Long Road to Tradewinds

John & I loaded up for Tradewinds yesterday:




The best part about loading up when it's only 25 degrees?
Your beer never gets warm.

Thats a LONG drive from Detroit! I am impressed.

It will take you three weeks to get down here?

Yeah, we're driving them down behind a lawn mower

John's driving down between the holidays and leaving the rig at Gilbert's. (He works for GM and has that whole week off.) He'll fly back after New Years. We'll both fly in for the regatta and he'll drive the rig back on MLK day.

Just make its a John Deer, I heard they are great on gas mileage.

PTP and Robi...
Even though I'd rather go to CA over the holidays, FL is the next best thing and it's less than 1/2 the drive. Beer is slushy when it's below 32 but still goes down smooth. Looking forward to getting warm, racing and curing my SAD

John Bauldry
Hobie Tiger #1704
Clarkston, MI

I am going to do Rick's cat course in april in Key Largo and from where I am in Fl, it will still be an almost 12 hr drive.

John: You look like your dressed for the Madcatter.
You and Matt missed a good party Saturday night.

Pat...

I thought you needed to be dressed in a drysuit, full gloves, full booties and thermal hood for MC? Ah...but rum doesn't get slushy or freeze. I'll be there for the XXXth.

JB

Just the you native California boys and Puerto Ricans dress like that.

That's a very good movie by the way

Wouter

OK... I give, I can't remember the name of the film... but I seem to remember that it was somewhat out of the director's style (wanted to say Kubrick... but I checked and I don't think so)..
GOT IT... It was "The Straight Story" and it was done my David Lynch- and as I said... somewhat "normal" movie from a guy that gave us Twin Peaks, Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive

Indeed it was the "Straight story" and it is definately out of character for mr Lynch and it is better for it.

Wouter

Hey Johnny E,

I know your no stranger to road trips, just for fun, here is a photo of Erika & I driving down in 02.

She was 7 at the time!!!! The only time she would drive was on the long straight roads of SC, GA, FL

see you there bro!!!

T

Srtill looking for an F18 to borrow, steal or charter

while we are on the subject- what do you do to your boat for such a long trip? Do you take off the tramp (seems like a large pain in the butt)? Any hints?

I found this old thread- anyone want to add anything?
http://www.catsailor.com/forums/sho...amp;Main=27405&Search=true#Post27725

TK - we would have triple stacked, but JB's trailer wouldn't handle the load. Even with just the two boats, the sailbox is jammed - you know John likes to bring spares of everything (3 jibs?!!).

All we did to the boats was strip all the running / standing rigging off them. My boat has the original trampoline (slides into slots in the hulls) that's a pain to undo/redo. John could have taken his tramp off, since he's got the new system, but then again, there was no room left in the sailbox for it.

The boats / masts will be filthy dirty when they get to FL, but it's nothing a little soap, a hose and some elbow grease can't take care of. Covers are a no-no because they flutter.

TK - Nice pic. Where was it taken?

PTP - I've hauled single, double and triple stacks from the Pacific to the Atlantic, from Canada to Mexico and have shipped boats overseas to Australia and Singapore. I can tell you one thing...neccessity is the mother of invention. I've seen penta-stacks (5 boats) and one trailer that had seven Hobie 17's on it. We've done everything from removing tramps, wrapping hulls/crossbars in pallet wrap to full on disassembly. Road trips are fun and full of adventure. We've been called crazy for being road warriors but it's part of being dedicated to a sport and lifestyle. FL is a short drive in the scheme of things. The boats will just need a bath when we get down there. A clean boat = a happy boat = a fast boat.

MPB - Granted, sailbox is FULL but I still have plenty of storage in the back of the truck.

You guys are stirring up memories - granted your sailing history is deeper than mine, but I remember fondly my first trip down to Tradewinds. Christy Newkirk was two weeks old. We had a triple-stack behind an RV (the same one I subsequently drove for a Worrell 1000 campaign) and I was wide-eyed at all the cool people... I've gotten to know some of you a lot better since then.

Looking forward to heading down again in a few weeks. I need to get ANYTHING other than a red flag this year - that is my mission. I'm not complaining, really - I just need a BLUE flag for some variety! Always a bridesmaid and whatnot.

Glad you guys are coming south - I live near I-95, now, so if you need to sleep some, stop on in. We're pulling out early Friday morning.

no pressure...yikes. We'll do what we can John! I'm working on the boat (but you're not going to like my spinnaker halyard...Why can't there be standards on the diameter of a 3/16" and a 1/4" line?)

See, Jake - you could learn a lot from the people that have had me as crew before. Instead of saying something like, "you're not going to like this halyard..." they would say something like, "I have a new halyard set up that is the latest-greatest. NOBODY else is going to have this, John. You can deal with it, right?"

When I sailed with Mark Smith on the 6.0 some time ago, he told me about this awesome line he was using for the downhual - absolutely ZERO stretch stuff. What he MEANT was that he still had his original line off a Prindle 19 from 1984. Anyone who's sailed with Mark remembers that line, which we affectionately came to call, "The Saw."

John W - Thanks for the invite to stay at your place. Never been to Tradewinds before. This is my first trip that far south although I've been to Ft. Lauderdale. Does that count? Actually, we are going to pre-position the sailing stuff after staying in Destin all week. We then fly back to Detroit from Miami. That work thing seems to get in the way all the time. We return to Miami on the 10th, sail and will head north after the event. Should be home later on the 16th, weather permitting. We're all set up at Gilbert's and can't wait to thaw out a bit.

