Well, after having been all but weathered out in February (Chris Behnke and his crew Stephanie were the only ones who braved the cold, rain and high winds!), the rescheduled West Coast Trailer Sailor Squadron's Indian River Lagoon Cruise went off without a hitch this past weekend. Indian River Lagoon is the name given to a long stretch of the Florida east coast Inter Coastal Waterway.
I'm proud to report that the Daysailer was well represented, with Chris's '80 and my '79 DS2's as part of the 14 boat fleet. The plan was to launch at Honest John's Fish Camp on the east side of the ICW, but some skippers elected to launch from Christensen's on the west side. Chris, myself, and Pat Johnson in his Fat Cat chose the latter, and sailed together the 6 or so miles south to the destination, Indian River 1, just south of Sebastian Inlet. All up and down the ICW, there are what they call spoil islands, which have been created over the years when they dredge the channel and pile up the sand in spots along the way. Some of these islands are very large, and some are not much more than sand bars. They are numbered from north to south, so the one we went to is called IR1, or Indian River (county) 1, being the first one south of the Brevard/IRC line at Sebastian Inlet. Most of the spoil islands are open to the public, except the ones that are designated wildlife sanctuaries. IR1 in particular is a popular destination, as it has plenty of beach areas, trees/shade, as well as even having a fire ring and picnic table. Other than that tho, there are absolutely no other amenities, not even a trash can, so it's primitive camping at it's best: ya take out whatever ya brung in!
It was a really good time, and other than being hot as blazes and a brief rainshower Sat night/Sun morning, the conditions couldn't have been better. Most of the actual sailing was done getting to and from the island: Saturday, most folks were content to sit in the shade and shoot the breeze, and both Fri and Sat nights we had a nice fire on the beach ...
Chris: thanks again for the help in picking up/dropping off Ilse and Ella at the Sebastian ramps!
Here's a shot, taken by a total stranger on a power boat who then texted the pics to Pat Johnson, of Chris (on the left) and I cruising south on a beam reach Friday on our way to the island: