Greetings all and welcome to JoeFish's new blogsite!
For those of you who followed our (mis)adventures with the Lockley Surprise, this blog begins a new chapter in my sailing travels.
I sold the Lockley earlier this month in order to buy my "new" boat, a 1972 Columbia 26 MKII. My plan has always been to upgrade from the Lockley to a small cruiser, somewhere in the 22-24' range. I would keep it at either Brookville Lake in Indiana or Rocky Fork in Ohio. I also planned to take it up to Lake Erie for extended weekends. I had known that sailing in the great lakes was VERY different from the inland lakes I was used to. The winds are a lot more reliable, there are destinations like Put-In-Bay that we could sail to and stay the night. But, storms on the lakes tend to come out of nowhere, and like the ocean there are places where you can not see land. A far cry from Cowan lake!
I had settled on either a Hunter 23.5 or 24, but decided I'd wait until next season before I made the leap. However, in July my boating buddy Chris told me that a coworker of his asked if he knew anyone looking to buy a sailboat. He had a Columbia 26 harbored in Sandusky Bar Harbor Marina, and planned on upgrading. No trailer, but had a storage cradle. A strong boat for a big lake!
I began mulling over the idea of making Sandusky Bay and Lake Erie my home waters (a good 3.5 hour drive). I decided that by making Erie my home waters, I'd get better sailing experiences and a vacation destination to boot! The drive time seemed long, but when I took into account the time spent on the Surprise (.5 hour drive to the storage lot + 1 hour drive to Cowan + .5 hour prep and set-up) the added trave time suddenly seemed insignificant. I'd also have the luxury of having a bigger boat without having to swap the Audi for a tow vehicle, and with the price being less than half of the Hunter, how could I argue?!? So after a test sail, some dealmaking and lots of questions, I signed the papers and took posession this past week!
We just returned from our first sail as the new owners so I will be posting a full report later this week. See you soon!
Capt' JoeFish
