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June 06, 2012

2012 Search 'n' Sail

It was the annual Search and Rescue Training Weekend last weekend. As has been the case for the past few years, the training was held at Kusawa Lake. They did a great job with the training, adding a few new things into the mix.

Like I did the last time I went, I towed the sailboat down. Imagine my disappointment to come over the hill to see the lake still covered in ice! Fortunately, the boat makes a good camper trailer and I still spent a comfortable night in the boat.

It rained all night and, by morning, there were only a few little bergs scattered along the shoreline. The lake was clear!  When the last training exercise finished in the evening, I launched the boat and took four of my fellow searchers out for a ride and a sail.

The sailing conditions couldn't have been better. There was a light, but effective breeze and, after a short visit to a nice beach, we ran wing-on-wing down the lake, back to the campground. I dropped my passengers off and motored just off shore to drop anchor for the night.

 Here was the view from my boat just before I turned in for the night. Sadly, I only had my iPod with me, so the pictures don't do the view any justice whatsoever - especially not the moonrise.

The last shot shows the seagull who hung out on the lee side of my boat. It nattered away happily, not making any of those typical, annoying seagull sounds.

 I slept like a baby.

Morning was not as restful. Imagine my frustration when I couldn't get the outboard to shift into forward. It was a little finicky the night before, but now it absolutely refused to engage. It worked in reverse without any problem so, after trying and failing to troubleshoot the problem (including replacing the prop and prob hub), I backed the boat toward shore and tossed a line of one of my passengers from the night before. With the help of one other passenger from the night before, we managed to get the sailboat back onto the trailer without any great difficulty.  It was a good exercise.  At least now, I know I can do it.

Of course, the wind was absolutely perfect for sailing for the rest of the day.

Ah, well. The Saturday evening sail more than compensated for the Sunday adventure.

The outboard goes into the shop tomorrow morning.

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