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Day 4: Paul's Mott to Army Hole The only place people like more than Paul's Mott is Army Hole - an abandoned Army Air station a couple miles off Port O'Connor. From a sailing standpoint, getting to Army Hole is all the fun. The end of Aransas Bay and most of San Antonio Bay outside the Intercoastal Waterway is very shallow with specific dugouts needed to get from one spot to the next.
The day started great with Brian G offering to make us pancakes. Brian - and his dad, Gene - is a genuinely great guy - I'm really glad I met him.
Another prompt 7:30a start time. We ran our operation like clockwork.
That is an impressive flock of 'Ducks. Sure, the boats are fugly, but they work and, like all sailboats, look fantastic under sail.
Another fleet shot. The wind was nice and most of us were already double reefed.
Damn, Kellen is photogenic. I've said it before, but it is true.
Michael was looking sharp this morning, too. Michael had a huge, 89sqft sail from Really Simple Sails, run by Mik Storer of Storer Boat Plans. Mik has taught us just about everything we know about sailing Balanced Lugs.
As we approached Carlos Dugout, our first nav point, something magical happened: We lined up and sailed in formation. I cannot TELL you how hard it is for a bunch of Type As to slow down, speed up, and get in a line.
Effing beautiful.
You have to hit those marks - the posts on the right - or you grind to a halt on oyster reefs. A 'Duck draws a couple inches of water so we can be sloppy navigators, but running aground still sucks.
Oh, look, another picture of a string of 'Ducks. Why? Because it is so damn unusual, that's why. Like a friggin unicorn, really.
This one has Josh in it.
We made Chuck L our leader and trusted him to nav us right. He took us through Carlos Dugout and into Carlos Bay just fine, then through Cedar Dugout perfectly, then . . . then he headed into the wind.
The Loaner Boats were blindly following along, pinching hard into the wind while we could see other people - mostly the bigger boats - just heading straight to Ayers Dugout.
That's a nice shot of Wade.
Down and down we went, Jason and Paul, along with the rest. Where were we heading? I asked Chuck, and he said "It's better this way."
The boats were pointing well and everyone was more or less keeping in formation, so it was time to shut up and enjoy the ride.
Chevy Duck is something you don't see every day.
After leading us in a long, looping course, Chuck delivered us perfectly into Ayers Dugout. In 2009, this was the scene of much carnage.
Big John came sailing by with his competent crew (John needed no rescuing this trip)
Bill seems to have taken on an almost unnatural love of his 'Duck.
We set off again in fine form, ready to run down to Panther Point.
I like this picture - it seems the pelican is flying by to ask Josh why he's so sad. I don't think Josh is sad, I think Josh is wonder how the F he ended up here.
Chuck P, looking good. That's probably Michael in the background, maybe Kellen.
Rick. Rick likes a lot of downhaul on the boom.
We'd passed Panther Reef and entered into South Pass Lake - none of us had ever been there before, but the charts said there was a way through. We eventually go to the end of the lake where we saw 2 exits - both of which had birds standing in them. We drug our boats over the shallow bits so we could get into position for making our run to an exit.
One exit was guarded by pelicans, the other had storks. Figuring storks had longer legs, the radio came alive with calls of "Full Speed Ahead!" "Ramming Speed!" and "Eff that stork!" Most of us took the stork passage, Rick and Chevy Duck took the pelican passage. Both were successful, though there were more shallows after the pelican passage - storks really do have longer legs than pelicans.
Tactical error on our part: We should have pulled over immediately and gathered up the flock. Instead, we continued on for 4 miles - over an hour - without stopping to find out if any of our group had suffered damage or was stuck aground somewhere.
Rick and John in Chevy Duck showed up a the rally point, followed sometime later by the Chucks - who'd taken a completely different exit from South Pass Lake. We were all back together.
And now it was time to run to Army Hole - and a fine run it was, too.
We ran across Breaux in his Bolger Folding Schooner.
The last little bit was skinny water - we all got out and dragged our boats in.
De CAMP! De CAMP!
Poor Gene. I don't think he had a lick of fun the entire trip. "I embraced the suck so hard I have bruises on the insides of my arms."
The Coast Guard showed up. I asked if they brought beer, they said "No, we're on duty." "Not for you, silly! I thought your motto was 'To Protect and Serve.'" They were less than amused.
I met up with Ryan and Peter. Ryan seemed to be enjoying himself - as much as he enjoys anything, I guess. Picture credit goes to John G.
Another long day, but it was almost over - just an easy run to Magnolia Beach now.
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