Thursday, December 17, 2009

Book Review: The Strange Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst

It's an incredible story. Donald Crowhurst entered the 1968 Sunday Times Golden Globe race, which was the first organized race for a single handed nonstop circumnavigation. Crowhurst was an amateur sailor with very little or no blue water experience. He was smart and ambitious, but he found success elusive in his life, and would quickly jump from one failing career or project to another. He embarked on the circumnavigation unprepared with an un-seaworthy and largely untested trimaran that he had commissioned. Crowhurst realizes his mistake, possibly even before leaving, but once at sea he knows the boat won't make it through the southern oceans in one piece. He stays in the South Atlantic, planning to fake the circumnavigation. As the fleet rounds the world back to the Atlantic and starts heading North, he rejoins the race and is on pace to set the fastest time. Within a day of landfall, Crowhurst stops. His boat is found drifting, without damage, and the log books set neatly on the settee table. The Strange Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst chronicles Crowhurst's early life, and through extensive interviews with family, friends, and business partners a picture of Crowhurst develops that belies his public persona.

The authors do an amazing job deciphering and interpreting the logs that were left behind. There was a movie made in 2006 on the same topic, Deep Water, which was interesting, but failed to put all of the pieces together the way the book did.

Friday, October 23, 2009

A Lifes Work - S/V Restless

Bob Kingsland spent 28 years building Restless, a 50 foot 40,000 lb steel sailboat. One of his his college aged daughters, who was not alive when he started the project, helped put pictures from the build on a website, S/V Restless. I like boats, and I love sailing, but this boat is more than just a sailboat, it's a life's work. The boat, the workmanship, the quality, is astounding. His philosophy for the build was, "One of my primary objectives was to see something that made me smile every place my eye came to rest. As a result, not a square corner exists anywhere in the boat, neither in the metal work nor woodwork." It's no surprise he has a degree in anthropology because this boat will outlast him by a decade, and says more about the builder than it says about design or utility.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Last Sail of 2009

Well, it's that time of year for us Yankee sailors. You can see the posts on any sailing message board. They usually involve a short sweet sail, some reflections on the season and the impending sailing hiatus. Well, this is not that kind of post because my last sail was not that kind of outing.

After two weeks of wet cold weather in MN, forecasts were calling for a sunny 60 degree day with 10-20mph wind for Sunday. I had considered sailing last week in 35 degrees and snow (with 15mph wind) because I figured it would be the last chance to get out on the water this year. I'm glad I waited for this weekend.

I got to the ramp and rigged without incident. There were a lot of fishermen out on the water, but not many sailboats. I paid my $15 and got the boat wet. While motoring I rigged up my cajun tiller tamer (line wrapped around the tiller a few times). I motored South, directly into the wind, weaving my way through the fishing boats while the whitecaps crashed against the bow, sporadically sending spray back into the cockpit. It was time to raise sails, so I tensioned the tamer, but it wasn't holding well, which was going to make life hard. I tried a couple extra wraps, which helped, but didn't want to hold as well as it used to. I raised the main. My sail doesn't have reef points, so I reef it by wrapping it around the boom. I had reefed it back on shore, but given the wind, I decided to twist it around another turn. I pressed down on the halyard clutch lever and hurried back to the tiller. The halyard slipped a bit, they're too weathered to hold in the clutch in heavy wind, a problem that will be remedied next spring with all new running rigging. So I went forward and cleated off the halyard instead of using the clutch.

It was time to raise the 110 jib (my smallest headsail). I moved forward again and started raising it, got most of it up, but a hank got caught on the thicker portion of forestay where the turnbuckle attaches. Sh*t, I'll have to go forward. Sh*t, I have to go aft quickly first, or I'm gonna gybe. My tiller must be too wild for my tamer today. Then it's up onto the foredeck to free the fouled hank, and back into the cockpit to raise the jib the rest of the way. I got it all the way up, but the sail was flogging loudly. I looked at the sheet, and the jib downhaul was wrapped around it, sh*t. My jib downhaul is short, just enough to cleat it off when the jib is up so that there isn't a bunch of extra line cluttering the deck/cockpit. I got the jib sheet tensioned, unfortunately I rigged the boat wrong and the sheet was caught around the wires for my masthead light and they were trying to rip my through-deck wiring socket out of the deck. Ok tiller tamer, you're in charge again. I got everything routed correctly, with minimal damage to the socket. Back to the cockpit quickly, since were veering off course again.

