Lake Sonoma with the new boat
15. November 2007 by admin.
My brother John and I took my little dingy out onto Lake Sonoma up near Healdsburg for day of trolling and lake exploring.
We went from the launch near the dam up nearly to the northernmost tip of the lake (see map pic).We did have a few adventures along the way including the novice boaters biggest (and usually one time only) mistake: I forgot to put the plug in before launching the boat….can you say “it’s sinking!!!”…a few gallons got into the back end of the boat before the guys near me looked over and said, “did you put the plug in?” You’ve never seen anyone jump so fast into a boat, find the plug and stick it in. Turns out these same guys lost their boat and motor in the lake last year because they forgot to put their plug in (they launched and sped off into deep water). Luckily I was still at the dock, so I had to pull the boat up to the dry part of the launch then chase John all the way up the hill (and I mean a long steep curving out of sight hill). He’d taken the truck and trailer to park once we‘d launched it and secured to the dock. After finally catching him (at the top) and driving it back down, we reloaded it and pulled it out. The incline was plenty steep so the water immediately began to drain out. Once we got emptied, back in went the plug and then we relaunched and off we went…
We started out slow, getting use to the water. There was plenty of breeze and the water was only slightly choppy (is there a word that means less than choppy but not calm and smooth?). After a bit I even cranked the motor up to 100% power…definitely much better with more than just me in the boat – Motor+Battery+Gas: 170lbs, Andrew:140lbs….adding the additional 200lbs for John totally smoothed out the ride…though it’s better with him up front and me at the back driving (more counter weight)…LOL
John drove it most of the way back, but he was bit nerous, especially since I have it rigged for a left handed person (I drive better with my left than I do my right). As to John’s driving ability, does the name Capt Hazelwood ring any bells?John, as always, has his camera at the ready…a small canon powershot, not his big expensive digital. Here are a couple shots he took.
And no, we didn’t catch any fish, but John hooked himself more times than I can remember (even got me once)…L
All-in-all we had a great time and we plan to do more boat trips in the future.
Posted in Boating | Print | 1 Comment »