2018 Boat Rides

[thewoodlands]

It's been a very dry summer up here, the water is down 20 plus feet from its high earlier this year. The pictures are from Carry Falls Reservoir.

 

[Ashful]

Must be mighty tough to sail that thing.

Been doing more boating this year than in the last eight. My oldest is 8 years old, so you do the math.

 

[thewoodlands]

Must be mighty tough to sail that thing.

Been doing more boating this year than in the last eight. My oldest is 8 years old, so you do the math.

View attachment 228055

It's been a good summer for boating with the exception of the lack of water in our area. Your son looks like he has a good idea on how to handle the boat.

Hopefully we get the 2 inches of rain starting this weekend which should last over three days, it will help some.

Certain areas south of us are down 12 inches of precipitation since the start of the year.

 

[begreen]

We too are dealing with exceptionally low summer rainfall, and with it a lot of wildfires starting up.

 

[Ashful]

I'll try to send some your way. We're scheduled for plenty more.

 

[Ashful]

Your son looks like he has a good idea on how to handle the boat.

He has interest in it, or at least interest in hanging out with dad, which will eventually get him there. That photo was aboard a Colgate 26 trainer / racing keel boat last year in the Gulf. He was starting to get the hang of it on the third and fourth day, but then basically forgot it all over the winter.

Last month, we did two short days on a Hobie Cat in open water, which was a great way to go, since they're so stable. I got him some tiller time, but he wasn't strong enough to pull the main sheet on that, so I couldn't completely turn the boat over to him.

Since then we've been taking one of the Sunfish at our club out once per week, which is not great. It's too small and tippy for me to really turn over the reigns to him too easily, although on the plus side, the main is light enough that his wimpy arms can actually pull it.

I'm looking for a better training solution, for at least the next few years, until he's ready to sail racing boats with me. A small Hobie cat might be in our future, but those are a real PITA to trailer, launch, and store.

 

[Dobish]

 

[Dobish]

He has interest in it, or at least interest in hanging out with dad, which will eventually get him there. That photo was aboard a Colgate 26 trainer / racing keel boat last year in the Gulf. He was starting to get the hang of it on the third and fourth day, but then basically forgot it all over the winter.

Last month, we did two short days on a Hobie Cat in open water, which was a great way to go, since they're so stable. I got him some tiller time, but he wasn't strong enough to pull the main sheet on that, so I couldn't completely turn the boat over to him.

Since then we've been taking one of the Sunfish at our club out once per week, which is not great. It's too small and tippy for me to really turn over the reigns to him too easily, although on the plus side, the main is light enough that his wimpy arms can actually pull it.

I'm looking for a better training solution, for at least the next few years, until he's ready to sail racing boats with me. A small Hobie cat might be in our future, but those are a real PITA to trailer, launch, and store.

i loved the little laser I used to sail. I was trying to get my parents to get a little sunfish or laser, but they don't really sail and our kids are not big enough yet.

I have fond memories of getting a hobie cat humming up on one pontoon, flipping it over and getting the mast stuck in the bottom of the lake! That one didn't come out easily!

 

[Ashful]

Lasers are awesome. As soon as the kid is big enough to take a Sunfish or Opti on his own, I’ll likely switch to Lasers myself. I learned to race in bigger boats, and it’s too easy to get up in your head on those, with all of the technical aspects. I think that racing Lasers for a few years might to a long way to improving my seat-of-the-pants feel for racing sailboats.

I still have my other boat, but it takes a crew of 3, and it’s nowhere near kid-friendly. So, until the kids are old enough to get bruised and bloodied on a real boat, I don’t really get to sail it. Heck, my wife won’t even go on it, anymore.

 

[begreen]

View attachment 228064

I like silent running.

 

[begreen]

I'm not a sailor, only been out a few times on long ocean trips, but you might enjoy this boat. We built it and launched in 1991. It was our second. She's still doing fine and back in local waters now. These shots are off the coast of Maine by a prior owner. The boat is all steel, but very fair. You wouldn't know it without a magnet. It's as pretty inside as it is outside.

