My friend Bill and I went out last evening to sail. After making a repair
on the mast groove we took off in light wind, offshore (a pleasure this
summer usually have a lot of that but this year mostly heavy onshore!).
Bill is a case in point about the potter: a person who was kinda fearful
of water stuff and now he's become quite the crew and always wants to know
when we're going out again! cheers to the stable little boat!
We went in search of the Long Tom River. Before Fern Ridge Reservoir was
built the Long Tom was the riparian zone through this valley. Now it
doesn't really flow too much so there are lots of reeds and snags. I found
a chart for the area from usgs and off we went. Sailing gets better and
better. The 50 lbs of water ballast up in the bow helps immensely! We
stopped at the $100,000 floating bathroom and continued across the
reservoir to the general area.
The arm of the lake that we were searching in has many reed forests in the
vicinity of the Long Tom. We were able to sail all in and around without
getting stuck on tree stumps etc....but I did uncleat the centerboard so
as to be ready in case we did bottom out. In the vicinity of where we
thought the Long Tom should be we found a barbecue grill on stakes
sticking out of the water!!! Then the sun was heading down and we had a
long upwind sail ahead so we managed to get out of the reed forests and
back into the deeper section of the lake before dark (nice long long
twilights here now). We got stuck once, probably on a stump. I got out the
oars, couldn't back out, so headed forward while instructing Bill to keep
pushing forward on the centerboard to raise it and free us. after a couple
of oar strokes he was able to do this. We secured the cb in the up
position, eased the sheets ( of course!) let the sails luff and rowed out
of the gunkhole area.
We had a nice upwind sail home plenty if not more wind than earlier. Bill
was once again the recipient of a safe and fun sail on a potter and keeps
loving it more after thinking he would be losing a friend (me) to that
dangerous sport, sailing.....we have the right boats, yes!
This weekend is the Oregon Country Fair (a sort of hippy disneyland kinda
outdoor suspension of disbelief for those interested in food, dance,
crafts and general good cheer). The Long Tom meanders thru the fair area.
Pamela and I plan on trying to find the Long Tom and gunkhole up thru the
fair....we'll empty our ballast jugs, stow the sails, unstep and secure
the mast and dinghy our way thru...it should be interesting!
Thanks for the company folks!
Ken Silverman, p-15 "VEgan Lorax"