Pulled over by the Coast Guard

I was getting mixed message in the run-up to the weekend. There was a retirement party Friday evening for one of my colleagues, so I didn't go up to the lake then. The weather forecast for Saturday and Sunday was full of the possibility of showers and thunderstorms.

Of course, they were saying that about Friday evening, too, and it was beautiful. I worked around the house for a while on Saturday, eventually deciding not go to up, since I wouldn't have been there until late afternoon at best, and the possibility of T-Storms was supposedly still high.

I say supposedly because, when I talked to folks who were actually there on Saturday, the only real weather problem was the heat. And by Sunday most of the threat of rain had disappeared.

So anyway, I drove up on Sunday. I took my time getting ready to go out because of the dark clouds that kept appearing to the west and then moving past without producing rain or anything else. I did talk to a couple in a nearby slip. They had to have work done to repair a crack in the bulkhead supporting the mast before they could launch. But they were in the water this weekend and getting everything ready to sail. Another neighbor is selling his Cape Dory 25. That is another model that I would have liked to buy back when I was in the market, but I can't buy it now!

So I finally headed out to catch the 12:30 pm bridge opening. The wind was pushing me away from the dock, so that can make it tough to get the lines off and run back to the cockpit to get her under control in time not to hit anything, but it went well.

On my way out of the river, I was passing the public docks that are located just after the river bends north to enter the lake. Some men in blue motioned me over, so I had to pull up to that dock, never one of my favorite maneuvers. It went OK, though, and all they wanted was to conduct a "safety inspection." I had to find my registration, which I eventually did. They asked to see my fire extinguishers, my horn, my life jackets, and not much else. Fact is, I have a mental checklist that contains more items than theirs does. And I'm turning it into a real checklist this season.

So anyway, I passed the inspection, "with flying colors." They gave me a form attesting to that, which apparently is good for this season and next.

I proceeded out into the the lake, where I found that the wind was good but the waves were such that I couldn't see me successfully setting the sails and, espcecially, furling them again by myself. We were bouncing around and the wind was at least 15 knots. I decided to head back in and try again next week. When I passed the public dock, the Coast Guard had already moved on, so I just managed to pass the at the worse time for being pulled over. Oh well.

Managed to get back into the dock. One of my neighbors came to help, which was good since the wind was still pushing me a way from it, and I might have had trouble getting the lines attached.

Next week!