Ok, main is up and halyard secured. Jib is up and the sheet is routed correctly. Jib downhaul is still flailing in the wind. Well, that's not really a critical item. I tacked back and forth a few times. The wind was strong, two other sailboats were out. One was heavily reefed, the other only had a 130 jib up. Eventually I was going to need to bring the jib down, which would involve going forward to either pull it down, or to get the downhaul rigged again. The downhaul was still attached to the halyard, but it had pulled out of the block at the bow and was just flapping in the wind. So I got as far from a lee shore as I could, which wasn't very far since I was sailing in a river. I hove to, went forward, and re-rigged the downhaul. Back to the cockpit.

The rest of the sail was good, 2-4 foot whitecaps, a few other sailboats found there way out of their slips, and the fishermen headed back to shore. I worked my way to windward. I'm sure I sailed about 12-16 miles, but only made about 3 miles to windward. I dropped the main and sailed downwind with just the jib. Got back to the dock, pulled the boat and went home. I had a rough start, but a good end to my last sail in 2009.

Friday, October 16, 2009

Book Review: Return To The Sea

After reading Webb Chiles' A Single Wave I was left wondering why he sank his last boat Resurgam. Return To The Sea was his latest book, following A Single Wave, and I thought it might have an explanation as to why he sank Resurgam, unfortunately it did not. Return To The Sea records the completion of his fourth circumnavigation. Chiles is growing old, he admits living much longer than he had expected. He doesn't seem to be in search of challenge and adventure like he used to be. Instead heading out to the open sea is like returning to the comfort of home for him. While I really liked A Single Wave, Return To The Sea was a bit dull. He does make some interesting observations about life and different cultures. It wasn't a bad book, but I felt a little let down after no explanation was given for his intentional sinking of Resurgram.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Sailing Apostle Islands

I had wanted to sail on Lake Superior this year, but I didn't want to do it alone yet. Luckily a fellow MN sailor, Chad, mentioned on the Com-Pac Yacht Owners Association message board that he and a few other guys with small boats were going to sail around the Apostle Islands toward the end of September. A little bit about the islands. The Apostle Islands National Lakeshore is a national park in Northern Wisconsin on Lake Superior. There are 21 islands spread out over 70,000 acres. Many of the islands have docks and primitive camp sites. It's a popular place to sail and kayak. Chad sent me this link showing pictures from their trip the previous year, and I was hooked.


From Apostle Islands - Sep-09


The plan was to duck out of work around noon on Wednesday, go home and grab the boat (which was already packed and ready), and head up to Bayfield, WI. Chad and another sailor, Gordon, were going to be spending that night at the Apostle Islands Marina, so I called them up to reserve a slip as well. The odd thing about the city is that they don't seem to be too caught up with exact addresses. I mentioned to the guy on the phone that I was going to be launching a 16 foot sailboat and I needed to leave the Jeep and trailer for a few days and would need a slip for Wednesday night. He said there was a public launch about 5 blocks away where I could launch and leave the Jeep and trailer. I asked where exactly this launch was, and he said, "Oh, you just go down the street from here and take a right at the Coast Guard station, then it's down the street a ways." So I reserved the slip and said thanks. Since I didn't have an address to Map Quest for the launch, I went to the Apostle Islands Marina website, but no where on the site do they have their address. A little googleing found it though. It was about a 4.5 hour drive from St. Paul to Bayfield taking the scenic route up WI-63 through the heartland of Wisconsin. I got into town and it wasn't too hard to see where all of the masts were, and I made my way around the local streets until I found the marina. Sure enough, go past the marina, take a right at the Coast Guard station, and a few blocks down was the launch. Chad had actually gone up there Tuesday, but Gordon was at the launch rigging his Montgomery 17 when I got there. I went to work setting up my boat, and we launched at about the same time. He motored over to the marina and I through up the main and spinnaker to see if I could get a little sailing in despite the light air and setting sun. I gave up after 30 minutes and motored in. The marina had put all three of us right next to each other.


