We Endeavor to Persevere Hurricane Season 2022

Hello Sportsfans, Long time no see! We are still milling about smartly in Northeastern Florida staying dry (for the most part) and dodging deadly storms in the slick manner to which we aspire. Hurricane Ian definitely was destructive, it was supposed to directly approach us and as the storm interacted with Fort Myers it seemed that the storm began a bias towards the right, Easterly, as it traversed the Florida Peninsula. It is an ugly aftermath down there and we won't know exactly all the loss and damage for a few weeks. This is the view from Tuesday afternoon, the green dot is projected center of storm, we live a few miles North by the Hwy 17 sign.

We dodged a big one. Our location is about 35 miles West from St Augustine and we seem to be in a sweet spot concerning hurricane approaches. We are not immune but we will have a bit of notice before anything blows us down. Here are some images from Thursday while the storm was passing to the South, near Daytona. Our dock and bulkhead are fairly high above the normal water levels so we avoided flooding. Our two sections of swamp worked beautifly absorbing the rising waters. (Our neighbor's dock was destroyed) Our banana plants along the boatramp did not fare so well in the winds. Overall, we were extremely lucky and feel extremely humble. On a separate note; I still visit a few of the old blogs out there, Hello Larry, I do visit the Mirage! Virgil Xenophon, hope you are well, too. Until later, we remain boat-less and free in Palatka, FLA. Barco Actual... Out.

Still endeavoring to persevere, Palatka style!

This llily bloom was given to us several years ago, it keeps returning around Easter every year. Annuals, right? The Crew of former Barco Sin Vela II are still continuing our littoral mission here at Barco Landing, home of the Wildebeest. It's been a crazy couple of years, thanks to the inept machinations of petty, tyrannic politicians who rule our nation with fear and treachery. Three of our parents passed in the previous twelve months, a couple of treasured siamese family members, too. Some fine friends from our past have also departed suddenly leaving a heartbreaking void in our lives. But we endure as we always do, with an abundance of gratitude for the good stuff we have and do. We seem to have dodged the woo-floo, too! I have no explanation why, because we had parties and family gatherings like we always have without anyone coming down with the pandemic ague. I guess there is a price to pay for living a good life, but live we shall. These two gents left us way too soon, last year.

As for boating; We enjoyed our sailboat, "Wildebeest" the past couple o' years... Thanks to our friend John S. for gifting us the Newport 30 sailboat. After renewing the paint and new sails we decided to donate the boat to a local State College. May the Wildebeest guide her new owner to the same fun and adventure that we safely enjoyed!

Currently, we remain boat-less and we hope to find a good replacement in the near future. Perhaps we should crowd-fund a big ketch so we can bring our new and old friends out to sea??? How about this moderately priced 72 footer, only $480K!

T oday, it seems I am the Commode-Door of the local Yacht Club. Seems I was volun-told to run this joint... Always something. right? It's been a year and a half and I still don't seem to know what I am doing! Keeps me out on the water with like minded folks. Come see us on the 21st at Crystal Cove Marina Bar, I'll buy the first round. We had our big Mug Race event yesterday, about seven of our boats raced up and down the St Johns River from Palatka to Green Cove Springs. The winds were from the West and quite blustery. We almost got through most of the day without any drama until we spotted an eigty year old skipper, hanging on the stern of a turtled sailboat. We quickly rescued him but our efforts to save his boat came to a sunken end, capping off two hours of high effort to tow the boat to safety. Glad we all still have our digits, limbs and in one case; Life.

That wraps up my short report on the latest Barco Sin Vela Crews Nooz. Hope you all find happiness and health and keep the good times a-coming!