Sad Day

  Sadly, the sailing season is done, earlier than expected. In the later part of October the weekends were forcasted to be in the 40s so I made the decision to close up the boat. We installed the winter cover and buttoned her up. (Thanks Wilbur!!) Timing proved to work out pretty well, because shortly after that I caught a cold and missed a week of work.  I still have one trip to make back out to the boat before Winter sets in, to snug up the cover, remove the extension hitch, and store the sails in the boat. 

     Overall it's been a great Summer of sailing. We were able to get the boat on the water 38 days this year, more than double than the previous year. Which was also just shy of the number of days spent sailing to Belize in 2011.  With trips to Lake Pepin, Lake Superior, and many weekends of afternoon bbq's swimming and sailing on the St. Croix, the boat has exceeded our expectations. We were able to get many friends and family out with us, along with some of the members of the Northern Lights Sailing Club. For some people, it was their first time on a sail boat. Most leaving with smiles, and looking forward to their next sail. 

     With the boat covered for the Winter, I have a small list of projects that I am hoping to take care of this Winter. I removed all of the woodwork on the exterior of the boat for refinishing, along with the table that needs to be re-sized slightly. I also removed the rudder, which had a small amount of damage that needs to be re-finished, again. Depending on timing of work, I may try to move the boat back into the shop in February or March so that I can do some upgrades to the hatch, along with installing the solar panel in its permanent location, and a little bit of touch-up on the hull where the boat scraped up against some rocks at Lake Pepin. I may do some additional gel coat work and remove some of the old instruments that don't work. 

     We've been talking about next Summer, and we plan to stay at Windmill Marina next year. It has worked out really well for us. Although it has added some miles to our vehicles. The Northern Lights Sailing Club is planning another Barkers Island sailing trip in July that we would like to go to. We are also considering a trip to the Apostle Islands, possibly with some other boats to sail with us. Our boat is on the smaller side for Lake Superior, but there's a lot of protection around the Apostles and we'd never be more than a half-day trip from a marina or boat launch. But having a second boat would add an extra level of safety. There's lots of areas to explore in and around the Apostles.

     We're crossing our fingers for a shorter winter than last year's.  

Summer of Sailing

You know that Summer has ended when your facebook feed is plastered with photos like this:

That's a fake smile on Jane's face, she actually didn't want to go back to school. I'm just glad we could fit all of the required school supplies in her backpack and that she didn't tip over while carrying it. 

We've been spending every Saturday and Sunday this Summer on the boat that we could. Over Labor Day weekend, we went camping rather than sailing, but managed to bring the inflatable dinghy and get some time on the water.

The dinghy had to be driven to the lake at the campground, since Jane and I were too lazy
and uncoordinated to carry it the .2 mile.

The boat has logged over 30 days so far this Summer, with probably three weeks left of the sailing season. The boat has exceeded our expectations in many ways. It handles really well, and sails very smoothly. We've done a lot of improvements to the boat: roller furling, biminy, the grill, etc. and so far has been money well-spent. One of the things that we would like to have if we got a different boat, is a larger galley and an enclosed head (bathroom). On Saturday we stopped by Hooper's Yachts to have some fun looking at boats. One of the guys who works there explained "two-foot-itis," which is wanting a boat just a little bit bigger than you already have. He said it keeps them in business! After looking at quite a few boats in varying prices and sizes, we came to the conclusion that we really like our boat. Unless we win the lottery. Then all bets are off. For what we have invested in the boat, and the condition that it's in, we are very happy with it.

Even though this season isn't quite done, we are talking about the plans for next year. We hope to make some big water trips to the Apostle Islands or Lake of the Woods. We are planning to keep our boat at the park-and-launch at the Windmill Marina in Afton. The staff has been great throughout the Summer helping us in and out of the water. We also think that keeping our boat rigged and mast-up, has allowed us to spend the time sailing, rather than rigging, had we decided to trailer it.

