[Rhodes22-list] Dynamic Equilibrium Put Into Winter Storage

[Roger Pihlaja]

Mark,

My family is familiar with white water rafting in the New River Gorge!

The New River must be older than the Allegheny Mountains because it cut a
pass right thru them.  The only way that can happen is if the river was
already flowing thru the region when the mountain range started rising
millions of years ago.  How ironic that the New River is still there when
the Allegheny Mountains are eroded down to a mere shadow of their former
selves.  Imagine what the area must have been like when the Allegheny
Mountains were as high as the Rockies!  In those days, the New River must
have been like the Colorado River is today.

Besides its great age, another unusual thing about the New River is that the
white water area in West Virginia is near the downstream end of the river.
In fact, the white water is downstream from several dams, including Claytor
Lake, where you sail.

There were a lot of bass boats in Arkansas as well.  But, relatively few of
them were kept at the Russellville Marina.  Most were kept on their trailers
at home.  Launching & retrieving these little boats is so quick & easy that
most bass boat owners never bothered with the expense of renting a slip.  I
had couple of friends in Arkansas that competed in Bass Tournaments with
their bass boats.  On weekends & on vacation, they would trailer their boats
to fishing tournaments all over the south.  These folks are VERY serious
about their fishing.

Roger Pihlaja
S/V Dynamic Equilibrium

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark Kaynor" <mark@kaynor.org>
To: "The Rhodes 22 mail list" <rhodes22-list@rhodes22.org>
Sent: Tuesday, October 15, 2002 11:26 AM
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Dynamic Equilibrium Put Into Winter Storage


