Wind Song Sailing Vacation Charters

09/04/2022

Wind Song Sailing has officially ceased operations and is no longer in business. Thanks to all of you who supported us. It was fun while it lasted…..

03/15/2021

Note that picture on bottom right is from Alma just downriver from Pepin....

01/26/2021

So, What is everybody else doing during this winter of Covid!?

07/28/2020

Meditation Over a Cold Beer on Lake Pepin.....

In the age of Covid, anchoring out by myself on a languid Summer evening has become a way to relax, cool down, and social distance at the same time.

On this particular evening, I have to deal with one of those issues that those of us who love a cold beer simply have to face up to from time to time: how to avoid warm beer at the bottom of the bottle when you don’t have one of those insulated holders that are never there when you need them.

After a hot day on the drop zone, a younger me would have simply slugged it down fast enough to avoid the problem entirely.

But now I’m an older, and saltier sailor. I remember how quickly that can sneak up on you and how badly you feel the next day after drinking that fast when you’re dehydrated. Besides, if you’re going to be anchored out all night, you really can’t afford to be incapacitated to the point you couldn’t handle a dragging anchor at three o’clock in the morning.

What to do? It requires considerable meditation and careful planning.

The old sailor’s solution is to use the materials at hand to solve the problem. A couple of turns of blue shop towel and some electrical tape does the trick. Now my beer stays cold. I can feel self satisfied for having solved yet another very important problem.

Life’s not all bad in the time of Covid....

06/03/2020

Wind Song’s first overnight anchorage on Lake Pepin for the season. My nearest neighbor was an eagle nesting on this shoreline.

05/27/2020

WIND SONG IS IN THE WATER.

The hull has a fresh coat of wax, so we promptly bent the sails on and took her out on the lake for a shakedown last week. It was a great day for sailing, and I genuinely regret that we won’t have guests to share this with anytime soon.

Deciding to forego commercial operations for the immediate future has been a tough decision, but a recent call from the Pepin County Health Department confirmed that decision as the right one. There’s no way we could adequately meet their recommendation for social distancing. And mask wearing has become such a contentious issue, there seems little point in putting our Captains in the position of having to enforce it throughout an entire voyage.

Ultimately, we also had to face up to the reality that a Captain’s unavoidable responsibility is to protect the safety of all his passengers. In good conscience, at this time I don't feel confident of our ability to protect those passengers, and there really isn’t any need or argument that alters that reality.

If the situation changes, we will let everyone know as quickly as we can. Until then, stay safe and keep in touch.

04/22/2020

GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS....

We just got word that the Pepin Marina is planning to start putting boats back in the water as early as May 4th.

That’s the good news.

The bad news is that we don’t see any possibility of conducting charter tours or instruction until very late in this season - if at all this year....

That’s a tough pill to swallow, but nothing in the current situation suggests that operating close quarters sailing activity without any ability to pre-test for contagion - or a vaccine to protect against that contagion -is in any way reasonable at this point. As much as we love sailing, and sharing that love of sailing with our guests, we cannot - in good conscience - put the safety of those guests, or our captains, at risk.

So, here is what our current plan looks like:

We will will put Wind Song in the water, and our captains will be able to do some personal sailing to keep their skills up. We will also undertake some maintenance projects we normally couldn’t do without taking the boat out of service for an extended period during a regular working season.

If the pandemic situation somehow changes it’s current trajectory because of widespread testing, contact tracing and reasonable assurance from the scientific community that social distancing is no longer required; we may be able to start our commercial operations again. There’s nothing in our current plan that would prevent that unless it’s simply too late in the season to make it happen without an unrecoverable financial loss.

Assuming we can pare away enough of our fixed expense to get through this year without going too far in the hole, I think we will be able to come back next year with something that looks more like a regular season of sailing. Of course, that’s assuming we have some break-through experience with the virus. We will just have to hope and see what happens on that front.

In the meantime, we plan to stay in touch with those of you who have been so supportive to this point, and who we hope will continue sailing with us in the future. We will also be offering a Gift Card option to generate some income and provide us an opportunity to give away some of our new caps with the embroidered logo. You can see me modeling mine on one of the other posts!

Wish all the news could have better, but so many others have it so much worse, I’m feeling lucky just to be able to stay is touch the way we are...

Captain Jerry

04/16/2020

SAILING LIFE IN THE “NEW NORMAL”

Like everyone else, we are sheltering in place and trying to figure out what comes next as we plan for an uncertain future. One thing is for sure, the future is not going to be the same as the past.

So, with this as the backdrop, I’m looking for some help in planning what we do to stay in business. What will we have do this season - and in the future.

Specifically, I’m inviting friends and supporters to join our private group, PEPIN SAILING CREW.

It won’t cost you anything. You can drop out any time you want. But, by joining it will give us another valuable voice in helping deal with this period of unparalleled uncertainty.

The job doesn’t pay a lot, but it may help keep us there for you when you want to go sailing!

Captain Jerry

03/28/2020

Néed some help: Hunkered down on the farm and sheltering in place here in Wisconsin. So, I decided to do another Blog entry - maybe even a video - that would address how to prepare for your first sailboat experience.

If you can think of anything you would have liked to know before your first sailboat outing, please comment, message or email me so I can address it. Been a long time since my first sail!!

Captain Jerry

03/22/2020

Earlier than I thought it would be this year. So, it looks like the boats will likely go in much earlier than last year, perhaps within the next few weeks. Social distancing may keep us from scheduling charters until sometime after that, but I’m hoping we will be back in business by at least mid-Summer. Be assured, as soon as we can, we will. We are all going to need as much healthy, outdoor fun as we can handle...!

Jerry

In 2019, the first tow boat, the Motor Vessel Aaron F. Barrett, did not arrive in St. Paul until April 24

03/06/2020

A lot more where these came from....

Sailing was the hinge of western civilization for hundreds of years, as a result sailors’ slang & terminology are rooted in the English lexicon and still exists profoundly to this day.