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Tired of dealing with fickle and blustery sea breezes, I took spark in land today. Union Lake, in MillVille NJ is the largest lake in the southern half of the state, coming in at almost a full 1000 acres in size. With an average depth of 10 feet, some areas are very shallow, but the deep parts are close to 20+ feet.

Getting out there was an adventure, it's 45 minutes from home and on that trip one of two bolts that hold the passengerside fender came loose and vanished, allowing it to rub on the tyre. Amazing what you can fix with Zip ties!

I have rigging down to 20 minutes flat, so not too shabby for an old wooden boat with a 22 foot long wooden mast, roller furling on the job, and a lot of canvas to deal with. The first hour out was a real drifter as I slowly made my way north away from the launch area and dam. In some instances the water was like glass as I had to sit on the leeward side of the boat to keep the sails in shape.

The trip back south saw the winds picking up, at one point I was entirely hiked out and still had to dump the main lest I get dumped.









I shot some video too, but with no access to work's editing equipment, I may need to sit on it for a while or just post it to youtube "raw"

Congrats. My sailing is done for the year. I dry sail my Stuart Mariner. The Derecho that hit Iowa, tipped the boat next to mine onto my boat. It appears that his rigging and mast hit my back stay. The resultant force snapped my mast in half and pulled the back stay out of the pressed fitting by about a half inch. We are going out this weekend to see what else was damaged.

oh that really sucks, Greg. How hard to get another mast?

Nice pictures Art! I hope to see your video soon.

I sympathise with you for your mast Greg. That is too bad!

[ Closer inspection also revealed the tabernacle deck fitting is also broken.
Thanks for kind thoughts.

With a little creativity and maybe some sweat equity, it looks like I have just enough insurance to take care of my needs.

I will just have sail vicariously through others for the rest of the season.

And yes that is another Mariner parked across the way from boat. In all there 4 Mariners at that lake.

Will insurance cover cost to order and ship a new mast? I bet that Dwyer Mast Co. has an extrusion that will work.

Yes it looks like I have enough insurance to cover my needs. I have talked to Dwyer, they were the original manufacturer of the mast and can make me a new one. Just have to get quotes submitted to the insurance company.

Art, sorry to have hi-jacked your thread.

Cheers,
Greg.

No worries there, Greg. I can see where the offer of my sea sprite's old mast would not have helped you. Yours is a much smaller diameter mast befitting a small daysailor as opposed to the heavy weather mast that my (now Ex) Sea Sprite had.