Wednesday, September 16: I picked up the rental car without any real issues. There were no compact cars available so they upgraded me to a Ford Fusion. I ran a bunch of last minute errands, grabbed some stuff out of storage and took it all home to pack.
Thursday, September 17: Out the door by 0600 for fuel and coffee. On the road by 0630. The 545-mile trip broke into five segments: Sacramento to Redding, Redding to Weed, Weed to Klamath Falls, Klamath Falls to Bend, and Bend to Timothy Lake. Each of those segments has distinct landscape and scenery and the entire trip was visually impressive. Some segments had several different “looks” to them but the transitions from high desert to piney forests certainly tied those together. Since I didn't remember everything I needed on Wednesday, I needed to stop a couple of times during the drive to pick up what I was sure I needed. I arrived at the lake shortly after 1600, and was greeted by one of the COOTS – Casey, aka Dirt Sailor, and his 8 year old son, Blake.
I set up camp.
After that I prepared and cooked a meat loaf in the Dutch oven. It took longer to cook than I expected, but tasted fine later that evening. One of the key discoveries of the weekend for me was parchment paper liners for the Dutch oven. They really made clean up much, much easier.
Thorne arrived well before dark, launched his boat – a Chamberlin Dory Skiff.
Once the boat was launched he set up camp. Thorne camps in style.
Another of the COOTS, David – aka Babbles – arrived with his 14' Dutch designed Flying Tern.
Friday, September 18: The lake was mirror-glass smooth as the sun came up but a wind soon filled in and Thorne and I took his skiff out for a sail. We were seriously overpowered sailing across the lake under full sail, but Thorne found a sheltered spot for us to reef the main and swap out the normal jib for a smaller one. The boat was better balanced during the ride back to camp.
More people and boats arrived. Joe with his Core Sound 20
Dan with his 21' power boat in a functional mode but really less than half complete.
David Graybeal and Michael Storer arrived with David's Goat Island Skiff and his PDRacer.
It soon became difficult to keep up with the new arrivals.
Michael Storer had an audience as he rigged the GIS.
Watching and listening to him was very instructional. This weekend will certainly help me as I build my Goat and get it ready to sail.
Saturday, September 19: Clouds in the morning promised the rain that had been forecast for the day. While it did rain on Saturday, it did not rain hard enough or long enough to drive anyone inside.
Michael sailed the Goat a lot and took folks for rides. Despite the rain Saturday was turning into a very good day. Lots of looking at boats. Lots of talk about this detail or that detail. Lots of sharing of information.
Michael had the opportunity to sail the Goat side by side with Joe's Core Sound 20. The consensus was that the Goat is faster in lighter conditions, but in heavier air the CS20 is faster. However, a lot of boat speed and performance comes from how well the skipper performs. Michael told me later that he seemed to be reading the wind and reacting to the gusts a little better than Joe did that day. So, in the hands of identically experienced skippers, the CS20 is the faster boat in some conditions.
Jerry – David Graybeal's Goat building partner – decided to take Morgan, the wonder dog, for a sail. Jerry rowed the GIS out away from the shore and went forward to raise the sail. As Jerry went left, Morgan moved to the same side and – in slow motion – the Goat capsized! Several folks on shore watched it happen. Some of them caught the capsize with their cameras. But nearly as soon as Jerry hit the water, Dan and Greg were under way with their power boats to assist.
It all turned out to be fine with possibly Jerry's pride being the only injury of the day. With the goat on the beach, Michael and David set about bailing it out.
Michael re-stepped the mast and re-rigged the boat for sailing. He and I took off for a sail.
The Goat is sensitive to crew weight and movement but through a running commentary Michael gave me a short course in sailing the Goat. I had my GPS with me and at one point on a broad reach we hit 7.7 mph (8.85 knots!). Shortly after that I heard Michael declare, “I've lost steering, the pintles broke.” Then after a short pause, “And the oars are on the beach.” We got the sail down and the boat turned toward camp. We had a favorable wind and were making slow progress in the right direction. But, Joe was out in his Core Sound 20. They passed us a tow line and sailed us back to the beach. So there were two “rescues” that afternoon, and both involved the GIS. The verdict on the pintles was that had they been through bolted instead of installed with wood screws they would not have failed.
By Saturday afternoon there was an impressive collection of boats on the beach or on the water for the messabout, including the following:
A Yankee Dory
Chamberlin Dory Skiff
Blue Canoe (small lapstrake canoe)
Flying Tern
Goat Island Skiff
Core Sound 20
A Michalak A4
4 PDRacers
John's “Pickle” (can't remember the design)
Gregg's power boat (can't recall the design)
Dan's power boat (can't recall the design)
Dan's craigslist row boat
Saturday's dinner was a crawdad boil using the catch from the “home-made crawdad pot competition.” Crawdads, sausages, corn, and potatoes were combined in a large pot and cooked with a mix of spices. When it was done, the whole thing was poured out on the table for a serve yourself buffet feast. The Dutch oven apple dump cake I had made earlier in the day was dessert.
More campfire conversations about boats and boat building finished off a fun day.
Sunday, September 20: I was up early – probably because it was get-away day and I knew I had a lot to do. One thing I did was to bake another dump cake. Somehow David G and Michael did not get any dessert the night before. Dan watched me put the cake together. As a former pastry chef he was impressed by two things. One, how the cake goes together – just dumped into the Dutch oven without mixing. Two, he was impressed with the Dutch oven cooking process. While the cake was baking I began to break camp and load the car. I walked the cake over to David and Michael's campsite and served them a sampling. They were delighted with it and had seconds. I stayed and chatted. After a bit, John Kohnen came over and we discussed a wide range of boat related topics.
As I was saying my good-byes, I was invited to return next year – a sure sign of acceptance to me! I was also invited to come the the COOTS' Depoe Bay event in April. I will have to look into that and mark the calendar.
The return drive was long but uneventful. However, seeing the scenery from the opposite direction was fun. I was completely unprepared for the approach to Warm Springs on Thursday. It was stunning. But on Sunday, even knowing it was there, it was just as stunning because it looks different from the opposite direction. Next year I'll stop for pictures!
I am already looking forward to next year's Timothy Lake messabout knowing I'll be taking my Goat Island Skiff with me. :-)
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