Nice sail Saturday

I went sailing on Saturday with my youngest daughter and her fiancée. It was a very pleasant day with winds 5-10 knots (closer to 10 knots for most of the sail) and waves in the 1 - 2 foot range.

Exciting…7.0 knots and 10 foot waves

Saturday I went sailing with the husbands of 2 of my wife’s cousins.  My youngest daughter’s wedding shower was being held at my house and the guys and I made a bee-line for the boat.  There were big winds and big waves. 

There were storms on Lake Michigan Friday with waves to 15 ft coming over the Waukegan Harbor Marinas breakwater.  I watched this on the Marinas web cam Friday afternoon.

The forecast for Saturday called for waves to decline to less than 1 foot on Sunday.  When we left, the waves were about 4 - 5 feet with no white caps in sight and the winds were 15 knots.  While we were out, the wind switched direction a bit and instead of the wave heights declining, they built to 5 – 7 feet with white caps and the occasional 10 footer and the winds got to 23 knots. 

It made for an exciting ride.  We recorded a max speed of 7.0 knots, a new record for “Thanks Dad”. Once the big winds and big waves hit I needed to be at the helm and keep a close eye on things, so I didn’t get a chance to break out the video camera to record the excitment.

Heading out before the wind and waves picked up

On Sunday a friend from work and I went out.  Winds and waves were much lighter.  Winds were 5-10 knots and the waves were less than 1 foot.  The best part of the day was the last 30 minutes as we headed back towards Waukegan, when the winds picked up as we got closer to the shore line and we were sailing at 5.0 knots.

Wow! 6.9 knots!

2 great days sailing this weekend.

On Saturday I went out with a friend from work. He had never been sailing before and enjoyed himself. Winds were 8 - 12 knots and the waves were in the 2 - 4 foot range.

We had to get back into the marina early in the afternoon due to a big storm with winds to 70 mph winds forecast in the late afternoon. We got back in with plenty of time to spare. Thank goodness, since the forecast was accurate.

He brought his video camera.

On Sunday my brother and I went sailing.  We had the best day sailing so far this summer. We got up to 6.9 knots!  It was great fun. Winds were 14-22 knots.  Wave action was 2-3 feet.  Sunny with temps in the high 70s.   It was a great sail.

 

Best weekend yet for sailing

On Saturday I brought four friends for a pleasant sail. The sun was shining, winds were 5 -8 knots.

Sunday was the best day yet this season. My brother, father-in-law and I went out. Winds were a brisk 10 – 15 knots, waves were 2 – 3 foot with the occasional 5 footer sneaking in. The temperature was 78 degrees and the skies were mostly overcast so it wasn’t too hot. I really love this type of sailing weather.

Light Winds Weekend

My wife at the helm.

Saturday my wife and I went out sailing by ourselves. We had a brief encounter with enough wind to move us at a clip of about 4 knots, but most of the afternoon we were in the doldrums.

Sunday my brother and I went out. Winds were a little better, but nothing to get excited about. I did play with my new “Sports camcorder”. It is water proof and I mounted it on a 10 foot telescoping
pole.
 

Waukegan Harbor Marina

I had to make a visit to the boat after work today to replace the bilge pump that stopped working. While there I decided to take a 360 degree panorama of "Thanks Dad's" home. Click picture to view, then click and drag to rotate image.

GPS track of yesterday's sail

You can change "Settings to HD" for a better view.

Bonus Sail

I have been out of the country for the past 3 weeks and had expected to miss out on sailing for 4 weekends in a row. 

On my return trip, I was originally scheduled to arrive in NYC on Friday with an overnight layover returning home on Saturday night.

With some help from my friends at American Airlines, I was able to get on a Friday night flight home and now had both Saturday and Sunday at home.  Of course I had to go sailing on this bonus day.

My brother, wife and another couple went out for 4 hours.  It was a good afternoon of sailing.

Google Earth GPS Track Animation of Yesterday's sail.

Google Earth GPS Track Animation of Yesterday's sail.

Beautiful weather for a Father's Day sail!

Friday after work my friend from work and I moved the boat from the boat yard back to the marina.  The yard had finished the new shroud. 

My wife and I had planned to go sailing on Saturday with some friends, but the weather did not cooperate.  The forecast was for 40% chance of scattered thunder storms.  I decided that it would not be wise to chance sailing in thunderstorms.  I had gone to the boat in the morning and was planning on meeting them there at 1:00.  I was able to work for several hours taking care of some odds and ends.

Sunday was another story all together.  My wife, father-in-law, oldest daughter and son-in-law went for a wonderful 3.5 hour sail.

My iPhone has a nautical GPS app that records the trip and plots it on a chart.  We traveled a total of 11.8 nautical miles.  Here are a couple screen captures.

Detailed chart of the Waukegan area with our trip overlayed.
I started recording just outside the marina and finished after we returned to the slip

Bigger overview of the entire trip

It turns out that this group are great crew members.  I let them do all the work and I gave orders!