The "No Boat" dinner was this weekend. Though our original thought had been to "boat" before the "no boat" by heading to the lake Thursday and making the dinner Saturday, weather and a flu bug kept us in the city. The snow storm turned out as forecast blanketing the area with a nice coating of the white stuff. (Would someone please tell the Weather Channel that naming snowstorms is lame?) So much stuff has fallen lately that the Corps has declared the drought as less a problem than potential flooding. That means they are letting the lake down to 443 which will put Kintala in about 6 inches of water. But they are anticipating torrents of water in the coming weeks. So much in fact that they are talking (no promises) of making 447 normal summer pool this year, two feet above normal normal. (Make sense yet?) I think this all means that; 1) there should be plenty of water in the lake to sail this year and, 2) there will be enough water at the travel lift so Kintala can come out of the lake pretty much any time after early spring.
The party was a little wistful for me this year. We have many good friends here now. People who have taught us nearly everything we know about sailing, and fixing and maintaining a boat. They winced and laughed, sometimes with us, sometimes at us, as we floundered our way into this new-to-us world. Everyone offered help, a few came to the rescue when some effort of mine went astray. The whole crew pitched it to get Kintala's mast up. Friend Kort got me back down off that mast when the original halyard failed. The list of people who stepped up with help and advice during the v-drive disaster would include nearly every talented wrench-bender on the membership rolls.
But Lake Carlyle is a weekend party spot and recreational sailboat lake; a place where any good Cajun would smile and cry, "Lazay-Lay Bon-Tom Roule"! Letting the good times roll includes a nice sail, good food, a few evening libations, lots of laughter, a bonfire and some music, maybe a raft-up Saturday night. Having fun is the sole reason for having a boat and going to the lake.
For me the lake is a staging area for prepping a cruising boat and launching a major change in life style. Letting the good times roll means being on a roll, getting a project finished so I can start the next one. Time is running out. The house is on the market. Money is tight. The boat is not ready. We are not ready. Mind you I love it; the same way I love managing a difficult flight while making it look easy, or pulling off a perfect landing in nasty winds out of an approach to minimums. Having fun at the lake is not something I think about very often. Friends at the lake are not stingy with their fun and I mooch off of their good times when ever I can. But for the most part we have two completely different agendas that are bound to clash once in a while. I can't go sailing and fix engine oil leaks at the same time, party until two in the morning and be working in the bilge by nine, or sacrifice an entire Sunday work day to recovering from a hangover. I'm sure some grow tired of the relentless noise of my projects and shake their heads at my constant struggle with the to-do list.
As for getting projects done Deb has run circles around me lately. She finished the dodger and cushions ... I think I have finished making the drawings for the table. Then she did the research and found the right stuff for the build...special hi-tech marine plywood with a hard wood vernier. We hope to get some sourced this week and on its way. Then I can start making sawdust ... "Lazay-Lay Bon-Tom Roule"!
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