Rate your 2024 boating season

[WiskyDan]

For those of you that are in a climate where you only get to boat 4-5'ish months per year how would you rate your 2024 season?

I would give mine a C+ as the weather was pretty decent but we had some things pop up during the summer that kept us off the boat more than we wanted. We only had a few weekends where we were on the boat Saturday and Sunday (I don't use the boat much during the work week as it's an hour from home) even when the weather was good both days. At the end of most seasons I'm ready for the boat to go into hibernation but this year I'm a bit bummed for some reason.

Had a chance to meet @FSH 210 Sport at our local Sand Bar Bash on Lake Poygan in August which was great and the outings with @drewkaree (the Mayor of Sandbarville) and his crew are always a entertaining.

We're cleaning up the boat tomorrow morning and dropping it at the dealer to be winterized at lunch time. I do heated storage in Fond du Lac and I’ll be dropping it off there next Saturday.

 

[@JC!]

Up here in SD, the highs are still in the 70s/80s and lows in the mid-50s here so the boat & ski are still on the lifts. It didn't get super hot this summer, probably only a handful of days in the 90s but it was sunny, mild and ,other than a few weeks of rain in June, pleasant since April so we got out a lot and will still be out on the water this weekend.

 

[zipper]

A-...We brought a new to us catamaran to Vermont, Lake Champlain. We purchased a 1991 PDQ 36 last September in Dighton, Massachusetts. Did some refit/repairs over the Fall and Spring. Splashed her in May and sailed across Long Island sound to the mouth of the Hudson, up the river to the Champlain canal and a day later to the Lake. Was a good 9 day trip. Delivery of Grimalkin aka FisherCat
We did have a couple of setbacks, breaking a valve spring in one of our motors and having to side tie the dinghy so we could use its motor for maneuvering the cat. We did buy a new motor in June. We sailed alot and motored around alot, practicing docking in tight spots and picking up a mooring. We did a couple of overnight trips to the NY side of the Lake. We used the boat in one way or another, except for maybe 10 total days between May and September. Love the layout and just hanging out watching the sunsets over NY.
We have a couple weeks left to our season and haulout is scheduled for October 21. She is a nice ride with more work to do for next season. It is a B.O.A.T.

 

[Coult45]

Into the water on May 6th, out of the water on September 24th (still boating weather, but it's time to do some camping trips). A little over 60 hours and 500 miles on the boat. Got a little better at wakeboarding. Didn't lose any passengers or do any significant damage to the boat. Spouse dramatically improved her boat-handling skills. Got a bunch of great wildlife pictures. Sound dampening efforts were mildly successful and will be expanded upon next spring. AirPods sound cancelling performed better than expected, but more testing is required to leverage the right settings for the right situations. Overall, can't ask for much more.

I give it a solid A.