biggest waves so by the end of the adventure, both Tina and I were soaked. Once one of the waves came over my head, that was it for me, I headed back to the cockpit, but Tina was enjoying herself to much. Just so you know, my husband makes me hold on for dear life as we are heeling over 20,with a slick deck to get back to the cockpit, but when Tina is ready he comes into the wind to level out the boat. Nice!

After a southern engineered hove-to we had lunch and made our way back to the docks. Our trip log was 14 nautical miles and everyone had a great time. Until next time.....