Floating

Just after launch

sorting out lines

Just before the launch I was sorting out some lines.

Climbing on

After this, I remembered that you could just step over the live lines....

It was nice that my son got it all on camera...

It's In the water.

I am writting up the event. but here are some quick shots of it going in.

Getting Ready

June 4th is the launch date, so we are getting ready today. The grand kids have just 1 and a half hours of school today. When they get home we will run to Wal-Mart for an oil change and pick up snacks for the trip.

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.

Launch

We are launching on June 4^th.  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.  

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.

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.

Still waiting for spring

Snow is forecasted for today. Gesh, when is spring gunna get here? In central Illinois there are a group of students from the university of Illinois Sailing Club that are going to clinton lake anyway. The will be cold. Theya re getting ready for a regatta at Northwesten University next weekend. The regatta that was going to happen a few weeks ago at Iowa was canx'd due to Ice.

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.