For those who want to know:

Will be sailing in Lake Pontchartrain, this Friday in a 26 O'Day sailboat..
Will arrive in N'Awlns 01:00 Friday..
Will be there until Sunday 07/13 12:00..

Phone#, you can reach me at:
(504)821-5377

Well, you better stop by the house, either going or coming...

SOOO KOOOL!! Have fun!!

I have a better chance of arriving on Sunday 15:30/03:30PM.
I will do my best!!!

I would like to take both of you sailing, with a bottle of 151 Rum and 4 shot glasses..

You have no chioce either you work together are somebody get's keel-hauled and I am to big for both of you to try to make it me!!

It would be fun, if you tried. I have not done a water torture trick I have learned. Something about it is illegal in the Geneva Convention; treatment of Prisoners of War:

Article 3.1 (a):
Violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture.

That takes the fun out of Life!!

All Joking aside, any time I am in N'Awlns. You / anyone, are cordially invited to go sailing.

Except Blake and Family:
Your family is too important to me, wait till I have become a little more seasoned with this craft.. Expect an invitation around April of next year(That is in Stone).. The rest of this �Our Gang Comedy Hour�, I can practice on.. Bo)

I love sailing!! But after sailing the waters around the Gulf Islands and the San Juans, sailing in a lake would be , well, different!! Sure!! Tony and I are on!! Right Ton??? :o)

Hey, Gary....I've handled my share of jibs & tillers....however, my largest sailboat was a 30' Hunter....we're on for a run to the San Juan's...there's a pretty good dockside bar/pizzeria over there as I recall

There sure are!! KOOOOL!! Lets do it!

Man, Gary, you brought back memories....I learned to sail in an 18' open centerboard dinghy on American Lake when I was at Fort Lewis outside Seattle...we used to go over to Gig Harbor & sail the sound around there

&, Steven, back when we were kids we always tried to waterski across Lake Pon....remember the helldiver swimming pool/diving board out on the lakefront park there?

I have never been that far south in a boat but I know where Gig Harbour and Fort Lewis!! The San Juans are beautiful!!

What about the Clams in the Lake!!!
As big as the palm of my Adult hand!!!

Are we eating things from out of the lake again?

You have not Heard!!!
Lake is Clean!!!
Cleaner then Galveston Bay / Clear Lake, in Texas!!

Lake Pontchartrain, has been a cleanup project for 5 Years that I know of..
I hope someone from N'Awlns will jump on and Verify it..

Gerry? Blake?

<http://www.saveourlake.org/waterquality/waterquality.html>

No swimming for Me!!!

No eating fish or shellfish for me either!

They are working on it, I was wandering why the clams where getting so big and Fat!!
All that crap they been eating..

I can vouch that the waters of Clear Lake are far from clear!

The 26' Oday is a great little boat.

Tony, when did you take this Hunter out? If it was older I'm surprised it made it that far! Good weather I presume?

Steve F. this is how I harvested Oyster at red fish Island, in Galveston Bay, in the month of Nov/Dec:
I started off with a virgin bottle of �Bacardi 151 / Jamaican Overproof� Rum.
I put on a long sleeve shirt and long blue jeans, to stay as warm as I can.
I put the rum in a net bag and tie it to my blue jeans waist band / belt strap..
I take a big swig from the bottle and put it back in the net bag.
Jump over in the cold bay water and harvest the oysters.
I put the Oysters in the boat and drink the rum, until it is all gone.
After that I take the boat in and shuck the oysters(Aprox:4 Gallons of shucked oysters)

Never caught a cold, never caught a sniffle, have not done that since I was in my middle 30�s

Ya know, I think I may have seen you years ago!

Is Red Fish even still around??? I remember one day I was in a 30' Catalina and got caught in a summer squal. Turned into the wind ok, but we ran aground on the oyster beds just west of the island. Ended up radioing my neighbor who brough his runabout out to rescue us. Rather than drag the boat off, we used the main halyard to tilt the boat over (fixed keel is a bitch to raise).

Wow, what memories this is bringing up! Haven't been on a sailboat in years!

If you remember Redfish Island and you remember seeing 2 to 6 Sailboats.
If you dock for the night on any Fri/Sat/Sun Night.

You have seen me!!

I was Mayor of Redfish Island on weekends..

I lost my status in 1977 and gave up my position then as Mayor.
Last seen Redfish island in 1982..

Nope, probably didn't see you then. I was out there from 88-96. Red Fish island was just a little sliver of dirty by then, but there was about 15-20 sailboats on any given Fri/Sat/Sun firing up the hibachis and mixing drinks. They were all tied up on the side away from the channel, protected from the wakes of the big boats.

I heard stories it used to have a "House of Ill Repute" on it back in the 40's?

I will have to look into that!!

So You know about "Marabells" SeaBrook Side..

By the sound of it I will be going back to Redfish Island:
<http://twri.tamu.edu/watertalk/archive/2000-Feb/Feb-23.1.html>

4,250 acres of land creation consisting of marsh restoration,
construction of a six-acre bird island, construction of an offshore berm to
reduce storm damage and provide additional fishery habitat, and
construction of access channels and anchorages for recreational boaters in
mid- and lower Galveston Bay. - That is bigger then when I was a youngen..

Maybe I will run for "Mayor of Redfish Island", or until one is appointed..

My kids knew I was Mayor(Seen Pics), but they have never laid eye on the island..

<http://redfishisland.com/audio/redfishisland/edited/Redfish%20Island.mp3>

<http://redfishisland.com/audio/redfishisland/edited/Where%20did%20redfish%20Go.mp3>

Steve F; The Hunter was my lake boat here on Guntersville Lake in Alabama until we sold it a year or so ago....don't remember what we used in Washington - usually rented a big one for the sound, the little 16 footer for American lake

now that's a great song! and a great write up. It'll be good to see it return, but I won't hold my breath. It was a great hangout. Nothing like steaks or sausages grilling up on a Saturday evening.

Man, you guys are making me sick. I'd love to sneak down to NO but I have to work this weekend with a grad student trying to complete his grad project. Steven, clams as big as YOUR hand? That would be the size of a 15" hubcap! Regardless of what people with Save Our Lake say, I don't to eat anything from Lake P! I bet there is still a layer of sewer mud and heavy metals lying on the bottm to this day.

Fresh water clams?? Yup!! heard of them!!

Steven will eat anything!! :o)