SAILING DAY! Always a good day!

We had the chance, in our busy schedule, to finally get a day of sailing in! We decided on DeGray Lake. Being a favorite of both Stacey and mine for many years, plus I know it like the back of my hand having my first sailboat, a 1982 Catalina 25 Swing Keel Sloop, there at Iron Mountain Marina for over 7 years.

Upon arriving at the DeGray Lake Lodge Resort marina parking lot, after an uneventful trip down Interstate I-30 to Arkadelphia, Arkansas, we discovered an obstacle: low water had shut down many of the launching ramps! Thanks to a stranger passing by as we were about to raise mast telling us, saving us the time and effort!

We put the mast back in "trailering mode", tied down well enough to make it down to Caddo Point launch ramp that we were told was still under water.

Once we got her in the water, we had a wonderfully brisk sail in the bay area around Caddo Point and then pointed a little more upwind and sailed into T-Cove, a favorite "T" shaped gunk hole on the lake. Anchored, played music, had lunch and even jumped in the water...briefly...starting to get cold already!

Afterwards we sailed around more until it neared 5pm and we headed back towards the ramp, sailing along mostly at 4-6mph all the way. Nice weather, temps, wind and water! Good time all around! We love that little boat! :)

Joys of Trailer-Sailing! New lake adventure: Lake Ouachita

Yes, the real joys of trailer-sailing is getting the opportunity to experience other lakes & areas, maybe, someday, even oceans!

    

This trip we took S/V Firefly and crew to Lake Ouachita, outside of Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas. Hot Springs is actually my hometown. I was born there and lived a few years there as a boy, but even when we moved to Benton, I spent most of my childhood there at the many lakes around the area.

Lake Ouachita is the largest, it's connected by damn to Lake Hamilton (no offense to those who love it, but it's a crummy over crowded lake with too many homes and rude boaters for my taste), which is in turn connected to a small little lake called Catherine. South of that is one of my favorite lakes DeGray Lake. I had my first sailboat, a 1982 Catalina 25 named S/V Lucky Star, there for 7 years at Iron Mountain Marina and enjoyed the company of the Iron Mountain Yacht Club.




We launched from Brady Mountain Resort's Corp owned boat ramp. Low day rates, plenty of parking and space to set up our rig. Restrooms and a launching dock make the job a little easier. Although we did encounter a few unruly power boaters, most there were friendly and very interested in seeing a little sailboat!

Once out on the water we motored out to discover very little wind, but my iPhone app "Sailflow" said it was coming later in the afternoon and this was a good time to teach the crew a bit more about the boat, sailing and tell them stories of growing up coming to the lake.

"Vacation's all I ever wanted..." and Go-Go we did, with Firefly the Fox in tow!

Our week with our Fox in the water was great! That little boat impresses me more and more every time we put her in. 

Firefly gets her name! And a few other items are new, too!

"Everything's SHINY Cap'n!"

Edit: I feel the need to say more upfront that, yes, we named our boat after one of our favorite TV shows, Firefly. When we bought the boat, we put possible names to a vote at the dinner table. After much discussion, everyone agreed, especially our teen daughters, that we name her "Firefly". Serenity would have been nice too, but it's just such a cute little boat, it needed a cute little name. Firefly fits for many different reasons. First and foremost, the boat suffered and has now been lovingly restored. (as Mal said “Love. You can learn all the math in the 'verse... but you take a boat in the 'air' (Sic) that you don't love... she'll shake you off just as sure as the turn of the worlds. Love keeps her in the 'air' when she ought to 'fall' down... tells you she's hurting before she keels. Makes her a home.”) We love our little Firefly!

As a graphic artist of over 20 years, I usually frown upon blatant theft of a logo or identity, but here, it seemed more like a tribute. Considering how most fans of the show feel, it fought hard to stay alive but was cancelled too soon by Fox. But it lives on in the hearts of millions of viewers. So with all that in mind, I felt that using the original TV show's typestyle behooved our "Tribute". I hope that it doesn't offend any fans or infringe on a trademark (too badly), but we, unabashedly so, love it and stand behind our decision! :)

Now! On with the boat blog!

Well, this Mother's Day weekend, the plan was to go for a little sail, possibly just over at Lake Maumelle. But we opted to take care of the house and lawn and a few other things. That included working on some boat projects. One that we really wanted to do, as a family, was to finally apply the boat's name graphics.

I started work cleaning up the mast and working on making the mast sleeve coupler slide better. It had been caked up with what looks like dry graphite, the kind locksmiths use to make locks turn better. Really the wrong kind of stuff in there. I'm guessing it was left over from the original owner as the most current previous owner said he used SailKote, which appears to be true from the white powdery stuff I saw on it as well. We'll be buying some new SailKote to use on that and the luff slides. We'd really like to fair and paint the mast as well, but that might be a next season thing. Making sure that it's fit, tightening bolts and checking fittings is enough for now.

Cushions, tables and WIND...Oh, MY!

A gorgeous day on the lake!

Well, after a rainy weekend mostly spent working indoors on a few odds and ends, we finally put Firefly back in the water...and on a moderately windy day! 13-15 mph winds. I never used to take my 1982 Catalina 25 out in more than 10 mph wind, but the 25 was a much more tender vessel than this stout build by Seaward/Hake Yachts!

The little Seaward Fox, at only 19 ft., 1300 lbs., held up much better under higher winds. With a reef in the main, I can imagine she can handle 20 knots easily!

Of those projects, Stacey continued working on the interior cushion slip covers. She finished the two small upper pillows and the cushion for the "Lounge Chair", plus one of the quarter berth cushions! They look great!

I worked on recreating the table that originally came with the boat, but with some modifications. Since we decided not to redo the v-berth at all and use that area only for storage, that meant that the table no longer had to function as a filler board for the berth cushions. So I made it a little thicker, smaller and added two cup holders! It's currently covered in WilsonArt brand laminate. I've yet to finish routing it out but that will be very soon!

The other "thing" I worked on did not fair very well under usage: a propane canister rack for the Lehr Propane Outboard motor we use on this boat. There's not enough room for them to stand upright in the storage lazarette, so I thought a "wine" style rack would work, but I have to modify the design slightly to get them to all stay put :( Oh well, back to the drawing board!