Well it`s time to hit the water with the first sail of the 2009 season. Ryan and a couple of his friends are going to come out with me as we head for Ghost Lake. The weather at home was not bad but at the lake it was a little much when we first got there. A storm was just passing so we would have to wait a bit before launching and then catching the trailing winds.

Unfortunately, or I guess fortunately we ended up with a flat tire on the the trailer. The fortunate part was it didn`t go flat on the highway but instead waited until we were parked and surveying the lake that it decided to become less then a perfect circle. That meant that while we waited for the weather to lift a bit, it was a trip into Cochrane (51 11.11 N 114 28.02 W) for a new tire. It took longer then what I wanted but Fountain tire was able to help us out. One new tire mounted, a second new one in the back for later and $400.00 dollars lighter we were back on the road and heading back to the lake.

When we finally got back to the lake the worst of the storm was gone, that`s good, but the wind was waining badly as well, that was not. Well after spending $400.00 dollars on tires plus the gas and time to travel out to the lake I was not about to go home without getting Gotcha wet. The rain rinsed her off but I wanted her afloat. So we quickly got her rigged and ready and then off the hard and on to the water. After quickly parking the van we pushed off from the launch dock and headed past the point and out into the lake. We did good for the first part and got a not bad run to the community (51 12.25 N 114 45.72 W) toward the west end of the lake. But then it failed completely and we were left with glass. There was the occasional puff and I tried to work with them they were to few and far between for the boys so it was down with the sails and on with the motor.

The benefit was once we reached the dock again Gotcha was ready to be loaded on her trailer and the mast un-stepped and stowed for travel. So we were off for home in relatively short time once we made it to the launch point. Will have to see if I can take the guys out for a better sail later in the year.