Trip to Rainy Lake, MN

[Paul356]

Some of the other "Legends" and I were sail camping up in Rainy Lake in Voyagers National Park last week, along the Minnesota/Canada border near Internatioal Falls.  I had my CS 17.  A few fotos follow.

Moored in the lee of a rock wall in anticipation of a big blow that night.

 

Sunset in Lost Bay

 

 

My dodger and tent arrangement

 

 

 

I even got the mizzen staysail up, singlehanded.

 

 

[Paul356]

cant figure out how to add a couple of videos, so the stills will do.  wish you all could have been there.

i have another boat/volunteer gig during the messabout, so mess on without me.  hope to see you all next year.

 

 

 

[Andy B]

Looks awesome!  Hundreds of miles of lake sailing with thousands of small coves to retreat to!

[Reacher]

Paul, you are an inspiration for camp cruising as usual. Thanks for reporting on your trip. Do you have a picture of your route?

[Paul356]

Here's a screen shot of the sailing I did, including some day sailing and a random trip around one of the islands for fun.  Not sure how much it helps, but fwiw. The little tents are the three camps we stayed at, and "VNP Ramp" is where we launched.  I forgot to make a track for the first little hop out of the ramp to R61. For scale, it's about 7 miles from R61 to R20.  We had planned to go farther east, but didn't due to predicted strong, then light, westerlies and concerns about getting back to the ramp.   I'm doing a writeup for SCA soon, with more deail.  Rainy Lake is a great place.  

p.s.  Always good to hear from you.

 

[AmosSwogger]

Looks like a great trip.

[Don Silsbe]

I love that dodger-tent!  Did you make it yourself, or have it made?

[Paul356]

Had it made by the skilled canvas workers at the Harken shop here.  I was able to stand with them and mock up several possibilities and take advantage of their good ideas.

[Don Silsbe]

I would love to hear more about your mizzen staysail, especially sailing with it solo.  My lake has light air during the summer, so it is tempting.  The problem I see is that the lake is narrow.  Short tacks and gybes are not uncommon.  Wondering if it would be too much to handle, moving the tack to and fro by myself.  What has been your experience with that?

[Paul356]

The wind was very light, and I knew I could go on a broad reach and/or ddw for a long leg.  I used the tiller lock a fair bit while I got things set up.  I had all 3 sails on one side for a bit, but the greatest effect was wing on wing, main by the Lee, staysail on the opposite side from the main.  Gybing no fun, since as you know, the staysail has to come all the way down and have the tack move across, as well as the halyard.  But at those speeds, it worked out.  Added half a knot or more.  Fun effort on a perfect day for trying it.