2019 Sail Around the Lake Flotilla Cruise

This year’s Sail Around The Lake (the 11^th annual cruise) was mostly a success… although the itinerary got completely changed as the cruise went on.  Nine boats (from a 17-foot Montgomery to a Catalina 42) participated in the flotilla…

The skipper’s meeting at the Bitter End at 1100 hrs. on Wednesday was attended by roughly half of the skippers and crews.  Four boats and their participants had gone to dinner at the restaurant a couple miles up the road out of Lakeview on Tuesday evening and then enjoyed a moonlight sail to Whiskey Rock after they got back to their boats.  The rest of us met at the Bitter End Marina and then sailed to Whiskey Rock on Wednesday afternoon.

There was a nice 10 to 15 knot breeze blowing from the SW which made sailing to our destination an easy ride.  Aboard Snickerdoodle, I put up the 110 jib and sailed downwind on a broad reach all the way… arriving at Whiskey Rock in only an hour and a half.  Everyone found dock space at the public dock to spend the night and have our pot-luck dinner… and the internationally acclaimed White Keel Kicker Gift Exchange.  The pot-luck was awesome with all the “fixin’s” - - including  salads, fruit, pulled pork sandwiches, and some sliced venison sausage and cheese… cookies for desert  As soon as dinner was finished, the gift exchange began with folks picking gifts from the “pile’ or stealing gifts from those who had already chosen something.  And then back to our respective boats for the night by 9:30.  Several times during the night I was awakened by hard rain falling on Snickerdoodle’s deck and cabin top.  The rain had cleared by the next morning.

Thursday morning I awoke at 4  am and was wide awake.  So, I slipped the dock lines and silently motored away from the dock at 4:30.  Otto (my new Raymarine auto pilot) is excellent crew and steered a good course north toward Hope and the islands close by.  I ended up motoring for about two miles before a nice breeze filled in from the south at 5 to 10 knots.  This breeze stiffened slightly to 15 knots and perhaps gusts of around 20.  All was well until I was crossing the widest part of the lake with Garfield Bay to port (west) and the Clark Fork River estuary to starboard (east).  The wind from the Clark Fork River was equally strong and the waves from the south collided with similarly sized waves from the east.  As these waves collided, they pushed the water upward to heights of four feet plus.  Needless to say, this confused wave action bounced and threw Snickerdoodle all about.  And, this unpleasant condition continued I was well past Elliot Bay.  Things settled down then and the sail to Sandpoint was uneventful.

Arriving at Sandpoint, I doused the sail and motored to my assigned slip at the Boat Basin and tied up for the night.  I plugged in my shore power cord and got ready for what looked like a big rain storm heading my way.  The Hunter 26 Mary K came in and tied up in the next slip.  They had adventures in the confused waves too.  I retired to Snickerdoodle’s cabin to make a hot pot of coffee and watched as the rain began.  And, the rain began – not gradually – but in earnest.  At the rain storm’s height, ChrisHana (Hunter 29.5) radioed me that they were going to need help landing at the end tie dock.  I put on a Gore-Tex jacket and walked the sixty or seventy feet to their landing spot and helped them get tied to the dock.  I walked back to Snickerdoodle and found that my pants were completely soaked with rain water… COLD rain water.  Oh well, it would dry…

We made arrangements to meet at 6 pm for dinner at 2^nd Street Pizza.  What a crowd!  We made our orders and were amazed at the quantity of food that came to our tables.  I’d ordered a calzone.  It came on a platter and was about 2.5 inches thick.  I could only eat about a third of it.  Everyone was similarly treated to huge servings of food.  Back to the boats now for a good nights sleep.

Friday’s plan was to sail to the Floating Restaurant docks at Pend Oreille Shores Marina.  We all were on our way by 9:30 Friday morning.  The breeze was a nice 5 to 10 out of the west until we reached the mouth of Bottle Bay where the wind died away to nothing with a few zephyrs.  We all got through that and were headed to Hope…… but the weather there looked wet, wet, WET!!  So, we all turned right at Anderson Point and headed back to Whiskey Rock.

