Vacation

For the first time in two and a half years, I took a week of vacation. We didn't plan to go anywhere special, but I needed some time away from work. I wanted to spend a lot of it sailing, but we had other things to do as well. We decided to keep the boat in the water at the St. Croix Marina at Hudson, WI for half the time so we'd be saved the time and trouble of rigging the boat every day.

We planned to launch today, and sail if the weather was good. We got our traditional late start and didn't get in the water until well after lunchtime. Since everyone's stomach was growling in mutinous dissent, we cooked some hotdogs while we motored south. Once south of the I-94 bridge, we found little wind and threatening skies. Since we had to be back by 4:30 to get Mandy to dance class, we just motored back north to the marina and tied up at the transcient dock. Julie walked to the public ramp next door to get the van while I paid our dock fee.

It sure was nice to not have to take the rig down at the end of the day. We just carried the cooler and garbage bag off the boat and secured her for the night. We barely got Mandy to dance class in time; we'll need to allow just a bit more time in the future.

We invited our neighbor, Kyle, to go with us today. Kyle's family has a 31-foot powerboat at the St. Croix Marina, but he had never been sailing before. We grabbed sandwiches from Subway on the way and got to the marina shortly before noon. We loaded the cooler and gear bags with sweatshirts and jackets; the weather was questionable, and we didn't want to be unprepared.

About then, I noticed the wind had pushed us close to shore. We got Necessity underway again, but we were sailing close-hauled on a starboard tack with the shore too close to port. The depth finder showed a scant five feet as I called for a tack. We didn't have enough way on, the wind having dropped momentarily, and we had to fall off and try again. We built enough speed so I thought we could make it this time. "Ready about!", I called and we tried again. Just as we were coming through the eye of the wind, we ran aground. It was a soft grounding, a gentle sandbar I suppose. I had Mandy release the keel hold down bolts while I fired up the motor. Just to be safe, I uncleated the rudder downhaul line before motoring forward. Sure enough, the rudder touched bottom and kicked-up.

We motored into deeper water before setting the rudder back vertical and locking the keel down again. I thought about shaking out a reef, but the wind once again blew strong from the northwest. We sailed for another hour or so before giving in to the kids' demands to swim. We doused the sails and motored over to the public beach at St. Mary's Point. We beached the boat just south of the marked swimming area and the kids jumped in while the adults relaxed.

We let the kids swim for 45 minutes before calling them back. Mandy had found a mussel on the bottom and brought it over. We pried the shell open just a bit to see the critter inside, then we tossed it back. The kids and Julie got aboard and we shoved-off from the beach. Threading our way backwards through the moored boats and floating platforms was a little tricky, since the Potter doesn't do well to port with the rudder kicked-up; we already have enough prop gouges in the rudder. Once clear, we headed north toward the marina. Once again, I enjoyed just being able to tie-up and secure the boat without having to take down the rig. While beached, we had shipped a bit of water through the daggerboard trunk so I pulled out the wet carpet to take home to dry. We got home just in time for Mandy's dance class.

Hey, an early start! Gotta love that! We packed breakfast, in the form of cereal, so we could eat aboard and get out the door quickly. Our start was almost too early. Overnight, Julie had a strange desire to wake the kids, drive to the marina, and sleep on the boat.

At two-o-clock in the morning. Ugh.

I managed to talk her out of it by falling asleep and not letting her wake me up. So we arrived at the boat around 9:00. Since we had to haul-out at the end of the day, Julie dropped the gear at the dock and drove the van to the public ramp lot. The kids and I hauled the gear to the boat and opened her up. I was concerned that she might have leaked a bit from some big storms that had passed through the area since we had last sailed, but she was as dry as we had left her. As I dropped a load of gear on the dock, a gentleman from a nearby houseboat walked over and offered a positive opinion of my "cute little sailboat". We talked for a minute before he wandered of to refill his coffee cup. After stowing the gear, we made a quick trip to the restrooms before shoving-off.

The day's objective was lunch in Stillwater. Stillwater, MN is a nice little riverfront town about seven miles north of Hudson. Over the years, we had taken many day trips by car to Stillwater to have lunch and shop and just wander the town. We hadn't been there yet this year, and I thought a visit by boat was in order. The winds were light this morning, so we planned to motor all the way. While Julie steered us past the sandbar and Beer Can Island, I got the cereal, spoons, bowls and milk out. Breakfast in the cockpit at the start of a fine day. Gotta love it!

As we motored into the channel, we saw that the railroad bridge was closed. A quick call to the bridge tender on VHF started the bridge swinging open. We were amused to see some potted tomato plants on the bridge, obviously cared for by the bridge tender. Just past the bridge were the bouys marking the end of the no-wake zone, so we opened up the throttle and commenced our run to Stillwater. We were again towing the dinghy, its painter secured to the starboard cleat. At hull speed, the drag was noticable, and the tiller required a surprising amount of force to keep us on course. As soon as they were through with breakfast the kids wanted to ride in the dinghy, so we idled down for them to board. Back up to speed with some music on. The adults applied sunscreen, then had the kids come back aboard so we could goop them up as well.

