Columbus Day Cruise 06

We had lots of wind, more wind, rain, and more wind, all of which made for some really great sailing.

We both arrived on Friday evening. George Thorpe had his Catalina 22 rigged and ready when I arrived at 7:35PM. The wind was blowing and it was chilly. We walked down to the boat ramp to see what the ramp status was and found the lake was down 8.5 feet. The floating docks were now floating ramps to the water. With the limited light it looked as if launching might be a problem if the concrete ramp ended before we could get the boats floating. Back up at the boats I suggested we both sail on the Catalina 22 but to put off that decision until we had daylight to look over the ramp again. With the wind still holding the next morning, we decided to just launch the Catalina and leave my Morgan 24 on the trailer. We sailed out from the Tradewinds Marina by 10:00 with our destination the Savannah Lakes Resort. It would be a 22 mile sail. With a full main and a 110% jib up we sailed up the lake sailing the Catalina like it was my heavier Morgan. The wind was blowing 8-12 with gusts to probably 18. After about 6 miles, the Catalina 22 decided to tell us that we were pushing too hard. It started with the normal heeling over then the boat kept going. I expected the Catalina to round up, but George was fighting to keep the same course. George eventually ducked under the tiller to push it further. With that the wind heeled the boat over even more. I kept thinking it would round up and did not even try to release the jib. George let go of the tiller and grabbed the stern rail and then stepped on the motor to keep from falling in the water as the mast hit the water. I was now saying softly, "come on up, come on up" Well slowly the mast came out of the water and the boat rounded into the wind. I reached for the jib just in time because now the wind was starting to back the jib and we would be tipping over the other direction. I uncleated the main and we settled into getting the water out of the boat, and looking back at the cushions, my hat, & a small horn floating in the water behind us. When we got settled a bit we spent about 20 minutes retrieving cushions that had gotten away from us, we decided to reef the main and try a little harder to sail more straight up. This was my first time to be sailing on a cruising sailboat and go through a knock down. Did I think the boat would turn completely upside down? Yes, I was actually surprised the boat came back up since it had passed 90 degrees over and had little righting moment left. The rest of the trip was uneventful except that we were pulling my WalkerBay 8 dinghy and still making speeds of up to 5.7Kts. There were a few times of slack wind but overall we had a fast sail up the lake. Arriving at Savannah Lakes at 16:00, it was swim call and yes, the water was still warm enough to be enjoyed. We then donned our dress clothes and rowed the dinghy into the Savannah Lakes Marina to enjoy an evening of fine dining at the Parrots Cove Restaurant. Well, we were disappointed to find that the fine restaurant was only open for weddings, parties & continental breakfast for the nearby resort motel, but that there was a Grill a short walk away that we could get a sandwich. The wind was strong thru the night creating noises from the rigging we could have done without.

The morning started out with a dinghy ride in to shore for a walk around the Resort and a short stop to use the facilities. We sailed away from the anchorage easing out of the Marina using just the 110% jib at about 10:10. For a while it looked like we would be able to sail under the jib alone and be able to maintain a 4 knot speed but alas, with a wind change we had to again sail into a head wind and we raised the reefed main. By 14:00 we pulled into a quiet cove to have lunch. We ate lunch while it started to sprinkle and then it rained even harder. With a bimini up, we sat watching the rain and discussing the world situation. It was almost 16:30 when we sailed out with the rain stopped and some sun out. 7PM found us anchoring in a cove in the Bussy Point Wilderness Area. It was windy again during the night and in the morning we figured out what had been causing all the noise when the gusts of wind came by us. It was the PVC pipe shround/turnbuckle protectors George had on his boat.

The next morning found us rising early enough but to an anchor that did not want to pull. We finally got it to break loose from the dead tree/stump by motoring directly into the wind then trying 90% to the wind, then 180% to the wind. Giving up on trying to motor it out, we gave it one more try to pull it straight up and it popped loose. I was not looking forward to trying to swim down to dislodge it. The sail back to the marina was fast, even with a reefed main and 110% jib, and we arrived back at the marina by 10:30. Packing up was not too difficult since we had to take the mast down on only one boat. The drive home for me was uneventful.