"John Cairns" wrote in message

"Maxprop" wrote in message


I tend to be slightly unsympathetic, as my boat went feet dry yesterday.

If you would prefer not to miss the racing season, join a frostbiting
fleet
of dinghies near your home. My YC used to race Snipes well into the
late
part of November, in southwestern Michigan. Only when the snow covered
the
boats,or the lake froze, did we quit. It was informal, but kept the
competitive fires burning long after most folks had put their summer
toys to
bed and gone home to vegetate before a crackling fire. We resumed this
activity--which most folks would reasonably think daft--in late March or
early April, depending upon the departure of the ice.

Sadly the current crop of racers at that club are all wimps and the
frostbiting ceased some years ago. Yuppies!

Don't know if they've ever done any organized dinghy racing in these
parts.

Most dinghy racing is on inland lakes. We do have a YC with several scow
fleets on White Lake (Whitehall/Montague, MI), which is our port on Lake
Michigan. But that is fairly rare. Most racing in such ports is big boat
handicap.

I used to put my boat up on the hard, then get out the Snipe for the
frostbite season. We'd typically have anywhere from 5 to 10 boats each
weekend, weather not withstanding. I really miss that.

Big boats haul out now because of low water level issues. Good news is, my
marina announced they would open on April 1 next year as opposed to May 1,
we'll see what happens.

Lake Michigan came up about 18" this past spring, however we lost about 8"
of that during the past two months. IIRC you are on Huron or Erie, correct?
Is the water really that skinny over there? (I did see the photo of your
boat resting on its wing keel.)

Max