Opposite Boy Beats The Storm @ Dillon Lake 27Jul14

Circumnavigated the 20 mile loop around the lake this morning in the repaired X bike - no chain jumps but it didn't index well; work to do... climbed Swan Mtn Rd without issue. There was a yacht club handicaped race today on Dillon - mostly J boats with crews were running in weak wind. I took the opposite path of the race boats and was single-handed. I started late but the sails were easy to raise without wind. I actually got into the doldrums downwind and had to resort to motoring to wind once... sheesh. That was long after the race had ended... it picked up again as a storm approached - I made haste and fortunately made it to port for totties before the storm.

Once Again Into The Fork Tailwater 26Jul14

I hiked into Williams Fork River by 10:20am or so... traffic was a smidge busy on the way to Kremling. I spent ~4hrs on the WF today and fishing was decent despite the mid-day timing. Flows @ 100cfs were < 1/2 they were last week  and I caught fish in different spots but I caught more in total. Evidence is still sketchy as I forgot camera again and just took phone-cam shots... the fuzzy 'bow was big fish on the day, say ~18', but I didn't get him all in lens and then drop kicked him back into water before 2nd chance. All up I caught 9 foot long or bigger browns and a couple of nice 'bows. I saw grey mayflies, but not many, and one egg laying caddis... I had a rig with Obiwan weighted, black ice weighted, olive midge, RS2 and Cheesman emerger at the end. Yep, 4 or 5 flies and indicator most of the day. Nothing on the midge or worm this time. The last 2 took the most fish including both rainbows (which jumped nicely a couple times for good fun) but the black ice played too. Landing was less sketchy this week due to the flows but my hobbled body certainly makes me less agile and pained on any twist or stomp in the river. Thank goodness I didn't biff. It wasn't too crowded but I did see 4 other guys as I fished upstream only from the trail approaching the river.

 Now I'm just waiting out the storm to get back to the boat for a sail - it's looking a bit dubious.

Grand County Was Somewhat Grand @ Williams Fork River 20Jul14

Sunday afternoon I drove up to Parshall and hiked over to the Williams Fork River... flows were ~250cfs so still above ideal for this water but comparatively better than other rivers. This is a 2 mile tailwater from rez to the Colorado; it's famous for springtime migration of huge Colorado River rainbows; I hoped some were left over. I tied on an Obiwan worm, a green mayfly flashy weight, a FBPT and an olive JuJuBee midge, in that order, and used an indicator. Initially I hiked downstream from where the trail hits the river but the fishing back up yielded little but a 12" brown on the PT. That's OK because on my last visit here I was skunked. I kept heading upstream both longline and shortline nymphing and finally got into some bigger fish in slack and riffles after passing the put in point. I ultimately caught just one other 12" brown and three very nice rainbows (16", 18", 20") with two on the worm and one on the midge. The 'bows were a bit skinny but strong and landing in the fast water was dicey. No pics this time... forgot the camera. If you go, take bug dope as there are a brutal # of mosquitoes; also be prepared for the 30 min hike over to the river.

Navigating Lake Dillon 20Jul14

After dropping the kid's hikers in Breck at 2AM (he bagged 3 Mosquito 14ers today plus the nearby 13er) and after being stopped in Breck @ 2:22AM and after sleeping a solid 5 hours, I awoke to head to Dillon to fix sailboat rigging. There was a nice breeze though so I headed out under all original Doyle sails single-handed and touched both the Blue and Snake arms of the lake.

I got back to the car at 2pm and prepped myself and the new Xbike for circumnavigation of the lake. The Wilier-based bike was awesome (went counter-clockwise) but the chain jumped off 2x on the Swan Mtn climb, allowing some roadie to smoke me (but he did it while complimenting "cool bike"). I fixed it and climbed fine while hand-adjusting my derailuers and descended great to Keystone. The bummer was though that the chain broke 2x on the spin from KS back to Dillon Marina (field repair was crap I guess). Porting parts from another bike is also sometimes an issue - gotta at least replace the link.

At least I was near the end. Colorado is so cool - Italy maybe a smidge less. ;)

Tough Way To Go Italian 14Jul14

Well the Wilier came and I now have an X bike again. Nice Enve fork (like the rims on my Yeti), and all the other components but cabling moved fine. Geometry is very similar. It's a tough way to get an Italian frame but here's the after and before of the situation. I guess I need a white or red water bottle. ;)

Mon Ami, Tomahawk & 11 Mile 13Jul14

I cleaned the exterior wood and installed a BT & USB stereo on Mon Ami... quite a change. Tom Wilke and I sailed her in some decent wind.

Hit the Tomahawk SWA on Sunday mid-AM... what a difference picking the right bug makes. The water was even higher and while there was no surface action a couple of copulating green drakes landed on my vest. They're huge, I tied one on and 15 fish later I rested.

After lunch I went to 11 Mile... a storm had just passed but I did catch a half dozen or so rainbows on a smallish black KF Flasher while there for several hours. Always fun to double up on the day.

Skunkish But Not Skunked @ Tomahawk SWA 05Jul14

It was a pretty nice but cooler day and the Middle Fk of the So Platte was still very high at 320cfs (at 3X what I usually fish it) but flowing clear. Caught some but "slow" is generous really. What a view looking up to the Mosquito Range over South Park.