The winter cover that was made by Ship Shape Canvas arrived this week, and so we test-fitted it this weekend, and it fits great. Today Donavan and I sailed in winds that averaged 15 knots. Donavan says: "Lori is far more comfortable on the boat. Even when the boat heeled over a couple of times, once getting the jib wet, the other dipping the toe rails under the water line, there was no panic. I'm happy that she's far more comfortable than she was at the beginning of the year."  For the record, I wouldn't call it "panic." It was more of a intense response to my stomach feeling like it was flipping over and exiting out of my mouth.

We will be sad to close up the boat, since our lives have revolved around sailing this Summer. Interests and hobbies often change over a lifetime, but I feel like this one will stick for a long time. We've met great people, seen beautiful scenery, and spent time with some of our favorite people. The boat, and sailing, has given us more than we anticipated.

In the next few weeks we're looking forward to watching the changing colors along the St. Croix Valley.

Donavan at the helm in early September.

It looks like there's a tiny sailboat that is headed straight for Donavan's head!

Barker's Island

In mid-August we de-masted and de-rigged the Donovan Too, and trailered her to Superior, Wisconsin, where we spent the weekend sailing in the big blue Lake Superior, along with about 50 sailors from the Northern Lights Sailing Club. The weather was perfect--sunny, 75-80 degrees, wind was steady, around 10-15 knots. Being on the big open waters is a very different sailing experience than the small lakes. For one thing, not having land on the horizon takes perspective out of the equation. I was sure some of those huge freighters were tiny little boats off in the distance. It was great to stay on the same tack for 7-8 miles, heeled over up to 30 degrees. There's not an inclinometer on the boat, so Sunday afternoon when our friend Wilbur was at the helm, Donavan  downloaded an app for his phone, and found out that at about 30 degrees the rub rails are almost in the water.

It was great to meet new people from the club, and catch up with others who we had already had the opportunity to meet.

Most of the photos taken were at the marina, since we didn't really think about photos while we're sailing.

Relaxing at Barker's Island Marina

Lift bridge in Duluth

More relaxing at the marina

The sunsets were gorgeous

Jane had a fun weekend, too.

More Sailing

Donavan and I sailed both Saturday and Sunday last weekend, and yesterday as well, at our regular place the Windmill Marina in Afton on the St. Croix. Last weekend was especially good sailing weather--steady wind, not too hot. We frequently got up to 6-7 knots last Saturday. Sunday was a little slower, but not by much. Yesterday the wind dropped away on  a few occasions, so we didn't get as far, but it made for a very relaxing pace.

I noticed last weekend that I didn't get that panicky feeling in my stomach when we heeled over. I think I'm getting used to the feeling. I'm relieved that it's getting easier, because all of that adrenaline rush is exhausting.

Yesterday I taught Jane how to use a winch. I had her help me turn the winch after we tacked/came about, so that the jib was taut. She expressed some boredom yesterday, and so I think the more we involve her in the sailing part, the less bored she'll feel. And it's good to have a little swabbie on board who knows how to help.

Today it's raining and forecasts say thunderstorms. So Donavan's plan to go out sailing again with friends have been put on hold. Jane and I had plans to do laundry, see friends, and catch up on all the things that don't do themselves when we're on the sailboat. I love getting away on the sailboat, and how it forces us to just sit around together and enjoy the outdoors. We might run out of clean dishes and laundry in the process, but that's okay.

Fourth of July Trip to Lake Pepin

Things don't always go as planned. That was the case from July 4-8. Although we had some technical difficulties with a part that connects the jib to the boat, we still managed to spend some time sailing on Lake Pepin, celebrating the 4th of July watching big fire works, trying out the dinghy for the first time, and spending a lot of relaxing time together. The heat and humidity crept up on Saturday and Sunday, and both days we made trips to the Dairy Queen. My brother and sister-in-law joined us on Saturday (yay!) and did some sailing with us.

We planned on motoring the boat both ways, down and back from Afton, but when the connector thing broke on Thursday afternoon, Donavan hitched a ride back to town very early on Friday morning with a friend to get a part, and his truck. We didn't know if the part could be fixed, and thought it would be better to trailer the boat back to be on the safe side. It all turned out okay because Donavan was able to replace the part, and so we had a chance to do some sailing, but it meant that we had to take down the mast and sails and boom and jib, etc., etc. It took a few hours to get that accomplished on Sunday.

One of my favorite parts was on the trip down, going through the lock and dam #3, and also going under the bridges in Red Wing. Here's photos of the trip down. I quit taking photos after we arrived. We were busy just enjoying the time, and then it got too hot to do anything but try to stay cool.

Lori and Jane at the tiller. Jane even took a turn later on down the river, and she did a great job.

The water level was very high, and we saw houses in this state all along the river. 

Since our sail is too high to pass under the bridge in Prescott, we had to radio the person at the tower, and they lifted the bridge, just for us. And the traffic was all kinds of backed up. 

Right after we got through the lift bridge, there was a railroad bridge that also had to be lifted.

This shows the railroad bridge going down.

Sometimes motoring down a river gets a little boring, according to Jane. Good thing she had a book along. 

While we waited for Lock and Dam #3 to let some barges go through (for about two hours), and Northbound traffic as well, we anchored and Donavan took a nap. Although the hole in his t-shirt was not intentional, it probably provided good ventilation. 

Here we were pulling out of the Lock and Dam. We were one of the last boats, on purpose, so that the big fast motor boats could get going. There were about 20 motorboats with us in the lock. We all held on to ropes that kept us next to the wall you see in the photo, and also kept us apart from hitting other boats, while the water level dropped.

This was our view coming through Red Wing. 

Jane had the best seat in the house while we motored in to Lake Pepin.

You can just barely see the frayed metal pieces on the forestay that connects to the roller furling. In other words, look just to the left of where the red and white rope is coming out of the rectangle hole of the boat. There's so many small connecting parts on a sail boat. This part just happened to be one of them that keeps the mast up. Pretty important part.

Lori at the Helm

Donavan and I went sailing yesterday, just the two of us. We really enjoy sailing with friends and family and usually have a few others on board with us, so it was a little different experience than usual. The weather was perfect for sailing--steady winds, temps around 80, and just enough cloud cover to shade the sun. And because the water levels are so high right now, there is a "no wake" rule for the time being, so the shores aren't washed away. So the big power boats that typically fly by and create big wakes have to keep their speeds at a minimum. That made me happy. When we first arrived at the marina, Donavan installed the new bimini, while I organized the cabin. (We're planning a 4-day sailing vacation over the 4th of July with my daughter Jane, and I'd like to at least start with an organized space, even though it will only last a minute or two.) A fellow Northern Lights Sailing Club member parks his sail boat next to us at the park-and-launch area of the marina. So we got to chat a bit with him while he worked on his boat. I'm finding that sailors are very friendly people.

Right out of the marina, Donavan had me steer the tiller and turn into the wind so he could pull up the main sail. We shut off the engine of the boat, and I stayed at the tiller while Donavan hung on to the "main sheet," which is the rope that connects to the main sail. Ropes are called "lines" or "sheets"  or "halyards" on a sailboat. I'm not sure what makes a rope one or the other. Since Donavan had the main sail covered, that left me with just figuring out the tiller and how to steer and come about. A couple of weeks back I tried to sail, but there was barely any wind, and it kept gusting and changing directions, so didn't get much practice at all. Yesterday felt like my first real sailing experience. Most of the time we sailed at around 3 knots, but at times were up to 5 to 6 knots. We pulled out the front sail (the jib) for a while, but then the wind started picking up, and I started to feel like the boat was out of my control. The wind was behind us, and so I had difficulty going the direction I wanted us to go, without completely heeling over. I am still getting used to that feeling. When the wind picked up, Donavan would let out the main sail, which allowed the boat to be more upright, but it still felt uncomfortable to me with the jib out. Everything went quicker, and so I had to react quicker with the tiller. Since this stuff is not intuitive to me, I decided we needed to pull the jib in again, and just focus on learning how to sail and steer.

