[Rhodes22-list] wannabe

[Roger Pihlaja]

Hi Gene,

Is the Susquehanna River any good for sailing near Bloomsburg, PA?  Other
than the river, where would you sail your R-22?

My wife's family lives in Sharon, PA, which is right on the OH/PA border.
In western PA, I can recommend Shenango Lake & the Pymatuning Reservoir as
good places to daysail or for a weekend cruise.  Note that the Pymatuning
Reservoir actually spans the OH/PA border, so you need two fishing licenses
to fish the whole body of water.  But, this is the only downside as there is
a <10 hp limit on boat motors in Pymatuning.  So, there are no powerful bass
boats, PWC's, or water skiers zooming around & it's a good sailing lake.

Then, of course, there's always Erie, PA & Lake Erie or Niagra-On-The-Lake,
NY & Lake Ontario if you want some blue water sailing & broader horizons.
The R-22 makes a fine Great Lakes boat.  But, be forewarned that the Great
Lakes can be awesome bodies of water & require respect.  You will want to
hone your sailing skills before venturing too far offshore.

Within an easy day's drive, you have the Port Clinton, Sandusky, Erie
Islands area in western Lake Erie.  My sons & I spent a week cruising this
area in the summer of 1993, including a Lake Erie crossing to Pelee Island &
Point Pelee in Ontario.  There are nice marinas on Kelly's Island, Middle
Bass Island & South Bass Island.  Kelly's Island is pretty laid back with
some interesting Native American petrogliphs & an incredible geologic
feature left over from the last ice age called the Glacial Grooves.  Middle
Bass Island has tours of the historic Lonz Winery.  The Lonz Winery was used
as a Civil War POW facility for captured CSA officers.  South Bass Island is
all touristy with Put-In-Bay, Perry's Monument, & cave tours.  Put-In-Bay is
one of the largest marinas in the area.  But, especially if you visit on a
weekend, be prepared to party all night because the place gets pretty roudy.
We ended up the week with an overnight stay at the Cedar Point Amusement
Park Marina.  Visiting Cedar Point by boat is absolutely wonderful!  The
Cedar Point Marina is enormous, with every ammenity you can think of.  There
is a private marina entrance into the amusement park.  You can play all
night until they close the park & sweep you out with the peanuts.  But,
instead of having to drive for hours & hours to get home, you just walk a
short distance back to your boat, & crawl into a nice warm bunk.

We have a Lil Dude tandem axle trailer with surge brakes that has worked
well for many thousands of trailering miles.  But, lots of R-22 owners swear
by the their single axle "Unimatic" trailers.  Just be certain your boat
trailer has brakes.  We tow with a 1995 Chevy Astro mini van with AWD & the
HD factory trailer towing package.  Our Astro has the 4.2 liter, 195 bhp V-6
engine & I wouldn't go any smaller than that.  I like a tow vehicle with AWD
or 4WD.  There's just nothing like all four wheels pulling for getting the
boat & trailer up a slimy launch ramp.  But, you can get by with only RWD.
Try to find a tow vehicle with antilock brakes.  You will find ABS takes a
lot of the scariness out of stopping with a big trailer behind you!

I hope you find your R-22 & welcome to the list!

Roger Pihlaja
S/V Dynamic Equilibrium


> At 04:52 PM 10/31/2002 -0800, you wrote:
> >hi everyone, my name is Gene and I'm from bloomsburg,pa. I'm a double
> >wannabee. I wanna be a sailor and I wanna rhodes 22. my plan is for me
and
> >the honey,name's Chris(yeah,honey's a lady) to take lessons next spring
> >then join a club and sail for a year and sea? if we like it. We will
> >repeat the next year and if we still love it we'll buy a 22 or sompin to
> >trail. We were at annapolis on oct 11, stopped and visited with Stan on
> >our way to myrtle beach. what is the smallest tow vehicle that will
safely
> >stop a 22 going down hill and should I get a double axle. I'll have
> >questions for 2 years and then probably forever if we keep sailin', my
> >other hobby is all grain homebrewing. I fish in december in evergaldes
> >city, florida with my 14 foot center consol. what am I doing thinking
> >about another boat. I guess I didn't learn the first time.  thanx.
> >
> >
> >---------------------------------
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>
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