Bristol-Blue Lake Michigan Sailing Adventures

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.     

Well, we swamped the dingy.  Out on lake Hutchins we went for a little playing took a wave over the bow and she went down.  Thanks to some friendly boaters we were quickly pulled back to shore.  Unharmed and everything in the cooler stayed dry... "I knew I carried around an old hard shell cooler for a reason."  Now that there are three of us into boating it may be time to move up a size or two or look for an inflatable.   For you true blue Cape Dory Typhooners note the motor on the back.  Yes that is a British Seagull. What your boat was likely equipped with from the factory.  It's been at least two years since I've pulled the dink out and fired up the old Sea Gull.  I restored this motor a few years back just for fun.  After last weekend it looks like I may be back at it again.  I'll have to get the water out of the gas tank to know for sure but as of yesterday the points are all dried out and I have good spark.  

So we sailed yesterday.  It was a good start as we zipped around lake Kalamazoo.  Myles fished of the stern and I managed the sailing.   We where having a great day then the wind dropped off.  After 20 minutes or so of drifting between wind shadows I decided it was time to give it up and head back in for some cool refreshments.  While we where puttering up the channel my dependable little 4 hp Merc cut out.  I was able to get the motor to restart and a 100 yards later it puttered out again.  I pulled the cover off this time gave it a look and checked to make sure the spark plug wire had not fallen off.  Then I looked at the tank.  The transparent tank appeared empty of green fuel.  I popped the cap off the tank and peered down in. There was just a dribble of fluid in the tank. As the boat went up and down on the waves I could see it slosh back and forth leaving the white plastic bottom of the tank clearly visible.   Placing the cap back on I choked the motor no fire this time.

 We have had a few good days of sun.  BB is pretty sun burnt so she volunteered to stay ashore with Myles and take a few photos today.  Enjoy these shot of Kraken under sail. TY Cape Dory 150 Genoa Typhoon Sailing Genoa Down Sock Up.  Ghost ship.   Spinnaker Set Sled Ride Down Wind Close up

So last weekend we headed to the beach to try out the my new camera and play in the sand.  The water temperatures here are still very cold.  There were a few kids playing along the shoreline but none of them were venturing in past their knees.  With our long cold winter the lakes are taking a bit longer to warm up than normal.    So I picked up this mini camera on Ebay with the thoughts of using it as a kite cam.  It is super small and very light.  Also it was inexpensive at $13 so if it crashes into the ground or lake I'm not out much.   I rigged it to a para-foil.  This first attempt resulted in unusable video.   Next time I'm going to try to rig it to a delta or a box kite and see if I can get a more stable video.  I was able to take a few pictures on the beach not to bad for a 2 mega pixel cam the size of a quarter.  Sorry Ruth

So Memorial Day weekend is upon us.  The weather here in Michigan could not be better.  The last two days we have had crystal clear skies and temps in the upper 70's. T ime to hit the lake.  Over the past week more navigational markers have shown up in the lake and things are looking great. The channels are marked very well this year.  We set of from our dock and had a great time zig zagging around.   We were out and about for about 2 hours today and saw many of the great sites here on Lake Kalamazoo.  The river paddle boat came through the lake, we even saw the duck boat today.   The Anex patio was open although no live music was coming from there just yet, it was early in the day.  Myles was super today he pulled up the jib halyard. Cleating  Under way. Oh no we are out of snacks!  Time to head home.    

So I went down this weekend to clean up and finish setting up for the season.  I pulled lots of stuff off the boat that won't stay on board all year and also moved several things around, generally straightening up.  One of the big things I moved was the anchor.  I've always kept the anchor in the front compartment under the V-berth.  For this season I've moved it to the back of the boat.  You can see the difference this makes at the water line in the picture below.  I'm hoping moving the anchor will make entering and leaving the dock easier.  With the anchor in the front we keep running into a problem.  As we go forward to through off the bow lines our weight pushes down the bow and pulls the motor out of the water. The Gurgle gurgle of the motor just adds stress to the whole departure that does not need to be there.  This seems to have helped our problem although we may need to eat a few less Big Macs if we want to solve it entirely.  Weight distribution on a small sa

This post is a quick reference for rigging the main sail of a Cape Dory Typhoon.  Each boat over time has different modifications made to it based on the skippers preferences so your boat may not be exactly like this one.  However this is how I put mine together. I   first start with tuning the mast in.  I like to have a bit of rake in the mast and to be sure that it is in column.   Next I slide the booms goose neck into the mast. I slide the boom down to the sail stop and make sure it is tight with a screw driver. Then I clip the back side of the boom to the back stay catch. After that I get to work on untwisting the main sheet.   My current main sheet set up goes something like this.  It is a bit of a variation from the original set up.  You can see I still use one of the original Schafer stand up blocks to guide the sheet line to the cam cleat but the Harken fiddle block does most of the heavy lifting here.  Later this season I'm hopping to switch this system out for a traveler.

Myles and his wagon were a big help this Friday as we loaded all the gear into the boat.  After several trips around the backyard we got all the equipment, sails, and cushions aboard.   This winter we sold our station wagon for a more fuel efficient vehicle.  The wagon was a great car for pulling the Typhoon but the mpg was killing us.  Saturday morning we rented a truck from U-haul to pull the boat back to the marina.  After millage it came out to 52 bucks for the day.  Not bad, we easily make the rental cost up in fuel savings in just one week of driving back and forth to work.  After mounting up the engine, filling the tires with air and checking the tie downs we were off. Once down at the marina we popped the mast up and the boat was ready for launch.  We haven't had to many warm dry days so I did not get a coat of varnish on the teak.  I'd hoped varnish before launching but that does not look like it will be the happening, because splash time

It's always a bit funny to see my Typhoon hovering in the air as I lower the trailer bunks to paint under them.  The boat shifts slightly as she settles on the keel.  I lower two bunks at a time and paint under them. Then wait an hour or so put them back then lower the other two.  The end result is a nicely finished bottom ready for another season in the water. Winches:  click click click....  What you should not be hearing when pulling a line around your winch.   I pulled my winches apart for their annual lubing.  To do this I use a star bit on my ratchet, a pair of gloves, a grease gun, rags, and a plastic bag to contain the mess. As you pull out the screw be sure not to lose the bronze washer/spacer plate.  This is one of those things that could easily go plop into the lake.  My boat is actually missing one.  The winch still works perfectly fine if you lose it, but it has a bit more play in the top plate. One of these days I'll have to find a repla