First Sailing Weekend

It took me over a week after launch to get back up to the lake. Everything was still fine on the boat, though. I went up to the marina late Friday afternoon. I was kind of late, plus the wind was pretty high, so I put off bending on the sails until Saturday. Instead, on Friday evening, I took a walk to downtown Port Clinton for the annual Walleye festival. Oddly, I don't recall seeing anything about the fish. There were some carnival rides, questionable games, lots of very cheesy merchandise, and trailer after trailer of unhealthy, mostly fried, food. Even the vegetables, when available, were breaded and deep-fried. Don't get me wrong: lots of it looked really yummy, but health concerns and calorie counting are not big at these things.

Anyway, I'm getting better at bending on the sails. Took me about an hour this year. I also finally sanded down the floorboards so that they fit again after the soaking over the winter. One is cracked, though. What a pain.

Sailing weather was good on Saturday, but Sunday and Monday, the wind was higher than I wanted to face by myself just yet. Perhaps self-steering really would help. I could at least count on her going in one direction for a little while while sail-handing, etc. Got some other work and reading done those days instead. Oh, and Monday was cold. I also managed to get some rowing in over the weekend. I underestimated how much harder it would be to row back against the wind (even though downriver) than it had been to get upriver with the wind. Made it, though.

I have to check on getting wireless access up at the marina. The service I used last year wasn't great, but this year I couldn't find it with Airport, and their website is not up. I emailed them to see if they plan to have the service in place. Otherwise, I might have to try one of the cellphone companies, but they tend to be more expensive ($60/month!). People usually say something like "Well, I don't think I would want to have wireless access from my boat." In general, I agree, but in practice, the choice isn't to be up at the lake with or without access. Once I start teaching again, the choice is either to be at home most of the time in order to be able to teach or to be able to communicate with students from the lake before and after sailing and doing other more interesting things!

And so it goes.