The sun was about to set and put an exclamation point on a perfect North Dakota sailing day. The winds had been consistent all day at 10-15 knots, the temperature had topped out around 80 degrees and the sun had broken through intermittent white, puffy clouds.
Our boat is a Cal 27 christened Celebration by the previous owners, and you dare not change the name of boat or take the chance of years of bad luck according to those previous owners. So, Celebration it is, and Celebration it will be for as long as we own the boat.
My spouse Sue and I have owned Celebration since 2010. From bow to stern Celebration is 27 feet long and the beam (the widest part of the boat) is about 9 feet. There is a cabin with a small kitchen, everything is small on a sailboat, a head (toilet) and 2 sinks. If you look up a Cal 27 on the internet you will learn that it was designed to sleep up to 6 people. Realistically, 4 people is pretty much sleeping capacity. For Sue and me Celebration is the perfect sized boat. Not necessarily for the creature features, but more because the 2 of us can effectively sail our boat. We also quickly learned that a 27 foot boat is easier to maintain than larger boats. Maintain? Cleaning, painting and waxing each spring getting ready to launch the boat for our summer season.
Our summer season normally starts on, or around, Memorial Day and ends sometime in late September. Our boat spends a majority of the year on a trailer in the boat yard at Fort Stevenson Park south of Garrison. An obvious question would be; Why not put the boat in earlier and take it out later, extending your sailing season? The answer: The Fort Stevenson Marina is open from May 15th to October 1st. Being as we dock our boat in the Fort Stevenson Marina, the length of our summer sailing season is determined by the lease agreement we sign each year for a slip in the marina. We love to sail, but when days get shorter and nights get longer there is less sail time and more dock time. Albeit we would certainly be happy if summer was a month longer.
Defining Experience
Sailing a boat is only part of the experience, especially on Lake Sakakawea. Lake Sakakawea, once called the Garrison Reservoir, is a man made well over 100 miles long. The lake follows the riverbed of the Missouri river, which is now, in some places, over 100 feet below the surface of the lake.
As a riverbed, it was once a valley with the Missouri River flowing through it. Technically, Lake Sakakawea is still the Missouri river, only much deeper and much wider. Some places on the lake it is 30 plus miles wide. It’s a large body of water, but it’s also a great sailing lake, one of the top sailing lakes in all of the United States. The only disadvantage is the short summer season afforded us in North Dakota. Lake Sakakawea during the summer is also a great fishing lake. It’s also a great ice fishing lake start in mid-December. Local fisherman have figured out that having an icehouse, some called ice castles, gives them fishing access 12 months of the year. Boat by summer, icehouse by winter…works well for fishing, but not so well for sailing.
So, what is it about sailing that defines life for sailors? Often people will joke with me about the wind in North Dakota. But a sailor will be quick to point out that even though there is a perception that North Dakota has a never ending supply of wind to power for our sails, the wind is not necessarily from the right direction. A sailboat is designed to sail about 30 degrees off of the direction of the wind, some even less than that. What if we were not able to drive our vehicles into the wind? You want to go northwest and the wind is from the northwest. You will spend time sailing on a tack, or in a direction that is “kind of” where you want to go. I guess I can call that learning to adapt to the conditions we are given. Doesn’t that sound like life in general?
Moving on I want to also make the point that there isn’t always wind in North Dakota. In fact, it isn’t just the odd day or two each summer when there just isn’t any wind, there are actually quite a few days when the wind quits, and we aren’t ready to. When that happens, it is time to take a swim off the back of the boat, lay on the front and take in a few rays, or even go underneath and read a book. Even though there isn’t enough wind to sail, there is probably enough wind to cool the cabin. Oh, did I forget that a late afternoon nap is also approved? Folks, to sail is to be flexible. The wind is never gone for good, which brings me to my next point. To sail is to be aware. Not that we aren’t aware of the changing weather at home, but when you sail there are so many variables. Wind, rain, storms and heat. These factors all contribute to a heightened awareness.
Don’t get me wrong, Sue & I love to sail and as such have learned a lot about life in the process. Sailing isn’t turning a key and pushing a lever to make your boat go faster. Instead, it is using the resources you have, or don’t have, to define your time sailing. And as they say even a bad day sailing is better than a normal day doing anything else.
