..--- Halls, Not Hite, But Still A Good Feeling ---
...................................--- Tuesday Oct. 13, 2009 ---
Day's Starting and Stopping Points Under Sail:
Today's Starting Waypoint #13 = N. 37o 23.571' -- W. -110o 44.716
Today's Ending Waypoint #14 = N. 37o 27.930' -- W. -110o 43.296
Night's Anchorage: End of Trip at Halls Crossing Boat Ramp.
Boat Ramp = N. 37o 27.906' -- W. -110o 43.082'
Today's Progress: Sailed Total = 12 1/2 miles - Up-Lake = 11 1/2 miles -- Motored = 1/4 milesTrip Totals: Sailed 116 1/2 miles -- Up Lake Miles 89 -- River Mile 93 - Motored 24 3/4 miles
........We were out of bed at 7 a.m. and again had a quick breakfast, all the time wondering if we would, could make Halls Crossing today. We had again talked about going on past Halls and trying to make it to Hite at the end of the lake as was originally hoped for at the start of the trip.
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We were both tired, my shoulder still hurt a lot and Ruth's senses had been overwhelmed way too many times by the unpredictable and high at times wind, the days were getting too short and another storm was suppose to be coming.
We figured sailing the entire way from Page, AZ to Halls Crossing, UT, some 90 lake miles was an accomplishment to be proud of and decided once and for all that for now Halls Crossing, across the lake from Bullfrog, would mark the end of the trip and we vowed to return in 2010 to finish the last 46 mile segment from Bullfrog/Halls to Hite.
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Getting underway was a simple matter of bringing in the 3 shore lines and motoring out a couple hundred yards to where we had stopped the day before.
The early sun on the canyon walls turned the water into what looked like liquid gold and.....
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........ this trip would always be a golden moment in our lives. The short trip out into the channel was a far cry from the 3 mile run on the outboard we had to endure the day before to return to our starting point. One thing that was the same was we were again greeted with very light winds that would shift over all 360 degrees of the compass every 10 minutes or so. First a puff would waft across the water from one point of sail, then another. If nothing else we were getting use to reading the wind by the ripples it was stirring up on the water off in the distance. A breeze's approach would be given away by the approaching ripples. Seeing where the wind was coming from gave us a moment to try and position the boat and sails to get the most out of the next brief gust of wind in order to move another few hundred yards up the lake.
Finally the gusts of wind came closer together and increased in intensity and before long we were running and reaching down the lake at a faster and faster rate as the wind increased towards the predicted 15 mph highs.
It soon became evident that we could easily reach Halls Crossing if we could handle the wind.
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By this time (a few days earlier) I had rigged a second preventer line using blocks and line we had on board to prevent the boom from swinging across the boat if we had an accidental jibe. The above block (top left arrow), I think is for rigging the spinnaker we got with the boat, but haven't used to this point. One line from it goes inside the life lines back to the cockpit and the other goes to the outside.
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I found this cheap hardware store block in my junk and used it and the old main halyard for the port side preventer line.
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I used the sheet that was attached to the spinnaker block to secure both blocks to opposite sides of the pulpit.
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The lines ran back to the boom on the sides of the boat and were attached to the boom where the main sheet attaches. They really helped and we will be improving on all of this hardware with more fairleads and cam cleats.
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.............................( Practicing our 'no wind' sailing)
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Running with the wind behind us things went pretty well and I saw over 6+ mph on the GPS a number of times.
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We should of reefed the main down and lowered the jib, but after running for a while we were within 2 miles of Halls Crossing and at this point just wanted to get there.
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With the Henry Mountains in view for the first time we made a turn on the lake and had to make some beam reaches and the wind started to overpower us. I released and de-powered the jib to the point it was doing very little and had the main out to almost 90 degrees to the boat and we were still running consistently over 5 mph (the knot speed on the depth finder had quit working before this) and heeling way too much for Ruth's comfort level.
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Around the last bend with the ramp insight about 1 mile away we turned to starboard and ran as close to the sandstone cliffs that towered over us as we could. Even close to the rock face the wind remained high, but at least decreased enough for me to go forward and lower the jib.
With the jib down it was back out into the wind with the Mac so we could run the last 1/4 mile over to the buoy at the end of the breakwater that protected the ramp and a dock there. We had made the 11 1/2 miles up the lake to the ramp in less than 4 hours and that included all of the time we spent in the dead air. This was probably the fastest run we had ever made.
At the buoy Ruth turned us into the wind one last time and we lowered the main and strapped it to the boom probably for the last time in 2009. Just to the left of the ramp was a small sand beach and we ran up on it and I tied us off and then called Shawn to come get us if he could. He said he could drive the 90 miles out to us after he got off work at 5 p.m..
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Sitting in the protected water behind the break water (right arrow) and next to the ramp (left arrow) we decided we could get the sails packed and the mast down before he came as it would be dark by the time he arrived. With that done hopefully it wouldn't take long to load the boat on the trailer and be off to Blanding and home.
First though we fixed a big lunch and sat there eating it in a surreal atmosphere, hardly allowing ourselves to consider that we had actually made the entire trip from Page to here entirely under sail. Probably not that big of a deal for a lot of people, but since the first time we had ever sailed was 5 months prior to this trip we were still trying to figure out exactly how we felt.
We had faced two major wind events with wind speeds over 50 mph, a bad anchorage during the worst of those storms, resulting in my injury that required us to sit in the same place for 4 days in a side canyon with no communication to the outside world. There were other smaller trying situations and some not so minor like when the anchor rode was wrapped around the under-water tree. These all taxed our still beginners skills to the max.
Yet what an experience and one that had fulfilled all of our dreams for exploration, seeing places you can only see on the water and yes even learning how to sail better despite our best efforts otherwise.
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When we decided to buy a boat and started researching sailboats we settled on a MacGregor 26S as what would fit our needs best. We hoped for a sailboat that would work for us. We couldn't be happier and would buy another Mac 26S in an instant.
We have taken a great sailboat and with some work turned it into our perfect exploration vessel. There will hopefully be many more trips for Ruth and I and the Kera Jane like this one.
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As the day came to a close so did our trip, but we will be returning in 2010 to continue this one,
Sum and Ruth
P.S. After getting home and resting up for a couple days I decide I'd better get my shoulder and knee checked out. The visit to the doctor and x-rays revealed no damage to the knee other than bruising. The shoulder didn't come out quite as well. I had a small fracture on the top of the shoulder, 3 of the 4 muscles in the rotator cuff group were screwed up and I had a torn ligament on the top of the shoulder that helps to hold it all together. I'm getting better and will be fine.
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The bottom left arrow is the days starting point (#013). The middle right arrow points to the take-out at the boat ramp at Halls Crossing where Highway 276 (bottom right arrow) meets the lake. There is a ferry that will take you across the lake from Halls over to Bullfrog which is across the lake in the direction of the top right arrow. We took 276 east until it got to Highway 95 and then took 95 into Blanding, UT where we live about 90 miles from Halls.
