Three + Weeks Cruising 2003
          by -  Arlyn Stewart
Part 1 - Preparing

When plans to do the Near Bahamas in April fell through, Lin and I decided to add the lost cruising time to our also planned Great Lakes cruise.   The result was a five week escape from the Texas summer to the cool waters of North Lake Huron, Georgian Bay and North Channel.  Some years back while reading another writers accounts of the North Channel, the words, "Beware of possible addiction" were offered... they sink in now to affirm a likely junkie as this year became the sixth in a row.  The causes of the high... are probably the respite from the Texas heat, the rekindling of time within natural settings almost totally unspoiled by development, the escape from cares and responsibilities of the past eleven months and because I was born and raised there, visits with family and friends.

Once again, a list of mods and maintenance issues had been labored over during the winter months to prepare R&R, my Catalina 250 centerboard, for the lengthy trek.  While the list didn't seem to contain as many important upgrades to enable cruising as it had in prior years, it was still lengthy.  The most involved modification this year was that of the boats steering system.  That process began during the fall following last years cruise and began to take shape in December with a great many sketches of various ways to accomplish my list of goals.  The mechanical design proved challenging but finally evolved into what I felt was a very good scheme.  In January, the actual construction was fairly straightforward and initial test were very favorable... to the point of recommending the upgrade to others and offering a kit.

Other projects included an additional fuel locker, a riding sail, and some modifications such as splitting the V-berth hatch cover in half to make for easier access and adding some jib sheet blocks to solve the problem of winch overrides.  One thought during a warmer winter day was to see if both anchors would fit in the anchor locker.  When purchasing the Horizon Claw many years ago, it had been stored in the port cockpit locker evidently with judgment made that there wasn't room for both anchors in the bow anchor locker.  In fact, when the thought occurred to check the possibility, I rather doubted that both would fit along with 200 feet of rode each.  To my surprise, they both do so with little difficulty and compliment each other well.  

Catalina had also designed and offered the third generation rudder and because some hairline cracks had shown themselves on the older second generation beaching rudder, I'd purchased one and would test it out this year.  I decided to carry both rudders so that half the cruise could be done with each for comparison.

With the list finished as well as the regular yearly maintenance list checked off... the boat, trailer and tow were ready days in advance of departure.  The mistake of last minute scurrying had been made once... and the price paid for such poor discipline.  That price had been to leave so tired as to incur a case of painful gastritis and while exhausted, catching a chest infection, which caused hacking up green scum for the cruise duration.  While sometimes a slow learner... that lesson had gotten through.
One other addition to the boat this year was a birthday gift of another flashlight, a strap on the head model with clear or red LED's and a standard krypton bulb.  The light is very handy on the boat... though I'm accused of looking like a miner rather than sailor.  As well as for some night work on the boat, it was used extensively for reading using the clear LED mode.

As can be noted, I'm well along with the read which was started on the cruise.