Texas 200

[scottwidmier]

Chuck and I have been talking about expanding the concept of the Texas 200 to another challenge on the Florida Panhandle. He also indicated it would be OK if I were to start the discussion here.

The are for the Florida 120 will be from Perdido Bay to Santa Rosa sound. Tentatively, we will launch from a marina in Wolf Bay and return to that marina so no shuttle needed. This also means we will have windward work hence the 100 miles rather than 200! The itinerary is:

Day 1: Wolf Bay to Sand Island in the Big Lagoon.
Day 2: Big Lagoon to Navarre area on Santa-Rosa sound.
Day 3: Navarre to Sailboat Cove on the Big Lagoon.
Day 4: Sailboat Cove to Wolf Bay.

Each day is between 30-40 miles with places where we can pitch tents on the beach each night. The big question is if we can find a beach past Navarre or camp on the beach at Gulf Shores national seashore. If the latter is the case, then we will make up the distance by plotting a circular course.

One advantage/disadvantage (depending on how you look at it) of this area is there are a lot of recreational boaters around and a significant part of the trip, from Pensacola Beach to Navarre, will have road access to the beach. This means, if anyone has to abort for any reason it isn't that far back to civilization, a road, and your trailer. This is protected water sailing with a handy beach to park your boat should the weather turn nasty.

There will be four classes within which you can finish the Florida 120 challenge each with its own "I done it" shirt and plaque. This is in part to keep people coming back and to encourage people to ween themselves off motors and/or to go in smaller boats.

Class 1: Motorless

Anyone who does the challenge without a motor in or on the boat.

Class 2: Motor Contingency

For people who have motors in or on their boat but do not use them for the entire course...some may ask why these two classes? However, there is a huge mental difference between having motor as backup and not having a motor at all.

Class 3: Limited Motor

For people who use their motor within 300 yards of the nightly stopping points. Especially needed for those with larger boats

Class 4: Unlimited Motor

Just like it sounds...those who want to accompany us and do the challenge but want to use their motor rather than bob n bake or want to do the challenge in a motorboat.

I would prefer if people would committ to one of the four classes at the beginning and not switch during the challenge. This encourages planning and perserverance on the part of the people signed up for the challenge.

As a side note: When I have done the BEER cruise in Pensacola area with my 26' boat I think I would have qualified for Class 3. I probably could have done it as a class 2 if I have had the extrinsic motivation. One nice thing about the coast is reliable winds!

What I am hoping for is an indication of how many would be interested in attending this event with a tentative date for mid-April starting on a Thursday and ending Sunday. I plan on forming a planning committee to iron out the specific details. Also, I hope Chuck can help me set up a seperate forum for this challenge.

[scottwidmier]

I would love to do this in March but have been told the weather is too unreliable. So, how about these alternatives:

April 16th to 19th or May 14th to 17th

[John Turpin]

I like the idea, but the date may conflict with the BOOTS cruise. That's currently scheduled for the last week of April/first week of May. I don't think I could do BOOTS and FL 120 and TX 200 in that short of a span. Throw in BEER and it's a lot of travel in a short amount of time (for out of towners).

But, it sure sounds like fun. I'd try to make it if the timing worked out.
_________________
www.svbluepeter.com

[scottwidmier]

Makes sense, I am trying to fit in the Cedar Keys messabout that is traditionally held the first weekend of May with the Florida 120 and the Texas 200. Don't know about the BEER cruise yet but I have my doubts. Too many boating events and so little time...

BTW, I lean towards coastal sailing for long weekends or trips over lake sailing. I have bobbed too many times or tried to sail in gusting swirling winds on lakes. Also, my MacGregor is on a slip on a lake so I get more than enough lake sailing experience. Hence my interest in the above events all held on the coast with a greater chance of steady winds. Had some truly awesome sailing experiences on the BEER cruise and at Cedar Keys but much fewer on inland lakes besides being on them 10 times more.

[txsailor37]

I am very interested in this event, but I have no clue where this is in Florida. I was wondering if you could create and post a link to a Google Earth track. I am thinking that my Bobcat needs to get out of state, and expand it's horizons.

Bobby

[scottwidmier]

Chuck has starte a seperate are for the Florida 120 discussion. Wolf Bay is actually in Alabama but most of the trip is in Florida. So, look at the extreme western portion of the Florida panhandle. I will post a google earth link once I figure out how to...

[SailorJohn]

I'm very interested in this event.

I don't know if I'll go or not but I'd love to. Even though it is farther away for me to go to the TX-200 I'd probably choose that over the FL-120; partially because of the summer dates and partially because I didn't finish the TX-200 this year so I "have" to do it next year.

As far as what dates you should schedule for, no one will be able to make all events and some people will want to do different events each year. If you’re the one organizing it you should schedule it for when you think it would be best (including prevailing wind and weather). Let those who want to come, come and let those who want to participate in a different event go somewhere else.
_________________
John Miller

TX-200:
'08 BUSTED
'09 Completed
'10 Planning

[SailorJohn]

I just realized that the dates your talking about are Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Scratch me I won't be there for a long weekend. I do Monday thru Friday trips and travel on Saturday
_________________
John Miller

TX-200:
'08 BUSTED
'09 Completed
'10 Planning

[seabird]

I'm interested, especially with the thought of those clear FL Panhandle waters... But the final date will determine my ability to attend. I like others am fired up about the T200 and eagerly awaiting the date of that event. I love a full sailing calendar...

Mike
_________________
Mike Johnson - S/V 'Ohana
"I'd rather be sailing!!"

