They call the wind...

Yeah, I've got a few names for the wind.

We woke up this morning to near calm conditions. Temp around 70º and humid. The plan was to take Wild Blue out for a jaunt after lunch out. When we got ready to push away, the wind went from about 8 mph to over 20... yeah, just like that. Rotating in our narrow canal was a lesson in "No, You Don't Do It The Same Way Every Time." As we got close to the end of the canal where it meets the ICW, a guy just pulling in in a 14' Carolina Skiff hollered, "You don't want to be out there - the wind is nasty."

"And that's why we have the cabin on this boat!" I yelled back, smiling.

We could see whitecaps in the Intracoastal. "Well, this should be fun."

It's a short distance to the turning basin, generally protected waters... there were 1 foot rollers. A half dozen small open boats (pretty much the only kind down here) were taking a beating, heading back to their docks.


The sky darkened and the wind really kicked. Checking later, the NWS recorded gusts above 40 mph. The normally calm Port Isabel Channel quickly built to 2 to 3 foot waves, stacked right on each other, with the tops blowing off...


We were heading with the wind and waves, so the ride was actually pretty easy... but, we both knew that we would have to come back against those waves eventually. Staying to the north side in the ship channel, the conditions were pretty benign. But when it was time to come back... well, that cabin did a fine job in keeping us dry, and my windshield wiper got a real workout - the spray was really flying. (Yeah, just the one windshield wiper - I replaced the wiper motor on the port side, but we are still waiting for the new pantographic wiper, to go ON that motor, that is apparently taking the scenic route to get here.)

Wild Blue needed a major washdown when we came in. Our arrival was uneventful thanks to the protection in our canal. Looking her over good, we saw a place where the stitching came apart on one zipper on the camperback; Joan says she can sew that up good as new.

I think this may a preview of what is coming... Steph and Dan are coming here for Christmas, and for some reason, the weather usually turns for the worst when they are here. They payback will come when we head their way next month.

On the bright side, that howling north wind dropped the humidity by about 20%. It was nice having light wind conditions... for a couple hours.