New Video Posting of Desolation Sound

[DesertAlbin736]

Just put up link down on the Albin Cruising/Cruising forum page to a YouTube video I've been working on, covering the Desolation Sound Cruise we buddy boated with WillieC back in 2018. Enjoy!

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poewLOldXyA&t=5s

[jerridsc]

Just watched your video presentation. Very nicely done. Inspirational. A long drive from Wisconsin with my A25. Hopefully someday.

[DesertAlbin736]

A long drive from Wisconsin with my A25. Hopefully someday.

It's a shorter drive from Blanchardville to Bayfield, WI & the Apostle Islands, 370 miles, an easy one day run. Friends of ours purchased a 1978 Southern Cross 31 cutter rigged sailboat up there that was docked in Bayfield, WI. Last July they endeavored to sail it all the way to the east coast (too big to trailer) via Lakes Superior, Huron, & Erie, thence the Erie Canal & Hudson River. They made it across Lake Superior, through the Soo Locks and down Lake Huron as far as Bay City, MI when they had to stop & lay it up due to some health & mechanical issues. We were supposed to meet them in Tonawanda, NY at the west end of Erie Canal, which of course they never made it to. We went on & met "tribologist" with his A25 "Driftless" (one hull number off from ours) and went as far a Syracuse before stopping at Onondaga Lake & hauling out & returning home due to lousy weather (hot, humid, remnants of tropical storms Henri & Ida). Then last November our they hired a boat mover & had their Southern Cross "Sea Dragon" transported 1,900 miles over the road out here to our local lake in AZ & put it in storage in a boat yard while they work to fix a number of issues including an engine with a cracked block that was leaking oil. Once repairs are complete this spring or summer they plan to have it transported on out to Washington State to home port it somewhere on Puget Sound, perhaps Anacortes or La Connor depending on where they can find the best deal.

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You could also do Erie Canal like we did last summer. That was a 2,400 mile road trip each way for us and a very expensive trip. We usually boat camp in RV parks but it was so hot & muggy we stayed in hotels instead, which doubled our lodging costs. Tonawanda is only 700 miles from Blanchardville, easily a two day drive, half the distance it takes us to get to Blaine. If so I would advise going earlier in the season than we did (canal opens for navigation in mid May), like early June, before it gets too hot & muggy. We started on the canal on August 7th last year, only because we were tied to our friends' anticipated arrival since they didn't start their passage from Bayfield until July 4th. Or in the fall when the weather cools off, in which case before mid October when the canal closes for the season. I'll have to work on putting together a video for that 2021 trip now that I have some cool video editing software.

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[jerridsc]

I'll look forward to seeing that trip video. My plan, after doing some local cruising
with my outboard driven Albin25, is to do the loop. I’d launch at Kenosha, Wi. and head South sometime in the Fall, not this year though. I've enjoyed all your posts.
Stay Well

[DesertAlbin736]

Be careful trailering with the weight of the outboard hanging off the back. That's a lot of stress bouncing up & down on the road plus how it might affect tongue weight. If you find your trailer starting to fishtail you may have a problem with weight distribution. That's why we put the dinghy on the back of the truck & when we had our Catalina 25 sailboat with a 95 lb Tohatsu 8HP 4 stroke outboard we always took that off the boat & carried in the pickup bed.

[jerridsc]

Thank you for the tips. I’m going to measure my tongue weight to see if it falls within the proper parameters. As far as the motor back there, i built the support system as stoutly as I could. If it isn’t sufficient, I’m out.