Some Days are Wetter Than Others

Hi everyone! I just thought I would take a couple of minutes to let everyone know that we are still here! Yup, the skies over Camp Dixie did their best "Story of Noah" imitation, and it rained for almost a week straight. A personal weather station in Gulf Shores, AL reported that there was over 12 inches over the week of the storm, while a station in Lillian, AL (just up the bay from our location) showed that it had over 17 inches. At one point in the storm, the Lillian weather station reported that rain was coming down at over 5 inches an hour. Now that's a lot of rain!

The puddles took a lot longer to dry around here than normal (in fact, we still have a couple around the property) But they are mostly gone. The bay was over filled for a couple of days, and at some point water was actually running from our property, over the sea wall, and into the bay. The bay water has taken on a nice dark orange color from all the pine needles (And whatever else) that were washed in, but all in all everything is good.

This picture of a Blue Angels jet wasn't taken during the current storm, but it was taken after one of our ground soaking rains. It was pretty fun to watch a $35 Million airplane splashing through puddles like I do in my much-less-than-$35 million camp GMC Pickup.

Because of the rain, and the cold that has come after the rain ended, I have not had a chance to get the Sunfish out into the bay in a while. The good news is that even through all the weather, it isn't carrying any new water (no holes in the top of the boat!).

Camp wise, we are working on getting a publicity piece out to congregations in the Southern District about our Traveling VBS program, and our new praise time at camp called Adoration. I'm very excited about both events, they should be a lot of fun, and hopefully will reach a lot of campers.

God's Peace, and see you at camp!
-Mac

Your Servant Event has been Approved

I just checked the LCMS Servant Event website to see if our application for our summer Servant Event had been approved yet, and 'lo and behold, we are approved for our servant event! It always feels good to be approved doesn't it. Even if it is by the LCMS Servant Event committee.

This summer we are planning a servant event to the beautiful country of Costa Rica. Camp Dixie will be working with congregations from all over the United States to send up to 32 High School aged youth to Camp Penuel July 3-13 to assist in a "winter break" (yes, they consider that time to be their winter break) retreat at the camp. This retreat will focus on campers who live in largely urban areas who have never had the chance to spend time in the lush Costa Rican countryside. They will be transported to the camp to experience the great outdoors that God created, and to meet the Servant Eventers from the United States.

We will know more details of the event after we talk to the Director of Camp Penuel over Thanksgiving, but we are very excited about the opportunity to help high school students from all over the country find that they are "Called" to tell others about the love of Jesu Christo.

Incidentally the picture above was taken in 2004 at Camp Penuel by Moxie when she was there with Twinkie's high school group. What beautiful countryside.
God's Peace, See you at Camp!
-Mac

Summer Camp 2008: Called

It's time to take a break from our regularly scheduled (well kind of) Sunfish sailboat discussion to talk about Summer Camp 2008 and the theme for this summer, "Called." Coming up with a summer theme is always a little bit difficult. The theme needs to be something memorable, but it also needs to be something that is meaningful. In the same way, the theme verse that is chosen has to be something that really fits in with the theme in a powerful way. The verse to go with our summer theme this year is from Ephesians 4:11, "It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up." It's such a powerful verse, that really sums up what it means to be part of the body of Christ. As Christians we are "Called" all the time.

This summer we are hoping to integrate the "Called" theme into three separate programs. Our on-site program here in Elberta, AL, our Traveling VBS program, which will be traveling all over the Southern District to lead VBS programs at congregations, and finally in our Servant Event program, where participants will be called to leave the country, and visit a camp in Costa Rica to help spread the word of God to children who may never have had the opportunity to hear it before.

Here's a brief brainstorm of how we hope to integrate the "Called" theme into our three programs.

On-Site: One of the biggest concerns for me as a Director is that though I know we do great things here at Camp Dixie during the summer, how do we make sure that campers are integrating with their home congregations and continuing to live the Christian life when they are away from camp. This summer we are going to try to introduce the theme even before campers arrive at camp. Through mailings and email contacts, campers will be learning about ways they have been called as Christians to serve those around them. We are also planning on having the campers arrive with extra supplies that will be donated to local organizations. While at camp they will sort and prepare these items for delivery. Finally as they are ready to leave camp, they will have the opportunity to serve those less fortunate than themselves, and find out what it really means to be called to service toward others.