After an hour of sailing, I was exhausted. My brain was tired from all of that coordinating rope/tiller/sail/wind. And watching the arrow on top of the mast while looking out for boats, and remembering to tighten my core muscles so my lower back doesn't hurt, was a lot going on for me. That makes me feel old and dumb just writing that. I asked Donavan to take over as captain again. Let's be honest. He still needed to captain even when I was steering. I am told "helmsman" is the correct term since being a captain requires knowing some crap that I don't. I think that sailing with your significant other tells a lot about the relationship. I definitely had to trust what he was saying, and when things got rough, we just handled it calmly. I understand that there can be a lot of yelling on a sail boat, and have even seen sailing lessons advertised as "learn to sail, and no yelling."  Although I can see the necessity for projecting your voice towards crew members to be heard over winds and waves, yelling orders shouldn't be the norm. And that's definitely not Donavan's teaching style.  So we had a really good day, and despite my frustrations with myself for being so freaked out by heeling over, I am looking forward to sailing again soon, and having a new skill to learn.

We sailed for a couple of more hours, with Donavan at the helm. I had the chance to take a few photos while sailing. As you can see in the photo of my feet, the phrase white-knuckling-it also applies to toe knuckles! The wind became gustier at the end of the afternoon, and it was approaching dinner time, so we headed back to the marina, and parked the boat. We went to the Sail Away Café for dinner, where we had great food on their outdoor patio. There was even live guitar music that kept us there for dessert.

First solo sail and no fail

Today was my first attempt at solo sailing. I was able to finish up the repairs to the rudder a day early, and Lori had some stuff going on this morning so she couldn't join me. With light winds, I thought it was the best opportunity to try solo sailing. It does make you think a little bit more about making sure all the lines, and everything, are where they're supposed to be. After leaving the marina I headed North up the river, but within an hour the winds had completely stopped. I had a little lunch and decided I might go back and do a little maintenance on the winches. But when I started approaching the marina, I could see the flags were fluttering, so I headed South past the marina, and put the sails back up. I was able to sail for a couple of hours, sailing 3-4 knots in the light wind, and getting used to tacking by myself. Then it was time to pack it up for the day and head back in.

I video taped some of it, and may post some of it here. Tomorrow Lori and I are planning to go back to the boat, with forecasted winds 8-10 miles per hour. With just the two of us, we can spend some time and get Lori at the helm of the boat, and start getting the feel of sailing.

Lake Pepin Trip 1.0

Early Friday morning I met up with friends Heidi, Troy, and Bradley at the boat in Afton. After getting the boat launched, Heidi took off and met up later with us that evening in Lake City. My original estimate was an 8 am departure, and 6 pm arrival.  We ended up getting to Lake City by 4:30. There was virtually no wind. We did try to put up sails on the North side of Lake Pepin, but when the wind meter said 0.0, we didn't bother with the sails.

On the way down, everything went well. Bradley made us cinnamon raisin french toast for breakfast, and we cooked up some brats on the grill for lunch. We ended up using only 3.5 gallons of gas all the way down. One of the concerns was the river current on the return trip. After leaving the St. Croix and leaving the Mississippi, we picked up about a knot of speed. Knowing that the river between Prescott and somewhere North of Lock and Dam #3, the currents were going to be the strongest, we decided it would be smart to try heading up-river for a bit to determine if it was realistic to make the return trip in the time allotted. So we turned the boat around and found at half-throttle we could still make up-river at about 2.5 knots.

