Bristol-Blue Lake Michigan Sailing Adventures

Just out for a sail on a nice clear day.  Lake Kalamzoo was fun as usual.  A little lunch and a bit of sailing.  We even pulled out the small spinnaker and played with it for a bit.  Check out the pictures below. Cloud Through the Spinnaker. J A wrinkle in TY. Look at that. Mom said smile.  The Headless helms woman.

Trip 3 out for the season already.  Most boats are still sitting in their cradles here in Michigan.  They are preparing and the boat yard is full of sanders, ladders, paint brushes, rollers and saws.   I have defiantly found one advantage of the smaller boat.  Less work more time on the water.   I have taken the Typhoon out 3 times already this year!  Our last big boat we took out 6 times the whole season. This boat is working great for sailing.    This last trip out was a blast to.  The wind was stiff but shifty.  Changing 20 degrees at times as I crossed the lake.  The toe rail was buried in the lake several times as I crossed the surface of the lake.  When I got back to the dock the deck and port lights where still wet.  A sure sign you have had a good day sailing.  I even pulled out my smart phone and tried out my Sailing Tactician App .  This app has been fun to play with.  How accurate it is I'm not really sure.  It said I my max speed was 6 knots?  Seems high.   I

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