Where WhimSea Takes Us

Posted by Karen A. Brown

In October of 2005 we spent a couple of weekends as transients at Barkers Island. Duluth/Superior is an excellent place to visit from Knife River as it is relatively close, generally has docking space available and has a restaurant nearby.

We even got an opportunity to see some friends in the sailing community.

Posted by Karen A. Brown

We had a few blocks of time off of work and decided to spent it at the Apostle Islands. Though we’d been there so many times before, each time we go we see something new and learn something new about the area.

During this trip we got an opportunity to see Outer Island. The most remotely of islands, the sandspit on the southern end of the island provides you with an overwhelming feeling of isolation and really makes you wonder how people survived in these fishing camps and lighthouses. We also got an opportunity to see the work that was underway at the lighthouse and got some good photos too.

Once again, a wonderful couple of weekends of sailing and relaxation.

Posted by Karen A. Brown

We arrived at the marina on a perfect Friday evening. The stars were so very bright and the fresh breeze caught our imagination. We decided to get loaded up and head out right away for the islands.

We had a wonderful night’s sail and were treated with an evening light show as the aurora borealis treated us with color and shape to amaze us. The weekend itself was very restful and we enjoyed ourselves immensely.

Posted by Karen A. Brown

Though it wasn’t exactly planned, the wind directed our way to the Silver Bay Marina on this weekend. The Marina is fairly new and we usually don’t have to worry about it being to full. This weekend was no difference. We made pretty good time getting there and had plenty of time to get tied up and showered before calling the Northern Lights Restaurant for a ride.

The Northern Lights Restaurant is one of the places in Silver Bay that will send a car to the marina to pick you up and bring you home after your meal. Sometimes the driver is the owner, sometimes it’s the dishwasher. You never really know, and frankly I don’t care. The food at the restaurant is so good; I’d consider walking there, regardless of the distance.

The restaurant is placed such that they have an excellent view of the big lake as well as a wonderful garden in the back. The fare is excellent, offering maple planked salmon and caribou. I’ve never been disappointed by their food, service or atmosphere. I’d recommend it to anyone!

Posted by Karen A. Brown

We have decided to share our love of sailing with anyone in the marina who wishes to try it out…. particularly power boaters as it fits into our grand plan of turning them over to the dark side (sailing). On July 30, we convinced Mark and Janet from Royal to come out for a sail with us. Though we had to look a little bit for the wind, initially, we did find some. Mark and Janet tell us that they enjoyed the sail, the fresh breeze and the sunshine.

Our plan is working.

Posted by Karen A. Brown

These weekends’ guests were to be Lisa (Troy’s sister) and her boyfriend, Tito. The plan was to leave on Saturday morning when they arrive and go towards the islands. Though we had great wind, it isn’t conducive to reaching and destination and we ended up turning back to the marina. On our sail out both Troy and Tito lost hats, that’s how fresh the breeze was.

On Sunday morning, Lisa and Tito decided to take advantage of the day and the area and do some sightseeing in Duluth and along the north shore, leaving us with a free afternoon. So we convinced some of our marina-mates to come out for a sail with us. Tim and Diane of Alleluia were among the first people we met while visiting Knife River and as they are fellow sailors who happened to be trapped in the marina doing maintenance, we felt they might enjoy a break from the work-a-day world. And they definitely did. We had a wonderful afternoon sail.

Posted by Karen A. Brown

Luckily, we were able to get our headsail problems resolved prior to Theresa’s planned trip aboard. We intended to show her the Apostle Islands from close up.

We left Saturday morning after loading Theresa’s gear and provisions aboard. Though we made several attempts at sailing there, much of our wind was variable and could not support shutting off the engines.

We eventually made it to Sand Island and Lighthouse Bay where we intended to stay for the evening. The sunset was beautiful and we even caught a glimpse of deer making their way along the shoreline.

We spent part of the next day traveling around the islands and trying to decide where to spend the night. We decided on Oak Island given the winds. We did get an opportunity to touch land and create some fire.

We spent the long weekend sitting back and enjoying beautiful weather and beautiful islands, good food and good company. We were favored with a relatively uneventful return sail on the Fourth of July. The only event that was remarkable was the Coast Guard call for a water hazard around Two Harbors. They were reporting a tree in the water. We kept a look out for it, but didn’t see it.

On our return to the marina we got an additional treat. Those at the marina that were staying overnight organized an informal beach party complete with fireworks and large fire. We had a good time and were all very relaxed at the end.

Posted by Karen A. Brown

We spent much of June, 2005 making multiple attempts to fix the head sail issues we’ve been having. I hoisted Troy up nearly every weekend and we worked through each option one at a time, each to failure. Finally, with no choice left we could find, we hoisted Troy up with a hacksaw and he set about removing part of the medal extrusion from the upper part of the furling.