When we reached Lock #3 at Welch, we radio-ed in, and the lock master allowed us to just float, rather than hang onto a line. He gestured that we'd only be going down about 8-10 inches with his hands. I thought he was kidding, but turns out he wasn't. Normally it's a 6-8 foot transition. I believe we only went down about 8 inches before the gates on the other side opened up. When we arrived at Lake Pepin, we met up with some of the members of the Northern Lights Sailing Club. We pulled up to our slip, met up with Heidi, and got some dinner before Troy, Heidi, and Bradley headed home.

Saturday morning after breakfast and coffee, the club met up at 9 am and figured out who would be sailing on which boat for the day. At first nobody signed up for the morning shift on the Donovan Too, and thought I'd try solo sailing. But one of the organizers had not signed up, so she planned on joining me, and another club member called and was delayed, and ended up joining us too. We had a really nice sail for a couple of hours before lunch.

coming after morning sail

When we returned, Lori and Jane greeted us entering the harbor. After a quick lunch, and a quick swap of a couple of passengers, we headed back out and sailed the rest of the afternoon. Jane spent most of the time nested in blankets and pillows in the v-berth with a movie, while the grown-ups enjoyed the sail and had great conversations. Throughout Friday night and Saturday there was a fair amount of discussion about possible storms coming Saturday night and Sunday, including mention of 40 mph winds. After we had dinner on Saturday, we decided to move the boat to a different slip in the harbor that was more protected from the wind. We also put a tarp up over the cabin to shed some of the rain. We did have some wind and rain over night, but nothing near the predictions.

wind and rain

Sunday morning there was some light rain, and winds were blowing about 20 mph. The club decided not to go out sailing, so most of the boats were loaded up and headed home. Our friend Wilbur arrived in Lake City around 10 am, and transitioned Lori and Jane off the boat, and Wilbur on for the return trip to Afton. After getting Lori and Jane on their way home, Wilbur and I got more fuel. I noticed for some reason the fuel line was disconnected from the fuel tank. I grabbed the line and reconnected it. We motored around to the gas dock and about half-way the motor quit, as if it had run out of fuel. I checked the fuel and we still had a couple of gallons left. I tried many times to get it to start, but didn't. Thinking there was something wrong with the 6-gallon tank, I changed over to the smaller 3-gallon tank. I quickly got the motor re-started, pulled up to the gas dock, and topped off the tank. Wanting to run on the larger 6-gallon tank, I switched back over to that one. We iced up the cooler and were ready for the return trip.

Coffee or Tea ????

So we headed out and when we got just outside the harbor, we were broadside to the wind blowing about 20 mph, the motor quit again. I tried several times to re-start it without luck. We were quickly being blown into the sea wall of the marina, which is essentially a big berm of rocks. It was less than a minute from the time the motor quit to us being against the wall. I switched the line back over to the smaller tank again, and got the motor started about the time the boat was being pushed sideways against the wall. I put the motor in reverse and opened up to full throttle. As we backed out, the motor was coming out of the water because of the waves. Once we got the boat out far enough, we turned it in the right direction and headed North. Both Wilbur and I were fairly sure that we hadn't hit too hard against the rocks, but I did have Wilbur check all over the cabin of the boat for any leaks. One of the things that I knew did happen, was that the rudder had been pushed back and the prop had gotten into the rudder itself, and shaved off about a 1/2" by 6" area on the rudder. After we gained some composure, we threw the sails up and rode the waves to the other end of the lake, doing about 5.5 knots, since the wind was directly at our backs.

some of the boat repairs that need to be done 

We were able to sail until the point where the channel was too narrow for sailing. We motored our way up through Red Wing with a mix of rain and sun, before spending the night at the Treasure Island Marina, which was about 6 hours after we left Lake City. We grilled up some more brats, corn on the cob, before settling in and relaxing. Wilbur broke out his accordion and played for a bit. We left about 8:30 on Monday morning. When we got to the draw bridge and lift bridge in Prescott, Wilbur commented that there were millions of dollars of infrastructure being used just for us, and were stopping traffic too. We made some lunch, and finished up the last 11 miles to the Windmill Marina in Afton at about 2:30 pm on Monday.

