Trimarans Sails Out of Ft. Desoto

Got together with other trimaran sailors Ricky and Jeff and sailed out of Bunces Pass and Ft. Desoto for a few days. First night was anchored off Shell Key in the pass. The second night was anchored in a bayou near the Ft. Desoto camp grounds.

Enjoyed some good sailing out on the gulf off the shores of St. Pete Beach. Winds in the morning were about 5 to 15 mph out of the NE, then shifting to 15 to 20 out of the NW in the afternoon. With the afternoon winds, the gulf swells picked up to two to three feet. Made for some interesting surfing. The first day I ventured up the beach coast line to cruise the hotel beach front. There is no place that one can beach a boat except two hotel wave runner rental locations. And even then they don’t like you being there. Once a couple of years back with my previous boat, I did anchor out, packed my phone, money, and shirt in a dry bag and swam to a beach bar for a beer and sandwich. While at the bar, someone (tourist) asked me if that was my boat and then could they go for a ride. I replied with a question ‘can you swim?’. They looked at me like ‘what?’ and walked off. Probably thought I was a rude tour operator.

With the afternoon NW breeze and swells, was a nifty surfing ride back to the pass. However, with the tide going out, breeze going in, was a bit choppy and the shoaling at the pass entrance was a challenge. When the Astus gets in four foot water, bound to ground the rudder first. The rudder downhall pops off the racing cam cleat, rudder stretches out aft and presents a very heavy helm. With no chance to reset in skinny water, just have to deal with it and steer with the main sail and jib. Once in the pass the water is 15 to 20 ft. and can get to shore where the other guys are set up with tents on the beach. Nothing like hanging at the beach for sunset.

The next day we were joined by another trimaran sailor Lowell in a 21 ft Sea Pearl (cat ketch rigged) tri. Again, another great day to be out on the water, we headed to Egmont Key. Egmont Key sits and guards the entrance to Tampa Bay. There is a rich history of that island as a fortress and detention facility, however now it is a national park, wildlife refuge and a point of operations for the Tampa Bay pilots for large ships. On the way out, we had a fleeting rendezvous with a tall ship heading out to sea, under power. We circumnavigated the tiny island to eventually land on the NW corner to beach the boats for lunch and brief swim. Jeff snorkeled at the big rock formations, with we just dug toes into the sugar sand and ate lunch. Need to go back another time and walk the trails on the island to absorb a bit of history.

Sailing back to bunces pass was another adventure with a bit of catastrophe thrown in. The NW wind picked up to about 15 mph and the swells were now two to three feet. The course was port close hulled, fast and bouncy. The swells were causing a bit of leeway which called for a few tacks to starboard get a course past the big sand bar on the south side of the pass. The sea pearl tri had a problem from bouncing the swells whereby Lowell had to beach the boat on the sand bar. I made it back into the pass with some difficulty; outgoing tide and shoaling. Was able to get to the shoreline in the pass, drop my sails and then motor through skinny water to assist the sea pearl. The sea pearl was not able to sail, nor motor out of its location. We were able to get the sea pearl off the beach and float the boat down to my Astus tri in order to tow back into the inlet. That was a first for the Embouchure Astus tri, powered by 6 hp Tohatsu Sail Pro 4-stroke, to tow another boat about 3 miles into the pass in following seas, back to the boat ramp dock. All better with the sea pearl back on the trailer and targeted for the trip back home and repairs.

That night, did rendezvous with the other two WR17s, and camped out at anchor in a quiet Ft. Desoto bayou. Even with the wind shifting to the ENE, the bayou was smooth. An afterthought, probably could have rafted the two WR17s to the Astus at anchor. Have previously rafted for overnight anchor with a Astus 16 because that boat had no anchor. I normally carry two anchors; primary is Fortress FX-11 spec’d for up to 32 ft boats and an 8 pound folding grapnel. Both have an 8 ft. chains plus long 3/8 in nylon tri-twist rope rode. We’ll work on that rafting technique for future camp sail trip.