Saturday 7/9 Sargent – Matagorda
After an awesome breakfast buffet, the crew loaded up the boat. We sailed away from Sargent at 11:30am and headed to matagorda using the motor and main sail. The wind was out of the south west so it was almost head-on, but we managed to stay close-hauled with out the sail luffing much. We kept the speed over 6mph and pulled into matagorda harbor at about 3pm.

The crew rode bikes around town for a while and we ended up back at the marina. There was gonna barbecue at 6 for the matagorda mermaid offshore fishing tournament. We talked to folks in charge of the tournament to see if they wanted a band. They did! We got the gear from the boat and set up.  We had a great crowd and made great tips including a whole brisket and a bunch of beer. We loaded the gear onto the bikes and headed to Matagordaville. They were stoked we were gonna play and it was a Badass show. The crew is sounding better each day.  What an awesome place – my kind of people. We sold some cd’s, Ryan broke (and fixed) his guitar, they loved Blake’s banjo pickin, we made good tips, and the crowd was great. Bart ,the owner of Matagordaville, gave us a ride back to the boat and invited us to come back any time.

Sunday 7/10 Matagorda
Boom-boom had invited us to go to “church” and he was knocking on the boat at 9am. Ryan wouldn’t wake up, but Blake and I went. Church consisted of surfing, drinking beer on the beach, and hanging out with cool locals until noon. The waves were about waist high and clean with very steep faces – fun!

After returning to the boat, Blake and I crashed out, Ryan woke up, and the rest of the day was spent relaxing. We caught a few trout when the sun went down. The whole crew passed out early. Long day tomorrow…

Friday, 7/8 Sargent
Woke up around 9 and got breakfast and coffee at pier 57. Delicious! Went for a bike ride with the crew down the beach. Sargent has a very unique beach with clay cliffs that go into the surf… In-between the clay peninsulas, there are little sandy bays that hold tons of seashells.

The crew went back to the boat to rest and do some boat maintenance. After a seafood buffet, we grabbed the guitars and tuned up. We started the show early because it seemed appropriate. Word had spread in Sargent about what we were doing and folks were starting to show up.  We had a good show and by the end of the night we had a real nice (and rowdy) crowd.  We made some $$$ in the tip jar too! After we loaded out I went to sleep.  Ryan and Blake attempted to ride bikes to another bar that was open, but ended up turning around and going back to the boat.  

We had an offer to play at another bar in Sargent on Saturday night, but after talking it over with the crew, we decided that we should head south to Matagorda to stay on schedule.

Thank you:
Pier 57 and staff for the amazing southern hospitality
Bob for the drill
Shan for the guitar strings
Avery for the showers
Carson for the fishing lures
Ponytail and mike for elevation
Sargent for good people and great times.

Saturday 7/2 Seabrook-Galveston
Wind variable 0-5mph
Left Cabo at 5:45am
Ryan and Blake were fast asleep so Craig and I took the first shift. We motored to houston ship channel and took short cut south of redfish island. Took just over 2hrs to get to there – avg speed about 5.2mph. Headed south for about an hour then got real tired. Craig already passed out on deck. Woke up Ryan and Blake. Shift change. Got some rest in v berth. Ryan drove. 3 hrs later got back on deck. Almost to Galveston. Docked at Galveston yacht basin – about noon.

Hopped on bikes and went barhopping on the seawall. Somehow only spent $2 after a crazy day of drinking. Ryan kept falling off his bike and had to go back to the boat for recuperation. Me and the rest of the crew kept drinking and met up with some friends who came back to the boat and partied with us.

Sunday 7/3 Galveston
Woke up on the boat and rode bikes with the crew to la Estacion. Eric brought the band trailer to the boat and we rode bikes down the seawall and went to capital q for beers. Dru was DJ’n and there was a beach cruiser competition. I left early to get some food and rest back at the boat. Ryan woke me up and we headed to loading dock to set up the PA. Mama tried played a great set and shark attack did too. Got back to the boat late and passed out.

Monday 7/4 Galveston
Motored to a slip provided by abe from captain jacks. It took about 15 minutes and is right behind joes crab shack on harborside. 

Rode bikes with gear trailer to captain jacks and played a crew show. Had fun got drunk and made some money.   Got ice, beer, food, and supplies for the trip to Freeport and passed out on the boat at about 2am.

Tuesday, 7/5 Galveston – Freeport
Left dock at 7am and motored to fuel dock at yacht basin. Got fuel and supplies. Left at 8am and motored out the jetties in no wind and calm conditions. Motor sailed with main and genoa – avg speed 5mph.  Breeze started filling in at about 2 pm (Ryan drove for a couple hours at 1pm while I got some sleep in the hot cabin).  Killed the motor at about 3pm. Speed ranged from 4-7.4mph with main and genoa on a close reach on port tack heading close to 240deg. Blake caught a mackerel but lost it at the boat, and we saw a huge sea turtle, jumping sharks, and lots of dolphins. It got kinda rough at about 5pm but we were constantly over 6mph so I kept full sails and reached Freeport jetties at 7:30pm. Sailed wing and wing in the channel til we turned left into old brazos. Sailed through the narrow snake-like channel for about an hour and arrived at Freeport municipal marina at about 9pm.

Nice slip in a boring town. We went to a bar across the street on bikes for a beer, then rode a few miles to valero for food, beer, and cigarettes. Rode back to the boat, watched a movie, then passed out.

Wednesday, 7/6 Freeport – surfside
Everyone slept well and we woke up and payed the harbormaster who also got us set up with a marina in surfside. We motored to surfside (about 30 minutes) and tied up. The bar (castaway) was pretty close so we rode bikes to it for an early beer then cruised bikes around surfside. It’s hard to get boat supplies in surfside – the west marine is closed, so all the options are: valero, marina ship store, liquor store, and the surf shops. We rode the music gear to castaway at 7:30pm and started playing at 9pm during a poker tournament. We all made some money and drank beers and ate burgers. After the show we rode back to the boat and passed out. 

Thursday, 7/7 surfside – Sargent
We all woke up later than planned – 9:30am instead of 7:00am. Got ice and fuel at the marina and left the dock at 11:30am. The wind was coming almost straight up the icw so we kept the motor on the whole time, and only raised the mainsail for about an hour. We kept the boat speed over 5mph and made it to sargent in about 4.5 hrs. At brazos river there is a floodgate… We had to call in on channel 13 for them to open it. We did circles while we waited for clearance and had a quick soft grounding near the east floodgate.  When we reached Sargent we had to call in to the swing bridge and wait for them to open it. We passed through and pulled up to pier 57 on the left… And ran aground 2ft from the dock. We had to pull nose in to the dock to keep the keel from touching bottom. It still touched though, but not bad, during low tide.

We were greeted with cold beers and a Mexican food buffet at pier 57. Hospitality was great.  We arranged to play at 8pm in exchange for a place to dock with electricity and water,and all we can drink and eat. There was a small crowd – maybe 10 – 20 people, and they were cool folks that really enjoyed the show. We sold a few cd’s and met some new friends.  By the end of the night we were pretty good and drunk and hung out by/on the boat with friends. Passed out hard.

We got invited to play again the next day for the same deal and since we don’t have any more shows confirmed till Tuesday in port oconnor, we decided to do it. We’ll try to score a gig in madagorda on Saturday.