I had a nice sail as far as Elliott Bay where the wind died.  I motor sailed for about an hour in dying wind and then gave up and just motored the rest of the way.  My chart plotter showed 25.2 nautical miles traveled on Friday from Sandpoint to Whiskey Rock.

As our flotilla boats began arriving at Whiskey Rock, we found that all of the dock space was already taken by powerboats out to celebrate the summer solstice weekend.  There are three mooring balls at Whiskey Rock, so our boats began securing to them for the night.  By the time I got to Whiskey Rock, two of us were moored to one ball, three boats to a second ball, the Montgomery 17 had somehow found the last little bit of dock-space, and I had one mooring left to grab onto.

Now, picking up a mooring can be tricky if you don’t pay attention.  Many inexperienced sailors will motor up to the mooring and stop with their bow right at the mooring.  This skipper (or more likely a crew member) will take the boathook forward and reach over the bow pulpit with the boathook to catch the ring on top of the mooring.  Once the ring is hooked, our intrepid sailor pulls upward to pull the ring and chain up to be able to loop a mooring line through the ring.  Then the ring is released and the line is tied on one side to a bow mooring cleat and the other end of the line to the opposite bow mooring cleat... making a bridle.  This exercise is fraught with danger since when a person leans over the bow pulpit to try to catch the ring on the mooring with the boathook, balance is precarious at best.  Any little jostle from a wave is likely to send our sailor over the bow pulpit and into the water.

If your boat has an open transom and swim platform at its stern grabbing a mooring is much easier.  Simply back the boat up to the mooring and gently nudge the mooring with the swim platform.  You can now easily kneel down and pass your mooring line through the ring, double up about six or eight feet of line and simply walk the line and mooring ball forward to the bow cleats and secure the line.  This method is much safer and easier to accomplish.

But, Snickerdoodle does not have an open transom.  What to do??

The easiest way to secure to a mooring aboard Snickerdoodle is to motor perpendicular to the breeze and upwind of the mooring until the mooring is directly amidships.  Then stop the boat and allow the breeze to drift the boat down to the mooring.  The mooring ball will end up about half way back on your boat.  Use your boathook to grab the ring and lift the ring amidships to pass the mooring line through the ring.  As soon as the mooring line is in place, lower the ring and chain back onto the mooring.  Now simply walk the mooring line and ball forward to secure the line to the two bow mooring cleats.  This is much easier and safer than trying to pick up the ring over the bow.

I got my mooring line secure and got ready to be ferried to Kurt and Shelly Campbell’s Catalina 42, Spirit, for an impromptu pot-luck dinner.  We all had a great time and after dinner as the sun was about to set, Kurt ferried us back to our respective boats.  That night I was awakened again by strong rain beating down on Snickerdoodle’s deck and cabin top.  By now, I was used to the sound and even though I was awakened, I went right back to sleep.  It was a short sleep though as this was mid-summer’s night.

Saturday morning’s plan was to head to Button Hook Cove.  I slipped the mooring line from my mooring around 9 am and began motoring south toward Cape Horn.  The wind had dissolved away to nothing.  As I motored, I was caught and passed by Bill and Debbie Reichert on their Hunter 29.5.  Debbie had to be at work Saturday evening.  So, they were leaving the flotilla.  Two other boats had left on Friday due to other plans.

I continued on into Idlewild Bay and was only about three quarters mile from my destination when a dark cloud appeared on the horizon and strong wind right on the bow slowed my progress.  It looked like a big rainstorm.  I decided that it would be better to be back at my own slip at MacDonald’s Marina than tied to the dock at Button Hook when the rain came.  So, I turned around and headed back to MacDonald’s.  I got to my slip just in time.  And, as I was securing the boat to her dock lines the rain began.  I got the rain tarp up, ducked inside and proceeded to clean up and pack to head home a day early.

No regrets.  I had a fun sail around the lake even though plans changed a couple times.

Thanks to all who came along.  What a great group of friends… what neat stories we have to tell.