Wow that water’s cold! Not that I fell in or went swimming, I just put my hand in it. That is what you get when you go sailing on Lake Superior in March, cold, cold water. However, with temperatures in the 70’s I couldn’t resist. Every other sailboat out of Marquette won’t be launched until Late April or May; some of them not until June. It is kind of sad really. Summers are fleeting here, so when the weather permits, one should take advantage of it.
At least this year I haven’t fallen in the lake. Let me go find some wood to knock on. Okay, much better. Not that I plan on it either. Technically it is still winter, but I managed to get the boat in on March 14th, and then again yesterday, which was the 18th. Wow, two times so far. If I was retired or actually had money, I would be well on my way to beating my own record of 61 days (on my boat).
The Flying Fish (my boat) is in pretty good shape. There are some maintenance issues I had to take care of, but nothing that would stop me from taking her out. The biggest issue was the rudder. It needed some repairs and a new coat of paint. I did some fiberglass work on it and replaced all of the bolts at the hinge plate (they were rusting). It is as good as the day I made it.
The boat, after an extensive day on the water, leaks. That is I noticed it was leaking on the rivet line. Apparently, I will need to apply copious amounts of silicone, or spooge as Tim refers to it, to those areas. That should take care of the problem. After all, no one likes a leaky boat, especially me, and especially when it’s my boat that is leaking. Looks like a job for a couple tubes of silicone and a 6 pack. Ah, viva la boat repair.
As far as sailing went, yesterday was great. Tim and I sailed towards Shot point, beating our way the whole time. There were no issues and it was a fun ride. We healed quite a bit due to the wind and that’s how I came to find out the boat needed some silicone. We were using the storm jib as to not get over powered. The wind was strong enough to warrant it. Once we turned back I decided to put up my large Genoa….. I like to haul ass. The sail did not disappoint. We were doing at least 7 knots for most of the reach back, and I believe we pushed above 8 knots a few times. I think water skiing would have worked with those speeds. She almost planed, or at least she wanted to. One day. Hum, maybe a bigger sail?
