{{{ {{Trailer Sailors Association North Channel Cruise}} {{Clary Cove to Eagle Island to South Benjamin Island to Little Current}} }}} July 16-18, 2007 – Days 4,5,6 – Personal Log – Jimmy Harrell {{July 16, Day 4: Cleary Cove to Eagle Island.}} 16 miles straight line, sailed/motored 18 miles, wind out of the west at 10 to 15 with a fetch of about 50 miles, 1 to 2 ft swells increased to 3 to 4ft, air temperature in the mid 60’s. [Google map of the area sailed. Clary Cove on left and Eagle Island on right.->http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=116651256621430826857.000436e50f20b5b75de9a&ll=46.122273,-82.462692&spn=0.284128,0.529404&t=k&z=11&om=1]] Both Jerry and I are early risers, so we were up way before the radio net. I’m not quite as early a riser as Jerry is and when I awoke he already had the water boiling for coffee. I still had remnants of a headache from the day before but Jerry convinced me that a little Bailey’s Irish Cream in my coffee would help. It worked and shortly I was ready for a little shore time. It worked so well that we had Irish Cream in our coffee every morning for the rest of the trip. Henk told us that previously he had been able to use his cell phone from atop a rock hill next to the anchorage. We had poor reception at Spanish so we rowed ashore. Henk was close behind in his kayak. The three of us climbed the hill and sure enough were able to call and check in with the home front. There were blue berries everywhere, so we picked and ate our fill before returning to the boat for the 9 AM radio net. The blueberry bushes were different than I had seen before. They were seldom more than a foot tall and usually nestled between adjacent rocks that were higher than the bushes. In Georgia, wild blueberries are ofter 4 or 5 feet tall. I suppose the harsh winters had something to do with the size of the bushes. Also there were a lot of juniper bushes, white pine, hemlock, spruce, cedar and maple. Also saw a few trees I think were oak. Very few of the trees were very big compared to similar trees I had seen in SE Alaska. We left Clary Cove about 9:30 AM. After clearing the cove, we were able to sail downwind all the way to Eagle Island and started the motor just to get inside the anchorage. It was a beautiful, cool day. Conditions couldn’t have been much better for sailing. We arrived at Eagle Island about 1:55 PM. (Note to self: This headache, lousy feeling thing has happened before when I had a drink at the end of the first day of a cruise, probably a combination of motion sickness, dehydration, and alcohol. So, don’t drink at the end of the first day and always bring along a bottle of Bailey’s just in cast.) {{July 17, Day 5: Eagle to South Benjamin Island}} 2.9 miles straight line distance, sailed 7 to 8 miles (estimated since I failed to save the track log), Air in mid 60s early to lower 80’s by late afternoon, water 65 degrees, wind 0 to 5 mph. [Google map of the area sailed. Eagle Island on the left and South Benjamin the right.->http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=116651256621430826857.000436e50fe82c61338bf&ll=46.09847,-82.275753&spn=0.071063,0.132351&t=k&z=13&om=1] Again we rose early and were ready to go before the 9 AM radio net, but waited to get words of wisdom from cruise leader Brian Childs before we headed out. By 9:15 AM we had sails hoisted and were sailing out of the anchorage. Jerry hates the motor and I don’t like it very much either so we decided to try to make this leg of the trip totally by sail. Winds were light at the start and dropped to nothing about 2 hours later. It was a short sail and we were not in a hurry so we kicked back and watched the other boats motor by while we imitated what we call “Shake and Bake” down South. The difference is that the Bake part when in the North Channel is very pleasant. After a while the wind picked back up and we sailed the rest of the way and into the anchorage. Wind inside the anchorage was light so we ghosted around the anchorage under sail, which by now had more than 30 boats, until we found the perfect spot and dropped anchor at about 2 PM. A few others who also shunned their motors sailed in after we arrived. We noted that today we had seen only the second house on shore since we left Spanish. Later in the cruise we saw only a few more houses except in villages of Little Current and Kilarney. We also noted that on this leg, we had picked up some black flies but they did not seem to be the biting kind or at least Jerry and I were not very tasty. Mosquitoes, just after dark, were also worth noting. They were big and persistent and the extensive netting that Jerry brought was worth its weight in gold. Benjamin had a lot of good places to land a dingy and cliffs overlooking the anchorage and the North Channel. Jerry and I dinghied ashore and hiked to a cliff overlooking the anchorage. It was easier finding our way to the top of the cliff than it was finding the trail back down. Every attempt to follow a rock path ended up at a drop off that was more than we wanted to negotiate. We could see where we wanted to go, but just couldn’t get there easily. Finally we decided to head down one of the ravines through dense vegetation, full of mosquitoes and spiders. By the time we got down, we were hot and buggy with remnants of spider webs all over. Even though the water was 65 degrees we decided that a swim to drown or freeze the critters clinging to us was better than the alternative. The afternoon sun had warmed the rocks so after a short and very refreshing swim we lounged on the warm rocks while others were playing Bingo. Dick and Char Travis had brought laminated bingo cards and grease pencils and prizes. In the past, the bingo had been Dingy Bingo with the contestants gathered around a mother ship in their dingies. The flat warm rock was so inviting that this year it was called rock bingo. Sorry, I forgot to take my camera shore so I don’t have pictures. Jerry posted some earlier on TSBB. {{ July 18, Day 6: Benjamin to Spider Bay at Little Current}} 17 miles straight line distance, sailed 21, Air in mid 60s early to lower 80’s by late afternoon, water 65 degrees, wind out of the east starting out at 5 mph then to nothing and then to about 15., air lower 60s. [Click here for a Google map of the area sailed. Benjamin Island on the left and Spider Bay Marina on the right.->http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&ll=46.026528,-82.061691&spn=0.284622,0.529404&t=h&z=11&om=1&msid=116651256621430826857.000436f88fe440a250a9b] Again we were up earlier than most and had a little emergency. Jerry and I are compatible on most things but his preference for breakfast is oatmeal and mine is grits. (Jerry was born and raised in Alabama and he prefers oatmeal to grits; can you imagine that?) Jerry bought the food for the trip but I told him that I already had a package of single serving sizes of grits and that I would bring them. Turns out that Jerry had a few packs of grits in with his oatmeal and I had been eating them. But I had had the last package the day before. Not to worry, I would start using those that I had brought. After searching high and low, they were no where to be found. I’m fairly adaptable so I decided to eat oatmeal which we could re-supply in Little Current. That morning I had my second and last bowl of oatmeal. In addition to tasting blah, that much oatmeal so early in the morning doesn’t set well with my digestive system. Enough about that. We were ready to leave by 8:30 AM and since we had gained a little confidence in our navigation skills, we decided to head out before the radio net and listen in as we sailed. Wind was out of the east and our initial course was SE around Amedroz Island and then east to Little Current and Spider Bay. Wind was about 5 mph and decreased all morning to nothing about 1 PM. We were the first out of the anchorage but the whole fleet passed us before we finally started the motor and motor sailed for about 11 miles to Spider Bay Marina. About 3 miles from the marina, the wind picked up rapidly to about 15 mph and was on the nose. We decided to continue motoring and arrived at the marina to get the last available slip. Others had to stay at the town docks which were closer to shopping but was exposed to wake from passing boats. [Click here for close up of Little Current on Manitoulin Island. Spider Bay Marina is under the blue ballon.->http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&t=h&om=1&msid=116651256621430826857.000436f88fe440a250a9b&ie=UTF8&ll=45.978355,-81.925907&spn=0.035609,0.094328&z=14] The itinerary called for leaving Spider Bay the next morning for a fairly short trip to Heywood Island. Therefore, there were things to do and not much time. Laundry facilities were sorely lacking, the main problem being the inadequate dryers. Something had to be wrong with them. It took several cycles to dry a load. The grocery store was small but adequate except they did not carry grits, so I bought fruit bars. A meal of whitefish at a local restaurant was excellent. By early evening the group was abuzz about a storm forecast to arrive about noon the next day, lightening and high winds. Some thought about leaving early and making it to Heywood Island before the storm hit. Others thought about waiting until the storm passed before heading out and still others thought about staying a second night at the marina. Jerry and I got everything ready to leave the next morning depending on an update forecast the next morning. We did not get to bed until after midnight because of the slow clothes dryer. [Click here for photos of this section of the cruise->http://osyc.net/photos/July%2016-19%20Days%204.5.6.7/July_16_19_Days_4.5.6.7/]

