Sometimes (well, not TOO often) I wish I lived down south somewheres where the sailing season is longer...Why? Well, I hauled my boat out today. The marina turns off the water this coming Monday, just in case of an early freeze, and closes for good on Nov. 1. The water level has been dropping over the past few weeks (not much rain lately), but the level was very low in the yacht basin this morning, in spite of the brisk WNW winds for the last 24 hours, and small craft advisories. Normally, the water level would rise under those conditions, given the 330 mile fetch down Lake Michigan. I arrived at the marina to see about half of the slips already vacated. I stepped DOWN to my boat this morning off the finger pier. Uh-oh, sez me. Gulp! Would there be enough water under the hoist, or would the day become..."interesting?" After backing out of my slip, making my way out of the yacht basin, and negotiating the drawbridge (made it on the button for the bridge lift), I slowly motored up to the hoist bay. My depth sounder read 4.0 feet under the keel, that is until I made my turn toward the bay. 3.0.....2.5.....2.0....1.5....1.0....0.5.....uh, oh sez me....beep, beep, beep, sez the low water alarm (shut up, you SOB, sez me, as I hit the silence button)....0.3...0.2...0.1...0.1...beep, beep, beep, and lasso the cleat. Made it with 1.2 inches to spare under the keel. Crikey! It was about 55 degrees outside, but I was sweating like it was August 1st. After that, all was well. The countdown to Spring has begun!
