Late evenings and early mornings

One thing that I notice a lot more up at the lake is the length of the day. Since I'm outdoors more and depend on certain kinds of weather in order to sail, I generally have a much better of what the weather is doing: Clear, cloudy, threatening, wet? No wind, too much wind, just right? What direction is the wind from? Is it going to change?

At the same time, the length of the day is often quite clear. When I get up in the morning, I generally walk over to the marina bathrooms. (I could use the on-board head, but anything that I put into it has to be pumped out later, so I tend to avoid that!) I look for the sunrise to see how far along it is and to get a clue to the weather. I like to get up early enough to take photographs while I take a walk for 30-60 minutes. Right now, it is less than a month and a half to the solstice, so already I have to be up by 6 AM or close to it to beat the sun. By mid- to late June I will need to get up well before 6.

At the other end of the day, it's a similar situation. Daylight lasts far into the evening. I have the dinghy and kayak ready for use--scrubbed and waxed, with the safety equipment available. Next time I'm up there I plan to start traveling upriver in them. I guess it doesn't have to be upriver, but that is more interesting than going down into Port Clinton. I can easily start after dinner. Even If I'm not back until 9 PM, I will still be legal without lights. This summer I'll have to see how well my back holds out for rowing. But kayaking doesn't hurt my back at all, so I'll just have to get my arms and shoulders in shape. Perhaps some calm day when sailing doesn't look good, I'll see how far upriver I can go.