May 1st, 2006
I just wanted to say thanks to Noel and Christy, the hosts and producers of the Furled Sails podcast ( http://www.furledsails.com/ ) for reading a blurb I sent them about the SailBlogs site.
I have been involved in the creation of a number of podcasts, and believe me to do them well is no easy feat. I think they are doing a great job, they are easy to listen to and have great interviews and information. I've been having fun going back and listening to their previous shows. One of the benefits of coming on board late is that i can listen to one show a day for the next couple of months to get caught up.
| Multimedia |
|
Comments [1]
further tests with video and the newton slideshow...
| Multimedia |
|
Boat is out. Seems like it was a short season again. Oh well. I went up Saturday am with my father-in-law, and we basically had the day to get both boats out, as well as get the toys put away. It was cloudy, and sometimes raining, with a stiff breeze right from the south. It would have been a worth while sailing day, except the boat launch was due south of where the boat was, so it would have taken a bit of work and too much time to actually sail down there.
In the end we just hooked a tow rope to it and pulled it down there in about 10 minutes.
This all just illustrates why having a boat on a remote lake is hard. I suppose in some ways having a boat in someplace far away, like the Caribbean, is equally difficult. My boat was only in the water for like 10 weekends. And of those ten, maybe 6 of them we actually go up to the farm and lake, and we always lose a couple of those to weather.
I like living in the city. But I could also like living in the country (or near a lake). I use to wish the same thing when I'd use my telescope. I would long for the ability to have a place worthy of a little observatory shed, where I could, when the weather was nice, just go out, roll off the roof, and observe for an hour or two without the need for all the set up. I would do it at the farm, but in the city it's not worth it.
Well, there is still time to sail. Next year.
|
I've been thinking a lot about sailing, but not doing a whole lot. I was hoping to get out last weekend, but it was raining one day, and I was pressed into service as a driver of the ski boat the next.
Oh well, I like to think that someday I'll be able to sail everyday if I choose.
in fact, I was seriously comtimplating naming my cruiser "Someday", should it ever come...
|
So the boat is sitting on it's lift, and while I'm relaxed that it is there, protected from the nasty NW wind that comes off the lake, it's still not an ideal situation.
I found when I took the boat out for a quick solo sail of 90 minutes that while I can get it *off* the lift by myself without getting wet, I cannot properly get it back on. The trouble is the boat tend to get off-center of the lift at the stern, and so the whole thing sits at an angle if it's not just right.
I have a possible solution, however. If I build a guide out of wood for the keel the will sort of automatically center it as the boat is lifted, it should solve the problem. I'll have to do some measuring as to how much room I have to see if this is feasible.
So the two times I went out on the lake were nice, if somewhat too short. For one sail it was myself and the other two brothers in law, along with annie. Annie was having fun out on the bow of the boat. I only asked her to come back to the main cockpit when it started getting rough.
The previous day I had tested the little 2hp outboard, and was kind of glad I did. As this was an evening sail, we were running out of daylight and needing to make a fair bit of ground upwind. That was a bit of poor planning on my part. I should have piloted a course that would have put us on a more proper point of sail as nightfall came on.
We had to fall back on the little motor and putter in with the motor. It was tough, though, as we had to go upwind and this motor was just barely up to the task. I noticed we were not making much headway, so I had one other the other take over and run the motor while I stowed the sails, and that helped some. However, I think in general something more like 3 or 4hp would be better for this boat.
My solo sail was a little better, but I didn't have much time, as I mentioned. That was disappointing. There were some people tooling around the lake in a little Force 5, at one point we were close enough for a wave. Throughout the rest of the day I noticed them out an about, while I was at the dock helping with the water tramp and the other pull toys for the speed boat.
In addition, I spent a couple hours changing the winch on the lift to the opposite side to put it on the dock side. I had to take the boat off to do that, and so put it off shore a bit with an anchor and the swim ladder. It kept dragging the anchor, though, so I had to keep my eye on it.
It seems that this summer I've spent more time tinkering with the boat than actually sailing it, which I suspect is more common than not. In a way, though, it makes me desire an even simpler boat so I can actually sail and not putter. I'll putter when I have a big boat.
|
Well the boat is in (finally), and it's on a lift - thank goodness.
Here is the story. Two weekends ago the weather was mild enough to get the N16 rigged and into the lake. E helped get it in the water, but needed to tend the kids and so left me to sail beck to the dock myself. I wasn't too keen on sailing alone the first time out, but it seemed to be ok.
It was pretty breezy, though, which wasn't much of a problem until I tried to beat up wind. That's when I discovered that the main sheet was fouled. I had it twisted when I routed it, and it was causing me problems. At one point, a gust hit me and when I tried to release the main a bit the twist held it and I nearly capsized. That was exciting. After about a 40 minute sail I was back at the doc, and working on fixing the rigging. But by the time I had everything organized the wind had increased and the lake had whitecaps. Too rich for me.