July 15, 2007 – Day 3 – Personal Log – Jimmy Harrell On Sunday morning we had a skippers meeting at about 10 AM to go over the plans for the day and do a roll call. There were about 30 boats planning to participate in some or all of the planned routes. Eight boats planned to sail one week; 23 for two weeks; and 9 for more than two weeks. We were in the two-week group. Most of the boats had trailered into Spanish but a few boats arrived by water having put in some where else. Harry Rowe and his great nephew Jeffrey sailed into Spanish in their Montgomery 17 from De Tour Village in Michigan, taking two days to cross a wide part of the North Channel west of Spanish. A few others joined the group along the way. The itinerary for the first few days was the same for the three groups. Plans for the day were to leave the marina by noon and meet at the anchorage near Johns Island. We left the marina at noon and headed west through the narrow channel for 1 to 2 miles and raised the sails (reefed main) as soon as we were out of the channel. Wind was on the nose and estimated at 15 to 20 knots. We estimated the waves to be mostly 1 to 2 feet with some as much as 3 to 4 feet. The waves tossed the boat around a bit but not too much and we had a great sail. The air was chilly and the water was a cool 65 degrees F. Jerry and I both wore our harnesses and tethers. About 3 hours later we were approaching Whales Back channel and had to drop sails and start the motor. At about 3:45 PM we rounded the west end of Johns Island and headed southwest into a channel between Johns and Dewdney Islands. We were immediately behind Henk Vanderhuist (82 years young), single handing his Precision 23. Henk motored past boats that had already anchored on the left side of the channel next to Johns Island. We had already learned that Henk was a veteran of these waters and a knowledgeable sailor so we followed him. He led us around a shallow reef, through a narrow opening and into a beautiful cove, 5 to 6 feet deep, and protected on all sides. By 4:30 we had the anchor set and were relaxing a little after a tiring sail when Henk paddled up in his kayak. He didn’t look tired at all. Well, it was almost 5 o’clock so we invited Henk aboard and opened a bottle of Jack Daniels. I tried to keep up with Henk and Jerry and think I had one too many. Henk paddled off in his kayak and Jerry rowed off in his dingy and I lay down to nurse a headache. 9 PM. By pre-arrangement, all the cruisers turned their radios to channel 72 for the “net.” Cruise leader Brian Childs came on and recapped the days events and gave the waypoints next day’s anchorage. He then opened the mike for any reports from the cruisers. He did a remarkable job of keeping up with where everyone was. The “net” was held twice a day at 9 AM and 9 PM. Cleary Cove is 13 miles from Spanish as the crow files. Our GPS track showed we sailed and motored a total of 22 miles. [Click here for a Google map of the area sailed. Spanish in under the blue balloon on the right and Cleary Cove is under the blue balloon on the left.->http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?client=firefox-a&ie=UTF8&oe=utf-8&hl=en&t=h&msa=0&msid=116651256621430826857.000434c77754db27c231e&om=1&ll=46.162237,-82.542343&spn=0.283922,0.461426&z=11] [Click here for a few photos taken on Day 3->http://osyc.net/photos/July_15_Day_3/]

