Sea Pearl 21 Slides into Lake George . . . . .

[Charles Brennan]

OK, Maybe it slipped into Lake George, Florida and didn't actually slide! 
My Son has been working on a Sea Pearl 21, that he purchased last April and has been itching to take it out, but needed access to a truck.
(Cue: 1800 CALL-DAD.) 
So this morning, I went over to his house near Ocala, Florida.
(Saying : "Near Ocala, Florida" is MUCH easier than saying "his house in Ocklawaha, Florida".) 
We got the truck loaded up with his gear, boat hitched up, lights checked and we were off!
I have missed out on Kayaking this past Spring, Scalloping this past Summer and Sailing this past Fall, all to build a boat in my carport, so I was MORE than anxious to get out on the water on SOMETHING!! 
ANYTHING!! 

Now, some of you may have read of me railing from time to time, about what the State of Florida laughingly    calls "Un-improved Ramps". 
These are basically, wet spots alongside a road or a dirt path, up here in north central Florida.
Here's one:
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How do we know this is a boat ramp?!? 

'Cause the State of Florida spent all of their boat ramps budget, on a sign proclaiming that it's a boat ramp! 
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Quite a far cry from the kind of boat ramps I used to frequent:
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However, we waded around a little and found enough of a slope to get the boat launched without incident
Although at first look, I was wishing my tow strap was available for a rope launch, instead of being back home in the garage.
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The boat tipped enough when I boarded, that we decided we were going to fill up the water ballast tanks, after all.   

We had the wind blowing right into the (Ha!) ramp and since the Son's Honda 2.3hp outboard was subject to Brennan's Motor Dictum:
"The Only Thing An Outboard Motor Does Reliably, Is Fail."   
It did. 
It would start, then lug and stall, then start again, then lug and stall again ad infinitum until the kid's attention was sufficiently distracted to nearly put us into driftwood, stumps and the occasional over-turned Cypress tree, courtesy of recent Hurricanes.
I had to fend off    with his (really nice!) Shaw & Tenney oars a few times and also employed a sweep stroke, every now and again, to keep us from returning back to shore.
Eventually he got it sorted out and got the recalcitrant motor beaten into sufficient submission, that we could get out far enough, to get the sails up and start sailing.
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"Look Dad!! I'm Sailing!!"   

This was his wife's first sailing trip in a boat smaller than a Windjammer.
We explained to her, the origin of the nautical term: BOOM!!   
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The boat was moving along smartly, headed towards the only blue skies we could find.
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Did I mention we were moving along, "smartly"?!? Like, 5.5 knots, smartly?
And on half-reefed sails! 
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What? Is that a little water on the GPS? 

Yes, indeedy. We spent the afternoon zig-zagging, to avoid rain storms, sometimes with limited success.
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We had both the main and mizzen sails reefed 50%, partly in deference to his wife's first sailing trip on a small boat, the son's conservative approach to an unfamiliar boat that he was trying to get a feel for, plus the inclement weather and . . . . .
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 . . . . . . .    WITH ABSOLUTELY NO HELP FROM HIS FATHER!! 
I kept ragging him about sailing so conservatively and pointing out there was a LOT more sail wrapped around those masts.
His wife, (who had no concept of the possible risks to setting full sail on a small boat, when a rainstorm could easily outrun and overtake us) joined in on the heckling.
Fortunately, he ignored both of us, for the sake of safety.
Guess I taught him better, than I knew.

I was heartened to see that I'm not the only one who trashes cockpits, while sailing.
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Felt good to be sailing again! 
Well, OK!! Motoring again! 
(Headed back in, while the son furls the main.)
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I was surprised to see channel markers in a lake, but they had them and seemed to be marking an honest-to-goodness channel.
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We could have gone back and forth all afternoon, dodging rain showers, but a problem cropped up:
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A leak somewhere, that will have to be dealt with.
Since we had no idea how MUCH water, or from WHERE it was coming, the son elected to return to the (snicker!) boat ramp.

So we furled the sails and headed back.
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You can actually see the Mental Checklist of tasks, playing across his face.
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Pointing to the only place where there ISN'T rain scudding across.
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Securing the boat for the trip back home.
Hey!  Who came up with that Great Idea for rotating the license plate out of the way, for launching/retrieving?!? 
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I was a little surprised at how much stuff has to be secured for the road. 
Note the straps that support the lee boards.
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Road Ready!!
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No Trailer Disasters, just a nice uneventful trip to a nearby restaurant and then a leisurely trip home.
Nice day.
I don't know which of us, needed it more.
Charles Brennan

[Norm L.]

A reminder of what a sweet boat that could be. After another XYZ $$$.  But I like it as I like that rig. The closest I've gotten was the yawl and the cat.

[Frank B.]

You and yours sailed!!  I'm still trying to "magic" myself up the mast to reroute the halyards.  Pretty obvious I can't use a bosuns chair since it would be attached to the halyard I have to reroute. 

Florida "rustic" dirt ramps.  That one looks a lot like the one I use in Wild Goose Lagoon, Tindall, AFB, only has some additional signs.

This one is quite misleading, no you can't get it online at least you couldn't a few years back. It required a trip to a certain office only on Tuesday at certain hours whereby you would be checked for security clearance. 

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Nobody answers this one at least they didn't several years back. 

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[Riley Smith]

Oh man, I like Pearls! Nice boat Chris! I'm glad CB got to scratch the itch!

[Doug SC]

Looks like a good shake down sail. 

I have canoed all the way down Juniper Springs Run from the park and taken out at a dirt ramp on the south end of Lake George. Lots of wildlife along the shore of Lake George with a variety of wading birds and the ever-present gators and turtles. Eagles and osprey are also common.

[Doug SC]

I recognized the launch site where you put in. That is the same one where I took out. The St Johns River enters the lake a bit east of there. The west shore of the lake is mostly undeveloped land. It has the feel of old Florida.