WYC 2nd ANNUAL APRIL CRUISE TO PORT ARANSAS
by Curt & Sandy Nicholls,
S/V BetSea III
The second annual member-led cruise to Port Aransas and possible points beyond will be held this year during the week of April 27th (Saturday to Saturday/Sunday). Contact Curt or Sandy Nicholls for more information. Curtis's email is curtnicholls@aol.com.
| The idea for this April cruise grew out of a wet and windy December evening with BetSea III tied firmly to the dock. We wanted to have a warm weather goal. By early January, we agreed to make our trip a WYC member led outing. We hoped to get two or three boats to join us. On the morning of April 7, ten boats left Waterford Harbor for “The Cruise to Port Aransas”. Here we have a pre-departure get together at Waterford. |  |
| The Saturday morning weather had more wind and waves than some short-handed boats wanted, but the two “fully-crewed” boats headed out for the Galveston jettys and on to Port Aransas. Aboard S/V Dream Maker, Reiner and Nancy Schick with Richard and Cindy Randall (and a dog) were the first out of the slip followed about two hours later by Matt and Amy Ralls on S/V Midnight Shadows, also with two additional crew members. Both boats arrived in Port Aransas around Sunday noon. |
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| The rest of the fleet headed for Offat’s Bayou and joined with the other WYC group for the Saturday afternoon social on the dock. By Sunday morning, the winds and seas had subsided a little bit (or at least were forecast to subside), and the eight remaining boats headed out. As would be expected from any group of sailors, there were about eight different plans on how to proceed. |  |
| John and Carla Bistrick with Chris Young aboard S/V Adagio elected to head east to the Galveston jettys before turning to Port Aransas 150 nm away. S/V Ces’t Tout with Jack and Gwen Holcroft had probably the newest hardware and the least tested electronics aboard, and decided to take the ICW to Freeport before returning to Offat’s Bayou for a few days of sheltered sea trials. John and Kay Griffith aboard M/V True North II had the advantage of speed. They took the ditch to Port Aransas, making the trip during daylight hours. The remaining five boats took the ICW to the Freeport jettys, then went into the open Gulf for the final 112 nm overnight leg to Port Aransas. The entire fleet made it to Port A. well before dark on Monday. |  |
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S/V Cabaret
sailed by Randy Williams and Jackie Cherry was the smallest boat in the
fleet; a well outfitted 30 foot Hunter.
Randy also served as the official Communications Coordinator for
the Cruise as well as the unofficial photographer.
And watch out for Randy’s “Fog Cutters”.
Drink one too many and you'll be missing in action.
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| S/V Wreckless Ruth with John Harrington and his son Chris (the youngest and most muscular voyager) had prior plans to leave the boat in the Corpus Christi Bay area for extended cruising in the Spring. They returned to Waterford by car. |  |
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S/V Rose of Sharon with Joe and Sharon Kratz had a good trip down with the additional crew member Warren King. On the return trip, Joe and Sharon decided to spend some time enjoying the sights along the ICW. Here they are riding the trolley cars in Pt. A. |
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| S/V Grace, shown at right, was skippered by Sam and Ginger Christo with one additional crew member. Like many of the crew on other boats, this was Ginger’s first trip out into the Gulf. She is ready to go again. |  |
| Once in Port Aransas, there were no planned social activities, but they just seem to happen. There was no shortage of good food, good drink, and good company. The planned Tuesday trip to Corpus Christi got blown out by gusts to 40 knots. However, Dream Maker made the trip on Monday, and True North II went on Wednesday. The rest of the fleet stayed and played in Port Aransas and surrounding waters. |  |
How about joining us this year?????
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