Last season was difficult for everyone.  The Pandemic really took it's toll, and we hope that you and your loved ones are recovering and getting back to normal life again (or as normal as possible).  Since our last post a lot has changed.  We moved our home and business from Texas to Bradenton, Florida, bought a beautiful 40.5' Hunter sailing yacht and muscled through this pandemic.  Since we couldn't have any customers out for quite a while we did a lot of maintenance and other projects on Always Dreaming, Too.  Without boring everyone with the details, let's just say we are ready again to have y'all out.  Cathryn and I have developed some really fun excursion options for you.  I must say that we have yet to go sailing without seeing dolphins (I hope I didn't just jinx us).  We are looking forward to sharing God's beauty with you.

We have been so busy this past month.  Thank you all for coming out on the Lake and enjoying sailing and some of Grapevines best sunsets.  A lot has happened with the lake, as I'm sure some of you know.  With all of the rains, the lake was up 16 feet above normal level.  This caused the city to completely shut down the boat ramps and parks.  Scott's Landing Marina, where we keep our boat in a slip, added at least 100 yards of floating walkway to allow access to the marina and Big Daddy's. The paved parking disappeared and we were left vying for limited space on the grass.  With all of that, Always Dreaming remained open.  Our sails now include viewing all the picnic table awnings under the water.  Kayaking takes on new meaning as we are able to kayak through the tree tops.  As I write this, I can see that the Corps of Engineers has let out some of the water, however according to the Texas Lake Level website, it is still 15.7 feet above full pool.  All that being said, it makes for lots of fun on the lake.  So come on out and Let's Go Sailing!

We had the privilege of taking  4 wonderful ladies out on the lake.  The temperature reached about 80 degrees, the wind was at about 11 knots.  It was an absolutely beautiful day.  Thank you Alia, Rez, Kay and Henna for coming out.  Hats off to Alia for trying out the hammock and for Kay for taking the Helms for a while.  We thoroughly enjoyed your company.  We hope to have you out again, maybe next time with your men. :)

Cathryn and I had a wonderful trip to Costa Rica the first week of April.  We road horses, zip lined, dipped in the natural hot springs and of course SAILED.  We visited 7 different beaches, each with their own beauty and different sand.  The sailing was our highlight.  We were customers aboard a 50 foot Beneteau.  We sailed to an unnamed beach and did some snorkeling, saw dolphins and rays jumping out of the water and enjoyed Mucho Margaritas.  What an amazing trip.  We came home and the next day jumped in our sailboat on Lake Grapevine.  It was here that we neglected to put on sunscreen and got burned like lobsters.  Lesson learned.  So now we are back and ready to share our beautiful lake with y'all.  Hope to see you out there.

The weather all week predicted a gloomy, wet Saturday, but we held out high hopes.  Then on Friday, the forecast changed and on the day of our trip it was perfect.  Temp 75 degrees, light wind, and most importantly, no rain.  Jessie and Darius met us at 4pm as planned, after touring the Cowboys Stadium as part of Darius' birthday gift.  Cathryn couldn't make it with us, as she was in southwest Florida having fun with her girlfriends on the beaches.  Fortunately my good friend Jerome was able to fill in and help as the First Mate.  The wind was light, but we were still able to sail around the lake at about 2.5 knots, just right for food and drinks and conversation in the cockpit.  Jessie and Darius made great company and shared their dreams of one day sailing around a lake of their own in North Carolina.  We hope you had a wonderful birthday, Darius. And thank you Jessie for reaching out to us.  And Jessie, just take one step toward your dream and before you know it, you'll be there.

We had our first sail today.  So good to be back on the water.  I read an article in BoatUs Magazine that talked about how even just a view of a body of water relaxes you and relieves stress.  That article was spot on.  Cathryn and I sailed from 2:30pm to about 6:30pm today and revived our passion for sailing and our desire to share it with everyone.  We sailed with only the mainsail today, just so we could reaclimate ourselves to the water, the wind and the boat.  We cruised at about 1.8 knots and enjoyed our favorite music and some homemade guacamole and chips.  The sunset was magical.  We'd love to share this with you too.  Book a sail with us and enjoy  the romance of sailing.