July 13-14, 2007 – Personal Log – Jimmy Harrell Jerry Hardin and I arrived at Spanish Municipal Marina, Ontario, at about 5 PM on Friday, July 13 with Miss Jo’s Catalina 22, Sandpiper, in tow. This was two days before the scheduled departure. We arrived early because we allowed time to deal with any problems which might occur on the long trip from Georgia (three days for me) and Tennessee (two days for Jerry). A few other boats arrived the same day, but most arrived on Saturday, July 14. Air temperature was in the low 60s, it was overcast and the wind made it feel much colder. I began to wonder if I had brought too many warm weather clothes. We slept in the boat at a slip in the marina Friday and Saturday nights. On Saturday we woke to a cold, windy, rainy day. We dressed in several layers, including fowl weather gear. Jerry and I spent the day helping others launch and getting to know the cruisers.. I decided to reallocate my clothes between my boat bag and my stay-in-the-truck bag in favor of taking more long sleeves and long pants on the cruise. This turned out to be unnecessary because after the first day, the weather warmed up. (Note to self: Next time, take a full compliment of cool and warm weather clothes). By 3 PM the rain had stopped and the temperature was up to 65 degrees F. By this time most of the boats had been launched but they kept coming in until about dark. At about dark:30 we gathered in a meeting room at the marina complex for a pot luck dinner; there was a lot of good food. By the end of the meal we had met a lot of friendly and helpful folks who we would get to know better over the next two weeks. They went out of their way to make sure that the Southern contingent felt welcome. I will post more of the log as I have time to edit it. Two of my grandchildren are arriving today for a 17 day visit and they take a lot of my time. [Click on the link below for a few pics taken at the marina. Click on the thumbnail pic to enlarge. ->http://osyc.net/photos/July%2013-14%20Launch%20Day/July_13_14_Launch_Day/].

