The last week has been a little slow in regards to the boat. Last Saturday, I took all the little bits and pieces I've bought lately and headed for the marina. Once there I decided that the best idea was to give Godspeed a good washing because the oak pollen was starting to cover her completely. I learned a very important lesson! The water pressure at the marina stinks. It started out slow and decreased to a dribble. I finally was leaving the hose in a bucket and doing other things until I had enough water to wash down another section. Hey but she's clean now (or was) and I have an excuse to purchase a wash-down pump.

After that, sailing to one of the "sometime" islands and having lunch seemed like a great idea.

OK, picture this! The anchor is on the bottom and it's time to go. The wind is blowing at about 20 kts, with gusts hitting 30 kts. Since I don't have a remote controlled autopilot, I decide to go up on the foredeck and drag the boat up to the anchor by hand.. Let see, 11,950 lbs boat with winds up to 30 kts, by hand.. Yeah, Right. After about an hour and only 10 ft out of 150 ft brought onboard, I decided to rethink my plan. I started the engine and let her idle in forward. She would make a little headway and slowly veer to one side or the other. Each time she snubbed up against the anchor, she'd pull to the other direction and I'd bring up a little more line. With about 30 ft left I felt the anchor break free and pulled it on deck along with a large chunk of tree. Ah the joys of lake sailing.. I was asked why I didn't have enough sense to bring the anchor line back to the cockpit so I could actually control the boat while pulling in the rode. Ahhhh, experience is a wonderful thing.

Yesterday I received my deck boots, so my foul weather gear is almost complete. My RYA sailing class is scheduled for Gosport England during Thanksgiving. I think the last item better be winter sailing gloves. Several friends have told me I'm out of my mind for going sailing in Southern England during November, but I'm really looking forward to it. Let the rest have warm skies and blue seas, I'll take cold wet and rainy.

The picture is from one of the only sunny days we had during a trip to Ireland last November. Naturally, I headed for the marina as soon as we got close to the ocean. This would be a great place to visit during a cruise of Ireland and the U.K..

Cheers.