Great Holiday Weekend

And such varied sailing condx!
I had Friday off, so the boys and I took our H16 to the local pond, rigged her up and got out on the water. After about 15 minutes, the wind just plain died. We waited for it to start up again, but no go.

Rather than call it a day, we lowered the trolling motor and puttered around the shoreline for a couple of hours, just gabbing, relaxing, and admiring all the nice houses surrounding the lake. Loads of fun!! My youngest (10) had not taken the helm yet. Figuring we were going slow enough and there'd be minimal resistance on the tiller, I asked him if he'd like to be the skipper. He enjoyed steering the boat as we cut across the lake towards the dock.

The sailing gods must have enjoyed the look on his face. The wind suddenly kicked up just enough to fill the sails and we were able to disengaged the motor.

"Hey, Ben, " I said. "You're sailing!"

The look on his face was priceless.

Monday , the eldest boy and I took the boat out and were blessed with a good steady breeze. I had him skipper the boat the whole time and I just trimmed the sails and enjoyed myself. Both times we were out on the water for a good three hours!

Wonderful weekend to be out on the big blue wet thing. Oh, yeah, I also got to test out my new waterproof cell phone baggie. Worked like a charm!

Fair winds!
Nick

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1978 Hobie 16 "Burt The Cat"

Sounds like fun! See the solo mast-stepping post in the H16 forum for a story of my less-exciting sailing.

Jaime,
Read your story. VERY funny! We had a similar experience last summer.

We were sailing on Higgins Lake here in Michigan. It's a pretty big lake with an island in the middle and all that. Well, my wife and I sailed out to the island in about 8 knots of breeze. It was a fun, casual sail. We got out to the island, met up with my brother who was also out there in his powerboat, and played in the water for a little bit. Then we decided to head back to the dock. My brother took off in his powerboat and we began sailing back.

The wind died. Completely.

We waited for it to come back and it never did. So, I began paddling while my wife took the helm. Another sailboat (an Oday) was out there and they were dropping their sails to motor back to the dock. They motored away but came back after a couple of minutes when they realized that we weren't sailing, I was paddling.

"Ahoy! Do you need a tow?" they asked.

We accepted and they towed us all the way back to the dock. Good thing, too. Otherwise, we might still be out there!


That was the day I decided to buy the Hobie motor mount!

Fair winds,
Nick
1978 H16 "Burt the Cat"

_________________
1978 H16 "Burt The Cat"

I was on a Laser, not a cat, but the wind COMPLETELY died all the same for me. One summer day, when I was 18, I was on Carlyle Lake in western Illinois, in cove #6 (~6 miles from the dam, where my marina and ride back to St. Louis were). I ended up wrapping my legs around the mast, leaning over the bow, and swimming the boat back to the marina. Of course that was when I was a teenager and in great shape. I've never been that tired in my life. Of course now I have a cell phone to avoid situations like that.