From Apostle Islands - Sep-09

You can barely make out the cabin top of my CP16 next to the first dock, then Chad's Montgomery 15, and Gordon's Montgomery 17. The marina was obviously designed for much larger boats than ours. In fact the fee schedule for the marina started at 25' boats. The slip cost $33 after tax for a small slip with no electricity. Seems steep to me, but the bathrooms were clean and the place was quiet (though it was a Wednesday night in the fall). I got my boat tied up and gear stowed, then called Chad. He and Gordon had walked over to Maggies for some dinner. Chad didn't know how to get there, but Gordon said to walk up past the marina offices and take a left, then Maggies was a bright red building and I couldn't miss it. Again, no address, but the place was easy enough to find. The place was just about full, but they already had a table. I ordered a mojito and cheese pizza. The mojito wasn't anything special. The pizza was homemade (including the crust), and it was good. We headed back to the dock and looked over each others boats and chatted for a while. Gordon turned in for the night and Chad and I wondered around the docks looking at boats until about 10:30, then I turned in as well.

In the morning the wind was kicking up, they didn't show up in the picture, but there were small white caps forming.


From Apostle Islands - Sep-09

We filled water and gas tanks, paid up at the marina, and got on our way around 10am. Here's Chad with picturesqe Bayfield in the background.


From Apostle Islands - Sep-09

And here's the ferry that runs back and forth from Bayfield to Madeline Island, which is a part of the chain of islands, but isn't a part of the national park. It has a permenant population of about 250 people.


From Apostle Islands - Sep-09

Our plan was to head out to Stockton Island and spend the night in Quarry Bay. The wind was from the Southeast, which put us on a beam reach for the first few miles, then a downwind run. I knew there was no way I would be able to keep up with Gordon's 17 with very new sails, but I thought I might be able to keep pace with Chad's 15. But going straight downwind, the Com-Pac's added weight and conservative sail plan worked against me and Chad was actually able to catch Gordon. I was making 1.2-1.5 mph, and I was still about 5 miles from Quarry Bay. I was starting to get pretty hot and figured I could swim faster than the wind was pushing me. So I dropped sails, put on a life jacket, tethered myself to the bow and jumped into the cold September water. I spent about 15 minuets doing various strokes, I was worn out and cold, so I got back in the boat and raised sails. As soon as I did that Gordon called on the VHF radio and said they were firing up their motors. I pulled the sails down and fired up mine, and I was happy to be making 5mph again. Here's a picture of the other guys ahead of me just before they dropped sail.


From Apostle Islands - Sep-09

We got to Quarry Bay and tied up to the dock there.


From Apostle Islands - Sep-09

Just like at the marina, the dock was designed for a much larger boat. The water was also deep next to the dock, about 3.5' below me, and about 5' under Gordon who was at the end of the dock. The water was very clear, this picture is in about 4' of water off the side of the dock.


From Apostle Islands - Sep-09

Quarry Bay gets its name from the brownstone quarry that was on the the south end of the island. There was a hiking trail back to the old quarry, which was a nice 45 minute walk. Every once in a while the tree line would open to great views of the bay. Here's one from the top of a cliff.


From Apostle Islands - Sep-09

Here's the cliff from the water.


From Apostle Islands - Sep-09

We spent the evening talking boats on the dock. A 25' cabin cruiser pulled up to the other side of the dock. They were from Superior Wisconsin and had trailered their 5,900 pound boat to the Apostles. Crew consisted of Grandpa, Grandma, and two grand-kids, both boys, about 13 and 15. They were out there for a long weekend of fishing. While sitting around I noticed my Windex wasn't sitting as high as it should be. So we dropped the mast and found that the Windex was missing the bushing that the indicator rides on. Grandpa had a washer that was the right size, and with a little electrical tape, the Windex was in workable condition (though a little less sensitive). Gordon hit the hay early and Chad and I stayed up chatting about life. It sounded like our neighbors were playing dominoes or some other game. The night was uneventful, except that the wind picked up a little. I was first up in the morning and got this shot just as the sun was coming up.


From Apostle Islands - Sep-09

The wind had picked up and was coming from the Northwest, but was expected to shift to the East overnight. So we headed out to Raspberry Island. Anchoring on the west side of the island would give us good protection from Eastern wind. The weather forecast called for 5-10 knot winds, and a 70% chance of rain. We made good time rounding Oak Island (with Bear Island in the distance), but the front up ahead looked a little worrying.


