Bristol-Blue Lake Michigan Sailing Adventures

Strictly Sail Chicago Panorama View For the last several years my wife and I have been trying to get to Strictly Sail in Chicago.  Lets face it in when 9 degrees and it looks like this outside your not super motivated to go outside.  Problem has been each and every time over the last 3 years we have decided to go.  Something has come up to stop us family commitments, friends or sickness.   This year we finally made it.  Was it amazing yes.  Their was a lot to see and a lot to do but is is a one day event I would not plan on making it the whole weekend.  My advise is go early.  We got their right when it opened Saturday morning.  This is the time to start looking at the boats.  Later in the day the lines can get to be to long.  We spent most of the day going through and checking out all the boats.  BB took Myles back to the hotel for nap and I got to stay and go through a few more boats and pick out the ones I thought she should really see.  The kids area had a great boun

Kraken gets a new working jib.  In the pile of parts and pieces that came with my Typhoon there was a working jib Sail Rite kit.  The previous owner had purchased a few kits from Sail Rite.  He had sewn up a storm jib and and oversize mainsail.  He just hadn't gotten to this one yet.   So, this winter's adventure has been to sew my first sail.  I've done plenty of canvas work before on my previous boats and plan to do some for Kraken this summer but, this is my first sail. Basting seams Sewing one of the larger seams. Ooooo  String I could not get my sewing machine to sew the correct zig zag pattern for the sail.  Turns out I don't have that cam.  So I took the kit to my parents for new years.  My Mom has a great sewing machine and an large kitchen island.  Well that it putting it mildly it's the largest kitchen island I've ever seen anywhere.  We spread out and set to work.  There were no shortage of interested helpers.  My Dad helped feed the

The last sail of the season.   Heading out 15th trip to the head that was a lot of lemonade. This year the last sail of the season was just me and Myles.  BB was off on a trip to Ceder Point with some friends so we packed up and headed for the lake.  This was our first trip just the two of us out sailing.  Sailing alone with a 3 year old is a little like sailing with one hand behind your back.  One of the greatest things about the Typhoon is I can reach him wherever he is in the cockpit with out letting go of the tiller.  It was a great trip for the two of us and a good learning experience for us both.  My advice to anyone planning on trying this is to think ahead. Safety first PFDs and a Jack line on the kid.  I use my main sheet for this purpose because it is quite long.  Bring plenty for the child to do and lots of snacks and drinks.  Drinks with children lead to the need for bathroom breaks so be sure to have the head accessible.  Include the child in the sailing.

Sailing Lake Kalamazoo. We had a great fall Saturday here in West Michigan.  The sun was shinning and the weather was superb. We very well could have gone out to the big lake and sailed.  Instead we decided to pull out from our dock at Tower Marine and put up the sails.  This is the second time we have sailed Lake Kalamazoo.  It is very shallow in areas and you really have to get to know the lake.  Watching the eyes of the other big boats owners turn into saucer as we turn out of the marked channel and into the lake is just great.  We started with talking with people around are marina and getting some local knowledge.  Looking at the lake on Google satellite view then pulled the charts for lake K-Zoo from the NOAH web site .  With the map and charts we where able to link up some visual land marks with water depth data.  From their it was experimentation.  We started and worked northwest to southeast with our depth sounder expecting to sail from center dock at Tower to the large

Our second trip out was a great success.  The 1st trip was okay but a bit breezy for us so it was cut a bit short. So off  for a sail on Lake Michigan.     This post is just eye candy. Moving along Pillows Tell tails look good. Snack Time TY Cabin Kid Kicked Back After a bit of sailing we had enough of the black flies and headed for the beach. From the water. Stern from the water line.  Swimming to the beach. On the beach "Get Kraken" in the background. Back at home port.

This was our first time launching the Typhoon off a trailer. BB and I had launched my old Catalina 22 off a trailer before but we figured this was a bit different the dory being a full keel boat.  I talked to a John at Tower Marine about the best places to launch in Saugatuck. He recommended launching at the  down town ramp next to The Star of Saugatuck .  The Star is a large paddle wheel river boat that cruises up and down Lake Kalamzoo and out to Lake Michigan.  When I went in to pay the ramp fee I asked the ladies at the counter about the ramp and water depth.  The drought this year was foremost on my mind and water levels are down here.  They said they didn't really know and in all their time working their had never seen a sailboat launch from the ramp.  So I paid the fee trusting John's knowledge of the area and we checked the ramp out more closely.  The launch went really well. So here are the basic stages we went through for those of you new to launching a sailboat at a