THE SEASON IS TOO SHORT

Here we are hauling out once again. It's hard to believe it's that time of year already. We hauled out Sept. 27, 2011. It was a beautiful day. The day before they had 2" of rain! We pulled into the well at 8:30 A.M. We were out of the water, the engine winterized, the mast was off and stored, the boat was put in the building where we covered her for her long winter's sleep. We finished putting everything away on our dock, covered the dock box. It's left on the dock for the winter to protect it from the sea gulls and we were on our way home by 10:30 A.M. It is nearly a 3 hour drive home!

Starting Oct. 3rd they will be operating both lifts pulling 15 boats a day 6 days a week up to nearly Thanksgiving. I will post a picture after all of the boats are out of the water and stored. It's unbelievable the number of boats there are.

At home on the dock

Her's what she looks like sitting at her home dock at Sandusky harbor. It's great to be staying on her once again.

Back in the water

We are once again back in the water. We launched Tues. May 17th. The weather did not cooperate. The worst launch day ever! The wind was out of the NE at 25+ knots. It was too windy to put the mast up so the marina will bring it back to the well on a better day to put it up. It's no big deal for them as both lifts are equipped with cranes for this purpose. The photo (from last year) is the boat in the well the usual way. I had them put it in backwards, bow facing the channel so I could pull straight out. I didn't want to get slammed by the wind and end up on the rocks backing out. I took the boat to the dock while Pat was there to catch me. It went surprisingly well. We dock on the starboard side. For you landlubbers that's the right side. Entering the slip the wind was on the nose with enough north wind to push me right up to the dock. Sometimes the wind does work to our advantage. It's good to be on the water once again. We're anxious to do some serious sailing. Now, where did I put those sails?

 

Our friend Mike from, "The Missing Link", called yesterday to rub it in that they were docked at New Smyrna Beach, Fl. city marina. I suspect he and his wife Chris were laid back enjoying the sun with a cold one! They enjoyed their first winter in the Bahamas. They both retired last year. They are truly "Living the Dream". They are working their way north to Annapolis, Md. where they will dock for the summer to return once again to the Bahamas and beyond next fall. Rough life Mike & Chris!!

Ready to launch

Eagle is finally ready to launch May 17th.. This is a 1984, 31 foot Hunter. She is a deep draft, 5 1/2 feet, fixed keel. I have finished changing the traditional color blue that Hunter used on all of their boats to Hunter green. It has taken me long enough! I must say it was a chore trying to get it all done due to all of the rain we have had in north west Ohio.We are anxious to get back into the water and do some fun sailing.

Rain, Rain, Rain

Easter has started out to be another rainy day in Ohio. It has rained constantly for several days now making it almost impossible to do the outside work needed to be done on our boat before we launch May 18th. We did get a break last Thursday and I was able to finish sanding the boot (waterline) stripe in preparation for paint.

Mike Link from "The Missing Link" asked me to make a protective box for his new 2000KW Honda generator. It's made from 1/2" Starboard. Mike had it shipped to me. I took advantage of the rainy weather to build it for him. There is no bottom. It simply drops over the generator to protect it. I will give it to him when we meet this summer or I'll ship it to Chris's mom's place in Fl.

We have been thinking seriously of having our boat shipped to Oriental, N.C. this fall. This would be a stepping stone to the south for the winter. Of course with the constant increase in fuel prices may make the cost of trucking out of the question. We'll see what the fall brings.

HAPPY EASTER TO ALL.

Getting ready to sail in Ohio

This is the construction site of the two new launch wells under construction at our marina at Sandusky harbor marina on the western end of Lake Erie. The harsh winter took it's toll which mandated a total renovation. Launch schedule is to start April 17th which is only a week later than normal.

After replacing the air conditioner seacock and the engine seacock and through hull our boat is nearly ready for launch May 17th, with the exception of changing the color of the stripes on the boat. This will complete the color change from the original Hunter blue to Hunter green. I removed the top stripes (ugh) last season. The boot stripe is in the gel coat so I have it nearly sanded and ready to paint. The boat is stored inside with the mast down (of course) and too close to the other boats to be able to finish sanding so will have to wait until they put it out in the yard to complete.

Another Snow storm

We have 5" of snow on the ground at 8:30 AM and it's still coming down. Another 4" to 6" predicted.

Fellow yachtsmen

It is a sad day in the yachting community after receiving news the two couples being held hostage on their sailboat Quest had been killed.

Our prayers go out to them and their families.

Gas line explosion near our house

                                             News Media Photo                                                    

Lots of excitement a little after 10:00PM last night. A 36" gas line exploded near Hanoverton, Oh. The explosion shook our house. It was about 5 to 8 miles away. Our windows and garage door vibrated until they got the line shut off some time later . I drove to about a mile from the site. There were no emergency vehicles there yet. I couldn't believe my eyes. I was one a hill looking down on it. It was an intense fire ball unbelievably high. It was so bright I couldn't even see the flames! At that point I couldn't tell what it was, it was so huge and bright. My first thought was one of the C-130 Air Force cargo planes that fly over our house every Thursday's on their training flights had crashed. I didn't go closer or stay too long as I didn't want to get in the way of any emergency vehicles. Only until I listened to the news did I find out what had happened. Thank goodness no one was hurt or killed for that matter. It was a sight to see!  

For my friends cruising the Bahamas

For my friends cruising the Bahamas, it was 2 below zero this morning, OUCH! It's almost noon and a balmy 15 degrees. I feel sorry for yawl when your freezing in the 60's. hehehe!

During our power outage due to the ice storm about a week ago our generator bit the dust with a burned out armature! Never anything simple. It supplied our whole house so that's crucial. I bought another Tuesday. Our power goes out all of the time and usually it's days at a time. The weather is to warm up a bit next week so maybe we can get to our boat in Sandusky harbor to start our spring projects on her. At least she is stored inside (not heated) so we will be protected from the elements and we can run a heater inside. Of course much of the work is outside the hull.

We hope to be heading to Florida soon to get out of this nasty stuff for a couple of weeks at least...John

Weather update - not good up north!

 

 Since early this morning the snow has been nearly waist high and is still falling.  The temp is dropping to single digits and the north wind is increasing to near gale force. 

 Pat has done nothing but look through the kitchen window and stare. If it gets much worse, I may have to let her in.

Frozen in Ohio

   We woke this morning to 9 degrees. It's now 1:00 pm and 20 degrees. At least the sun is shining. We live at on a lake and of course it's frozen. Probably thick enough for ice skating.

  Our friends Mike & Chris are enjoying the Bahamas on their sailboat The Missing Link. She is a 31 foot Hunter sailboat. They sailed her this summer from Geneva on the Lake, Ohio. We met up with them in Annapolis, Md. in October at the worlds largest in the water sailboat show. Our sailboat, named Eagle, is also a 31 foot Hunter sloop. She is "put to bed" for the winter in one of the storage buildings at our marina in Sandusky, Ohio.

She will be launched near the end of May. The long cold winter will certainly make that seem like a long long time. As usual we have a ton of work to do on her before the launch date. I think we will look into shipping her south.It all depends on health, cost, etc. It would be nice to sail her in the the winter. We spent the winters of 2005 and 2006 in Key Largo, Fl. on our previous sailboat. She was a MacGregor 26X. She has since been sold to a retired couple located Romania. The picture is the boat being loaded on a container ship in Baltimore, Md. to begin her journey to the Black Sea, Romania.

This picture is the new owners and friends sailing the MacGregor on the Black sea.