Bristol-Blue Lake Michigan Sailing Adventures

Today after a very long, long week the boat was launched.  Just what I needed a break.  Sunday I was able to get away and rig "Kraken up".  The sails are on the motor is running good with the new impeller and tune up.  Finally something is going right this week.  The new sail fits perfectly thanks sailrite  and it even fit in the sail bag all that sewing has paid off.  Hope to get out again soon and hopefully get some better video.  Maybe even try out the new mast head spinnaker. New Jib fitting with out snow today. New Fore Deck Bag. All packed up for the night.

Naming and Season Readying. So we are getting more done for this seasons launch.  We did some design work on the boat name and cut-it and readied it for the boat.  Last weekend we took it down and stuck it on.  It's looking good so far.  Computer design Cut out. sticker 1 Sticker 2 Naming  After we got the name on I buffed out the hull then we broke for lunch.   I started working on the rigging.  This year I'm mounting a mast head spinnaker.  My little helper took a nap. Siesta Time.   New mast head arrangement.  I manage my topping lift from the boom like so. Topping Lift Control on boom.  The next weekend BB and stepped the mast and I finished rigging.  I even did a real quick rough sail fitting for the new jib and spinnaker in between the snow flakes.  Brr. Kiddo on board. Mast up Fitting of new jib. Mast head spinnaker fitting in the sock. Spinnaker fitting. Ready for the water.

Well it finally happened, our old sewing machine died.  I was sewing along making a new  foredeck bag  from sailrite .  When it went chunk bending the needle side ways.  I was rather surprised.   I was just about to sew on the zipper.  So I changed the needle out and went to give it a try again.  Chunk.  One layer of sunbrella and a zipper did it in.  After all the other abuses I've laid on the machine I couldn't believe it.  With some fiddling I figured out that the bobbin was not turning.  Off to the sewing machine repair shop. Turns out I had stripped a gear up in the machine head.  It was not worth repairing.  So we searched for a replacement machine.  After watching e bay, and a checking out a few other places we decided to go with  a new Singer Stylus.  It does not seem quite as heavy as the old machine but it has lots of buttons and does lots of cool stitches.  It even makes a cute beeping noise at you when you try to sew through to many layers at once.  But it should do

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