Jack Sterrett and I went on the BEER 2011 cruise earlier this month in my MacGregor 26D. Other OSYC boats included Bob Horan (Morgan 240), Tim and Carry Aupperle (Catalina 22), Mike Barr (Mac 25), and Ken and Jennifer Griffin (Hunter 260). It was hot, but all in all it was a good trip. If you would like to know more about the cruise which is held around the first weekend in June, click on this link: [http://www.beercruise.info/->http://www.beercruise.info/] A couple of highlights for us: {Water balloon fight.} We went by a Walmart the day before we were to depart the marina to buy groceries. Jack saw a package of water balloons and bought them. Jack filled the up the night before we left and shortly after clearing the channel maker into Pensacola Bay, we spotted a boat with three teenagers on board. Not sure how they would react, we threw a balloon in their direction being sure to miss the boat. Little did we know. They immediately went below and came up with water balloons of their own along with a launcher which required three to operate, two to hold it and one to pull back the rubber tubing and aim. War was on. We were the faster boat so we sailed pass them several times, getting in several direct hits, one of which went through their companion way and into the cabin. They, however, had much greater range with their sling shot type launcher. Their first shot passed us about 20 feet above our mast. Then they got the range corrected. Jack and I both took direct hits on our persons. They also hit the mast once and the sail several times. We were definitely out gunned. We left the encounter wet. {Motor quit.} As we were entering the anchorage on the third night, I reached down to start the motor and the choke know came off in my hand and it would not start. We were confused about where the anchorage was and sailed downwind through the narrow entrance to Mosquito Cove. We realized that we must be in the wrong place so we called Bob Horan and discovered that the anchorage was supposed to be at Sailboat Cove, about 2 miles further. We tacked out of Mosquito Cove and headed for Sailboat Cove. I preferred entering the anchorage under motor but it would not start and I thought it would be difficult to pull the cover and reattach the choke so we sailed in and dropped anchor successfully just like we knew what we were doing. We pulled the motor cover and were able to reattach the choke knob and the motor started just fine. Note to self: don’t pull on that knob. It is supposed to be turned. I did not take many pictures, but you can find a few at the link below. [https://picasaweb.google.com/jimmy.harrell.photos->https://picasaweb.google.com/jimmy.harrell.photos/BEERCruise2011PensacolaFL?authkey=Gv1sRgCMqM546jvO_1bA] — Jimmy Harrell