[Rhodes22-list] Camping/Sailing Trip With My Boy Scout Troop

Tue Sep 21 08:42:55 EDT 2021

Slim,

When my younger son, Gary, earned Eagle Scout, I made him a personal gift from Deb & me.  It was a wooden canoe paddle.  In the blade, I attached a Boy Scout orienteering compass with a small magnet embedded into the blade under the compass needle so it always pointed toward the end of the paddle.  Then, I attached an Eagle Scout patch near the end of the paddle so the compass needle was always pointing at it.  On the shaft of the paddle, I engraved, “Gary, May you always be willing and able to paddle your own canoe”.  We presented the paddle to him at his Eagle Court of Honor.  He still has it hanging on the wall of his office.

Roger Pihlaja
S/V Dynamic Equilibrium

Sent from Mail<https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for Windows

From: Steven Alm<mailto:stevenalm at gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, September 21, 2021 8:23 AM
To: The Rhodes 22 Email List<mailto:rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Camping/Sailing Trip With My Boy Scout Troop

Happy birthday Roger!
“May you always be willing and able to paddle your own canoe.”
—Troop 19 Eagle slogan.

Slim
Fandango

On Tue, Sep 21, 2021 at 6:56 AM ROGER PIHLAJA <Roger_Pihlaja at msn.com> wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> This past weekend, I took my Boy Scout Troop on a camping/sailing trip.  I
> have a friend, Dan Schweitzer, that has a 42 ft LOA sailing catamaran (S/V
> Now What).  He keeps it at Linwood Beach Marina & Campground on Saginaw Bay
> in Linwood, MI.  Linwood is about halfway between Bay City, MI and
> Pinconning, MI on the W side of Saginaw Bay.  The campground is mostly for
> RV’s.  But, they have 6 primitive sites for tent campers.  We’ve stayed
> here in previous years and they always donate the use of the primitive
> campsites because we’re a Boy Scout Troop and they know me.  It’s good to
> have friends in low places!
>
> We arrived Friday night and set up camp.  We sailed on Saturday afternoon,
> camped Saturday night, and most of the troop left Sunday morning.  Two of
> the Scouts and myself stayed behind to help Dan unrig and fold the sails,
> pump out the holding tank, winterize the boat’s water system, retrieve the
> boat onto it’s custom made trailer, and then park the boat & trailer in
> it’s winter storage spot in the Marina’s storage yard.
>
> The sailing conditions were great: sunny, temp 75 deg F, wind N @ 10-15
> knots, waves 2-3 ft!  S/V Now What was sailing a beam reach flying her full
> mainsail and 130% genoa with neither centerboard lowered.  We averaged  ~7
> knots, hitting 9-10 knots in the gusts if the helmsman responded properly.
> Some of the youth were better at steering than others.  A boat this fast
> also slows down quickly if the helmsman screws up.
>
> All the Scouts got to hoist and trim sails, handle the dock lines, set and
> retrieve the anchor.  Everyone that wanted to steer got a chance to be
> helmsman.  After motoring out of the marina and down the dredged channel
> until the water got deep enough, we hoisted sail and sailed ~ 9 nm to the
> so-called “Spoils Island” at the mouth of the Saginaw River.  Spoils Island
> is so named because it’s an artificial island created by decades of
> dredging in the Saginaw River by the US Army Corps of Engineers in order to
> maintain a commercial ship channel.  We went around the S side of the
> island to get out of the wind and waves and anchored.  We had multiple
> members of the troop having birthdays, including myself (I’m 68 years
> old).  We had a birthday party at anchor.  I brought my kerosene fired
> anchor light, so it became the ceremonial “birthday anchor light”.  I took
> the Fresnel lens assembly off so it was just the oil lamp & wick.  All the
> birthday boys stood around the lit lantern while the rest of the troop sang
> Happy Birthday and then we all blew out the wick together.  Then, we had
> cupcakes and lemonade.  After the party, when everything was properly
> stowed away, we hoisted anchor, stowed the flags, raised sails, and sailed
> back to Linwood.  All told, we were on the water about 3-1/2 hours, motored
> about 4 nm and sailed about 18 nm.  Dan joined us for dinner that night in
> our campsite, turkey chili – YUM!
>
> Roger Pihlaja
> S/V Dynamic Equilibrium
>
> Here are some photos from the trip:
>
> [cid:image002.jpg at 01D7AEBE.25885570]
>                                                        Adam & Tyler Ready
> To Hoist The Mainsail @ The Marina (Note The Lazy Jacks On The Mainsail)
>
> [cid:image005.jpg at 01D7AEBE.25885570]
>                                                                       Adam
> Hoisting The Mainsail
>
> [cid:image008.jpg at 01D7AEBE.25885570]
>                                              Unfurling The 130% Roller
> Furling Genoa
>
> [cid:image011.jpg at 01D7AEBE.25885570]
>                        Not All Helmsmen Were As Happy As Sam!  He Was
> Grinning Like This All Afternoon
>
> [cid:image014.jpg at 01D7AEBE.25885570]
>                           Roger Giving Henry His 1st Driving Lesson.  I’m
> Not Scared Of His Driving, It’s just That Rough, So I Have To Hang On!
>
> [cid:image018.jpg at 01D7AEBE.25885570]
>                                                The Troop Hanging Out On
> The Foredeck Just Before We Ducked Behind Spoils Island
>
> [cid:image020.jpg at 01D7AEBE.25885570]
>                                                         Flying The Flag
> Set @ Anchor
>
> [cid:image023.jpg at 01D7AEBE.25885570]
>                                   It’s The Most Fun You Can Have @ < 10
> MPH!
>
> [cid:image026.jpg at 01D7AEBE.25885570]
>
>  Tyler & Adrian Aboard A Really Big “Trailerable Boat”
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