Storms and Sailing

A mixed weekend, but some good sailing. This is has been overall a good season. OK, so last weekend was pretty calm, but not this one. I went up to the marina on Friday, despite the weather forecast. All of the services were predicting storms on Saturday, with clearing by Sunday.

Friday evening was windy but without rain or lightning. Bought some groceries and had dinner downtown, with the requisite walks before and after. Friday night was pretty windy, but still no storms come Saturday morning. That changed in late morning when a violent thunderstorm came through with high winds, lots of rain, and some spectacular light an sound shows. The rain showed me some deck leaks that I hadn't known of previously. Guess I'll try to caulk them soon. When the biggest storm passed before noon, I felt the need to get out and went shopping. I know have an inflatable life vest that might come in handy sometime. The rest of Saturday saw continued high winds but steady clearing until it was quite nice by evening. I celebrated by reading and napping most of the day.

Sunday was different. The wind died down overnight (the weather service had predicted less wind after midnight, which seems about right). By morning it was calm enough to allow a new, fortunately smaller, crop of mayflies to settle on the boat. First thing in the morning--before 7-- I took off on a row upriver. This time I made it just about to the Route 2 highway bridge before turning back Probably close to 3 miles round trip in just over an hour and a half. Still having some back problems, but it wasn't too bad. When I got back I had some breakfast and readied the boat for sailing.

The folks in the next slip had trouble starting their engine, finally realizing that a key switch was at the "Off" rather than the "Run" position. A reminder of the importance of having at least a mental checklist for getting underway. Sometimes I think I should finish my written checklists. For example, today I forgot to tie figure 8 knots in the sheets. Not a big deal, but things do go more smoothly the more things I prepare beforehand.

A doctoral student and her husband arrived just after the 10:30 bridge opening. She's about to do comps, and we have a presentation to prepare for Orlando in October. Since we haven't actually done the study, we really need to get going on it. Anyway, we eventually headed out for the 11:30 bridge opening. The wind was very light and variable for a time. I had trouble even seeing what direction it was from, since it seemed to shift almost minute by minute. Grdually, however, it settled down in the west and gradually and steadily increased in strength. We went on port tack way out into the lake. Could have made Put-in Bay with ease, but couldn't have easily returned. I still need to take a couple of days off in the middle of the week and go out there for a night or two. Eventually, we headed back and as we approached the coast again, I realized that the wind was picking up enough that I was getting uncomfortable, especially with a couple of neophytes along. We elected to go in, catching the 3 pm bridge opening. The west wind was a big help in docking today, since it was the best brake I could hope for. Not an elegant docking, but we didn't hit, and I brought her close enough for the crew to get a couple of lines around pilings. As soon as I do that, I feel a lot easier, since I can get everything set up right at leisure once the boat is safe.

I had thought that my dockmates would have come in early, since the wife doesn't like it much when the waves start getting higher, but they weren't there. Later I realized that their truck wasn't either, so I suspect that they returned before us, and put their boat in storage for the week. I'll have to ask.

Another windy day. I need to find the right lines to keep handy for reefing the mainsail. It would have been good to reduce sail a bit today.