Josh's Texas 200 Blog

Sunday Morning Meeting at Port Mansfield

Here is a picture of this morning's informal gathering at the Port Mansfield Marina. Here, we confirmed the list for bus tickets back from Magnolia Beach and said a little bit about safety.

The Safety Chains Work!

I won't go into too many details, but after a "dipsey doodle" on an overpass just west of Corpus, we tested the safety chains on the trailer. They work. After consulting with my phone's GPS we were able to find an O'Reilly's in one of the more "scenic" parts of Corpus. (As an aside, the navigation app on my phone asks if you want to take the fastest, shortest, etc. route. It does not ask if you want the route least likely to subject you to gunfire. But I digress. . .)

Over the past year or so we have occasionally cussed and discussed whether the trailer hitch required a 1 7/8" or 2" ball. We bought a 2" ball at O'Reilly's to replace our 1 7/8". After groveling around on my back in the parking lot of O'Reillly's I can safely say two things: (1) the trailer must need a Moby Dick-like 1 15/16" ball, and (2) the trailer may never come off of Dad's car again.

No. Wait.

We left the camera. So, just outside the Sealy city limits we turned around to go retreive the camera. Let's see, only six or seven hours to Port Mansfield. I'm pretty sure we can pitch a tent in the dark, but I'm not so sure about launching the boat. I've got 80 or 90 waypoints to program into the GPS, so I may as well get started.

And We're Off. . .

Can Anyone Rig a Balanced Lug Sail?

. . .because we can't.

Here is our Michalak designed Deansbox just before its maiden voyage at Lake Somerville, Texas. Once we fiddled around with the sails some more, we spent about 45 minutes messing around on the water. Compared to our other boat (an LS-13), the Deansbox is definitely faster and dryer. I guess this means we are ready for the Texas 200. More later when I get to a real keyboard.

HiRes Test Post

Here is a HiRes (2 meg) from my phone.

HiRes Test Post

Here is a HiRes (2 meg) from my phone.

HiRes Test Post

Here is a HiRes (2 meg) from my phone.

Another test post

Here is another test post from my phone. This time without a picture.

Test Phone Pictue

Here is a test picture from my phone (and posted from my phone).