Even though I had sailed here before and knew a few of the regulars, there were a lot of people that had not seen ALOHA. Almost everyone had a complement for our little boat. After saying thank you to one person we would be hearing something like "Best boat in the parade" from a different direction. Boy, these old Salts really like a traditional looking boat. The parade was a lot of fun.

Near the end of the parade each boat was given a personalized blessing by Rev. Carter. It brought back memories of the blessing of the fleet in Georgia that Jean & I attended with all the Shrimp boats assembled under the bridge where the Local Priest offered a blessing on the fleet. I don't mean to be sacrilegious, but the holy water was quite refreshing in the warm sun.

We immediately went back out of the marina and sailed for a few hours. The sailing was very refreshing. The winds were light but steady, just perfect for a relaxing day. We decided to head in for the dutch oven dinner at the club. When we got there, we were informed by a few including the past Commodore that we had received an award for "The cutest little self-built boat". We each got an engraved GSLYC glass. Everyone was so nice, I felt guilty for feeling annoyed to be getting so many complements for ALOHA.

After lunch I headed further west. I wanted to get to the far end of the lake. 9900 acres is a pretty big lake. I got close but decided to head back before getting there. It was a great run back. It took only 45 minutes. 

When I got back I saw what looked like a gaff rig. As I got closer it was a Weekender. It was Scott Christensen with Solitude from Farmington. I figured I might run into him someday. Especially here at Willard. What fun to sail along with another weekender. Solitude looks really nice on the water. I really like her white hull. What a time to have no camera. It was a little disturbing to me to find that she is a bit faster than ALOHA. Scott attributes this to his 100% jib. I suspect that I am carrying a bit more weight too.  We decided to tie up for a while and get a close up of the boats. We had a nice chat too. Scott has done some nice things.  The 1/4 plywood hoops look really quite solid and they look like wood. I really wish I could put some pictures here. Oh well, it's probably not the last time we'll meet.

It was a really slow and peaceful day, especially watching the family of kids next to us at the marina play in the water.

The most fun of the day was when I was about ready to drive out a small boy (about 5-6) came over and looked at the boat with a lot of interest then asked "Are you a pirate?"  To which I had to answer in my gruffest voice "Yes, I am." After a while he asked "What's that white thing?" ; "Oh, That's the end of my bowsprit. I use it to ram other boats and sink them when I want to." After another pause - "Can I see your ... big, ... you know, aaa ... that big gun." ; "Aha my cannon. Well I've put that away, and I don't like to get it out unless I have to shoot it."; "Can you get it out?" ; "I don't think they'd like me to shoot it off in the parking lot".

He was so cute, I had a great time pretending Pirates with him.

Morning winds were quite light so we motored around for a while. When the winds did pick up they were harder than Jean had ever experienced and she was not very comfortable with Aloha's healing. We worked up the larger arm next to the ramp and found a nice little cove. We proceeded to change into our swimming attire in the cabin. Changing in the cabin isn't exactly easy, but it is possible and it's nice to have that private space with you. Then we had our picnic on the beach. We swam and sunned. I tried out my new snorkel set. It was a nice easy day on the beach even though the sailing I was missing looked pretty good. Unfortunately it would have only been fun for me. Aloha still gave us a nice day together.

Our Troop was having their summer camp at the Great Salt Lake Council Bear Lake Aquatics Camp. I've always been to Camp Hunt on the west side of the lake. The facilities here are quite good, not as many trees as the other side but it's nice to be able to eat at the commissary instead of having to cook every meal. It is also nice to be here as a church leader rather than as a Scoutmaster. This allowed me to not have to chase kids and have more time for sailing. It was my goal to take everyone out at least once. It took the 3 days I was able to be here to do it, but I did manage to get all the boys, and some staff out. It's too bad Gordan or his Dad didn't go out. 

The sailing was better than I have ever had at Bear Lake. The wind blew almost constantly for the whole time I was here. I launched at 1st Point about 2 miles away from the camp and beached the boat on the nice sandy beach just south of the camp. The wind was onshore the whole time so I did not have to worry about the boat floating off. The beach was quite shallow for a long ways out. This made it difficult to bring the Aloha all the way in to the shore, but once she was in far enough it kind of settled into the sand and didn't need to even be tied up. This made for easy launches and landings - just a little pushing and we were off or on. I was sad to leave go the last two days of camp. It was off to Girl's Camp. Also fun but there is no water for sailing at Camp Timberlane.

I forgot the camera today so no pictures. I hope to come back sometime and try getting to the Rock Cliff campground. Maybe for an overnighter, but the wind had better be better than today.

The kids were good fun to have along. When things got a little boreing and it looked like some might have to have a little nap, Brent went forward and tried to "lasso" the bowsprit. Then we had the bowriding, feet draging event. Carissa went fishing with a fender tied to her wrist. These kids can really entertain themselves. I found that the extra weight up front did change the way we took waves, but the speed was not noticabily affected. It turned into a wonderful day, even though Jean couldn't come. It was good to have this company, eventhough they did half invite themselves along. But, until the grandkids are old enough, I will be happy with my "adopted" grandkids.

Provided the wind would not shift in the night Indian Bay would be a great spot to stay. The lake is currently so low that I drag my rudder in lots of places. If you look carefully at the 3rd picture you can see brine shrimp on the surface and the sand/mud bottom below. I purchased a claw anchor for this trip and planned to use it off the bow and my grapnel anchor off the rear. After playing around in the bay a little I decided to set up for the night and cook dinner. You can see how calm the water became before sunset. Dinner and night fall was very peaceful. 

The temperature was predicted to be in the low 30s and that caused me to look forward to my warm bedroll. I watched the stars for a while and decided it was getting too cold to stay up any longer. I only heard a little chatter on the marine radio all day. I listened to the FM radio for a while in my sleeping bag but felt really alone out here. I hadn't seen any boats all day and I as far as I knew I was about 10 miles from another soul. I talked to Jean on the cell phone for a while before going to sleep. I was awakened about midnight by the wind starting up. It was blowing right of the island so that was comforting. During the night I got up every hour or so and checked conditions. The wind was growing steadily stronger but the anchors were doing very well. They shifted around a bit but this shallow water made for great anchoring. The waves were pretty strong but I managed be able to sleep fairly well.

I stayed in bed even after the sunrise. The morning was very nice but the weather radio predicted the winds would be disappearing later in the day. I cooked breakfast and decided to head back while I could. The wind was at my back now at about 15 kts. and the waves were big again, but running with these waves was even more exciting than plowing into them. They were about 15-30° off dead astern which meant as each passed I would roll and change heading a little. It kept my attention trying not to have an accidental gybe. Unfortunately I was too occupied to be able to take any pictures.

The return was great it took me less than 2 hours to make the complete trip. I want to do this excursion again but first get a gas motor to get me all the way to the marina. I was told the winds are often like this and a sail from the other marina back would make a better day of it. I also think I am ready to try some real sails and see if that gives me better range.  Next year should be a lot of fun.