[Rhodes22-list] New Rhodes owners in Omaha

[dlwelchne at yahoo.com]

All,
What a pleasure to join this group. We are members with Jesse & Corrie Shumaker of the Lake Manawa Sailing Association in Iowa.
When I picked up my first very used cruiser (Helsen 20), Lake Manawa folklore was that you shouldn’t drop anchor. Yet the Iowa DNR manual and DNR staff affirmed you could. So I replaced the anchor light, got the boat equipped, and started anchoring out. (bit.ly/dropping_anchor_deck) Others followed.
Paula and I were were impressed with Jesse’s Rhodes 22 research and thought why bother reinventing the wheel? My wife is into the furling jib and main. As for me, a little dry ice, a massive lazarette, an outboard with an alternator, and my professional work that can be done entirely remotely. The imagination runs wild.
My first mistake was telling Jesse in the fall that we had decided to upgrade to the Rhodes in the 2022 sailing season. A couple weeks after that Ken and Ruth Bates—Portage, Michigan—put their 1986 Rhodes on the market, Jesse alerted me (I probably don’t need to tell you the guy’s a trouble maker). I immediately got on the phone with the Bates, and was on the road within hours for the 2K round trip drive. I came back with the boat and new friends.
Of course our 250K Honda Oddysey was short 1K towing weight for a loaded Rhodes & trailer. So my wife is now driving a loaded one owner Toyota Highlander with 50K miles. That was the first of the presents we’ll be giving the boat all winter and by far the most expensive.
Merry Christmas to you all.
Dave - s/v Knot at Work (to be renamed)