Beneath a Train

Sarah and I took the boat out for the first row of the summer today. We went in between Isles and Cedar lakes, in this really nice little canal part where there are a couple of bridges used by cars, bikes and trains. As we were going under the train bridge, a freight train went past. The bridge is a wooden kind and we could see the train going by through the slats. A bit freaky in hindsight (bridges, MN...), but pretty cool.
Here's a not-great-but-better-than-nothing video...

Spring Cleaning

Sarah and I took the boat out of winter storage (i.e., Sarah's possibly-should-be-condemned garage) a few weeks ago. Things looked as we'd left them -- a bit of dried mud we were too tired to clean off at the end of last year's boating season (which was November, if I remember correctly... what were we thinking?).

After wiping it down, we assessed the situation and realized a few things:
- we've got to do some repainting and re-gluing
- we've got to deal with the fact that the wood is bubbling in some spots
- and we still really like our boat and can't wait to get back on the water.

The second matter of upkeep is necessary, we think, because we didn't use marine-grade plywood. In an effort to save money on a project we weren't sure would work, we went with the cheap stuff, which we don't regret*, but means the boat requires a little more attention now. (*Don't get me wrong: if we were building another boat now, we would probably go marine-grade -- just for the first attempt, it was fine not to make a big investment.)

After doing some research, what we understand is that marine-grade plywood has a lot more glue in it, and therefore has less space to absorb water. Regular plywood (we used 1/4") does have this space, and so we have this problem of the outside layer of wood bubbling in spots, both on the outside and inside of the bottom of the boat (the sides are fine). It's possible that things are rotting inside and the whole thing will fall apart, but that's bound to happen one day anyway, so we're not too worried about it.

So... we've got a plan for dealing with this (and it's not just knowing how to swim). More soon...

Last Boat on the Lake

It's November 3rd -- November 3rd! And where were we today? On the lake! No one can say that the Sea Clamp isn't hardy.

We took Yasmil out this afternoon, a sort of blustery one at first, but we found some still spots that were good for drifting. Yasmil took to rowing right away. She has a nice gentle way with the oars that's perfect for such a little boat. It was a day for cider, for sure, but so nice to be out on the water and have it virtually to ourselves -- just a couple fishing boats and a kayak or two.

With each of these autumn rides, I keep saying this to myself, but this time I think it's true: that's the last voyage for the Sea Clamp this year. We packed it away in Sarah's garage for the winter. There was talk of turning it into some kind of ice boat, but I think we'll just wait for summer...

Sea Clamp to the rescue!

Yesterday was an epic day in the life of the Sea Clamp, and a momentus occassion in our personal development as boaters. First, Kristen and I learned to sail! A few weeks ago we were taking the Sea Clamp out for a spin and we met Werner, a cheery 68-yr old German man who volunteers his time teaching people how to sail at Lake Calhoun. He offered us a lesson and yesterday we finally had a free moment to take him up on it.

It was an unseasonably warm October day: 80 degrees with the sun shining and the wind blowing. Perfect for sailing. We met Werner down on the dock and climbed into the little trainer boat along with Shannon and Alberto, our boat friends for the day. After Werner steered us out into the middle of the lake and explained the basics of the rudder, sheet, and the sail, we both practiced steering and tacking. Mostly the goal was to avoid the wind surfers that were speeding around all over.

Sometime later in the afternoon we were out again, this time towing the Sea Clamp behind us. And good thing, since part way out into the lake the mast of Werner's boat crashed into the water! Part of the apparatus of ropes and pins that hold it up had come undone, leaving us stranded not too far from the dock.

After making an attempt to untangle the mast in the water, Werner and Alberto concluded that our only chance of not swimming to shore was a rescue by the Sea Clamp. And Alberto, who happily climbed into the dinghy, re-tied the ropes, and started rowing with all of his might. The plan was working fine for a bit, but then it seemed that Alberto was working up quite a sweat and we weren't really going anywhere. Turns out that the sailboat was caught on a buoy used to dock boats at the lake. We remedied the problem and coasted into the dock in a few minutes.


What a day!

Strange sightings at sea

I just learned about a sailor, Fredrik of Australia, who saw an island form right before his eyes! I vaguely remember hearing about this but it's one of those stories that slipped to the edge of my memory...

So he was on his yacht near Fiji, and if I understand it right, volcanic ash, compressed into pumice stone, floated up around his boat, making it look like they were sailing through a beach. And they saw a volcanic island forming as they watched.
The images are amazing. Now that's an adventure.

I also learned, through his blog, about this thing called SailMail that lets sailors send mail via their on-board radio communication devices. Slick.

Rowing is for two

Sarah and I took the boat out today for our first just-us, no-events, relaxing day on the water. It was a great afternoon... herons and ducks, a nice breeze, and added three lakes to The Sea Clamp's list (Calhoun, Isles and Cedar).

I realized as we were rowing along, chatting, with canoes and kayaks all around, that one thing that makes it so great is that in a rowboat you face each other. You can see each other and hear each other. And it's a good thing, too, because with the rower facing backwards, the passenger needs to help navigate, especially through all of the rental return traffic on the lake just before 4:00.

This facing each other thing was really surprising after mostly canoeing. Canoeing is wonderful, of course, but feels different. Really good for getting from one place to another. Dinghies, or The Sea Clamp anyway, are really good for lounging and drifting...
(Thanks to Peter for the picture.)

LAUNCH: The Sea Clamp rows!

After two months of sawing, gluing, steaming, measuring, painting, swearing and one test float, the Sea Clamp set sail (row) on Lake Nokomis on Sunday, July 29, 2007--a special day since it was also Kristen's birthday! It was a busy weekend with final paint coats on Friday, birthday party prep and buying of life jackets off of Craig's List on Saturday, but all-in-all when Sunday arrived we were prepared for a beautiful, relaxing day of sun and water. It went something like this:

9:45 am: Peel stencil of letters off boat to reveal precise painted letters proclaiming the boat’s name

10:00 am: Load lifejackets, oars, cooler, and boat into/onto car, drive to Mel-o-Glaze to get donut holes.

10:30 am: Arrive at Lake Nokomis in perfect sunny hot weather, unload stuff, set up drinks cooler with orange juice, lemonade, champagne, and plastic champagne flutes.

11:15 am: People start to arrive.

11:30 am: Critical mass assembled. We open a bottle of champagne, give our thank yous to folks that helped us, put on life jackets and sailed off into the water!!!!! The Sea Clamp floated like a beauty. We had a bit of trouble with the oars due to mis-matched oar locks and a clamping problem, but for the most part, we had total success out on the water.

11:45 am - 2 pm: People take turns taking out the Sea Clamp. Chris sailed his skiff, we drink mimosas on the beach, take pictures, go swimming, take mini naps, get super sunburned (Bryan).

2:00 pm: Load stuff into the car.
2:05 pm: Kristen and Susy have conversation with a man on the beach that love The Sea Clamp but doesn't believe that it was built by two women.
2:15 pm: Car doesn't start (argh). We leave Sea Clamp on car at lake and pile into Bryan's wagon.
2:30 pm: Go to Sea Salt for fishy eats and beers and sleepiness in the shady sun of Minnehaha Falls.
5:30 pm: Go see the Simpson’s movie at Block E. Revel in extreme air conditioning.
7:30 pm: Back to Nokomis and other places to rescue broken cars (both Sarah's and Kristen's!).
8:30 pm: Eat leftover birthday cake and icecream at Kristen’s while watching part of a pirate movie from 1935.
9:45 pm: Go home feeling sun-tired, water-logged, and drowsy with happiness!