Getting the season started

I am publishing this late as we’ve so busy getting the boat ready

Today is May 19,2025. It’s the day that the boat is going into the water at Mentor Harbor Yachting Club where the boat has been on the hard as we sailors call it. For landlubbers it means on the dirt.

We put the boom and Phil’s new pin he made to attach the boom to the gooseneck and happy that it works fine. We have the stack pack on. It’s the blue canvas that the mainsail falls into when we drop after we’re done sailing. Unfortunately we left the mainsail at home. Phil thought it was in the V-berth. Instead the head sail also called the jib or Genoa was in the V-berth. We put it up with not too much trouble and fortunately the wind was coming down the bow so didn’t blow the sail off the boat. We rolled it using the roller furler, a wonderful thing to have when you’re older. No hanking it on and off the fore stay.

Zach the harbor master started working on bringing the travelift over to our boat (picture) but had to move a power boat over to get the travel lift close enough. Then the wheels got stuck in the sand. Same thing that happens when car tires get stuck in snow. A few shovels later and we on the move again.

Katie O went in the water with out any difficulty stern in this time. We had the boat positioned when put on the hard (ground) in the fall. This worked great. I got a little spastic and made Phil close all the through hulls. Last year we took in water and I was worried but we didn’t have those issues this year. We had trouble starting the engine, then had to make sure to open the through hull for water to go to the engine but once she was set and several pushes in the start button, we were off and out the channel heading east about 5 nm to Fairport Harbor. The waves were 1ft and we were going down the waves so felt good. This was a pure motor boat ride as didn’t have enough wind to roll out the headsail.

We arrived at FPH at 4pm and docked with Phil at the helm perfectly.

I’m so glad that we were able to transport Katie O when we did. Monday was the only good day for over a week. Next step is out the boom on, attach the stack pack and put up the mainsail. Last year Jon Duer of Great Lakes Rigging did it, but we need to learn our newer to us boat.