Return to WhimSea's Home Port. WhimSea's Log - May 2010

Archives for: May 2010

05/31/10

Permalink 09:48:19 pm, Categories: Adventures, 209 words   English (US)

Monday, May 31

After breakfast and coffee we pulled up the anchor and began our return trip to the marina. It is always a bit sad to go home again, especially after such a relaxing weekend. But go home we must. We raised sail and motorsailed towards Minnesota, intending to reach Two Harbors before lowering sail, reducing speed and fishing our way back home. As we reached Two Harbors, the wind began to die and then sun shone beautifully as we put out dipsies and deeper divers and hoped for a hit.

Unfortunately, no bite was to be had. I keep telling Troy we must put in our time like all others and eventually we'll get a hit, but it is a bit discouraging.

We returned to the marina to find a party piping up on Rain or Shine. Dave had caught some fish and a boil was in process! We quickly tied up and changed out of some layers of clothes, cut up some cheese and meat and joined the crew. We had a great time, filling Rain or Shine with so many people that we were overflowing onto the dock alongside the boat. Eventually we had to pack up and head home and regrettably said our goodbyes, until next weekend.

05/30/10

Permalink 09:48:07 pm, Categories: Adventures, 221 words   English (US)

Sunday, May 30

We awoke well rested and in a wonderful anchorage on Marina Shoal off Raspberry island. The wind was fair for us to continue here for a bit longer, so we enjoyed our coffee and breakfast and talked of dropping a couple of lines in the water. Why not try and catch something while we sat and enjoyed the morning.

We prepared the poles for dropping lines and as we did so, one of the lines went overboard without being attached to the pole! Luckily the bobber was attached, so Troy dropped in the dinghy and set about its retrieval. There was considerable wind as well as current to help the bobber and line head out to see much quicker then we thought and Troy had to go quite far to retrieve it, but he eventually returned successful.

Afterwards we sat and watched the bobbers travel about the boat, with nary a bite.

The wind began to come up from a contrary direction and we considered other areas to anchor, but most were receiving swell yet from the northeast (despite the contrary wind) and eventually we returned to the same shoal to spend another evening on that blessedly wonderful anchorage.

That night we enjoyed an excellent dinner and a good O'Brien story on the radio before heading to a good nights sleep.

05/29/10

Permalink 09:47:56 pm, Categories: Adventures, 339 words   English (US)

Saturday, May 29

The first official event of the KRYC with donuts and coffee in the morning at the clubhouse and pizza in the evening. Troy and I decided to stay for the donuts and coffee, leaving shortly afterwards for the islands. We hoped to get a slightly earlier start, but it is difficult to leave a marina full of returning friends.

We did eventually head out, sailing across for Wisconsin. Of course, the wind was from the Northeast, so we pulled the traveler across, pointed as closely into the wind as we could and set all sails flying. This is our first long weekend of the season and we were pretty determined to have an adventure of it.

The wind off the lake was cool, despite the sun, and we were both fairly heavily layered with clothing while crossing the middle of the lake. Within five miles of shore, the wind died and the sun warmed the air enough to allow for a more comfortable trip. We lowered sail and started up the motor figuring on getting closer to Eagles before fishing the rest of the way to our island anchorage.

Troy laid down for a bit of a nap and shortly afterward, the wind piped up once again causing WhimSea to charge through the large swells that quickly followed the wind increase. We raised sails once again and began our beat to windward. The beating took longer then expected and we decided against fishing when we reached Eagle and Sand and instead sailed right to Raspberry where we would drop our sails and anchor off Marina Shoal.

Returning to the Apostle's is like a homecoming every year. The Islands change only slightly from year to year, caves are bigger, trees reach taller into the sky, and it is wonderful to see the transitions and also the sameness of the islands that have become so familiar to us.

We had an excellent dinner and enjoyed the sunset and subsequent moon-rise and array of stars from the cockpit. What a wonderful return.

05/23/10

Permalink 09:47:35 pm, Categories: Adventures, 65 words   English (US)

Sunday, May 23

A very quiet day indeed. We had planned to go fishing, but a cold fog came in and we decided against it. Projects around the boat therefore got our attention. Troy rearranged the pole holders and we had plenty of visitors from returning marina mates to keep us busy. The drive home was pretty amazing with a raucous lightning storm entertaining us the entire way.

