Trailer/Sailors Association The magazine of the Spring 2005 Trailer/Sailors Association Features/announcements 2 Welcome aboard Gary Felix 3 President s Column John Clement 7 From the T/SA Discussion List Ed. John Coppedge 30 A Final Sunset At Anchor David Craigie 30 Welcome new members Dick Zets 31 Member Ads Cruising articles 4 Three Ramps For The Apostle Islands John Ulmer 15 Lake Erie Islands Tom Larimer & Howard Staley 17 Erie Islands Anchoring John Coppedge 18 Sailing Sandusky Bay John Ferne 19 Storm Gordon Lepley 20 Guest Safety Check List Elmer Lotshaw 21 North Channel Cruise 2005 John Travis 23 The Missing boat Editor Boat Review 28 Boat Review: Seaward 25 Rick Bowman How to 9 Honey, I tossed out the cooler Karen Larson 14 No cooler? What DID we EAT? Karen Larson 23 Trailer Maintenance Boat/US 25 Lightening Strikes Mike Collins 26 Tuning Your Mast 27 I d Go Trailer/Sailing, If It Weren t For That Dxxx Mast!!! Editor 27 The Lepley Mast Lifter Gordon Lepley E-snips Password for this issue: new member Tim Lemmond s boat name (all lowercase). The authors of the newsletter disclaim any and all responsibility for any kind of injury or damages sustained which may result from the application of any or all ideas or suggestions appearing in any articles of Clipper Snips. The authors of the newsletter furthermore give no warranty, express or implied, as to the merchantability, fitness for purpose, advertised quality, or any other matter of any products advertised in Clipper Snips or appearing in any articles of said newsletter. Clipper Snips Page 1 Spring 2005 Welcome Aboard Gary Felix, Associate Editor Hurray! Boating season has arrived well on a boat that has no conven- Erie Islands by Tom Larimer once again at least according to tional transom. We ended up with a and Howard Staley, Erie Islands me and the three other sailboats in removeable, folding ladder made Anchoring by John Coppedge, our marina. Every year, I think that by Garelick (www.garelick.com) and Sailing Sandusky Bay by if I were better organized, I could that will store in very little space John Ferne. launch a week or two earlier. Then when not deployed. Second, I re- Just in time for summer cruise I pull up to an essentially empty placed our 1980 s vintage VHF planning, John Ulmer submitted marina and realize that maybe the radio, that had a limited number of Three Ramps For The Apostle middle of April isn t too bad for channels, with a compact Ray- Islands describing places to dunk northern Nebraska. marine model. Finally, I decided and cruise in upper Michigan. that our AM/FM cassette radio was We keep our Rob Roy 23 in a somewhat dated. I installed a Pio- small marina on the Nebraska side After his reading of Seaworthy, neer AM/FM/CD/MP3 radio in a of Lewis and Clark Lake, which is the magazine of Boat/US insur- waterproof housing made by Poly- located just outside of Yankton, ance company, Editor Joe Orinko planar (available in the West cata- SD. When we purchased our boat looked at their web site and log). Amazingly, all of these pro- three years ago, we were downsiz- found an article on Trailer jects turned out OK - the ladder is ing from a Columbia 8.7 (29 ft) Maintenance. actually square to the waterline and and thought that we would be out both radios actually work. Oh, and Rick Bowman discusses his pride of the slip business for a while. But the boat didn t sink when and joy, with Boat Review: Sea- after taking only two trips the first launched, so all is good! ward 25. year (OK, one of them was the North Channel cruise), when the Mike Collins shares a personal marina called letting us know that story in Lightening Strikes. In this issue: a slip was available at a very rea- Karen Larson, editor of good Old sonable rate, we jumped at it. It The most important feature in Boat magazine, gave us permis- was a decision we have not regret- this issue is the 2005 North sion to reprint 2 articles: Honey, ted. About every other weekend, Coast Cruise announcement. I Tossed Out The Cooler and we make the 2 ½ hour drive north John Travis is once again leading No cooler? What DID we EAT? and spend the weekend on the boat. the flotilla for a 2 week cruise between 7/16 and 7/30. With a Safety on board is the topic of So, how many of you have your description and float plan, he in- Guest Check List by Elmer Lot- pre-launch projects completed? I cludes his contact info to make shaw. His list identifies tasks for find