Friday, 8 June - Richardson Park on Fern Ridge Reservoir, OR 97448

Looks like we have sunshine again this morning but it’s not on our site yet so I take myself off for a walk to the Marina, finding a shortcut, we didn’t need to bike so far the other day.  I walk all the way to the dam and back taking photos along the way - so I get to close some circles on my new apple watch! The water in the reservoir is glassy smooth this morning. Takes me back to our water-skiing days, this is the perfect water, no wind and nobody around making wakes!  And it’s luke warm.

Glossy smooth water in the marina today!

The marina is quite new, just constructed in 2012 and provides 212 berths on five fingers.  There is an on-site marina host to assist with moorings etc.  For a 34’ berth (maximum size) for the whole season $592 seems pretty cheap - no wonder it looks pretty full up. You can stay overnight for $17, for a week for $52 and a month is $172 but if you just have a 10’ runabout, its just $11 a night. Take note Seaview Marina.

After breakfast and coffee Kim decides he wants to go for a walk too so we stroll off to see if we can find the home of the match sailing yachts lined up in the distance which we can see from our marina. 

Match Racers at the Eugene Yacht Club

A few minutes later we come across the Eugene Yacht Club (200 active members) where we are greeted at the gate and shown around the facilities.  The Club is hosting a regatta this weekend so there are people around and is probably why our RV Park is so busy tomorrow.  A big motorhome towing a trailer with two sail boats pulls in as we watch - maybe we can do that?

Their stable of yachts is different to what we are familiar with - Thistles, Santana 20’s and Lido 14’s.  They are happy to sail in 4-6 knots although we are assured it does get windier, as long as the wind comes from the west.  The lake depth is only around 20’ so you have to know where you can go.  The rule of thumb is ‘if you can see weed above the water level it’s a good choice to not go there’. 

Although predominantly a sailing club, many members have sailboards, canoes, kayaks, rowing skulls, power boats and pontoon boats.  There is also a mini campground for life members (or those who have been members a long time) to park their RV here over the summer season.

One of two cranes to get the boats into the water

Like our club/marina, not all the boats are in superb seaworthy ship-shape condition, I think you could buy a cheap Wind Rider Trimaran if you had a mind to.

Make an offer!

Also parked in the compound is a floating dunny – the Leakin-Leena.  I assume this is necessary for partaking party-goers who don’t have a black tank on board, but I suspect most of them do as there is a pump out facility on the dock at the marina.

The Leakin-Leena

Around 3pm it starts to drizzle gently as forecast, so we are now inside and I am watching back to back CSI programmes while Kim finishes his David Baldacci book (new fave).