$900/month for the summer season at Tahoe Keys Marina in South Lake Tahoe for our :macm: . We stay 3 months, so the bill is $2700. Sadly, the owners of the marina don't do a hair of maintenance, the bathrooms are usually dirty, and they charge $5 for a shower! The floating docks are treacherous, lis...

Since we had the unfortunate luck to have a shroud snap last season, we decided not to put all our trust in the furler and rigged up a second line "just in case".

And Mrs. skipper...what a great idea...there is nothing like that here in OZ...but the price seems a bit steep...over $300 for a couple of bits of canvas? Puggsy, you might remember we've been working on the rocking and rolling problem that caused us to have a stay snap last summer. That meant we h...

Islander, I have two words for you... Anchor Sail! http://i682.photobucket.com/albums/vv186/cherylgrrl/AnchorSailinstallation9_14_08004.jpg http://i682.photobucket.com/albums/vv186/cherylgrrl/AnchorSailinstallation9_14_08006.jpg Our :macm: sits on a mooring ball in a place called Zephyr Cove all sum...

Sailing: A Woman's Guide by Doris Colgate is an essential for any new sailor, male or female. My father-in-law, who has sailed for 50 years, gave me this book when I first started sailing. It explains everything about sailboats and sailing in plain language and with lots of pictures and diagrams. Wh...

Hamin' X -- we purchased and installed the "Mast Base Ball Bearing" from Blue Water Yachts to hopefully get our mast to rotate freely this year. Nope, it doesn't. :? It rotates *once* then stays there! http://i682.photobucket.com/albums/vv186/cherylgrrl/Bearing.jpg Is this "thrust bea...

A little off topic, but we have a CDI furler with a jib. We also got a Genoa when we bought the boat -- still in its original bag. Can we remove the jib and substitute the Genoa? We often have light winds on Lake Tahoe and it would sure be nice to have the larger sail. I apologize in advance if it i...

Speaking on behalf of the wife and family, I'm sure you'll enjoy the comfy/roomy interior. The difference between our :macm: and the similarly sized Catalina we used to sail on with a friend is amazing! I hated going below even to mix drinks! Yes, we kind of hate how the wind pushes us around when w...

Puggsy's mod would help us in another way by raising the jib so it doesn't slop over the bow pulpit when deployed. I can't believe it's supposed to be like this, but the boat was rigged when we got it and perhaps the CDI furler wasn't correctly installed in the first place. Here's a picture of how t...

Thanks for all the great suggestions! Mr. Skipper doesn't think I can hit the top of the mast with a super soaker, so the fake owl is now pulling ahead as the solution of choice! :) Of course now that our windvane is broken off our mast is not so attractive. We went out there again overnight and the...

Looks like a great crew you've got there! The guests will probably remember this trip their entire lives; what a great dad you are!

Our favorite trip on Lake Tahoe is a sail across to Emerald Bay, a lovely quiet bay with a state boat campground that has mooring buoys for each campsite. We enjoy motoring or sailing over, clipping to the buoy, and spending the whole weekend there relaxing. In fact, here's a picture we found on the...

Puggsy, we definitely want to do some kind of mod like you did for the reasons you note. Luckily we don't have to sail under anything on Lake Tahoe, so hopefully we can wait for the winter when the boat comes out of the water. Our current procedure is for me to tighten up the mast-raiser until I'm a...

Gordon, You are wise to do your homework. My husband and I bought our Mac used from someone who took it out and decided he didn't like sailing. Owner #1 bought it new at a boat show, then never even rigged it... he sold it to owner #2 without it ever touching a drop of water. The guy had big power b...

Good suggestion SkiDeep! Mr. Skipper says that sounds a lot easier than him hanging and bouncing on the furler!