Another summer shot to hell!

[Bob Condon]

Need to begin to pull the boats and the dock this weekend in Maine.

The mornings are now in the 40s so it is time to pack up the boat and put her into
storage.

Bob

[Bob Condon]

oh yea... this year, in Maine,
summer was only August.

We had cold and rain all of June and July...

We will now probably be rewarded with excessive amounts of snow, ice and cold.



Bob

[Craig Weis]

I suggest that hauling the boat up on to the hard be delayed. Go sailing in a snow storm.
Comfort & Joy comes out about November 15th, give or take. Usually in a horizontal sleet storm.
As of now July weather is happening on 14-September-2009?? What?
skip.

[Steve Ullrich]

We had a cool summer in Minnesota too but it sounds as if we had better weather than you did.  Marinas generally start hauling boats up here during October.  We can generally expect snow to come and go during November.  Winter sets in at the end of November and the ice goes out in April or May.  Bummer. Not too many weekends left to enjoy the boat up here either.

Need to begin to pull the boats and the dock this weekend in Maine.

The mornings are now in the 40s so it is time to pack up the boat and put her into
storage.

Bob

[Bob Condon]

I could leave the Cp19 in until October, but need to stain the camp (Log cabin) with Cetol
so having the distraction of the boat calling my name while it cries on the mooring
won't get the job done!

Once the snow comes, I can not get to the camp because of the 4.6 miles of
very dirt roads. That means that the water must be shut off and drained around
the end of October. Then we bucket the water for the toilets and drain/ antiFreeze
before we leave for the weekend.

[brackish]

In Mississippi we're not fully cognizant of how this winter storage thing works.  However, if it does not stop raining soon, I'll be able to sail the thirty-five miles from the marina and tie her up between two trees in the back yard.

Frank

[Steve Ullrich]

Interesting problem to deal with... We are also in a draught in Minnesota so our lake levels are dropping.  Pretty soon we'll need bunks in the marina to keep us off the mud.  I'm glad I only draw 18" with my Com-Pac 16.  Ramps are problematic but I've still been able to sail pretty much anywhere I want. 

In Mississippi we're not fully cognizant of how this winter storage thing works.  However, if it does not stop raining soon, I'll be able to sail the thirty-five miles from the marina and tie her up between two trees in the back yard.

Frank

[Bob Condon]

Now usually, we have winter still in April with cold temperatures, May is wet but cool (aka... spring) and then June hits with a bunch of HOT days (85-95) and then we enter Summer


This year in Maine, we had a real spring. Wet and cool/cold in April and May. Exept June also was wet and cooll...as was July.
The lakes were up 3 feet which tears up the docks or simply makes some float away...

August was typical summer with Sun and 85 degrees.

September is dry so the lakes are low again because the dam has a hydro plant...

Now the challenge is that the ramp is pretty shallow so getting the CP19 onto the trailer may have some challenges... but nothing a chain to the trailer can't handle. I am thinking of having a welder add a bracket to the trailer so that I can put an
extended tongue (probably 8 feet longer) onto the trailer so if I need it to float the boat, I will have it...

(pretty easy to build)

I will say that Maine and Massachusetts are pretty nice weather wise. Sure, we get snow and rain,
but minimal occurance of a hurricane.

I flew into Minneapolis one Sunday night and the pilot came on the speaker and said that we would be in the air for another 2 hours (everyone groaned) because there was a tornado under us hitting the mall just north of the city proper on 35W. So after seeing that destruction, I will take a bit of snow.... oh yea... Minni gets LOTS of snow and cold ...right Steve?

I would estimate that your boating season is similar to ours... pretty short

Bob

[Steve Ullrich]

The length of our boating season kind of depends on the marinas and how well you deal with colder weather...  We were limited by the marina for all of the years we kept our Hunter 23 on Waconia.  We couldn't launch until they had released the mooring balls.  They put smaller floats on the chains to the concrete blocks on the bottom and pull them down under to a depth that will be below the ice for the winter.  In the fall we had to haul by the first of October as the marina is tearing down their docks and sinking the mooring balls.  That gave us from around the middle of April to the first of October.  Not a lot of company on the water until mid June as the temperatures are still cool.  The water is just plain cold.  After the first of October you can keep sailing until mid November but again it gets pretty cool again.  By mid December you need an icebreaker to lead if you want to sail the inland waters.  I suppose you could still sail Superior if you are nuts.  If the cool weather doesn't bother you you can enjoy about a month on either side of ideal weather without a lot of power boaters on the water with you so that gives trailer sailors six to seven months.  Better than a poke in the eye... 

I flew into Minneapolis one Sunday night and the pilot came on the speaker and said that we would be in the air for another 2 hours (everyone groaned) because there was a tornado under us hitting the mall just north of the city proper on 35W. So after seeing that destruction, I will take a bit of snow.... oh yea... Minni gets LOTS of snow and cold ...right Steve?

I would estimate that your boating season is similar to ours... pretty short

Bob

[Steve Ullrich]

I am probably considered pasionate about sailing by my family and friends... Probably considered nuts by others.  I'd love to sail off the coast of North Carolina but I'd probably want at least 38' to work with.  If I win the PowerBall I'll check out Oriental for a place to retire to.  That might be awesome. I don't have any desire to screw around with hurricanes though!

Ahoy Steve,

I'm still waiting for the next hurricane to hit North Carolina, so I can sail the 115 miles to the coast, instead of trailering Pacheballa!  When hurricanes hit they cause flooding everywhere!  If it's not cold weather, drought, or severe weather we sailors would not have any challenges!  Sailing is a passion!

David

[Bob Condon]

In the Cape Dory (28 footer) , at Salem harbor (next to marblehead), sailing started around May 15 to get a launch to
your mooring. The dinghy dock was always filled with locals that kept dinghys chained to each slot
but they almost never used the boats thus making it so no one new could use the dock so we had to use the launch.

The launch ran May 15 through labor day, 7 days a week. 8a - 10PM

After Labor day through Oct 15, was Wed -> Sunday with hours of 9a-6P
making it a very short season.

I tended to put the boat in on the first launch Friday and pull
just about the last available Friday...


The most challenging ride I had with Cape Dory was 35 knot winds and 10 foot seas in the ocean. The
experieince would not be called "fun" but more educational. The winds were blowing us
onshore which was my biggest concern plus you had to go through a set of buoys because there
were rocks about 4 feet under the surface at low tide...

I was a much happier person when we got to our destination in marblehead to have the boat
hauled by the crane. Not sure the riggers and crane operator were that happy when we pulled in though!

[Bob Condon]

REPRIEVE!!

I was told that the landin was much too rough to pull the boat. It is about 5 miles
from the camp...

3 foot waves with whitecaps, blowing probably 22 knots.

Reefed the main, pulled up the jib and off we went to sail to our friends camp
about 4 miles away....

WICKED FUN!

and I will land her next weekend... unless the wind is too bad.... again...

i hope ... i hope .... i hope... i hope...

Bob