07/01 - 07/04 - Prince William Sound, AK

I will be launching out of Whittier on Saturday and plan to spend the night in Bettles Bay. Took the boat out in PWS 2 weeks ago on the maiden voyage and cruised 160 miles in 2 days, College Fjord, Ester passage, Knight Island, Cullross Passage.

I plan to launch mostly out of Whittier and Seward, maybe Homer once a year. I am in the process of selling my jetboat. I will tell you, purchasing the C-Dory is the best thing I ever did. I love that boat, everything about it!
 
I'm thinking about the rules for the watermelon hunt just so everyone can get some practice with their GPS, charts, compass, and binoculars. I was thinking of something like this.

a. There are two watermelons involved.

b. Each boat is given a starting point defined as the intersection of two compass lines off of points on the chart.

c. From the starting point there are 4 compass bearings laid out. Only two of the compass bearings have watermelons. Each compass bearing has a range of distances where the watermelon could be located.

d. The watermelon will be located within 100 feet of the correct compass bearing, navigation errors of the judge and contestants not withstanding.

I will hand out a chart page with the information for each starting point whenever you are ready to begin.

If this is too complicated, I'll just hide them somewhere within a 1/2 mile of where I am anchored.
 
Come on you guys - don't fall for this one. Everyone knows watermelons don't grow in the frozen north!
 
I guess we are just a couple of weeks out so now is the time for final decisions. We'll meet around these coordinates 60.89N 147.66W. That is between a small island and the entrance to Schoppe Lagoon. I hope to get there the night before to hide a couple of watermelons, explore the beaches, look for firewood, and generally do some more exploring.

Here is the list of boats I have.

Bidarka
Dogon Dory
3rd Byte
Sea Duck
COHO
C-Worthy (maybe)
C-Biscuit
ShiRoz
C-Weed

Let me know if you are still planning to be there so we know to expect you and Dan can plan for ice.
 
Tom,

I will be there looking for those watermelons :smilep and looking forward to meeting up with everyone again. Lets hope the weather is better than last year and we can get a fire going on the beach :thup

Jim
 
I think the weather will be better than last year. I've had the camperback on since the first of May and have never boated in the rain since. I'll come up with draft rules for the watermelon hunt in a week or so.
 
Hey C-Dory folks,

Duane and I hope to join all of you on the 4th in the Can Du. Will be fun to meet some other C-Dory people!

Ellen
 
Hi all, I'm glad I checked in here. I recently got back to Alaska after spending the winter in a much warmer habitat. I left on short notice and when I got back the boat was still dissasembled in the garage where I left it ( I thought the wife would finish all the projects that I'd started but she said something about being too busy working 2 jobs, hauling firewood, shoveling snow, etc, etc, there's always excuses). Of the dozen winter upgrades I'd planned the only thing I got done was changing fuel tanks but at least it's back together. We were already planning on being in PWS at that time so we'll show up. Will someone be there with those little printed name tags and complimentary drink coupons for attendies?
 
I've got a marker but you will have to bring the paper name tags. It looks to be a good crowd. I may have to bring another watermelon to hide.

I think we can start the hunt at 4:00 and then meet for libation on a suitable beach to congratulate the winners and eat the watermelons. I've camped on a beach about 1/4 mile from the island in the back of Shoppe Bay that should provide a good place to get together on land. I think we will have enough dinghy's to get everyone there. I've also beached the boat to off load some gear. I don't think there is much wood there, but I hope to have time Saturday morning to load the dinghy up on some of the outer beaches so there is wood for a fire. The high tide is a little after 6:30 but it's not real high so there should be some beach left.

Anybody think of anything else let me know.
 
We are able to bring some firewood from home. I have an old A bag that I'll fill up with wood and have it for our get together.

Mark and Roz
 
Good News

To sweeten the pie so to speak at the watermelon hunt, C-Dory will award the winning crew a pair of hats and jackets. Thanks Jeff.

Now the rules are firming up some. There will be three watermelons at some place within a mile of the island. I'll give each boat a starting coordinate and 5 bearing lines. A watermelon will be down at least two of them. Due to tides, winds, and navigational errors, the watermelons should be within 100 yards of the bearing line. It should be a good exercise in navigation and spotting. Bring a good pair of binoculars.

Only one boat per crew. You can't use a dinghy or kayak to run down multiple lines at a time, although a dinghy or kayak can be used to retrieve a watermelon.

See you there.
 
You fine folks of the north have an album in place for this melon hunt and other pics of interest. It is right here at the start of the Cruises and Events album. It needs at least one pic for a highlight, so if you have a shot of the elusive watemelon you might stick it in right away. I've never seen an Alaska watermelon. Didn't even know you could grow them.
 
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