Sunday

Yesterday Victor and I decided to head up to the cabin and try a day of sailing. The wind was blowing fairly hard down here in the valley so we decided it would make for a good day out on the water. After the hour drive to get up there, grabbing a bit to eat at the local hamburger place in Kamas and then driving the boat to Jordanelle Reservoir, only to find out then that a trip back to the local hardware store in Kamas was required. Apparently the last person to use the boat lost a turnbuckle on the mast stay. Without it it’s impossible to sail, so we had to replace it.

At 2:30 we had the boat in the water and were off, our goal was to sail the three miles out the eastern arm of the reservoir to the main body of the man made lake. If anybody has tried sailing in a mountain reservoir before you will be able to relate to the adverse wind conditions that can exist. One minute a gale force roaring down a small side canyon, blasting the small boat up on its side and the next it’s deathly still with no wind at all.

We started off zigzagging our way down the arm of the mountainous channel. With the wind blowing from the west our progress seemed minimal. We could have walked along the shoreline quicker. Victor was at the helm and I was crouched down, so as not to be hit by the boom as I controlled the jib. The wind started to shift a little then coming in from different sides of the canyon and throwing us up on a steep roll at full speed and then leaving us at a snails pace. Every now and then we caught a southerly breeze, making it possible to sail in a straight line down the arm.

Finally at five in the evening we made it into the open water with four foot swells. Victor was ecstatic. Adventure on the high seas. We turned around there and sailed back in half the time with the wind at our backs. I think we finally made it home at eight in the evening, all very tired from a long day.

Richard Boyer