WhimSea's Log

Posted by Karen A. Brown

Well this year started off pretty late. We finally got the hull waxed and the bottom paint touched up the weekend before Memorial Day. We asked the marina to get her in the water prior to Memorial Day so we could spend the three days on the lake. Lucky for us, they could get her in before the weekend.

Posted by Karen A. Brown

The season has finally started.

After a brief stop over in West Duluth where we were offered the opportunity to, um, support the community via a speeding ticket, we arrived at the marina on Friday night at a relatively early hour, well, early for us anyway. The party started, as it seems to, at the bathrooms with a few of us meeting up even before we get into the marina. There was a definite sign of the season on Superior, Troy was wearing shorts and Claire probably had three layers AND long underwear on! It was a beautiful night though, especially when compared to last week's snow showers.

On Saturday morning, the Yacht Club hosted a sign up/welcome event with donuts and coffee for all. We had a good turn-out, especially considering the chill in the air. It was a good day though for kicking back and enjoying some relaxation.

As you may recall, WhimSea was without a mast when we left the previous weekend. On Friday we found a mast, but no boom. Oh well, we figured, we'll just have to install it ourselves. Unfortunately, a walk around the place failed to actually produce our boom, so we went into the marina office and asked them.

'What do you mean you can't find your boom?' Didn't lend a lot of confidence.

And the hunt was on. After a look around convinced him the boom was not to be found, Dave picked up the phone and started making phone calls. Having no other choice, we made the best of the situation and found other ways to amuse ourselves.

Evening found us eating pizza with the Yacht Club, another membership drive event. It was a great opportunity to get together with people we haven’t seen all winter and catch up on the off-season.

Sunday was an opportunity for an excellent breakfast with friends followed by some marina-wide entertainment when Troy, Mark and Dave all climbed into the dinghy together and proceeded to row around the marina and check the depths. I got some pictures, which you can get to by clicking on the title to this entry.

Sunday we finished up left over pizza and retired to the beach for a beacon fire. It was so warm you almost didn’t need a coat. Since the moon was nearly full and the wind (at the time) was still more from land then water, it was pretty darned near perfect.

Monday morning gave us fluffy Belgian waffles (yes, Dave, they were nice and fluffy and crispy even), some time to do some maintenance (albeit a very, very small amount) before we were forced to head home for the work week.

Posted by Karen A. Brown

Greetings and welcome to the new season! I am kicking off the season with a new blog entry and hope to be better about blogging weekly this season.

WhimSea's been in the water for about two weeks now and we've been watching as more and more boats join us at the docks. It's exciting to be preparing for another season and we can't wait to get it going. It's also been great to see old friends and reconnect with everyone.

I know it's hard to believe, but we awoke to snow on Sunday morning. What a weird spring it has been. We're hoping for much better weather this coming weekend for the KRYC kick off events.

So what's new?.?.?.?
Here's something. Before the ugly rumors that WhimSea has turned into a powerboat spread any farther (regardless of what Bob might think), we hope she's going to get her stick back sometime this week. Our pirate flags will fly once again, hopefully this weekend.

Hope to see you at the marina in the coming weeks.

Posted by Karen A. Brown

We were at the marina this past weekend visiting with some of our dockmates when we heard a story about a drunken sailor that sounded absolutely unbelievable. So, of course I looked it up.

Here's the text from the Duluth News Tribune, printed August 2, 2006:

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Looking for the light

Minnesota Conservation officers Chris Johnson, Keith Olson and Mike Scott were patrolling the waters near Duluth recently when they heard an apparently intoxicated boater on the marine two-way radio ask the Coast Guard to turn on the lights at the Superior Light House.

But it wasn't dark yet.

The voice on the radio sounded a bit slurred and confused. Officers later stopped a boat without lights after sunset and found an impaired operator. The Coast Guard took the operator to its station for testing. The vessel was towed to Barker's Island.

FYI... the lights are automatic and the Coast Guard doesn't turn them on.

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Unbelievable!