Ya'll missed a great free show this morning.

About a dozen sailboats, all 35-40 footers, started a race from near Palafox Pier this morning. I guess you call it a regatta. The race course is from here to somewhere on the Yucatan coast, over 500 miles.
As they jockeyed to the starting line and then the starting gun went off, It was a beautiful sight to see the bay with all those sails heading for the pass.
They were all leaning into the wind like it would look like in an oil painting.
Some of the best entertainment in life is free.

Bob wrote:About a dozen sailboats,  all 35-40 footers,  started a race from near Palafox Pier this morning.  I guess you call it a regatta.  The race course is from here to somewhere on the Yucatan coast,  over 500 miles.
As they jockeyed to the starting line and then the starting gun went off,  It was a beautiful sight to see the bay with all those sails heading for the pass.  
They were all leaning into the wind like it would look like in an oil painting.
Some of the best entertainment in life is free.

Of course a picture is too much to ask ?

Bob....post a picture.

Sorry, I fell down on the job. Sometimes I get so wrapped up in stuff that I don't think about taking a pic. But the PNJ may have been there for a picture.

Bob wrote:Sorry,  I fell down on the job.  Sometimes I get so wrapped up in stuff that I don't think about taking a pic.   But the PNJ may have been there for a picture.

Dammit, Bob.

The same thing happened to me at the last two concerts I saw (Zombies and then Wayne Toups).  I actually bought a GoPro because it does such a good job with both video and audio.  Intended to get videos of both.
But when the Zombies came on I said to myself "to hell with being distracted by trying to take home movies,  I came here to experience this show".
And Wayne Toups?  Hell that musical show is so involving that I forget cameras are even in existence.  
Toups is a name not known nationally.  It's regional music.  But it moved me more than any live music I have ever experienced.  

Sometimes we just got to see and hear stuff in person.  Television and youtube and home movies and snapshots are great and all,  but they will never compare to how our senses can perform au naturale.

These guys have three professional HD cameras and a pro audio recording setup.  And even that cannot do any justice to what this music sounds like loud and live and up close.

Bob wrote:Sorry,  I fell down on the job.  Sometimes I get so wrapped up in stuff that I don't think about taking a pic.   But the PNJ may have been there for a picture.

I was there and took a mental picture but I didn't get 'em all in, there were 13 boats.

Your mental pictures are in high definition,  yella.  Full 1080P.  lol

Bob wrote:These guys have three professional HD cameras and a pro audio recording setup.  And even that cannot do any justice to what this music sounds like loud and live and up close.

One of my favorite songs...Van Morrison...captured the real spirit of the South. I like the Zydeco influence in this one.

"...You can't stop us on the road to freedom. You can't stop us, 'cuz our eyes can see..."

Floridatexan wrote:

One of my favorite songs...Van Morrison...captured the real spirit of the South.  I like the Zydeco influence in this one.

Toups combined zydeco with soul, blues and especially southern rock to create a sound he calls zydecajun.  
His guitar player Freddie Pate is phenomenal to listen to in person.
Toups is an Allman Brothers fan and Pate and Toups take a guitar and accordion and emulate the guitar harmony of Dwayne Allman and Dickey Betts in their live show.

http://www.regataalsol.org/

Click for a map...that's a long sail.

I used to sail with a friend in Corpus Christi. We would follow alongside the regatta without actually being in the race...very beautiful, especially when the spinnakers go up. A formal ball was waiting at NAS, after which we spent the night on the boat and "tooled" back in the morning. Exhilarating...a race like the Regata al Sol is definitely not for sissies! I have sailed here as well...with my FIL on a catamaran. He once scuttled the boat just for the fun of dumping me in the Sound...laughing his head off. I sure miss him.

Awesome.