After getting the boat back up on the trailer, we started doing damage assessment. We had chipped some paint off the keel, a couple of scrapes down the side from the bow to the keel below the water line, a couple of small chunks of fiberglass taken out of the keel, and some smudges of slime above the water line where we had scraped against the rocks the day before. While there are some repairs that need to be done, they are relatively minor, compared to what could have happened.

The return trip took about 12 hours, and headed down-river took about 8. We've already planned a second trip to Pepin in July, so Lori and Jane can go through the lock and dam. We're all looking forward to that.

It was a great weekend for us. We enjoyed meeting more people in the Northern Lights Sailing Club, and are looking forward to a fun Summer full of sailing.

Leaving early in the morning for 4 days on the boat

Early in the morning I will be sailing the boat from Afton to Lake City on Lake Pepin, which is about 45 miles down river. Then spending 2 days sailing on Lake Pepin, then sailing back to Afton on Sunday and Monday, or that is the plan anyway.  Lori and Jane will join me at Lake City on Saturday morning and will be staying on the boat overnight. I will have a different crew there and back, and each of the 3 to 4 sails we make out of Lake City. The boat is ready as I can make it and I am excited for the weekend. The weather looks ok but not great. I will try and post some over the weekend.

Fifth time out and 6.7 knots

We have been able to get out the last few weekends, one or two times each weekend. This weekend was cool, with it trying to rain most of the time. But on Sunday after being hoisted twice to the top of the mast to fix the mast light, Bradly and I did get out and sailed for a few hours. We ended up sailing up to the bridge up river about 3 miles or so. After getting in to some good wind finally, we were able to sail almost all of the way to the bridge without tacking and kept our speed at about 5 plus knots most of the time. A few times we  sailed at 6 knots, and at one point made it to 6.7 knots.

Over the past few weeks I have been making small changes to the boat and trailer. I found out the old solar panel was not working and got a new one, which I will mount on the front hatch since it can be walked on. I also added a tiller lock. At this point I think I might be able to sail single handed. I hope to try that one of these days soon. Today I built a new cabinet for the electrical  upgrade #2 and a rack to hold charts and log books.

Rack for books, charts, etc.

New electrical cabinet.

For the most part most everything is getting done and working well . In two weeks I will be spending 4 days and 3 night on the boat, and best as I can tell it is ready to go. Jane and Lori will be going with me for 2 days and one night of that trip. I will be sailing about 45 miles down river to Lake City on Lake Pepin, then sail around the lake for the weekend, and then return back to Afton starting Sunday afternoon through Monday. I will have a few different crews from Friday to Monday. I am looking forward to seeing how I do, as well as how the boat performs.

First sail and no fail!!!!!

We got out with the Donovan Too on Sunday with some 15 knot winds with some stronger gusts.  Maybe not the best wind for  first sail.We ended up reefing down the main and jib. We learned a few things that need to be changed, but overall it went well. I did not bring the extension for the trailer this time but will bring it next time to keep all the truck tires out of the water. It looks like the old depth guage and knot meter are a bit off, but do work. I am going to need to add add a genoa lead track for the roller furler. I thought I might, but till we got out, was not 100% sure. I found the one I think I want.

All in all I am very happy with the boat and how it is working I plan to get back out in two weeks to do more sailing, which will be one of many days and weekends we hope to have on the boat this year.

doing some final rigging 

Jane and Wilbur came with too.

Someone needs a hair cut

What is wrong with this photo?

Snow snow snow on April 23 but better weather coming this weekend.

Where the Hell is Spring!!??

