The modifications worked well. The new keel shoe cannot really be tested, but there is more head room in the cockpit and sailing has not altered. The new fairleads make tacking much easier while singlehanding. I have planned to try some longer trips (2-3) days and it is nice to feel confident with the boat.

There wasn't much wind, so as it was getting dark I decided to try out my new british seagull motor that I got on ebay. Actually it was only new to me, being a 1964 model. Since I had never cranked up my new oil burner, I used my electric auxiliary to get out of the harbor. I got the seagull for longer trips and now was a good time to find out how well it will work. Even though it was a long shaft, one of my concerns was whether it would be long enough to work without a new mount. It fired up well and reasonable power. It wasn't long before it stopped. I hadn't noticed that the coiled end of the throat halyard had gone overboard. This got caught in the prop and had broken the prop spring. It was a good thing I ordered a spare. Nothing like getting a quick lesson in motor repair early in the game. That wasn't too bad to fix. It helps to carry a bunch of spar parts and tools.

It was about 5 miles to the main Utah Lake marina, so I decided to try motoring there. By the time I got there it was almost 11 pm and quite dark. Being able to see the mouth of the marina was close to impossible so I was glad to have that 1,000,000 candle power flashlight. I purchased it for boating and it really points out the buoys well. There was no activity in the harbor at this time of night, so when I saw all the courtesy slips empty I decided to tie up for the night. After the sun came up I cooked a little breakfast and was on the water about 7 am. None of the park rangers had any clue that I had come and gone.

Day 2: Getting an early start allows you to make a pretty good distance. Winds were reasonable to Bird Island but died after that. Conditions were calm to the Lincoln ramp, so it was about lunch time when I arrived there. I then sailed west across the bottom of the lake until when almost completely across a big thundershower kicked up. I was able in the associated winds to be able to go northerly and avoid the rain. I put on my inflatable vest and oilskins, but only got a few drops. The winds away from the storm, made for a great surfing run. I'm sure because of the wave motion my ground speed was above hull speed. It was quite exciting to ride the waves, always having to steer out of the wind to keep from having an unintentional gibe.

The winds lessened until I got to Pelican Point. It was there I checked my phone messages and found that Lana had given birth to Carson that morning. Well with no wind and wanting to go see my new grandson, I decided to cut off a few miles from the North end of the lake and motor across the lake to haul out. The motor was great to have, but 1 gal of fuel was not quite enough to get me back to Lindon. I put the electric on and finished up the last mile.

Even though I didn't quite get in the whole lake I knew with the 3rd day I would have made it just fine. This day I sailed over 30 miles in about 10 hours and a fair amount of that was lacking a lot of wind. I also motored about 20 miles today and yesterday.

After the festivities I went out for a little sail. The winds were fairly strong and had kicked up a good set of waves. Things got rather exciting beating into the waves, and all the bouncing eventually knocked off the nut holding the gooseneck together. A repair was made, however all the flailing about of the boom and luffing sail made things rather difficult.

The biggest problem I had was trying to go up to the end of the lake where the dam is located. One would normally expect the lake to be deeper at that end, however it was very shallow and I got stuck in the mud for about half an hour and was quite happy to get myself out of there.

The winds were good enough to get be back to the Utah half with enough time to reach across the middle of the lake. My hope was to get a slip in the marina where I could get a greasy hamburger and a shower, rather than anchor on the fairly desolate east shore. This turned out to not be the best of ideas. There were no slips available and the rules at the marina were so strange that I had to load the boat and take it out of the park to spend the night. This meant 2 nights of sleeping in the van - not the best of sleeping conditions.

Day 2: Winds started the day out good and I made it within a couple of miles of the east shore when they completely died. After bobbing around for about an hour I decided to put up a makeshift boom tent. I brought a small tarp for this purpose. This was a great addition to the boat. This made cooking lunch and lounging around waiting for wind, quite a lot more pleasant. I have designed a boom tent for Aloha and I definitely want to have it made up now. Winds were very light after lunch, but by just keeping on, I was able to sail past the other BSA camp and around the south end of the lake. There winds died again for a while and then when the sun was setting I got a nice south breeze. I wanted to do some night sailing and this was the perfect opportunity to do so. Just flip on the running lights and continue sailing. It is really a wonderful feeling to be moving along in the quite darkness.

I anchored up by Ideal beach where I cooked dinner and settled in for a comfortable night at anchor - (a lot nicer than sleeping in the car). It was warm enough to keep the front hatch and companion way open for a little cross ventilation. I slept well until about midnight when I heard a helicopter approaching and when I got up to see what was going on it hit me with a really bright light. It continued up the beach using its spotlight and then turned around and went back north - What a frightful awaking. (I found out later it was because of Garden City Raspberry Days. There are so many people at Bear Lake this weekend that they try to keep people off the beaches at night.) 

