Launch Day 2015

[talbot]

Put the boat in its slip this morning, opening day of the marina. Once again, Blue Moon is the first and only boat in the docks the first Friday of April.
Took a half-day off of work, but that should save me a lot of time, because with the boat sitting downstairs in the yard, every day becomes a boatwork day. Each year, the moment Blue Moon slips off the trailer, all my unfulfilled maintenance tasks float away with it.

As launch days go, it was pretty good. I remembered to put the Windex on before raising the mast and the plugs in before launching. I only had to use the boat hook a few times to untangle the halyards aloft. And although the morning started out cold and still, by noon there were whitecaps and enough wind to let her lift up and bluemoon the shore with her fresh white bottom. Trollop. Fortunately, there was no one there to flash.

[Interim]

I'm jealous. Looks like several have put in already. I'm waiting for schedule and weather to align. My hope is to get in before May.

Of course, our friends down south don't understand this annual ritual.

--john

[talbot]

I know. But remember, with their boats always in use, they don't get to spend half the year, most their money, and all of their spare time doing maintenance. We are soooooooooo lucky.

[jeadstx]

Although I don't do the launch ritual in the spring (being one of those down south), I'm still jealous you have a slip to keep you boat in. Maybe one of these days I'll be able to afford a slip. Until then I'm still a trailer sailor. Since my boats live in the yard, I have plenty of opportunity to work on them in my spare time and spend money, don't feel alone in that respect. For me however, no boat work (or very minimal) occurs in the heat of the summer.

John

[talbot]

Curious . . . what do slip rentals cost in various areas?
Ours is about $500 for six months (the full season) for boats our size, which includes entrance fees for all parks in our county.
When I was shopping for short-term moorage in Puget Sound last summer, it ranged from $17-$25 per day, not including launch fees.
Anyone care to report on your region?

What we decided was that the cost per voyage (about $15 for 30-35 sailing days out of the marina, not including road trips to other areas), was acceptable when we considered additional trailer maintenance and daily use fees. Part of that equation was the extra time to trailer the boat, which meant that we only sailed a couple of times a month at any location. From that standpoint, we pack about 2-3 years of sailing into every season.

[Alan]

Meeks Bay on the west shore of Lake Tahoe is $3000 for the season (or so I've heard). The daily rate last year was $60.

[talbot]

Zowie. I was consulting in the schools on the Nevada side of the lake a few years ago and was fantasizing about having a boat at one of the resorts. It appears I would have to increase my rates.

[powpowhunter]

I was handed a pamphlet by a local sailing club member when I was taking my boat out at the ramp yesterday. They have slips to rent for $300, but membership is $200 on top of that, so $500 gets you a slip at an unprotected lakeshore pier. Everyone that uses those docks has a lift, which adds another $100 bucks to get put in and out every year, not to mention the cost of a boat lift.
I pay $35 bucks a year for a lake access pass which gets me unlimited use at a few dozen launches around the county. Another $25 bucks for a State Parks pass gets me access to a bunch more free launches all around the state. I think I'll stick to trailering for the time being.

[talbot]

At least that is in the same ballpark as the marinas out here. I guess the best approach is to pursue any strategy as efficiently as you can. If you trailer all the time, simplify your rig and trailer setup to reduce launch time. Dedicate your garage to the boat so that you never have to unpack after a trip. And take advantage of the unique benefits of your strategy. If the boat is on the water, you can sail any time at a moment's notice. If the boat lives on the trailer, you can sail a different body of water every week.

[TIM WEBB]

Talbot, I definitely prefer option B - there are times when I literally don't decide which lake I'm going to until I get to the end of our street, and have to decide whether I'm going north or south. Usually depends on which direction looks to have the "less dark" skies ... <8~O

[GreenLake]

I'm not as extreme as Tim, but I've known to make last minute change of launch ramp based on expected wind conditions. Most often I do sail from the same location at the same time, so could use a slip for that, but then I do take the boat to at least one other location every year.

I try to optimize the rigging by leaving everything attached to the boom, at least in the summer, when normally the sail is dry after use and a tarp is adequate protection. Still takes too long, but, guess what, I've noticed, that if I speed up the rigging process just a bit, it does provide a bit of whole body exercise (running around the boat, climbing in and out, etc.).

Still, it rankles a bit that my friend can get his 39' boot ready and on the way out of the marina faster than I can rig and launch the DS. My solution: go out with him on the days where we don't race dinghies against each other

[talbot]

Having sung the virtues of wet-sailing the boat, there is one important caveat. If you -do- want to sail at different locations more than a few times a season, wet-sailing adds a new level of complexity, because you have to pull and un-rig the boat before each trip, then re-rig to put it back in its home slip.

The whole process of trailering to other bodies of water has been complicated by invasive species. In our state, if you really follow the instructions for avoiding alien life forms, you pull early in the week of the trip, pressure wash the hull and inside of the CB trunk, then don't relaunch in the new body of water for at least three days. On return, you're supposed to repeat the process. Because of the hassles of moving the boat, we have what amounts to a second season. Our lake gets quite slimy late in summer, and once they post the annual blue-green algae warning, we pull out. After cleaning, we keep the boat at the house, and use August-October to visit salt water and mountain lakes.

[GreenLake]

Invasive species can really ruin you day!

Anybody ever heard of any that travel between salt and fresh water?

[Baysailer]

The marina I use is $25/ft/year so about $425 for the DS. It's very protected but does require a short motor to get to open water. I keep the Rhodes there since it's a keel boat. I have the luxury and sometimes curse of a mooring spot where I live. It is certainly convenient to be sailing 5 minutes after first thought but I do get nervous during storms. It's a pretty open unprotected mooring. Everyone around here has lost docks, swim platforms, boat lifts, rail systems and boats. I also trailer the DS a lot to other local spots and that's the main reason I got it. One thing I look for besides the wind conditions is the ramp and setup area itself. Some I just plain like better than others.

Fred B

[GreenLake]

Some launches simply are better.