05/22/10

Permalink 09:47:21 pm, Categories: Adventures, 41 words   English (US)

Saturday, May 22

A quiet weekend planned at the marina. Not everyone at float yet, but more and more boats appear every week. Troy and I went fishing (and had a miss!!!) and enjoyed dinner with Bruce and Kathy at Dixie's. A nice day.

05/16/10

Permalink 08:35:12 pm, Categories: Adventures, 85 words   English (US)

Sunday, May 16

Troy woke with a bad headache, so I left him in his bunk and went about helping Bruce launch K.C. II for the season. We had hoped to run to Duluth for more fishing line and some tackle, but Troy's headache kept him in bed for much of the day. I'm not complaining though since that means I had a day of reading and relaxing. Not a bad thing either. Guess we'll have to hold off on the fishing secrets for the next weekend.

05/15/10

Permalink 08:27:30 pm, Categories: Adventures, 316 words   English (US)

Saturday, May 15

We slept in far later then we had intended, and therefore got a fairly late start on the day. No matter, the sun was shining and the day was looking pretty darn gorgeous.

We flushed WhimSea's tank's and in the process discovered we appeared to be pumping out as much water as we were putting on. There was clearly a leak somewhere on the boat. Process of elimination ruled out the tanks themselves, the entry points, and exits and eventually we discovered that the hot water heater's valve was left open so whenever we charged the tank, it put water into the hot water heater and leaked out again. Troy fixed that and we were back to filling up with water and working on spring commissioning projects.

Troy put a couple more rod holders on the boat as well as worked on making sure she was ready for fishing.

There's lots of folks at the marina now, which is excellent to see and also means lots of time spent catching up. Bruce was there getting KC II ready for splashing and Blueberry stepped their mast and put in as well. Scott came by to check on Dolce and make sure she was ready for splashing by Memorial Day.

We eventually got out on the water for a little fishing. We tested out the Yellow Birds, put out a Deeper Diver and a Dipsy. The sun was very warm on our faces, especially on the run towards Two Harbors, but when we turned around for the return trip, it got a mite cold with the wind picking up off the lake.

We headed into the marina to a good dinner and more visiting with friends. And Troy pumped Don for fishing secrets and decided on the next days strategy to get some fish. (Don took pity on us as well as shared some Salmon! Thank you Don!)

05/14/10

Permalink 08:23:07 pm, Categories: Adventures, 74 words   English (US)

Friday, May 14

Since it was the night before fishing opener and there was already traffic due to construction season, we decided to leave the house a little later then normal on Friday night. It's clear we're going to have to find an alternate route through Duluth this season. Because of the late hour, we didn't get a chance to visit with folks on Friday, but were happy to see some familiar cars in the parking lot.

05/09/10

Permalink 11:01:56 pm, Categories: Adventures, 107 words   English (US)

May 9 -- A quick wax, a quick sail

Sunday was a beautiful day. The sun was shining and folks were around the marina getting their boats ready for the water. Dave and Deb came by to wax Rain or Shine and Troy and Joey gave them a hand while I cleaned WhimSea. After a bit, WhimSea went out for a sail and I kept cleaning while Troy and Joey got to experience the North wind off the lake (I think I may have gotten the better job).

They got a little cold, but did actually enjoy themselves. There was pretty good air out there after all. Hopefully next weekend its a little warmer at least.

05/08/10

Permalink 07:03:01 pm, Categories: Adventures, 180 words   English (US)

May 8, 2010 -- SNOW!

On April 10th when we headed north to wax the boat, we marveled at the progression of the spring in the trees, the grass, everything.

On April 16th when we made the same trip for our first sail of the season, we again saw those signs of spring progressing in the trees. The spring green against the deeper green of the evergreen trees. It's pretty awesome.

Today as we made the journey, we marveled at the patches of snow in the shadows of those same trees, now fully crowned with leaves. Near home there was a hard frost and clear signs of snow, but up in Duluth..... closer to 1.5 to 2 inches of snow was still on the ground when we rolled into town. I can't believe that the boat's been in the water for a month and NOW we get snow!

At least it gave us a really good reason to take a nice long nap on Saturday.

Afterward we met Dave and Deb, Michael and Kathy and Dave's family for Dave's birthday celebration at the Buffalo.

A great day.

WhimSea's Log

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