On a good year, there was a chance we could be in the water by now. But at the rate Winter is holding on this year, it looks like at least a couple of more weeks before the ice is off the water, which makes for a couple of crabby sailors. There's lots of things to update about since our last post. First off, I squeaked by passing the ASA 105 Coastal Navigation class. I still need to work on a few things, like set drift and a running fix. Some of that I will do in the coming months, or at least before I take the ASA 106 Advanced Coastal Cruising class, a three + day class on Lake Superior.

We've finalized on a location for the boat. In the St. Croix Valley, in Afton, Minnesota, we secured a park and launch space at the Windmill Marina. This will be a little bit further than some parts of Minnetonka for us, but I can leave the boat on the trailer, mast up, and ready to sail. We can be sailing quicker at this location, despite the longer mileage, since we won't have to spend time rigging the mast and sails. We can store the boat there during the Winter, as well. A park and launch space is considerably less cost than a slip directly in the water. And it's a nice location with lots of places to sail up and down the river, near Lake Pepin.

We are planning a number of sailing trips this Summer. The first one will be the second weekend in June on Lake Pepin, with the Northern Lights Sailing Club. I plan to take the Friday off of that week, and sail the boat from Afton to Lake City, about 43 miles, and one lock. I'm hoping to make the trip down the river in about 10 hours. Being that I'll have more than 10 hours of daylight, unlike the trip from Pepin to Mobile, as well as warmer temperatures, it should be easier. Then we plan to sail Saturday and Sunday that weekend on Lake Pepin, then load the boat on the trailer, and bring it back to Afton.

We got a dinghy from West Marine when they had a close out sale at their Bloomington location. It can roll up and be stored on board, or towed behind the boat, and even put a small motor on it if we wanted. Jane has declared it her boat, and is working on names for it. It should be useful for getting to shore when we anchor out, or can even take it to some of the local lakes here in town, and do some fishing.

Jane looks right at home in her dinghy, in the living room.

I've been working on A couple of things on the boat. I came across an inexpensive roller furling that was still new in the box, and found a place that would modify my existing sail very inexpensively. If I had to go out and purchase everything, it would have been thousands of dollars, instead of hundreds. The roller furling will make sailing a lot easier for everyone, and one of the last things I wanted to do, so I am able to single-handedly sail the boat. Before we decided on putting the boat at the Windmill Marina, I had built a trailer extension for easier launching of the boat. It allowed for 7 more feet. My guess is we won't need that because of the ramp available at the marina, but it may be useful at other locations. I've started my final punch list. Even though there's nearly 30 items on the list, most of them are small, and will take very little time to complete. I just need a couple of days above 32 degrees to wrap everything up, not the predicted snow and cold that will hit in the next couple of days.

One of the other things I was able to complete was replacing the decals and striping on the deck. It really cleans up the boat, in its look and feel.

Old Decals

New Deacals

New striping

Donovan Too

After hearing back from the previous boat owners about the story behind the name Donovan Too, we knew we couldn't change it. The story goes that there once was a little dog named Donovan who lived nearby the childhood home of the female-half of the couple who owned the boat. Her younger brother apparently noted on several occasions that he really liked the dog who was named Donovan. Because of this memory, into her adulthood and throughout their marriage, they would commonly refer to things that they liked as Donovans. The couple named their first boat Donovan, and when they sold it and got the Hunter 23, they decided it was a "Donovan Too."

I also have something that I like named Donavan. So I've begun to think of things as Donavans, as well. We really liked the story behind the name, and so Donovan Too it remains. We are grateful to the previous owners that they took the time to share the story with us, and we hope to take care of the boat as well as they did. The sailing community seems to be a friendly group so far.

First Mate joins this blog

After sharing my opinions last night with Donavan that sometimes the blog feels like a technical manual, he suggested that I become a contributing writer. So I took the hint, and here I am. I have enjoyed the two seasons of sailing that we've done, and hope to learn a lot more as time goes on, but I haven't taken any classes or sailed across the Gulf of Mexico like Donavan has. One of my favorite parts of sailing is the serene feeling I get laying on the boat deck near the front pointy part (there's a marine term for that, but I don't remember it) and listening to the water slap against the sides of the boat, and the wind against the sails. The other favorite part is the simple way we get to spend time together on the boat--no distractions, working together to make the boat go, watching the world go by.

