A Cruising Sailor's Reflection on Winter

To me the most tangible sign of spring occurred this weekend. We gain another hour of evening sunlight! The days are already noticeably longer and earlier I saw the first robin of spring, but winter still holds a grip. Below freezing weather and snow are possible for another several weeks. The sun, however, won't set again before 7:00 until mid September! The desire to spend time outside will be stronger, especially after work.

The weather was much different a mere six weeks earlier.  The region was in the midst of a historic blizzard. While walking around in the blizzard that night, I was thinking about sailing. The wind reminded me of being on Lake Michigan during a blow. It was impressive and awe inspiring. The conditions were dangerous if prepared, deadly if not. It was the same feeling as watching Lake Michigan rage during a blow.

Diversey Harbor Looking North on February 2, 2011.
This is near the site where a drowning occurred during the blizzard.

The feeling the next day was almost surreal. Lake Shore Drive was closed. There was no traffic noise near Belmont Harbor.  This is a rare experience between the quiet and and snow drifts over the docks.

Later as I was near Diversey Harbor the sky started to clear. While taking pictures someone told me to be careful as someone drowned the night before nearly where I was standing.

Belmont Harbor on February 2, 2011.
This is Donnybrook's summer home.

Routine weather doesn't affect us the way extremes do. We're made uncomfortable, scared by, or worse during most weather extremes. I say most because the positive extremes (extreme beauty, absolute perfect conditions) can inspire or give us great pleasure. Understanding and harnessing the negative extremes can build a healthy respect for the power of mother nature.

That respect is important to cruising sailing. It's easy to enjoy the perfect day on the water but its rare to have that more than a couple of days in a row. If you spend more than a few nights on the boat on Lake Michigan you're sure to encounter extremes.

The people who survived being washed out to sea while photographing the tsunami certainly have a new respect for conditions (Story here).  They were probably looking to experience a historic event as Peter Davis, the gentleman who died in Lake Michigan during the blizzard, may have.

I recently re-read two posts from last year, Mac Sail Practice and Thunderstorm Lifecycle. Mac Sail Practice illustrates how a routine sail can quickly turn to adventure. Thunderstorm Lifecycle is the meteorology behind the storms.  Obtaining experience and the respect gained is key to enjoying cruising in a sailboat.

Charlevoix Draw Bridge on Youtube

Donnybrook now has a YouTube page! This is from last August when Dan, Roxray, and I visited Charlevoix. It's not exciting, but interesting if you've never been under a draw bridge. Enjoy!

Sail Donnybrook! and Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

I write this blog to share my experience.  Family and friends know about it.  Who else is finding it?

I've been curious about how Sail Donnybrook! ranks in Google rankings so I did some Google searches to find out.  Sail Donnybrook! is first when I search for "Sail Donnybrook."  Good!  Sail Donnybrook! is around 101 when I search for "Donnybrook."  Not so good.

I looked at some of the analytic tools available and found the top keywords for my site were "sail", "Donnybrook", "race", "Mac", and "Kyle".  Sail Donnybrook! is 86 when you search for "sail mac race".


Racing is a small part of what I write about.  True, the Mac Race is the focal point of Donnybrook's sailing season, but Sail Donnybrook! is more about sailing and cruising and less about racing.  The Mac race is just a quick way to get to the best cruising on Lake Michigan.  Sailing and cruising didn't even show up in the top 20 keywords that Google found.

I read several articles on SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and learned this:

• The web page title is critical in search engine rankings.  I changed the blog title to Sail Donnybrook!  Sailing and Cruising Lake Michigan and Chicago because of this.
• The title of each blog entry should display in the browser title bar.  I changed the Blogger template to do this.
• Page links help your ranking.  The more sites that link to Sail Donnybrook!, the better.  To help this, I'll reference www.saildonnybrook.com when I post to other forums and make sure it's prominent in Facebook postings.
• The more a word or phrase is used, the more importance it has.  Because of that, I'll make a conscious effort to use keywords more often.
• Changing content helps.  Static pages lose their ranking.
• The more page hits your site has, the higher it'll be ranked.  Drawing people to your site will improve rankings.