From Apostle Islands - Sep-09

It was the best sailing of the trip so far. We made good time to Raspberry. When Gordon went to fire up his motor to snug up into the anchorage it would start, run for a few seconds, then quit. He ended up filling the internal tank and detaching the external tank and that solved the problem.


From Apostle Islands - Sep-09

Chad inflated his "pool toy" kayak and paddled over to chat with Gordon. It was pretty rough sitting at anchor. Our anchorage was fully exposed to Lake Superior. The wind had started to shift to the East, but swells were stilling coming in from the lake that were generated by the Northwestern wind earlier in the day. So the bow wanted to point into the now Northeastern wind, but that put the boats beam to the swells. The only comfortable place to sit on my boat is in the cabin with my legs in the berth and back against the cooler. So I sat down below despite the pitching and rolling, snacked on some beef jerky and read.


From Apostle Islands - Sep-09


We thought the rain would hit us in the early afternoon, but the front was moving slowly.


From Apostle Islands - Sep-09

Gordon took a nap. Chad paddled over to me and we talked for a while. His Montgomery 15 only displaces about 800 pounds, so it was really bobbing around and he didn't feel like sitting there the rest of the afternoon. So he pulled anchor and sailed around to the Southeast side of the island to take a look at the lighthouse and sand spit. I sat below and read some more, poking my head out every once in a while to see if the front was any closer.

Yeah, I guess it's a little closer, but it sure is taking it's time.


From Apostle Islands - Sep-09

Around dinner time we were getting some clouds building above us and the front was getting closer. I boiled 3 hot dogs and went back below to read some more.


From Apostle Islands - Sep-09

The pitching and rolling was getting to me and I wasn't sure the hot dogs were going to stay down, but then the swells started to abate. Checked the sky again, it sure is taking a long time for this front to get here.


From Apostle Islands - Sep-09

Chad came back, anchored, and we all put up boom tents. Gordon was sitting in the cockpit watching the clouds and waves. I don't know what Chad was doing. I went back down below to read. At 8:30 it was dark, but no rain yet.


From Apostle Islands - Sep-09


I turned on the anchor light and turned off the cabin light, and slid further into the berth. I awoke at 11pm to the sound of rain, finally. I woke again at 1am, the rain had stopped. I peeked out the window and things did not look right. I got out into the cockpit and realized we had swung 180 degrees at anchor. It was incredibly unnerving. I got unto the bow and checked the anchor rode. It was nice and taught, the anchor had reset itself, but I was still unnerved. I set the drag anchor alarm on my GPS and went back to sleep. I woke a few times and checked the GPS and we hadn't moved a budge. Here's what it looked like in the morning.


From Apostle Islands - Sep-09

Forecast was calling for 10-15 knot wind from the Southeast, 2-4 foot waves, and a good chance of rain. The forecast for the next day (Sunday) was 30-40 knot wind and rain again. We decieded to head back to Bayfield and pull the boats. We put on our foul weather gear, and pulled anchor. The first mile of the trip was pretty harry. Waves were 2-4 with winds that must have been gusting harder than the 10-15 predicted. I quickly reefed in the main. Despite less sail, I still had the rail in the water, and when a gust and large wave teamed up on me, I heeled over enough to take a little water over the cockpit combing. Once we rounded the South side of Raspberry we were on a broad reach and the wind started to calm a little. All evening I had heard radio chatter from a group of charter boats. Turned out they were in Raspberry Bay overnight.


From Apostle Islands - Sep-09

The wind continued to slow, or at least we were now being sheltered from the wind by land. Once we rounded Red Cliff Point and entered the West Channel, the wind picked up again. I had started the morning in a sweatshirt, full foul weather gear, and a stocking hat. I was down to jeans and a t-shirt by this point. It was shaping up to be a nice day and a great sail. Here's Chad reaching across the channel.


