> Bye for now,
> Jackson
 
What a marvelous, informative post about anchoring with large tides and rocky 
bottoms... and from so far away! 
 
As it turned out, I got to try the Mac 26 in the Northern Gulf of Mexico 
yesterday; just got back from there about an hour ago.
 
A friend towed the boat/trailer the 230 miles from Phoenix, with a little 
Toyota Pickup Truck, 4 cyl. 2.4 liter engine. Except for gas mileage, the 
towing was flawless. We left too late Friday to make it across the border 
(the crossing is closed midnight to 6 AM), so we slept in the boat just north 
of the border until it opened, then another hour's drive to the water.
 
We rigged the boat while on the trailer (except for raising sails). Then, as 
is the custom down there, we paid to be launched by a tractor, which does 
most of that work on that non-paved muddy ramp in the inner harbor, near the 
shrimp-boat moorings. We launched at 10:00 AM, two hours before high tide. I 
had failed to close the water-ballast inlet before launching, and because the 
ballast began to fill before we had floated free of the trailer, we got 
jammed on the trailer, requiring several people in the water to get us off. 
Next time, I'll keep air in the ballast at least until we're free of the 
trailer.
 
On our return, it was low tide (6 PM), and the trailer had to be tractored 
about 200 feet further out than when we started. Tonight is full moon, so 
yesterday was nearly the max tide, about 23 feet between high and low. The 
shrimp boat channel is sufficiently dredged, but the channel became much, 
much narrower, causing me to have problems maneuvering. I ended up missing 
the mark on the trailer, and the same guys ended up having to jump into the 
water, push me around and into alignment for another trailer approach. The 
boat has the maximum size outboard for which it's rated, 10 HP, but there's 
so much inertia, that forward and reverse, full throttle, are virtually 
ineffective in maneuvering at low speeds and with the centerboard up. I  need 
to do more practicing at launching and remounting onto the trailer. It also 
doesn't help to have a space not much wider than the boat on either side of 
the trailer; the ramp was mostly blocked by numerous beached and beaching 
"Pangas", the 20 foot-long open boats with the huge Yamaha outboards, popular 
amongst the Mexican fishermen.
 
But between the inauspicious launching and retrieval problems, I had, with my 
new boat (a used '94), the best day of sailing I've ever experienced.
 
Morning winds were moderate, so I got the "feel" of everything. In the 
afternoon it got windy enough to heel over and go impressively fast. Three 
foot swells were taken in stride. A bit of spray over the bow. (The wind 
probably affected my difficulties, even with lowered sails, in accurately 
approaching the trailer; the wind and the tide were sideways to the 
trailer/approach trajectory).
 
I bought an achor with about 30 feet of chain and another 100 feet of line, 
but didn't try it yesterday. Too much fun underway. Perhaps next week, when I 
hope to make the 460 mile round trip again. (The boat was left in safe 
storage there, so I don't have to keep towing it back and forth.)
 
Today, I'm sunburned, and my arm muscles are sore. But it's a good feeling.
 
No, I take that back. It's a great feeling!
--- DB 1.58/004910
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