Weekend on Mille Lacs

[slode]

Taking a cue from NateD http://cpyoa.geekworkshosting.com/forum/index.php?topic=2650.msg15517#msg15517 and a couple other threads I've read elsewhere, My wife Jess and I rented a slip at Doc's Harbor on the north side of Mille Lacs for Memorial Day weekend.  What a fantastic little place.  The people with permanent campers were all very welcoming and interested to see a 21' sailboat at the little marina stuffed with fishing boats and a couple of pontoons.  It sounds like NateD and Steve have been the only other sailors there in the last decade.  A number of folks, including owner Janet, had remembered them being there back in 09.

The conditions Saturday morning started out pretty calm.  I started up the outboard and backed out of the slip around 6:15 a.m. and started motoring to our planned lunch destination, Da Boathouse, on the far SE corner of the lake.  About a mile off shore the wind picked up just a bit out of the WSW and I turned off the motor and put up the sails.  Jess woke up to the motor turning off and joined me in the cockpit for a beautiful slow journey south.  I was very impressed how well the Eclipse moved along on a close reach in less than a 3 knot breeze.   But it was pretty apparent by 1:00 that we weren't going to make it the 18 mile one way trip in any time to get back by nightfall.  With other options closer for lunch we pulled into The Warf and ate at Toucan's.  Shortly after we set back for home the wind shifted out of the NW and picked up to arround 10 knots.  We sailed over 10 miles on the same tack all the way back, pulling in around 7:45.  It was a long but amazing day and I haven't slept as good as I did Saturday night for months.  There is just something to sleeping on the water, even in protected waters, that's very soothing.

We woke up quite a bit later Sunday. The forecast didn't show winds above 3-4 knots but we figured we had a boat, we were on a lake, and we were going to spend the day on it.  We motored along the shore to Garrison.   About half way there some rain rolled through.  We dropped anchor and went below to make sandwiches and play a few games of cribbage.   After the rain stopped we continued on to the Harbor Inn for a cocktail.  On the way back to Doc's the water started showing some ripples so after a few minutes we decided to put up the main.   As we were unfurling the jib the wind stopped...  We "motor sailed" a few more minutes before taking things back down.  I'm sure all the fishing boats were looking at us wondering what the heck we were trying to accomplish.   That night Janet had a community campfire and we joined in and met some really nice folks who were staying the weekend and a few more of the regulars.   

Monday morning I woke up to a breeze coming through the hatch screen I made http://cpyoa.geekworkshosting.com/forum/index.php?topic=10737.0.  Which, after the day we had Sunday, got me excited.  The sky to the north and west was pretty gray so I checked the Radar and there was a storm passing north of the lake.  I hurried up and got us out of the harbor and heading south trying to clear the edge of the rain.   We didn't quite make it, it started raining pretty good, but the temps were already in the mid 70's and it was a warm rain so I just kept going.  It was a pretty cool show watching the core of the storm pass safely north of us.  Some pretty good lightning, and you could barely hear the thunder.   After 20 minutes or so the storm passed and the wind picked up hard.  It went from a good ripple to full whitecaps with spray within a minute.  I furled up the jib and attempted to take in a reef, but that proved very difficult under the circumstances.  I think I need to look at modifying the reefing lines or getting much more practice at this.  After Jess started the motor and got us pointed to the wind I managed to get things set.  Looking back we probably should have just hove to and rode it out.  I would have been in a pickle single handed!   The heavy wind didn't last too long and once the sun came back out it settled to a perfect 7-10 knots out of the SE.  With no destination in mind and 3-4 hours to kill before we needed to start getting ready to head home we took the opportunity to practice various points of sail.  It turned into a beautiful Memorial Day morning and being out on the lake in such great conditions really made you appreciate life and all those who have sacrificed it to keep this country what it is.  I let Jess take the helm and showed her how to maintain a heading using the compass.  I've never been sailing on a body of water were you can't see shore at some points so this was a good experience for us both. 

After pushing our planned departure time back a few times we finally headed in and tied back up to the slip.  We had watched a pontoon the evening before load and pull out of the landing and the tree next to it almost took out their nav. light on top of the bimini.   I hadn't really noticed it backing in but one of the campers said they saw our mast push through the branches a bit.  Not wanting to take any chances we decided to drop the mast and pack things up at the slip.  I don't know of another sloop rig over 18' long you can completely take down on the water!  I'm more and more happy with our decision on the Eclipse each time we take it out.

All in all we had a great weekend and I'd recommend Doc's Harbor to anyone with a boat that drafts 2' or less (areas coming into the harbor are <3', rudders up in & out).  They are old school.  But that's the way we like it!  Make reservations ahead of time and be prepared to mail a check, extra fees charged for CC deposit.  Shore power was not exactly safe, 15 amp post from shore with 14 ga. extension cord, but I had an adapter and checked polarity and grounding so we were okay.  Would not have gone swimming there will all the fishing boats with their trolling motor chargers plugged in...