Day 1 -- Ella Rides On

Ahoy folks.

Pardon the catchy sailing cliche, but it's been a while since I've had human contact outside of the 4 other people on this boat. I'll give you a play by play on the days as they've gone, so without further hesitation....

Day 1

Seeing that we had all made it to the boat in the estimated/intended time, I thought it quite odd after the fact that we didn't get into the Gulf until well into early Saturday morning. But let me back up. We packed the boat for about an hour and a half, and kept peaking over our shoulders at the impending storm that was forming just past Tampa Bay. My brother phoned and said this particular storm had serious teeth, and we might consider waiting to push off for a bit. I was in the minority with that particular idea, so the Captain -- Chris McQuade -- called it and we pushed off into a dark and stormy Tampa Bay, with lightning hammering itself down all around us. The winds began to rip and it made every mast sound like a screaming banshee. It closely resembled what I think choirs in hell might sound like. Regardless our captain opted for a hasty departure, directly toward the fierce lightning, howling wind and abundant rain. Poor Ella -- the boat -- could not muster the strength to exit the harbor, however, because her motor did not have the power to battle the ripping current coming into the harbor.

We were forced to bring her back to safety and we waited out the storm. A half hour passed and we drank beer and reciting Walt Whitman to solidify our appreciation for the journey at hand and the elements we were likely to face. We eventually pushed off into a dead wind, so we had to motor it until we could catch something in the sails. The hours flew by as did the bottles of Roset, which Chris Prewitt bought a case of and have become quite the fancy of the crew. We went under an unlit SkyWay bridge and tried to find the channel out into the Gulf, and by that time it was well into the early morning, so I opted for sleep while the remaining crew fought the dead wind.