Manatee Encounter

Started sailing about noon in the IWC and ended up close to the leeward shore in a small channel. I was laying on the tramp(sailed for 5hrs) with my head halfway off the frame looking ahead when suddenly the water under my head erupted in a flurry of foam, bubbles, and thrashing. To say the very least, I was startled. To say I almost peed my shorts would be more accurate. It turned out to be a Manatee. Luckily there was no contact with the boat because these things, the mature ones, are about a thousand pounds and can easily trash your boat. Heres a pic of my newly painted boat ashore on a nearby island in the ICW. It was post-refurb maiden voyage... taken yesterday

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Mims, FL

Nice looking boat.The original sails have good color,classic...My first encounter with a manatee was 1972 sailing my '69 Sunfish on Lock Ness (a small lake connected to Miami/the Everglades canal system).Alligators would sometimes end up in our lake too.

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Bill 404 21SE

How funny. after you mentioned the sails, I took a closer look at them in the picture and for the first time noticed the ripples. I guess I need to work on my downhaul/outhaul technique! Thanks for the compliment though!

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Mims, FL

Sailing outta dana point harbor, ca i always sail past a big red bouy i like to call seal island. theres atleast 5+ seals on it at all time. Ive got close enough give a high five to one of the seals. Have always wanted to but am afraid they will bite my hand off... Probably would if i tried. They get so territorial when you get close. They all start barking and making a fuss.

Always fun to sail by tho to say the least. Im just hoping one of these days they dont try to jump onto the boat. If they did i would try to smack them in the head with the tiller extension till they jumped off...

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1971 H16 (sail #1768)

To all of you on the Hobie Forum... I love you guys!!!
thanks for all the help!