Traveling VBS: Our traveling VBS program will also discover what it means to be called to service before the week that our counselors will be traveling to the congregations. Congregations will receive specific ideas of how campers can be integrated into the congregation, and how they can live out their call where they live. During the week, we will be encouraging participating congregations to call their campers to service with a Servant Event activity that everyone can participate in, that will also be giving back to the community. Congregations will also be presented with some opportunities to call their campers into the congregation after the summer is over.

Servant Event: The Servant Event for this summer is an awesome opportunity to see how some can be called to leave their congregations, and their normal lives to travel to a completely different culture to spread the word of God. Participants will be called the Costa Rica to assist at a camp very much like Camp Dixie, except everything is in Spanish! More information will be coming as this event is approved by the LCMS Servant Event committee, But this is an amazing way to show how God can call us in ways we haven't even imagined.

So that's just a little bit of how we are going to integrate our 2008 theme into our summer programs. We've got a lot of work to do, but it's exciting to know that we have been called to bring it all to you this summer.
God Bless, and See you at Camp!
-Mac

In The Water!

So for the first time since before Hurricane Ivan, the sunfish sailboat has been in the water. (Hmmm I wonder if the boat needs an official name?) I didn't get any pics of the momentous occasion. It was really windy, I was the only one there, and I was learning to rig the boat with the funky mast, so I was pretty busy. The reality is however, that the boat floated, it sailed like a Sunfish should, and nothing broke on the first trip. I am going to have to pick up some spar varnish for the daggerboard and the rudder to get them looking pretty, but everything worked just like it should. I'll hopefully get some pictures up soon.
More info to come.
Peace,
-Mac

It's alive! It's alive! It's alive!

It's official. The Sunfish is looking 1000% better since the last post. The mildew and moss gave way to some elbow grease and a bleach and water solution, and after a more careful inspection, the boat really is in good shape. Looking at the picture, it really reminds me of one of my favorite movies, Wind however, I'm going to have to do something about that. Anyway after getting into the boat and getting to know it a bit more, it really. It's a sailing movie (of course) and there's a part in it where the main characters get together and check out a boat that they used to sail together, that has been repaired. The guy says "it almost doesn't look like the same boat." Seriously, this almost looks like a different sailboat. The trailer looks the same does look like the water that was sloshing around inside the hull was from Hurricane Ivan. Or at least some of the many rains after that, because it was fresh water. Other indications show that the boat was usually sailed in salt water before I owned it. The plug on the top of the deck is missing, which is probably where the water entered. After letting out the water, the boat was a lot lighter, and still doesn't show any signs of delamination.

There were a couple of surprises however. The sailboat came with three sails, the new one I talked about in my last entry, the red and white one that is sitting on the top of the boat in the pictures from the last entry, and a blue and white one that is still in a plastic bag. I opened the red and white one, just to see what it was like (knowing that it was probably in very bad shape.) It was in bad shape, but more surprisingly, it actually wasn't even an official Sunfish sail! It had a picture of a dolphin on it, with the letters SR underneath. A quick check on Google confirmed it, the sail was from a completely different kind of boat called a Dolphin SR, it is very similar to the Sunfish. I also took a look at the mast a bit more closely. It had a different design than I was used to, but I figured that was just because it was a newer Sunfish. Turns out that the mast is actually from that Dolphin SR boat (wherever it is). It should work no problem, but I think that means that I can't enter any Sunfish Class regattas, because the boat is no longer "Class Legal." Oh well.

The only other problem with the boat is that the tiller handle has rubbed completely through the top white layer on the back of the boat (the gel-coat). However, because I am going to have to put a couple of inspection ports into the hull anyway to get the boat dried out, I will probably just put it right there, and no one will be the wiser. All in all, it was really fun to get the boat cleaned up and see what I actually have. I have created a list of things that I need to buy to get the boat in top shape.

• 3 Inspection Ports to cover the holes cut in the hull for drying.
• The front handle has been in salt water, and is corroding pretty seriously. It will probably have to be replaced soon
• The plug is missing on the topside of the boat. Pretty important piece, and it will need to be replaced sooner rather than later.
• The bailer plug is also missing. That little plug helps water get out of the boat when it comes into the cockpit.
• I am also probably going to replace the harness on the back of the boat, it's a completely unique design on this boat, and the newer Sunfish actually have a better design that includes a traveller to make the sail move more easily from side to side.

