Ahhh summer…

We drove north to be with extended family for a Christmas get together over the weekend. We had to drive through very dense fog with almost zero visibility at times on Saturday, then the temperature dropped on Sunday as very gusty winds came through. Sunday morning started out around 40 degrees before sunrise and had dropped to 16 degrees by 9 AM. Luckily we missed the worst of the snow, just to the west of us they got 10-12 inches.

When we made it back home, safe and sound there was a hand made Christmas card in the mail that contained a CD of pictures. The card and pictures were from Fred and Pat, very close friends. Fred and I use to share the shop space that I eventually took over after Fred moved out. They also happen to own a small sailboat.

One day back in 2006 they were out sailing and I sailed by while single handling the Orca. Pat took a series of pictures as I tacked around them and then sailed on. I’d been badgering her for copies for some time and low and behold here they were on the CD. What a great summer’s day back in 2006.

Look Ma, no hands!

What a great gift to have received as winter starts in earnest. Thanks Pat!

A little weekend surf.

I don’t access a high speed connection on weekends. This blog will more than likely not have weekend postings.

I did access some surf this weekend though. Friday night into Saturday the wind blew close to 20 knots out of the north north west (NNW) and that set up some sweet waves by Saturday afternoon. There’s a spot I like on a NNW that’s less than 10 minutes from my house. The waves wrap around a point and large structure and come pealing in parallel to shore for some really nice long rides. There some pretty good size boulders out there and you have to paddle several hundred yards to get to the line up, but the waves are worth it. At least I think so. So far I’ve had a hard time getting any of my surfing buddies to try it. One guy did and really liked it, but he’s flying all over the world on business these days and hasn’t been surfing much.

On Saturday I was able to get a couple of more friends to try it and a surfer that’s new to the local scene paddled out as well. So we had a total of four surfers on chest to head high peaks that peeled along glassy walls for yards and yards and yards. Everyone was hooting and hollering and having a gas. It was pretty cool to have the new guy out since he was a California surfer and this was only his third time surfing fresh water.

Sunday I was able to put the winter log on Orca’s mooring. A messy job as you have to haul out the summer mooring buoy that is about one third covered in slimy algae and handle the heavy, algae covered chain. All from your little eight foot dinghy. I was also able to take the rest of the sails back to the shop for winter storage. Soon Orca will be tucked away under her winter tarp for a long winter’s nap. That’s alright, at least I can rest easy knowing she’s safe for the next couple of months. And, I can look forward to winter surf season, when winter storms tear across the plains bringing howling winds that push up great waves on Lake Michigan.

Weekend

Saturday I was able to take a friend I surf with and his girlfriend, whom I’d never met, sailing on our Ranger 26, Orca. What a beautiful afternoon here in Milwaukee. The wind was out of the south south west around 20 knots. We’re on the western shore of Lake Michigan so that put the wind coming off shore which meant very little waves. The sky was clear, the air warm for late October. We reached on reefed main and big genoa north along the shore spotting sites we regularly surf.

After an hour or so the wind veered a little more south and we had to come about and beat back. The wind built some as did the waves and before long we had the occasional wave over the bow. I was a little afraid that one of my guests may get a little sea sick. Usually, that can happen as you’re sitting on a pitching boat, not thinking about much and just staring off into space. Luckily, my friend’s girl friend had taken 2 ginger capsules before coming aboard and my friend was an experienced sailor with little tendency to get sea sick. The ginger capsules worked great and we are able to carry on an animated conversation even as we pitched over ever building waves with the occasional spray off the bow hitting us.

M, my friend’s girl friend, works in internet sales for a large retail corporation and we began discussing my goals of a new web site with online sales capability. T, my friend is a writer and currently works as an editor for a sailing magazine. What a great afternoon we had out on Lake Michigan. We talked about classics, about the internet, about commerce all as the wind grew ever stronger. At one point M asked what kind of furniture I make. I found myself talking about the difference between Louis the IV and Louis the VI styles, about the history of Biedermeier, antique Asian finishes, mid-century modern and my own, organic, Scandinavian-influenced, studio based style. Luckily for M and T the harbor approached fast as we were really smoking along and I had to go up on the fore deck to take down the genny and could not carry on and on about furniture and art.

Sunday I ran into T at one of my favorite surf spots. The wind had built overnight and come more out of the south and we had chest high waves to ride that wrapped in around the sea wall along the north side of the Milwaukee harbor. Just as the wind backed a little to the west the waves cleaned up and offered a good 3 hours of surf. This spot is cool because we’re surfing right along the sea wall and rocks put in to protect the road that runs along the lake front and these both are great places for people to view us surf. Since it was again warm and sunny we had quite the audience. Too bad the waves tended to back off after the initial drop. Nevertheless it seemed that everybody was having fun.