July 16th, 2011
Crew: Ken, Rod, Lisa, Matt, me
Temperature approx. 70'F.
Wind approx. 10kts sse
Clear with some cloud cover to the west
Waves approx. 1ft

Cast off about 10:20 am returned about 12:30 pm.
Sailed on a close hauled and beam reach out about 5 miles and brought her about and did the same on the way back. Matthew manned the helm and Ken and I worked the sheets. Lisa and Rodney were wonderful conscientious passengers, photographers. Their enthusiasm was infectious. Sauble point clearly visible 16 miles to the south and Ludington just 5 miles beyond. I received a sheet burn and scrape to my hands, heard the coming about but we didn't actually commit and the Genoa filled rapidly pulling the sheet through my hands, ouchy! It was an absolutely gorgeous day, we were able to maintain 4-6 knots and Valkyrie gave us a wonderful ride and Lake Michigan was kind. Candy stayed on shore and managed to get some pretty awesome pictures at the dock and on the channel pier head both on the way out and upon our return. Really well done on her part.

Prior to departure I checked the oil, good! Battery electrolyte, good! 1 drip per minute out the stuffing box, good and no squeaks while under power! Worked with Ken to get the rigging tuned up better, she performed much better and going to tighten up the rear stay to try and get the furler to sag less than she did yesterday!

Items that need some attention, wash & wax upper decks. Rudder/helm pulling lee helm significantly. Oh yeah, I am quite sore/stiff/fatigued today.

Skipper Jeff

Loads of family support and all crew present but conditions force us to call the race. Had a great time right at the dock.

Oh yeah the 4th of July fireworks were awesome from the cockpit of Valkyrie!!!

Dad and I got out into the Great Lake for a motor sail. Ugly spin out at the dock, did not engage the shifter fully. Aaaaaaargh! Had a nice docking, not as smooth as Ken but a helluva lot better than ever before for me. I fatigued out in about a half hour so we came back early.

Man does it feel good to be back on the water, time to work on progressing from a bad to a good sailor.

Image from cabin out the cockpit after the sail

We are back at the marina tied up safe and sound ready for summer sailing and fair conditions. We have been asked to join a regatta/race event commencing next month. It is exciting!

Making final preparations to Valkyrie for our maiden voyage this season.

Winter storage not to bad for the rooks. Lost a tarp early March and some robins attempted nesting in the mast. Made tiller repairs and started our D5 dinghy while on the hard. As this was my first time putting her away for the winter I was rather apprehensive about how good I did. It was a great relief when she fired right up on the first attempt this spring. Hmmm, maybe I will get the hang of this, at least there is some hope. LOL

Here's to a wonderful season!

Last season -

We started out waxing and repairing mast wiring as soon as possible spring of 2010 on our 26' Balboa, a 1974 swing keel beauty. Extremely excited about taking sailing lesson and our new slip in the channel very near the channel into Lake Michigan. Plagued by engine trouble from the 10HP Chrysler we picked up an electric motor and got into the Lake 2 or 3 times.

Move ahead to July 3rd, we motored out into the Lake early in the morning with reports of 1-2ft waves and they were considerable larger and tightly packed and winds NNW 15knots. Later reports told us that they were in the 4-7ft range and winds gusting upto 25knots. We decided to clear the channel and turn back.

Bad choice, in short we were completely in trouble but could not make the turn back toward the channel and through a comedy of errors (wrong number to coast guard, cell phone battery died, depth sounder failure, anchoring failure, too close to shore for the coast guard or other boats to approach for a tow) exhausted but safe we ended up beached 3 miles down the coast with a broken tiller and rudder at around 1pm.

Coast Guard helped us contact Tow Boat US to come and salvage us the morning of July 4th. She was sea worthy so we fixed her tiller and rudder (another story there) and the Chrysler. A month later we were ready to take her out again. When I pulled the companionway hatch our younger sons says, "Wow that's a lot of water." The swing keel let loose and tore the bolt area enough to let the water pour through. Not sure why the bilge did not come on but I manually fired the bilge and we hand pumped her dry all night and hauled her out in the morning. Still working on a resolution for our lovely Windancz.

So with the wind knocked out of us and a fairly strong desire to just stay home, we decided we're no quitters, we're going to be sailors. With that renewed attitude we went forth and found and bought a bigger boat.

We fell in love with Valkyrie from the shore and had her out a half dozen times last fall before haul out in late October.