That was the end of the first weekend.
Last Friday on the way into town I stopped and checked out some lifts. I found one that looked like it would work for $150. I didn't buy it right then as I had a couple other places to check.
After getting our crap sorted at the farm, Annie and I tried for a sail but again there was just a bit too much wind for my tastes, mostly because I don't have the motor out and ready for the season yet. So we scrapped, and I went back to the guy and bought the $150 lift.
He loaded it on a flatbed trailer for me with a forklift, and I unloaded it myself. Ug - this is a very heavy steel thing about 25 years old. Hard to deal with.
Later I tried for a sail, as the wind had died down. Well, it died is what it did. And it swung around to the east, meaning I was on the lee shore of the lake, with no wind to get started. I thought I had it, got off the end of the dock, and promptly got stuck in the reeds. Sigh. I went to grab the paddle I keep in the boat to use as a pole to push off the bottom, but it was gone! ARRRGG! The kids took it out to play with it and stuck it in the boathouse. So now I was in a pickle.
I was drifting about 20 feet from shore with no wind for energy. And no motor. What little wind there was seemed to be pushing me into a tree. I managed to avoid that and get the boat turned, and with the help of using the rudder as a pole from the bottom (making it pretty hard to steer, tough) was able to get myself back to the dock. Elapsed time, 20 minutes. Sigh.
So then, as I sat on the end of the dock holding the boat, I was faced with potentially failing wind and about 90 minutes of daylight left. I decided not to risk getting stuck in the lake with no motor. I tied it back up and went to bed frustrated.
Saturday we spent all day dealing with the other watercraft - getting the speedboat in, the jet ski, water tramp and other toys, as well as disassembling the new lift in order to get it down to the lake. There may have been a point in there where sailing would have been nice, but I was too busy to notice it.
Sunday we finished reassembling the lift and got it into the lake, and it was looking like rain. That took about two hours. We were leaving so no sailing.
Glad I got it on a lift, though. Major storms up there last night. One big tree down at the farm. No word on the boat, but I assume if there was a problem I'd probably have heard about it by now. Back up there again tomorrow, so here is hoping for a good quality sail.
|
Like a lot of people, I used to drive without wearing a seatbelt. I am old enough to have never used a seatbelt in childhood. But during college I realized that it would really suck to die in a car crash where a seatbelt would have saved my life. I thought of people thinking "if he'd only been wearing his seatbelt, he'd still be alive." Maybe every kid goes through a period of thinking they're invincible, but I think more than that I just never gave it much thought at all.
The point was, I did realize, however, that everyone on the road was trying to kill me. Either directly but poor driving on their part, or just waiting for me to make some mistake and pounce. I decided not to let them win.
Boating, is similar. Instead of seatbelts, though, we have life jackets. I think about all of this because they just pulled a canoeist out of a lake yesterday, dead. Was fishing alone, probably fell out and couldn't get back to the canoe.
There were two other similar stories the week before.
When we bought the sailboat, my wife and I went to REI and spent about $100 on good quality live jackets that fit well and felt good. We spent about an hour trying on different styles to get a feel for them and find ones we both liked.
Like wearing a seatbelt, I simply don't want to drown because of a mistake. Last summer when we were doing overboard practice with the kids I saw how fast a boat can move away from you on a lake. There would be almost no chance, were I out sailing alone, for me to get back to the boat if I was somehow knocked out or fell.
I guess I just don't want my epitaph to be ". his death could have been prevented by a simple effort" - be it a seat belt or life jacket or some other easy prevention.
The most common argument is that "lifejackets are uncomfortable." That's why we spent some time picking them out and choosing maybe not the best but at least better quality units. Another thing we did was get them at the end of the season, so we were able to get a deal on the previous season's models. Like any fashion, lifejackets change - colors, patterns, cuts, etc. Getting "last year's model" can save a boodle. So you can get one that fits well and save a bit in the process, solving the "uncomfortable" problem.
Another thing I hear is that "I'm a good/great/excellent swimmer" - well so am I. Unless you've been doing Ironman triathlons, you're probably not as good a swimmer as you think. When I learned to sail, one of the things I had to do was pass a swim test. Like most kids in Minnesota, I've been a swimmer my whole life. The test was to swim about 70 yards without touching. It was excruciating, and myself and one other guy were the only ones to make it, and I only barely made it and I thought I was going to barf.
On a lake, 70 yards is NOTHING, and when the boat keeps drifting away, well, you get the idea.
So. Be a sailor, not a statistic. Life jackets are handy things in a pinch.
|
