Back to Little Sand Bay and on the trailer home

Woke up this morning to a cloudy windy day. Walked up the hill to Bethesda Lutheran Church to attend service. Some mist in the air on my way back down the hill to the Bistro café for breakfast, where I had a yummy seafood omelette. Winds were picking up a little more, and the sailboat that came in last evening that I helped in behind me, called me while I was eating to see if I would be back soon as they didn’t think they had enough room to get out due to the wind blowing them against the dock, and were hoping I’d be able to move. (Sometimes I leave my cell number on the boat’s window when I’m not on the boat.) I was just about done eating so told them I’d be there within a half hour. When I got back, they helped me walk my boat forward (the other boats ahead of me had already left), and then I helped with their lines as they backed out of their space. (We were stern to stern overnight.) Shortely after that I headed out for Little Sand Bay. Decided to pull out this afternoon, with more winds forecast overnight, along with some thunderstorms, and nowhere near LSB that would be well protected from bouncy water. It was a bit sporty coming around Pt. Detour as the winds were out of the NE. Only 1 to 1 ½ foot waves, but with the C-Dory flat bottom, is still beats in the chop. I docked beside the boat ramp in LSB, and then started prepping some items for the trip home. Only one other car and kayak trailer in the parking lot, besides my rig. Not to many use this boat launch when the winds are out of a northerly direction. I had a little trouble getting C-Traveler lined up with the trailer due to the wind, as you can see from one of the uploaded videos. I have upright poles on the back of the trailer, and target bunks on the front. However, the boat is wider in the middle than at the stern. The problem I have, is it doesn’t take much to affect the direction the boat is going as I come on the trailer slowly. Sometimes it seems like those upright posts hinder more than help, as they “twist” the boat if I don’t hit them both in the same place at the same time. Actually I think I may need to adjust the poles, as I think one sits a little farther back than the other, and that would cause the twisting action on the boat. Once the target bunks grab the bow, the upright posts keep the stern centered. The target bunks are not that far apart, so if the bow is off to one side, they too hinder more than help. In a perfect, and calm, world, I should be able to just come in at a faster speed so the boat has more momentum. However, speed is not your friend when trailer loading. So anyway, you can see from the one video, I don’t always get on the trailer the first try. I set the camera up again for my second try, but of course the camera was focused on something else besides the trailer, so you can’t see as clearly how well that second time worked out. Lol.
Rather than trying to get home late tonight, I’m “boaterhoming” in the Hurley, WI., rest area. I’ll have 280 miles to home tomorrow.Read more