> Roger,
>
> The New River is considered to be the oldest river in North America and
one of the oldest rivers in the world. It originates in northwestern North
Carolina, flows North through southwest Virginina and on into West Virginia.
National Geographic did a story on it in the June, 1999 issue. You may have
heard of "Bridge Day" when the New River Gorge Bridge in West Virginia is
closed for a one-day festival that includes BASE jumping?
http://www.nps.gov/neri/bridgeday.htm
>
> At any rate, Claytor Lake was formed when Appalachian Power Company built
a dam on the New River, just south of Radford, VA, in 1939. The lake covers
4,500 acres and is 21-miles long. Our water quality is generally very good,
with fecal coliform levels never exceeding state standards. See
http://www.focl.org/wq2001/FOCL%202001%20Water%20Quality%20Report.htm for
more info. I suppose there's enough water flow most of the time to keep the
lake fairly well flushed out <g>.
>
> I'd say the majority of craft on the lake at any given time are bass
boats, with pontoon boats being a close second. Fortunately, even on
high-traffic weekends like the 4th of July, there are never "too many
boats". We're also lucky in that the operator of the marina concession (the
only marina at the dam end of the lake - the best sailing area) has tried to
group the sailboats together wherever possible. Certain areas of the docks
have longer finger piers spaced farther apart than others, and have been
conducive to this policy.
>
> Mark Kaynor
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Roger Pihlaja" <cen09402@centurytel.net>
> To: "The Rhodes 22 mail list" <rhodes22-list@rhodes22.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, October 15, 2002 10:24 AM
> Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Dynamic Equilibrium Put Into Winter Storage
>
>
> > Mark,
> >
> > Our family lived in Russellville, AR from 1987 - 1990.  Russellville is
> > located about 90 miles west of Little Rock.  The Arkansas River runs
right
> > thru town.  A US Army Corps of Engineer's dam across the Arkansas River
at
> > Russellville creates a manmade lake called Lake Dardanelle.  Many of the
> > state parks in Arkansas are associated with US Army Corps of Engineers
dam
> > projects.  The state leases space along the shoreline, within these
state
> > park, for marinas, which are operated by private companies.  The
> > Russellville Marina, where we kept Dynamic Equilibrium, was operated
under
> > such an arrangement.  Although the winter months were too cold for
swimming,
> > the water never froze & there was good sailing all year round.  The only
> > reason to pull the boat out of the water was if you were going somewhere
> > with it or doing maintenance.
> >
> > The marina was about a 10 minute drive from our house in Russellville.
In
> > general, I liked this arrangement except for two things:
> >
> > The predominent type of boat at the Russellville Marina was the pontoon.
> > (i.e. "party barge")  The owners of these things were notoriously bad at
> > docking.  They just didn't seem to care what they hit & docked "by ear".
> > The aluminum pontoons, dive planes, & square edges on the decks of these
> > things would just chew up the hull of a plastic boat.  I always tried to
get
> > a competent skipper with a "real boat" in the slip next to mine & stayed
> > away from the gas dock during busy times.
> >
> > The other thing that sometimes made life in the Russellville Marina
> > unpleasant was the watershed that emptied into it.  You see, Lake
Dardenelle
> > is surrounded by hills.  Many of these hills are used for commercial
large
> > scale poultry & hog farms that were there long before the lake & the
marina.
> > The state of Arkansas has such lax antipollution laws that these farms
were
> > allowed to dump animal waste onto the ground.  Most of the time, this
> > practice didn't seem to matter & was undetectable.  However, during the
> > normally dry summer season, the area would occasionally get a brief
> > thunderstorm.  This brief but torrential rain would wash some of this
animal
> > waste down the hills into the Russellville Marina basin, but then would
stop
> > before the marina basin was flushed out.  At these times, the smell
around
> > the marina was incredible!  While we lived there, the marina & boat
owners
> > petitioned the City of Russellville & the state DNR to do something.
But,
> > the farms were grandfathered in under the pollution control laws &
weren't
> > doing anything illegal.  I was always surprised the issue wasn't
considered
> > a threat to public health.  Anywhere else, you would expect the state
would
> > either close down the farms or close down the marina, but not in
Arkansas!
> >
> > We usually use the winter months for planning next summer's cruises as
well.
> > The boys & I would still like to circumnavigate Isle Royale National
Park in
> > western Lake Superior.  We were going to make that voyage last summer,
but
> > then I got laid off from my job & our life has been pretty hectic since
> > then.  Hopefully, 2003 will be better.
> >
> > Roger Pihlaja
> > S/V Dynamic Equilibrium
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Mark Kaynor" <mark@kaynor.org>
> > To: "The Rhodes 22 mail list" <rhodes22-list@rhodes22.org>
> > Sent: Tuesday, October 15, 2002 8:03 AM
> > Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Dynamic Equilibrium Put Into Winter Storage
> >
> >
> > > Roger,
> > >
> > > I'd have to agree with you on that one. Pulling the boat at the end of
the
> > > season is always sad for us, too. Then it's a long winter of reading
> > books,
> > > magazines, and catalogs, and "pining for the fjords". Sigh. Our
weather
> > just
> > > turned cool, too. We managed to get in an overnight a couple of weeks
ago,
> > > but it looks like that's the last one for the season for us.
> > >
> > > I envy you your indoor storage - I'd love to keep the boat out of the
> > > weather and be able work on it over the winter. We sail mostly out of
a
> > slip
> > > at the local state park. They close the marina from 1 Nov through 31
Mar,
> > so
> > > even if it's nice weather, we have a deadline - if we're not out by 1
Nov,
> > > we could lose our slip.
> > >
> > > Mark Kaynor
> > >
> > >
> > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > From: "Roger Pihlaja" <cen09402@centurytel.net>
> > > To: <rhodes22-list@rhodes22.org>
> > > Sent: Monday, October 14, 2002 9:44 PM
> > > Subject: [Rhodes22-list] Dynamic Equilibrium Put Into Winter Storage
> > >
> > >
> > > Well, today I cleaned the boat for the final time, winterized it, &
put it
> > > into winter storage.  I store it at the Midland County Fairgrounds.
For a
> > > mere $187, I can store the boat inside a secure, guarded facility
until as
> > > late as May 1, 2003.  Midland County rents out winter storage space
inside
> > > the buildings which are used for the animal, craft, and vender
displays
> > > during the annual county fair.  It's such a good deal that people come
> > from
> > > as far away as Detroit & Grand Rapids to store their summer toys at
our
> > > county fairgrounds.  I wish Midland County would restrict fairground
> > access
> > > to county residents thru the month of October because the available
> > storage
> > > space fills up so fast that I have to cut my sailing season a little
> > shorter
> > > than I would prefer.
> > >
> > > It was only about 55 deg F & with a 10 - 15 knot wind this afternoon.
> > > That's a little chilly & windy to be playing in the water.  But, at
least
> > > the job is done & NOAA weather radio is predicting snow flurries
around
> > here
> > > this Wednesday.  So, I'm glad to have the boat safely tucked away in
> > advance
> > > of that!
> > >
> > > Putting the boat into winter storage is sort of the last act of summer
for
> > > me.  I'm always sad to see summer end, but I enjoy fall & winter
> > activities
> > > as well.  So, it's time to move on.
> > >
> > > Roger Pihlaja
> > > S/V Dynamic Equilibrium
> > >
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