[Rhodes22-list] Door County: Blue Loon had a great time!

[Saroj]

You refused to have the R22 reviewed? Curious....

Saroj
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "stan" <stan at rhodes22.com>
To: "The Rhodes 22 mail list" <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Sent: Wednesday, July 07, 2004 9:24 AM
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Door County: Blue Loon had a great time!


> Julie,
>
> You know what the parents want to hear.  You have now sailed both boats.
> What are your impressions, pro and con. As Practical Sailor said to us
when
> we refused to have the Rhodes reviewed, "We have a responsibility to our
> readers".
>
> stan/gbi
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Mark Kaynor" <mark at kaynor.org>
> To: "The Rhodes 22 mail list" <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, July 07, 2004 8:15 AM
> Subject: RE: [Rhodes22-list] Door County: Blue Loon had a great time!
>
>
> > Julie,
> >
> > Great story. Thanks.
> >
> > Mark Kaynor
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org
> > [mailto:rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org]On Behalf Of Julie
> > Thorndycraft
> > Sent: Wednesday, July 07, 2004 12:20 AM
> > To: The Rhodes 22 mail list
> > Subject: [Rhodes22-list] Door County: Blue Loon had a great time!
> >
> >
> > Dan and I just got back from sailing Door County on Blue Loon. If you're
> not
> > familiar with Door County, it is a finger peninsula that juts north into
> > Lake Michigan. It has lots of great sailing areas along with even more
> > tourist towns - all filled with gift shops/artist and craft stores, etc.
> The
> > towns/villages are small and quaint and are definitely after the tourist
> > dollar. Our target was the west or Green Bay side of the peninsula.
> >
> > We drove from Minneapolis to Egg Harbor, WI on Tuesday (about a six hour
> > drive) and launched at the Egg Harbor marina which has an excellent
ramp.
> > The harbor master was very nice, if you gave him a chance to get to know
> you
> > a bit - helpful with the inside information regarding the other marinas
> and
> > such. He's a sailor and likes to take care of the 'little boats'.
> >
> > On Wednesday morning we headed north to Fish Creek with South winds
around
> > 7-10 knots and following seas about 2-3 feet - I swear they were more
like
> 4
> > or 5 feet at times. We did some rolling but I thought it was great
> amusement
> > park ride - nice sun, nice wind. Our friends were sailing their
Precision
> 23
> > and I got the distinct impression that it did not handle the waves as
well
> > as the Rhodes based on their comments afterwards. We stayed at a private
> > marina that charged 1.75/foot (ouch!) and we were surrounded by big buck
> > power boats and even bigger sailboats. We did the touristy thing at Fish
> > Creek exploring the shops and walking all over the place and drooled
over
> > the fabulous sailboats in the harbor.
> >
> > Thursday morning we planned to head to Sister Bay further north but  the
> > Precision had motor problems. After much discussion we decided to set
sail
> > anyways hoping the next marina might be able to look at the engine -
it's
> a
> > two year old Nissan 6hp. Having more sailing experience than Bob's wife,
> > they put me on the Precision to help him if there were problems. In the
> most
> > inelegant fashion, we got towed out of the winding harbor by a jetski -
> > fortunately no one took a picture! Once out of the harbor entrance we
> > launched the sails and headed north. Again we had good southern breezes
to
> > push us north until about 2:00pm and then the winds died completely.
With
> no
> > motor and another 3 miles to go we hailed Blue Loon, who had taken a
> longer
> > route, and politely asked for a tow.
> >
> > We took Blue Loon's dinghy and tied it to the Precision and had a little
> > pre-fourth parade. When we got closer we tied the Precision to the side
of
> > Blue Loon rather than behind for better control. I can now say that I'm
> very
> > happy that we got the 9.9 Yamaha - we chugged along at 4 knots with both
> > boats and the dinghy and I'm sure it could've gone faster! We ended the
> day
> > by getting margaritas-to-go at the marina bar which were heavy on
tequila
> > and light on the mix.
> >
> > Unfortunately for our friends, their motor was sucking water into the
oil
> > reservoir and an easy fix was not to be found. We ended up staying two
> > nights at Sister Bay while they sorted out their options. Dan and I
headed
> > out sailing and when we returned we learned that their choice was to
pull
> > the boat out of the water or sail without a motor - the latter not being
> > realistic since none of us knew the marinas/harbors that we would be
> heading
> > into and the weather predictions were for thunderstorms. They opted to
> pull
> > their boat out.
> > Dan and I once again took off on our own and headed South for Ephraim.
The
> > winds were light but we were not in any rush. In the Ephraim harbor we
> > spotted another Rhodes in the mooring field - it had a navy hull and was
> > named Lil' Darlin' - does anyone know who owns this one? After circling
> the
> > Rhodes we headed into the marina which was through a long winding
channel
> of
> > buoys and four feet of water. Our friends caught back up with us in
their
> > mini-RV - they left the boat at Egg Harbor on the trailer.
> >
> > We had originally planned on anchoring out but the weather forecast was
> very
> > questionable - we ended up staying in marinas the entire time. The night
> at
> > Ephraim brought heavy rains and threatened thunderstorms but we stayed
> nice
> > and dry in the Pop Top.
> >
> > The next morning was our last sailing day and we had to head back to Egg
> > Harbor. It was chilly, drizzling, and foggy. Our friends decided to join
> us
> > for the final sail which was about a thirteen mile trek. The winds were
> very
> > light to start and we ended up motoring out of the Ephraim bay area. We
> were
> > able to get a good look at Peninsula State Park and Horseshoe Island as
we
> > passed and there are some very protected anchorages at both. Once we
> passed
> > the island, the winds picked up and we sailed with full Genoa and no
> Main -
> > I call it BVI sailing. We did a run down the coast with the winds and
> waves
> > behind us. Although a little chilly, it was a great day of sailing.
> >
> > We pulled back into Egg Harbor and got tucked into a tiny, tiny slip
which
> > was the only one available. We were lucky to get settled because the
winds
> > picked up to 28 knots and the waves were pounding over the docks. It
> > continued howling all night and I gained a great appreciation for the
> > singing of the mast as the wind howled through. The harbor master
managed
> to
> > squeeze in one other small sailboat after we landed - a Compaq 23 that
was
> > being single-handed and wasn't able to make his target destination due
to
> > the weather. We invited him to join us for dinner and had a great
evening
> > sharing sailing adventures.
> >
> > If any of you are thinking about sailing Door County, avoid the two
weeks
> > around the Fourth. The marinas are very full and it is difficult to get
> > slips if the weather gets bad. Most of the harbors are exposed to the
> > north/northwest and shelter is needed when it comes in from either
> > direction. We did learn that some of the public marinas (Fish Creek,
> Sister
> > Bay) have a certain number of slips available for transient usage but
you
> > have to call at 7:00am to put your name on the list. You have a pretty
> could
> > shot at these on any day of the week as long as it is not around the
> Fourth.
> >
> > Blue Loons' next adventure is wilderness sailing on the Ontario side of
> Lake
> > Superior by Nipigon and Red Rock - unfortunately I don't have enough
> > vacation to go so Dan and a friend are going and leaving me behind to
pay
> > the bills.
> >
> > Fair winds,
> > Julie and Dan
> > s/v Blue Loon
> >
> >
> >
> > __________________________________________________
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> >
> > __________________________________________________
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> >
>
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