Bristol-Blue Lake Michigan Sailing Adventures

This year I've decided to go with a simple v tent over the cockpit for the winter.  I've gone with a rather steep angle on the tarp to shed off the snow fall. The hope here is I will have better access to the cabin and cockpit this winter to do some work on the boat while it is out.  The rub rails need to be sanded down and refinished this spring so I don't see any harm in leaving them exposed this winter.  

Pulled for the season a bit slimy by the water line this year.  Here we are the 4th of October and it it cooling off quickly.  This morning it was a chilly damp 44 degrees.  Tonight it is foretasted to drop into the 30's.   Kraken Up is out of the water already.  I went down this morning to start pulling the sails, cushions, and life jackets out for the winter.  I store these at home during the winter.  While down at the boat it started raining.  Then it turned to sleet then hail.  I gave up.  I figured no point and pulling all the soft's off to get them wet and have to dry them out.  I'll come back on a dry day to pull them. After the second down pour I uncoupled the motor and came home to work in the garage. The Mercury got a nice go over as I winterized and fogged the cylinder.  I'll have to clean up the lower unit still but that will be easier to do in the spring once the slime had completely dried out.  This w...

So I never did get the kite cam down to the boat this season.  However I dug out my old helmet cam from the basement and wire tied it to the end of my boat hook for our last trip out this season.  Here are some of the  videos.  The helmet cam is not HD so everything looks like and old 70's era video very fitting for a 78 Typhoon.  In a few videos we poke around the boat.  However the neatest ones to watch are the ones where we threw the pole down below.  You get a sense just how fun it is to sail a Typhoon as you watch us tacking, jibing and recovering the spinnaker.  Lots of fun here today.

The weather here in Michigan has started to turn cold.  This week we have seen our first nights dropping down into the 40's. Many have started pulling their boats and docks for the season.  We are still sailing.  This weekend, however, we took a break to visit Wolf's Marine in Benton Harbor.  They held a swap meet over the weekend.  I've gone to this event before and have never been disappointed.  Last time, I walked out with a nice forespar spinnaker pole for cheap.   This time I took my brother and dad down we all found good deals on parts for our boats.  After sifting through the swap market we headed across the street to Wolf's main store front where they where having a big sale in conjunction with the swap meet.  We even got to visit their other warehouse full of boat seats, motors, trims and other odd marine industry over runs.  So on to the goodies. One Aqua Meter Marine Insturment compass, complete with mounting hardware, and in...

We finally did it we got out for a ride on the Duck Boat in Saugatuck .  This has been on our bucket list for a while.  We have seen the Duck boat many times.  Sometimes we are pretty sure we are part of the tour other times we are more than sure we are part of the tour.  I'm sure the jokes are different each time.  It was a cheery fun trip out and around the bay and ride through the town.   Anyway I know it's not sailing but this thing is just cool.  If you get a chance to go on one don't miss it.  Video in....  SpLaSh! Video Out....  ThUnK. With out us out on the lake this was the loan sailboat.  A Kayak sailor  not nearly as nice looking are our Typhoon.  Well hope this nice weather holds we are heading out sailing tomorrow. 

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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