Bristol-Blue Lake Michigan Sailing Adventures

22 inches of snow and just a little on the cover looks like I got a steep enough pitch on the cover this year to get the snow to slide off!

Yesterday we got some wicked wind and our fist snow fall of the season.  With winds blowing at about 46 mph I thought I'd go down and check on Kraken.  The cover system is holding up pretty well and with all the other bigger boats around mine the brunt of the wind is being blocked.  A good deal in all.  Still it is  amazing how fast we go from 70 degree days to the 30's overnight.  Maybe will be ice boating this year before Christmas!  That would be great. Here a quick video of the conditions.

Each year I struggle with the end of the season cover method.  This is perhaps due to the versatility of the cape dory Typhoon.  Some years I drop the mast other years, I leave it up. This changing back and forth between covering with the mast up or the mast down changes the process immensely.  With the prediction of a harsh winter coming from the weatherman this year I have opted to go with the mast up method.  This method allows me to get a steeper pitch on the cover hopefully allowing for the snow to slide off the tarp.  To accomplish this, I raise the boom at the mast so it slopes to the stern then use the spinnaker pole to slope down to the bow.  After I strategically place a few 2x3's to support the center of the tent structure I'm ready to tarp it.  This year I picked up two tarps thinking I'd do one forward of the mast and one aft but they turned out to be too small. I had to get a larger one and cut it down the center for the mast.  Then,...

Tower Marine pulled Kraken for me mid-September this year and it has been raining ever since.  Sunday after it stopped raining I got down and pulled all the sails and cushions for the winter.   I have to get down and do a little more cleaning and pull the motor this weekend.  I'm hoping to get the cabin squeaky clean so when spring rolls around I'm ready for a early launch again this year.  This year I'm planning on leaving the mast up and tarping off over the boom and spinnaker pole hopefully giving my self a bit more pitch so the snow slides off as they are predicting a rough winter for us. It all fits in the back of a Ford focus. Sun setting on the end of a great season. Drying stuff out in the garage. A quick end of season cleaning before stashing the cushions under the guest bead for the winter helps.  It is amazing the condition of these cushions after 38 years they still look new with a little Armor All.

Finally some wind to sail with! We got out and clipped right along. These are truly the conditions the Typhoon thrives in.  The new Genoa may have had us over canvases at times but it was a lot of fun.  You can hear Myles in one of the videos asking if we are going to flip over.   As you watch the video you will notice the tree cover and shore line structures blocks and create wind patterns and it was quite gusty across the lake making the sailing more challenging at times.  Over all we sailed for about an hour and a half.  Not bad considering the constant changing conditions across Lake Kalamazoo.  I am hoping to get out to Lake Michigan again this weekend but when these videos were made the lake big lake was churning up 4-6 footers. 

Venetian Festival festival is a big fundraiser for local charities put on by the Cow Hill Yacht Club .  It starts out Friday evening with a kid's tent down town.  (Later the tent becomes a beer tent.) BB took Myles to that while I messed around in my garage. (see side note at bottom) Saturday was rather gloomy all day and we had friends over.  Then cleared up in the evening just in time for the boat parade.  We had planned to watch the parade from the marina with our friends but they ended up heading home early. All that swimming I think tired them out.  So we headed out for a little motor ride and anchored in the moring area with the other boats.  This was a super choice the boat parade circuled us.  The theme this year was Vikings and the boat decorating competion was fierce. A crowded anchorage area. At the start of the parade our local fire boat spraying fountains of water. Soon the Vkings arive. Morgan Out Island with g...

Kiddo manning the helm after a sail.

This year we visited Bay City Michigan for the Tall ship gathereing.  It was not truly intentional we just happened to be in the area camping and saw all the billboards along the highway.  So we figured, what an opportunity!   We started the morning by heading to the beach at Saginaw Bay State Park where we were camping.  From here you can see the ships under sail in the bay.  They were pretty far out in the distance and only one had its sails up. (See previous post regarding lake wind conditions).  After lunch at the camp site, we headed into Bay City for the grand show.   The ships were suppose to come in between 1-4pm The Denis Sullivan was the first to arrive just before 2:00.  We watched from the break wall as the crew masterfully brought the ship past us and along side the wall.  This is one crew that has communication down to a science.  Behind the Denis Sullivan came another blue hulled ship and docked ...