One more for the road...

[Doug W]

On a whim, we got up yesterday morning and pulled Galactica to the Lake of the Ozarks which is the closest lake to us at 45 miles away . Best decision of the day! Although my wife had four or five layers on due to the windchill being in the 30's (F), the predicted north winds of 6 gusting to 9 was completely off. Winds were sustained around 12-14 with some fantastic gusts!!! We averaged 6 knots with our top speed under full sail hitting 6.8! About a dozen other sail were out so we weren't the only ones insane enough to be out on such a chilly day! The top picture is one my wife snapped from the ramp as I was bringing Galactica around to load her on the trailer at sunset. What a perfect end to a fun sailing season!!!






...Doug (2012 Vice Commodore & Fleet Captain, MTLSA)
Galactica
http://starsloop.blogspot.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/StarSloop?feature=mhee

[Azzarac]

We had the exact same idea. I figured yesterday would be the final sail of the season and the weather was too good to pass up for a November day. We chose to sail the infinitely smaller but closer to us lake at Longview. The winds were out of the north at a steady 11 knts. No gusts at all. Absolutely perfect! It did get bloody cold when the sun set at 18:15 and we pulled off the lake shortly after that. It made for a short day but a very pleasant finish to the season!

FYI Doug, if Chameleon had not already been named when we bought her I was going to name her Pegasus after seeing your posts here. I figure eventually our wakes will cross LOL.

[Doug W]

Absolutely perfect! It did get bloody cold when the sun set at 18:15 and we pulled off the lake shortly after that. It made for a short day but a very pleasant finish to the season!

We'll definitely have to meet up next season. Looking at your pictures, I'd like to look at your running rigging on your mast.

My wife froze all day, I was fine until about 4:30. Sailing was great! On the main channel, we were slowly overtaking a larger sailboat. Had we chased him to the dam instead of sailing into a cove to visit a family friend, I believe that we would have caught him! Cool!

...Doug

[Phil M]

You live more than 800 miles south of where I do in Canada, and your sailing season is just over. Interesting. Thanks for sharing the pics.

Phil M

[snotnosetommy]

Doug W,
very interesting post. We live about 7 hrs. from Lake Ozark. We've enjoyed powerboating late in the season when it's quieter, but always wondered why we didn't see sailboats in that area.
Are you referring to Bagnall Dam? Do you sail Lake of the Ozarks regularly?
I always thought the bluffs would make sailing pretty tricky.
Where do you put in? Do you day sail only, or stay on the lake?

[mastreb]

Well, it just keeps being sailing season here in Sand Diego. Took the boat out today. Winds were not great, but I was sustaining 4 knots most of the day. Just a casual sail with a friend.

Tuesday I have the privilege of taking out a friend and his 85 year old father. His dad had always wanted to get a MacGregor, but age caught up with him before he felt like he had the money. This will be his first outing on one.

[Doug W]

We live about 7 hrs. from Lake Ozark. We've enjoyed powerboating late in the season when it's quieter, but always wondered why we didn't see sailboats in that area. Are you referring to Bagnall Dam? Do you sail Lake of the Ozarks regularly? I always thought the bluffs would make sailing pretty tricky.

Snotnosetommy, Bagnell Dam, yes! Even though Lake Ozark is closer to us than any other large lake, we generally only sail it a couple times a year. The winds do get odd and flukey, like most Missouri lakes but we are getting better at reading the winds and it's a lot of fun. We sail Mark Twain a lot in the northeast and the cranky winds there have taught us a lot. There is a large sailing yacht club near the 1 mile marker from Bagnell but thinking back to my power boating days, I don't remember near as many sailboats as I've seen on the main channel near the dam as the past two years. I saw a large ketch sailing near the dam yesterday.

The sailing has been better in the first 30 miles of the lake where it's larger than up at the 50+ mile marker. We generally put in at the Coffman Access or the Gravois public access both on the Gravois arm and sail to the main channel. With the north wind, we stayed over 6 knots all the way down the Gravois arm yesterday--it was our fastest sail out of that arm ever!!

We usually use Lake Ozark for day trips but I've a cousin with a dock at the 3 mile marker and we've docked there over nights also. It's a very busy lake in the summer time.

mastreb, Hope the sail with the friend's father goes well!

Doug

[snotnosetommy]

Doug W,
Thanks for the info. We'll be heading down for a sailing trip sometime. Probably in the fall after the crowd thins out a little. We stayed at Big Bear Lodge near the 1 mi marker a couple of Octobers ago. Had the place to ourselves. Skinnydipping in hot tub. Full moon. Great place.