Friday, August 29, 2008
Moving Dinghys for college students
This is the culmination of a nearly $40K project. With these 8 boats the club will now be able to host it's own regattas in the Midwest Collegant Sailing Association.
the truck had a flat front tire on the way down, so when we got there we had to unload in the dark.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Bird's Eye View
Monday, July 28, 2008
Sailed this weekend
We got the Autohelm calabrated, but may still need to move the "cumpass" as it is off by 18 degrees. The ST 4000 also tries to correct course by turning to port only. From researching the intraweb, it turns out that is common and we have to look at "low voltage" or whatever that means.
The Knt meeter said we were doing 0.0kts, but the GPS said 6.9 knts, so we gotta sort that out.
Parker (9 year old grand son) was aboard and did well, even though we were all over the place with tacks and jibes. We managed to make a huge mess below decs, as it has accumulated 10 years woth of crap sitting and not being sailed.
The GPS unit worked great! We put a Lake Michigan detailed map "chip" in it and it performed as expected. It is monochrome though, color would be nice, but is not actually neccessarry.
Wish I took the camera, oh well.....
Monday, July 14, 2008
Thursday, July 3, 2008
No Need to pull the boat out, nor the motor
There are some seals and "O" Rings that need replacing, but that is not an emergancy. So that's nice.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Thursday, June 26, 2008
DARN!
Monday, June 9, 2008
Happy Anniversary Hon!
I even made you your own signature!
I LOVE YOU!
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Pics from the launch
Here are the pics from the day, not all of them, but enough to tell the story witout words. Clicking on the pics will show them full size. There is even some video further down.
But First a harty meal!
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Climbing on
It was nice that my son got it all on camera...
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Getting Ready
We are packing up "esentials" for the launch. I wonder where our priorities are as some of the esentials include a PSP and a Laptop. Well at least the laptop will be set up as a chart plotter using Sea Clear II free chartplotting software. http://www.sping.com/seaclear/ Somebody should complile that code for use on a Macintosh now that all macs are using the X86 Chipset. the PSP is to keep the 9 year old occupied while we are doing things during the launch that a 9 year old should not be involved in. One of those things is oporating the Boom Crane, though I am sure he thinks he could handle it.
The 15 year old got a new digital camera for his birthday this year and is tasked with documenting the whole process through pictures.
We will be driving up from champaign Illinois to Winnebago Illinois, about three hours, and then taking 10 years worth of accumulated stuff off of the boat. We will pack only what is needed for the launch this afternoon and head out for Mckinley Harbor, Milwaukee Wisconson early Wednesday morning.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Launch
We are launching on June 4th. We plan on being at McKinley ramps about 9 am. If you want you can come and watch. Or you can call the paramedics when stepping the mast goes horribly wrong.
Friday, May 9, 2008
PHRF Cert Received
We got the PHRF Cert. The number is just like it was 10 years ago. Were not going say what it is, though. That’s just how we roll.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Queens Cup, a race
So the Queens cup is a race form Milwaukee to Someplace in Michigan nearly due west across the Lake Michigan. It is the last weekend of June. At first we thought there was a life raft requirement for the race but it turns out that though a life raft is a good idea, it is not mandatory for the race. Outside of that large obstacle the only prohibitive factor now is, well, cost.
We will need to decide if we are doing it and then start writing checks (inset cliché about sailboat ownership being like money holes in the water, or tearing up $100 bills in the shower here).
Launch Date
We are picking a launch date, in fact I think Dad already has one in mind and I just don’t know it. We are hearing that Lake Michigan water levels are low, so we are hoping that at McKinley Harbor in Milwaukee has enough water to float the boat off of the trailer. The boat only drafts about 4 feet, but there is a large beam on the trailer that we have to get over.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Still waiting for spring
The Big Boat is just waiting for nicer weather. Well that and the marinas in Milwaukee to open up.
When the boat goes in we will have to calibrate the new autohelm that was put in last summer and then try to get the GPS unit talking to it. but, there will be plenty of time for that.
Come on spring, we are waiting.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Thursday, March 13, 2008
PHRF Cert Rumor
I already have a few jokes, but I will save them as excuses when we fail to sail to our new rating.
LOL April Fools day, what are they thinking?!
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
New Look!
You can read more about custom blog designs by following the link on the right side of this page, just under the hit counter.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
This is the boat; in the water
For those of you who just wanna take a peek, here is the boat. these pics prove a number of things:
1) the boat floats
2) in moves under sail power
3) Graney pictures form the early 1990's don't scan well.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
The Jacket
Here is the jacket, the sleeves are almost too short...... I don't know what happened to my neck in the picture, I usually have one. you can also tell that the jacket is original, circa 1975, check out the collar!
It's ok to laugh.
New Zealand!
World Famous!
*we do not keep anyone's information, nor do we proved informatioin to any third party. Just the map and only the map.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Sailing Doo-Dads
keep in mind, I didn't clean or anything before I took the pics, but this gives you an Idea of all the sailing stuff in my basement. I'll give a short description of each picture
stuff by he CDs and DVDs
Friday, February 15, 2008
PHRF Cert Applied for...
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Thwarted by the weather
Looks like the weather is going to get in the way for the Friday trip From Champaign and Winnebago to Chicago. We will try for Saturday. If we can’t go Saturday then we will have to skip it this year as I am hosting a Super Bowl party on Sunday.