There are many techniques to use but the above are the most obvious after some quick research.  There are even SEO Consultants who are paid big bucks to make sure a site is highly ranked.  In fact, Overstock.com recently got into some trouble because they violated Google's usage guidelines (see Google Penalizes Overstock for Search Tactics, WSJ Online Feb. 24, 2011.)

We'll see over time how readership increases!

New Blog Look and Facebook Changes

Today was a lazy day so I spent some time playing with Facebook. I like Blogger's more formal look and feel to that of Facebook's, but I also recognize Facebook is more readily accessed by a lot of people. I want to make updates via the Sail Donnybrook! site then have them sync to the Facebook via RSS.

In the process I realized the original Sail Donnybrook! site was boring, so I changed it.

We'll see if this syncs to Facebook or if more work is needed.

Capt. Kyle

2011 Sailing Season Prep

The car thermometer read 54 degrees on the drive to Crowley's today. Even though it's still the middle of February the days are getting longer and the sun feels a little warmer. Proper sailor's thoughts (at least mine) are turning toward 9:00 pm sunsets and swimming in 75 degree Lake Michigan waters.
I'm sitting on Donnybrook listening to Kenny Chesney thinking about spring projects while the charger tops off batteries.
The only thing that doesn't work on the boat is the aft water tank, so I decided to fix it. It has a split from before I purchased Donnybrook in 2002. I spent an hour trying to get it out with no luck. I'll be asking my friends on the C34 International Association for advice how how to remove it. If I don't fix it (haven't really missed it in 8 seasons) the space would make a nice locker.
It's 33 degrees in the icebox with the lid open. I learned that beer and water bottles don't burst in the cold (Mike, your High Life will be nicely aged by spring!) but Diet Coke does. Several can tops have shot off, one off the boat onto the shed floor. The drinks were in a cooler in the cockpit so there isn't much of a mess.
I've got my Mac crew lined up. Mike, Roxray, Megan, and Jake will be back. Kevin is rejoining after a year off. Dan's feeling too old for the race (I called BS, but that's Dan) but he'll be meeting us in Michigan and sailing back. Bob enjoys the cruise back as much as the race so as of today he'll be cruising back. Brian can't commit due to work. We'll decide later if we want to keep 6 or find a 7th.
I'll be racing in the Verve Cup distance race over airshow weekend. I'm working with the Verve Committee to grow the distance race to include more cruisers and others who buoy racing doesn't appeal to. I'll write more about it later.
Thankfully I don't have many must do projects other than maintenance. That includes a serious cleaning and de-cluttering, rebedding some deck hardware, bottom paint, etc. It's time to upgrade the head so an electric flush is in Donnybrook's future. That'll make Karen and the boys happy. I'd like a second VHF in the cockpit. New sails and electronics are a few years off.
It's been a nice afternoon on the boat. I can't wait for the next day here!

Surprise on the River

Karen, Conor, Emmet, and I were visiting Donnybrook today when we got a nice surprise: The bulk carrier Algomarine was backing up the river toward South Chicago with a load of salt. According to Boat Nerd she passed Round Island (Straights of Mackinac) yesterday. If only Donnybrook could make it the length Lake Michigan in 24 hours!


The picture above is what she looked like passing under the rail bridge. She had two tugs helping her, the Colorado (in the picture) and Massachusetts pulling from her stern.

Conor (back) was thrilled that he got to see the bridges go down, especially the rail lift bridge! Karen was content to read in the car while Conor filmed trains on his iPod touch. Emmet and I were inside checking out Donnybrook and the other cool stuff in Crowley's cold storage building.

Donnybrook Stars in Vueuve Clicquot Short Film!

The best parts of the video are :10-:18, :23-:25, 10:48-10:49, and 11:17-11:23. The rest of the video is pretty good, too. The video must have been filmed from a Wednesday beer can race. It shows what a good looking vessel Donnybrook is!