Thursday 07.16.2009

A very light breeze this morning and mostly cloudy. As the morning went on, the wind picked up, and the clouds got "chunky" and we had patches of blue sky. Even though the thermometer showed just 70 degrees, when the sun was out it was very warm, almost hot.

My neck and shoulders are a bit tight and sore, but I'm trying to just stretch and let things be. I might paint more this afternoon.

I saw activity down at the Goodwin dock--Jim had the Sunfish sailboat ready to sail, and a few minutes later, Bruce had the sails up on his. The wind was strong, and off they went. I got this pic of them across the lake...

...which doesn't truly capture the wind and the water. But the size ratio of the two craft is there. Anyway, I went down to the GC to visit with Polly and wait for them to come back to our end of the lake to get a few more pics.

We chatted for a while, and when time had gone by, and "shouldn't we be seeing them pretty soon?" and we're watching the clock, and we're just convincing ourselves to get in my speedboat and go check on them, we see the sail of the Sunfish.

And as we watch, we don't see the sail of the Spindrift.

Uh Oh.

As Jim fights the wind and comes in to the dock, he says the winds were too difficult for Bruce's boat, and it capsized, or "turtled". Yup. 20 foot mast, straight upside down. And they had a challenge to right it. Fortunately another boater came to help and got it right side up and over to shore to get it bailed out. They decided that Jim would sail back and get his fishing boat and pull the Spindrift back to the GC.

Polly, Jim, and I all rode down to the other end of the lake. Bruce had managed to move the vessel over to the public boat launch, where he was in the process of dismantling the boat. He did not want to attempt towing it back. Jim stayed with boat, while Bruce drove Polly and I back to get Bruce's truck and trailer. The winds were still strong and whitecaps on the water.

Polly stayed at the cottage while Bruce and I drove over to the launch and picked up the sailboat. It was amazing how much water was in the double-hull. It was a process to take the rigging down and the mast, too, but Bruce is a good leader and we got it secured without too much difficulty. When we got it back to the cottage, even more water was coming from the drain holes. It took a couple hours, but it's mostly empty now. Bruce thinks the only things that he lost in the lake were the two sail bags and a bungee cord. And the bottom the boat got scuffed up on some rocks.

We're all thankful that he didn't get hurt, and that the boat is ok, too.

The two guys had their lunch, and I went home to get my food, too.

Daniel called just after I came in. He's had a busy day and sounded kind of tired.

I read some email, and Polly called suggesting an after dinner boat ride. It's amazing how the wind has stopped and the lake is like glass. She came down and helped me get away from the dock, and we went to the Goodwin dock to pick up the guys.

We had an enjoyable putt around the lake, looking at all the properties and improvements and such. When we came in it was about 9:30 or so, and they headed on home.

I thank God for my life, my family, our health, and the good outcome of the day. We are truly blessed.

And I thank God for my friends.

Thank you for reading. Hugs.