Sailing Home

Sailing home to Catawba from the islands in August with Procol Harum playing from the cabin...

Catching up on 2012

We got an early (for us) launch this year and we were docked before the end of April. Here the A-Frame is attached to the mast and we are ready to step it...

In the background you can see Jeff and Elaine Lane's 65 Roses with the mast already up.

This year there are 3 Catalina 25s at our pier, 65 Roses, Leprechaun, and our Evenstar. 

One of our early sails this year was to Put-In-Bay and as we were approaching the harbor we got a nice view of the Brig Niagara as she was passing Middle Bass Island...

Below we are on a mooring in front of Gibraltar Island...

We were moored at Put-In-Bay on a Monday in July and the local yacht club was preparing for their Junior Regatta. Here are the boats waiting to hit the bay.

 

Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial National Monument finally re-opened this year after major renovations. This provided a great view of the harbor, docks, and one of the regattas in the distance.

While in the bay we got a close look at this yacht - looks about as big as The Boardwalk...

Daughter Allison was able to take one item off of her bucket list for the summer when she anchored out over night with us - just looking for a good spot to drop the hook.

We also spent a night at the state park docks on Middle Bass Island. The new visitor center is now open and is quite nice.

This year we finally added a dinghy (a used Achilles with a 2hp Yamaha) so that we could easily get ashore when anchoring in locations such as Kellys Island. It tows nicely behind us...

More season to go!

New dock for 2011

This year we moved across the harbor to a different marina. This one is mostly sailboats and, so far, we have found it to also be much quieter! We also have longer docks and a lot more room between us and neighbors sharing the same space. We launched Evenstar around the middle of May. Due to the cold, wet spring it was well into June before many boats made it into the water.

Lake Erie is just beyond the trees in the background below...

Oh, and that bow damage from last year? All fixed up by All Fiberglass & Marine in Dublin, Ohio. All you can see is a bit of a halo around the area that should subside after being in the sun for a while.

End of the season 2010

Late in September we got in a couple of trips back to Put-In-Bay as daughters Allison and Amanda both wanted to get there before the end of the season.

Allison made the trip with us first. We had a vigorous sail over. Here we are approaching the turn at Buckeye Reef with the jib already down...

When we made our way through Buckeye Reef we spotted a power boat that had grounded on a small island during the night. The story is that those aboard elected to just camp out for the night after hitting the island and call the authorities in the morning. The picture Mary Lou took called for the creation of one of those motivational posters...

Allison was the first person to stay on board overnight with Mary Lou and me. We made up a bed on the cabin floor as there was more room than using a settee as a bed. I don't think she had a great first night trying to sleep on the boat with all the gentle swaying and water noises as we swung on the mooring ball.

It was a weekend of historical reenactments on South Bass Island complete with demonstrations of firing different cannon.

We decided to take a turn at the touristy way of travel on the island...

Amanda accompanied us on one of the last sailing trips of the year. Here she poses for the obligatory picture with Perry's Peace Monument  in the background while riding the harbor taxi...

...and here with me at the lighthouse on the south west corner of the island...

There was no wind on the way home after a long day...

One final trip in the middle of October and we decided to spend the night on Middle Bass Island at the new state park docks. The place was deserted. The electricity was still on and it allowed us to try out the small cube heater in the morning (and we needed it). The water at the docks had already been turned off for the season due to the threat of a freeze. Wouldn't you know we forgot the camera so I had to use the one on my old cell phone to get a picture of us at the nice docks...

We came back on a Sunday and planned to pull the boat out. It was a bit gusty getting into the docks and after a couple of attempts, combined with the motor not being in reverse when I thought it was, we hit the dock hard at the bow. Now we had a repair to look forward to before putting the boat away for the winter. We figured it would be better to do it now instead of waiting until spring and possibly get delayed at that point.

We'll see how the repair turned out when I get to updating this for the 2011 season!

