Kev n Jens Adventures

Sunday, August 6, 2023

June/July trips - West Baden, Sebring, St Clair

June/July 2023 - After our sail making adventures earlier this summer we got a few trips in. We spent 3 days at the West Baden Resort in French Lick, Indiana with Leigh Ann & Brian. It was a relaxing few days there and was fun to finally get to see the beautiful West Baden hotel!

The atrium is amazing

beautiful dome

Kev had to lie down in the middle

The spring houses are still around the grounds, but not active

Kev & Brian-dressed alike

a drink on the front porch

Kev & I got up early for a swim and hot tub

breakfast at the bagel shop across the street

pretty cool entrance to the West Baden Resort

Fun time with the Douglases

Ann & I got to visit Mom in Sebring for a girls weekend, while Kevin and Erich helped Erich's brother with a few projects at his new house.

Dinner in

Dinner out

A walk around the Copeland Lake (Mom's ready for 4th of July)

A hot air balloon floated over

and landed in the field across the street

We walked over to see it

Bye Mom, see you soon!

Next we did some sailing and kayaking in Indy, before heading off for a weekend in the country with Bob. Casey was there for a few days, and we got to spend lots of time on the Bourbeuse River.

Kayaking on the White River, with our neighbor Peggy

The peacock checking on Bob (I think he's really looking at himself in the reflective coating on the door window, and waiting for Deb to give him some blueberries)

The river was a bit high, but Kev, Bob and I got a fish in

Waiting to put all of our stuff back in Chuck's pickup

The next day the river was too high, so we took our chairs down and enjoyed the view

Kev & Casey enjoyed a beer IN the river

A little fishing

some fishing, while swimming?

Deb's garden

Monday, July 10, 2023

The Mainsail and Sailing with New Sails

June 15 - 20, 2023 - After finishing the jib we took a few days break before starting the mainsail. It seemed less daunting but there were still some new things we needed to learn.

Figuring out which pieces go where

The Main has 5 patches (2 extras that are used when reefing the main)

The main has batten pockets, which aren't found on the jib, so we made a practice pocket to be sure we understood how to make it

Thinking about what's next. You can see the card table set up with the sewing machine in the hallway to the dining room, so we had enough room to feed the long pieces through the machine

Our first batten pocket

Double sided tape is put onto the patches to hold them in place while we sew them onto the sail

We spent a lot of time on the floor

All the pieces are together, the batten pockets and patches are sewn on. The main sure takes a lot of space on our living room floor

When we were getting close to the end, our sewing machine died. So we took it apart to see if we could fix it. No luck...we had to buy a new machine (although mine was 20 years old and probably needed replacing anyway)!

The final pieces were the rings at the corners, which we set with a hammer

BRICs ice cream to celebrate being done!

Wow, those sails look great!

Even better out on the water!!

You can see the squares just up from the boom that will be used for reefing when we sail in higher winds. (with the main reefed, there is less surface area for the wind to catch). When used, the sail is pulled down to the squares and ties are put through the grommets to secure the folded part of the mainsail. Extra rings were added on the patches at the reef line that are used to secure the main to the mast and boom.