"Peter Hendra" wrote in message
...
Hi Karin,
In New Zealand, being more temperate, the only time we take our boats
out of the water is to antifoul and we sail all year, even though the
weather in winter can be a little too stormy and colder. In Malaysia,
the only difference in the two seasons is that one rains more often -
apart from the typhoons on the South China Sea side.

Out of curiosity (this damned rain is a good excuse), I looked up
Green Bay on Google Earth and in Cmap. It seems a wonderful place to
sail or just potter about in a boat. There are a lot of good protected
and shallow anchorages, especially about the islands to the north
where one could seek shelter from all weathers. I had not realised
that Lake Michigan had such a protected arm.

Question: With the aforesaid, why do you not leave your boat in the
water all year? Does the bay freeze over? I honestly have no idea. The
only place I have experienced winters cold enough to freeze large
bodies of water is in China. In New Zealand or Australia, if we want
snow we have to travel to the mountains in winter time.

Oh, we once camped in central Turkey in our mountain tent (essential
part of cruising gear) where it got - 20 degrees celcius, but there
were no lakes there, just snow on the ground. I always envied you
North Americans your white Christmas, making snowmen, ice skating and
cutting holes in the ice to go fishing.

cheers
Peter Hendra

Yah, Long Beach California was that way too -- like New Zealand, only not as
pretty. Boats stay in the water year round and you can pretty much go
sailing any time you want. Therefore, since there is no sense of urgency
about it, people have a "Manana" attitude. You can always go sailing
tomorrow -- today, there's beer to be drunk!

As for keeping the boat in the water year round here...

It's not all that uncommon for people, at the coldest period of the year, to
DRIVE across Green Bay. Ice gets to be a couple of feet thick. Yes, these
are stupid people, but they still do it.