Another Semi Self-Inflected Busy Weekend

It was another semi self-inflected busy weekend. I taught a CPR and First-Aid Class in Port Orford, which is only about an hour away from Coos Bay. Then rushed home were Drew had the boat all ready to go camping. Sadly, it wasn’t looking like Coaly's life jacket was going to make it in time, but just as we were getting ready to leave the mail came with her life jacket.



We thought that it would be fun to explore a different part of the lake, which means taking a sailboat through the canal and under a bridge…. Good thing the boat can quickly be converted from sailboat to jousting boat!



Once we made it safely under the bridge and through the narrow canal we put up the sails made it around the corner where we quickly realized that we were about to hit a power line. (Stopping a sail boat on a windy day is loads of fun.) After "jousting" under the power lines, which we obviously would have taken out, we put up our sails one more time. Poor Drew had a lot of work to do. We were having the perfect run (in Drews eyes) heeling over to nearly 35 degrees or more. Which if I wasn’t soo pregnant it would be fine, but I was convinced he was trying to send me in to early labor. Nothing like the feeling that your boat is going to tip over!
We decided it was time to find a camp spot, which was extremely difficult, because it seems like someone lives on every inch of that lake.



The next day we had to get up early and take the puppies home so we could come back to make it to our first meeting at the Coos Bay Yacht Club. It would more acutely be named the Coos Bay Sailing Club considering our boat is about the biggest at only 24 feet. Most people have Gary 18s, which look like a lot of fun because they have a trapeze that allows you to hang off the side of the boat.



After the pot-luck lunch, Drew went out in the safety boat with our host, while I took photos from the finish line. While waiting at the dock for Drew to come back with the truck and trailer. I fed the ducks and took pictures with my zoom lens, it was time well spent.

Just Another Post

While Drew has been absolutely obsessed with his boat... Speaking of obsession, this message just popped up on my MSN:

DrewBee says: I want to go boat camping again this weekend but only if you feel up to it.

Anyway…… While drew has been fixated on his boat and taking fun trips out in the open Ocean, I have been fairly preoccupied. I spent most of the weekends with the neighborhood girls, Saturday night we all got together for a girls night and Sunday they threw me a little baby shower, both of which were fun. It is always good to hang out with friends and rebuild your self esteem after a week of: "WOW you’re as big as a house!!” Really…. Do you really think that is the best thing to say to a hormonal woman?

I have still been working at the Hospital, The Red Cross, and The Athletic Club teaching Water Aerobics; however, I think I am about ready to quit teaching water aerobics for awhile. I am sure that I will need a way to get back into shape again soon, but until then. I do however enjoy sticking my feet in the hot tub after a long day of work. Here is a picture from my point of view with my feet in the hot tub.

So as of right now my life has just been working hanging out with friends and playing Mario Kart with Drew, I am sure that will change soon.

Ships Blog

I started another blog that contains a ships log type entry for our adventures in the sailboat. Check it out at the Ships Blog. Some posts may be similar or outright plagiarism from our regular blog, but the Ships Blog will only have sailboat related posts.

Coastal Cruising

Jerry and I took the boat out this weekend and sailed from Winchester Bay (Umpqua River) to Coos Bay (Coos River). The weather was calm and overcast. The wind was so calm that we almost didn't have enough wind to keep the big spinnaker sail inflated.
We motored out of Winchester Bay on the last of the outgoing tide at 10:00 am. As soon as we rounded the end of the South Jetty we killed the motor and hoisted the sails. The wind was so calm that even flying the main and the big genoa, wing on wing, we still were barely moving at 2.5 kts. So we dropped the genoa and hoisted the even bigger cruising spinnaker. This was better, but the mainsail was still stealing wind from the spinnaker and not helping us much so we droped that as well and just flew the big chute all by itself.
About this time I started to get a little sea-sick. The swell was about 4-6 ft on 15 seconds. The big long slow waves like that are the ones that get me a little queasy. The fact that we were still barely moving (we were averaging only 2 kts at this point) didn't help either. I sat with my eyes glued to the horizon and a death-grip on the control lines, trimming the sails by feel, because looking up at the sail made me sick too.
We were able to sail most of the day, we only had to motor out of Winchester, once during the day, and back into coos bay when the wind died right as we got to the entrance. Once the wind started to pick up around 2:00 pm, I also started to get over my sea-sickness (I took some Bonine earlier). After the wind picked up we increased our speed to between 4 and 5 kts, still flying only the spinnaker. We started to make good time toward the Coos Bay entrance. As we got to within 1 mile of the entrance all wind stopped completely! So we lowered the spinnaker and started the motor and cruised across the bar into Coos Bay.
We crossed the Coos Bay bar at 5:00 pm on the last of the incoming tide. There was absolutely NO wind and no waves to speak of, which made for an uneventful crossing. We moored the boat in Charleston while we did the vehicle/trailer shuffle. We came back in the morning after doing some quick trailer maintainance the night before to retrieve the boat.

Trip Data:
Distance: 26.5 nm
Time: 7 hr 30 min
Average Speed: 3.5 kts

Green sections on the map are sailing, and red sections are under motor power.

Zeph-Zephs new jacket

We are still waiting for Coaly's life jacket. They didn’t have Orange in her size, they only had a dark green. That is the last thing we need… A dark black dog, in a dark green life jacket, going for a midnight swim. The one that Zeph-Zeph is sporting has reflectors on it as well as a handle.

Name Vote

So I have a theory that if we go for a “normal” name that when he is old enough to go to school it will be unique. So I am going to ask for a vote on the following names:
1. Cody Miller
2. Corey Miller
3. Trent Miller
4. Wesley Miller
5. _________

Ending May

Drew’s little brother Damian and his girlfriend stopped by for the weekend.

What else was there to do but go and play on the sail boat?? I have a lot more to learn about sailing, and maybe even one day I will know enough about sailing that I will be able to go back and read Drew’s last post and understand what he said. ;) He defiantly understands it better than I do, but of course he would, there are: ropes, pulleys, and many more things to play with.


Zephy also learned how to dig DOWN. (with Drew's help)

I forgot to blog about Trevor and Erin coming to play on the boat as well!!! I would love to tell more stories but it has taken me far too long just to type this much. I think I need new batteries in my keyboard...