Columbus Ohio on an out of the ordinary Warm November day

Click on pictures to enlarge for a better view

Hoover Reservoir with dam and downstream views




Just can not keep away from the water and the great outdoors even though we had to put the sailboat into winter storage. Here are some pictures from the Hoover Reservoir in Westerville, Ohio a suburb of Columbus. We made the trip to see the Ohio State and Iowa football game. In laws from Columbus and my son went to Iowa so had mixed emotions about the game. As you can see I enjoyed my short afternoon the day before the game.

Chicago with a beautiful fall day with lots of sunshine

It is just too bad when one lives in one of the Northern states the sailing season is so short. But, typical for Chicago it does get cold in late October and the marinas have to winterize their docks. So, naturally the sailboats also have to be put away for the winter. Then it happens, those one of two days when the weather turns more like an early fall day rather than a late one. The last two weekends were like that with the temps getting up into the high 60's and even one day into the low 70's. This weekend, although not as warm as the past two will be in the low 60's. This is almost 20 degrees above the norm and would be great for sailing. Oh well, I am going to take advantage and work in the yard and maybe even put up the Christmas lights early - still will not turn them on until after Thanksgiving but, it will be easier without blowing snow.

Coupons for Dining out in Chicago or nationwide Great website

Travelzoo top 20 sent me an e-mail that directed me to a website to get certificates for restaurants in the Chicago area.

Special Offer from Restaurant.com: 80% off but is over on October 31. I paid $2.00 for a $25.00 certificate that you use just like cash. This is also offered Nationwide.

They are good for one year from date of purchase so I bought 4 certificates of $25 each. That is like getting $100 in cash for only $4 dollars.

To purchase:

Go to this website

http://www.restaurant.com/offer/travelzoo/index.asp?prti=4426&raid=2632

and enter a zip code or pick a state to find the local participating restaurants
Select the gift certificate amount (if more than one choice is available), then add it to the cart
Upon checking out, enter the discount code APE on the Shopping Cart page
After completing the transaction print out the gift certificates to take to the restaurant
Very few rules or limitations. What a great way to try out restaurants without spending a lot of money.

O'day Sailboat taken out of water due to October rainy days

It has been raining non stop for the entire month of October. We broke the record in Chicago for the most days of rain in the month of October. 19 days of rain. Needless to say the boat is out of the water and in my driveway. Will keep it there for a few weeks to work on it before I move it to the indoor storage outside of Racine.

Cold Weather appears here to stay

I have put off taking the boat out of the water just hoping for one last good day of sailing. No such luck. Temperatures have been in the high 40's with heavy air and high waves. Many days with small craft warning. Most every day cloudy and cold.

I may wait one more week hoping that Indian Summer will appear for a day or two but, the long term weather forecast does not bode well.

I did pick up the boat trailer and took it out of summer storage and currently have it outside at the marina so it will be ready to use when I decide to take the boat out of the water and move it to my indoor winter storage just outside of Racine.

Summer Sailing in Racine Wisconsin

What a great weekend for sailing out of Racine. Friday my wife and I had a wild ride again with winds ranging 10 to almost 20 knots. Waves got a little too high by the end of the afternoon but we hit our record 5.4 knots in my little 23 ft O'day. It handled well even with the larger waves. Any more than that and we would not have been able to go out. Took Saturday off to go watch my grandson play soccer but went out again on Sunday with two friends before the clouds came in and brought the rain. Had everything buttoned up just in time. Did not hit our record but sailed between 4 1/2 and 5 knots most of the afternoon. Hitting slightly over 5 knots a few times. Again the waves got larger as the afternnon passed.

Overall a great sailing day. Seems like the summer went by so quickly an in Southern Wisconsin the cold North winds are not too far away so the sailing season will be coming to a close.

Looking forward to another great sailing weekend in Racine

I doubt that the weather is going to be any where near as good as it has been over the past several weeks. The wind will be coming out of the North and will keep the tempatures a lot cooler.

Here is what the National Weather Service is predicting.

I will probably wait until Saturday to drive to the boat.

LMZ643>646-212245-
SHEBOYGAN TO PORT WASHINGTON WI-
PORT WASHINGTON TO NORTH POINT LIGHT WI-
NORTH POINT LIGHT TO WIND POINT WI-
WIND POINT WI TO WINTHROP HARBOR IL-
941 AM CDT FRI AUG 21 2009


REST OF TODAY
NORTHWEST WIND 15 TO 20 KNOTS. SCATTERED
SHOWERS. WAVES 1 TO 3 FEET.

TONIGHT
NORTHWEST WIND 10 TO 20 KNOTS. CHANCE OF SHOWERS IN
THE EVENING. WAVES 1 TO 3 FEET.

SATURDAY
NORTH WIND AROUND 15 KNOTS. MOSTLY SUNNY. WAVES 2 TO 4
FEET.

SATURDAY NIGHT
NORTH WIND 10 TO 15 KNOTS. MOSTLY CLEAR. WAVES
1 TO 3 FEET.

Earn money on the internet by giving your opinion

As I am just getting into blogging I thought I would look for ways to earn a little spending money while I am on the Internet.

