Don’t listen to us, we’re amateurs!

Here’s the story. We’ve wanted a sailboat….for a while. I grew up on the water. I spent much of my formative years on or near a boat. In fact I remember one summer early in our relationship; smelling the summer air on a lake telling Brandon, “Ahhhh smells like childhood” He looked at me and said “That’s boat exhaust.”

We met on the water. Actually we met in a boat warehouse on a Tuesday, but we were on the water later that week. And later in the summer, on the Mississippi-going through the Locks and Dams in Voyager Canoes with kids.

Both of us had stints of sailing growing up-with small, lightweight crafts….and we loved it.

This past summer our lives took a bit of a shift and we reprioritized some things in our life, and we started looking at sailboats for sale; Where we might put one and how much they REALLY cost. What we discovered-is that we could probably do it. Ultimately we’d love to have a boat on Lake Superior-but if you’ve read any of my other posts you know we like to do a lot.

We landed on keeping the boat on Lake Pepin (the only place we could find slip space mid-season anyway) and be closer to home while we learn to sail, see how it fits into our lives and get to explore an area we hadn’t really ventured to before.

It seemed before too long we were at a boat yard, looking at boats and learning how to write a large check. Quickly followed by the brutality of cleaning a boat, in a boat yard, in July, in Minnesota (note: it’s humid and hot) and learning the process of getting a 5,000 lbs boat from land to water and everything else in between.

Justin from Hoopers Yachts became our new best friend whether he liked it our not-and we were set to put our new (to us) Catalina 27 Sailboat in the water beginning of July. We paid to trailer her the short distance to the St. Croix river and use a marina in Hudson, WI for the first night in transient dockage. That would mean-we’d need to get her the rest of the way ourselves-on water-down the St. Croix, to the Mississippi and finally to Lake Pepin. No big deal.

We had a rough first few hours. As soon as we touched the water, Brandon and I had our first miscommunication…..”You have the keys?”

“Yes” he replied-now meaning boat keys.

*me locking the car knowing he had the keys because at the start of the day they were all on one keychain* F$ck.

I remember thinking to myself-we can’t be the first, someone must be able to help us. And I was right, someone was able to get into our car and get the keys-thank goodness-and we continued putting up the mast and sighing a HUGE sigh of relief….the boat floats.

We spent our first night on the boat, sleeping in the V-Berth, trying to understand the switches, the stuffing box and preparing to motor down the river the next day.

In the morning we did a short trial, just outside the marina when the ‘Sailing School’ came out (small children in impossibly small boats) to really drive home how frightening it was to try and maneuver a boat of this size, and then we were off! We spent the first day enjoying beautiful weather on our way to Treasure Island to stay the night in the marina. We had a few moments of tension, especially coming into dock. Fortunately some key advice from a mutual friend and sailor saved us “get the mid-ship dock line set first” thanks Mollie. You’re the best.

We survived our first thunderstorm-having no idea what safe protocol was for a sailboat with a near 40 foot mast….the only one in the entire marina, and woke up to another beautiful day to motor further down river.

Our first task for the day? Go through lock and dam #3 on the Mighty Mississippi.

You might have noticed-so far…no sailing. In fact we didn’t even have sails up yet. We only had so much time off from work to get the boat cleaned, to the water and down to her home before needing to go back to work. Sails were’t on the radar so to speak….so we were counting on our inboard, Diesel engine….and fuel. Our fuel gauge read ‘full’ but we just motored several hours and 20+ miles-could we trust that? So we waited for the fuel dock to open and tried another first-fueling the boat! Only a few gallons later-I guess the gauge worked-and we were headed to the lock.

Some people had mentioned apps they’d used to try and time the locks right with barges so you didn’t have to wait so long. Our timing could use some work. But we made it through! And eventually made it the last few miles past Red Wing and Barn Bluff (a placed we’ve climbed together) and finally to Lake Pepin.

Brandon’s parents were kind enough to pick us up-since our car (with keys NOT locked inside) was still in Hudson. We spent the rest of the summer making small upgrades, learning to sail, enjoying the town of Lake City and falling in love with sailing.

We spent some beautiful nights at the marina, some hotter than others (some buggier) and even a night at anchor.

This summer we’re excited to spend a full season on the water-and nervous to see how the new puppy (Sage the Rage) does with boat life. We’ve got a few pending projects-some taking up space in our basement-and we find ourselves longing for nights on the water, sipping wine and enjoying the sounds of the river.

I hope you enjoyed reading and watching. Follow along on YouTube and Instagram if you like what you see!

Thanks for reading-hope you have time to get out and enjoy some Days Off!