Sailing Season Ends

Sailing season officially ended yesterday for "Dragonfly." We had hoped we would be able to sail into December, but as we looked at our calendar, we determined we better head to the lake or it would be after Christmas before we got there.

I had not recently looked at the weather, so I was surprised when I stuck my nose out the door and discovered it was cold...about 15 degrees according to the car thermometer.

Suz put on layers and I grabbed my gortex/thincellite hunting pants as we headed to the lake.

The wind was out of the NW almost on our nose as we arrived. We planned to take off the sails and put on the winter cover. We had winterized the head, water system, AC/heater, bilge and diesel a couple of weeks ago.

We started with the jib and then to the main. We have been doing this since 2003, so it is almost routine. We had the sails off, flaked and in the sail bags in less than an hour. We spread them out and reflaked them in the basement when we got home.

The cover went on without a hitch after Suz reminded me how it fit. The cover is in two pieces and protects D'fly from the cold and snow. We spread it out, zippered and bungied it in place.

We had everything loaded and stopped by the Rustic Oak Cabin for lunch.

Overall, we had a good sailing season. We got the thrills of sailing with reefed sails in 40+ mph winds on two different occasions. D'fly survived nicely as did we. It's encouraging to know when someday we decide to drop her in the big pond and sail the Carribiean for a couple of years.

Suz and I enjoyed many sunset cruises by ourselves and a few with others.

Ellie's heading off to college in August was one of the low points. Don't tell her that we miss her. The house is not the same without her around. We are fortunate she has a blog and regulary writes in FaceBook. She'll be home for Chrismas in a 10 days....but whose counting.

Only 110 days until next sailing season!