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A Nice, Relaxing Weekend
With the 2015 Toledo Wooden Boat Show rapidly approaching (August 15-16, come on by!) I needed to get the Mollyhawks presentable. It's been a while since I did any maintenance on these boats. Time for a little cleaning and paint.
Visitors! Serena and Gabby stopped by to see what was happening.
I put them in a Tik Tak and they went out and splashed around for a while. They seemed to be having difficulty going in a straight line, and soon returned to the boathouse. Serena said she didn't like boats and thought maybe she'd do better solo. I said "Hmmm, I have some solo boats you can try."
So far, I've been the only one to try a Coracle on the water, but these girls were game.
They were having a hard time getting used to the paddling style required for coracleering. I took a video - I have high hopes of hilarity for the Coracle Races at the boat show.
Serena, the girl who doesn't like boats, took to trying a coracle as a Stand Up Paddler. It worked almost as well as sitting.
I got the insides painted on the Mollyhawk - still going with the red and green color scheme. I switched to Rustoleum Safety Red, figuring I'd always be able to find it in stores.
Just as I was about to close up, Tana came and asked if she could take a boat out. She is visiting from Kentucky, her husband is on one of the fishing vessels that was being worked on near by. She had a very nice paddle in the setting sun.
In the morning, I saw our resident Green Heron. These guys are usually very shy, flying well before I get close enough to get a picture. Over the last few months, this little guy has become more tolerant.
Rick Johnson, master craftsman and friend of the Boathouse, has built a canal boat called Haus20. The Gypsy Rose is a rental docked in Toledo - unique to the area (you can book it through Bookings.com if you'd like) and I like to invite the visitors to use the boats of the Boathouse.
Today, a family was down from Seattle. Father and daughter got in Daisy while . . .
. . .grandfather and granddaughter got in Bea.
I like this picture.
Patience and her mom, Connie, came by with a bunch of friends. They needed to borrow a life jacket for little Jaiden. We were happy to oblige.
Tom came down from Portland, so I put him in a coracle, too. I mean, why not?
There's a happy man - nothing like a coracle to bring joy to the heart.
Our next visitor was Marcus, up from Newport. It was a heck of a day for coracleering.
Marcus was a natural! He made paddling a coracle look as easy as pie. Don't just take my word for it - go to the video.
Even with all the visitors, I was able to finish painting the Mollyhawk. It's a workboat finish, but it's still better than it was. Pretty Pepper is almost ready for the show. Salt is next. |
