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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

Catalina 250 Specific Forum

Midwestern weather

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Bill Arden
1st Mate

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USA
83 Posts

Initially Posted - 06/19/2006 : 16:12:37

Hi, all -

I thought you might find our experience yesterday afternoon amusing...

Prana, our 250WK, is berthed on Lake Pepin. Pepin is a wide spot in the Mississippi River south of Red Wing, Minnesota. It's about 3 miles wide and 21 miles long, so a good sailing lake.

There was almost no wind all morning. We set out a little before noon in very light air and spent the first hour ghosting along at speeds between 0.2 & 0.5 kt. At one point, Connie was actually swimming along behind the boat.

At about 12:40, we watched the wind coming across the water. Within a minute, we were going ten times faster - 0.2 kt to 2.5. In half an hour, we were doing 4.5 - 5 kt with full main and genoa. Twenty minutes after that, we had reefed the genoa and were trying to figure out how to reef the main on the fly! We hove to and accomplished that task, then spent the rest of the afternoon at speeds over 5 kt, under reefed genoa and main.

I love Midwestern weather....

Bill Arden
Prana - C250WK #898
Apostle Islands, WI

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aeckhart
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1709 Posts

Response Posted - 06/19/2006 : 20:35:13

Me to. It's even finer in northern Michigan - da UP eh!

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MnSailor
Deckhand

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5 Posts

Response Posted - 06/23/2006 : 23:05:35

We were out of Dan's Pepin Marina in the same weather on our Catalina 250 WK. One minute we had tied off the tiller and were setting up a Cribbage board and the next we're dropping everything down the companionway and reefing the genoa and main. It was an interesting sail.

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reuben
Navigator

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USA
202 Posts

Response Posted - 06/26/2006 : 22:35:28

Yesterday on Leech Lake: perfect northerly at 10a.m., got through the narrows to the big water at which the wind died abruptly as a main character on <i>24</i>; under slatting sails we drooped, slept, and read Jane Austen til 3 when a dark cloud rose in the west and approached pulling a long tail of rain; this soaked us briefly and moved eastward followed by a brisk westerly which provided a few miles at hull speed; encountering another dead-air pocket we flaked sail and cooked a superior pot of Brittany Trawler Hash; got soaked again when a black squall zipped out of the east, then felt an evening southerly spring up at which we hoisted the cruising spinnaker and ran the 8 miles home.

I suspect the Midwest has no monopoly on this stuff, though.

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Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.