GLORY DAYS ON THE GREAT LOOP: THE BIG DAY

DAY 173, THURS, DEC. 15, 2011; DAY 174 FRI, DEC. 16, 2011

DEP. CARRABELLE 1:00 PM ARR. GULFPORT FL 2:20PM

1PM WIND E, 10-12K, WAVES 2-3’ 11PM WIND ESE 5K WAVES 1’ OR LESS

D. 203.8SM / 3353.01

The big day is finally here. We are up early as usual even though we will not leave until 1PM. The reasoning behind this is that it will take us about 20 hrs to cross the Gulf, from Carrabelle to the entrance to Clearwater. We want to arrive off the coast at about 10AM, so as we head east into Clearwater the sun will be high enough so that we will be able to see the many crab pots that extend out 10 miles. Our plan is to head to Clearwater with the rest of the fleet, and if the seas are calm and the weather good, go directly to our ultimate destination of Gulfport and bypass Clearwater. We have 7 boats in our “fleet”, Gemini, Adagio, Laughter, Jeremiah, NautiNell, Gold Leaf, and Glory Days. For some reason, Glory Days was the first out of the marina and since nobody wanted to take the lead, she led the fleet and set the pace at about 7.5 to 8.0 mph. We headed south and cleared the R2 buoy off of Dog Island at 2:25 and changed course to head east for about 20 miles to L29* 40’N, Lo84* 10’W. This was the advice given to us by the locals so we would have a more comfortable ride in the easterly wind. When we reached the waypoint at 6 PM, we changed to a more southerly course that would take us about 35 miles off shore and bring us ten miles off the Clearwater Inlet. The seas were about 2’-3’ just about dead ahead, and by the time we made the course change the wind had died down and the seas were 1’ or less. By 2AM, there was no wind and the sea was so calm we could see the reflection of the moon and the stars on the water. Since there were 5 of us on the Glory Days we set up a watch schedule rotating 2 men on for 2 hrs, and 3 men off for 3 hrs. It worked out perfectly as everybody had enough rest. All of the other boats only had a husband/wife crew and they both stayed awake all night. There was very little boat traffic on the horizon, and none of it was less than 5 miles from us. We also kept an hourly log noting Lat/Lon, speed, Dist. To Go, RPM, and oil press, coolant temp and volts. At 08:25 AM we could see the coast with Clearwater in the distance, and according to our plan, we changed course to 165*m for the run to Pass A Grill Inlet. In effect, what we did was run outside from Clearwater Pass to Pass A Grill, instead of entering in Clearwater and taking the inland ICW route. This saved time and was much easier navigating. We entered the inlet around 1 PM and made our way to the Gulfport Municipal marina by 2:30 PM. As of this writing, that’s where the Glory Days sits.