Day 3: The day started with a nice sunrise. I discovered that a little way up the beach were some porti-pottis. I decided to use them rather than mine. This was nice since I still haven't found it necessary to warm mine up. Winds were very calm again, so working around the beaches areas was slow going. After I passed Rich & Marie's cabin I found the traffic (skiers and jet skis) was getting quite bad and decided to motor the last few miles and haul out. I had no idea that Raspberry days was such a big deal around here. Every stretch of beach was crowded and there were thousands of boats around. I've always thought of Bear Lake as kind of slow paced and remote. 

My goal was to try to sail around the whole lake, which I did except for the last few miles. I also crossed the middle of the lake twice. I figured I went somewhere between 60 and 70 miles. I felt quite good about this and even though I brought 2 gals. of fuel I only used about 1/3 gal. The first day I made a good distance, more than half of it. Even though winds were very light the last 2 days, I was able to sail a good distance by just forcing it on.

Winds were what I imagine are usual here, at one moment from one direction, the next from a different. Often gusty or just as often nonexistent. Storms with associated thunder and lightning were observed to the north and also south. Luckily they pretty much stayed there, only once getting me a little wet. The sailing was on and off again, until I got across to the other side where I observed a lone deer walking along the shore. The sounds of the screeching raptors above and this beautiful sight was very moving. After a little wait I was off for a decent run to the south end of the lake. Then the winds were off again for quite a while. With so far to drive, I decided to motor back.

While getting ready to pull out, I had a couple of ladies ask questions about Aloha. They expressed a desire to try sailing, so I took them out for a little motoring about, since there was no wind. As we left the marina a bit of wind allowed me to turn off the motor and allow them to experience sailing. They were thrilled, and so was I. Unfortunately my camera batteries expired, but they had me take a picture of them on the boat. They sent me a copy so that I could post it here.

Later things looked calmer, so we relaunched. The winds were still strong and gusty. Once while trying to come close to the hobbie, we had a close call. Rachel requested the course change while running wing and wing. A gust just hit as I started the change which brought the boom across the boat quickly. Trying to shift my weight and control the boom became difficult. We broached with water coming over the gunnel and right into the cockpit. I found it hard to move, but eventually got to the weather side, which leveled the boat out and allowed us to turn head to wind. This left about 6 inches of water in the cockpit and some in the cabin slogging around. I thought we were going to go over completely, but we were saved that. Things were going on so quickly I don't really know what transpired and how we were saved a complete capsize. I doubt the sail ever got in the water, but I don't know how that would have been. Rachel is not afraid of water. She asked if we could do it again. Just like a kid, to think that kind of stuff is fun! She had water just pouring over her into the cockpit.

We sailed for a couple more hours and had a lot of fun. She didn't want to quit. I think I'm going to have me some good mates eventually, certainly some good company.

Rachel & I had a fun drive together here, even though she had a little bought of homesickness. She wanted to sleep in the boat, so even though when we arrived it was too late to put the boat in the water, we did sleep on it on the trailer in the campground. In the morning before the sunrise, she woke up and wanted to read books. It was quite pleasant, warm and cozy with a cabin light for reading. Two people (and a doll) in the cabin was acceptable, but I don't quite see how two adults would work. Most of the night a shoulder was under the bookshelf and my feet under the seat space. We had a nice breakfast, but we cooked it in the campground. We didn't really pretend we were on the water.

We cleaned up our camping and went to the boat prep area to get ready for launch. About that time Steve arrived with the Black Falcon, and more importantly for Rachel, his granddaughter Morgan. They went off to play in the water while we got ready for the day. I put up 8 burgees on Aloha to make her pretty for the occasion and then put her in and beached her. The Black Falcon followed to the dock, and since we were getting a bit late and no one else had arrived except Steve's family, he proceeded with his naming ceremony. Rachel liked the sparkling cider. There was no wind at all, but Steve went out to paddle around for a while. Rachel, Morgan & I went out to motor around for a while. Running into no-wake buoys has become a real sport with us.

After a while Roland arrived with his newly christened Maiden Nevada who had spent the night in St. George.. It wasn't too long before Adla arrived with Morgaine. Along with her was Bill from Phoenix. Things got real exciting at that point. There were lots of boats to admire, people to meet and things going on. Unfortunately still no wind. Adla launched and christened her boat. Roland launched and we had 4 weekenders sitting there waiting for wind. Rachel got a bit board so we went swimming. Bill started with a picnic that he had planned for all and we visited.

Unfortunately I had only a limited amount of time before I had to head back to Salt Lake, and with no wind, I left with a bit of disappointment. There were some encouraging signs of possible wind coming later - I hope they got some. Bill handed out some treasures and we decided to try to get together again some time.

I was joined by a small bird that rested on the shrouds. He was obviously tired and was a land bird (unlike the gulls and other sea birds that frequent the lake). I suspect he was blown out over the lake and glad to find a spot to rest. After about 10 minutes he became frightened and parted company. I thought I had a picture of him, but I can't make him in this photo.  The sailing was good for the little time I could say out.