From Apostle Islands - Sep-09

The wind started to get flukey, it would blow for 10 minutes, then die for 10 minutes. I was 3 miles from Bayfield, was tired of the uncooperative wind, and wanted to burn at least some of the gas in my tank to take some of the stress off the transom during the 4.5 hour trailer ride. So I dropped sails and fired up the motor and headed in. Gordon was almost there already under sail, and Chad got there about 30 minutes after we did. We pulled the boats, congratulated ourselves, and promised to do it again.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Reefing the Main Sail

I don't have reef points in the sail, instead I have to pull the boom away from the mast and start twisting it to wrap the main sail around the boom. The problem I was having was the clip for the topping lift was catching on the boom as it twisted around. Here's the problem:


From Main Reefing Fix

You can see how the end of the hook would get caught when twisting the boom, I needed some way to make the twisting of the boom easier. I figured if I could attach a small piece of stainless steel (aluminum might not stand up to the stress) to the existing end-of-boom-sheeting, then attach the topping lift to that, I could keep it from hanging up while twisting. I haven't found a good local source of just random scraps of metal, so I went to the local hardware store and started wandering the isles. I found a u-bolt that had a flat piece of metal that looked like it would work.


From Main Reefing Fix

I picked up a small stainless steel carradge bolt and lock nut, which I used to connect the flat piece of stainless to the factory end-of-boom-sheeting arrangement.


From Main Reefing Fix

With the rounded head of the carriage bolt rubbing against the end of the boom instead of the topping lift clip, the main now reefs easily without any kind of hangup.


From Main Reefing Fix

Saturday, September 12, 2009

New Companionway Hatch

The companionway hatch that came with the boat was in rough shape. The lower starboard corner had rotted away, and the finish was shot. The original board also left a small gap between the board and the sliding hatch. It seems to me that this was done on purpose to allowed a little extra ventilation.


From Misc Boat Stuff

I know it wasn't the best choice, but I went with oak plywood. The boat spends 98% of it's time in my garage, so I think it should hold up OK. I used the old one as a template, but made the new one 1/2" taller. Fits nice and tight.


From Misc Boat Stuff

One week, a coat of stain, about 10 coats of spar varnish, and some silicone around the screws for the hasp and I've got a new hatch board that will keep the water out and looks a lot better than what was there before.


From Misc Boat Stuff

I think it turned out good, but nothing like a new piece of brightwork to make the rest of the boat look old and tired!

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Book Review: A Single Wave

I saw a post on SailNet that linked to Webb Chiles website where he has some articles about his sailing experiences. I read a couple of them and was hooked. I ordered one of his books, A Single Wave, Stories of Storms and Survival from Amazon. He recounts a number of his experiences with storms while sailing everything from an 18 foot open boat to 30 foot cruisers during numerous circumnavigations. Chiles sees himself as an artist, whose medium is the wind. He often repeats that his goal is to maximize the intensity of his life, instead of it's duration. Personally, the guy seems kind of suicidal, but it makes for some good stories.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Lazarette Hatch Upgrade

The early Com-Pac 16's had a lazarette in the aft portion of the cockpit which opened up into the cabin. The hatch cover had a small bracket that would attach to a bungee strap to hold the cover down. It looks like the very first owner of my boat installed a little hasp on it to further secure it. But you could still pull it off since there was nothing securing the aft part of the hatch to the boat (except for a bungee cord). The hatch could still come off if a large wave came into the cockpit, or if the boat were knocked down, so I made a bracket to secure the aft part of the hatch. The bracket is some flat stock aluminum from the local hardware store. I don't have a vise, so I had to improvise on the bending a bit, with less than spectacular aesthetic results (but highly functional). I coated the flat stock with some plasti-cote to cut down on the rubbing against the fiberglass, and I also got a small 90 degree piece of aluminum to make a bracket to tie a rope onto. The other end of the rope is secured to my scupper drain pipe. I was recently reading about rules for offshore racing and I remember one of them being that there had to be a lanyard on the hatch board since losing the hatch would leave a big hole in the boat. That got me thinking that if I removed the lazarette hatch in rough conditions (maybe to bail water from the bilge or to grab the gas can), it would leave the boat pretty vulnerable if the thing fell overboard. So a lanyard sounded like a good idea. I also left the original little bracket in place to use with the bungee cord, but I don't think I will be using it with the new configuration.