{{OSYC Membership Meeting}} {June 23, 2007, 7pm} – Commodore Bill Shaw presiding – Secretary Jay Harrell Meeting called to order shortly after 7pm and opening statements made by Bill Shaw. A count of voting members was taken. 15 members where there in-person, and 23 ballots and proxies were collected for a total of 38 votes represented in person or by proxy. It was noted that 38 exceeds the amount required for a quorum, and it was declared that a quorum existed. {{Committee Reports}} No committee reports were given {{Old Business}} The agenda included second votes on five proposals that were passed at the previous membership meeting. These were brought up and voted one at a time. {Proposal 1}. Voting Trustees as a group. Voted by voice, all in favor and none opposed. One proxy-ballot was voted against. Total 37 in favor, 1 opposed. The proposal is passed. The secretary will make the necessary changes to the club documents. {Proposal 2}. Nominating Committee. Voted by voice, all in favor and none opposed. One proxy-ballot was voted against. Total 37 in favor, 1 opposed. The proposal is passed. The secretary will make the necessary changes to the club documents. {Proposal 3}. Membership Committee. Voted by voice, all in favor and none opposed. All proxy-ballots voted in favor. Total 38 in favor, none opposed. The proposal is passed. The secretary will make the necessary changes to the club documents. { Proposal 4}. Nominating Procedures. Voted by voice, all in favor and none opposed. One proxy-ballot was voted against. Total 37 in favor, 1 opposed. The proposal is passed. The secretary will make the necessary changes to the club documents. {Proposal 5}. Membership Policy and Procedures. Voted by voice, all in favor and none opposed. All proxy-ballots voted in favor. Total 38 in favor, none opposed. The proposal is passed. The secretary will make the necessary changes to the club documents. {{New Business}} Bob Horan asked for ideas regarding procedures for the new OSYC lending library, and agreed to take the lead in establishing a “check-out” system for books left on the new bookshelf at the club. {{Adjournment}} A motion to adjourn was made a seconded. The meeting was adjourned at 7:30pm.

First I must apologize for the delay in scheduling the second class, my plate has gotten overloaded. But I have made room on June 23, Saturday morning before the race. Would like to start no later than 9:00 and run maybe an hour or so. That should leave plenty of time to get ready to race at 1:00. We will be covering the head sail (jib, genoa). We had good attendance at the last class and would like to see even more folks show up. Please do not feel intimidated, these sessions will start at the basic level and are not focused towards racing. The information shared can and is used by all forms of sailing. We are all here to learn, share, enjoy, and better the sport of sailing. The sessions are open to all, so please come and share with us. We would like to know how many plan to make it. If you would please reply to the GoogleGroups email so we can get a head count. Also if you have any specific questions or concerns email me and I can be sure to have the information ready to give you and others a reply. Depending on the response and the desire we can look at more dates to cover other areas of sailing, boat handling, rules of sailing, or any other topic you might want. Thanks for your time and see you at the lake, Carl Saylor

