sailing

[Guest]

So Sunday was the first day of Spring and we had a cold front with thunder storms and all come through Saturday night. The temperature Sunday was low to mid 60's and the wind was 15-20 mph and gusty. In the spirit of those who ask "are you going to look at that boat or sail it", I decided for the later, so rather than spend the day washing off all the winter dirt, I rigged "Capt. Scott" (#4876) and headed out on the lake. I'm single handing and the water is still cold and there are only a few fisherman out, so I decide to reef. I have a reef cloth that I made from directions on this site, so I roll the mainsail around the boom up to about the bottom batten sleeve, hoist main and jib and off I go. What a glorious day! The wind is strong, but reefed, I was never close to turning over and I tacked well up the lake against 2-3 foot chop that was white capping. The reach home, after about 2-1/2 hours of sailing upwind was quick. Spring comes early in the south, so all you northern folks who are still snowed in, can perhaps vicariously enjoy the first day of Spring. Maybe little tale will give you something to look forward to.

Jim

jim (jimb-at-dsouth.com)

[Guest]

I am jealous. The snow is pretty much gone here in Minnesota, but the water is still 'hard'.

Mike, #2392 (mikemcdonald-at-mn.rr.com)

[Guest]

Wow do I feel like quite the wimp. I decided not to go out yesterday because of a rather cool 15-20 knot wind dropping the temp to 73 degrees with water temp in the low 60's. It seems we get spoiled here on the Gulf coast of Fla.

Brian Hawker (protrainerusa-at-yahoo.com)

[Guest]

I'm Jealous too. The water here is mostly soft, but not by much. The last day of winter it got up to 70, but the first day of spring it got down to 28, with the wind chill of 17. They say if you don't like the weather here in Ohio, wait five minutes and it will change.

J.P. Clowes (jpclowes-at-hotmail.com)