New bracket in place:
From Misc Boat Stuff


Close up of the brackets:
From Misc Boat Stuff


The whole thing in place:
From Misc Boat Stuff


Hatch closed and hasp secured:
From Misc Boat Stuff

Reparing Masthead Running Light

The previous owner of Plus Ultra had installed a masthead combination running/anchoring light, and it worked when we bought the boat in October of 2008. But when I tested it in early 2009, the anchor light was still working, but the running light was not. I spent considerable time swapping light bulbs, flipping switches and checking voltage across the entire pathway to the light. At every stage (switch, interior cabin, through-deck wire connector, mast base, masthead, light socket), but the navigation light would just not come on. So I started pulling everything apart, determined to find out what the problem was. It ended up being a corroded terminal in the through-deck wire connector. It was still making good enough contact to pass the correct voltage through, but it would not provide enough amps to light the bulb.

From Masthead Light


I cleaned the terminal and cut back the wire to remove the corroded part, then put it all back together and the light worked. While I'm grateful that the previous owner had installed the light, I was less than impressed with how it was mounted. He had used cheap hardware store brackets meant to hold up small knick-knack shelves, which he screwed into the mast with sheet metal screws. The brackets were flimsy, and the weight of the light rocking back and forth had broken the mount.

From Masthead Light


So I got some aluminum stock and made a sturdy mount and attached it with aluminum rivets. It looks a lot better, won't rust, and it's a lot more sturdy.

From Masthead Light

Sailing Northern Lake Pepin

In June I sailed from Lake City down to the southern most point of Lake Pepin (a 25 mile wide by 1.5 mile wide section of the Mississippi, birthplace of water skiing). I had planned on anchoring and spending the night, but a bad sunburn, no good place to anchor, and possible thunderstorms over night nixed the plan. I returned in early August to sail the northern half and spend a night on the hook. I launched from Hansen's Harbor which is a bit north of Lake City. I went into the office and said I would like to launch a small boat. She said the public launch 5 miles north of them was free, otherwise they charged $5. Not often that a merchant tells you where to get similar services for free! I said I wanted to launch there and I needed to leave my Jeep and trailer overnight, no problem, but it was another $10, so $15 total. There was no one else at the ramp (despite it being 5pm on a Saturday), so I had plenty of time and space to rig. The ramp was all concrete and wasn't very steep. While I was backing down the ramp I was worried it wouldn't be steep enough to float the boat, but once in the water there was a steep drop off and there were no problems. Motored out of the harbor into steady 15-20 mph winds with heavy chop. Explains why there weren't a bunch of fishing boats trying launch. Sailed north on a beam reach under full sail. My plan was to sail up to the most northern part of the lake and anchor for the night. Assuming I didn't have to tack much, I estimated it would be about a 15 mile sail. It was already 6pm, sunset at 8:30. But given the strong wind, it seemed possible. The first 4.5 miles up to Maiden Rock were quick and exciting with no problems. Had the rail in the water most of the time, GPS was showing 5-5.5 mph, and I was fighting a 1.5 mph current, so I think I was doing pretty close to hull speed through the water. The river makes a 90 degree bend to the west at Maiden Rock. There are high bluffs on the both sides of the river for the final 6.5 miles up to Bay City. That seemed to channel the wind and I was getting a steady 20-25 with gusts to 30. Reefed in the main, GPS still reading 5-5.5 mph. Conditions were rough, so I don't have any pictures from this part of the sail, but the next morning I took a few pictures of the bluffs.

From Lake Pepin - Aug 09

From Lake Pepin - Aug 09


Tacking back and forth, fighting my way upwind and up river was tough. I sailed about 7 miles, but given all of the tacking, I was only 1.5 miles closer to my destination. The only place where I KNEW I could anchor comfortably was still 4 miles away and sunset was in 30 minutes. It was going to take another 3 hours by sail. Even under motor, it was still at least 45 minutes. Dropped sails and started the motor. It was a wet ride pushing through the chop head on. It was getting darker and I was still a ways from Bay City. I saw what looked like a mast near the shore about 2 miles up the river. Got the binoculars and sure enough there was a 25-30 foot boat at anchor, and there seemed to be relatively protected thanks to an outcrop of the shoreline. I headed for it. As I got closer I realized it wasn't anchored, it was on a mooring. Motored about 300 yards past to tuck up closer to that outcrop. Dropped anchor around 8:30, and all of a sudden, like someone flipped a switch, the wind died. I was still a few miles south (east) of Bay City, where I had planned to anchor, but with a protective lee shore and nearly no wind, I was happy where I was. Pulled out a cigar, fired up George Jones on the Ipod, and watched the stars come out. I was only about 100 yards outside of the main channel, and I was starting to wonder if I was too close. I had my anchor light on, but still a little paranoid. The marked channel was pretty narrow at that point, and I was even thinking a barge might swing wide and come out of the channel, or a speed boat/cabin cruiser could easily end up on the wrong side of the channel marker at night. Then I saw a big spot light in the the distance, likely a barge. At least I would be awake and above deck if this didn't go well.

