Now that summer is upon us, we packed up the family and some food and headed out on the lake for some adventure. The wind was quite stong and after motoring out a ways we set the sails. Believe it or not, the wind actually pushed us faster than the motor could. It was simply amazing! We were flying along quite nicely when suddenly a gust heeled us right over. There was some crashing of lose stuff down below and when I looked, there was our youngest child sitting on the floor under the table. She had rolled right off the bunk.
Once things calmed down we headed over to a small beach. Upon closer inspection, we noticed a string of reefs circling the beach and dropped anchor just outside this area. The kids played in the water and on the beach until dark clouds forced us to pack up and carry on our journey. We sailed for about another hour to the next beach and then tried out our new Force 10 barbeque. After supper the prevailing west winds allowed us to make great time for the trip home.

With this weekend being our anniversary, we decided to do what we wanted to do last year but didn't make it due to bad weather and inexperience... sail to Pipestone Point Resort and have supper. I took friday off work and we packed our stuff. The entire morning was nothing but rain but the weather man promised sun after lunch. Sure enough, the sky cleared and the rain stopped. Unfortunately so did the wind. We were also way behind schedule due to the earlier rain which meant we would be motoring the entire way. Arriving just in time for supper, we took a quick tour of the grounds then sat down for an absolutely amazing meal.
Once again we headed out on a lake of glass with nothing but the sound of our outboard and the odd pelican. Arriving a few hours later at Cintiss Island, we dropped anchor of the night and spent the next hour and a bit eating treats and watching a movie. While making up our beds, it was at this point I realized I had forgotten my sleeping bag and was in for a very cold night.

I awoke at about 6:00am very cold and tired but managed to doze back to sleep. Next thing I knew it was 10:00am and it was starting to warm up outside. Once we opened the hatches to get the air circulating, I cooked up some toast on the BBQ and put a tarp over the boom to act as a tent and shelter the cabin from the sun. The kids were being brought down by motorboat around 1pm to join us so to kill a bit of time, we paddled the dinghy to shore and explored the beach. Returning to the boat by noon, we whipped up some lunch and soon heard the distant sound of a motorboat. The kids played on the beach the entire afternoon until the VHF announced a storm was heading our way. Within 15 minutes the winds had picked up and drops were coming down. This would be the most wind we had all weekend... unfortunately it was coming from the same direction we needed to go. Good thing the motor is reliable. About 30 minutes later the sun was back out and the lake was like glass again. Even though it wasn't really a "sailing" trip, we still had a great time.

With the Canada Day long weekend here, we decided to spend the day sailing and exploring. Lake of the Woods seems to have quite the history (how much is fact and how much is legend is another story) so why not venture out and see for ourselves. We found Sultana Island on our map which has an abandon gold mine on its west shore. Its beach is quite narrow but extends out into the water quite a ways before dropping off suddenly. We anchored in about 18 feet of water and used the dinghy to get us and our supplies ashore. We trekked down overgrown paths and climbed retaining walls hand made of stone. There were many mine shafts... some boarded over, some full of water and some that disappeared into the darkness. The rocks towered above us as we made our way through moss covered crevasses and eventually returned to the beach for a cool refreshing swim. The kids built sand castles while we fixed a very late lunch. After enjoying a relaxing afternoon at our newly discovered beach we set off back to town, arriving just in time to see the Canada Day fireworks.