End of the Sailing Season

This summer, Kevin and I spent as many weekends as possible out on Oneida Lake, and Kevin spent some weeknights out there as well, crewing on other sailboats.  Neither of us was in a hurry to see the season come to a close, so we spent the first two days of this Columbus Day weekend out on the lake.

Up here, they refer to this as "frostbite" sailing because the wind we now love to harness is not warmed by the hot summer sun.  It brings us to winter chills long before that season has arrived.  As an example, my outfit for an October sail includes wool socks, neoprene long johns, a T-shirt, a turtleneck sweater, fleece pants, a chamois shirt, a scarf around the back of my neck, wind pants, a baseball cap, a fleece hoodie with the hood up over the cap, and winter gloves.  Then when I get onto the boat, I add the wind jacket and my pfd.

Over the two days, we reached speeds of around 6 knots in winds gusting up to 30; the 3-4 foot-high waves were what slowed us down, plus we went out with the smallest possible sail arrangement.  We did well, by comparison with our fellow enthusiasts.  On Sunday, three boats had to head back to their docks because of mechanical troubles that included a blown-out main sail, and one boat had two people injured.  Our caution allowed us one last weekend on the water with a happy ending.

But, an ending it was.  Once we returned to dock, instead of tying off the mainsail and tucking it into the sunbrella cover, we removed the sail and packed it away.

Next, Kevin removed the boom completely and stowed that and the spinnaker pole in the cabin.

We motored down to the gin pole, where we had to hold onto the stern rail of Sea Lyon as we awaited our turn in the slip.

Once there, Kevin wrapped the lift strap around the mast

and then he and a neighborly fellow who was nearby detached the side stays.

I climbed aboard to help guide the mast into the support bracket in the cockpit as we stepped the mast: lowering it to ride flat atop the boat.  Kevin then removed more of the rigging and tied the mast securely.

Another neighbor came by to help pull our boat over to the next slip, where the big cranes awaited.

The rear strap was dropped into the water, so that the boat's keel could pass over it, and she was pulled forward, the straps were secured, and she left the water.

Once she was over land, the marina owners power-washed the underside of the boat, removing a summer's worth of slime and a handful of zebra mussels.

By the next time we see her, Dawendina will be resting in her cradle, waiting out the winter.

In the meantime, Kevin and I will just look through all these photos in reverse-order and pretend we're getting ready for Spring.