From Lake Pepin - Aug 09


He had the spot light pointed at the shoreline just up river from me. Huh, I wonder if he sees me.

From Lake Pepin - Aug 09


Yeah, he sees me. Here he is passing by, in the channel.

From Lake Pepin - Aug 09


Finished the cigar, had a peanut butter sandwich, and went to bed. I slept much better than expected. Temps were in the low 50s, perfect for the sleeping bag. I have a screen that replaces the companion way hatch, which kept the air moving. I wouldn't say it was the most comfortable place I have ever slept, but it was much better than I expected. Got up at 7am in dead calm water, plenty of fishing boats trolling all around me. I wanted to see the northern most part of the lake, so I pulled up anchor and started trolling up river. Wind started to pick up a little (3-4mph), so I put up the sails, but it was difficult fighting the current, and the channel was narrow. Bay City (northern most part of the lake) is up there somewhere.

From Lake Pepin - Aug 09


I decided it was too narrow to sail, and I had identified a few places that I could anchor along the shore when I come back to Lake Pepin, so making it all the way up to Bay City wasn't really necessary (and it would require the motor). Turned the boat around and started heading down river. Winds were 0-4 mph, current was 1.2-1.5 mph. I was mostly just drifting back down river. After about 5 miles I was getting antsy, my wife called to ask when I would be home, and a buddy called and asked if I could help him paint in the afternoon. So I pulled down the sails (they weren't doing much), and fired up the motor. Another 2 hours of motoring back to the ramp, trailered the boat, and headed home. It was my first night aboard, and it was a great time.

Northern Lake Pepin

The Good:
The river narrows north of Hansen's, but it's still about 1 mile wide. Another 4.5 miles north to Maiden Rock, and the river widens considerably, but the official channel actually narrows. The bluffs seem to channel the wind here, there were some rough waves in the high wind. Anchoring was no problem, the bottom was a heavy black clay, and setting the anchor was no problem. The views are great. Not many boats in the high winds, but there were speed/fishing/cruising boats blowing past me every 15 minutes or so Sunday morning when the wind was dead. In terms of sailing, the area south of Hansen's looks better, and there is a sand bar just north of Hansen's that would offer good protection for anchoring if the winds are coming from the West or North. That's probably where I'll sail/anchor next time.

The Bad:
There is a significant difference between the width of the river, and the width of the official channel. Not a big deal given the shoal keel, except I came across a couple of these things:

From Lake Pepin - Aug 09


Partially submerged logs. I think one end of the log is buried in the muck, the other is just above/below the surface (dead heads). In the strong winds I saw one that was only visible in the trough of the wave, scared me when I saw it and realized I was well outside of the marked channel. Keeping a close eye out for these may not be enough as one just a few inches below the surface may not be visible. If you leave the marked channel, you're taking a risk. There were also a few sand bars with only an inch of water above them, but they were easily identified by all of the birds standing on them. When I go back, I plan to stay south of Maiden Rock. The channel is very wide, and I saw a lot of sail boats 1-2 miles south of Hansen's.

Sailing Lake Mille Lacs

Lake Mille Lacs is the second largest lake in a state with 10,000 (it's actually more, but we're humble). The lake is about 23 by 18 miles, is round in shape with few bays or protected areas. It's known as a fishing lake, with plenty of walleye. It's shallow with the deepest point only 42 feet. There are a number of small marinas with protected harbors spread around the lake, but sailboats are rare. My wife and I rented a cabin on the north side of the lake for a week, brought the CP16 with, and rented a slip at Doc's Harbor for the week. Steve Ullrich joined us on Friday and Saturday with his 16 as well.
From Sailing Lake Mille Lacs July 2009