I was so overwhelmed with the results that I got in finding ways to make my time spent on the internet so worthwhile. I googled about ways to earn money online because I thought there's gotta be a way to do so and sure enough, I was given multiple results that truly excited me. There are a lot of ways to earn cash online and one of the many things I got so fascinated about is the paid surveys. MyOpinionNow.com is one of the paid online surveys.

How about you guys? What are your other ways to earn money online? If you haven't joined myopinionnow.com, you can join freely anytime! The referral program makes it so easy for you to earn a lot of points that are redeemable for cash so you might want to try it! Do check out MyOpinionNow.com for more information because I know if you're a first-timer, you have a lot of questions about the whole stuff so visit the site yourself.

myopinionnow.com

You might also like: •• Try http://www.jumpoding.com/

Great Weekend on the water In Racine, WI

We just celebrated our 36th wedding anniversary so we spent the weekend in Racine. The weather and air were great on Friday and Saturday. While the Air was even better on Sunday the fog keep us in the harbor. Took the sailboat out but turned around and brought it back in as it was so foggy you could not see the other boats. I was able to hear some of the power boats but could not see them. Saw a couple of sailboats but could only see the top of their masts. Very strange.

We ate dinner at the Corner House in Racine. Great Prime Rib at a reasonable price. Check out their website.

http://www.foodspot.com/cornerhouse/

click here to get to this web site this is just a test

I Am trying to learn how to embed a web site URL into other words. As above I wanted to see click here..... but when you click on it you get taken to another website. It looks like it worked. I am new to creating websites as you can see. This is probably pretty basic for someone who knows what they are doing.

Chartroom Waterfront Restaurant & Bar, 209 Dodge St. in Racine

If you are sailing from Kenosha to Racine you can moor your sailboat at a slip right in front of the Chartroom Waterfront Restaurant in Racine, WI. That is the kind of place that I am looking for in Kenosha, WI

Click on the title to see the Journal times article on this restaurant. Or click on the link below

http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2005/02/27/food/iq_3384110.txt

Day trip sailing to Kenosha, WI from Racine WI (click for Kenosha Yacht club web site)

We plan to make a day trip on our 23 ft O'day sailboat some time this weekend. Kenosha is about 9 nautical miles south of Racine. I think that this may be a good destination for a day sail out of Racine. I read that The Kenosha Yacht Club, in Kenosha's north harbor, could be a good place for a shore visit.

Does anyone know of restaurant on the lake in Kenosha other than the Kenosha Yacht Club that has a place to moor a sailboat for a short period of time? If none of the restaurants have docking are their any slips that may be within walking distance of some nice places to eat?

We need to check the weather before we make the sail as I would not want to get stuck in a storm 4 Nautical miles out of Kenosha.

http://www.weather.com/?from=gn_logo_welcome

Checking for water leaks

So far so good. We are going sailing this weekend to celebrate our wedding anniversary. It stormed last weekend. If we do not find any water leaks we will return the cushions to the V berth.

Wish me luck.

Use Life Calk for Caulking around sailboat fittings (click title for link to website)

I found some caulk and tried it without removing any of the fittings. It really went on easy and so far it appears to have stopped any of the small water leaks from the rain.

It has only been applied for a week so time will tell but it looks like it is going to stay in place and accomplish the job.

Here is a website for the " Life Calk" that I used. I have seen this on other sites and in the various marine stores so it is readily available. It comes in white and black.

http://store.hamiltonmarine.com/browse.cfm/4,17969.html

How to stop small water leaks when it rains

I have found three small leaks on my O'day 23 that need to be caulked. Does anyone know if I can just caulk around the lifeline stanchions, the shrouds, and the connection for the trailer at the bow of the boat. Or do I have to loosen and remove all of the fittings, caulk and then re tighten the fittings?

Thanks

Tony

If you are new to sailing here is a website that shows some basic knots

http://www.apparent-wind.com/knots/

This website even has a link to other knot websites. The knots were documented by Mark Rosenstein. It has step by step instructions and illustrations

Another Sailboat website. This one just for O'day sailboats like mine

Have not had a chance to get deep into this one but it looks good so far.

http://www.iheartodays.com/

Great Website for new O'day sailboat Owners

Here is a great website for anyone who just purchased and O'day sailboat and wants to learn more about them. Good links to parts suppliers who carry older hard to get parts.

http://oday.sailboatowners.com/

How to tie stop knots for a sailboat Jib and Main sheet

This was another good vidio.

Tony

Found this video for learning how to take your boat away from the dock

Although it is a good video I think it would be better if they would show you how to do this by yourself for solo sailing. It is pretty easy with three people and nice weather.

Adding Pictures and Videos

I found it. The icons are on the taskbar similar to microsoft word.

Here is a picture of my sailboat downtown Chicago.

Really want to be able to add pictures and videos of sailing to this website

Looks like I may have to sign up on another blogger website unless I can find out how to do this. I wonder if the free ones do not allow much flexibility and the pay sites do. Any thoughts

First time creating a blogger website

Let's see how this looks. This is the first time I have created a website.

Tony