After a slow start to the sailing season, we enjoyed some nice summer sailing. The slow start was due to a household electrical fire, which just happened to occur over the bin where I store my sails for the winter. Apparently my battery charger was not up to the task of charging a large drone battery at its highest charge rating – I should have replaced that cheap charger long ago! Thankfully my wife happened to smell smoke while I was working upstairs and was able to contain it; it certainly could have been so much worse!
Once the pandemic and ensuing lockdowns hit, it seems everyone decided to build a boat. Why not? More time while working from home – or way more time if you were one of many having been laid off. For me, this meant it took much longer to get replacement sails made than is typical, as the sail maker had some of his best sales ever. So while waiting for my new sails, I figured I might as well repair my Honda 2.3hp outboard, which has a bit of a gas leak in the carburetor. Of course once I have the engine taken apart, the sails arrive. Then after ordering the replacement parts, I’m sent a couple of wrong parts and the company won’t send the correct parts until they receive my return shipment. This is when I really started getting frustrated! So after several more weeks of the precious northern summer drifting by, the parts arrive. Soon after, we were out on the water with new sails and a rebuilt engine.
For us, sailing during the pandemic consisted mostly of afternoons at nearby lakes, and one weekend trip up north as the summer was coming to a close. I really loved the Apostle Islands, but found myself intimidated at the thought of going back without a perfect weather forecast. With a forecast of comfortable temperatures and perfect to slightly too-windy days, I was off on another trip to Birch Lake.
I aimed to mix things up a bit by going to a boat ramp on the east of the lake that I hadn’t been to before. After quickly setting my GPS directions by clicking on the Apple Maps app, I head north on the roughly four-hour drive. I make it to the ramp, a nice little spot, get everything into the boat, rig it up, and back into the water. Tie off the boat, park the car, and off I go!! It’s the best feeling, to leave behind not only work, but the car and land itself for the weekend. I find myself in such beautiful surroundings, and already have my phone out taking photos within minutes. Yet, things just don’t look as I imagined they would, having studied the map beforehand – my intended camp site is many miles to the west, and here there are a series of islands in the way. Eventually I zoom out on the map of the GPS unit. Not sure what lake this is, but it is NOT Birch lake! I briefly investigate any desirable anchorages to possibly just stay on this lake for a couple of days, but alas it is quite a bit smaller with less protected spots.
So back to the dock and onto the trailer. Next, off to the ramp on the real Birch Lake, only 3 miles away as the crow files, but a 15-minute drive. Lesson to us all – spend the extra 10 seconds to make sure you know where you are going! Having grown up in an area with very few lakes, it is still amazing to me how many lakes there are here in the Minnesota. In this “land of 10,000 lakes,” a good-size lake such as Bear Island Lake can be so close to the even larger Birch Lake and yet still have many more lakes to the north and east.
When finally out on the water of Birch Lake, I was a bit concerned about being “behind schedule,” as my intended anchorage was still many miles distant (I was planning on one of my longer mileage sailing days). My concerns quickly faded as the winds were perfect in both direction and intensity. Garage Sail flew along, with the miles fading away, all without any excess adrenaline. The anchorage I was aiming for was as I remembered it from my last visit there, but with more weed growth ultimately reducing anchor retention and keeping me about 100 yards further from the end of the bay. The weeds did reduce the holding strength, but I didn’t realize it until I noticed I was drifting a bit once the morning winds picked up. The next day the winds continued to build, making for a fun if somewhat stressful run home. Here I was very thankful for the many areas to hide out from the wind to have a snack and catch my breath, something I wouldn’t have had the chance to do at the Apostle Islands.
Sean's Pocketship 