The Slow Fade

  

"Summer has come and passed....."
                            -Green Day


    But, autumn has been pretty damn awesome.

   Actually, the whole season , from beginning to end, has been great, meteorologically and oceanographically speaking.

   After two reallydamncold winters with 95%+ ice cover on the Lakes, the water level has been high all season.

  At least 2 feet higher than 2012/2013.

   Usually,  the water level is highest in the late spring early summer, as snow melt and spring rains swell tributaries and upper Lakes- this year, weirdly, the water level in July was higher than June:

                                                                          -charts courtesy of  Fisheries and Oceans Canada


  ...  And pretty much stayed there through the middle of September, before gradually starting to fall.
 
 As an added bonus, the summer was relatively dry- enough rain to keep farmers happy, enough sun to keep beachgoers happy, and enough wind to keep sailors happy...mostly.


The  sunsets were absofreakinlutely spectacular.

   As the season slowly faded, I discovered that the sunrises were pretty damn amazing too, even if the fact that I was observing them meant that endofseason was looming:

     In September I FINALLY accomplished a task that had been out of my reach for two seasons.

     (No, it wasn't "writing another blog post", Smartass Reader.)

    When Good Old Boat  slated my account of our acquisition of  Karma, Tim, the Managing Editor, requested some high resolution photos of  Karma under sail.  clicking through the hundreds of pics on my computer, I realized I had NO high res photos of us under full sail.  There were lots of pics of us loafing along with the genny fully bagged out, there were low-res pics of us with both main and genoa looking full, fat and sassy...

     But no magazine-worthy, high-resolution, mainsail-and-foresail-as-Neptune-intended pics of Karma in full double-stitched Dacron splendour.

    So, the only pics in my international magazine debut article... are of Karma sailing half-assed.
   

     Sigh.


    Yeah, shut up-  even I can see the symbolism.

    Anyfail, September saw Jack and Hilary step up and catch some full sail sunset shots.  Thanks, guys!

 

   Speaking of full sails and Hilary, he started flying his assymetrical spinnaker this year, making him easy to spot on the lake:

  "What of Whiskeyjack?"  the faithful hordes ask.  "Have you forsaken the ass which formerly bore you?"

   Nay, my friends, and I report  that Whiskeyjack  is in good hands. 

   

   Phil has been sailing her ass off, on her ear, grinning ear to ear:

  She's still in the water, still on the dock, and due for haul out the same day as Karma, November 5th.

  Frank and Lorraine and Keara are also wringing the last few sailing days out of the season as well:

   By the last half of October the Dock was looking sparse:

     Sunday, SWMBO's boat Ereni came out of the water;

      By Tuesday, there were three-  Karma, Keara, and Whiskeyjack.  

     

     Sigh.

     Hurricane Patricia's walk of shame across North America forced us to move to the relative safety of virtually empty Dock Five to ride out the 50 knot gusts and 2 metre waves.  That's us, below, on the dock closest to shore.    The sunsets suck, but it sure is calm in there.

   The water level is up about 2 feet in 12 hours.

    We seldom see waves rolling deep enough, and strong enough, to make the dinghy dock hump.

      No shame here about leaving the dock- there were four freighters hunkered as deep in the Bay as their draft would allow.

  Tomorrow the three boats  leave the Marina for the season and start a new tradition- we move to the dinghy dock for the night, roll out the jack-o-lanterns and candy for intrepid trick or treaters, and enjoy one last night on the water.  Then it's under the bridge to the yard to wait for haulout.

   Then, six long months on the dirt begin.

  Sigh.

Thanks for checking in, and please remember to "Talk the dock!"

They're baaaaa-aaaack!

     "Are you ready for this?  Are you hanging on the edge of your seat?"
                                                                                                   -Queen


      This weekend, a couple of the sailing pieces of our Dock puzzle fell into place.  Saturday, Gavin did a drive-by, splash-and-run launch-and-leave, muttering something about actually having a life, and being back soon, hopefully.  Bring Sylvia!

     Sunday, Jack splashed his new-to-him O'day, Blew Orphan, naked.
   
    The BOAT is naked.
     ie.  No sails.
     Not Jack.
     I don't think.

  Walt and Bas were along for the ride, and the trio joined us aboard Whiskeyjack  to celebrate the grrenhorn's first cruise.
    Welcome back!

Refit Roll Call!

