Storm Delivery

Today was the day I finally launched, after some longer than expected projects. The yard guys had already put her in the water, we just had to pay the bill and go. A quick trip to the locks, a 10 minute wait and we locked through. Only 11am. Uneventful trip upriver and we were on the open lake by 12:30. The weather radio was going off the whole trip with one severe weather statement after another. Should have been a clue, but those guys cry wolf so often that I have tended to be skeptical, until we got 2 miles from my harbor. We had closed up the hatches and put our inflatables on a few minutes earlier. There was no warning, we suddenly were in terrible wind and rain coming right from our destination. I had the engine cranked as much as I thought safe, but I couldn't head directly into the wind because that would take me to land and visibility was zero. The lake is only about 40 feet deep here, so waves built quickly. The only thing I could think of to do was turn north and take the seas on the port quarter. We ran that way for what seemed like an hour, waves washing over the boat, the boat rolled severely. At this point I told my brother not to worry, these Cal29s have been around the world. But I was worried too. Finally it starts easing up and I see the 68th Street water intake crib 300 yards away. It's 3 miles out and with it for a bearing I can get back to my harbor. By the time we got back the lake was flat again and it was only a mild drizzle. We later found out that the bad part of the storm had only lasted 35 minutes. There are lots of power outages, downed trees, etc. in the aftermath. Oh, I forgot the hail; in the middle of it my hat blew off and we got pelted with fairly large hail. The winds were clocked over 60mph. That's the worst I've been in, and it wasn't fun, not even a little. Hell of a way to start the season. David Dobbs CAL29 411

What an adventure. Glad you got home OK. Hope to never experience such an event. David On Jul 1, 2012, at 8:45 PM, david dobbs wrote: Today was the day I finally launched, after some longer than expected projects. The yard guys had already put her in the water, we just had to pay the bill and go. A quick trip to the locks, a 10 minute wait and we locked through. Only 11am. Uneventful trip upriver and we were on the open lake by 12:30. The weather radio was going off the whole trip with one severe weather statement after another. Should have been a clue, but those guys cry wolf so often that I have tended to be skeptical, until we got 2 miles from my harbor. We had closed up the hatches and put our inflatables on a few minutes earlier. There was no warning, we suddenly were in terrible wind and rain coming right from our destination. I had the engine cranked as much as I thought safe, but I couldn't head directly into the wind because that would take me to land and visibility was zero. The lake is only about 40 feet deep here, so waves built quickly. The only thing I could think of to do was turn north and take the seas on the port quarter. We ran that way for what seemed like an hour, waves washing over the boat, the boat rolled severely. At this point I told my brother not to worry, these Cal29s have been around the world. But I was worried too. Finally it starts easing up and I see the 68th Street water intake crib 300 yards away. It's 3 miles out and with it for a bearing I can get back to my harbor. By the time we got back the lake was flat again and it was only a mild drizzle. We later found out that the bad part of the storm had only lasted 35 minutes. There are lots of power outages, downed trees, etc. in the aftermath. Oh, I forgot the hail; in the middle of it my hat blew off and we got pelted with fairly large hail. The winds were clocked over 60mph. That's the worst I've been in, and it wasn't fun, not even a little. Hell of a way to start the season. David Dobbs CAL29 411