My 9-year-old daughter likes sailing too, and I want to soak up every minute of time with her right now. I am acutely aware of how quickly she will probably prefer spending time with friends, to spending time on a boat in cramped quarters with us. Maybe we'll be lucky and she'll continue to want to join us, but regardless of her developmental stage, she will grow up and have her own life in a matter of years. And like every parent, I feel both excited and sad about that, all wrapped up together.

Back to the sailing blog, I won't be using technical words, because I don't know them. I've learned that ropes are lines, a toilet is a head, duck your head when someone says "coming about," and don't sit on the ropes that are laying all over the seats. I know how to steer the boat into the wind while the sails are being put up, and I can put up the sails when the boat is being steered into the wind. I have learned about myself that I have a hard time believing that the boat will not tip over, even when it's leaning veeeerrrryyy far over.  My inner ear is screaming at me that I will be falling over soon, and my stomach is all tense, but my brain is saying it's fine, relax, not going to tip, and even if it does just swim to shore. I hope this internal conflict resolves itself, because dealing with the tippy-ness is a big part of sailing. I'm confident I'll learn to handle it.

Thanks Donavan for letting me join your blog!  Any regrets yet???

Now this is how to get the job done fast 

First video shot with new GoPro Hero3 sailing video to come as soon as the water is not so hard, most call it ice.

Progress, Progress, Progress

I made a bunch of progress over this weekend. The bottom paint went on sale, reduced all the way down to 123$ a gallon. Luckily I only needed one gallon. So I was able to sand, and clean, and put two coats of bottom paint on the boat, so that part of the boat is ready for the water. Earlier this week I was able to find a company that will remanufacture the Hunter decals that originally came with the boat. I ordered new decals and striping. Some of the striping I had to take off when I did some of the gelcoat repair, so I'll be able to replace all of it with new. I was also able to make room and get the motor up on a stand to test it out. I cleaned the plugs, and on the third pull, it fired right up. There's a lot of smoke yet, but it seems to run well. Maybe later next week I can put it outside and let it run, and see if the smoke will stop.

I put an order in to West Marine this week for some of the final parts for mounting the grill, relocating the halyards to the cockpit, and some other parts. One of the things I finally did was to finalize the location of the grill, and the mounting system I'm going to be using. The mounts will be multipurpose. This week, I also picked up a GoPro camera, which is a very small waterproof camera that will make it easy to record the sailing that we do, and can be mounted on the same hardware as the grill. This particular camera can be used for things like skydiving, bungee jumping, surfing, and other high-action recordings (none of which, we'll be doing). I did record myself painting the second coat of the bottom paint. I am going to edit it, and may post it, in fast forward, so everyone can watch paint dry.

Fun with gelcoat

I am making progress on the gelcoat repairs. I have most of them done now. I need to touch up a couple of small spots. I've never worked with gelcoat before, and it's taken a little bit of learning to figure it out, but I think I've gotten it. I finished up the refinishing of the wood work for this year and there are a couple of spots I might strip down next winter. The only stuff left that I can finish before the boat goes back on the trailer is bottom paint and some of the lettering and decals. One of the things that is an open question is the motor. I don't have enough room in the garage right now to see if it runs or see if it needs work. Hopefully that will be soon.

When the boat is back outside and on the trailer I will have a about a day of work to be ready for the sailing season, or I hope that it will be ready anyway.  I have classes most Tuesdays and many Saturdays over the next couple of months. I am looking to do some racing this year also. 

Before and after sanding but no finish yet



old depth gauge

new Garmin 431s

repaired gelcoat splits

 more repairs