     "Lord, I am so tired.  How long can this go on?"
                                                            -Lee Dorsey




      When we're not sailing, or fishing, or roaring across the Bay, or cleaning, or drinking, or eating,  Docksters are usually fixing.  Or improving. Or fixing what we had previously improved.  Since winter significantly cuts down on the "sailing, or fishing, or roaring across the bay, or cleaning" parts of our existence, we are left to fill the void with additional drinking, eating and fixing.
     Especially the fixing.
     If we drank any more than we already do, we'd have to start attending meetings.
     Bottom line, from October to April we get fat and work on our boats... not necessarily in that order.

     This winter was an especially busy one-  it seems like everyone had a project or two underway.
     Jim and Marianne gave Cranky a makeover- new topsides and deck paint, hardware rebedded, and fresh bottom paint.

   I like the rolling cradle, Jim.

   I have to admit to some serious boat shed envy.  Look at that high-falutin' ceiling fan in the background!  And Jim is working in short sleeves!  Heat AND ventilation AND shelter- that ain't fair.

   Here is what Cranky looked like before she entered the shed:

    Nice colour choice, Jim and Marianne.  It looks like we are starting an official colour scheme for the Dock Six fleet!

   James gets the "Pimp My Hull" award.  He built new smoked acrylic transom doors for George Too II, added more LED mood lighting, installed a deck throne, dialed in both outboards, and installed a new stereo with a DVD player and retractable LCD screen.  With the new entertainment system instalkled, James added cabling that will enable him to display his smartphone on the screen-  download Navionics chart app to  the phone and voila!  A fixed mount chartplotter.   Then he went over the top-  he installed night vision cameras fore and aft, and tied them into the screen on his stereo!  I can't wait to see how it all works.

     Jack bought another boat.   Jack will be splashing an O'day Tempest this season, providing he can find the sails, which apparently have gone missing.  I predict that Jack will buy another boat just to acquire the needed sails.

     Jim and Jill have been working on Carpe Diem, reworking the running rigging, installing a new loose-footed mainsail, and refinishing the teak trim.  It sounds like one of the prettiest boats on the dock just got prettier. I can't wait to see her.

    Rumour has it that Gavin bought new skatelaces for his fenders. (Oooohhhh, I'm gonna hear about that one.)

     The new boat, After School,  saw some serious structural surgery take place.  Eric discovered that the mast step was a little soft...

...so he did a little exploring...

 ...then a little more...

... then he cut away about half of the deck and the cabintop...

   ... pulled out all of the wet rotted core...

   Installed new oak core, laid new fiberglass...

 painted the repaired sections...

 ...then fabricated new mounting points for his bow pulpit, allowing him to remove the pulpit so the boat fits in his garage.  Slick!

     Jordan, Andy and the family got bitten by the dinghy bug, and decided to build a D4 dinghy, Tempus 2.

 I focused on adding function to the interior of  Whiskeyjack.  There was a lot of wasted space under the v- berth:

So we decided to add a hanging cubby to the underside of the v-berth filler panel, which you can see just above the dog in the picture.

  
   Hopefully the dog will still fit.

   In true low-buck fashion, this is a freebie project. One of the advantages of being a really lousy woodworker is that I always have lots of scrap wood lying around from earlier mistakes. Some of it is really nice wood, which I decided to put to use in a galley extension.  Our galley counter space is limited, and our room to add more counter space is limited as well, so I cobbled together a folding extension which will mount to the aft end of the galley, beside the sink in the picture below:

     Here is the extension folded for storage:

    (Please ignore the epoxy bubbles and runs- I still need to sand and add the final finish.)

   And here, it's ready for use:

    (While you are ignoring the epoxy runs and bubbles, please also ignore the dirty, disorganized, disheveled workshop in the background.  Please.)
    Hidden behind the flap when it is stowed is a narrow shelf, just big enough for nav tools, pencils, a pad of paper and issues of Good Old Boat and Small Craft Advisor.

    Most of the materials were scrap on-hand, but I did have to shell out $7.46 for hinges.

   Next, we plan to build some small book shelves for the v-berth,  a stowable helm seat, and I still have to install a larger solar panel.  Luckily, the Easter weekend is approaching, allowing me to get some of this stuff done.

    Fellow Docksters, if I got details wrong or left projects out, please give me a shout, and I'll get the info up here.


   Thanks for taking the time to check us out!  Please feel free to "Talk the Dock!"  Follow us, link us or just tell your friends.