Bristol-Blue Lake Michigan Sailing Adventures

This weekend we had a great group of friends come down for the weekend.  We grilled, we swam, we watched fireworks go bam.  We even got in a little sailing in before everyone got there.   The Typhoon is a great fun boat but when you have a crowd over it is little.  Here are a few things I do to make things a bit more comfortable.   1st I raise the boom at the mast.  This adds a good deal of extra head room for everyone. Second get out the cushions. 3rd I close up the scuppers more than 3 people on board and we all get soggy toes. 4th I set up the cabin.  To do this I pull out the compression post and put the v berth board back in so the kids will have more room to play.  Let the party begin.

I was down at the marina the other day and a guy I know comes over and says when was the last time you had to put $365 in you sail boat.  I figured he had just put some cash down on an engine repair.  I was racking my brain $365  ???   He stopped my train of thought as I must have been drifting off. Then he told me that is what he spent at the gas dock this morning.  I laughed, we use a gallon a gas per season, maybe a gallon.  We got to talking and we realized we had not been out on Lake Michigan since the first season we owned her.  So we set up this weekend to head out. Lake Michigan is about 40 minutes from our dock.  This is the number one reason we sail in Lake Kalamazoo. The cannal is easy to navigate and we only had to slow down slightly for the chain ferry that crosses the river. We made it out to to a flat and smooth lake.  Here is a photo of another Cape Dory that slid out of the harbor just ahead of us. We rigged for light wind an...

It's been a while since my last post and it was a week one with no pictures.  So here is a mildly better one.    Boom tent update:  I worked on this a little this week. I took it down to do some fitting so I could size up the edges and get the tie down straps into place.  Things did not go super well.  Then I dropped one of the tent poles into the lake.  Grr...   This project is looking like it will move to the back burner until I get the boat out of the water in the fall. Some things are just better to wait on than push through.  This is an interior view it is quite spacious.  However I need to work on ventilation it is super muggy and hot inside.  There would be little hope of spending the entire night in here with the Stagnet air.  We worked on the the pond yacht.  Well I worked on it.  The kid played with my brace and drilled several holes in the scrap lumber. I found our flag!   We have been looking for this...

So no pictures but wow we sailed.  Started with the standard working jib the wind died down and we switched to the mast head spinnaker.  Then we went to the 150 Genoa.  The wind picked back up again and built in steadily through the afternoon.  We pulled back into the dock one exhausted crew.  Having started the morning on the T-ball field kiddo was about to fall a sleep once we tied up.  We think  he may have actually dosed off for a second laying on the seat cusions.  We filled out the day with some swimming at the pool then home. For some grilling and back yard batting practice.  One of the great things about the Typhoon is it is not all time consuming you can sail it then do other thing with your day.  Now this is sad but it is 7:30 and I'm ready to crash.  

If you are a Typhoon fan you should check out this video.  It is very well done and informative.

Today we have had another weekend of rain. Well today it has rained and we have plans away from the lake tomorrow so this weekend has been an arm chair sailing weekend.  About a month ago I found e-regatta.  This app is available for Apple as well as Android devices.  Beware it is hard to stop playing.  My previous sailing game Sailboat Gold has been untouched.  Except for Words with Friends, e-regatta is the only game I play now.   In e-regatta you are racing other players online.  It is far more challenging.  I rarely place above fourth place.  I have one in my last twenty races and to be honest, it was a match race.  The start line can be tough and I have no ability to sail to weather.  Just like a Typhoon captain.  I love down wind sailing just like in real life.  Spinnaker humming along.  Anyway, if you have a few minutes to burn check it out.  

Today we made it out to sail!  We sailed for about and hour between the storm fronts wow was it windy.  We went main sail only and that was about it.  Came back in and as we were buttoning up the sail covers it started raining on us.   Here is a fun video we made though.