Finally

Tuesday, the 17th I finally got Dim Sum into the water. This was the first time this year I've had it out. The weather was beautiful: clear sky, enough wind and temps in the mid 70s. It was the perfect day to get reacquainted with my boat. The lake I chose was Joe Pool which is about 7 miles from my house. There were three or four other boats, sail or motor, on the lake. That's one of the perks of being retired. You have the lake to yourself during the week.

One major change I've made to my boat is the addition of a new Honda 2 HP motor. It took several pulls to get it to start but I'm pretty sure it's an operator thing. A little fumbling with the choke and throttle should straighten that out. In the past I've used a battery powered Minn Kota trolling motor and it's amazing how much more power the gas Honda has. I used the motor only a few minutes to leave the dock and return but I could easily have motored all over the lake if I wanted to.

This is the first new OB motor I've ever owned. It's going to be interesting to see how the good and bad (some sailors might say "evil") balance. There are lots of stories about outboards that won't start at critical times and get called #$%#@$%! Hopefully those times are rare.

A Boat You Don't See Everyday

What's a Penobscot?

These videos and stills show a Penobscot 14, and were taken over a period of years at three different locations. The boat was hand crafted by Al Meyer. Not only is it a beauty to look at, its performance lives up to its looks. Al never fails to draw onlookers who are in awe of a boat that's not plastic. The boat is wonderfully built and attention has been paid to the tiniest details, i.e. the fenders are hand made of line (rope), the anchor is bronze, and real belaying pins are used.

In the video, clips that have a 4:3 aspect ratio were shot at Offatts Bayou in Galveston, TX with a Flip camera. The 16:9 (wide screen) were taken at Lake Somerville, TX with a Kodak Zi8 HD camera. The stills were taken at Matagorda Bay with a Canon Powershot A540.

When it's cold and rainy outside I watch this video and tell myself I'm going to build a boat like that someday. Or maybe I'll just sit by the fireplace and enjoy Al's work.

Sailing Lake Somerville

Aug. 28-30, 2009

Well, it's been a little less than a year since I sailed here at Somerville and here I am again. This time Al, Luis, Wayne, Bill, Noel, Joe and Randy made it. The weather cooperated and

everyone had some good sailing. I was able to check out Joe's boat, a trimaran, for the first time. It's like a different animal from my slow-poke Potter. It looked like a Formula 1 car zipping around a bunch of station wagons. I've been using every cliche or rule or life style that has to do with making things simple, small or gone on Dim Sum. KISS, less is more or Zen: I'm trying to apply them all. My plan is to make sailing on Dim Sum more fun and safer.

Sailing Where I First Learned to Sail

Jul. 24,25, 2009

After nearly 40 years I returned to sail Offatts Bayou. Galveston is where a friend of mine taught me to sail after I got out of the Navy. Herold Moore told me about his sailing experiences and pointed out the various "philosophies" involved in picking out a sailboat. I bought a brand new Venture Cat and learned to sail at places like Galveston beaches, Offatts Bayou and the Ship Channel. The boat never caught on but for me it was a perfect beginner's boat. I could beach it. I could roller-reef the jib and it would just fit in my garage. Whenever I had the boat on the beach it started an instant party.

Sailing Somerville
Gregg, Noel, Randy, Danny and I made it to Somerville lake to sail and camp one night. Ron was there with his Catalina 22. Bill and Joe sailed the Catalina 25. The air was cool and Saturday morning we had a very nice breeze. Sailing past the dam was perfect in every way. The wind speed and direction were just what Dim Sum, my boat, wanted. She was sailing with a bone in her teeth. (Look it up, landlubbers.) As the day went on the wind slowed. Then the wind got a little iffy. Then the wind went away. The wind, by the way, is the reason sailors have the reputation they do when it comes to using colorful language. The wind is Neptune's answer to "Murphy's Law". Of course sailors talk like that- it's because of that @#%&# wind. At any rate, the wind went away by the end of the day. We motored back. It was much better than watching Saturday cartoons. I'd give the weekend a 10. Of course, I give any weekend I'm on the boat a 10.

Cooking on a Small Sailboat
You can look at cooking on a small boat in several different ways. It could be considered a challenge. Or it could be thought of as a useless exercise. When things go badly you might see it as being similar to cooking in a dumpster, only just slightly cleaner. At any rate, like most things, if you don't really have to do it, it's fun.
I use a Swedish army surplus alcohol stove. It nests together to about the size of a GI canteen. I rigged a gimbals attachment for it so it won't spill the soup if I move to the other side of the boat. The gimbals only work for port and starboard motion. If the boat is pitching for and aft I won't be cooking anyway. Two drawbacks I see: it doesn't have a control for the flame and food sticks easily to the aluminum pans. I cooked on it this weekend and now I'm going to have to chisel out the "charred remains" with a file or ax. But it was fun.

Olio- The Clips That Didn't Make the Big Time
Here's a collection of clips that I stuck together. They were all taken at Somerville lake on the 8th or 9th of Nov. 08. There's a good picture of Danny, the security, therapy and hunting dog. And there are instructions on how to give your outboard an enema. Don't worry. The graphics aren't too graphic.

Cap'n on shore leave.

This is just a little example of what happens when you wear the uniform. Easy ladies, there's plenty for everyone.

Sailing Dim Sum at Lake Arlington

I took my West Wight Potter, Dim Sum, out for an easy going Sunday "drive". The wind varied from nearly non-existent to refreshing and fun. At first there were no boats out but as the day progressed there were 12 or more sailboats on the lake: Catalina 22s, Sunfish, Daysailers and MC Scows.
The boat needed some serious cleaning (shoveling, really) and I took care of that this past week. I wish my daughter could have seen it after it was tidied up. When she was sailing with me, we just made a point of not looking in the cabin.
It was hot Sunday, high 90s (37c) and I stayed out about 8 hours. That was enough. Uncle, already!
The camera on the mast and rail is an Oregon Scientific "Action Cam". The handheld shots were taken with a Flip Ultra.

Holly and I Sail a West Wight Potter

The winds came up, a cloud cover cooled the lake way down to only 90 degrees and I had a crew who would work for Dr. Peppers. In other words it was a perfect sailing day for my West Wight Potter 15, Dim Sum. I tried out my new cheap video camera- Flip Ultra and it worked perfectly. I didn't have to think about exposure, frame speed, depth of field or loosing a $500 camera over the side. Gotta love it!

Poor Dimmie

My fellow sailors will understand this, I'm sure. You know your life is not on track when you can't find your boat in the garage. Thank goodness this is TEMPORARY. The painters are just about finished with the inside of the house and the clutter will be cleared away soon. Little Dimmie will have her garage back and we'll be making a run to Joe Pool lake (north Texas) to test her Gulf readiness.
I was given the advice of a Potter sailor who said he had added a second reef point to his main and was glad he did. I'll be taking his advice; all I have to do is find a sail maker here in the bass boat kingdom of the world.