J24 to Galveston-Advice Needed

[AndyH]

Further to Harbor House being open, dredging is complete and should be open for business.  Below is link to the HH webcam ---- http://www.galveston.com/cruisecam/ .

[ChrisK]

Plan B might be a nice afternoon sail out to a new place called Judges Bar and Grill in sunny San Leon...
...Old pic of the San Leon Marina before the storm (bonus points if you can pick out the J24 in the picture)

Here's a new pic I took on Sunday of Judges and harbor...I tried to get the same angle. Eagle Point is in the background, open but still pretty banged up.
When you look at the Old pic link, it makes for an interesting 'before and after' picture.

Buccaner Bar is gone but J24 Wiki-Wiki II is still there, hatches open, in need of some serious love.

[Curmudgeon]

Yo will really have to watch the tides and it ripes on an incoming tide after a big low tide. The chanel is narrow and a lot of ship traffic so tacking back and forth in that chanel is hard to say the least and the wind on the way down is generally on the nose. So just watch the tides and go on a falling tide and come home on the flood.

[baileyrace]

Would it be safer to cross over into East Galv. Bay (Trinity Bay?) and stay away from the ship channel until near Bolivar? Would this be too far?
My wife is questioning her desire to sail for 5-6 hours. She is all for it at 4 hours. I fear that too long on the water, especially on a plush comfortable J24 will ruin her enthusiasm for future sailing.

Again, thanks for all the advice.

[baileyrace]

Also, thanks to everyone who has mentioned tides, as that is something I have never paid a lot of attention to other than trying to get through our channel into the bay or Clear Lake.

Is it most important to have the favorable tides where the bay narrows nearing Galveston?

[Grind4Beer]

It's probably best to time your arrival at Bolivar Roads for a slack-ish tide. There can be 2+kts of flood or ebb, and that can complicate things if the wind gets light. Trinity Bay is good option south of marker 51, if the wind or current aren't favorable.

Here's a couple of links, to NOAA's site, the overall site and GalvBay currents.

The menu is Products:Operational Forecast System: Galveston Bay Operational Forecast System,
then pick on the wind or current nowcast or forecast in the GBOFS page.

http://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/index.shtml
http://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/ofs/gbofs/fore_bay_cur.shtml

With regard to 4+hrs on J24 ... We left the dock at 0840, motor-sailed upwind to the BayCup start by 1000, finished 16mi race at 1320, goofed around on the return, and were back at the marina at about 1530 ... It does make for a relatively long day on a relatively small boat ... And it's just a sorta good/bad thing about J24s, you can sail casually at 4kts, but at 6+kts they need more attention ... *L* ...  So, a slower, longer ride might be more relaxing overall ...

(And if ya need ... ummm ... 'facilities' for the trip, I've got one in the trailer-box, on the left side, feel free to borrow it, you'll need the blue-stuff ... )

G4B ...

[marc]

I would suggest you motor sail your J24 to Galveston without the wife, have her meet you down there and do the sail back. If the usual SE wind holds, it makes for a very fast, pleasant sail under spinnaker back home. The trip down is the least fun of the two. If she likes the one way ride, then try for the round-trip. But if she hates the sail down, you may never get her back for the nice part of the trip and then you are screwed forever.

That pic Kelley posted looks promising. With that marina cleared out, you can actually tack inside the harbor, plus just from the water color it looks like they may have dredged the place out. The last time we took Mutinous Dogs in there (I think about 4 years ago) was spur of the moment (translation: drunk and unplanned) and a cold front came through, literally while we were at the bar. We then tried to beat out that channel straight into a 25-30 knot northerly, conveniently, the same direction as the channel.  The channel was no more than 35 feet wide and on a good day only offered 4 feet of depth in the very center. This was not a good day. I think we tacked about 7 or 8 times to make half a boat-length to weather. Between the headwind, lack of room to tack, let alone build any speed and rapidly dropping water level we never stood a chance. In hind sight, if there was enough water, we probably would've just been tought a brutal lesson about lee shores. In the end we stuck the keel in the mud along a dock and came back three days later to get her out.

I could write a book on the ill-advised voyages of my $1000 J24 called Mutinous Dogs.