[pcolaboy]

I live in Pensacola and am very interested in participating in the Florida 120. I have a shop where I build Boats and brew beer near the Penscola Yacht Club and could help you with the event (since it is in my backyard). My shop has parking for numerous vehicles if needed. It could also be used for overnight camping if appropriate. Sander's Beach is only 5 blocks away and has a vast area of sandy shore and shallow water for beaching small boats. There is also a public boat ramp there. I't less than 1 mile from Downtown Pensacola. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to make the event easier and more attractive.

Pat in Pensacola

[scottwidmier]

Carefull Pat, I might just take you up on that offer! Actually, I have spent some time thinking about your offer. I have thought about changing the route starting from Pensacola, to Navarre, to Sand Island, to Perdido Bay, and back to your place at Pensacola. Problem with this is that I might be stepping too much on the toes of the BEER cruise which has started at PSMSC the last couple of years. The other option is to substitute a stop at Sander's Beach for either Sand Island or Sailboat Cove. Might even try some of that homebrew of yours!!

What I really need is eyes on the ground to scout out the different opportunites. As you can see from the who's coming thread in the Florida 120 area of the bulletin board, we will have people participating in everything from small easily beachable boats to sailboats with fixed keels. So, the stopping points need to have beaches with camping on them and sheltered anchorages. Here are the things I need scouted and why:

1) Perdido Bay KOA: Has beachfront with cabins on it, camping, and cottages for rent. Has a small launch ramp. Concerns (to be checked out) are the suitability of the launchramp for larger boats, location of alternative launch ramps, how protected is it for anchored boats or location of alternative anchorages. They KOA management has called several times with great interest in our event. They have an O'Day and are considering participating! I really need someone to check this place out as it would be a good starting point or stopover if we started in Pensacola. I bet they would let us camp on the beach if we also rented some of the cottages.

2) Navarre stopover: We could possibly use the beach near Juanas by the watertower but this is a little to "in town" for the spirit of this trip. On Google Earth it looks like there might be a really good beach just a little ways past the Navarre bridge. I heard there was a state park there that got wiped out by one of the Hurricans and not rebuilt. Again, Looking for something with a beach we can camp on and protected anchorage for fixed keel boats (3-4').

Once we can establish the starting point I then can figure out the rest of the details including costs. I once made the mistake of going ahead with a location with no eyes on the ground (couldn't get locals to eye the location over) and vowed never to do that again.

[pcolaboy]

I will check out the KOA from the ground in the next couple weeks. Their website is http://koa.com/where/al/01102/ and their phone number is 251-961-1717. I have been their but don't recall enough to comment on suitability for our reasons. The location is approximately 1 mile south of the Lillian Bridge (Hwy #98 ) that crosses Perdido Bay.

Pirate's Cove in Josephine Alabama is located on the same side of Perdido bay (on the intercoastal waterway) about 5 miles south of the KOA and is a haven for sailboaters and guys like us. Unfortunately they have no cabins for rent. I do think they would allow us to camp on their property. They also have a deep water boatramp, a little hamburger resturant/bar and plenty of sandy beach to pull the boats up on. They host the annual Pirate's Cove wooden boat festival that I often participate in. The wooden boat show website is http://www.perdidowoodboat.org/index.php?&MMN_position=1:1 and their is a link to the Pirate's Cove website from their. Other than having the cabins Pirate's Cove wood provide an ideal place to start the Florida 120. By the way the Oday could be launched there and then shuttle up to the KOA 5 miles away if that helps out.

There are sand islands at the south end of Perdido bay that can be used for camping/beaching... There are also several small sand islands just to the west of the Perdido bridge (Hwy #292) that are available for beaching & camping. Just east of that bridge is Big Laggon State Park and it has all the amenities we could ask for with the exception of the cabins. The best anchorage & Primitive camping on the Gulf Coast is located on the west side of the Pensacola pass (Ft McCree) about 15 miles east of the south part of Perdido Bay.

Sander's Beach has a great ramp and sandy area of beach but unfortunately no camping (it's a city park). Of course if everyone wants to use my place about 5 or 6 blocks to the east to camp, I'm OK with that.

Send me an e-mail at patz01@earthlink.net and I'll call you to establish a lne of phone communication so we can do further research without having to type too much

[pcolaboy]

A couple points to help your planning/coordinating....

Pensacola averages 83 degrees for a high temp in May with a low of 66 degrees.

http://weather.msn.com/daily_averages.aspx?wealocations=wc:USFL0399&q=Pensacola%2c+FL+forecast:averagesd&weai=5


May winds between 7:00am & 7:00pm average 9 knots from the South-Southeast (Almost guaranteed to be from the south-southeast). That should be fine for an east/west trip.

http://www.windfinder.com/windstats/windstatistic_pensacola_airport.htm#

Although the south-southeasterly winds should be a great help for an east/west route the tides must still be considered. There are two main areas where the tides affect the sailing in the proposed areas. One is near the pass at the Florida/Alabama line and the other is near the Pensacola pass. Although the May tides are not especially large the effect near the passes is still somewhat substantial. If the timing is such that the tide is rising/falling at it's peak it will likely have an impact on the ability to sail through the more narrow areas of the route. The "Pensacola Land Cut" immediately to the west of the Pensacola pass is only a couple hundred feet across and would be nearly impossible to sail through against the tide at it's strongest (plus the sand spoil area to the south would block a lot of the wind needed to sail against the tide). The other area is the narrow stretch between Big Lagoon State Park and Perdido Bay where again the area to sail in is very narrow and difficult to tack in. I don't think this issue will have a major impact on the event but will help those without local knowledge of the waters in the ware.

[scottwidmier]

Tides are something to definitely cover in the skipper's meeting as are the occasional barge! The winds and temperature show all the people who advised may steered us right! Looking forward to it!