Memorial Weekend Sailing
By Eric ComstockDespite my earlier plans, I decided not to go out to BRP Saturday as SailFlow.com showed < 5 mph winds all day. This evening it said 9MPH so I went out around 4:30.
I got there to see a couple of guys pulling out their canoes. They were messing around for a long time on the boat ramp, but once I let them know that I was waiting, they pulled out and fooled around in the parking lot for another half hour.
I put in and got loaded up in #759 and raised the sail. I cast off and almost immediately,I noticed that the main sheet was wrapped around the boom. I reached for the cleat on the dock and tried to hold it there and untangle the boom at the same time. That didn't work very well and I ended up drifting back onto the boat ramp. Eventually I got my rigging sorted out and pulled the boat back out to the end of the dock and cast off again. This time I got away without incident.
The wind was reasonable steady, 5 to 10 most of the time. I made two laps around all three buoys then headed in so my son and I could stretch our legs. I tied up on the pier and had made it about 100 feet away when I noticed a couple of toddlers that had wandered out on the pier. One was busily filling the boat the branches while the other was doing his best to untie the dock line. There were no parents in sight. I yelled "hey" a couple of times and there was no response. Seeing that the one untying the line was almost finished, I yelled "NO!" in a tone that I generally reserve for dogs that are urinating inside the house. That got their attention. They stopped what they were doing, stepped away from the boat and wandered off. I secured the boat and threw the sticks back into the water. At that point I decided that it wasn't safe to leave the boat unattended so my son and I got back in and sailed off.
We got away cleanly and sailed back and forth across the lake a few more times before deciding to call it a day. On the way back, a bunch of additional fishermen had set up on the boat dock and bank all around the boat ramp. With all the people all over the dock there wasn't anywhere for me to pull up, so I ended up making a not very graceful landing on the boat ramp.
I loaded up and headed home about 7:15.
We had a lot of fun sailing today. There was no one else on the water, but the park was packed with mulling masses. I want to go sailing again tomorrow...but the prospect of dealing with all the "Land lubbers" has me reconsidering...
Eric