It was a perfect day to sail. The winds were much better than forecast, building to about 20 mph around 5 and then lightening up a bit to 10-15mph. We had to reef in the strongest winds but we rarely got below hull speed. It was a good day! We sailed as far south as we've been in Twoflower on Lake St Clair and then we turned and sailed east all the way into Canadian waters (just barely, as it became legal last week)
the view from the peanut gallery (clipped in setting the first reef point)
red and green buoys mark the Freighter channel
In our continuing effort to get to know Twoflower and all the rigging that came with, Chuck and I took advantage of excellent conditions to play with the whisker pole once we were headed downwind. .
We've flown the spinnaker using the whisker pole (we have an asymmetrical spinnaker), but this was the first time using the whisker pole on the Genny. First, we figured it out together (with autopilot driving) and then we took it down and I set it up myself (with minimal help and significant coaching)
setting up the control lines
whisker pole extended but not hooked to Genny sheets
Finally, we just got to enjoy sailing in the twilight
who's driving this thing?
We finished our evening by anchoring and diving in (the heat and humidity has been brutal this week.
August 1-10, 2022 Twice in two weeks, Twoflower has come upon a search for a missing boater, both with unhappy endings. The first, on August 1, brought an amazing day sailing to a very somber close. After a gorgeous high wind day on the lake, winds in the mid to high 20s, gusting to the low 30s, Twoflower sailed into the middle (literally) of a Coast Guard (CG) search. Huron Point and the mouth of the Clinton River are home to Twoflower (North Star Sail Club, NSSC) and is an area where the CG often do drills. I'd noticed the Macomb Sheriff boat lights near Metro Beach, but again, on the weekend this is all too common. We are usually tuned in to channel 16 on the radio, and we hadn't heard anything, so we thought little of either the Sheriff presence or the CG. At the time, I was at the helm, and it's quite likely that I was driving like a drunken sailor (although we never drink under sail). We actually joked that they were coming to investigate my driving. When the CG
I messed up Tuesday. The forecast was for 10-20 mph winds, 30% chance of thunderstorms- our typical summer forecast . I invited my sister & her friend out for a spontaneous evening sail. My sister is a semi experienced boater and needed to get out of the house. Friend has been on boats before, but no real experience. So, I'm basically single handing, with a bit of help available. No problem. The ancient TP5000 tillerpilot picked picked yesterday to stop working. No big deal, we're just going for an easy sail. We head out, and I leave the main covered and unroll about 60% of the 150 genny. This seems perfect in the 15 to 20 mph breeze. We're sailing nicely- easy. There is a bit of rain coming, so we put up the canvas . I didn't see a sign of anything but a little rain, from a pretty low and thin cloud. As the rain approaches, we get hit by a gust, maybe 40mph. I head up, expecting the gust to pass. Nope. It's steadily building. Sister is having fu
July 23, 2021 Lk St Clair So far we've been incredibly lucky with Feather aboard...in that she's actually stayed aboard. The few times (including tonight before we launched) that she's ended up in the water, it has been from the dock. The statistics for a Man Overboard are pretty grim: ( https://www.great-lakes-sailing.com/man_overboard.html ) With years of kayaking experience between us, Chuck and I are fairly certain that we can stay calm in the case that one of us goes overboard, and we're very good about being appropriately geared up. Even more importantly, we regularly talk about what we will do if.... For the sake if this discussion, we should consider Feather a non -swimmer, at least for now. So far, when she has fallen off the dock, she has stayed on top of the water, but mostly it seems she's trying to climb on top of the water, more than that she is comfortably swimming in it. Just like the practice that I'm writing about now, we owe it to Feathe
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