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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