Weeks of planning went into preparing for the mini excursion, but at the last moment an important detail nearly left the boat remaining at the dock.

The weekend excursion was one I had been waiting for a long time. My wife and I were finally escaping the hustle and bustle of our professional lives for a few days on our new-to-us Pearson 323, Nepenthe. We'd purchased the boat several months earlier and taken friends and family out for daysails many times. It was a well-equipped boat and had quickly become my new obsession. The plan was to escape on Nepenthe for the first time alone, just the two of us. Weeks had gone into the planning and provisioning of our mini vacation, but as fate would have it just days prior to our departure, Murphy started to conspire against us. First there were work issues, deadlines to meet, patients for my wife that had to be seen, and then our dog Lady got sick. It was starting to look bleak for our weekend away from the marina.

We started to work through our obstacles trying to salvage the getaway plans. I worked overtime to make the new deadlines for work and my wife rearranged some patient visits with her coworkers, but our family dog, Lady seemed determined to mess up our plans. Lady is a 12-year-old cocker spaniel that is as much a member of our family as I am and there was no way Sherri was going to leave her in anyone's hands other than hers if Lady was under the weather. I'd been reluctant to take her sailing due to the fact that she is more or less blind from cataracts. Although Lady manages quite well at home, in an unfamiliar place she gets disoriented and confused easily. I could just see her taking a plunge off the side of the boat at an inconvenient moment while underway. We talked it over and in the end decided we would take her along on the trip. She seemed happy with this and perked up when we started packing her food, leash and Scooby snacks.

Friday came and we loaded everything onboard. Sherri brought Lady down to the boat and I welcomed her aboard with a scratch behind the ear and a pat on the head. She lay happily in the cockpit while I readied Nepenthe to get underway, as if she had been on board many times before. Around 4:00 p.m. we cast off from our homeport of Bahia Beach, south of Tampa and were officially underway to Gulfport in Boca Siega Bay. We'd planned Gulfport as our initial destination as it is only a few hours sail away. The winds were in the 10-to-12-knot range and Nepenthe felt as if she were stretching her legs after being tied to the dock too long. We had the radio playing Buffet, wind in our sails, sun on our face, and in short, everything was right with the world. Sherri went forward to the bow and stretched out to relax while Lady and I plotted our course for Gulfport noting the other sailboats in the area and our performance against theirs. Lady seemed to be enjoying herself and with every mile we made toward our destination actually looked as if she was feeling better. In a moment of brief panic on my part, I watched Lady get up and stretch on the cockpit seat then turn and gingerly meander out of the cockpit up to the bow with my wife. I envisioned her falling overboard and practicing my dog overboard drill that I had played out in my mind many times. But to my utter surprise she simply walked right up to the bow as if she had done it many times before. I told her one paw for the boat, and three paws for her at all times, no exceptions. She was clearly comfortable moving a bought the boat while underway.

Placid waters, a steady breeze, and good tunes--essentials on any nautical weekend escape. The Pearson 323 Nepenthe stretches its legs on the way toward Gulfport, FL.

As we entered Boca Siega Bay and pointed the bow to Gulfport, Sherri and I started to make the boat ready to pull into the public slips available there. The wind was on our stern and risked driving the bow into the dock, so we readied mooring lines and boathooks to ensure we could quickly rig a spring line and make a graceful docking. The plan was to take a slip for a few hours, take Lady for a walk, grab some dinner at one of the waterside café's and then move the boat out to the anchorage for the evening. We rolled in the sails and I fired off the diesel and lined up for our approach. I had Lady back in the cockpit with me and Sherri was on the bow. I told Lady that her job was to be lookout--so my lookout is blind, big deal. She needed a job to be part of the crew. She stood proudly on the port side of the cockpit and pretended she could see the pier. We gracefully eased into the slip and tied up with no problems. Feeling pretty snug about our sail, we readied to go ashore.

I pulled the boat to the pier, picked Lady up with her leash attached and sat her down on the pier. My wife handed me a small bag we were taking with us on our walk and as I turned to get it from her I heard the unmistakable sound of a 30-pound dog hitting the water. Lady had simply walked right off the other side of the finger pier and into the water! I jumped into action, leapt up onto the dock, and skimmed down the well-placed ladder that led to the water on the other side, still holding Lady by the leash as she slowly paddled around in circles. I went down the ladder and scooped her up. Climbing back up the rung ladder with a 30-pound wet dog was interesting to say the least, but once we were back on the dock, I inspected Lady for signs of damage. She simply shook off the water and stood there wagging her tail and smiling at us as if to say "That was fun, let's do it again." Then I noticed the blood. A closer inspection revealed the source to be me, and not her. I had scraped my stomach and leg on the barnacles attached to the bottom two rungs on the ladde for some minor battle wounds. Lady and I dried off, regrouped, and headed for shore. Walking up the dock I reached for my cell phone which was usually on my hip to phone our family and let them know we had made it to Gulfport. Then I realized my cell had also gone swimming with Lady and me and that it had more serious injuries than scrapes. Oh well, Lady was fine, my scrapes would heal, and I could get a new phone after our trip.

If you think sailing has some confusing moments, put yourself in the mind of an aging, cataract ridden cockerspaniel.

On land, we ate, Lady got patted on the head a few dozen times by people we met while strolling around and in short, we had a great time. On our way back to the boat we ran into a coworker and his date that were in Gulfport for the evening. We told them of our adventures and they came down to Nepenthe to enjoy a bottle of wine before we left to anchor for the night. The reboarding exercise was handled much better than the earlier dog offloading procedure. There was live music on shore to compliment the wine in the cockpit with good friends, but soon we had to cast off to go anchor for the night. The public dock and slips close at night and everyone has to be off the docks by 23:00. As we made the boat ready, Sherri took Lady up to shore to visit the little doggie room one more time before bedtime and I got the diesel started and singled up all the lines with the help of our friends. When Sherri returned with Lady she handed her over to me. I plopped her down on deck with her leash still attached. Sherri climbed aboard and I handed her Lady's leash and went to work on the aft mooring lines. Tom, my friend from work, tossed off the bowlines when suddenly, Sherri fell over backwards on the cabin top and Lady let a strange yelping sound out. I turned around and initially could not figure out what I was seeing. Sherri was on deck in a half sitting position with her arm pulled behind her. Lady was not topsides where she was to be performing her lookout duties. Then I glanced below into the cabin and saw Lady dangling by the neck a foot or so off the table, swinging back and forth with a very frustrated look on her face. I yelled for Sherri to let the leash go, but it was wrapped around her wrist and she struggled to free it while getting her balance back. I dropped below as Sherri released the leash and Lady plopped down on the table, much happier with her paws on something other than air. It seems Lady mistook the screens in the open deck hatch for solid footing and simply walked into the hatch. Did I tell you she was graceful? Lady was fine and Sherri was fine. Our friends got a big laugh out of our comedy show and we moved out and anchored for the night.

Despite the adventures and misadventures, Lady's morale apparently remained intact.

Lady survived the ordeal and seemed to have a good time for the rest of the weekend. She recovered from her illness, near drowning experiences, hangings, and other mishaps with no ill effects. Actually when we start to pack up our boat bag now she gets her leash and brings it over to us. I guess it is safe to say she is now part of the crew. Plus, she looks cool wearing the pirate patch over her eyes.

Nepenthe
1980 Pearson 323
Bahia Beach Florida