"Well I thought it would be kick and I could say I'd done it, sailing across the Gulf on my own. So I loaded up my boat hoping it would stay afloat...and I headed out to
sea just to see if I could do it."
--Kelly McGuire

"Batten down the hatches. You better get ready. It's a whole 'nother world once you clear the jetties."--Larry Joe Taylor

"It's like standing in the shower for about a hundred hours."--Kelly McGuire

"It started me a thinkin' that I wish I was home a drinkin' in a drier pair of underwear."--Kelly McGuire

"I've got the green on the left; the red on the right. Heading back into Port A tonight from the Gulf of Mexico."--Larry Joe Taylor

December 2004

Christmas arrives early: "Saint" Nick's sleigh ride across the Gulf

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(4.83 MB Windows Media Video file; Music by Larry Joe Taylor)

After returning to Texas in November by air instead of by water, we were feeling rather discouraged. Our attempts to reschedule the boat move were going nowhere, and we'd just about given up on having our new cruising boat home by year end.

Then the phone rang! Captain Bill Olson, of Reality Check Sailing in Kemah, had just returned from the Paris boat show and was ready to go. Two days later, on Sunday December 12th, Nick, Captain Bill, and Bob French arrived at Tampa International. Within seven hours of arrival, they were pulling the dock lines aboard and bidding adieu to Florida. As the sun cast a final shimmering glow on the Skyway Bridge, the three-man crew motor-sailed out of Tampa Bay into the Gulf toward an uncertain adventure. For Captain Bill, this was just "another day at the office," but for Nick and Bob a Gulf crossing was new territory.

The Gulf of Mexico is often described as a washing machine, especially during the winter when cold fronts turn the seas into a confused, churning mish-mash of waves coming from multiple directions. "You've got your wash cycle, your rinse cycle, and your spin cycle," Captain Bill knowingly told his eager crew, "and we'll see them all before we're home." His words proved true.

The first cold front crossed the eastern Gulf on Monday, bringing with it 25-30 knot winds and 10-foot waves on the nose. Conditions inevitably deteriorated at night. Under a moonless sky, the crew sailed into a black abyss. The boat's lights reflected the white froth of waves just seconds before they crashed over the bow. (Nick later found sea weed on top of the bimini.)

Activities inside the boat were even more challenging. To perform a simple task like changing clothes, Nick would lay on the bed and brace himself against the hull. Inevitably, he would find himself levitated half-naked above the bed before being abruptly tossed against the opposite wall.

Before daylight on Wednesday morning, 19th Green pulled into port to refuel in Venice, Louisiana, at the tip of the Mississippi Delta. For the rest of the day, the winds subsided to a reasonable 10 knots and the seas settled down. After three days of hiding in the cockpit enclosure, the crew basked in the sun on the foredeck.

But Mother Ocean had a few more tricks up her sleeve for this band of salty Texans. As nightfall came, another cold front moved off the Texas coast and the crew retreated once again to the safety of the cockpit and reduced sail. With wind and waves now behind the boat, 19th Green was surfing across 10 foot waves, reaching a top speed on the GPS of 15.8 knots, twice the boat's hull speed. Repeatedly, just as the boat mounted a wave, a second wave would slam the boat from the side, pushing the 33,000 lb. vessel across the top of the first wave. As the boat slid off the wave, the propeller (normally 4 feet underwater) would rise out of the water, screeching as it bit through the frothy air. As the boat rounded up on each wave, the autopilot, having lost its course, would beep insistently "Fail, Fail!" Captain Bill's hands were soon blistered from manually steering the boat through the clashing waves. This wild sleigh ride continued through the night as the crew dodged dozens of oil platforms that sprouted up from the sea in all directions.

On Friday morning, December 17th, a day ahead of schedule, 19th Green entered the Port Aransas jetties. A welcoming committee of dolphin accompanied the boat down the ship channel. At 2:30 P.M., four hours short of five days at sea, 19th Green slid into her new slip at the Corpus Christi Municipal Marina. Waiting at the dock was the first mate, who jumped up and down, whooping and crying with joy at this momentous occasion.

The successful Gulf crossing was more than an 828 nautical mile passage. It marked the achievement of the most significant milestone so far in a greater voyage--the journey of our life and the fulfillment of our dreams.