July... What a crazy month

I cannot remember a July as wet as this one. Wet and cold. Most years we have started our 2 to 3 week cruise by now, but this year things are beginning a little later. Wet and cold is still forecast, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

Talking about crazy... last week Ruth and I went out for a short day-sail; kind of a check on the systems before launch. That is when the GPS receiver started reading over twice our speed as shown on the knotmeter. The heading also shifted some 45 degrees to the west. What the heck??? I have never heard of a GPS failing like that. I did the obvious troubleshooting, such as disconnecting from the data cable to the VHF radio and taking the GPS off of boat 12 VDC power system. Same results.

I tried the unit in the car after the sail, and it appeared to work OK. I asked the question on the Hunter Owners website and received some interesting theories, but nobody had ever experienced the same thing I had. I tried to call Magellan Support, and was told by a recording that they no longer offer phone service for my 5 year old handheld unit. I went to their website and was able to send an e-mail explaining my problems, but no answer yet. Come on Magellan; too much time troubleshooting those fancy car GPS units?

Yesterday was the first opportunity to get it back on the boat and try again. Guess what? It worked! Everything from lat-long data to the VHF radio to direction compared to the compass. My only explanation is that it was an anomaly as we used to call it in the radio service biz.

My ST-60 Wind Instrument had also gone crazy that day, but that's another story. It also worked yesterday after a reset to manufacturer defalts

So, it looks like we are ready to start that cruise to Canada with everything working... for now!

Smooth Sailing..... Ken

Looking forward to May

The week of May 4th is the magic week for me. I now have a deadline to finish all of my dry-dock work before launch. One thing haunting me is the way Shumway stored the boats this winter. They squeezed a Beneteau to my port side with no more than three inches space at the widest part of the beam. There is certainly no room to get a ladder up for my spring-time application of Polly Glow. I talked with Mic at Shumway, and she said that they would look into it. I hope that they do it before the weather starts to warm up.

I have a huge problem with scheduling cruising this coming summer. I am now back to work full time, and being a "new hire", I have no vacation time for one year. I will be working 10 hour days starting in June, with a 3-day weekend every week. That is what is what they are thinking now, but business is so good at Harris RF Communications, I would be surprised if they don't require more working hours this summer. Here it is, my first week at work, and I put in a 6 day week. They want more, but I figure that since I am new to the position, I wouldn't be able to offer enough for that overtime.

There are also things to do at home. Free time is going to be a little scarce this year. That is a good thing though. The economy is the reason for starting back to work. We are affected like so many others, and the retirement funds are disappearing much faster than they should. Believe me, we have even talked about trying to sell the boat. OMG as they say... I hope it doesn't get that bad. The boat is the reason we worked those many years. I hope jobs open up for the unemployed and things pick up on the stock market.

I will try to do some more postings on the blog with pictures once we get back to sailing.

What do sailors do in November?

This is a difficult time for most sailors. Our boats are out of the water, sitting on the hard, and the weather is turning colder. Most of the leaves are off the trees, and we are waiting for the first snowfall of the season. The Buffalo snow belt already has been hit by Lake Effect snow, and the south-eastern area of Lake Ontario has also tasted it's first lake effect snow.

I am a fair-weather-friend. I would rather sit in the nice warm house then to venture outdoors in the cold damp breeze. I wore my winter coat and gloves yesterday just to take our dog Ernie for a short walk. I know what is ahead of us, and I'm not liking it. We try to get away to the south for a short break from the winter every year, but this year the economy is heavy on my mind. I have seen my 401K lose 1/3 of it's value, so just like many Americans, I feel I cannot afford a winter vacation this year.

So, I sit here at my trusty computer, working on website designs. I have just released a new version of the Lake Ontario Hunter Sailing Association website at www.lohsa.com, and it looks pretty good (in my opinion). I am almost finished with my son Jay's photography website at www.photopalmer.com and only waiting for new images to publish the new version. I am also working on a new website for the Genesee Yacht Club at www.geneseeyc.org. The present one is old and tired. The new one is exciting; easy to open and easy to find what you are looking for. I hope to get it up within a week or two.

All three websites are being developed using Microsoft Expression Web, which has replaced my old and not supported Microsoft FrontPage 2003. The learning curve is steep, but I am getting the grasp of the essentials. I wish I had a mentor here in Rochester to turn to with my many questions. Being self-taught, I have a DVD collection for learning Expression Web, and I have gone through 2/3 of it. But everything doesn't stick like it used to, and I find myself having to go over sections that I have already visited; again and again.

