Finally in and had a couple of days of sailing this weekend.

[tjspiel]

Tied up at the dock after a spirited sail on Friday, - with the boat as clean as it will be until October.

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Then again at a busier dock today while waiting for my wife and dog. I'm the one in the orange YWCA t-shirt on the left. There were maybe 4 other boats on their buoys on Friday, by the end of the day today it was over a dozen. About 55 more in the next few weeks.

Pretty calm today which suits my wife just fine.

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Two of the 1/2 dozen Catalina 22s that are on the lake are also in that second picture. I'm periodically jealous of the size of those boats but after helping rig one today (that one not pictured), there is something to be said for the simplicity of the Precisions.

[Quantico Frank]

"Mad Baby" is looking good, Tom!

[DBthal]

Yes - your P-18 does look good!

And the weather is warm enough for you to wear shorts and a t-shirt. 

[tjspiel]

Yes - your P-18 does look good!

And the weather is warm enough for you to wear shorts and a t-shirt. 

About 70° which in a few weeks will feel chilly. I have one of those thermometers that can measure temperature by aiming it at something. Not all that accurate but in the ballpark usually. According to it the water temp at the surface was 57° and I was surprised it was that high since some days last week it didn't even reach 50.

Below the surface I'm sure it was much cooler. Didn't stop some people from swimming though.

[Brian N.]

Good for you Tom - an early start. The weather here is just fair, but my wife and I have spent the last two weeks planting and cleaning up the back, front and side yards. Funny, we discovered an old paved walkway hidden for years (probably from 1940's) under layers of soil and ivy. Next project is opening the pool for Mother's day so the boat will have to wait. Enjoy!

BTW - New York State is phasing in a required boating safety license. I took the BoatUS course back in 2013 so I'm hoping it is still active. Anyone else have a required course and license?

[tjspiel]

BTW - New York State is phasing in a required boating safety license. I took the BoatUS course back in 2013 so I'm hoping it is still active. Anyone else have a required course and license?

No license requirements here. Trying to think of how enforcement would work since only the larger/busier lakes and rivers are patrolled at all.

I have been stopped twice by county sheriffs on the water, - both times in my 20s and both times because my step dad had a problem remembering to renew his boat registrations.

[tjspiel]

BTW - New York State is phasing in a required boating safety license. I took the BoatUS course back in 2013 so I'm hoping it is still active. Anyone else have a required course and license?

No license requirements here. Trying to think of how enforcement would work since patrolling is kind of sporadic except on the larger/busier lakes and rivers. The city lakes where I do most of my sailing lately are not patrolled at all.

That said, I have been stopped twice by county sheriffs on the water, - both times in my 20s and both times because my step dad had a problem remembering to renew his boat registrations.

[Riggerdood]

Awesome Tom! Here's to a great season.

[Brian N.]

So - change in plans. My wife was called in to work so I figured its a good day to skip the yard work and get the boat together. First a good scrub to remove the grime that somehow made it under the winter cover. I did discover a few racoon paw prints, but not the mess as in previous years. Ran rigging and lines and new cotter pins and circle clips on all. Bringing the sails aboard plus all the electronics, binoculars, and a host of other items took about 2 hours to organize. Everything that needed grease, oil, lube, Sailkote was addressed.

I discovered that my emergency signal flares expired. I'm going to look into an electronic "flare". If anyone has a recommendation please post

[Riggerdood]

Glad you're getting close to sailing Brian.

I seem to recall electronic flares being discussed here a while back, but a quick search didn't find it. Might have been the old forum, or maybe the FB group?

[Quantico Frank]

Jealous, guys. Still waiting on bottom painting here, ugh....

[DBthal]

Here's some info on electronic flares:

https://panbo.com/sirius-signal-c-1002-c-1003-sos-distress-signal-testing-begins-future-bright/

https://panbo.com/acr-electronics-introduces-resqflare-and-distress-flag-as-uscg-certified-alternative-to-pyrotechnic-flares/

I've got the Sirius C-1003 and keep my expired flares in a bag marked "Expired" (Coast Guard preference).

[Charles Brennan]

Had a love-hate relationship with flares as long as I've been boating.  Expensive, limited 3 year life-span, nearly impossible to dispose of properly and worse yet: I had TWO boats and it seemed one or the other ALWAYS had expired flares so I would be stealing from one boat to use on the other.  Tried to mitigate costs by transferring the flare kit between boats and THAT was a Major Drag as well.

Trying to Dispose of expired flares was the worst part.
For a while you could drop them off at any West Marine and then they discontinued that service.
THEN, for a while you could drop them off at Fire Stations, where they were happy to use them for training and demonstrations.  Then that too, stopped.
Reduced to using hazardous waste disposal stations, until they too deemed them too hazardous to just walk in off the street with.  Trying to blend in with 4th of July fireworks didn't work, either and barely escaped Officialdom by the skin of my teeth.

So over half a dozen years ago, I got one of the first ones (so new they were still waiting for a Coast Guard number and had to mail me a sticker) at a Boat Show at an introductory cost so low, I bought two of them. (After all, I had two boats to deal with.)
Never looked back.

Only downside is maintaining the two C-cell batteries.
I keep dielectric grease on the buttons and tabs and change the batteries every time we go on or off Daylight Savings Time.  And make no mistake, the Coasties DO take them apart and inspect the batteries, when doing a safety check.

Cannot recommend them enough.

One guy's opinion,
Charles Brennan

[Riggerdood]

Jealous, guys. Still waiting on bottom painting here, ugh....

Frank, just for "fun", go on the FB group and read Bill Pfund's almost 3 year tale of woe regarding getting his boat's bottom redone. Not for the faint of heart ...

[Quantico Frank]

Frank, just for "fun", go on the FB group and read Bill Pfund's almost 3 year tale of woe regarding getting his boat's bottom redone. Not for the faint of heart ...

Wow, what an ordeal! I'm pretty sure part of the problem I'm dealing with is also lack of/unreliable labor in my yard too. I called them yesterday, and they told me it's being power-washed and should be completed "in the next couple days."

Interesting things about Bill's post: 1) I asked my yard about a barrier coat, and they told me they don't do them because of all the decontamination requirements for using that paint right next to the Chesapeake Bay, and 2) my previous owner and I used to paint the bottom with that VC-17 paint, and the copper looks so cool when it's done; but unfortunately, since it's an ablative, all that beautiful copper washes off very quickly before it gets to your underlying color.