Sailing Full and By

It was an eventful weekend at Camp Parsons. Andy and I reprised our old roles and opened the rifle range to the Venture Scouts for five hours on Saturday. It was fun to relive old times like that.

We now have only nine weeks to get things ready for the summer – crunch time. My boat repair project has been sailing full and by for the last several months and is close to being finished, but other important things still need to be done as well. For one, we don’t have enough 10-foot reach poles. The three 8-hp motors still haven’t been serviced. And we still have no pier float ladder. Getting those things done this month will be critical. Then on top of that, our oars are in disrepair, and we have no fins for the Snorkeling BSA program.

The replacement rudder pin for one of the Zumas came in the mail today. That’s one more sailboat that can go back in the water now.

I also found some industrial rubber to adhere to the transom as an additional means of preventing the boom from bashing holes in it overnight. Andy Briggs also suggested using some shock cord to secure the boom, which is an easy and elegant fix as well. Regardless, the whole thing needs to be completely fool-proof, so that (to give a random hypothetical) some know-nothing first-year who works on the rifle range can’t sail it during the weekend and forget to secure the boom and cause the aquatics crew to have to haul the hole-ridden boat out of the water the next day…

One big and exciting change this summer is that we’re acquiring a 12’ x 32’ float. It will need some new decking, but otherwise it's in good shape and should be ready to go by June. Right now, I’m picturing the four FJs being moored to it, and teaching sailing merit badge classes on the float with the sailboats right there for the scouts to see as I’m explaining things. That would be perfect. Whatever happens to that float, though, the trick will be placing it in a position where it’s easily accessible, secure, out of the way, and picturesque – all at the same time. That’s a tall order, but I’m sure we’ll figure it out.