Cayo Costa Cruising

[TomD]

Hi everyone, This past weekend I took my family in our SJ21 named Blackjack to the west coast of Florida to meet up with a group called the West Coast Trailer Sailing Squadron. A great bunch of eclectic sailors who get together often. My family and I launched from Placida and traveled south about 10 miles to the park. From there we went to Cabbage Key for lunch before anchoring for the night in a cove with the others in the group.

This was my first big cruise with the family in our SJ21 and it wasn't without a few challenges. To start things off I broke a bolt holing my main block to the deck. This affected my main sheet and back stay adjuster. I ended up using the aft anchor cleats as tie of points and trimmed the jib when needed. We also has some troubles anchoring around the other boats. I had what I thought was a 15# danforth but turned out to be a slip ring fluke anchor which is difficult to set. The others in the group helped out so no damage was done.


We got in about 30 miles of sailing but the majority of our time was spent hanging out on the beach and letting the kids play. They enjoyed exploring the island tidal pools, swimming, roasting marsh mellows, and just doing what kids do.

I am very happy that my SJ21 is turning out to be a great Florida coastal cruiser. Its awesome to have a great sailing boat for club and fleet racing while still being able to load it up on the trailer and head for all of the great destinations Florida has to offer. Below is a little youtube video I put together from some camera video and pictures my wive took. Enjoy!

[patrick]

Thanks for posting your family's adventure. I'm a new SJ21 owner and am in the process of fixing up our boat so we can take our young family on similar adventures here in the Inland Northwest!

[Diarmuid]

Thanks for the report, Tom. Our boat came with one of those slip ring fluke anchors -- 9# and made by Danforth, IIRC -- and the thing would never set worth a darn. Most of the time, the flukes fouled on the giant galvanized slip ring. They have an evil reputation. So we sawed off the ring, put a shackle in the end hole, and use it as a lunch hook. Works much better now, tho still doesn't reset well if the winds reverses direction. We sleep more soundly on our 22# delta.