We had an opening in our busy 
schedule on Tuesday and Wednesday so the boat was packed up and we headed for Lost Creek Lake bright and early. there was forecast to be some wind (~20) during the night time hours so after a very nice sail on Tuesday we motored up the river a couple miles and found ourselves a small cove to toss the anchors. when we first pulled into the cove (200' front to back) I was eyeing a large log (~4' by 50') that appeared to have floated in and wedged itself in the back of the cove. I figured we could tie off to that and use it as a walkway to the bank if we decided to go for a walk in the evening. Jennifer spotted a mass of posion oak on the bank which ended that idea, so I backed out 30-40 feet and tossed the stern anchor, then ran out another 50-75' and tossed the bow anchor to snug up between (each anchor is 20lb). there was very little current in the river here, so I figured we'd be secure for the night in our little niche.
Along about midnight we awoke to the sounds of wind blowing the sails around and waves slapping the hull pretty hard, so I decided to go out and take a look. to my surprise I could see that huge log had floated out next to the boat and appeared to be headed for open water, glad we hadn't tied up to that one . It was a pretty long night with strong winds and many things that went bump in the night, but by the time the sun was coming up the winds had diminished to a point where we felt like crawling out of our cave. not only was our roaming log now long gone, but the wind had drug our bow anchor and blown us back into the cove about 15-20'. at some point we must have done a couple 360s as the anchor ropes were now wrapped around the rudder 3 times, and each other once. oh fun…… we got that squared away and both anchors safely pulled back into the boat and decided to head down to the main lake, out of the cold and shade of the mountains and back out into the warm sunshine.
Once back into the main lake the sailing was actually very good so we continued sailing for the next several hours until the mid day lull, and the hunger pangs, finally overtook us. As we heaved to, a mile or so from the W (downstream) end of the lake,
Jennifer spotted a large log 100 yards away. yup.. the same log that had been next to us the night before was now almost 7 miles from where we had last seen it. in the photo, our overnight spot was a mile or so beyond the gap in the mountains just above the corner of the cabin, and the log is 100 yards behind us. incredible. there is virtually no current in the lake, so that log was wind powered for most of it's journey.
So the night wasn't the best we could have hoped for, but both days provided some really good sailing and I feel like I learned a lot about the new boat, and sailing in general.
*first time doing the heave to in this boat. practiced that several times in from 3-8kt winds and it does hold quite well that way.
*first time sailing this boat at sustained over 5kt hull speed. pretty fun stuff!
*first time having the boat healed over at 12-15* , and feeling comfortable with that (and having Jennifer not have that wide eyed terror look on her face at the same time )
*first time passing [a popular 22'] boat
*first time being passed by a 50' log
A little sunburned and brain dead…. but still ready for more.
Russ-Jennifer
schedule on Tuesday and Wednesday so the boat was packed up and we headed for Lost Creek Lake bright and early. there was forecast to be some wind (~20) during the night time hours so after a very nice sail on Tuesday we motored up the river a couple miles and found ourselves a small cove to toss the anchors. when we first pulled into the cove (200' front to back) I was eyeing a large log (~4' by 50') that appeared to have floated in and wedged itself in the back of the cove. I figured we could tie off to that and use it as a walkway to the bank if we decided to go for a walk in the evening. Jennifer spotted a mass of posion oak on the bank which ended that idea, so I backed out 30-40 feet and tossed the stern anchor, then ran out another 50-75' and tossed the bow anchor to snug up between (each anchor is 20lb). there was very little current in the river here, so I figured we'd be secure for the night in our little niche.Along about midnight we awoke to the sounds of wind blowing the sails around and waves slapping the hull pretty hard, so I decided to go out and take a look. to my surprise I could see that huge log had floated out next to the boat and appeared to be headed for open water, glad we hadn't tied up to that one
. It was a pretty long night with strong winds and many things that went bump in the night, but by the time the sun was coming up the winds had diminished to a point where we felt like crawling out of our cave. not only was our roaming log now long gone, but the wind had drug our bow anchor and blown us back into the cove about 15-20'. at some point we must have done a couple 360s as the anchor ropes were now wrapped around the rudder 3 times, and each other once. oh fun…… we got that squared away and both anchors safely pulled back into the boat and decided to head down to the main lake, out of the cold and shade of the mountains and back out into the warm sunshine. Once back into the main lake the sailing was actually very good so we continued sailing for the next several hours until the mid day lull, and the hunger pangs, finally overtook us. As we heaved to, a mile or so from the W (downstream) end of the lake,
Jennifer spotted a large log 100 yards away. yup.. the same log that had been next to us the night before was now almost 7 miles from where we had last seen it. in the photo, our overnight spot was a mile or so beyond the gap in the mountains just above the corner of the cabin, and the log is 100 yards behind us. incredible. there is virtually no current in the lake, so that log was wind powered for most of it's journey.
So the night wasn't the best we could have hoped for, but both days provided some really good sailing and I feel like I learned a lot about the new boat, and sailing in general.
*first time doing the heave to in this boat. practiced that several times in from 3-8kt winds and it does hold quite well that way.
*first time sailing this boat at sustained over 5kt hull speed. pretty fun stuff!
*first time having the boat healed over at 12-15* , and feeling comfortable with that (and having Jennifer not have that wide eyed terror look on her face at the same time
)*first time passing [a popular 22'] boat
*first time being passed by a 50' log
A little sunburned and brain dead…. but still ready for more.
Russ-Jennifer
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