 

[Ashful]

That’s awesome, begreen! I wish I lived closer to big water, so I could sail something like that. For now, I dry sail at various lakes and clubs, trailering my boat with me or borrowing what they have.

 

[begreen]

This one was built for a doctor in FL who wanted a shallow draft keel. It's designed for one person sailing, but at 52' it helps to have another hand or two. I did all the systems, my best friend (yurt and Summit owner in past postngs) was the master carpenter. Here is a peek at the engine room. Every electrical connection is crimped, soldered and marine shrink tubing sealed.

 

[kennyp2339]

then basically forgot it all over the winter.

Keep the young man dialed in during the off months, a good gift idea / learning tool is a labelled sheet of plywood with a the different knots used for rigging, it cannot hurt at all.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Hold on, we're about ready to get rained on. Summer noreaster!

 

[Ashful]

Keep the young man dialed in during the off months, a good gift idea / learning tool is a labelled sheet of plywood with a the different knots used for rigging, it cannot hurt at all.

You really don’t need that many knots for sailing, but you do need an ability to tie a bowline under very adverse conditions.

 

[Dobish]

You really don’t need that many knots for sailing, but you do need an ability to tie a bowline under very adverse conditions.

i remember days of standing in a cold shower after holding my hands in an ice bucket while tying bowlines and figure 8s...

 

[Ashful]

i remember days of standing in a cold shower after holding my hands in an ice bucket while tying bowlines and figure 8s...

Hah... that’s hard core! We do figure 8 stopper knots while rigging up the boats on land, but rarely have to touch them on the water. Bow lines and cleat hitches are the main things tied on the water.

I didn’t have any photos of my own boat handy, but here’s what I sail. Mine is almost identical to the third photo, but with nicer rigging (IMO, of course). Not kid friendly, but a heck of a lot of fun.



Here's one that gives a sense of sail plan to boat size.

 

[Dobish]

Hah... that’s hard core! We do figure 8 stopper knots while rigging up the boats on land, but rarely have to touch them on the water. Bow lines and cleat hitches are the main things tied on the water.

I used to do a lot more climbing, which is really where the practice and muscle memory came in handy.

 

[thewoodlands]

We decided it was time we get the boat on the St.Lawrence River where there's more water, we put in at Waddington NY and went to Barnhart Island Beach and came back up the Canadian side, attach are some pics.

On the way back we stopped in to take advantage of the boat inspection and power wash, after they did that they hooked up the motor muffs and ran that through the motor.

Pics 1750 & 51 are of Ogden Island, they just finished haying that spot between the trees. It's been about four years since I did any walleye fishing on the St.Lawrence but I will be going down next year.

 

[begreen]

I've been up north for a bit on a different river, the Skagit. We canoed down a ten mile stretch yesterday. It was a beautiful trip, but a bit smokey due to the wildfires. Normally you would see snowcapped mountains in the distance. Eerie light. This was in the middle of the afternoon.

 

[thewoodlands]

https://www.esf.edu/rangerschool/
https://www.facebook.com/pineconegrill.wanakena.ny
https://www.wanakena.com/wanakena-footbridge
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cranberry_Lake

We went to Cranberry Lake today, the first picture is the Ranger School, the second picture is the Pine Cone Grill, the third is the Wanakena Footbridge and the last two are just before we came off Cranberry Lake.

 

[Ashful]

Hey begreen, you ever get over to the boat yard where the “big-E” was restored and upgrading during WW2? Is there a museum there, dedicated to it?

 

[EatenByLimestone]

If there's a museum dedicated to it, why did they scrap it? Seems like a silly concept when the ship was probably sold to scrapper for a dollar or something similar. The History Channel had a series on the Enterprise. It's quite a story!

 

[EatenByLimestone]

To clarify, I'm thinking about CV-6.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Enterprise_(CV-6)