Last Sail of the year
by Tim Coughlin
From the February 2004 issue of The Shallow Water Sailor
Our last sail of the year was a non sailing event. There was no wind – a slick c’am as they say. It was December the third, late for a Great Lakes sailor. The joy of a trailerable boat is that you don’t have to stop when the marinas close at the end of October.
My good friend Bernie and I launched the Birdwatcher Woodwind at eleven o’clock so as to arrive at Peche Island in the Detroit River in time for lunch. The island is a jewel of a park belonging to the city of Windsor., Ontario, and its interior waterways are accessible only to boaters with shallow draft, canoes and kayaks.
We motored the half mile distance from the marina in silence, the electric motor pushing us through the river’s current. A bonfire was the first order of business because it was cold! There was a thin sheet of ice in the canals that thread through the island. The sun was out and the temperature had risen from 25 F overnight to just below freezing at noon. The BBQ’s hamburgs were delicious and the beer stayed cold! No problem! We saw one kayak enjoying the sunshine and calm water as well as one fisherman. No PWC’s to interrupt the peace and no water skiers to be seen or heard … I’m pretty sure we didn’t set any records for cold water yachting – but the date was a personal best for both of us.
Woodwind
is back under her tarp, her spars in the rafters of the garage, her sails in the
house for the winter. Now we begin the long wait for spring. The only good
thing is we no longer have to wait for May 1 when the marinas open on the Great
Lakes. We can sail as soon as the ice flows are no longer blocking the river.
March 1 would be another “personal best”.