John: My favorite road trip is still the trip to Midwinters in 93. We went with Dick and Anne in the Magic Bus. It was its first voyage after Dick picked it up. We travelled with Billy and the DW(Disaster Wagon).I think Matt was there.
We had to carry the boats over about a ten foot snow bank to do the double stack. It was just after the huge 93 snow storm. Have fun, wish we could go.

Well you guys at least are preparing.

Trey and I are packing up Friday AFTERNOON and leaving. We wont get there until very early on Saturday morning.

WOW! now that is pushing it!

Can't help it really.

School for T-dawg and work for Toothpick-PingPongBall :-/

Billy blew out about all his tires when we hit the hot roads down south. One of the blow outs took out the propane line. We had to get all new tires in Georgia and do propane line repairs.

Now THAT'S an accurate representation of RV ownership. They need that picture in the owner's manual.

I remember that snowstorm - was living in Philly at the time. Brr.

I was there in '93 - picked up Suanne Pfeiffer (chain-smoking 105lb figure skater crew) from the DTW airport (boat in tow) and hit I-75 South. 1,237 miles and no stops later, we pulled into DIYC at about 3 AM.

The Syracuse crowd was still partying.

That picture of Billy under the DW is pretty funny - neither one of us had much gray hair then!

Pat - do you have pictures of the DW on fire?
I've seen them, so I know they exist.

I don't have the big fire. On the trip to Tampa in 93 the exhaust pipe didn't make it out past the side of the motor home and heated up the aluminum floor enough to get the carpet smoking. Rob was driving and called back on the CB to say they were filling up with smoke and should pull over.
In true Billy fashion we built a tailpipe extension from soda cans and radiator hose clamps and moved on. It wasn't called the DW for nuthin.

Blowing tires in an RV is NOT FUN. Had the same experience twice (within 150 miles) coming across Texas (from California) on our way to the 1998 H17 Continentals in P'cola. Same tire...left rear inboard...closest to the exhaust. Sounded like grenades going off. Had a spare but no jack. They don't give you jack's with Class A RV's. You gota call for road service. Damn Texas roads are pretty hot in September.

No kidding - I've been there once and our '04 Tybee ground crew was there again changing a tire. I was fortunate in that I moved a propane line at the time I installed airbags on the rear suspension for that very possibility two months before the first blow out. Plenty of sheet metal damage but no propane emergency!

You guys really should downsize to a truck camper, less maintenance & no plates. Lighter weight & better gas milage. But then again you still need to stop every two to three hours for a potty break.

Fond memory Jake.
Rico & I were stuck under ShastaMcNasty, laying in the grass and cochina, covered in tire dirt and grease, cursing every thing we could. You guys were in trouble and calling for support from the Ground crew, wondering where the hell we were.
What a worthless couple of louts, What could they be doing when you make your 1 phone call. "Probably out drinking again" . . .
Hard to find a dime for the coin slot out there with waves rolling up to the spreaders. You almost beat us up the coast.
I never told you how proud I was of you guys. Good job.
CARY

Them Seacats are way cool!

Future's so bright, Gotta wear shades . . .

Been there, done that. Tents, vans, slide-ins and trampolines. I'll take a Class A or Class C RV over a truck camper any day. Hot shower, heat, galley, head, queen size bed, all for not much more cost in gas mileage. I get 10 MPG...uphill, downhill, pulling the boat, doesn't matter. Most pickups/SUV's only get 12-15 MPG when towing. In the big scheme of things I'll go with comfort in my old age and sacrifice a few MPG's. The only drawback is robbing the ATM to fill it up. You only live once.

I like the A's as well. I got rid of the noisy front end 454 chevy that was falling apart anyway and got a 38' Diesel pusher. Wow, what a difference. And it was less money than a van.
It was a pre-slide out era vehicle and lost a lot of value. New price was over $300,000. Got it for around $65,000. Full air ride, with lots of beautiful things, tons of room below.
Once in a while someone will say, "Nice Camper."
I freak out.., it is not a camper. I hate camping.
Rick

Correction Tad.....we are leaving at 11:15 on Friday. Packing will be done completely the day before. Oh what a fun drive...12+ hours with 4 people in my truck! Reminds me of Tybee time.......

SHOTGUN!

Ha, you can drive. I'm gonna sleep. And Jen says that you have to play by the rules: http://www.shotgunguide.com/

Specifically, rule number 4:

Early calls are strictly prohibited. All occupants of the vehicle (including the driver) must be outside of the building and directly on the way to the vehicle before shotgun may be called. Under no circumstances may a person call shotgun inside a building. For sake of simplicity, a garage is considered to be outside. Parking structures and detached garages are always considered as being outdoors, even if they are underground.

John, Go diesel and add the vegtable oil kit! You can drive for next to nothing for fuel costs...Seriously, if I thought I'd ever retire, that is what I'd do. I'm no camper either Rick, but I'd love to tour around the country sailing with all you folks!

The boats are now pre-positioned at Gilbert's in Key Largo. The drive was broken up into three stages (Columbus, OH; Destin, FL and Key Largo, FL) over a week which made it easy. The down side was leaving a kilobuck at the Chevy dealer in FWB to get a grinding sound in the rear end fixed. First thought when hearing it..."that sounds expensive" We are looking forward to returning and sailing. Can't wait to unleash the new pentax jib and STX main.