While Julie steered us upriver, I kept track of our progress on the chart. Boat traffic was light that morning, and the weather was perfect. After a bit, I took the tiller so Julie's arm could have a break from fighting the pull of the dinghy. If we had been using our brains, we would have dug out another rope and towed the dinghy by both stern cleats. But we just continued to fight the drag. Soon, we could make out the highway lift bridge in Stillwater. There is a park just south of the bridge where we could tie-up to a wall. I got the fenders and docklines ready while Julie steered us in. I first tied-up to cement posts, but noticed immediate chafe on the lines. A couple of ringbolts proved to be a better choice. We secured our belongings in the cabin, removed the motor cutoff key, and walked though the park into town.

It was 12:30, and we were all getting hungry. Coincidentally, Brine's Deli was just up the street. After a nice lunch and a visual check on the boat from the second floor river-facing windows, we were off. Our first stop was a camping/outdoor gear shop just down the street from Brine's. Daniel scored a souvenier viking warrior helmet and wore it the rest of the day. The next several stops were antique stores. Julie and I blanched at the realization that many things we remembered from our own childhoods were being sold as antiques! We're not that old!

It was eventually time to turn around and head back to the boat. We crossed the street so Mandy could visit a store that caught her eye. It was a five-and-dime kind of store, but in the back we spotted some... beanie babies! New ones, even! Oh, my God, hit the deck! I moved out of the way as Julie and the kids stormed onto the battlefield, destroyed the opposition, and secured the objective. My army tactical instructors would have been proud. We quickly left with our booty and, after a stop at Tremblay's for ice cream cones, returned to the boat.

After departing Stillwater, we turned south and headed for Sunnyside Marina's fuel dock. We gassed up and continued south. We noticed a couple of sailboats actually sailing here, with the wind from the west. We debated sailing also, but decided that the wind was too light to suit us. We wanted to sail in the more favorable Lake St. Croix area south of Hudson, and sailing now would slow us down too much to have time for that later. We also planned a stop at a beach somewhere along the way so the kids could swim. We continued under motor, encountering more wakes this time from the afternoon powerboat traffic.

As we approached the railroad swing bridge, we noticed a nice stretch of beach on the Wisconsin side, with only three small poweboats beached there. We decided that it looked good enough for a stop, so we headed over. About three hundred yards from shore, the shallow depth alarm started going off. The chart showed ten feet, but the sounder was reading five. We figured there might be a lot of weeds throwing off the readings, but as we got closer to the beach, the reading stayed the same. The bottom rose to 3-4 feet fifty yards from the beach. That probably explained why the larger powerboats had forsaken this area; their lower I/O units and props would be fouled easily in this shallow area. We picked a spot and beached, dropping the daggerboard down into the bottom to prevent us from being turned broadside to the beach by powerboat wakes. We ship a lot of water through the daggerboard trunk this way, so I think I'm going to get a small danforth to use on our secondary rode tied to the stern instead. We've noticed that everyone who beaches runs a stern line to the shore to prevent their boat from swinging.

This beach was a treasure trove of shells and small mussels. The kids hunted for cool stuff and swam. Julie and I walked the beach and watched the kids having fun. We noticed a larger sailboat approaching the beach, and watched her anchor in about five feet of water. It was a 1980 Hunter in the mid-30 foot range. Nice looking boat, built before Hunter put those arches on them and built them with way too much freeboard. The crew waded ashore and staked claim to a section of beach just west of us. We let the kids play for a bit longer, then decided it was time to go if we were to have any time to sail. As we made ready to shove-off, the skipper and crew from the Hunter came over and praised our "cute little boat". Second time that day. But I couldn't argue with them.

Back in the channel once again, we motored south of the I-94 bridge and raised the sails. A nice little breeze was blowing from the southwest; enough to move us, but not enough to make anyone nervous. The kids each spent some time in the dinghy, and we noticed three teenagers on a big beach cat zipping around. A few minutes after we noticed them, they luffed badly directly ahead of us. They had problems getting the cat back under command, so I steered us around their stern. Too bad we didn't have our water guns aboard. They got under way again a few minutes later. We had a nice little sail before we noticed it was getting late. We turned into the wind and doused the sails. Julie motored us north while I sat on the cabin top and coiled up the lines in readiness to strike the rig. While I was sitting there, I saw some colorful hot air balloons appear over the treetops from the west. One of them cleared the trees and began to descend towards the river.

It got lower and lower until it was only about ten feet over the water. Then, every ten seconds or so, the pilot would hit the burners for a second to keep the balloon at the same altitude. The wind there was light, so he was drifting very slowly. We were less than fifty yards away, and started snapping pictures. Several powerboats were very close to the balloon's basket, but we figured the pilot might get a bit nervous if we closed in with our nice mast sticking up like a perfect balloon popper. We kept our distance and waved to the people. As the balloon drifted nearer to the highway bridge, the pilot lit the burners and they rose up and over the span. We noticed other balloons in the sky now, as we motored back to the dock. We had to wait a bit for the ramp to clear, but we recovered the boat cleanly and got her ready for the trip home.

My vacation had ended, but we had a great final day of sailing. With the season now half over, we still have lots of fun ahead of us.

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