Bristol-Blue Lake Michigan Sailing Adventures

  This winter I decided it was time to add that sunroof/skylight I've wanted since first installing the bimini on Woodstock. The bimini is the shade canvas over the cockpit. Its function is to keep the sun off the sailors on long trips, and it has been well worth it over the past few years. The only real problem with it is seeing the wind vane at the top of the mast. When we remade the canvas last year we discussed adding a window then but decided to hold off and make sure everything was fitted correctly. This decision allowed me to determine exactly how large a window as well as the proper location to install the window. The window needs to be positioned to allow the pilot to drive the boat and see the wind vane without having to yoga around the support poles and lifelines. Before removing the bimini from the boat this fall I placed a few light marks with a sharpie to indicate where the window needs to fall.  Using a T square I am tracing out the lines and transferring it so both

Genoa Sleeve Cover Repair This season sail cleaning and canvas repairs are the order of business. A few years back I sewed this Sailrite Sleeve for my foresails and I really like it a lot. It might not be as convenient as a roller furler with a UV guard on the leach of the sail but I can get a better sail shape when underway and think that it is totally worth the extra work of putting the sleeve up and down. Mid-season one of my webbings broke free of its stitching at the time it was not a bit deal but I decided now that the cover is off for the year and home for the winter it would be a good time to do a little repair job. I grabbed out a few tools and got down to it.  The hardest part of this job was finding the end of my thread. Stuffed in a box for the last year it was a bit tangled up.  Once that was done I used my speed stitcher to sew the webbing back on. Note I'm really not great with this tool but at this point, I really want to get better so instead of going back into the

  Market Place Score!  I picked this up a few weeks ago. An Asymmetric Spinnaker nice and yellow to match Woodstock's hull. I'm excited to fit this to the rig this Spring. While I already have one Asym this one is shaped a little differently and I'm hoping it will allow me to point a bit higher on those light-wind days. I might even need to run a second halyard up to that masthead and see if I can fly both of them at the same time LOL or do on-the-fly swaps. Regardless this is the season for bargain hunting. I've been lucky enough to pick this up as well as a bag of hardware so far this year.