Dinnin' On Dillon 03Jul14

After a long forecast call and then hours restaining the condo deck, I decided to check the dining capabilities on Mon Ami for dinner. I headed to the lake with a stop at City Market for the goodies, and Sports Authority for the propane, and Bed, Bath & Beyond for utensils and the like. Fare was to be roasted peppers and bison burgers with garlic, Hatch chilies and Worcestershire sauce. I placed the Magma grill hanging off the back of the boat via railing and leveled it easily with simple adjustments. It fired right up with its click starter and held heat in a growing wind. Boats were racing for the docks as a storm rolled over the lake. I mostly hid in the cabin out of the wind and spittle. Dinner was great and the Magma performed superbly. Another system verified.

Wing On Wing 02Jul14

I enjoyed the mountain winds again today. I repaired Mon Ami electrical with a new battery and some repaired connections... don't try to buy a deep charge marine battery in Summit Co as it is not straightforward; ultimately CarQuest Auto Parts had one. After righting electrical, including mast lighting and "cassette player" (need to get modern Bluetooth/USB version), I loaded both sails and headed out for the afternoon-evening. Wind was mid-strong again with stints of keeling over at 40%! That was a blast. Single-handed sailing with two sails and a rudder to control was interesting... not all maneuvers were smooth (yet) to say the least, but I made it. I even executed the clever wing on wing downwind move twice during the outing. Since I have no spinnaker on Mon Ami, the biggest sail surface to present is genoa on one side and main on the other; see the 2nd image... its a touchy move to keep up. Probably the toughest thing though is raising and lowering the all the sails with wind... I point into the wind initially but I have to move forward on the boat to yank the halyards which leaves the rudder spinning me in circles till the airfoils are abloom. Yeowza.

View From The Boat 01Jul14

The view from the boat is sublime. Sailing out of Dillon Marina, the highest deep water marina in the world, on my maiden voyage aboard Mon Ami, was awesome. The days of preparation and investigation were worth that ride. I'm looking forward to a fine first season in this remarkable location.

Westbound Downwind Toward 10 Mile Range

Northbound Crosswind Toward Gore Range

Beatin' It Back Eastbound Toward Dillon Marina

I was fortunate to find a 25 year old Beneteau sailboat named Mon Ami. Surprisingly and luckily it was close by in Ft Collins - I thought I was going to have to transport from the east coast. It's a First 235, an awesome design from Group Finot when they were great and willing to dabble in smaller boats for common folk. Only 400 were made and I was focused on getting one.

Transport was the first issue as the original trailer had no brakes - not good for crossing mountain passes to it's intended home in Lk Dillon. I found a great shop in Ft Collins, D&E Trailers, with a sharp mechanic who fixed it all up but the process required a new axle to accommodate electric brakes available today. Those mods and new tires were done June 27th... a little later than desired but I was on my way.

I leased a slip at the highest deep water marina in the world, Dillon Marina (9150 ft elevation or so). I dragged the boat to Dillon at 60mph or so on I70 - really slow for me but the single axle and 4000# boat needed appropriate driving.

I readied the standing rigging and released the mast from its transport security. Bruce Kosbab offered to help raise the mast at the stepping stations at Dillon Lake. I'd not done this before so attempts one through four failed. On the second attempt the mast crashed through the Crusher rear windshield. It's repaired now but did require a glass cleanup crew including Janice, Sarah and Kala and took a couple hours. The fourth attempt was excellent at dusk but I ignorantly neglected a piece of tackle in the backstay setup and was confused why the fit was bad. It was dusk on Saturday and we rested at Pug Ryan's. I had to park the boat at Town Hall (illegally) as the Dillon lot was full.

With the right backstay tackle installed, a little additional reading on where to locate the lifting point, and some experience under our belts, Bruce, Kala and I got the mast stepped on our first Sunday attempt.

After parking again, we loaded the motor into place. I set the rudder up, added a mainsail, ran some of the lines, loaded the battery (which was dead BTW, should've tested that before). Kala got some gas and we mixed the 2 cycle fuel and tested the Mercury 9hp outboard. All getting ready for launch. I also did another sail inventory... we have 2007 Doyle main and working jib to original spec and 2010 North Sails main and 135 genoa as well a small storm jib.

On Monday, the Dillon Marina guys helped me put our F235 in the water - it floats!  That's always a good thing for a boat, but never a foregone conclusion with a 25 year old craft that'd been out of the water for a couple years. The launch was a smidge tricky with a long tongue on the trailer which also hadn't been used in some time... but Mon Ami floated right off and Kala & I drove her to her summer home in slip B21. We debated a while on our optimal dock line setup but finally chose a solid scheme.

I spent the rest of the day setting all the lines back to the cockpit for single handed sailing and rigging all the rest of the stuff. On Tuesday I got the glass replaced in the Crusher and then tuned up the standing rigging to assure correct sailing physics. Ultimately on a gorgeous and mid-windy late afternoon on Tue 01Jul14 I motored out, pointed into the wind, raised the main, spun about and sailed across the lake. Awesome.

Now it's onto a summer of sailing and some restoration - probably need to get electrical going at some point. ;)