I went and did it . . .

This evening I bought a landsailor!  

It's a knockoff of a Manta Windjammer but a bit smaller - 5.5' wide vs 6' and 8' long vs 10'. 

It's short enough so it *almost* fits in the back of the truck.  One wheel ends up sticking out of the canopy and the mast too.  I probably need to get a flag for the mast.

It needs a bit of clean up but I think it's going to be a blast!

It's not looking good . . .

Article in the Eugene Register-Guard (http://www.registerguard.com/rg/news/local/29786998-75/lake-says-fern-ridge-boats.html.csp) makes it seem likely that we're not gonig to get enough water to sail there this summer. 

"In the first three months of 2013, only 5.09 inches of precipitation fell in Eugene, less than a third of the normal 17.14 inches.

It marked the lowest total since the beginning of local weather records in 1892 and only continued in April, which has seen only 1.44 inches — about half the normal amount."

And an inch less than 2001.  *sigh*.   On the plus side, the county may provide refunds or hold over the money we already paid until next year.  That would be nice.

As an alternative I've been considering a few alternate options. 

1) Buy a Stand Up Paddleboard from Costco.  Price is not compleetely unreasonable but I've never tried one and I'm not sure that's what I want.

2) Buy an old 13' sailboat from Al.  That would solve my sailing bug but it wouldn't handle both of us and it gives me another trailer to store.

3) Buy a land sailor that I saw on Highway 20 on the way home on Friday.  That's what I'm leaning toward at the moment as it would give me a year-round activity and this particular one should fit in the truck, or on it if I get a rack.

Will the lake fill?

April 25th and there's not enough water in the lake to launch.  Last report said there were only 5 boats in at Richardson Park Marina.  I'm not one of them, I need a foot more water.

AAaaaaggggghhhhh!!!!!

Trailer Upgrade

My buddy Lou, whom I taught to sail last summer, did me a huge favor this weekend and raised the winch/strap on my trailer.

Ever since we bought Verboten I've had issues getting her on the trailer at the end of the season.  The issue was the placement of the winch a good foot below the bow eye.  How can you pull the boat forward when the winch pulls it down?

Last summer I pulled the winch off and raised it a foot with wooden blocks.  That seemed to help, though I still had to pull it forward a few inches with the come-along.  Over the winter I talked to Lou and we decided that he could make something to address the issue.  So last weekend I pulled the boat up to his house and Lou made a new winch mount that raised the strap about 14 inches.

Lou is an artist with a grinder and welder!  What we ended up with was a sturdy triangular box with a roller (which he made from pipe and washers) at the top.  The winch goes on the forward side of the box and the strap goes over the roller at the top, then to the boat.  Elegant.