How it all came about.

 I started sailing as a form of therapy.  I was in my mid 30's and had a stroke which turned my life upside down.  The doc asked me if I was under alot of stress and my response was that if I was wound any tighter I could be a timex wrist watch. Two years of recovery and I needed something to take my mind off things so I browsed evilbay and bought my first sailboat.  Several years and 12 boats later I have a Pearson 30 that I am very comfortable with and it seems she with me.  I am the third owner of Rebellion.  She is a 1974 model pearson 30 which has quite a history about her.  She has was bought in Miami Fl. and has been sailed from Miami to Virginia and all the way back around and to Texas.  She has had one name change in her life which led to the second owner, who had changed the name to Lady Sharon, to change her back to Rebellion. 
  Im not a terrible terrible sailor nor am I a master at it.  I can get Rebellion out of the marina,in the main channel and go where I want to. Well usually if the wind gods are kind that is. The boat, my 2 feline companions and I have always made it back in one piece.  Now my seven year old son enters the picture and  visions of grand adventure togther start emerging in my mind. Yet our first journey ended after only one day.  We were headed from my home port of Browns Creek sailing marina in Guntersville Al to Scottsboro Al.  This is my first large boat so I have to keep remembering I have a large keel hanging under the boat.  The days of the swing keel were over.  We went to a state park where we were actually able to motor rite up to the dock, tie up and let Garrett play in the shallows for a while. After our romp in the water we headed for Scottsboro. Now I was just watching the depth sounder and trying to remind myself of the keel then comes the words that all parents hear. Dad im hungry!  So with this we started searching the banks for a marina, store anything where I could get some food in my little monster.  Of course he wanted nothing that I had in the boat.  We finally spotted a campgroung on the riverbank and a sign advertising a small country restaraunt. Slowly we started making our way towards the dock.  Even thought we were moving at a snails pace we still ran aground.  Stuck and hungry we did what any father son adventurers might do.  We dropped our anchor and jumped overboard which brough a huge smile to my sons face.  Dripping wet and pangs of hunger stull rumbling we start looking for the location of the adventised eating establishment. We walk in and are greeted with a smile from the young girl at the counter and were able to end our hunger. This is when things kinda started going south. The battery had run down on the laptop whichs ended my sons movie watching and the complaints started rolling in and to top it off we were still stuck in the shallows.  Luckily we found a gentleman that was able to pull us free with his pontoon boat.  The complaints got louder and more numerous so admitting defeat I headed back to our home port.  The whole trip took about 13 hours.