Chemise Bayou

[Riley Smith]

The dry storage was a success and will be utilized more, after a little painting and tinkering. I had paid weekly, as I didn't know how this was going to work out, or what the whole scene was. I may re-up for another two weeks, as the weather has shown no inclination on changing except to get cooler.  And I could use a little flex in the schedule.  I've discovered that time has sped up and I've slowed down and so what. I don't much get in a hurry anymore.

I made the run to Chemise Bayou this morning, and missed the morning wind. I had to motor all the way. The morning wind blows about 8-10 kts out of the NE but it starts dying about 10am. And the afternoon wind blows from the SE around 3pm. Motoring isn't real bad because the little Honda is quiet and it's pretty along the way. A big flock of egrets led the way and once I got there, the pelicans were bombing prey in that part of the river. It's deep and there are plenty of trees washed up along the way, because this is the main channel of the river.

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There wasn't a cloud in the sky and it was so quiet that it was amazing. I soaked the sun and silence up sitting in my Bucees chair. I found a good shady spot and go the chair just right and would have taken a nap if I had brought a towel. After a long time of quiet, I broke out the speaker and played a mix from the new phone. It was great. I fished a little with no success, but had something make a dart at the bait right near shore. It was gone in a flash...maybe a trout. A couple of HUGE crabs were sighted scuttling along the shoreline about a foot deep. I saw about three boats and that was nice too. Sometimes this place starts hopping in the dead of summer when everyone is swimming.

Here's the beach and a camp site

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The pelicans were diving most of the day.

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Don't let THIS one get your piggies!

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It was very nice! I enjoyed myself!

[Riley Smith]

Oh! DUH! Nothing about the sail back.

I hung out on the sand bar until the wind came up and naturally it was on the nose. But at least it was wind and we could play chicken with the shallows!!! Which I proceeded to do because of the curves of the river. The centerboard scraped once but it was no big deal although that particular bar is bigger than I thought. The boat will sail in water close to a foot deep, so it isn't a really big concern. Once I ALMOST made a zip between a deadhead and the shore but I came to my senses. But I'm sure it would have made it

I messed with the sail until I got it really pretty in the evening sun. It's easy to do with two people but that also increases the total load. Not bad when you've got some wind but not good in light air. SO, I tacked and tinkered down the river and thoroughly enjoyed the ride and the sound of the wake in some wind. Which was a little light but still very nice. I experimented with trim some and the wind was so steady that I heeled the boat way over to increase the water line length and hopefully go a little faster, point better, and feel gooder. It was fun because I won't do that in higher winds, because the winds themselves will do it. You know, the dance, the play of the wind and heading and the sail. Yeah, it was fun. I've been lacking some of that!