I’m feeling a bit naked today. You see, we are once again boatless. Not to worry though, we are just having out bottom painted for the upcoming and much anticipated launching of our new to us Precision P-23, Bella. We are hopeful that next Saturday will be the “big day”.
Previously we were considering Mille Lacs, but the tides have turned and we are now planning on keeping our pride and joy on beautiful Lake Pepin. I stopped for lunch at a roadside rest area last week and took this photo with the rock in the foreground from the shore.
Last summer we sailed there on a gloriously warm and breezy weekend and hope to have many more fine weekends there this year. While the drive is a bit farther for us, it is shorter for most of my family. The other deciding factor for us was that there are many, many other sailboats on this lake, and given that we are relatively new to this, we felt we could learn more by observing and talking to other sailors. Mille Lacs does have a few sailboats on it but they are few and far between, so perhaps when we feel more adventurous and have some more experience under our belts we will consider Mille Lacs again.
So for now it’s Lake Pepin or bust as they say. We’ve checked out the local marinas and feel like Hanson’s Harbor will be a good fit for us this year. They offer the amenities we need and the quiet surroundings we want. They have a fully stocked ship’s store and have full time mechanics on duty as well. Nice piece of mind for the trepid new sailor.
Another nice thing as you can see on the map is that there are 6 towns along the shores of Lake Pepin which we can visit. I can envision a wonderful day of sailing then perhaps a burger at the Pickle Factory in the town of Pepin, WI, where Laura Ingalls Wilder was born, and then anchoring out under the stars in a secluded bay for the night.
One thing that is going to take some getting used to is not being able to look out our kitchen window and see our sailboat. It’s just a little bit strange to not see it whenever I want, or go mess around and work on this or that. I suppose we will get used to that. It will be nice to not have to trailer it to the lake and spend precious time setting it up and taking it down. Not to mention the fuel savings from driving our 48 mpg VW rather that our 10 mpg, while pulling the boat, Jeep to the lake every weekend. Now we can leave for the lake Friday after work and just sleep in the boat at the marina if time is too short to go out that night. Sounds like a good deal to me.
Now, I wonder what our next sailboat should be?
Being around other sailors is good — including crewing on other people’s boats, helping out on sailing club race committee boats, getting in on socials and parties and swapping tales, shanghaiing other sailors onto your boat, and trading help and advice fixing boats. All good stuff, and the time on the water part is especially good.
Pat, Those are are all good points, some of which helped us to justify spending the money on a slip as opposed to keeping our beloved on her trailer. We have learned that there are three other P-23’s at that marina, so we are especially interested in learning some tricks from them. We think this is going to be a smart move for us in many ways. Thanks for the comment and hope we all have a great summer sailing.