Trip to Vermilion

On a Friday afternoon in late August the three Catalina 25s at our marina set out for a weekend trip to Vermilion, Ohio. We have membership in ILYA as members of the St. Mary's Boat Club so we were able to get docks and use the facilities at the Vermilion Boat Club. Plus, this particular weekend the VBC was holding their Jimmy Buffet pool side party.

We started out motor sailing as there wasn't too much wind. By the time we had reached Marblehead there was at least enough to try with sails alone. This gave us a nice photo op (along with the tourists on shore) to get the Lane's 65 Roses passing by the lighthouse.

From Evenstar

Eventually the winds picked up to the point we had a great sail for the last half of the 25 mile trip and we ducked behind the break water and headed up the river into Vermilion.

From Evenstar

Motoring up the river is quite an experience as there are channels heading off like streets that are lined with houses with boats parked outside.

From Evenstar

From Evenstar

Mary Lou remarked that it looked like it would cost a 'Vermilion' dollars to live here. On the way up river we passed the French restaurant Chez Francois.

From Evenstar

Our itinerary included dining here (well at least upstairs at the Touche Wine/Martini Bar as formal dress is required in the actual restaurant). We were not disappointed!

The VBC (and their docks) is situated right on the river. We docked Evenstar and put up the pop-top and bimini as we would be staying for a couple of nights and rain was in the forecast.

From Evenstar

Here the Lane's, Reddick's, and Clark's pose at the VBC club house before the party - yes that is my 'Jimmy Buffet' shirt.

From Evenstar

Of course our trip to Vermilion would include a visit to the Inland Seas Maritime Museum. When they asked 'Would you take her out, Mr. Reddick?' I answered "Sure!".

From Evenstar

Vermilion is a cute river/lake side town with flower lined bridges and streets housing little shops and restaurants. (Oh, and lots and lots of trains running at high speed through town, blaring their horns at all hours!)

From Evenstar

From Evenstar

On Sunday we headed out into what would be some rough motor sailing in 4-6 ft. waves.

From Evenstar

Here 65 Roses passes Cedar Point amusement park in the background.

From Evenstar

This was another great mini-vacation and we will definitely plan to head back to Vermilion next year.

NOW it's a vacation

Mary Lou has this thing where it's not a vacation until she takes a picture of her bare feet in some relaxing location. So here we are at anchor for the night in a bay on the north side of Kelley's island reading a Patrick O'Brian novel and sipping on a margarita...

From Evenstar

We had sailed over during the afternoon on August 7th and dropped anchor about half way up the bay. As evening settled in all we could see were a myriad of stars and the anchor lights of the other boats spending the night.

From Evenstar

Mary Lou always sleeps like a baby with the (hopefully) slight rocking of the boat while we are at anchor. I, on the other hand, never get a good nights sleep - up every couple of hours checking the GPS and popping my head out to be sure the anchor is holding. This particular night we didn't drag at all, though by morning what had been our neighbor in a power boat had drifted almost into another boat about 75 yards behind us.

The next day it was another sail to Put-In-Bay and a night on one of their mooring balls. See us out there? Look for the shortest mast!

From Evenstar

Here is Mary Lou, still relaxing...

From Evenstar

...and this is a water taxi delivering boaters to and from their boats - unlimited service running until midnight included with the price of the mooring.

From Evenstar

We sailed back to the mainland on Monday afternoon, it was another great, extended weekend.

Port wine and funnel clouds

Friday August 6th and all three of the Catalina 25s in our group went out for a vigorous evening sail - about 7 miles round trip. The winds were strong enough that we all reefed the mainsails. Waves were up to 4 feet. In the picture below it looks like the Clark's Leprechaun is about swamped...but they were sailing in a trough between waves. Evenstar is in the background...

From Evenstar

We returned to the marina and boarded the Lane's boat, 65 Roses, for some port wine and chocolate (while the clouds started to build behind us).

From Evenstar

Shortly after this we noticed that a funnel cloud was forming and heading our way. The tail never got lower than this but we were keeping a close eye on it!

From Evenstar

The cloud soon reached our area, we had a brief shower, and a few minutes later the sun was shining again.