DaySailer.org Forum

I am told Spring has arrived. You would not know it as the overnight lows continue in the single digits and the highs will be inthe mid 30's for the next week. There is a good foot of snow on the ground, and 4-5' piles left by the plows.
Yet on the 1st and 2nd of April, both my DS1 and Catalina 22 come out of storage. I really do not know what I will do with the DS. THe C22 sits at the end of the driveway, but the DS1 normally sits in the yard until I can haul it to Hayward, WI for launch. No way can I pop the DS1 over the snow mounds to get it in the front yard.

I agree. Spring in MN still seems far away. I have been sailing on the city lakes, but with my kite and skis. The Mpls buoy lottery is only in a few weeks.

Hey kokko,
Where in Hayward do you sail? My inlaws live on Smith Lake, just west of Nelson, and I'm sure I'll have my boat up there sometime this summer too. I keep shoveling the white $h1t off my DS hoping it will soon be over...

Truelove is on Teal Lake, 20 miles east of Hayward. I looked up Nelson, WI and that is down by Wabasha

Sorry bout that, I meant Nelson Lake, a couple miles north of Hayward. Smith Lake is a half mile west of Nelson Lake.

I've been going up to Hayward for almost 30 years and have never been on Teal Lake. Plan on spending some time in the area this summer, not sure when yet. Lots of ice yet... this is getting old.

I live by Menomonie, pretty close to Nelson, WI. Get to the twin cities fairly often. Would like to do some sailing on the St. Croix by Hudson or on Lake Pepin. I hear the sailing on Pepin is really awesome and great scenery too!

Thursday - May 2nd - 15" of snow in southern Minnesota - fortunately just rain for my cabin (lots of rain however)
Friday May 3rd - Ice out on Limestone Lake (I'm sure that rain helped push it over the edge)
Saturday - May 4th - Dock #1 and pontoon in the water (cold, a little blowy and drizzle)
Sunday - May 5th - Breakin Wind in the water (calm air, 60 degrees and sunny! yay! - spring is officially here!)

My launch went perfectly, other than the fact that the MN Dept of Nat Resources only has about 25-30% of the launch docks in the water yet, not including ours, but it still worked OK. Double lines to the shore just in case.
Since there was no wind and I still have some standing rigging hardware to finish, my grandson and I just motored out and about a bit on the trolling motor. I noticed I must've picked up a fair amount of rain absorbtion becuase my bilge pump was kicking on and off... and on and off... and on and off... Didn't think alot about it until we got back to the dock, tied up and started walking to the cabin for lunch, and then the bilge pulp kicked on again... ???

Forgot the bilge drain plug... (oops)! Thank goodness for the 1500 gph bilge pump with the recently installed high water auto-switch. Proved it's value in the first hour of this sailing season. Otherwise I would have had to find out how good my swim noodles worked.
Funny thing is, I commented to my grandson while driving to the landing, that I need to remember to put the bilge plug in before the boat goes into the water. He of course just looked at me like I was speaking chinese, but I thought verbalizing it would make me remember. I guess it's back to post it notes on the dashboard.

Never-the-less, spring is finally here in Minnesota, and the sailing season has begun (once I remember what else I forgot)!

Scott

Breakin Wind wrote:...commented to my grandson while driving to the landing, that I need to remember to put the bilge plug in before the boat goes into the water. He of course just looked at me like I was speaking chinese, but I thought verbalizing it would make me remember.

On my boat, that task is the solemn responsibility of the youngest crew member. If you show them the plug and make them responsible, you might be surprised at how reliable they are. (Especially if you tell them that the boat will swamp otherwise).

Great advice for when I take my 2-year old daughter out for the first time (she's already starting to ask a lot of questions!).

Actually, she's already helped me setup a few times, and we've had her out on the boat just trolling around, but no actual sailing yet: I drop off her and Momma at the dock and go back out. I'm going to wait until conditions are absolutely perfect - last thing I wanna do is scare her ...

Glad to hear you're back on the water Scott!

I was having the issue of forgetting something different each time I went out. Attaching the jib clew (several times), the main sheet, jib lines, bilge plug, rudder, and also the loading of various optional items I lke to take out with me. Last season I started making a habit of doing a 360 deg walk around to check things ON the boat before backing Dashaway into the wet. My biggest problem by far though is forgetting to check my pockets for my cell phone before jumping into the water It's starting to tick my first mate off. This years goal is to keep the same cell phone for the entire season!