Three Sailing Weekends, May & June 2006

Memorial Day found Kelly III with crew of Keith Otto, his daughter, Amanda and her friend, Tom. We had to motor almost the entire way to Port Dover over an “oily sea”. We were out of sight of land for several hours on both Saturday and Sunday, due to the extremely thick haze.

Freighter on the horizon, "oily" seas

Still a quiet, comfortable 2 days on the water. An exciting event as we closed on Port Dover in the late afternoon, was that we got to try the second headsail. It was recut to fit the 2nd luff groove in the new roller furler extrusion. With a very light following breeze (maybe 3 – 7 knots) Kelly III made about 3 to 3.5 knots with twin headsails and the main. The great news is the 10 – 12 knots of breeze for the entire return trip on Sunday, from Port Dover to Erie! We had a terrific sail with the new roller furler doing a great job. Amanda proved she is every bit as talented a sailor on a displacement boat as she is on a Sunfish! Her dad confirmed his ability to prepare excellent sailing cuisine!

This past weekend we had 2 wonderful days of sailing! Troy Cain, Anthony Lewandowski and his better half Megan, and their friend, John Ricci, all arrived on Saturday morning for a day of perfect sun, wind and flat water for a beautiful first time sail on Lake Erie. Troy had no problem explaining that the weather didn’t always cooperate as well as it did on Saturday. All of us caught a sunny “glow” from the bright sunshine, but early application of sunscreen prevented a really harsh burn. Megan and Anthony prepared excellent sandwiches for lunch, huge subs with a ton of meat (just the way I like it!).

Sunday brought experienced sailor, Jack vanArsdale, who helped me host Warren “Guy” Stewart, his mother, Betty, and his three children, Justine, Whitney, and Kayla. Whitney and Guy have both sailed before and lent their helping hands as they demonstrated their sailing skills in front of the ladies. Mrs. Stewart was every bit as nimble as traditional crewman Jim Clark of a similar age. I believe Mrs. Stewart is the first “Royalty” we’ve had on board, as she was truly Queen of the boat! She presided with a calm, easy manner, quick laugh and shining, smiling face, despite her white, windblown, naturally beautiful locks. She was a joy to have aboard.

Murph, Guy, Whitney sail Kelly III

No less enjoyable were the entire crew on Sunday as Jack, Guy & Whitney did all the heavy lifting, while Kayla and Justine helped serve a terrific lunch while 5 miles offshore. Kelly III beat the rain to the dock by about 5 minutes, so we all climbed below during the brief rain to stay dry, if a bit warm. All in all, a terrific day with excellent breezes and a great daysail.