Marc

[ChrisK]

That's actually a really good idea marc.
I would add that it would be good to take a friend with you on the way to G-town. An extra set of hands helps.  Plus your friend can drive wife's car home from Galveston....
Hug the side of the channel along the way (remember to look behind you, on occasion), leave room to bail out (ie. be ready to quickly set a sail) if you happen to be under motor and it acts up

[Lucy]

Marc,

I would read that book of ill-advised Mutinous Dog Voyages, but feel free to change my name - was that story from the time we drank $1 margaritta's till sunset?

good times.

Lucy

[Jeff K]

Is that where you guys pawned my outboard to fund those 1 dollar margaritas and then told me someone stole it?

[Grind4Beer]

Heh ... I was the guy cranking the jib-sheet on all those 1.5 boat-length tacks, it might have taken the first 7 or 8 to figure out that we were mostly aground. As a saving grace, every time the boat wasn't heeled, it wasn't going downwind either.

... Maybe somebody should remind Marc why we had to sail, even thought we had a motor? ... Something about that 1/8" dia super-light weight-saving dockline getting into the prop, after more $1 margaritas than even I could keep count of? ... *L* ... It all seems rather hilarious in retrospect ... 

Seriously, though, I think that's a good suggestion Chris made about sailing/motorsailing the boat down, and a spare pair of hands is always good (I've only soloed that trip once). Just make sure you've got a usual weather pattern settled in for the return trip.

... And Jeff, I'm sure the motor made it back, I just don't recall seeing the prop again. There was about 50ft of blue nylon spooled on the shaft, and no prop underneath when we got it unwound ...

Write the book, Marc ... *L* ..

G4B

[Grind4Beer]

With regard to picking favorable weather-windows for the sailing the ship-channel ...

... We had the basic idea correct this weekend (May 8/9th); having NE-ish breeze for the trip to Galveston that clocks to SE-ish for the return to Seabrook is a good overall plan.

... A couple of fine-points, though ...

... It's probably better to start a bit earlier in the day than 6pm(ish), and closer to the beginning of the the weather window. That way you don't wind up beating out to South Cut, making a dozen hitch-tacks to stay on the weather side of the commercial traffic in the upper end of the channel, and a couple of more hitches while traversing the HSC-TCC-ICW junction. It might also be nice to have some, umm, more obvious landmarks and maybe a larger choice of eateries, if arriving before moonset (although O-Malley's worked out very nicely on the latter).

... There might be a fine line for a non-sailor, between having a pleasantly-brisk daysail back up the channel, and the sort of rudder-hum surfing prompts full-attention to J-24 helm. On the trip down, we dropped the genoa near the ICW, mostly to slow down a bit and improve leeward lookout; dock to dock about 4-1/2hrs. On the trip back, we never bothered with a headsail, and still only took about 3-1/2 hrs. Winds on Sat started NE, but went to ESE 8-12, gusts 18+ near the coast; on Sun SSE 12-ish at the coast, built to steady 15+ with 20kt gusts.

... So, for a 'relaxed' mode J-24 daysail home from Galveston, about 4-5hrs seems like the crossover between thrashing and cruising, if you're taking a non-sailor. The total run is about 22mi, so you'd need to make 5+kt SoG, figure at least 10kts breeze on a genoa-reach? I think y'all could have a fun ride, if you caught a good sea-breaze day later this summer.

G4B

[LizBiz]

With regard to picking favorable weather-windows for the sailing the ship-channel ...

... We had the basic idea correct this weekend (May 8/9th); having NE-ish breeze for the trip to Galveston that clocks to SE-ish for the return to Seabrook is a good overall plan.

... A couple of fine-points, though ...

... It's probably better to start a bit earlier in the day than 6pm(ish), and closer to the beginning of the the weather window. That way you don't wind up beating out to South Cut, making a dozen hitch-tacks to stay on the weather side of the commercial traffic in the upper end of the channel, and a couple of more hitches while traversing the HSC-TCC-ICW junction. It might also be nice to have some, umm, more obvious landmarks and maybe a larger choice of eateries, if arriving before moonset (although O-Malley's worked out very nicely on the latter).

G4B

...  a few fine points from Grinder's grinder...

Was it **only** a dozen tacks, Skipper???  And did we really need the genoa?  And next time you want me on the foredeck in the dark to drop the jib....  could you arrange a bit lighter wind?

and, umm..er..  folks...  Those lovely bright lights on starboard as you get to the channel are NOT a marina!!  It's Seawolf Park!!

But other that that...  when are we gonna do it again??

~L