WCTSS Cayo Costa Meet Oct. 19-21

[Killjoy]

I got to attend the West Coast (of Florida) Trailer Sailing Squadrons annual Cayo Costa meet this past weekend. What a great group of folks. I was the only Com-pac there, but they welcomed me all the same.
I met my friend Bill at his house in Placida which is only a couple of bolcks from the launch ramp. As we approached the ramp, we met a couple other squadron members, one with a Potter 19 and the other in a O'day 25. Both are great boats, but they were just raising their masts as I arrived. I had the mast raised, boom attached, lines ready and launched before the O'day could finish raising her mast. I love my little boat.
The wind was right on the nose (almost due South) so we had to motor for 2 hours down the intercoastal to Cayo Costa. This is a great destination. Pelican Bay was a protected anchorage and the State Park docks were first class. There is tent camping and cabins available there if you'd prefer to sleep on land. The weather wasn't cooperating, so we all paid attention to the beach barbeque and talked and admired each other boats. As night fell, Bill and I decided to anchor out to avoid the bugs. I slept in the cockpit until 5:00 am when the rain started, then crawled into the cabin for the rest of the night. My boat kept my safe and dry all night.
The next day offered nothing but rain and little or no wind, so we toured the area by motor and sailed and/or motor sailed when we could. About 4:00 pm we decided we were tired of the rain and headed back north to Bill's house. We took a tour of the Boca Grande harbor along the way and admired the huge boats there. I found it very interesting to note that the only 2 boats on the water were mine and Bill's 18' catboat, all the big boys were tied up and ignored. We got to the ramp about 8:00 and I had the boat on the trailer and ready to roll to Bills house in about 10 minutes (not ready for the trip home, but ready enough for a mile trip). Got up the next morning and drove the 3 hours back home and put everything away and got the boat back in the garage (where she sleeps next to the minivan until the next trip).

The pleasant surprises for me on my first long cruise with my Com-pac 16 were:
1) my 5hp Nissan 4 stroke used about 2.5 gallons of gas to move me 20 miles up and down the ICW and let me motor around for hours while exploring.
2) The boat handled exactly as she should and I never felt out of control or in danger.
3) Rigging and unrigging get faster every time you do it.
4)My 31 year old boat let me have just as much fun as the guys with the new boats had.

I'm ready for the next trip already.