Cruising And Living Aboard The Sailing Vessel Saorsa

August 26, 2002 - Our yacht is leaving Lake Lanier, Georgia, and being transported to Browns Marine, in Pensacola, Florida, our starting point, by a huge eighteen-wheeler semi. It is about 5 and a half hours getting it to Pensacola, or six including meals. We will get the boat refitted there and then move it to another marina for shove off. In Pensacola, we're at the boat a lot, but we have some time to see the sights. September 13, 2002 Here our boat is being refitted in Pensacola, Florida, at Browns Marine. We are getting the bottom painted as well as some engine work done and an electric anchor (windlass). We spend several days here, my dad working from his laptop and me doing my homeschool stuff. - Robert Rountree

Saorsa Launched! October 8, 2002 - Saorsa is finally launched at Browns Marine in Pensacola, Florida. Now time for the final preparations - replacing fuel lines, furler line, steering cable etc, etc. But, re-building toilets on the boat beats conference calls with the client any day. - Bill Rountree

October 22, 2002 - Today we are relaxing ( well, my dad is at least,) at Pensacola Beach, while we are waiting for the parts for the steering cable to come in. It was a great time to come to the beach - we saw at least fifty stingrays surfing in with the waves to feed on the minnows near the shore. It was a lot of fun. - Robert Rountree

October 25, 2002 - We are on our fist cruise around Pensacola Bay. We motored for about 2/3 of the way, but sailed for about an hour or so. We averaged around four knots with winds peaking at around 10 mph. As you can see from the picture at the right, we only have our foward sail up (called the jib). This slows us down alot. It wasn't perfect weather, but it was still really cool. All we had to do was turn on the autopilot and relax. We saw at least three Navy fighters roaring overhead (F/A-18E 'Super" Hornets), one of them which had its landing gear down. All of this is beacause Pensacola is where the U.S. Navy pilots train. We also saw some dolphins jumping in the distance, and a couple of barges and fishing boats. It was great! - Robert Rountree

We finally shove off! Pensacola-Destin: 10-31-0254.5 nm logged in 11:30 hours. 10/31/02- 3-5 ft. seas, winds 15-20 knots NNE and gusting. Bay waters choppy-rough. Temp in the 60's. Close reach to close haul the whole way. SOG (speed over ground) 4-7 knots, average a little over five. Caught zero fish with one line in the water towards the end. The main sail did not come up, and only a reefed jib was out most of the time. Only for the last hour or so when the wind died down did the jib come all the way out. Autopilot was on occasionally, but it remained off most of the time because of somewhat rough seas. In spite of the somewhat rough conditions it was a great ride. In the picture above and to the right, we get a visit from a tired bird. It's an extremely brave little thing--- it sat right on my dad's foot, even as we went crashing through the waves. Sometimes the bow went all the way down almost to the water, and then back up. We each took turns going up to the bow. It was like some sort of thrill ride. We got to fully test our safety equipment. We think that when we make the sail from Destin to Panama City we'll practice man-overboards if it's calm with life vests as the victim. Nobody got seasick except the cat, who was downstairs throwing up. We passed downtown Pensacola, Gulf Breeze, Navarre, and Fort Walton. It was really great. I can't wait until next time! - Robert Rountree

November 2, 2002- 12:00- Tracy (my Dads Friend) calls my dad- he says,"Where are you? We're coming to see you! We'll call for directions when we're on the road in about in hour." So then we had work to do. We had just arrived in Destin the night before and spent the night out on the hook in the harbor. So, we had to find a marina to put our boat in. After about an hour or so of calling around we found a nice little place called Bannana Barts. One of the nice things about it was that we're practically the only boat there.Theres only one other boat in the marina! The marina is actually part of one of those little beach shops. Jane, (left) Tracy's wife, got the hat she's wearing there! Some other good things about it are it's cheap, ($35 a night for transients), and you have a great view. The next day we went sailing in the ocean (the mast is too tall for the bay or the Gulf Intercoastal Waterway), and had a great time. The weather was perfect, and the conditions weren't too windy, so we could take out the main sail and the jib (right). We came into the harbor just as the sun was setting. It was nice. That night we had a relaxing dinner at my dad's favorite place (AJ's), and walked the docks afterwards. The next morning, after a very filling breakfast at the Donut Hole, we went by Tracy's big truck to Browns Marine in Pensacola to pick up our car. Then they went back home, while my dad and I went back to Destin and the boat. We had lots of fun, and I can't until we have another batch of visitors!11/14/02- 4-7 ft. seas, winds 15-20 knots E. Baywaters rough. Temperature in the 60's. SOG was around five knots. Never attempted fishing. We tried to put up the sails at one point, but we couldn't stay on course because of the headwind, so sailing would not get us there on time. Instead, we had to motor straight into the headwind, crashing into the big waves. Seas were slightly choppy beacause of the wind. The autopilot could handle the seas, so once this was discovered, it was used often. We all got a little sea sick at some point, but only Amos threw up. The cat never throws up on my stuff, just my dad's. Maybe he's trying to tell him something. ( He already tried jumping ship.) Our arrival was immediately followed up by fireworks and live music coming from the city. We found a good anchorage right off the Gulf Intercoastal Waterway. The next morning we got up, reseved a transient slip at Panama City Marina, and headed there. This picture to the right is our slip there. We had a good ride there, and look foward with anticipation to our next long stretch offshore, in which we go around Port St. Joe, Apalachicola, and all the way to the Suwanee River and the west coast of Florida. - Robert Rountree

Panama City-Suwanee river: 11/18/02-11/19/02 Monday, 11/18/02, 09:23: 2-4 ft. seas right now, 18.0 nm logged so far. Winds 10-15 knots NE. So far we've averaged about 6 knots on a beam reach. The winds just picked up, so we're going 7.2 right now. We haven't put in the fishing lines yet. Pananma City-Suwanee River: 11/18/02-11/19/02. 171.4 nm logged in 34:30 hours. Seas were 2-4 feet Monday, and 4-6 feet as we went offshore late Monday night and Tuesday. Lost sight of land at 16:30 on Monday and did not see it again until 14:30 on Tuesday. I went to sleep about 22:30 and ten minutes later Dad saw white flares at about 1 o'clock and 5 minutes later saw more white flares at 11 o'clock. He began to get nervous because he had heard that submarines fire flares in that manner when they are surfacing - later we confirmed that was true. We motored all night due to bad wind direction and arrived at the mouth of the Suwanee at 16:00 on Tuesday. Went in the next day at high tide and docked at a marina. The Suwanee river is beautiful, there is no development allowed on the river and it is pristine with mangrove forests lining the river and lots of wildlife - ospreys, otters, alligators etc. It's really neat. - Robert Rountree