Sail Far Live Free

Thursday (Oct. 8) was the day I dread every year...the day the boat is hoisted from the water and put on the hard for half the year. But that's the trade-off for boating in the beautfiul and abundant waters of the Great Lakes. Island Bound was hoisted with North Shore's travel lift, powerwashed and set snuggly on her storage cradle for the long winter hibernation. I went back out on Saturday and winterized the engine (hopefully!), the freshwater system and the head. I also removed the sails and secured all lines and halyards for the winter. All she needs now is her cozy shrink-wrap blanket!

Now that fall has officially arrived here in the Great Lakes, I thought I'd make a quick post to review our first season aboard s/v Island Bound . Incredibly to us, we actually spent significantly more nights aboard IB than we did on Hannabel. On average, we were living on the boat 5 out 7 nights per week. And once again, the dock life and community was amazing. We became close friends with several other boaters on our dock and look forward to continued friendship through the off-season. After several daysails and another run at the 8+8 rally with IB to get to know her a bit, we first headed south back to Eldean Shipyard in Holland for two nights in late June. The trip back was a blast with 25+ kt winds, 6'+ waves and a small craft advisory! Island Bound handled the quartering seas wonderfully and cruised us back to Grand Haven on a fast (6+ kts) broad reach. My mom and dad picked up the girls in Holland and drove them home via automobile just to be safe. In July we head...

Ok, so it's been waaayyyyyyy too long since I've made a blog entry. But hey, I've got a good excuse: We've been busy enjoying our new boat. That's right, we reluctantly sold our beloved Hannabel and moved up to a Caribbean themed Irwin 28 MkIV named "Island Bound". Let me introduce you to our new girl. Here are her vitals... LOA: 28'5" LWL: 23' Beam: 9' Draft: 4'6" Displacement: 7,800 lbs Ballast: 3,000 lbs She's got everything we want in our "next boat". The list includes straight shaft inboard, furling headsail, standing headroom, plumbed head, functional galley, plenty of storage and a bit more speed. So far we've cruised from Muskegon to Grand Haven, raced in the Grand River Sailing Club's 8+8 Rally, cruised to Holland and enjoyed numerous day sails and wonderful nights at the marina. Stay tuned for more frequent updates!

Are we halfway through another winter in the Great Lakes? Close enough by my calendar. As February quickly approaches, spring task lists start to float to the top of a sailor's brain. I'm sitting here in my office daydreaming about oiling teak handrails, applying bottom paint to my hull, cleaning my sails and a dozen other activities that would seem like chores were it any other time of year. The middle of winter has a strange way of making me appreciate summer. To paraphrase John Denver's "Relatively Speaking": The sunshine needs the shadows of the night. Contrast makes it go. And so, summer needs the depth of winter.

Just thought I'd add a quick post to let you know about a video slide show I put together recapping the first year with our Helms 25, Hannabel. You can view the video on YouTube here: YouTube Slideshow of Hannabel's 2008 Season Enjoy!

Now that I've spent a season sailing our Helms 25 and have had time to reflect on the experience since having her hauled out in October, I thought it would be appropriate to post my review of the boat. So here it is... There are many small sailboat builders who had passion, good designs and quality craftsmanship that are no longer in business. The sailboat market can be fickle. Demand ebbs and flows. Niches grow and shrink. Fortunately, many sailboats from years ago survive the market conditions, unlike some of their respective builders. Today we're left with a few choices in the pre-owned market for small, trailerable weekend cruisers. If you're shopping, don't overlook some of the smaller builders like Helms Yachts. Helms Yachts were built in Irmo, South Carolina during the 1970s and early 1980s by Jack Helms. To the best of my knowledge, only 600-800 total boats were built throughout the Helms line. Jack supposedly personally delivered most of the boats. The c...

I should have listened to my dad when he warned that purchasing a boat would only make the summer go by more quickly and the winter more slowly. I now sit at the edge of a very long winter reflecting back over a very fast, yet enormously memorable summer. Maybe somehow putting it all down on paper will make the sailing from this past summer last just a bit longer. Let's start at the beginning. Before this summer, I was first a young boy spoken to by the sweeping sheerline of a Maine lobster boat, an adolescent teen enjoying the wind in my hair from the bow of mom and dad's boat, and more recently a novice sailor seeking wisdom from the wind and waves aboard a Laser on Lake Charlevoix. In fact, just one summer ago I was a mere armchair sailor, reading all I could about sailing adventures in far off places. The internet was my virtual showroom allowing me to step aboard the thousands of sailboats listed for sale and drift just a little further into my South Pacific f...

On what turned out to be a rather spontaneous decision, we threw off the docklines and headed south towards Port Sheldon and Pigeon Lake. The crew consisted of Erin, Hannah, Isabel, Shasta and I. The weather forecast was perfect...10-15 knot winds out of the north with waves 1 foot or less. We rounded the south pier head of Grand Haven at about 11:30am and enjoyed a perfect broad reach for 8 nautical miles to Port Sheldon. The wind and waves were so very right that day that we did not even once take a tack or pull on the jib sheet. Just awesome sailing! Port Sheldon is listed in the chart books as simply a "port of refuge" with no services or marinas. Fair enough, we were looking for a bit of relaxation and quiet before the busy holiday weekend that lay ahead. The channel into Pigeon Lake is a bit narrow and sometimes shallow, but well worth navigating because of the clear blue water and narrow sandy beaches on the shorelines. We motored down the channel and into Pigeon L...

On Wednesday, July 16, 2008, we embarked on our first overnight cruise from our homeport. We had originally planned to sail from Grand Haven to Saugatuck (~24 nautical miles) to meet up with some friends who have a boat there. The voyage from Grand Haven to Saugatuck affords a couple of ports in between for weathering a storm, provisioning, etc. The ports are evenly spaced with Port Sheldon/Pigeon Lake being a short hop at 9.5nm and Holland being an additional 8nm. The forecast for Wednesday, our departure day, called for winds out of the south from 5-15 knots. This meant a tough, slow beat upwind. Luckily the seas were only 1-2 foot and the sky was clear. We stayed on Hannabel the night prior to the trip and both Erin and I woke early Wednesday morning (6:00am) with excitement, ready to begin our journey. We rounded the Grand Haven pier and headed south at about 9:00am. The girls both played for the first few hours. Our dog, a golden retriever named Shasta, slept. Then af...

The Grand River Sailing Club graciously invited Erin and I to participate in their annual "8+8 Sailing Rally" and we happily accepted. The 8+8 Rally is a laid back "race" that uses a handicapped start so all boats finish relatively close together. The course is set so the race has one turning mark 8 miles out on a beam reach. I know many of the regular GRSC members don't really consider the 8+8 to be a race, but believe me, Erin and I were racing! This was our first organized sailing event together with Hannabel and we're happy to report she did great! The race started with dark storm clouds looming overhead and 15 mph winds bustling about. But the conditions quickly mellowed out and all participants were sitting still in the water with little to nowind for about an hour. At that point the race committee decided to shorten the 8+8 to a 6+6 (6 miles out, 6 miles back) race. Because of our PHRF handicap starting place, we were the first boa...