Gear

I took this photo in Mount Pleasant Bay which is in the southwest corner of the much larger Wysocking Bay south of Engelhard.  I had just spent a few hours pounding in to a steep chop in the late Spring of 2008.   Spartina, my Pathfinder yawl, is typically a very dry boat.  But pounding in to waves with 20+ mph wind out of the southwest (according to local weather radio) meant a lot of spray in the air.  I was soaked and so was my gear.  I spent the evening drying things out.  You can see the inflatable vest with a built in harness (safety strobe attached) hanging on the boom.  Also on the boom up towards the mast are my foul weather pants.  On the bunk flat there are some tubs with cook kit and lights, books, notebooks, plus my coleman stove wrapped in the white tarp.   The floatation cushion is next to that my tether that keeps me attached to the boat.

Things look messy here, but that is only because I was drying out.  The Pathfinder yawl has a ton of space for tucking away gear and food.  In fact when Bruce and I did our six day trip - two guys with food and water for nine day, cameras, and fishing gear - we still had storage room to spare.  Pretty nice for a boat that size.

As I look ahead to the next trip I'm thinking about equipment I might need to purchase.  I've done four trips on Spartina and find that I am pretty well equipped.  The checklist I use when I load Spartina is based on the Everglades Challenge list of required equipment.  Those people have a lot of experience and know what is needed for survival.  

For now all that I can think of to get before the next trip would be a new anchor rode (Bruce tells me he has learned some splicing and can help out with this), another pair of pants with the zip off legs, maybe another dry bag (this would be for cameras).  With two of us on the boat I'll need to get another floatation cushion - they are comfortable to sit on when sailing for 6 or more hours.  I'm also interested in ordering a few Corky fishing lures from Texas, I think they might work with all the puppy drum I see rolling on the surface and tailing in the shallow waters near the marshes.  I'm sure I'll think of a few other items.  But as I said earlier, money is tight.  So I'm glad to have what I need already tucked away in the closet.