Well, once again that's about it for now. The boat is much better off than anticipated, more to follow!
God's Peace,
Mac

Catching a Sunfish

Here's a blog of a different sort, to tell you a little bit about one small piece of what is going on in my life as Director at Camp Dixie. There will be more Dixie-centric information coming later, but right now, we will have something different.

So the other day, as the wind was blowing a little bit more forcefully than usual, I was thinking how nice it would be to have a small sailboat again. When I first learned how to sail, I learned in a Laser sailboat, which is a very fun little boat. They actually use that type of boat in the Olympics! When I was the Program Director at Camp Omega, they had a couple of sunfish sailboats, which were also small, and fun to sail in.

I have thoughts about the small sailboat every so often, and so I look on the internet at local classified ads and craigslist to see if I can find anything for sale. I have found out that the gulf coast is the place for large boats. There are very few (if any) smaller sailboats that show up in ads. But, the day I was thinking about it, there happened to be one on Craigslist. Hmmm interesting. The boat wasn't that far away (in Gulf Breeze, Florida) and looked to be a good price. I consulted with Kim about the sailboat, and then sent off an email to the owner. Here's what I was told. The boat was in good shape, but hadn't been sailed since before Hurricane Ivan (2004) after that her husband had it sitting in the backyard on the trailer which was included in the price. The trailer was rusty, but was solid, and there was even a new sail for it.

So, the next day, after attending church in Pensacola, we headed out to Gulf Breeze to see the boat. It was almost exactly as she said. It had most certainly been sitting in her backyard (which was wooded) since hurricane Ivan. The boat had accumulated quite a bit of mildew, but pushing on the top and bottom, it seemed solid, and didn't suffer from the dreaded delamination (which is when the fiberglass starts to separate and weaken.) We had a few moments of almost not wanting to buy the boat (we had to buy new tires for it, but were able to get the owner to pay for one of them). But the boat looked to be in good shape, and the new sail was very seriously new ($290 value right there.)

So we headed home with our new toy, and prayed that the Gulf Breeze police wouldn't notice that the trailer didn't have any lights and was peeling paint as it was going down the road.

The picture on the right side here is what the boat looked like when it arrived at the Camp. That's when I started learning more information about it. First of all it's a newer sunfish than I have ever sailed in before. Not that it's that new. It was manufactured in 1989. It really was in good shape, with the only problem being that some fittings will need to be replaced, and the deck has a small crack near the cockpit. Luckily that's not structural, it's only cosmetic.

On a "One Class" Sailboat like this one (which means that every single boat is made to specific specifications) you can tell a lot by the serial number on the hull. So the serial number (PSB23396D989) tells us this: The boat was manufactured by Pearson Yachts, the factory serial number is 23396, it was manufactured in February of 1989, and its a 1989 model Sunfish. This boat's serial number starts with PSB which means it was manufactured by Pearson Yachts, which owned the rights to sunfish in 1989. However if you look at Sunfish owner's information, most people will tell you to stay away from the Pearson manufactured boats. Pearson had a bit of a cash problem when they were making Sunfish, and went bankrupt after only making Sunfish for a few years. They have been known to cut corners, and often suffered from delamination. I had already determined that there wasn't any of that involved, so it looks like I have one of the good Pearson boats (and they supposedly do exist).

It also had a United States Yacht Racing sticker on the back of the transom, and it appears at some time that this boat was used for racing. That's not unusual for a one design class boat like this. Usually people that are racers buy new boats specifically to race them, then after a few years they sell it and move on to a new boat. That creates a large enough used market so that "normal" people who aren't racing (like me) can get them pretty cheaply.

One thing I did discover is that it appears the remnants of Hurricane Ivan are still inside the boat. The boat is a "wet boat" which means it is probably too heavy to race anymore (I wasn't planning on doing that anyway) and I will probably need to cut some holes in the hull to dry out the flotation blocks inside the hull. I had to do that with one of the Camp Omega boats, and it really helped get the boat lighter.

Anyway, that's about it for now, I will be continuing to post as i move further along in the process of getting the boat cleaned up and in the water.
Peace,
Mac