Bristol-Blue Lake Michigan Sailing Adventures

This might not work.......  Then again it might.  So today I went down to the boat and started taking measurements for a boom tent.  The plan is for this tent to start over the coach house and extend all the way to the back stay.  This will encompass the entire cockpit giving us some more room when we spend the night on board.   After 15ish years we decided to retire our old dome tent, so I have several good quality parts to work with.  There will be three arches with approximately 50 inches between them.    So after getting all the measurements down the wind took my note pad and threw it in the water.   Grrr. This project might be cursed. I came home and recopied all my measurements from the soaking wet paper on to a new piece of paper.  This is a pretty rough start.  I think I'm going to make a proto-type with some old fabric creating a rough pattern to work from before building a true final project.    This might not wo...

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One little thing that bothers me is finding water in my winches after it rains.  I decided it was high time I sewed up some winch covers.  This little project took very little time once I sat down and got it started.  The tape measure made several trips back and forth to the marina in the bottom of the cooler before I used it to measure the winches.   The winch is three and a quarter inches tall so I started by making the sides up.  This gets sewed to the round top piece. Turns out a Bush's bean can is the perfect circumference.  I put the cover on the can to pin up so I'd get a nice tight finish. Completed i turned it right side out and it looks like this is finished. I left the elastic extra long to tie under the winch mounting brackets. There we are. Nice, cozy and dry winches tucked in under their covers. The long elastic ties under so the wind does not take them away. 

A few weeks ago we got together with some family.  My uncle and I were talking about sailing at night and all the great adventures we've had out on the lake after dark.   Well little ears are always listening. Myles I think figured out that if he could talk us into sailing at night he would be able to stay up past his bed time.  He has been relentless in his pursuit of a night sail.  So Friday we made it happen.   The weather all day was gorgeous with a nice sailing breeze but we held off until night.  Leaving  the dock about 9:30 in the dead calm.  About an hour later the wind returned.  The south side of the lake was super quiet with the exception of a few late night fisherman returning.  The north side had a nice party going on with a great live band.  As we drifted back and forth we went from silent to rock and roll.  It was quite a contrast and very humorous.   Here we are doing a light check before we leave...

So today we were out this afternoon for some fishing and sailing.  The breeze was steady but not overwhelming or overwonderful either.  As we headed out of the dock the fog began to roll in off the big lake.  A steady slow steam of white mist filled in the bay and over the next 2-3 hours it became so thick you could hardly see. We fished first today, anchoring out in the lake and casting a few billion times.  Tangling up our lines and catching nothing.   I hate fishing but kiddo likes it.     While fishing it was nice to watch the local sailing club out racing.  They have lasers, optis and 410s all out sailing together. A Tarton anchored in the morning area and took some time to hoist his main and straighten out some rigging. Once fishing time was over, we sailed a little.  I had high hopes of trying out my kite cam but forgot the string for the kite so that will have to wait until ne...

Well the time of season has come.  We are past the wind swept spring and moving into true summer sailing.  This week I swapped out my main sail.  I'm running all Sail Rite sails this week.  These sails are the newest on my boat and look sharp and crisp as they fly in the air.  The previous owner sewed up the main sail and I sewed up the jib.  Together they look really sharp.  We sailed for about 4 hours this Thursday I had to drag Myles back in.  He has this new thing he wants to sail at night.  I think he just wants to stay up past bed time but I think I'll be humoring his request soon.   As a side note all my Android Educational Apps are Free on Amazon this week to celebrate the release of my new app Sight Word Football! So if you know a teacher or have a child learning to read check it out here. http:// tinyurl.com/kss7l3n  

Here we go Fourth of July and we are at Tower Marine again.  Really you just can't find a better place to watch the fireworks.  We have tried.  We started off the evening with a little grilling.  Hot dogs, chips ketchup and oh yeah Jones Blue Bubble gum soda that stuff is he best.   Next we sailed for a couple of hours out on Lake Kalamazoo.  Looking around for the fire works barge. We never saw it until later that evening when it floated out to the middle of the lake.   We followed this up with a trip to the play ground,  We decided it was to cold to swim this evening so we went back to the boat to do some fishing.   We are the worst fishermen ever.  We never catch a thing.  Next we fed the ducks.  Then our friends started arriving.  The fireworks where spectacular.