Learning the Ropes

Learning the Ropes - this expression alludes to sailors learning the rigging so as to handle a sailing vessel's ropes. It was being used figuratively by the late 1800s. 

My first experience with sailing was in college with a fraternity brother who took me to Branched Oak State Recreation Area in east central Nebraska the summer of 1981. I was attending summer school at Creighton University in Omaha and we made the hour-long trip north of Malcolm, Nebraska (northwest of Lincoln) in Lancaster County many times.

We sailed on a 16 foot Hobie catamaran, known as a Hobie 16. The Hobie is a beachcat or a class of catamaran ("cat") sailboat intended to be able to run up onto the beach. We spent many Sunday afternoons doing just that at Branched Oak Lake.

The Hobie 16 that I learned to sail on

We would trapeze out over the side of the craft, bouncing our butts off the water for a while before typically getting launched across the cat when a gust of wind hit us just right (or wrong!). It was great fun for a 21 year-old college student!

That summer launched my love for sailing. Though it would be another 15 years before I had any kind of sailing craft of my own, that passion was kindling deep inside me.

My first sailboat was a Snark Sunflower 3,3 model (Length 11 feet, Beam 3' 6", Weight 65 lbs.). Our kids were young then. Though it was a small craft, there was room for one of them to sail with me. Most of my sailing with this boat was done in the marina, though I did venture out onto the lake when alone and with light winds. We had a lot of fun with the Sunflower.

My next sailing craft was a 2003 Escape Play Cat Catamaran 16'. This boat coordinated with the Krawdaddy era. So we would pull the Play Cat behind our pontoon boat, then once anchored, we would sail around the lake near the pontoon. We had this boat for seven years and had lots of fun with it.

Dad and me on the Escape Play Cat

After selling the Krawdaddy in July of 2008, I knew that I wanted a sailboat. I began looking for one in August of 2008, using several websites. I learned about sailboats and the models that might work for our use. I also found several sites that offered boats for sale.

I don't know how many boats I looked at on sites like eBay, sailingtexas.com and sailboatlistings.com. I literally looked at thousands of boats September through January. As I looked at these boats, I continued to narrow the list of boats that would work.

At one point, I thought I wanted a Hunter 23.5. I even printed out a sales brochure and the owners manual to look them over. But I was not convinced the water ballast system was right for our use. I looked at other “trailer sailors” including McGregor, C&C, and Catalina among others.

I was also looking for a boat that hadn't been in salt water as I knew the salt water was much harsher on the boat than fresh water. This brought the search more toward the Midwest, which would make chasing the boat down once I bought it much easier.

In mid-February 2009, I came across a listing for a 2001 West Wight Potter 19. I had read some positive things about the WWP19 and so I started searching for more of them. I finally came across the listing for this boat on sailingtexas.com. I printed out the sales brochure and owners manual to study. Finally, I called the owner of the boat.

Charlie Harrett was very helpful and friendly in my initial contact with him. Charlie had owned the boat for about four years. He had gotten into racing and wanted a faster boat. I could tell as we spoke, that he really liked this boat and had enjoyed sailing it. On February 19, 2009, we agreed on a price and we had a new boat (the second happiest day of our lives??).

I listed the boat on uship.com, an online service that matches shippers with freight. I had used it a couple of times with auction vehicles.

Soon I had a dozen shippers wanting to pull the boat to South Dakota from Louisville, KY. I was tied up with meetings for two consecutive weeks before I was able to make arrangements with a shipper.

The Blewjay as it arrived

As soon as I bought the boat, I started thinking about a name for her. I always thought part of the appeal of the Krawdaddy was that the name fit so well and was so reflective of the boat.

I began compiling potential names for our new sail boat. I searched the web for sites that specialize in boat names. I used a phrase site and a rhyme site to get additional ideas. We ran the list of potential names past the entire family to get their input. Blewjay (a play on the wind and our beloved Creighton Bluejays) finally won out over Mast Transit, Gustbuster and Windjammer.

The boat finally arrived from Louisville to Chamberlain on March 13, 2009. The gentleman who pulled it was from northwest Arkansas. He told me that it pulled down the road very nicely.

I learned that West Wight Potter owners were a very passionate lot. I found a dozen different sites and forums dedicated to WWP sail boats. On these sites, I found a few modifications I was interested in making to our new boat.

I also decided to review some sailing books. Though I had been told many times that if I could sail a sixteen foot catamaran, that I would have no problem with a nineteen foot sailboat, I wanted to be a proficient sailor. I ordered a couple of books on the fundamentals of sailing.

