DaySailer.org Forum

The dates for the 2017 Texas 200 have been posted. The sailing days will be Monday June 12th to Friday June 16th. Information for the routes (2 ways to do it this year, the normal way and the "reverse route") can be found at the website at http://www.texas200.com/index.html There will be 2 ways to do the event this year, the normal way (recommended for first time Tx200 sailors) and the "reverse route" (starting at the "normal" finish, meeting the fleet at camp 3, then reversing course back to the finish with different camps than the outbound route).

Most forum discussion these days is done on Facebook under the name "Texas 200 Sailing Club". There is a forum on the website that is fairly inactive, but it used to contain a lot of interesting information. The articles sailors have written that are in the archives on the website also provide a good deal of useful information for anyone interested.

John

I am once again looking for crew for the Texas 200 this year. I plan on sailing the reverse route (or what has come to be known as the "hard way") this year instead of the traditional route. If interested, please let me know.

John

Having found crew for this year's Texas 200, we will be heading to the coast this Saturday (June 10th). I will post updates here if (and when) I can get connections to the internet. There can be long stretches of the Texas coast where cell coverage is "iffy". However, this year all my sailing will be north of Corpus Christi so coverage should be better. We will be sailing the route called the "Hard Way" as we will sail against the prevailing winds the first 3 days, then return with what is left of the fleet the last 2 days. 63 boats are registered with 17 going the "Hard Way".

Here is the address for my SPOT tracker if you want to follow our progress. Tracks will only appear during the day they are sent.

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/face ... 74Tohdackr

We start sailing officially on Monday June 12th, but my boat will probably start on Sunday June 11th with several other “Hard Way” route boats. Our last day of Sailing is Friday June 16th. SPOT tracks will begin to show up on Saturday June 10th during the trip to the coast.

John

Have a great sail you guys!

Wonder how long before they make "going the wrong way" an R2AK option? I have a feeling that either way is the hard way on that one! It starts this weekend as well ...

Guess I'll have to look at R2AK tracking from time to time.

John

First day was fun. We did the early start with several other boats, except we started later than they did. Left around 5:15pm. Got about a 100 yards from camp and had the centerboard cable break. We then ran aground. We tried to raise the 165 pound board with ropes. Some success. Monday morning we got some help, screened the boat and repaired the cable. Monday was a short day.

John

Glad you guys are having fun! Wondered why you were parked there for so long. Glad you got the CB issue sorted out - better to have that happen early on than later when you will have a bit less energy.

Today went well. heavy winds, sail under main only. First 3 days our legs are short as we are going against the prevailing winds. Wind direction however has been favorable and our speed good so we have made camp early. 22 mile sail on Wednesday. Thursday we start the return trip, that will be a 50 mile day. The last day Friday will be about 25 miles.

john

another good day of sailing. strong winds andsome reefs to navigate through.. Long aail Thursday.

John

50 mile long sail Thursday. Weny pretty wellexcept for hitting a reef. Told my crew who was at helm to go to starbord instead of port, oops. Winds were in the 15 to 20 knot range (a normal day on yhr Texas coast). We had one reef in. The boat count at camp 3 Wednesday night was 49 boats, 48 at camp 4.

John

Good times! No boat damage I take it?

Finished on Friday, great day of sailing. About 50 boats finished the event.

No boat damage, however the same can not be said of the trailer. Pulling the boat out of the water, the tongue on the trailer broke. A member of the Tx200 sailing group lives in Magnolia Beach (event finish) and has allowed me to leave the boat and trailer at his house until I can come done to repair the tongue.

John

Oooh ... all too familiar with trailer failure at launch/retrieval! Glad the end of the trip went well overall, and that you were able to make arrangements for later repairs.

I'll be trying to get a new tongue built this week, then go down to make the repairs.

Overall it was a very good sailing trip.

John

John will not be able to complete his usual writeup of his experience at the Texas200 this --- he has suddenly passed away as of this morning.

An obituary thread has been started here.