Have to Think Ahead

A friend living in Portland Oregon suggested that I haul the boat his way and take him sailing around the San Juan Islands in Washington state.  That would likely be worth a couple days worth of sailing in exchange for a lot of hassle and work to take Sparkle Plenty out of where she is now, tow her a bunch of miles north, put her in the water, sail, take her out again, drive home, put her back in the water here.

It takes a lot of water to float this boat.  There's a tongue extension that connects to the trailer that allows for the deep launch needed to float her off of the trailer.  Even with the 10 foot tongue extension it is still necessary to put the rear wheels of the truck completely under water to get this baby floating. 

Then there's unrigging her once on the trailer,  rigging her once in Washington state,  unrigging SP for the trip home and then rigging her before launching her back into her home waters.  The rigging and unrigging part takes a lot of time, a lot of muscle and a lot of patience.  It takes a lot of thinking ahead to move the boat from once place to another.  And you just don't do it for a couple of days.  To make it worth the time and effort it's best to think at least 3-4 weeks.

I could have bought an easier boat to launch and retrieve but didn't want that kind of craft.   SP can handle most any condition on an inland lake and not get into trouble.  That's what I wanted.  That's what I bought.

I begged off the invitation to sail the San Juans in exchange for an invitation to him to come sail SP on our lake.  We'll see what happens.