I would love to see a users group for Microsoft Expression Web in town. It would be a plus for everybody. I have a fellow Harris retired co-worker that is just beginning his Expression Web adventure. We meet about once a month with other ex-Harris guys at lunch, and talk about everything under the sun. Maybe this could be the start of a web designer group.

Anyway, I have really drifted off course on a sailing blog. But winter is coming, and what could be a better way to spend my non-sailing days. Stay warm my friends.

Sailing season is not over

Wednesday was a great day for a sail!  Winds out of the south-west at 10 to 15 knots and little wave action.  Ruth had to help my son with his photography business, so I had the afternoon to myself.  I decided to finally carry through with a promise I had made to take one of our friends from GYC out for a day-sail.

Ed is a sailor with no boat, having sold his sailboat after knee surgery, and having a difficult time sailing single-handed.  Now he relies on his friends to take him out to enjoy his passion.  This was the first time I have taken Ed out sailing, and he was like a kid at the wheel.  We beat into the wind for the first half of the trip, heading towards a couple other sailboats off in the distance.

Once we were close to them, Ed suggested that we come about and have a race.  It really wasn't much of a race with the other boat flying only a jib and us with main and jib up.  The speed of Water Colors reached 7.2 knots at one point, about the best my Hunter 33.5 can do.

We reached the Rochester Harbor piers and decided to take the sails down before entering the channel.  It was that point that I began to wonder about bringing the boat into her slip.  Ruth is always at the helm when leaving and returning to our dock.  I am the one on deck managing the dock lines.  Now I needed to bring the boat in, only the second time this year, with Ed volunteering to grab the one dock line I have set up at the piling, and then throw it over the winch to stop the boat.  I came in nice and slow, and Ed worked the line like an old pro.  Once we were stopped, I stepped off to the dock and set the bow lines.

Like I said, it was a great day for a sail, and a great day to be with an old friend.  He said that I am on his "A" list now, and he feels safe sailing with me again.

September 1st...Already!

Are you ready for the sailing season to end? I know that I'm not.

We received the annual paperwork from Shumway Marine asking for a haul-out date. Last year I hauled around October 1st. I think that I wanted to be on land a little early so that I could get a coat of Poli Glow on the hull and get to the bright work that I put off all summer.

Do I try to cover the boat this year? Every year that I try to cover, it doesn't last the winter. Too much snow and wind either collapse the cover or break the framing. One year I had to replace one stanchion and have two others repaired when the wind blew my cover and wooden frame over.

This year I think that we need a little more time on the lake. The water levels are high so that I don't have to worry about getting stuck at my slip (I hope). I can't believe that we didn't visit Sodus Bay this year. God forbid we miss a chance to dock at the yacht club and have the waves beat us to death. They sure could use a break-wall there.

Yesterday we had eight boats rafted up for a short time on Lake Ontario just east of the Summerville Pier. The waves from the power boats knocked the hell out of us, and we were forced to break the raft after an hour or so. Many of us met at the club afterwards to enjoy a nice cookout.

Hey... If you are reading this and want to add your comments... Please do! It should be an easy thing to do by just clicking on the "comments" link at the bottom of this post. Please give it a try if only to say hello.

Also... If you would like to have your story or pictures show up on the website, drop me a line at webmaster@lakeontariosailing.com.

Cheers and have a good Labor Day!
Ken Palmer

EPA Discharge Permit Requirement for Recreational Boats

CONGRESS RESTORES 35-YEAR EXEMPTION FOR RECREATIONAL BOATS FROM PROPOSED EPA PERMITTING REQUIREMENTS

NO NEW PERMIT FOR BOATS REQUIRED

ALEXANDRIA, VA, July 22, 2008 - In a remarkable display of bipartisan support for recreational boating, both the House and Senate today passed S. 2766, "The Clean Boating Act of 2008" which will permanently restore a long-standing exemption for recreational boats from permitting requirements under the Clean Water Act. The legislation now goes to the White House for the President's signature.

Go to Boat U.S. for the full story by clicking this line.

Did I Say Rain?

The daily forecast calls for rain. I am beginning to trust the weatherman now since it does rain every day. We must be stuck in some significant weather pattern.

We arrived at Bluffers Park Yacht Club yesterday after an uneventful motoring trip. The only reason I raised my main was to dry it out from the day before.

Not too long after we arrived, we heard the thunder and watched as a storm rolled in (images above). Last night around 11 PM there was a another terrific thunder storm. The bluffs must amplify the thunder because it was really loud.

There is the usual wildlife here like geese, swans, etc. but we thought we spotted a couple minks yesterday across the water behind our boat. I was so interested in watching that I forgot to get the camera out. Darn!