The Blewjay on the cover of the 2012 Chamberlain-Oacoma Travel Guide

Shortly after purchasing Blewjay, I suggested to Judy that we take sailing lessons while in Seattle for our NADA summer board meeting. She agreed and so I began a search for a company that could offer Judy, Sarah and I a short intense Keelboat Certification course.

Sailing lessons

After correspondence with several companies, we struck an agreement with Rob at Sailing Express in Everett, WA. Rob agreed to get us all certified and let us use a boat for a day when it was all over.

So we flew to Seattle on Friday, June 12, three days prior to our NADA summer board meeting.. We stayed at The Inn at Port Gardner which was right at the marina and was the venue for our lessons.

We spent the first morning in the classroom and we went out on the boat in the afternoon. Judy was the first skipper on the O'Day 24. She had great winds and did a nice job of heeling the boat and really speeding along. By the time I took the helm, the wind was blowing about 20 knots which was way to much wind for our sails and it was about time to quit anyway. I skippered the boat into the marina.

The next morning we made our way back to the chart room for our sailing class. Rob had us in the classroom until 1:00 pm when we took our lunch break. After lunch, we met at the boat where Sarah was the first skipper of the day. We had wonderful sailing conditions for our junket. Everyone had a chance to be captain. At the end of the day, we ran into a pod of gray whales. It was awesome to watch them. We got quite close.

After the whales, we headed into the marina. We returned to the room for an hour of last minute preparation before our certification test. We stayed out so long watching whales that we didn't get to take the test until 8:00 pm. The 130-question test took about 40-45 minutes and was relatively easy after two days of preparation.

We had the boat for the next day. We got going early so we could make the trip to Langley, a quaint little sea village on Whidbey Island. It was about seven miles from Everett. Though the winds were light to none, we had a great day in Puget Sound. We got back to Everett at about 4:15 pm to catch our hour long limo ride to Seattle for our NADA meetings. So after three days in the classroom and the boat, Sarah, Judy and I were all ASA certified.

We had the WWP 19 for two summers and enjoyed it but found that it was too small for more than 4 people (and they had to sit hip to hip). We wanted to be able to take more than two people sailing and decided that we wanted to upgrade a bit.

The Potter had a decent sized cabin (that we did not really use) and that feature cut down on the size of the cockpit (which we wanted more of). So I began to search for sailboats that had large cockpits.

While I looked at many different boats, I kept coming back to the Colgate 26. Among the features that were attractive to me were: very little wood (only wood is the tiller) which means less maintenance; cockpit is self-bailing as are the cockpit seat lockers and there are no ports or vents to possibly leak; a huge cockpit (can take a bigger crew) and high performance yet very stable (didn't want to scare those newbies).

Once I decided on the Colgate 26, I started searching. I found a pair of 2004 models for sale at the Sagamore Resort on Lake George in northeast New York state. The resort had recently been sold and the new management was no longer interested in conducting sailing lessons. Thus, they were selling their five Colgate 26 sailboats. They had two left when I contacted them in December 2010.

Sagamore Resort's remaining Colgate 26 when we picked ours up

After striking a deal with the Sagamore, Alex and I made the trip to New York to get our new boat. He got home from college for holiday break and we left the next day. We made the trip in three (and a half) days. We were lucky with the weather.

Our new boat upon return from New York

We decided that the Blewjay name was just too fitting to let go so we dubbed our new boat the Blewjay Due which was a nod to Alex's previous spring semester spent studying in Florence, Italy. Due is Italian for "two" (and rhymes with Blewjay!).

So we removed the Sagamore signage on our new boat, christened it with Blewjay Due vinyl and prepared it for it's initial splash into its new home, Lake Francis Case, in the spring of 2011.

We have found the Colgate 26 is the perfect boat for our use. There is plenty of room, it is low maintenance and yet it offers all the performance features of a much larger boat. 

Both local marinas are full of pontoon boats which function great on the waters of South Dakota's Missouri River reservoirs.There are not many sailboats in our area. We've never had more than four in our marina at one time. There are currently three. The other sailboat owners are from out of town. Sailing is a bit of a mystery to the locals. 

The first mate prepare to land the Blewjay Due at sunset

We are halfway through our fifth summer with this boat and I am enjoying it more each year. This summer we have had more opportunities to sail and been able to share the experience with more of our friends.

Plenty of room for our crew!

Sailing has become something Judy and I really enjoy doing together and sharing with our friends. Our family has learned to enjoy sailing as they have grown. They are no longer enamored with the PWC's speed and noise and tubing and towables aren't the thrill they used to be.

Nothing beats a steady South Dakota evening breeze, some good tunes and a good ol' South Dakota sunset (unless it's that glass of wine once back in the slip!).

Fair Winds!