The bar and buoy are in at the club - just need the boats now

VALOIS, New York, USA - The bar was reinstalled, shade structure put up and assorted accessories installed over the weekend, marking the beginning of the 2012 boating season at the Valois Point Yacht Club.

Except for two rowboats, the VPYC is little short on watercraft, with the Spirit of Louise in Horseheads on its trailer and both sailboats (The Red Rocket and The Crimson Tide) parked on their trailers at Fitches cottage, a scant 300 yards away.

They need a little cleaning before they will be ready to launch.

But sometime in the next few days, at least the Spirit of Louise is likely to be launched and put in the boat lift alongside the club dock.

Admiral Fox at the VPYC bar Sunday

The day was not without boating, however.

We had just gotten the shade structure up and bolted into place - and were wondering why we hadn't hauled a single bottle of beer down the hill - when Roger and Nancy Beardslee showed up with the boat.

Aboard Roger and Nancy Beardlee's boat - May 20, 2012

We ended up taking an anniversary cruise up past Lodi Point before returning to the VPYC.

The temperature was perfect - low 80s and Roger's boat ran perfectly up and down the shoreline.

A great first VPYC day.

The mooring ball is in - the bar comes next

VALOIS, New York, USA - The mooring ball for the Crimson Tide sailboat (or other visiting vessels) is in place off the end of the Valois Point Yacht Club after a hour's worth of salty language Friday. My salty language.

The cable out to the chain that holds the mooring buoy was right on the ground where I left it last fall, so rowing out with it was a breeze (except for algae slime on it).

It was a breeze until I was about 25 feet from the spot where I knew the chain was.

Crimson Tide on the mooring last fall

The cable suddenly didn't want to be pulled up. Stuck tight as a tick. (However tight that is...)

!!!!!!!!Santa Crappo!!!!!!!!!

Peering over the side of the boat, I saw that the cable ran underneath a sunken log of about 10 inches in diameter that must have drifted over the cable during the winter.

But just as I was about to give up, I remembered my 9th grade science class from high school and working at Lakewood Beach in Lakewood NY, where we would move around a 55-gallon drum of concrete under the water as an anchor for a raft.

With another half hour of pulling, I finally got the chain aboard and the mooring ball is secure.

And I almost have gotten all those *%&*&*%^ tiny wire slivers out of my fingers that poked through my gloves.