From Sailing Lake Mille Lacs July 2009


Doc's Harbor is a well kept little campground and marina/boat launch. There are about 20 large 5th wheel campers that look like they stay for the entire season, and about 25 slips. The docks look pretty new and are aluminum. They just installed some oversized cleats on them while we were there. The picture above shows both my boat and Steve's at the harbor. The owner was very nice, she liked the sailboats, but says they rarely see any around. The harbor and entrance were pretty shallow. While motoring out of the harbor with two people aboard, I had to make sure the other person sat as far forward in the cockpit as possible, or else I would knick a rock with the rudder. The lake is shallow (at least near shore), and I think I knicked bottom with the rudder 4 times during the week (once because I wasn't paying attention, and never knicked after I figured out the proper weight distribution). I liked Doc's (only $15/night), but if you draw any more water than 18", it's not the place for you.

From Sailing Lake Mille Lacs July 2009


The lake is huge. Raise the sails, set your tack, and relax for the next 2 hours, tack, relax for another 2 hours. I'm pretty used to tacking every 10-20 mins on MN lakes due to their size or other boaters, neither are a problem on Mille Lacs.

From Sailing Lake Mille Lacs July 2009


Winds were light the first day we were there (Sunday). My wife (Angie) stayed back at the cabin, but I had to get on the water.

From Sailing Lake Mille Lacs July 2009


I decided to make the big investment in an autopilot. It did pretty well while I went down below and found my camera. Other's have given the Cajun tiller tamer good reviews, and it has my thumbs up as well. Nothing could possibly beat it's simplicity and price.

From Sailing Lake Mille Lacs July 2009

From Sailing Lake Mille Lacs July 2009


Winds were light on Monday and Tuesday. Tuesday morning we went out midmorning and were able to make 2 mph with the spinnaker. Angie felt like swimming, so she put on a life jacket and I tied a line to her, planning to tow her around the lake. Unfortunately the wind died down, Angie got tired of bobbing around, got back in the boat and we motored the 1.5 miles back to Doc's.

From Sailing Lake Mille Lacs July 2009


When we told friends and family about our plan to take the boat out to Mille Lacs, they all said, "Are you sure your boat is big enough?". The first 3 days we wondered what the hell they were talking about. Then the wind kicked up Wednesday and Thursday. The wind was out of the south, so the waves had 23 miles to build up before they hit our shore. The shallow bottom helps to kick things up a bit as well.

Angie wanted no part of this trip, so I reefed the main and headed out alone. Later in the day the rolling waves out in the lake built to 3-4 feet, when I went down in them, the waves were higher than the cabin top. Depending on the point of sail, it was either very wet, or very uncomfortable as the waves rolled you or surfed you. But, what the heck, sailboats need wind, and it was windy.

From Sailing Lake Mille Lacs July 2009


Here's Angie swimming off the dock at the cabin. She was about 150 yards out, and it wasn't up to her waist yet. At least the piece of shoreline we were on was pretty shallow. This is partially offset by the fact that there aren't any shallow spot or sand bars out in the lake. Once you get 200 yards from shore, no worries.

From Sailing Lake Mille Lacs July 2009


From Sailing Lake Mille Lacs July 2009


Be prepared for the bugs. We had a large hatch of May Flies on Wednesday/Thursday. Each morning these things blanketed the boat, were all over the cabin deck and all over the cars. They don't bite, but they tend to just die on whatever they land on last, and they sure know how to hold on. Most of them would blow off the car by about 55mph, but we had one little guy that stuck on the windshield until 75mph before he let go.

From Sailing Lake Mille Lacs July 2009


Steve came out to the cabin Friday. This is his boat, Teacher's Pet with him and his wife out sailing Saturday morning. Winds were strong Saturday, felt like 30 mph gusts a few times, but it had to have been 15-20 mph steady. We got some spray going, and it started to get a bit cold with the water and wind, so we all headed back in.

From Sailing Lake Mille Lacs July 2009


It was a good trip. The CP16 could more than handle what the lake had to through at it, and the shallow draft was very useful. There was one harbor along highway 169 that had a number of larger (20-30') sailboats, which makes me think their harbor was a bit deeper. I can see why small boat sailing hasn't caught on, when the winds kick up, it can be rough (but exciting). Why there aren't more midsized sailboats out there I can't say. With a little more freeboard you could enjoy those 15-30 mph winds a little more. Others sailors aren't sure why there aren't more sailboats too. Maybe someday there will be.