This years B.E.E.R. Cruise wasn’t like last years, (it was HOT this year!!!) but it was still great. We had intended to leave Wednesday afternoon but that was just not to be. So after finishing up all of the things that still needed done, we set out Thursday morning and arrived about 1:30 in the afternoon, and if I didn’t mention it before, it was HOT. After dropping off the boat at the marina, we ran and got a quick bite to eat, then back to the boat to get setup and put in the water. Friday we just kind of hung around the marina and visited with everyone coming and going. It looked like there was going to be a good crowd this year with what looked like about 50 boats or so with five of us from the middle Georgia area: Bob, John and Sherry, Warren, Valerie and Nicholas, Ken and Jennifer, Pete and Jimmy and ourselves. Not to repeat last years debacle, we made sure we did do all (or at least most) of our shopping on Friday so we could leave on time, which we did. Once out on the bay we had a light northwest breeze and a slow run of 3 to 4 knots to the mouth of Santa Rosa Sound. By the time we made the turn east, the breeze freshened and came around to the southwest. This made for a nice broad reach. We sailed on and the wind slowly increased. By the time we were about three or four miles from Navarre, our first nights anchorage, the wind must have been 15 to 18 and Summer Breeze, still under full sail was going as fast as she could. Bob was right behind and closing. There was a storm just ahead of us so we decided to reduce, then drop all sail and drop anchor and ride out the storm. Right after dropping anchor, the bottom fell out and we went below for cover. After the storm let up some I noticed I was quite as close to Bob as I was when I dropped anchor. Must have dragged a bit, but no problems. After the rain it was nice and cool and instead of sailing the rest of the way to Navarre we decided to motor. After anchoring, we rowed in and looked for a place to eat. Wind was still blowing pretty hard and ended up dropping another anchor just in case. There was a boat damaged in the storm (see picture). The story was it was hit by lightening but later I talked with him and he said he was just over canvassed and the top portion of his mast and topsail were blown off. The next morning was nice when we set out for Quietwater Beach and another nice sailing day and the trip was uneventful. After arriving, we dropped anchor and set off in search of something to eat. After a good dinner, we came back to the boat and found that she wasn’t where we put her. Arggg, we drug anchor again. After much consternation and a broken throttle control, we finally dropped two anchors and turned in for the night. Monday we decided that since we had throttle problems and a shower would feel soooo good, we turned north toward the marina instead of going onto Sand Island. Tuesday we pulled the boat out early and after getting her ready for the road, we headed home. Jeff and Linda from Summer Breeze

Today over 16 OSYC kids enjoyed their very own day at the lake with swimming, hotdogs, a slip-n-slide, a rowboat, a geocache search, and even a little very light air sailing. At the end of the we all took home some very tired kids…

With Tropical Depression Barry looming in the Gulf of Mexico, OSYC was in line to receive it’s first good rainfall in several months. But that didn’t deter the Viper Fleet from having a fantastic regatta. What had been planned as our annual Sinclair Open quickly turned into the First Annual Viper 640 Southeastern Championship with four Vipers on the line including locals Bill Shaw and Jay Harrell along with Alex and Tyler from Columbia South Carolina and Justin Scott from Marblehead Mass. Saturday’s races started out cool and rainy with a spotty southeast wind, giving us one race in the light and variable conditions. A 90 degree wind shift then sent RC Ken and Jennifer Griffin scrambling to reset the course to the new NE wind and we managed one more race in the increasing wind before the increasing rain got the best of us and we headed in to fire up the grill. The rain continued all night, but finally stopped early Sunday morning, leaving us heading out under clear skies and a NW wind blowing little whitecaps down the lake. NOAA radio said 15 mph gusting to 20. A busted pintle left us one boat short, so Justin gave his to the younger crew and spent the day hopping from boat to boat doing a bit of on-the-water coaching and tuning. We decided to run single-lap races around the mid-leg WL course so that we could have more starts – which gave everyone a chance for some much needed practice. With enough wind to fill the spinnakers we managed to hit top speeds in the 12-15 mph range and complete three more races giving us a wonderful five race regatta. Despite the splendid conditions, we had to cut the day a little short so that the out-of-town folks could hit the road early. And in the end, everyone left with big smiles and a bit more knowledge about our Vipers. * [Sinclair Open Final Results ->/racing/2007results/2007-06-02-SinclairOpen.htm] {{Photo Album}}

2007 OSYC Viper Open

Time for some more friendly intra-club round-the-buoys racing with the continuation of the OSYC Spring Series this weekend May 19-20. Come welcome back our traveling members and hear their stories of the Mug Race. Skippers meeting each day at noon, with first start at 1pm.

In case you’ve missed it, the Americas Cup TC coverage is now in full swing on the “Versus” network with daily live coverage at 8:30am, and replays at noon and 4pm. For more information, visit the Versus Americas Cup home page at [http://www.versus.com/americascup->http://www.versus.com/americascup] {{{Online Video Player}}}