Went off on the annual summer cruise, shortened somewhat due to racing
obligations. Got the happy news when I got back today that I had to be down
at the club at 7:45 am ?!?!?!?, am starting to have second thoughts about
this racing business. Sailing was mediocre, nice amount of wind Tuesday
afternoon but of course it was right on the nose, due to the late hour we
got started decided to motor down to PIB. Leaving Wednesday am for Cedar
Point had a good amount of wind an wonder of wonders, from the right
direction, were able to sail all the way to the marina entrance. Got to
spend the rest of the day cleaning the boat for the first time this year and
figuring out all of the things I need to upgrade or repair. Thursday am,
plenty of wind for the sail back to PIB, and again, from the right
direction. I was surprised to see more than one boat either motoring or
sailing under main alone, these boat had furling headsails so? The boat that
was motoring was heading downwind, especially surprising. I think these
boats might be charters from Harbor North, the one under main was definitely
a Hunter, the other motoring downwind appeared to be a Hunter. I could see
all this if the wind was really honking but it didn't get over 22 on my wind
instrument and kept fairly steady at 19. Another day and night at the Capri
of Lake Erie, PIB, kind of miserable on the boat as we spent most of the
night rolling on the mooring ball due to the winds. And, to top it all off,
very light wind on the nose most of the day for the sail home! Really
stinking luck, and a fair amount of tension with the teenagers. When we got
north of Middle Sister, the half-way point approximately, I asked the boys
to take turns driving for about an hour or so while I took a nap.The
throttle on my boat is sprung so that if you release it the engine goes back
to idle, I have a velcro strap that wraps around the throttle and binnacle
to keep the thing in one position. I had found what appeared to be the
optimum position for speed vs.vibration, around 2200 rpm. Told the boys the
heading, drive the boat. Went below, after about 15 minutes or so, just as I
was falling asleep, the engine revving roused me, I got up started yelling
hey, what the @#$@$%%. My son's best friend explained that he had
inadvertently hit the throttle, fine, no problem, DON'T MESS WITH THE
THROTTLE! Go back below, 5 minutes later, MY KID DOES THE SAME THING!! I
explained to them, in as clear and reasonable a fashion as I could, if they
couldn't be useful crew, they weren't necessary. I had mentioned earlier
that we could probably do this again in August, take a week this time and go
to Cleveland after Cedar Point, blah blah, but if they were going to be
basically just an expensive PITA, I could buy an autopilot and do it myself,
skipping the Cedar Point thing. Maybe I'm being a little harsh with
teenagers, but I don't know. What do you folks think? Oh, and a few
pictures, just wasn't in the mood to take a lot of pics, not much to see for
the most part.

http://community.webshots.com/album/46539185ZofbVJ/1

http://community.webshots.com/album/46539185ZofbVJ/2

John Cairns