that I plan to do more than I your reservation. Take it from a first time guests to make cruising ever actually accomplish. I ration- recent first-timer: make this more interesting and safer. alize this by telling myself that it is cruise if you can. just as easy to perform some tasks I d Go Trailer/Sailing, If It once the boat is in the water, such For those not on TRAILSAIL list Weren t For That Dxxx Mast!!! as teak work and waxing. server, there was a smattering of is an introduction to another comments on the islands in West- Gordon Lepley designed trailer/ I did accomplish three significant sailor project. The T/SA ship s (for me) projects this spring while ern Lake Erie. We assembled these into a couple articles: Lake engineer provides detail for a the boat was on the driveway next mast lifter for all trailer/sailors. to the garage behind our house. Like the earlier, Lepley Tiller First, we needed a more elegant The Clipper Snips Fall issue: Deadline: October 1, 2005 Tamer (downloadable from way to get on and off the boat www.trailersailors.org) this set of while at anchor than the rope lad- Focus: drawings will have the mast com- der that came with the boat. Our We do it & we did it articles pletely under control. canoe shaped hull presented a bit Fall boat Maintenance Hope to see you in Spanish! of a challenge when selecting Cruise Reports: Southern Venues boarding ladders, since the transom Gary mounted models do not work real Cruises, rendezvous, gatherings Clipper Snips Page 2 Spring 2005 President s Column John Clement Greetings All Trailer Sailors, joined because we are fascinated volved in helping to run the or- by trailerable sailing boats, and ganization. T/SA has a lot of I m writing this on the last day wanted to be in a virtual com- different skill and time needs. of March 2005. Signs of the munity where we could share Fortunately, there s a wonderful new season are all around. this interest. For many, this is as group of folk who have stepped Geese are seen daily, flying far as it goes, reading the up to the plate to look after these north in great V s; Goldfinches listserv, reading Clipper needs. at the backyard feeder are begin- Snips , reading the web site, and ning to colour up; the resident Volunteering is a great way to perhaps contacting another Cardinal pair is getting a nest get to know people better, and to member from the directory to ready; most of the snow is gone; help T/SA to continue and to ask some advice. Most mem- crocuses are in bloom; and grow even stronger and better. bers fit into this category, and we re about to Spring For- Elsewhere in this issue, you ll that is just fine. ward into longer evenings. I find a letter from Dave Craigie, love this time of year, as all na- Yet Trailer Sailing is not really who is looking to step down af- ture seems to come alive. And such a passive activity, and there ter 7 years as Treasurer. We ve not just nature, it s time to start is far more value in T/SA for very much appreciated Dave s gearing up for the new boating those who choose to reach for it. contributions over the years and season. For example, only a minority of will miss his active involvement, our members takes part in however we do recognize that 7 This weekend I loosened the group-cruising each year. If you years is a long time. It s time lines on the tarp and clambered have not yet tried joining a for someone else to carry the aboard Taranui as she sits in cruise, why not look for a baton. Remember our key word the side yard by the garage. She chance to do so this year. T/SA this column is renewal . seems to have weathered the is an international group with winter fine, but will of course What could you bring? Do you members across the continent. need the usual spring tasks to understand the Internet? Desk- There are also various local and get her ready for sailing and top publishing? Excel? Data- class-specific groups who cater cruising. I ve got a few electri- base management? Publicity? to more focused groups of sail- cal projects to work on, and Membership recruitment? Writ- ors. I do not see T/SA as being Irene and I agree it would be ing? Can you keep very simple in competition with these, rather useful to revisit our mosquito accounts? The more volunteer as offering wider options to netting while the boat is next to help we get, the less the task for complement local or class- the house (close to the sewing any one person.