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We did make it home

Haulout for winter storage at Safe Harbor Great Lakes, Muskegon. Our first leg on our journey home was from Northport to Frankfort on September 9. That leg was over sixty nautical miles and took up all of the daytime hours. The second leg was from Frankfort to Ludington, also more than sixty NM. After two long days of sailing, we elected to stay put in Ludington for two nights. Finally, on Thursday, we set out for our home port of Muskegon and tied up in our slip at 6:30pm. That’s a pretty grueling end to an excellent cruise. Then came the haul-out on the 25th of September, ending the water part of sailing season. It was a beautifully warm day to take the boat out, and it certainly was nicer than waiting until the bitter end in October. It might seem a little…

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Weather Hold

Scenic lookout looking east across Grand Traverse Bay We’ve been patiently waiting for the weather to change. Waiting since last Wednesday. At one point, the open waters forecast (beyond five nautical miles for shore) for the part of northern Lake Michigan that we would travel had waves to 13 feet. We don’t mind being offshore a ways - there’s much less traffic. We’ve been watching the reports from the buoys and they have been reporting over six foot waves. That’s a hard no from this crew.We have enjoyed our walks in Northport, and the good wifi in the marina, and an easy walk to the grocery. But I’m looking at my meds, and the extras that I brought along just in case, and we’re cutting it tight. Tomorrow, Monday September 9 we go - in the predawn gloaming, we set out on a…

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Minutes to Hours

There are amazingly beautiful days out sailing, seas are calm winds are fair. So lovely that you hate to drop anchor. Then there are those days that start out fine and turn gnarly, turning minutes to hours. Yesterday was one of those days. We checked the forecasts (yes- multiple predictions) and knew it could get zesty out there with the wind not being in an optimal direction for our destination- South Manitou. If we had made it to Manitou we could have had a relatively easy sail to Frankfort with winds in a more favorable direction. Sometime early afternoon after leaving Little Traverse Bay, things got big. Reflection is a great boat and handled well, but sheesh, we were heeled over and thumping into some pretty big waves. The jib was getting splashed up 3-4 feet and our deck was also getting splashed.…

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Northern Lights

August 31 at 3:45am I got up to do an anchor check and I looked out and saw stars, so I unzipped the enclosure and noticed rhythmic and shimmering light coming from our starboard side. I woke up Mary and Harold and we sat out on deck an watched the aurora for a half hour until it started to fade. The Milky Way was out in all it's brilliance and so many stars. I even spotted a meteor. Nearly every night I've look up into the night sky looking for the lights and today we enjoyed them from the middle of the Beaver Island Harbor. Tonight we are tying up a the marina because winds are going to be gusting 30mph! Yesterday at 24 mph, we dragged anchor halfway through our first cup of coffee and had to spring into action. When we…

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Night Noises

Sleeping aboard a boat comes with unique night noises depending on wind, waves, and swing of the boat. During the day we don't notice the various creaking lines, slapping halyards, tapping snap fasteners, and squawking squeaks. Apparently the cue for these unsettling noises to start, is the moment you turn off the lights and start to nod off. "What's that sound?" is the predominate conversation, quickly followed by an anchor check to make sure no dragging is happening. Then settling down again, starting to nod off there is a tap tap tapping sound followed by a thump thump thumping sound, then a swing of the boat followed by a moan of the snubber line. On a calm night in a protected anchorage the noises are much less, maybe a lapping of a wave against the hull. The noises once identified are something we…

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Rose and Dave

We bought our first ‘big’ sailboat (27 feet) in 2000. It was named Arcturus when we bought it, and we kept the name. The year 2000 was a bit of a blur. We would drive about a hundred miles to the boat on Friday after an early dinner, get to the boat, go out and sail until about 10pm. Racing to get back before Demond’s grocery closed, in order to get 3 pints of ice cream. Most of the time we needed to get back to Lansing for Sunday morning church. On the center dock, there were four or five really active sailing couples. Bill and his wife were right next to us on Airwaves, Brian and Lynn on Re-Run, Al and Nancy on Desire, and Rose and Dave on Windswept. At the marina, Tower Harbor in Douglas, Michigan, was the Tower Harbour…

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August 31 – 0245

Marcia woke up to check on our anchor - we dragged anchor yesterday morning. Beaver Island is quite dark. She called out, "Stars, northern lights!" And so I went out dressed in a hoodie. Then went below to get the camera - the boat swings at anchor, but the northern lights were awesome.

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Acing the Anchor and …

I have developed an effective strategy for dealing with Anchor Anxiety. Don't look down into the water! Problem solved. The last two nights we anchored out in Lake Charlevoix. The first night in East Jordan, close to the RV park off the beach, next to the road - but free WiFi. Then we sailed up the arm to Oyster Bay where we spent a lovely afternoon and evening in a quiet bay with a few other sailboats. It was peaceful, calm, and delightful, until the thunder started around 4:30 and wok me out of a deep sleep and an interesting dream. It was the day before I start my around the world solo sailing adventure. Clearly, I had reservations. I had deep reservations, but everyone assume I knew what I was was doing. I was woefully unprepared to sail solo around the world.…

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Anchoring

Northport Apparently, I have anchor anxiety! I'm not used to being able to see the bottom where we put down the anchor. I am really afraid of hitting bottom. When I'm standing on the bow ready to lower the anchor and can see the bottom - it looks like its about 4 feet deep. We draw 4'6". Harold is calm at the wheel monitoring the depth and easing us into shore, I'm ready to hit the button and put the anchor down. I wait, and wait, I look back we are still motoring ahead, I wait some more and more. Now I'm looking back urgently, I think we should drop anchor. But I wait for the signal. When it finally comes I am so relieved. Down goes the anchor, I can see it land, I let out some chain, hook on the preventer,…

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Island

On a morning such as this, before the world begins anew, the water like a mirror, mist gently floating across the bay, life is overwhelmingly wonderful. Soon the parade of cormorants start dotting the horizon and flying north over the bay. Single lines of birds stretch 40-50 bird lengths in each congregation. We soon see that the point turned from a pale sand color to black with a cormorant convention. The crows start squawking, seagulls move in searching for breakfast. The gulls have a loud disagreement over who gets first dibs on the catch of the day. We are anchored off South Manitou Island the furthest north we've ever sailed. Yesterday we motor sailed from Frankfort in light winds, bright sun, and sky blue waters. We dropped anchor near the beach between two other sail boats, turned the engine off and enjoyed the…

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