And voila!

He fixed it. It appears that the system was installed incorrectly initially (without accurate measurements for sure) and removing the extra portion of the extrusion we cleared the system for proper rolling.

We breathed a sigh of relief as my sister was planning to come up the following weekend for a sail to the Apostle’s.

Posted by Karen A. Brown

The weekend forecast predicted cloudy, overcast skies. No wind, some rain and the possibility of thunderstorms. Remembering last year’s shut out, we packed with trepidation, not knowing if we would be sent home early or spending all of the time below decks.

We awoke early on Saturday, planning on leaving the marina shortly after our arrival. After hauling our provisions aboard, I began to stow them while Troy brought WhimC alongside. We intended to bring along the dinghy in case an opportunity to go island exploring arose.

WhimSea started up and pulled away from the dock as pretty as you please. We got a couple of miles out, just past the island and an alarm went off on the engine. There are only a few things that alarm could be for – engine heat or oil pressure. We checked them both with no luck. They looked good, but we topped everything off. We had been drifting during this time. We started the engine back up, thinking the alarm would stop, but it didn’t. Since we had had WhimSea out last weekend without issue, we couldn’t figure out what the problem could be, so we came about and went back to the marina.

After letting the engine cool for a bit, we checked the fluid levels again and thought we’d try again. A small fishing boat was out by the islands when we left the piers behind. What was remarkable about that was the fact that they were being boarded by the Coast Guard. Though we’re not certain, we’re assuming they were checking for safety equipment. Right about this time, the alarm went off again. Since we’d done everything we could think of, we headed back to the marina. We’d have to ask Dave for ideas. At the same time, the fishing vessel started heading in, they must have failed their inspection. The Coast Guard then came our way with all speed. Since we were already between the piers it wouldn’t be tough to catch up with us. They followed us in to the marina, but when we docked they turned around and went back out. It was weird because it, of course looked like they chased us in.

By this time Dave was at lunch, so we visited with our marina-mates while we waited for his return. Once he got back, it was pretty clear he couldn’t do anything for us. But another guy who works there, Jeremy, offered to come and take a look.

While Troy and Jeremy poked at the engine, I received a visit from Donna of Shangri-La. They were up for the weekend replacing a leaky window and hoping to put the sails up. Michael, her husband also came up while we were waiting for the alarm to sound. He mentioned that his alarm sensor sometimes shorted out while under way if the wire moved. This got Jeremy thinking and we finally determined the problem… the alarm sensor itself had gone bad! Since all the engine gauges work and everything else looked good, he disconnected the alarm sensor s we could head out. He’ll order us a new one.

With that problem fixed, we tossed off the dock lines once more and pointed towards the islands. We said goodbye to the marina-mates and wished them a good time at the evening’s pizza party and promised not to return until Monday.

Though we had no wind to speak of, we did have plenty of sun the whole way out. We saw lots of shipping traffic and got some photos of the lighthouse with our new camera.

We anchored at York for the evening’s southwest breezes, had a light dinner and hit the sack. What a long day.

Sunday so far was bright, sunny and the skies were clear. We were told today would be overcast and rainy so it’s a pleasant surprise. We plan to move to Raspberry sometime today for tonight’s northeast breezes.

Heading to the next anchorage we decided to raise the sails. That went OK. It was in rolling them back in where we had a problem. They didn’t want to go. The roller-furling just would not wind up. I ended up hoisting Troy aloft to seagull height so he could see if he might be able to fix it. No dice. On Monday, we motored home with the sail stowed in the V-Berth.

Posted by Karen A. Brown

WhimSea is in the water! We headed up after work to make sure we could bend on the sails during the relative calm of the evening. Though the forecast called for rain, we hope they’re wrong and plan to head out in the morning, weather permitting.

We got a visit from Mark of Screaming Eagle. He dropped Screaming Eagle in as well and is spending the weekend on his boat.

The sails were bent on without issue before sitting down to a visit. It was nice to catch up and hear how everyone’s doing.

Saturday morning dawned gray, dreary and cold. The prediction is for rain which arrived around 12:30, 1:00. We waited to see if it would clear, but Saturday was spent listening to the intermittent rain, reading and napping. In late afternoon we saw Michelle and Al from Draggin’ Fly and visited with them for a while.

Sunday morning began at an all calm. There was barely a hint of breeze on the water. We went out for breakfast at Judy’s and decided that we’d at least start up the engine and go out for a drive. While we were out both the fog and the rain hit so we came back in. Another afternoon of reading and listening to the rain and wind gusts. Hopefully next weekend will be better!

Posted by Karen A. Brown

Today we brought the batteries up to the marina and prepared WhimSea for the water. We expect her to be in this week!